Mik studies computer animation part-time, works in a supermarket casual time, and still manages to write some of the time. His ambition is to write full time, and skip the rest.

Rome

          Agent Vulpes of the Roman government walked into his commander's office in the Senate Building, cloak flowing regally behind him and belying his nervousness.  He had no idea why Paras had called this meeting, and he didn't really want to find out.  A woman, a stranger, was waiting in the office when he arrived.  She looked striking, but not spectacular.  Vulpes went straight to Paras, who waved him into a seat.
     "You sent for me?" he asked.
     "I have a special mission for you."
     "A special mission?  What special mission?"
     "You once met a man named Saul?"
     "Yes."  Vulpes had strong memories of that meeting, the man's charisma burning his presence into his mind.  "One of the Jews.  He was obsessed with wiping out some new cult."
     "He disappeared while trying to find that cult.  We want you to find out what's happened to him...  one way or the other."
     Vulpes hesitated.  "Why?"
     Paras stood up, and leaned over Vulpes.   "He's a Roman citizen, and we take care of our own.   I need you to find Saul and bring him back to us, if you can.  Diana here will assist you."  He indicated the woman.
     "You've partnered me with a woman?"   Vulpes wondered if Paras intended it as an insult.
     "The cult may try to persuade you with their alleged miracles.  As a priestess of her namesake, she'll safeguard you for Mother Rome, and discredit any falsehoods that may tempt you.   Her experience as a haruspex gives her the knowledge to prove their 'miracles' false."
     Vulpes knew his commander wanted him out of the way.  "Why me?  What do I know about cults?"
     "You've met Saul, so you'll know him when you find him.   Your innate distrust -- your credo of 'trust no-one' -- may save you from them."
     "But..."

#

     Diana caught up with him on the wide marble steps of the Senate, just under the stone pillars of the entrance.  "That could've been better."
     Vulpes stopped.  "How do we start?"
     "I thought you didn't want to go."  She sounded surprised.
     "I don't trust Paras, but I'll do my duty by my country."  Though, in the back of his mind, he hated being teamed with a woman.  He wondered how she'd earned enough of Rome's trust to gain such an assignment.
     "Good.  I'm glad you know where your loyalties lie."

Damascus

     The temple overlooked the city.  It crouched on a hill in the centre of the town, taking the same place of honour the Senate occupied in Rome.   Their unsuccessful discussion with the priest in the temple had told Vulpes only two things; that Saul might have gone on to Jerusalem if he still lived, and where to find one of his travelling companions: a Jew named Tyrus.  The man's modest dwelling told Vulpes of its owner's low status.  "This is the place the priest sent us to."  He knocked.
     A weedy Jew answered the door.  "What do you want?"
     "Are you the one they call Tyrus?"
     "Yes."
     "Can we come in?"
     Tyrus frowned.  "That would be inappropriate."
     Vulpes had expected that answer.  The locals showed the Romans only hostility.  Before he could stop her, Diana opened the questioning.  "What happened out there?"
     "I won't talk to a woman."
     Tyrus wouldn't even look at her, and Vulpes had to repeat the question.
     "I...  am unsure."  The man paused to order his thoughts.  "We were on our way here.  Saul stopped ahead of us, and there was a great light.  Then a sound, like somebody talking, only we couldn't understand -- except Saul.  When it was over, he was blinded.  We led him the rest of the way here."
     Tyrus stopped there, but Vulpes needed the story to be more complete.  "And that's the last you saw of him?"
     "No, I saw him a few times after that."  A memory puzzled Tyrus.  "A few days later, he could see again.  Just like that.  Then...  he left."
     "He left?" Diana said.  "Where would he go?"
     Vulpes repeated the question so that Tyrus would answer.
     "He might've fled to Jerusalem," the Jew told them.
     "Fled?  Why?"  Tyrus had slipped, and Vulpes pounced on the mistake like his namesake on a rabbit.
     Tyrus sucked in a breath, and looked from Vulpes to Diana, and back again.  "He converted.  He joined that cult."
     The information shocked Vulpes.  "What?"
     Tyrus nodded his sympathy.  "I know...  I don't understand, either.  But he converted, then hid from people like himself."
     "He must be spying on them..."  Vulpis couldn't make sense of Saul's reversal any other way.
     Tyrus shook his head.  "I don't think so.  He'd never pretend to believe in something he believed to be false.  Whatever he saw in that light, it changed him."
     Tyrus' words confused them, but led them inevitably to Jerusalem.

Jerusalem

     The Temple dominated the city's eastern side, making the one in Damascus tiny by comparison.  Herod built it, ostensibly for the locals' God, though all could see whom he really wanted to honour.  Even Diana admitted that it impressed her -- not so much as Zeus' temples in Mother Rome, perhaps, but it impressed.
     Diana and Vulpes met with the high priest, a man named Caiaphas, in a room off the court of the Gentiles.  The priests allowed them no further into the temple, in spite of their mission from Rome.
     Caiaphas already knew their quest.  "You're looking for Saul."
     Diana took it as a question.  "Yes."
     Caiaphas looked at her coldly, turned his back to her, and addressed Vulpes.  "Find the cult and you'll find Saul."
     "The cult Saul was destroying, you mean?"  Vulpes wondered if it meant they'd taken Saul captive, or if the stories of his conversion held some truth.
     "It's spreading.  It's about time Rome took notice."  Caiaphas smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes.  "Are they finally threatening your 'gods'?"
     "Do they threaten yours?"  Diana let her sensitivity to such remarks open her lips.
     Caiaphas paused.
     Vulpes quickly stepped in.  "Where are they?"
     "Nobody knows for sure.  They are here in town, but hidden."  Caiaphas sneered.  "The 'Way' don't want to be found."
     "The 'Way'?"  Vulpes hadn't heard the term before.
     "It's what these cultists you're looking for -- these followers of the Nazarene -- call themselves."  Caiaphas honoured Diana with a predatory look.  "They believe their religion is the only way to Paradise."
     She didn't fall for his baiting.  "Not so different from you, then?"
     He switched tracks again, talking only to Vulpes.  "Saul has either hidden himself among them, to try to destroy them from the inside, or he has been discovered and killed."
     "They're that ruthless?"  None of the stories Vulpes had heard before included killing.
     "They're bloodthirsty, intolerant of outsiders.  Anyone who gets too close without joining their 'Way' ends up dead."
     Vulpes saw the hatred in the priest's eyes, and tried for irony.  "You don't like this cult, do you?"
     Caiaphas answered anyway.  "I've met their leader.  He claimed to be the Anointed One."   A sly smile crossed Caiaphas' face.  "He claimed to be the King of the Jews.  Is not Caesar our king?"
     Vulpes knew the real reason he affirmed the Emperor's authority.  The Romans had deposed Caiaphas' father-in-law, giving him the power of High Priest.  "The Anointed One?  He claimed to be your Messiah?"
     Caiaphas' eyes half-closed in feigned boredom.  "And where is he now?  He is dead, and we're still under the rule of Ro---"  He caught himself.  "But of course, that is as it should be, is it not?"
     Diana narrowed her eyes.  "Yes, it is."
     Vulpes knew she thought about the treason the man had almost committed.
     "Of course, when he died, his followers stole his body and claimed he rose again."  Caiaphas' lip curled in contempt for that idea.
     Vulpes thought about it, and found it inconsistent.  "Do your traditions include honouring the dead?"
     "We wrap them in linen, perfumed by myrrh and aloes.  Our traditions about the dead are very strict.  Why?"
     "I'm wondering why his followers -- they were also Jews, I believe?"  Vulpes waited for Caiaphas to confirm, then continued.  "Why would they steal the body."
     Caiaphas sucked in a quick breath, and hesitated before answering, with a mask of righteous anger.  "It's an abomination.  That our own people could sink so far!  They tell some story about him coming back from the dead, but they did steal the body.  The two soldiers who guarded his tomb can tell you.  Their names are Julius and Artos.  They're still with the Roman garrison."
     "Guards at the tomb?  Is that normal?"  Vulpes wondered why Caiaphas had the names of the guards ready to hand.  Had he expected to use them?
     "We thought the followers might try something like this.  Jesus told them he'd rise again after his death."
     "So they're trying to make it look like a prophecy fulfilled?  It's just a hoax?"
      "Of course."
     "So why would Saul believe in it?"  Vulpes still couldn't conceptualise that, even after Tyrus told them Saul had converted.
     "I don't know."  Caiaphas was losing his patience.  "If you find him, why don't you ask him?"
     "Perhaps he believed it?"
     "How could it be truth?  If it's true what they say, we wouldn't need priests anymore.  They've already lost respect for us!  Cult vandals even ripped the temple curtain in twain!"

# 

     "They defiled their own leader's grave."   The thought still disgusted Vulpes.
     Diana shrugged it off.  "Cultists aren't usually rational.  They'll do anything to make their point.  They're trying to make him a god."   Diana's cynicism reared up.  "I wonder if Saul's even still alive."
     A man came dancing in the street towards them, wildly jubilant, swinging his arms about his head, shouting.  "Praise God!  Praise Jesus!"  The man went past quickly.  Vulpes and Diana could only watch in stunned amusement.
     Vulpes grabbed a passer-by who'd ignored the man.  "Is that man insane?"
     "Him?  No.  He's been acting like that for a while."  The passer by tried to pull away, but not very hard.  He had a healthy fear of Romans, and anybody dressed in Latin garb commanded automatic respect.
     "How long?  Since when?"
     "He was a cripple who used to sit at Beautiful -- that's a gate of the temple -- and beg.  He's been dancing like that since a couple of people healed him.  He'll tell the story to anyone who asks, believe me."  Their informant had an air of long-suffering patience, as if he'd heard the story many times already.
     "And you believed him?"
     The man looked suspiciously at the woman, but her clothes still marked her as Roman.  He had to answer.  "I saw him at the temple gate.  Everyone used to see him.  His legs were useless, now they're not."
     They started to gain the crowd's attention.  The locals sided with their countryman.  "That's true.  The disciples have cast out demons."  "I saw Jesus feed thousands of people with a basket of bread."  "I've seen them heal the lame and the blind!"
     "They haven't healed me!"  Attracted by the noise, a man pushed his way forward.  "They can't."
     Vulpes looked closely at the man who refused to believe in the cult.  He noticed the man's eyes:  shrivelled, ruined, beyond any healing he knew of.
     "I'm tired of hearing about this 'Way'.  They don't do miracles!"  The pushy man didn't try to hide his bitterness.
     The crowd did not support him.  "You haven't met them yet."  "We've seen these miracles."  "Thousands of people have."  The people had found reason to side with the new cult, and that doing so defied Rome in a way that wouldn't get them killed didn't hurt their opinion.
     Vulpes looked around.  Hundreds of people filled a small square, all claiming to have seen miracles.  It disturbed him.
     After a moment he felt a hand on his shoulder, and turned to find a hooded man watching him.  When he had Vulpes' attention, the man turned and walked towards a side alley.  While the crowd kept Diana busy, Vulpes followed the hooded stranger, his hand on his sword and ready.
     In the alley, the man flung his hood back to reveal himself as an older, nondescript Jew.  "I hear you're asking questions about The Way."
     Caiaphas' words stirred in Vulpes' mind … they'll murder anyone who gets too close … and he knew he had to be careful.  "I have an interest, yes."
     "And what is your interest?"  The man's face remained expressionless.
     Vulpes couldn't read him.  He had to try something.  "I want to find somebody."
     "Saul."
     Maybe he'd found an opportunity?  If this man knew the cultists...  "Who are you?  Can you take us to these people?"
     "My name is Barnabas."  He scrutinised Vulpes, looking for some sign only he could see.  "And you may be ready to meet my people."
     Vulpes had found his first real breakthrough.  He brought Diana, and they followed Barnabas to their meeting with the cult.

# 

     A ghetto bordered the town, and Barnabas led them there.  Vulpes noticed one difference immediately.  In spite of his Roman garb, he received no angry looks.  The people in this area seemed open and friendly, and some even smiled.  The children ran through the streets, and parents didn't pull them away from the 'invaders'.  Vulpes raised an eyebrow to Diana, who shrugged.
     Somewhere within the ghetto, a house huddled deep where only those who knew it could find it.  A small house, cheap, in ill repair.  Barnabas took the two Romans inside, into a room where three men sat, waiting.  Motioning them to sit down, Barnabas introduced Peter, James, and Saul before leaving.
     "Saul."  Vulpes had recognised the man, but hadn't expected to find him alive.  "You are well?"
     "I take it you're the two who've been looking for me?"
     "We believed you'd been killed."  Diana sounded suspicious, as if she didn't believe it was really him.  "We thought these people had got to you..."
     Saul smiled patiently, and Vulpes noted it.  He'd never seen a local as welcoming of women as this man.  Even Romans treated them with less respect, but Saul treated her like a man.  "As you say.  I was trying to discredit these people.  I persecuted them, and tried to destroy their beliefs.  Now, I'm one of them."
     Vulpes' interest sparked.  "How did they convince you?"
     "They didn't.  It was Jesus Himself.  I was going to Damascus when He came to me in a blinding light, saying, 'Saul, Saul, why do you persecute me?' He showed me the truth."
     "The truth?" Diana said.  "That some dead man---"
     Peter didn't let Diana finish.  "I was there when you crucified our Lord.  And I was there when he returned---"
     Diana interrupted him.  "The guards say you stole his body.  He never returned.  You took the body to try to make it look like he did."
     The third, James, spoke for the first time.  "I never followed him, never believed in his message.  Not until I met him alive and well after his death."
     Few images existed, and Diana spoke the thought in Vulpes' mind.  "If you weren't one of his followers, how could you be sure the man you saw was the dead man?"
     James seemed insulted by the suggestion.  "I know my own brother."
     "He's your brother?"  It surprised Vulpes that anyone would become a disciple of his own brother.
     "Half-brother.  Our parents told us the story many times.  An angel came to my mother, before they were married..."
     Diana snorted.  "And you've never thought she was unfaithful?"
     "That's what my father thought at first.  He was furious, and wanted to end their relationship.  But then an angel came to him, too.  There's no way he would've married her if that hadn't happened."
     They all looked at Diana for a suitable rebuttal, but none came.  She answered indirectly.  "You say you didn't take the body, and people saw Jesus come back to life.  Why should we believe you?  The few loyal followers?"
     Saul had an answer ready.  "Hundreds of people saw him.  Hardly a 'few loyal followers'."
     The figure meant nothing.  Perhaps hundreds had seen it, perhaps not.  Vulpes made a mental note to look further later.
     Diana pressed on.  "They say you don't tolerate other gods."
     Saul became firm.  "There are no other gods."
     Diana sucked in a breath and spoke through gritted teeth.  "In Rome, we allow people to believe what they want."
     "And here, we encourage people to believe the truth.  What good does it do to allow belief if there is no truth in it?"
     "There are many paths..."
     "Jesus taught that he was the only way.  None can come to the Father, except through him."  Peter enforced Saul's point.
     "So there's no hope for those who follow the gods of Rome?"  Diana's lip curled.
     "The way is about forgiveness.  Turn from the path of wrong..."
     Vulpes sat back, thinking quietly to himself, hearing Diana's hostility grow.
     "Ah, I'm doing wrong, then?"
     Some memory obviously bothered Peter.  "Everyone does."
     "Except one."  James' quiet voice sounded like thunder.
     "Including you?  You all do wrong, and expect forgiveness?  So, you'll forgive me for all the wrong I've done, will you?"  Diana didn't try to hide her anger.
     "You've never lied?  Never hurt another?  Never hated?"  When she didn't answer, Saul became a touch more sympathetic.  "It's not our forgiveness that matters.  Remember that I used to persecute these people.  Now I am one of them.  You could be too."
     "You'd accept even us?  Us -- what's that word you use? -- Gentiles?"  Diana's contempt was palpable.
     "To God, there is no Jew or Gentile, slave or free."  Saul managed to sound calm in face of her anger.
     "If your message is so wonderful, why are you hiding?  Why don't you go preaching it in the streets?"
     Peter snapped.  "Why do you think?  We have people like you hounding us, trying to discredit everything we do!"
     "What we're asking here is," Vulpes needed to intervene before Diana created an incident, "do you really believe what you're saying?  That Jesus rose from the dead?  This isn't just some hoax?"
     "We risk death every day because of what we believe.  Why would we do that for a hoax?  What have we to gain, if this isn't truth?  My brother died, and then I saw him come back to life.  That is the truth, and I -- we -- would die to support that."
     Diana glared at James.  "It's not true.  It's can't be real.  Can't you see that?"
     "Why don't you ask the tomb guards where they got their money from?"  Peter's question challenged the Romans.  "Ask them what really happened that day."
     "We're done.  We were only meant to find Saul, and we've done that."  Diana stood up.  "Let's leave, Vulpes."

# 

     Vulpes followed her out of the house.  Diana looked around for a second, and selected one of the kids in the street; a pre-teen boy, different to the rest, with fair hair and blue eyes that marked him as a Gentile.  "Hello, boy."  She smiled ingratiatingly.
     "Hi."  He gave a quick wave of his hand.
     "I was wondering, what are you doing with these people?  You don't look Jewish."
     The boy shrugged.
     "And they treat you all right?  They don't put you down as a gentile?"
     Vulpes knew her question led somewhere.  Perhaps she sought hypocrisy, some sort of Jewish clique in the community.
     The boy looked around at the houses, and some of the other children, now a little distance away.  "We're all the same within His eyes.  They accept me."
     Vulpes thought he saw the point now.  "So this cult is really about an accepting community?"
     "The truth is in here," said the boy.
     "Truth.  I keep hearing that word."  Diana gave a frustrated sigh.  "But are there not two truths?  Yours and mine?"
     The boy smiled.  "You're saying that everyone's beliefs are right?  And that anyone who believes differently is wrong?"
     "I'm saying there are two paths."
     Vulpes recognised the anger champing at Diana's tone.
     "Yes, there are two paths you can go by.  But in the long run, there's still time to change the road you're on.  And only one leads to Heaven."
     Vulpes stepped in, knowing Diana would hate that answer.  "Do you believe in this Saviour?"
     "Yep."
     They walked from the compound in silence.  Vulpes thought about what he'd heard, feeling Diana's anger radiating off her like heat.

# 

     Vulpes decided the time had come to talk to the guards.  Diana wouldn't be objective right now, not in her anger, so he went alone.  "What really happened?  And I know the disciples didn't take the body, so don't tell me they did."  Actually Vulpes couldn't be certain, but the guards didn't have to know that.
     Artos sweated.  "They promised we wouldn't get in trouble."
     Julius nudged him.  "Be silent."  But the warning came too late.
     "Who told you?"  A long pause followed the question.  "Tell me!"
     Artos started at the exclamation.  "The priests!  They said they'd clear it with the governor!"
     Vulpes smiled inside.  Artos began to crack, and he could work that weakness.  "Very good.  You're not in any trouble now."  His tone implied there could be some later.  "But I need you to tell me the truth.  What happened that day?"
     Julius shut his eyes slowly, then opened them.  "I won't hide any more.  He'll tell you anyway.  He rose, as he predicted.  We saw it."
     Artos cut in.  "We went to the commander who'd told us to guard the tomb in the first place.  He's with the priests.  They pay us a pile of money to keep quiet and spread the story that the disciples took the body.  They said we wouldn't get in trouble."
     "You won't."  Vulpes sat back to think about the new information.  The conspiracy ran deeper than he'd thought.  Then he noticed the soldiers still there.  "Dismissed."

# 

     "I don't think they're rebels.  Or dangerous."  Vulpes had waited until Diana seemed calmer to tell her his new theory.  They wandered the hot streets, between mud houses with flat roofs, through crowds of sweaty locals.
     "Et tu, Vulpes?  Didn't you hear them?  They're dangerously intolerant of Rome and our gods.  They'll subvert our people."
     "They're no worse than the Jews.  They only believe in one god.  How can you ask them to accept ones that don't exist to them?"  To Vulpes, the cultists represented a kind of Judaism, and as such Roman law would not let him attack them directly.
     "But the gods are real.  If they're not, I've wasted---"
     "Hallelujah!"  The man ran into Vulpes, and grabbed him by the elbows.  "It's a great day, brother!"
     Diana sighed.  "What now?"  Then her mouth opened in shock.
     "They healed me!  I was blind, now I can see!"
     "Who did?"  Vulpes knew the answer before asking.
     "The Way!  I asked for alms, and they gave me sight!"  He rushed away, excited.
     Diana watched him go.  "That's impossible..."
     Her reaction surprised Vulpes.  "You've seen it before."
     "Before, it was just stories.  Didn't you recognise him?  That was the blind man we met yesterday!"
     "That was him?"  It shocked Vulpes.
     "I saw his eyes," said Diana.  "They were ruined."
     "Are you sure that was him?  The same?"
     Diana wasn't listening.  "There is no way he could be healed, but..."
     They both fell silent.  Vulpes stared after the not-so-blind man.  Something had to be at work here, something supernatural.
     "It's impossible," Diana finally said.  "They can't have power.  They can't.  Not unless..."  She looked down, and away.  She waved Vulpes off.  "I have to go.  I'm going to the hilltop, to talk to my goddess."  When she walked, her head hung low.

# 

     Vulpes used the time to pay another visit to Saul and the others.  He didn't have quite enough information yet for a full report.  Paras would want to know why Saul didn't return, just as he'd want some proof that the man still lived.
     "What should we tell Rome?"  Perhaps Saul could answer that himself.
     "Tell them I haven't been ensorcelled, and I'm not under the influence of some charismatic leader.  Tell them I now know the truth."
     Vulpes spoke his fears out loud.  "That won't please Paras."
     Peter gave a start.  "Paras?"
     "My commander.  He's the one who sent me on this mission."  Vulpes wondered why the interest.
     Peter turned to James.  "Wasn't he there?"
     James remembered him, too.  "Yes...  Yes, he was.  He saw.  He knows..."
     Vulpes felt left out.  "What?  What does he know?"
     "At the moment my brother died, there was an earthquake, and hours of darkness.  Paras realised then who he was."  James remembered every detail of the day.
     "He believes in the truth?"
     Peter showed anger.  "He fears it."

# 

     "Diana!  Diana, answer!"  The body of the dove lay spread before her, its entrails mute, nothing more than dead guts.  She punched the altar, and sat back heavily.
     Tears of frustration dried on her eyes.  She'd found no answer.  She'd never found an answer.  Not in a lifetime of service.
     She looked up.  The boy from the compound stood on the hilltop next to her.  "Come and see."  He held out his hand.
     Diana hesitated.
     "Take my hand.  We'll be able to fly."
     Diana took it, and the boy led her away from her altar.

# 

     Diana and Vulpes met again back at the garrison, and he noticed her strange happiness.  "Nothing!" she said, smiling.   "I tried to talk to my goddess, and nothing!"
     "I'm sorry."  Vulpes didn't know what to say about it.
     "I'm not."  She grinned.  "It showed me the truth.  Vulpes, I'm joining the Way."
     It took him a moment to find his voice.  "Are you insane?" he finally blurted.
     She snorted.  "No.  For the first time in my life, I'm not.  I've found a meaning I never had back in Rome.  I want to stay with these people."
     "And what should I tell Rome, when I get back without you?"  Vulpes dumped his sword on the table, too heavy to carry.
     "Tell them anything.  Tell them I was killed by bandits on the way back."
     "Killed?  What about your loved ones---"
     "I was pretty much alone back home."  She turned away from him.  "There's no-one to miss me if I'm dead."

Rome

     Vulpes stormed into Paras' room in the Senate.  "You knew!"
     Paras put on a mask of cool.  "Knew what, exactly?"
     Paras' impassiveness only made Vulpes angrier.  "You were there when they crucified them.  You knew the Way was true!"
     "Yes."  He checked Vulpes' reaction.  "Did you expect a denial?  I was there.  At first I thought Jesus was just another cult leader.  I advised Pilate to kill Him, knowing the Jews wouldn't believe He was the Son of God if He was dead...  But He's real.  I know.  I was there when He died.  I had to be sure.  I thrust my own spear into his side.  Then, just days later, I saw Him walking around Jerusalem, alive and healthy."
     It scared Vulpes.  His whole sense of truth needed rearranging.  "Then why?  Why would you try to discredit his people, if you know they're right?"
     "What?  How can you ask?  They call Jesus the 'King of the Jews'.  That's treason against Caesar.  And what will they do to me, who ordered his execution, and mutilated the body, if they get power?"  He casually walked around in front of his table.
     Vulpes realised the extent and the source of Paras' fear.  "You're contemptible."
     "I didn't hear that."
     For part of a second, Vulpes thought about taking back his comment, but instead he turned and walked angrily away, leaving his commander to his fears.  And his fate.

© 2004 Mik Bennett