The Gift Read online

The door burst open. “Anastasia! Are you okay?” It was Vanita.

  “I’m—I’m—” Ana wasn’t sure what she was.

  “Oh, honey, you had a terrible nightmare!” Vanita lit a candle and sat down on the bed. “Look at you! You’re drenched in sweat!” She used the edge of a blanket to wipe Ana’s forehead.

  “I dreamed . . . I dreamed of my parents. Of my home.”

  “You poor thing. Do you want to tell me about it?” Vanita waited quietly on the edge of the bed in her silky chemise, a look of concern on her face.

  Ana shook her head. Tears came then—big, hot tears that welled up from deep inside her soul and overflowed from her eyes and ran down her cheeks. She didn’t sob but covered her mouth and let her shoulders tremble as she mourned the loss of her parents and her home. Vanita patted Ana’s hand on the bed but didn’t speak.

  At last Ana’s tears were spent. She shuddered deeply. “Am I a fool?” she asked.

  “You’re not a fool,” Vanita said. “It’s part of the grieving process. You have to put that part of your life behind you. It hurts, but you have to let it go.”

  “I hope to go back someday.”

  Vanita’s voice was tender. “Anastasia, don’t cling to that hope. Release it so you can build a good life here in Ulmbartia.”

  Ana sniffled, then reached for a handkerchief on the bedside table.

  “Hey, what’s that?” Vanita gestured toward Ana’s neck.

  Ana glanced down at the cross pendant that had slipped from where it had been tucked into her nightgown. “Oh, it’s just a . . . a little necklace Teofil gave me.”

  Vanita rolled her eyes. “Teofil gave it to you?” She leaned close and inspected it. “That’s the tackiest thing I’ve ever seen.”

  “It means a lot to me.”

  “Anastasia, don’t you see that Teofil is like a chain around your leg? He’s a symbol of your old life. He’s holding you back from building a future of your own. You need to break free of him and everything he stands for.”

  “I can’t do that, Vanita.”

  “Why not? I’m telling you what’s best, sweetie. You should ditch him and find a good Ulmbartian lord. We have plenty, and you’re so pretty you can have your pick of them.”

  “I don’t want an Ulmbartian lord. I want—”

  “You want what? Teofil? Well, he sure doesn’t seem to want you!”

  Ana didn’t answer.

  “Think about it,” Vanita continued. “He’s never expressed any interest in you. If he liked you, don’t you think he would have said so? He goes to an upscale party with you, and what does he do? Instead of treating you like a lady, he gets smashed and pukes on himself like the town drunk. I heard all about it.”

  The memory of that night was embarrassing. Ana didn’t try to correct Vanita’s mistaken understanding of what had happened at the chateau, but neither did she wish to hear Teo being mocked. “Teofil is nice to me,” she insisted.

  Vanita scoffed. “Niceness won’t provide you a good living. Look, the best gift he can afford is that grotesque pendant of a tormented man. I’m telling you, this guy’s not worthy of a woman like you.”

  “Vanita, stop. If you knew him, you’d see. The truth is, I’m not worthy of him.”

  Vanita threw her hands in the air. “Come on, Anastasia, snap out of it! Stop looking backward! Your future is to make a good match with an Ulmbartian aristocrat—not a woodsman from over the mountains.” Vanita stared into a dark corner of the room, then swung her head back to Ana. “The fact is, I saw Teofil take one of the servant girls up to his room.”

  “What? I don’t believe that.”

  “It’s true! I saw it with my own eyes. A hot little thing, too. Probably ten years younger than him.”

  “Who was it?”

  “Bianca, the scullery maid,” Vanita answered promptly.

  “Bianca! She’s not even out of her teens!”

  “I know. But that’s the way single men are. They latch onto any little sweetheart who wiggles her hips at them. You have to get a man locked up—legally, I mean. Then no matter what they might do, you’re in the money.” Vanita stroked Ana’s forearm. “Listen to me—stop all this foolishness with Teofil. I think it’s because of him that you’re having these bad dreams. You’re not going to be able to move on until you cut your ties with him.”

  “I’m not going to cut my ties with Teofil. Never.”

  Vanita frowned and fiddled with the bedsheets. Suddenly she glanced up at Ana with a twinkle in her eye. “I know a man who’s been asking about you,” she said.

  Ana tsked and looked away.

  “Not just any man. The most coveted man any Ulmbartian girl could ever dream of. He’s from Likuria. In fact, he’s the ruler of that land.”

  “Is that supposed to make me change my mind?” Ana kept her face turned away from Vanita.

  “His name is Cristof di Sanjorjo. He’s the dohj—that’s their name for their king. The Likurians are very classy, and filthy rich. Dohj Cristof also happens to be extremely handsome.”

  Ana threw Vanita a skeptical glance. “Are you trying to say he’s been asking about me?I’m barely known in Ulmbartian social circles, much less in Likuria.”

  “I know. But somehow he’s heard of you. He’s coming here in four days to mark the signing of a treaty that my father is involved in. Our rice for their olives. Dohj Cristof specifically mentioned to my father that he’d heard a beautiful foreigner had come to stay with us. He said he hopes to meet you at the Harvest Ball.”

  “The Harvest Ball? I was planning to go with T—”

  Vanita arched an eyebrow, then lunged at Ana and pushed her flat on the bed. Startled, Ana stared at Vanita as she loomed over her, pressing her shoulders into the sheets. Vanita’s blonde hair dangled so close, Ana could feel it brushing her cheeks. Vanita spoke deliberately: “You . . . are . . . not . . . going . . . home. Do you understand? It’s time to start thinking realistically. Your future is here. I’m your friend, Anastasia. I’m the only one speaking truth into all your jumbled emotions. Teofil is nothing to you, okay? But Dohj Cristof? He’s—” Vanita pursed her lips as she considered her words.

  “He’s what?”

  Vanita released Ana’s shoulders and stood, a big grin on her face. “He’s mine,” she said with a wink, then bent to the candle and blew it out. “But there are plenty more for you.” Vanita giggled in the darkness and closed the bedroom door behind her.

  “There’s something I haven’t told you,” Sol said as he reined up next to Teo.

  The two riders sat side by side in front of an earthen wall protected by a ditch with wooden spikes along its length. The forest here was tangled, making passage difficult. A faint trail ran past a tree stump to a narrow gate in the Forbidden Zone’s wall.

  “If there’s something I need to know, it seems like now’s the time,” Teo said.

  Sol’s horse shifted its feet. “The people in there are—”

  Teo glanced at Sol, whose eyes stared at the earthwork ahead. He waited for Sol to continue.

  “They’re Defectives.”

  Teo nodded at the announcement, though he wasn’t as shocked as Sol evidently thought he should be. The Ulmbartian abhorrence of physical deformity was a quirk Teo considered odd, but he didn’t share Sol’s revulsion toward the so-called Defectives. In Teo’s experience most people were defective in one way or another. It was just more obvious in some than it was in others.

  “Come on,” he said, goading his horse. “Let’s go meet some Defectives.”

  Teo led the way past the stump where the local farmers left their bribes of food at each full moon to keep the Defectives inside. A sharp blow from Teo’s ax broke the lock on the gate. He swung it open. The earthen wall wasn’t much of a barrier. It didn’t have to be. It only had to mark a mutually agreed-upon boundary.

  “The ground slopes away here a little,” Teo called over his shoulder as he rode through the gate. “Come take a look.” Sol hesitated befo
re trotting his horse into the Zone as well.

  Teo gazed across the flat expanse of the Forbidden Zone. Although vegetation had ensnarled the ancient city, Teo could see numerous buildings and other large structures poking from the forest. Apparently the destructive fires of the Ancients had never consumed this region. The city’s inhabitants had simply abandoned it—if they had remained alive long enough to do so.

  Sol shook his head as he stared at the mysterious ruins. “There’s nowhere like this on earth,” he said.

  “I saw a place like it once,” Teo remarked. “Anastasia and I found the Sacred Writing in a lost city like this, left to decay over the centuries.”

  “Does she know you’re here?”

  “I didn’t tell her. She probably believes what everyone else does, that we’re visiting a library for our teaching.”

  Sol cackled. “I suppose you could call it a library. The Forbidden Zone is a place where knowledge is kept by a few, lest it be forgotten altogether. That’s the only reason I’d return to such a fearsome place.”

  “Fearsome? Should I be afraid?”

  “Hmm.” Sol tapped his chin, his eyes narrowing. “You may find that knowledge demands its price, young Teofil.”

  Teo’s horse pricked its ears, and it whinnied as its head came up. Teo snatched an arrow from his quiver and nocked it, scanning the undergrowth. Sol crowded close behind him.

  “I know you’re there!” Teo shouted in Talyano. “Show yourself!”

  They did.

  A crowd of them, all Defectives.

  They materialized out of the bushes, warped and twisted forms of human life. Many had hunched backs or missing limbs or disfiguring scars or misshapen skulls. Some walked with an awkward, jerky gait, while others shuffled along with dull expressions. They emitted a cacophony of vague noises and grunts and moans. All were dressed in rags, and not one looked well fed.

  A man with a commanding presence rode forward on an old nag. The left side of his face was an eruption of bulbous red tumors, yet his eyes shone with lively intelligence. He held a spiked club. “What brings strangers into the Zone? Do you seek asylum? I see no defects upon you. Speak!”

  Teo released the tension on his bowstring and returned the arrow to his quiver. “We are not here for asylum. We wish to befriend the people of this territory.” The statement brought grunts and screeches from the watching crowd.

  “Defectives are not befriended by the Whole,” said the leader. “What trick is this?”

  Dismounting, Teo approached the rider and held out his hand. “I am Teofil of Chiveis,” he said. “I befriend all children of the Creator.”

  For a long moment the forest was absolutely still. Then, as if on a signal, the Defectives burst into an excited babble. Sol squirmed in his saddle, though he remained silent.

  The mounted leader swung to the ground and stared at Teo’s outstretched hand, then glanced from it into Teo’s eyes. Though the man’s disfigurement was startling, Teo did not flinch but held his gaze steady. Slowly the man reached out and grasped Teo’s hand in a firm grip.

  “You see with the vision of the Creator, Teofil of Chiveis. Such a thing is rare among the Whole.”

  “Yet it is fitting for those who know the Creator’s goodness. I am a follower of the one true God”—Teo hesitated, then plunged ahead—“and his Pierced One.”

  The leader of the Defectives was visibly surprised. “The Pierced One? We believed him to be unknown in Ulmbartia.”

  “He is unknown. Would you have him be known to those who seek him?”

  The man did not reply. Instead he spun around and mounted the nag again. Looking down at Teo from his horse’s back, he said, “You will come with me. I will take you to the Domo.”

  Teo returned to his horse. “Who’s the Domo?” he whispered to Sol as he put his foot in the stirrup and swung up.

  “It’s not a who, it’s a what. The Domo is a great temple of the Ancients.”

  The man with the tumorous face led Teo and Sol through the decayed ruins of the lost city. The farther they went, the more urban their surroundings became. The trees thinned out, and the landscape began to be dominated by cracked pavement and large buildings instead of forest. Many of the buildings were ten or twelve stories high, with empty windows and gaping doorways. Shrubs grew from the roofs. Steel carriages of the Ancients lay scattered about, rusted and decayed.

  The rough trail the riders had been following became a winding pathway through a maze of city streets. They rode in silence for the better part of the morning. The only signs of life were pigeons and an occasional hawk.

  At last the man in front held up his fist. He dismounted and walked around the corner of a city block. When he returned, he was accompanied by a thin man whose hair was shaved in a ring around his head.

  “This is Brother Toni,” said the man with the tumors, gesturing at the other man. “He will take you from here.”

  Brother Toni folded his hands into the sleeves of his robe. “L-l-leave your w-weapons behind,” he said as he began to walk around the corner. “F-f-f-follow me.” Brother Toni had no obvious physical ailment, so Teo guessed his stutter was what made him a Defective. Not sure what else to do, he disarmed and followed the monkish figure around the corner. Sol trailed close behind.

  They entered a spacious plaza that had been cleared of foliage and debris. At the far end, an immense building rose into the sky. Teo discerned immediately from its architecture that it was a temple of Deu. The intricate pinnacles and carved statues reminded him of the ancient temple in the lost city where he and Ana had discovered the Sacred Writing. The main facade of that temple had contained three doors, but the building in front of Teo had five great doors that towered several times the height of a man and were recessed into decorated portals. The building’s white stone seemed to glow in the midday sun. It was shaped like a letter A whose apex reached into the clouds. Spire-topped columns rose along its stone face, and numerous windows punctuated its walls.

  This beautiful structure is truly worthy of Deu, Teo thought.

  Brother Toni beckoned with his hand. “The Overs-s-s-s-seer awaits.” He marched toward the temple’s central door.

  As Teo followed him, the carvings on the building’s facade became more discernible, though time had certainly worn them down. Teo noticed a depiction of a youth holding an oversized sword. The boy smiled as he displayed the severed head of a giant whose forehead was broken by a stone. The neck of the giant’s corpse spilled forth gore. Teo resolved to look through the Sacred Writing to see if he could find the account.

  Entering the Domo, Teo found himself stunned by its massive scale. It was even larger than the temple he had discovered with Ana. The ceiling disappeared into the darkness far above, while five great aisles divided the cavernous space. The aisles were defined by pillars so large they would dwarf even the greatest trees. It seemed that such mighty pillars could support the sky itself.

  Brother Toni’s footsteps echoed on the marble floor, which was decorated in a geometric floral pattern. He walked toward the far end of the temple, where windows covered the rear wall. Some of the panes were broken and admitted shafts of sunlight, but others retained their scintillating glass. A large stone table stood upon a dais. Numerous candelabras illuminated it, along with specks of color from the rays shining through the windows. Behind the table stood a lone man wearing a white robe with a gold sash.

  Brother Toni approached the dais and bowed at the waist, sweeping both hands away from his body. Sol glanced at Teo and indicated they should do the same. After they had bowed, the man in the white robe beckoned Teo toward the table.

  “I am the Overseer,” he said. The hood of his plain robe hung loosely over his forehead and draped around his neck. The Overseer’s beard was snow-white, though he carried himself with an erect posture that proved he had not yet succumbed to old age. Staring at Teo with his stark blue eyes, he asked, “What brings the Whole to our land?” Teo could not tell if the voice was
stern or welcoming—or somehow both.

  “We come as friends,” Teo said. “We would learn of the Pierced One.”

  The Overseer frowned. “For what purpose, O Seeker?”

  Teo took a deep breath. “I worship the Creator, known to me as Deu. I have learned he had a servant named Iesus Christus, who suffered on a cross. I believe you call him the Pierced One. I wish to understand the mysteries of my God.”

  “Approach.”

  Teo climbed the steps of the dais until he stood directly across the table from the Overseer. Two lampstands flanked the table, while a bowl, a hammer, a nail, and a leather pad lay on its surface. The Overseer dipped the nail in the bowl of clear liquid, then lifted it to a lamp. A blaze flared up as the liquid burned off. The Overseer picked up the hammer.

  “To perceive the truth, you cannot be whole,” he said in a solemn voice. “Only the broken can truly see.” He pushed the leather pad across the tabletop. “Place your hand here.”

  What?

  Teo stared at the thick pad, then looked up at the Overseer.

  The man waited quietly, holding the hammer and nail. Teo swallowed. “Sir, if I do this, will you tell me what you know of the Pierced One?”

  The Overseer nodded. “Yes, if you are worthy.”

  Teo laid his left palm on the pad. Sweat broke out on his forehead. He reminded himself of his oath to Ana. He had sworn to discover the truth of Deu, no matter what the cost. You can do this, Teo! Men sometimes have their limbs amputated; they endure arrowheads being dug from infected wounds. Grit your teeth and take the pain. The wound will heal in time. You have to do this to find out more about Iesus Christus.

  The Overseer pressed the tip of the nail, still hot, into the fleshy place between Teo’s thumb and forefinger. Teo clenched his jaw but held his hand still.

  Everything was silent in the spacious hall as the hammer was raised. Teo looked up from his hand to the Overseer’s bearded face. The man stared back at Teo with an intense gaze.

  “I am willing to join you,” Teo said.

  The hammer swept down.

  A metallic bang resounded as the nail was struck. Pain flooded Teo’s hand. He squinted and grimaced as stars exploded before his eyes. A gasp escaped his lips. After shaking his head to let his vision clear, he glanced down.