Truth's Belt 1.5

Chapter Five

Tobin found the back entrance to the catacombs. He started to press the door inward, when something on the ground caught his attention. Leaning down, he reached for it. It was a silver coin.

As he flipped it over, he gasped. Then he looked closer at the floor. It had been swept clean. There should have been dirt or dust, but it was clear. Someone came down here, a lot.

Holding the coin in his hands, he looked at it again, his heart pounding in his ears.

The coin bore the visage of the Father God. On the other side, a cross was embossed. Around the edges, it said in sacrifice for redemption of all.

He clutched the coin tight in his fist and pressed on the door once more. It opened easily and silently.

Tobin entered and carefully shut the door behind him, only to stop in surprise when he felt a dagger at his throat.

Tobin tucked the coin into his cloak pocket before he slowly raised his hands and glanced sideways at the man holding the dagger.

The man snarled, "Who are you?"

"None other than the High Priest!" someone said from farther in the room.

Tobin squinted to see who was talking, but the person stood with torchlight behind him, making him but a silhouette.

Tobin said, "I am Tobin, High Priest of the Grand Temple. I've come to do some research among the histories."

The man holding the dagger pressed it against his skin, the cold edge biting. Tobin instinctively leaned away from the dagger.

"The priests always come from the other entrance. The main entrance. This one hasn't been used in decades."

Tobin corrected, "Clearly it has... You..."

The other man stepped forward into the light. "You are correct. We have been using the secret entrance. But not you, nor your counterparts. So, tell us, Priest, why are you here? Why now? Why this way?"

With his hands still raised, Tobin glanced at the man with the dagger, "I would feel much more open to conversation if I was not fearing for my neck."

The man with the dagger slowly pulled it away, rubbing Tobin’s neck just enough that he could feel the warmth of blood pooling and running. He reached up and wiped it, then looked at the blood on his hands.

"Was that necessary? Someone up there will ask how I cut my neck..."

The second man moved closer to Tobin. "Only if we allow you to return for them to even notice the scratch on your neck."

Tobin stared at the man, "Are you thieves? Hoping to find treasure among these old scrolls?"

The man laughed, then grew serious, a look of sadness crossing his face.

"We might be. That was not our intention, to be thieves, but that may be what we have become."

Tobin sensed something he could not fully put to words. Taking his silence to mean he had nothing to say, the man with the dagger moved away while the other man sighed heavily.

"Maybe you can help us. We came here to find something. It means a great deal to us."

Tobin asked, "Help you find something? Down here? Like what?"

"We seek the original scripts of the Word of God," the man said in a low voice.

Tobin's heart raced, and his head felt suddenly light.

"I am here to find them as well," he said. Then he continued, "I think I found a friend of yours last night. He was dying of fever and was rambling in his delusion."

The man with the dagger stepped forward anxiously. "What did you do to him?"

Tobin raised a hand. "He's alive. He's with our healers. I saw him this morning, and he was able to speak with me a moment before he fell back asleep with exhaustion."

The first man said, "Thank you for that." He paused, looked around the wide space they were standing in, and then pointed deeper into the vast room. "Will you help us?"

Tobin realized he was about to commit several crimes to his church and his country, but he nodded anyway.

With a brief nod, the man said, "I am Virak. That is my brother, Vonas. The man you say is with the healers is our brother, Vlint. We are Knights of God."

Tobin gasped. "Knights of God. Blasphemers. Apostates!"

Virak shook his head.

"No, Priest. We are here to find the proof that the emperor, your church, and your faith are the blasphemers. If you seek truth, then you will help us find what we seek."

Tobin rubbed at his face as he tried to clear his head. He did want to know the truth. But even if it proved his life and ambitions to be nothing but lies?

As he stood there considering, Vonas said to Virak, "He can't be trusted. Come on. We need to tie him up, gag him. Put him back out in the hall until we find what we came for. Then we can let him go."

Tobin snapped his head in Vonas's direction, "You weren't going to kill me?"

Vonas shrugged and said, "Only if I had no other choice. We do not believe in needless violence."

Tobin gave the men a sharp nod. "I see. Well, the blood on my neck says otherwise."

Virak gave his brother a dark look, but then waved Tobin closer to where he stood poring over some dusty books.

"These reference the original manuscript, but there is no mention of whether the Word of God is still kept here in the catacombs. Where would I find the scripts?"

Tobin stepped forward and studied the books lying open.

"Well, these are not intended to be directories. You need to go into the main library for a directory. That would require you going through the main entrance and asking permission."

Virak frowned. "Obviously, we cannot do that."

Tobin gave the Northman a grim smile. "No, you cannot. Lucky for you, I happen to know which directory would list the original scripts. According to that directory, I also know the scripts are all supposedly in the same place."

He turned away from the table. Reaching for a torch, he looked over his shoulder at the brothers, "Well, come along. I cannot stay down here forever. I will be missed if I do not make it topside before the evening prayers."

Virak and Vonas exchanged a look, but then they made to follow him.

In silence, Tobin led the way deeper into the catacombs. He noted the symbols on the ends of each shelf, once again amazed at the vast collection of knowledge there. Thinking to himself as he wound up and down aisles, he chastised himself for not making more of an effort to learn more from the histories kept in such security. The wealth of knowledge was incredible, and it was not being shared, rather it was going to waste.

Finally, he stopped at a shelf and stared at the symbol on the end. It was only vaguely apparent.

Tobin reached up and ran his fingers over the symbol.

"Hmmm..." he murmured, "It appears someone wanted to erase this marker."

"More proof that the empire has no real desire for its people to know the truth of our God," Virak said in a hushed voice.

Tobin gave the man a glance but said nothing to argue against his statement. He wondered if the man was correct, or if someone had at some time come along and simply wished to rearrange the shelves. It all might have been perfectly innocent.

Instead of replying, he turned into the aisle between shelves and scoured the markings along the shelves. Careful to keep his torch away from the dry scrolls and books, he peered intently as he walked down the long shelves.

"Ah, here we are," he said as he stared at another nearly rubbed out marking. He reached out and gripped a heavy leather-bound book with his free hand. He held the torch over the cover and saw it was blank.

"Curious," he muttered.

"Here, take the torch, please," he said to Virak and handed the man the torch before the man could protest.

While Virak held the torch close, Tobin opened the cover of the book and saw that the title page had been ripped out. As had several other beginning pages. The normal pages identifying a book were gone.

Alarmed, Tobin looked at the top page. It had a subtitle and text. The subtitle read, "Creation," and then abruptly began with an account of God making the world and all life.

"Is it the right book?"

Tobin looked beyond Virak to Vonas. He nodded at the man, "I believe so. Let me check..."

Tobin carefully turned the page. On the top of the next page, among the yellowing edges of the old paper, in fading handwritten script, he read, "Word of God."

With an exultant smile, Tobin carefully closed the book and turned to the brothers.

"Okay. So, we found the original Word of God. What were you planning on doing with this treasure?"

Virak gave Tobin a hard stare.

"We want to take it north. Away from the empire, the Temple, and from you priests. We want to learn directly from it, not filtered down and changed to fit the empire's wants. That treasure is God's truth. The only truth. Our group want to transcribe it and share it with the people, as God meant it to be."

Tobin frowned as he clutched the book to his chest. Allow the book to leave the safety of the catacombs? To go the dangerous wastelands of the north? He started to object, to argue for the safety of the book. To promise that he would now diligently learn its contents himself and make corrections to the Temple's order if needed.

He opened his mouth to share his thoughts, but something stopped him.

Vonas was staring at him. His eyes were hard, demanding Tobin pay attention.

"In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God," Vonas recited.

Tobin gaped at the man. "What did you say?"

Vonas pointed at the book and said, "Your priesthood would tell me that my words are blasphemy, correct?"

"Yes. The Emperor is with God, no other, nothing other."

Virak also pointed at the book and said, "I suggest you open that up to a section titled Johanne. Read the first line."

Tobin turned to an empty spot in the shelves and laid the book carefully in the empty space. He flipped through the book until he found the section with elaborate scrollwork at the top naming it the Book of Johanne.

He scanned the first sentence and paled. Head swimming, heart pounding, he felt the floor shift under his feet. Blood pounded in his ears, and he gasped for breath.

"It is as you say," he whispered without looking at the men.

A sudden clanging sound from across the vast space reached his ears. The bells announcing the coming of evening prayers.

Suddenly, awash in doubts and fears, Tobin closed the book and gripped it tightly to his chest.

"Please. I know you want to take this with you. But I beg of you. Allow me to have a cycle with it. I will keep it safe. It will not leave these catacombs. And I will tell no one of its existence. But I must read it for myself. I must."

Staring at the hard faces of the brothers, he waited for their response.

Virak took a deep breath and nodded. "Very well, priest. But you will not read it alone. We will be back every day. To read and learn alongside you, so that three of us, rather than one of us, will know what the voice of God really intends for us."

Tobin carefully put the book back on the shelf.

Stepping away from it, he looked at the brothers.

"Very well. I agree. I shall be back here after morning prayers."

Then, not waiting to see which way the brothers went, Tobin scurried along the shelf to another wide aisle and wound his way through the oldest part of the catacombs until he reached a familiar section. Checking to make sure no one was near, he moved in silence until he reached the main entrance.

There he was greeted by one of the younger priests who monitored the comings and goings of people into the area.

"High Priest Tobin! Where did you come from?" the young priest asked, startled. "I... I didn't see you come in!"

Tobin thought frantically. How should he respond? Should he admit he entered through the back entrance? Puzzling over a response, the younger man gave him a sheepish look.

"Please don't report me for leaving my post. I only stepped away for a moment. I swear."

Tobin sighed and shook his head, "Never you fear, young man. I was looking for a copy of the Empirical Prophecies. It's been so long since I've been down here myself, I thought I would come and look for it myself. You weren't here, so I just helped myself."

The young priest looked at Tobin and said, "You didn't find it?"

Tobin lifted his empty hands and sighed, "I did, but I found the passage I was trying to remember more clearly, read it, committed it to memory. And here I am. Better for it. Now, if you don't mind, I must get upstairs before the evening prayers begin. You too. You remember your chants, my fellow."

The young priest gave Tobin a short bow. Tobin turned and rushed out the door and up the stairs that he knew would lead him into the main part of the temple. His heart raced with excitement over the coming cycle and the secrets he was sure to learn. The idea that he would discover things that could force him from his role never crossed his mind.