3.32: Faith and Pride

The next morning, Konrad got up early. After performing his daily ablutions, he again prayed to God for guidance.

As he opened his eyes, the stained glass window began to glow faintly. His heart began to flutter.

It’s just the sun rising.

Korric met him in the corridor.

“Father, would you bless the laity with a sermon this morning? A reminder that wisdom comes from the Church would do them good.”

He paused, then nodded.

An hour later, he walked into the hall, buzzing with hushed voices of dozens. It was fully packed, the pews filled with more than a hundred people standing shoulder to shoulder. Multi-colored light, filtering from the large, tall stained window behind the altar, bathed them all. The smell of incense and perfume hung in the air.

The local nobles stood in the front, evident by their expensive clothes. He found his eyes drawn to a pair of well-dressed women standing near the center. Clearly mother and daughter. The mother must be only a few years younger than him.

The Count’s family?

Korric, already at the altar, gestured to him.

“Brothers and sisters, we have the good fortune of hearing from Father Konrad this day. He is a Bishop sent by the Holy Father himself, to bring the light and guidance of God to his people.”

He stepped aside to let Konrad take center stage.

Eyes filled with reverence, curiosity and wariness looked at him as he took the altar.

“Greetings, fellow sons and daughters of God,” he began. “You all are fortunate to have been bestowed such a beautiful place to call home. In the process of performing my duties, I found my mind drawn to the subtle sin of pride. Pride can lead us to believe that we understand God’s creation just because we can see it with our eyes. Yet our eyes are small, limited things. They reveal only what God allows us to see, for all creation belongs to Him. Therefore, let us be slow to proclaim every novelty as truth. Test everything with patience, humility and wisdom.”

Korric smiled from the side, while the Count’s mother looked a little pale.

“I am here to put a few worried minds in the capital to ease,” Konrad continued, “but the faithful need not fear honest inquiry. If something is truly of God, no question can destroy it. If it is false, no authority can preserve it forever. So, let us seek the truth with humble hearts, rather than defend our own certainty with pride.”

Korric’s smile didn’t waver.

Konrad sighed, then continued.

Afterwards, he led the Lord’s prayer.

Silence fell upon the congregation once they were finished.

Then, people came forward to seek his blessings or ask for counsel. He gave it freely.

Half an hour later, the hall began to thin out.

Only then did the Count’s mother approach him.

“Father,” Korric said, stepping up, “This is Lady Erenna, Count Jack’s mother.”

She bowed deeply.

“Father. That was a beautiful sermon.”

Konrad couldn’t help but notice she was a fairly attractive woman. He would have to later seek forgiveness for his errant thoughts.

“My lady,” he said, bowing back.

“It would be our honor to host you.”

“I thank you for the offer. I was coming to meet you anyway.”

She smiled faintly, though Konrad was sure she must have known about his arrival.

“My lady, I was sent by the Church to verify certain claims made by your former physician.”

“The last year… has been quite trying for my son.”

“So I’ve heard. Why don’t we discuss it on our way to the castle?”

She inclined her head in acceptance.

Konrad went to his chamber, gathered his few belongings and walked back.

The lady was waiting outside the church, next to her carriage.

He turned to Korric at the door. “Thank you for hosting me, brother. God’s blessings upon you.”

“And you, Father. You are welcome to stay here as long as you like. May you bring God’s guidance and justice to all those who’ve lost their way.”

Nodding, Konrad turned towards the carriage.

He stepped in after the ladies.

Once inside, Lady Erenna gestured to her daughter. “This is Isanna, my daughter.”

The young woman bowed deeply. “It is an honor to meet you, Father.”

“Likewise,” he said smiling faintly at the nervous young lady.

The carriage lurched as it began rolling forward.

Lady Erenna sighed before speaking. “Father Korric has served the people of Falkenheim for more than a decade. He is a very devout man.”

“He is,” he said, smiling faintly in their mutual understanding. “Though I must still investigate his concerns. Your son is, after all, going to soon become the Prince Consort of the realm.”

She bowed her head, then looked up at him with resolute eyes.

“Father, you might not know, but months ago, my son almost died defending unarmed people. He lost most of his memories as a result. You can see how such an experience can change a person, especially a young man.”

“I suppose.”

“Unfortunately, not everyone is as understanding as you. They see that he has become more impatient, and a little prideful than he already was, and come to ridiculous conclusions, instead of just seeing what is in front of them. A young man who has suffered more than most.”

“My sympathies, my lady. It must have been hard for you.”

“Thank you. If it is about brother Soren, Jack gave him a generous parting gift, if I remember correctly.”

“I’m not here primarily about brother Soren’s dismissal, though that is also a concern. He made a claim that the Count healed from wounds that should have been fatal in a matter of mere weeks.”

Her face froze, for the fraction of a heartbeat.

“God must have smiled upon him,” she said after a while.

“It seems that way. There is another rumor I heard. The Count took four monks and nuns out of the local monasteries and took them under his service.”

“Ah… yes. The monasteries parted with them of their own volition. You can ask the abbots yourself. None of them were coerced.”

“I shall. May I talk to the former monks?”

“If… if you want to.”

“Please.”

The carriage lurched to a stop, and a soldier opened the door for them. The castle’s courtyard smelled of wet soil and horse dung.

Lady Erenna led him towards a building to the left, as tall as the gray castle wall.

As they approached it, his nose pricked from the smell of herbs and alcohol.

“… sterilize the new set of bandages,” a man was saying.

“Yes, Master,” a woman replied.

Inside, it was a long building, with a dozen cots lined up against the long wall to the left, tables and chairs lining the other side. Five sick men lay on the cots, while two young men and two young women attended to them, working under the guidance of an older thin man, around the same age as him.

“Master Gerrin?” Lady Erenna said out loud.

The older man turned towards them, then bowed to her.

“My lady?”

“Please gather your apprentices.”

He looked apprehensively at her, then at Konrad, then bowed.

The four youngster soon stood in front of them in a line.

“Father, this is Master Gerrin, our barber-surgeon. These are his apprentices; Edran, Brand, Frieda, and Irma.”

“The former monks and nuns?”

“Yes.”

He turned to the youngsters. “I am Bishop Konrad. Your priest, Father Korric wrote to the Holy Father about some concerns he had. While investigating them, I found out about you four.”

The young men and women paled.

He looked at the surgeon.

“Why were these four selected from the monasteries?”

“The—the Count looked for pupils who irritated their teachers with constant questioning.”

Konrad felt a twinge of sympathy. His experience had also been similar.

“Why?”

“He wanted inquisitive minds to serve his people.”

“Hmm.”

He looked at the youngsters, one at a time. None would meet his eyes.

Hiding something, or just nervous?

“What have you been taught here that wasn’t taught in the monasteries?”

“A few techniques,” Edran, the tallest of them, replied.

“Like what?”

“Cleaning bandages and tools in boiling water.”

“Boiling?”

“Y—yes.”

“Why?”

“It’s uh…”

“It makes it safer,” Frida said without meeting his eyes.

“Were you using muddy water before?”

“No. Still and strained water.”

“So you’re saying that it is not safe?”

“The Count said…”

Before Konrad could ask him to continue, voices rose from behind.

He turned to see soldiers turning an older peasant around.

“What is it?” he asked loudly.

“It’s nothing, Father,” one of the soldiers said, shaking his head. “It’s just old Rann trying to bother the physicians again.”

“I’m not tryin’ to bother them! I need their help!”

“Ye’re perfectly fine!”

“No, I’m not. I haven’ been able to sleep properly from all this itchin’.”

He thrust a wrinkly arm forward, covered in tiny red spots and sores.

Konrad leaned back in revulsion.

“Father Korric told you to pray.”

“I did! I pray every night on me knees even when it hurts! It hasn’t helped. Now even me wife has them!”

“Then ye’ve been commitin’ more sins. Now git!”

“Wait!” Konrad said. He turned to the surgeon and his pupils. “I’d like to see how you would treat it.”

Gerrin hesitated, then nodded, gesturing the man to move forward.

“God bless you, Father,” Rann said, as he hobbled into the infirmary.

The barber-surgeon took a pair of tweezers and began scraping the man’s skin with their side, collecting the flakes in a shallow dish.

Then he opened a drawer, took out another dish, and transferred a small piece of the skin on it. He carefully picked up nothing and put it on top of it.

No, it was a thin piece of extremely clear quartz, if Konrad guessed right; the way it caught light when the surgeon placed it.

What in God’s name is he doing?

His confusion only grew when the surgeon brought out an odd contraption.

It was made of brass; a platform with a mirror underneath. On top of it was something attached to a small gear

Gerrin placed the flake of skin, sandwiched between what must be two very thin pieces of extremely clear quartz, on the platform.

Leaning forward, Konrad could see the platform had a hole in it.

To light up the skin? How does that help?

Gerrin adjusted the mirror until the piece of skin was shining, light illuminating it from below.

Then he hunched down and began turning a knob that moved a piece of brass.

He pulled back, face scrunched in disgust.

“You have mites,” he said to the older man. “I’ll make some sulfur ointment for you. Come get it in the evening, if I’m here.”

His eyes flicked toward Konrad.

“Cover all your scabs with it. Then dunk every piece of cloth in your house in boiling water.”

“Boiling water?”

“Yes. Every piece, or the mites will come back.”

“M’kay.”

As the old man turned away, Konrad stepped closer to the surgeon.

“What did you do?”

“I diagnosed his condition.”

“How?”

“Please look through it,” he gestured to the contraption.

Konrad felt his throat dry up.

Swallowing, he took a step forward.

He turned back towards Gerrin.

“What is it?”

“A microscope. Helps your eyes see very tiny things.”

Shaking the odd feeling, Konrad took another step and bent down.

The plate of bronze had a tiny hole in the middle.

“Look through that hole,” Gerrin said.

He bent further to look down.

A rough terrain lit up by light underneath came into view. He supposed an elderly man’s skin would look like that close up.

Then…

A gigantic leg came into view. With large hairs.

He shrank back.

Looking down, the instrument looked just like it had before.

Steeling his nerve, Konrad bent down again.

The leg moved, and a massive insect, unlike anything he had ever seen, stepped on the well lit surface.

He pulled back again.

No massive creature anywhere.

“What… what did I see?” he spoke more to himself than the surgeon.

“An entire world that our eyes cannot see.”

“That can’t be true.”

This time, he looked at the device itself.

The piece of metal that moved when the knob was turned was actually two plates of brass.

He began dismantling it.

“Please be careful with it. We don’t have a spare.”

Ignoring the barber-surgeon, he kept at it.

The two plates of brass came apart and a small clear sphere fell out.

Konrad caught it before it could fall off the table.

The whole device was nothing but a few well crafted pieces of brass and some very clear pieces of quartz.

“How?” was all he could say.

Edran the ex-monk stepped forward.

“Father, there is a whole world too small for our eyes to see. Full of creatures responsible for most of our maladies. Count Jack helped us see it.”