3.33: The Invisible Kingdom

“This… this cannot be true.”

Konrad kept repeating the words, but the image of the massive beast wouldn’t leave him.

He lifted the quartz sphere to eye level, holding it between his finger and thumb.

It was extraordinarily clear.

He moved his fingers, turning it around between them. Looking through it, the world became distorted, but it was still the same world his eyes saw.

No trickery; no tiny painting or illusions inside the glass.

The flawless sphere was a rare piece of mineral crafted by a master craftsman. Impressive, but not something inconceivable. There was nothing supernatural about it.

Next, he carefully lifted one of the thin clear circles of quartz. Also as clear as still water. A master jeweler who made eyeglasses could make this.

“How?” he whispered. “How has no one else figured this out?”

“The Count called it optics,” Gerrin said.

“Optics?” he repeated the word slowly.

“I remember the diagram he drew,” Brand said. “I could draw it for you.”

“Please.”

The former monk took a piece of parchment and began sketching.

Konrad struggled to keep his composure, tapping his leg.

Once the young man was finished, he stared at the drawing.

It was just a collection of lines.

“The quartz bends the light,” Brand explained, “creating a virtual image much larger than the real object.”

“Virtual image?”

“I… don’t understand it myself. That’s what he called it.”

Konrad ran a hand through his hair, nearly dropping the small quartz sphere.

He stared at it for another moment, before carefully handing it back to a terrified Gerrin.

Then he slumped down.

While he let his mind settle, the barber-surgeon reassembled the instrument with steady hands.

“Are you going to report this?” Irma, the diminutive former nun, asked.

“No. Not yet.”

This… this changed everything.

An entire kingdom that had been hidden from humanity.

No, not a kingdom.

An entire world.

If this wasn’t a trick of the devil, and Konrad could not see how it could be, there was so much more to God’s creation than they understood.

Well, one man does.

How could that be?

Had he struck a bargain with the devil for it?

For what? To help commoners?

It didn’t make sense. None of it made sense.

Why would the Count just give such knowledge away?

If a more zealous member of the clergy had been sent here instead of him, a letter would already be flying to the Pontiff this moment, asking that Count Jack should be declared a heretic.

The existence of millions, no perhaps billions, of such tiny creatures complicated everything.

Did they have souls?

Konrad clutched his head.

Then it came to him.

Of course! That’s why the Queen convinced the Cardinal to send someone like me! She must already know about Count Jack’s peculiarities. But why would she marry such a reckless man?

That question was beyond him.

He had to focus on his own mission.

What was he supposed to do? Lie and say that everything was fine?

No.

He had to investigate further, if only for the sake of his own curiosity.

He had to meet Count Jack.

“What else did he teach you?” he asked the youngsters after a while.

“There are different kinds of microbes,” Brand, the other former monk said.

“Microbes?”

“That’s what he called them. Tiny beings, much smaller than the mite you saw.”

Konrad stared at the young man as if he was mad.

Gerrin gestured toward the microscope.

“I’ve dipped the slide in still, clear water. Please take a look.”

Sighing, Konrad got up and bent down. He hoped his heart would survive another shock.

Misshapen blobs of green were moving around in the illuminated water. Slowing down and speeding up. One spun lazily before changing direction. Another seemed to engulf something, while fine fuzzy structures around it fluttered, too small to be distinct.

They clearly moved under their own power, and without any legs.

Konrad just stared.

He didn’t know what they were, yet he felt his gut churning.

“Those… are living beings?” he asked.

“Yes. They are the ones responsible for all sorts of diseases, such as… the Black Fever.”

A chill ran down his spine.

As he leaned back, he looked at his hands.

Were these ‘microbes’ crawling over him too?

Inside him?

He looked at the bucket of hot water sitting nearby.

“So, the water we think clean really isn’t,” he said slowly. “Everything contains these creatures?”

“Yes,” Gerrin replied. “That’s why the Count told us to boil it before giving it to patients and to boil bandages and instruments. He also had a slow sand filter constructed.”

“Slow… sand filter? What is that?”

“A tank filled with increasingly fine layers of sand and gravel. He said that over time, a layer of microbes will grow on top of it, which eats the dangerous ones in the water. Dirty water goes in from the top, clean water comes out the bottom, and fewer people die.”

Konrad’s breathing quickened on its own.

The Count was using God’s creation for his own benefit.

No. This was no different than breeding guard dogs or sheep with thicker wool.

Much more importantly, if… if these creatures truly caused disease, then disease wasn’t punishment.

It was simply the consequence of living in this world, away from God’s Grace.

And if… if disease wasn’t punishment, then healing it was not intervening in His plans.

No.

It was preserving the lives of His children.

Konrad felt his world break.

How many people had died because of their ignorance? Because priests focused on confession, rather than treating a dying man?

People condemned as sinners when they were just unfortunate.

He fell down and barely caught himself, heaving.

Bile rose up in his throat. His stomach began to churn violently.

The contents of his breakfast forced their way out. He managed to lean into an empty bucket in time.

“Father, are you fine?” Lady Erenna asked in alarm, stepping closer. She must have remained at a distance while he talked with the physicians.

The concern on her face brought him back from his thoughts.

“Yes,” he said, wiping the sweat off his forehead with a handkerchief, despite the cold weather.

“My apologies for the mess,” he said to the surgeon.

It took some time for him to regain his composure.

“Where is this tank?”

“In the mountains,” Gerrin pointed. “It’s a small one, meant to supply the castle. Once it is working, the Count wants much bigger ones built.”

“Why?”

“To supply the whole city.”

A chuckle left Konrad.

He had been sent to investigate a man thought to be possessed by the devil. Instead, he had found a man doing God’s work, at great risk to himself. Who had turned Konrad’s thirty years of understanding of God’s creation upside down in a matter of minutes.

He had to meet him.

He turned toward Lady Erenna.

“Where can I find the Count?”

“In Chadom.”

“I need to see him.”

“You cannot.”

“Why?”

“Chadom does not allow outsiders without an escort. Jack said they will attack anyone that tries to approach it without their permission.”

“Has anyone been attacked?”

“I don’t think anyone has tried, Father. Ships don’t approach the coast to the north. It has been known to be dangerous for millennia. Many ships have capsized from striking underwater obstacles there.”

“Then how do their ships cross it?”

She shrugged her shoulders in response.

“What about land?”

“Through the Treacherous Bog?” she said, giving him a look. “It’s called that for a reason. Besides, Jack will be back for the wedding in a few weeks. We would be honored to host you until then.”

“Thank you, but I cannot wait that long.” His mind raced. “How do I get permission to visit Chadom?”

“You would have to speak to the men aboard the ships that visit Nordhaven for trade. Though they don’t have a fixed schedule.”

The ship! The ship that was there yesterday! Maybe it is still there.

“My lady, could I impose upon you and ask for a carriage? A fast one.”

She inclined her head. “Certainly.”

Within minutes, Konrad was inside a carriage racing back toward Nordhaven.

His bones rattled with every jolt as the drivers maintained a punishing speed, but he barely noticed it.

His mind remained fixed on the man who could heal at an unnatural pace and knew secrets no one else did.

Was he a saint?

Or something else?

An agent of the devil?

Konrad had to know.

They reached the city before sundown.

At the port, the berth where the ship from Chadom had moored was empty.

It was gone.

Sighing, he turned back.

He thanked the two soldiers who had driven the carriage with a meal at an upscale inn.

As they ate, he asked them about the Count. They told him everything they knew, with the frankness of soldiers who admired their leader.

He learned that the Count had made sure that every man maimed during the Battle of Blackrain was employed in some capacity. He had also given a year’s worth of salary to the families of the fallen, with the promise of more.

Far more than most nobles would have done.

The devil could certainly put temptation in the path of mortals, but Konrad failed to see what he would gain from this, other than the men’s loyalty.

As the dying sun bathed the port city in an orange glow, Konrad bade the men goodbye.

The carriage rattled as it sped away, while he began walking towards the local Church.

Ewald would welcome him.

Tomorrow, he would take a ship to Stormhaven and speak with the dismissed physician, Soren.

Then he would find Count Jack.

He looked back at the painfully bright harbor.

We will meet, Count Jack. Soon.