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Authors: T. C. Rypel
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avoided killing during the last full moon.
They faced each other at the left-center of the nave before a severe mural representing the Fall of Man.
“You’ve laid the Beast to rest this moon,” the samurai declared simply.
“Speak not of such things in this holy place. How go the preparations?”
“Chaotically. How did you arrest…the Thing within you?” Gonji persisted.
Simon made an impatient gesture that stirred the air currents. “A cave—a mountain cave—inset with chains.”
“Another?” Gonji asked archly. “Have you infested all Europe with these shackling sanctuaries of yours?”
“Enough of your misbegotten attempts at humor,” Simon fumed. “Tell me what’s afoot.”
“Iye, first you tell me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Already I’ve learned more from strangers about this mad venture than you’ve ever told me. Now, mon ami, I will have some clear explanations.”
“What explanations?”
“Specifics, Simon-san. Specifics about the Farouche Clan…and about this woman you’re enamored of.” The prickling of Simon’s coarse nape hairs was not lost on the samurai.
The accursed wanderer turned his back to Gonji, seemingly struggling to control some seismic internal emotion. “So…you’ve heard their name.” Judging by his tone, some great catharsis might have washed him clean of an unspeakable burden.
“I want to know your connection with these…usurpers, or power-mongers, or whatever they are. And the girl—”
“What?” Simon whirled about, his eyes now slits of iridescent pearl.
“Claire Dejordy—I want to know what her hold is over you. Why you’re so tormented over how to approach her. Is it some driving obsession you yourself can neither explain nor control—?”
“What in God’s name are you implying—?”
“Is it simply an immature, inexperienced attraction to a woman who inflames you with lust? Are you truly in love? What?”
“Infidel! Heathen! How dare you speak of such things in God’s own house?”
“I want answers, Simon-san—specifics. Or we go no further with this eccentric quest.” There was a firm finality in Gonji’s voice.
Simon drew hard, angry breaths for a long moment. Then he tossed his head in the direction of the vestibule. A tense moment later they were outside, in the walled lane adjacent to the church. The brisk wind caressed them bracingly.
Simon wrapped his long sinewy arms around himself. “Specifics, then. I shan’t ever repeat what I’m about to tell you. Listen well. You speak as though you consider me a lovesick pup who knows nothing of the ways of the heart or…the body. In truth, I’m not quite so naive or inexperienced as you’ve convinced yourself I must be. There’s a reason why I’m so cautious about this terrifying love of mine. Don’t you think I would have caught up this woman in my arms and fled to some place of—of pristine sanctity, away from the things that haunt me, if that were possible? I —I who crave nothing so much as to live as other men? It’s not that easy, friend samurai. Nothing in my world is ever that diamond-clear.”
He swallowed hard, strolling in circles as he talked. Gonji’s eyes were riveted to him.
“Once,” Simon breathed, “once there was a woman, who came to me in the prime of my youthful passion. She was beautiful. Quite the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, I thought. Beautiful, lusty, passionate. Full of life. I, on the other hand…I was young, still full of youthful ideals, the conviction that I could conquer the thing inside me. That nothing, no one, could control my destiny. Poor Father Dobret—how patient he was with me! How hard he tried to make me understand the power of evil, the almost incredible cunning behind its wiles…”
Simon drifted into a reverie, recovering his concentration a moment later. His eyes shone as they refocused on the carven stones. “I was caught outside his influence, finally. I—submitted to my hunger
They faced each other at the left-center of the nave before a severe mural representing the Fall of Man.
“You’ve laid the Beast to rest this moon,” the samurai declared simply.
“Speak not of such things in this holy place. How go the preparations?”
“Chaotically. How did you arrest…the Thing within you?” Gonji persisted.
Simon made an impatient gesture that stirred the air currents. “A cave—a mountain cave—inset with chains.”
“Another?” Gonji asked archly. “Have you infested all Europe with these shackling sanctuaries of yours?”
“Enough of your misbegotten attempts at humor,” Simon fumed. “Tell me what’s afoot.”
“Iye, first you tell me.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Already I’ve learned more from strangers about this mad venture than you’ve ever told me. Now, mon ami, I will have some clear explanations.”
“What explanations?”
“Specifics, Simon-san. Specifics about the Farouche Clan…and about this woman you’re enamored of.” The prickling of Simon’s coarse nape hairs was not lost on the samurai.
The accursed wanderer turned his back to Gonji, seemingly struggling to control some seismic internal emotion. “So…you’ve heard their name.” Judging by his tone, some great catharsis might have washed him clean of an unspeakable burden.
“I want to know your connection with these…usurpers, or power-mongers, or whatever they are. And the girl—”
“What?” Simon whirled about, his eyes now slits of iridescent pearl.
“Claire Dejordy—I want to know what her hold is over you. Why you’re so tormented over how to approach her. Is it some driving obsession you yourself can neither explain nor control—?”
“What in God’s name are you implying—?”
“Is it simply an immature, inexperienced attraction to a woman who inflames you with lust? Are you truly in love? What?”
“Infidel! Heathen! How dare you speak of such things in God’s own house?”
“I want answers, Simon-san—specifics. Or we go no further with this eccentric quest.” There was a firm finality in Gonji’s voice.
Simon drew hard, angry breaths for a long moment. Then he tossed his head in the direction of the vestibule. A tense moment later they were outside, in the walled lane adjacent to the church. The brisk wind caressed them bracingly.
Simon wrapped his long sinewy arms around himself. “Specifics, then. I shan’t ever repeat what I’m about to tell you. Listen well. You speak as though you consider me a lovesick pup who knows nothing of the ways of the heart or…the body. In truth, I’m not quite so naive or inexperienced as you’ve convinced yourself I must be. There’s a reason why I’m so cautious about this terrifying love of mine. Don’t you think I would have caught up this woman in my arms and fled to some place of—of pristine sanctity, away from the things that haunt me, if that were possible? I —I who crave nothing so much as to live as other men? It’s not that easy, friend samurai. Nothing in my world is ever that diamond-clear.”
He swallowed hard, strolling in circles as he talked. Gonji’s eyes were riveted to him.
“Once,” Simon breathed, “once there was a woman, who came to me in the prime of my youthful passion. She was beautiful. Quite the most beautiful creature I had ever seen, I thought. Beautiful, lusty, passionate. Full of life. I, on the other hand…I was young, still full of youthful ideals, the conviction that I could conquer the thing inside me. That nothing, no one, could control my destiny. Poor Father Dobret—how patient he was with me! How hard he tried to make me understand the power of evil, the almost incredible cunning behind its wiles…”
Simon drifted into a reverie, recovering his concentration a moment later. His eyes shone as they refocused on the carven stones. “I was caught outside his influence, finally. I—submitted to my hunger
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