Providence: Chapter 2

Prepping the post with the Golden Girls on in the background and Bella running around like she's had waaaay too much caffeine has proven to be a tad distracting, but a good test of my posting prowess. Welcome to the second segment in Providence: The Tale of the Tamrins. For Chapter 1, please see last week's post. For all those buckled up and ready to go, enjoy!

Chapter 2: Reverend Tamrin’s Sunday Nights

The Sunday night activities of Reverend Tamrin were not wholly unknown to the citizens of Providence. They generally understood what it was their reverend did, they failed to know where it was he went. For the past seventeen years, the reverend would habitually mount his steed hours after the end of noon service and leave town. He was not at all secretive about what he did and who he visited, but he never would utter where it was he travelled.

The people of Providence would watch Reverend Tamrin and his horse slowly canter out of town with that usual kind and welcoming smile on his face. If any of the townies held questions for him, Reverend Tamrin would stop to answer. The night was long after all, he had time. The people of Providence would watch him go until he disappeared into the trees of the surrounding forest, then town would continue to operate as normal without too much altercation in his twelve-to-fifteen hour absence. Yes, the Reverend would not return until about mid-morning Monday. The people never worried for his sake. They knew that he would be alright even though the object of his disappearances was hardly ever discussed in open conversation.

This reverend was one of a kind.

Dungeons, shadow-people, demons, and hexes alike all failed to rattle his thoughts ever since he was a child; when the prospect of preaching to a congregation of those who thrive in the night crossed his path, Reverend Tamrin leapt for the opportunity. The prospect of facing the creatures of the night was something he could not let pass. As a very young man, he left his home in the neighboring country of Viramont to travel the woods of Nuir Nosnobles in search of this congregation. It was much to his delight that their castle would share grounds with Providence, a town that as fate would have it, was in need of a reverend.

The reverend slowly made his way through Homewood Forest. He and his horse weaved their way off the path and through the bush. The air was thick here. The dew from the night before lingered as a sticky evanescence below the interlaced leaves above. Mosquitoes and gnats buzzed about, but these pests did not deter him from progressing. It was partially because of these discomforts that the reverend chose this particular unmarked path as his route to his second congregation; the curiosity infringed children of Providence would in no way take this route for fear of being bitten by such nasty bugs and other such creatures.

After about twenty minutes worth of a gentle canter, the reverend approached his destination. Settled in the heart of Homewood Forest, lay a tandem of trees. Two wych elms stood side by side with a meager distance between them. To any lost passerby, these elms would have a haunting and unwelcoming awe about their stance, but none would ever guess the secrets these trees guarded.

The reverend dismounted. He led his horse to a nearby patch of grass beneath an oak tree– it had been a long time since his steed would move about uneasily near those elms, but for the horse’s sake, the reverend tied him a fair distance away. Horses were highly sensitive to the presence of the night dwellers – it typically made equines very uneasy. After giving his animal companion a quick pat, Reverend Tamrin returned to the wych elms. Their bulbous barked bodies twisted away from each other as though in pain. The reverend stood directly before these trees, staring straight through the distance between their bodies. Mr. Tamrin sighed and wiped the gathering sweat from his brow with his sleeve. He wanted to look presentable.

“My friends, Cärabadés,” the reverend called between the trees in one of the most ancient languages to still walk the world. “May I speak with you?”

The world around the reverend seemed to centralize its focus upon the elms. A sweet female voice beckoned from what seemed like a plain beyond, “Enter, friend of the Cärabadés.” The gap between the trees dissolved into an aperture – an opened doorway to a world below the ground mortals tread. A stairway appeared before his eyes and so too did the shape of a lovely pale woman dressed in a light-blue satin dress. “As you always do,” she added with a smile.

“How are you, Lin?” Reverend Tamrin asked as he stepped over the threshold and into a world very unlike Providence.

“I am great, thank you,” Lin answered, touching the back of the elm, closing the gateway again. She welcomingly placed her arm around the reverend’s high shoulders as they commenced their long spiraled decent. “How are you, Thane?”

Behind the descending pair the image of the forest above dissolved with a collection of hisses and sharp snaps. The image underwent its metamorphosis into its true from of two closed red doors.

“I am fine, as always,” the reverend answered his long-time friend. His body felt rejuvenated from the stifling heat with the comfort of the cool netherworld. “How’s the family?” Reverend Tamrin politely inquired as they neared the bottom of the ninety-step dive.

Prior to her answer, the pair passed into an enormous cathedral-like entrance room. The masterful paintings, the heavy red curtains and the towering hourglass marble columns that stood above all else never failed to awe the reverend. He knew that he would never tire of entering this underground palace. He wished that he could share the glories of this wondrous underworld with a select few of his friends from Providence, but that was a decision that fell irrevocably to the patron and the matron of this, the Castle of the Cärabadés.

Lin answered the reverend’s question that everyone here was fine as well, but Thane’s attention was slightly turned away from his immediate company. He could not help to notice once again the feeling that he was being watched by shadows. Of course, this feeling was one of truth. Many of the younger Cärabadés lingered on the banister above the great hall that their matron and her guest crossed. These were the members of the clan that yet could walk in daylight beside man. Turning into shadows and watching silently was how they entertained themselves and occupied their time. Two-hundred years was a long span to wait even with a potential eternity spread between them and a set of gates. Adjusting to life after death was among the more difficult transitions a soul could make.

The matron of the castle led Thane to the door beside the fireplace that exceeded the breadth of most built above ground. The pair entered a warm dining hall that would have seemed quite large were it not for the huge dark wooden table that occupied most of the space between the darkly painted walls. The patron of this palace casually sat at the end of this nearly empty table, which was kept so clean that one could see their own reflection in its face. This man with a kind yet pensive expression tapped his hand to the table a few times before standing to welcome back his good friend and his partner. “Ah, Thane, how goes the upper world?” Howard, the late-middle age looking man, greeted. He shook the reverend’s hand and pulled the man into a brotherly embrace.

“As good as it can be in the last few days of summer,” the reverend responded. “It’s impeccably warm out. I was surprised that none of my parishioners passed out in church today – even with all the windows open it was stifling.”

The three made their way back to the end of the table. They took their seats nearest to the glowing fireplace. In his peripherals the reverend saw the large rectangular mirror directly above the fireplace mantle. The mirror was angled slightly forward so that every head at the table could be seen. The reverend briefly remembered inquiring the reason for why such a gaudy thing was placed in one of the most humbly decorated rooms in the entirety of the expansive labyrinth. It was to this answer that Thane truly became attached to this congregation; “It is to remind us that we are not the monsters mortals believe us to be. It is to prove to ourselves that we are truly alive.”  The mirror was a wonderful sight to see, but the reverend hardly ever dared to look in it himself for reasons known only to him.

The remarkably tanned-skin patron patted the reverend’s shoulder before asking his friend if he was hungry. “You might as well eat now, brother,” the lord of the castle suggested caringly. “After last night, I doubt that there will be many early rising from our youngens tonight.”

“Why? What happened last night?” the reverend asked.

Lin and Howard exchanged a look that was not exactly comforting to the reverend. From his countless visits before, he knew only too well of all the troubles afflicting the castle, which were to be expected from a clan of this size.

The matron listened to the walls for a moment to ensure that there were no intruding ears hearing their conversation. The area surrounding the room was still. Feeling satisfied by this, she leaned heavily forward on the table’s smooth face. “There is something that Howard and I would like to speak with you about at your place tomorrow, in the day.”

There were two things that struck the importance of the issue to be discussed to the reverend: the time and the place. Neither Howard nor Lin frequently visited the reverend during the day so that they could maintain an air of anonymity to the people of Providence. To that town, Howard and Lin were the reverend’s cousins stopping in for a visit from their not-so-far home in Southern Viramont. Thus, their wanting to visit during the day meant that Lin and Howard did not want their children listening-in. The reverend understood that for now he would have to be patient and wait until tomorrow to hear the latest controversy upsetting the peace of the clan. The reverend shifted to rest more comfortably in the high backed wooden chair. He crossed his legs as he said, “I think that I will have something to eat, if you do not mind.” His stomach was rumbling something fierce. As good of an eater as he could be, he usually did not eat much, particularly on Sundays.

Both members of his company stood as though to fetch the food, but after a brief mild debate, Lin was the winner who left to fetch their guest some wine and bread.

The men discussed the happenings that occurred in the castle in the week since Thane’s last visit. The men held off on the more delightfully entertaining gossip of the occurrences in Providence for Lin’s return. The matron quickly reentered the dining hall with a basket of bread, cheese, dried meet and a bottle of wine tucked under her arm. The three helped themselves merrily to the humble meal. As they ate, Lin could not help herself to make the comment, “Thane, I almost wish that you would let us change you so that you could really taste this food.”

Both the reverend and the patron smiled. None present would have ever made the attempt for said wish, but it did make for good banter.

“That’s right, Thane,” Howard said sarcastically in between bites, “You should forfeit your brilliant life above and become one of us below so that your taste buds will be enhanced two hundred years from now.”

“Sounds like a plan to me,” the reverend returned with a smile and a wink to Lin.

Just as previously predicted by the patron, it did take several hours more before all members of the underground community awoke. When the members of the Cärabadés came to realize that the night still lasting in their wake was Sunday, most of them hurriedly fluttered to the second largest single room in the library. Among the spines of several centuries’ worth of novels and captured histories, the members of the Cärabadés knew they would find the reverend ready for his ritual Sunday night/Monday morning routine. All of the collected members in the room gazed at this one man with star filled eyes. They were sincerely enchanted by his words in a manner much like Ms. Grace’s school children were whilst she read to them fantastic tales. The lessons from Thane Tamrin were not so far off from those professed by Ms. Grace. The reverend would, with a charming comforting expression and voice, tell his night-bound congregation fables with reverberating moral themes exactly as he would to the people of Providence. The only difference between that bunch and this was the fact that presently ninety-eight percent of the Cärabadés could not yet be seen by the sun. There were so many rules and traditions surrounding their lives; it was nice to forget everything to listen to a reverend and the wonderful stories he would tell. This was one of the main reasons why Thane chose to seek out the Cärabadés. He wanted to bring life and love back to a people shunned, misunderstood, and despised. He wanted to bring God’s love back into the eyes, hearts, and minds of all the Cärabadés vampires.

~*~*~

Tune in next week for the next segment! For those of you who are new to the blog, if you like my style of story telling, please check out my other book, The Feast and Follies of the Animal Court available on Barnes & Noble Nook and Amazon Kyndle. 

Your humble author,

S. Faxon