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preservation of books, the principal reason for the existence of books was that they might be preserved
perpetually. Usage was secondary, and to be avoided if it threatened longevity.
Thon Taddeo’s enthusiasm for his task waxed stronger as the days passed, and the abbot breathed easier as
he watched the thon’s earlier skepticism melt away with each new perusal of some fragmentary pre-Deluge
science text. The scholar had not made any clear assertions about the intended scope of his investigation;
perhaps, at first, his aim had been vague, but now he went about his work with the crisp precision of a man
following a plan. Sensing the dawn of something,runescape power leveling, Dom Paulo decided to offer the cock a perch for crowing, in
ease the bird felt an impulse to announce a coming daybreak.
“The community has been curious about your labors,cheap silkroad gold,” he told the scholar. “We’d like to hear about it,wow power leveling, if you
don’t mind discussing it. Of course we’ve all heard of your theoretical work at your own collegium, but it’s too
technical for most of us to understand. Would it be possible for you to tell us something about it in?aoh, general
terms that non-specialists might understand? The community has been grumping at me because I hadn’t invited
you to lecture; but I thought you might prefer to get the feel of the place first. Of course if you’d rather not?a”
The thon’s gaze seemed to clamp calipers an the abbot’s cranium and measure it six ways. He smiled
doubtfully.
“You’d like me to explain our work in the simplest possible language?”
“Something like that, if it’s possible.”
“That’s just it.” He laughed. “The untrained man reads a paper on natural science and thinks; “Now why
couldn’t he explain this in simple language.” He can’t seem to realize that what he tried to read was the simplest
possible language?afor that subject matter. In fact, a great deal of natural philosophy is simply a process of
linguistic simplification?aan effort to invent languages in which half a page of equations can express an idea
which could not be stated in less than a thousand pages of so-called “simple” language. Do I make myself clear?”
“I think so. Since you do make yourself clear, perhaps you could tell us about that aspect of it, then. Unless
the suggestion is premature?aas far as your work with the Memorabilia is concerned.”
“Well, no. We now have a fairly dear idea of where we’re going and what we have to work with here. It will
still take considerable time to finish of course. The pieces have to be fitted together, and they don’t all belong to
the same puzzle. We can’t yet predict what we can glean from it,rs money, but we’re fairly sure of what we can’t. I’m
happy to say it looks hopeful. I have no objection to explaining the general scope, but?a” He repeated the
doubtful shrug.
“What bothers yon?”
The thon seemed mildly embarrassed. “Only an uncertainty about my audience. I would not wish to offend
?98 312168 3
anyone’s religious beliefs.”
“But how could you? Isn’t it a matter of natural philosophy? Of physical science?”
“Of course. But many people’s ideas about the world have become colored with religious?awell, what I
mean is?a”

“So now Marcus,” the abbot murmured sadly. “And what of Thon Taddeo?”
“I don’t quite see how be expects to get across the Plains without picking up a few musket-ball holes just
now. It seems clear why he hadn’t wanted to make the trip. But I know nothing about his progress, Father
Abbot.”
Dom Paulo’s flown was pained. “If our refusal to send the material to his university leads to his being killed
“Don’t trouble your conscience about that,buy world of warcraft gold, Father Abbot. Hannegan looks out for his own. I don’t know bow,
but I’m sure the thon will get here.”
“The world could ill afford to lose him, I hear. Well?aBut tell me, why were you sent to report Hannegan’s
plans to us? We’re in the empire of Denver, and I can’t see how this region is affected.”
“Ah, but I’ve told you only the beginning. Hannegan hopes to unite the continent eventually. After Laredo’s
firmly leashed, he will have broken the encirclement that’s kept him in check. Then the next move will be against
Denver.”
“But wouldn’t that involve supply lines across nomad country? It seems impossible.”
“It’s extremely difficult, and that’s what makes the next move certain. The Plains form a natural geographical
barrier. If they were depopulated, Hannegan might regard his western frontier as secure as it stands. But the
nomads have made it necessary for all states adjoining the Plains to tie up permanent military forces around the
nomad territory for containment. The only way to subdue the Plains is to control both fertile strips,wow power leveling, to the east
and to the west.”
“But even so,” the abbot wondered,warcraft gold, “the nomads?a”
“Hannegan’s plan for them is devilish. Mad Bear’s warriors can easily cope with Laredo’s cavalry, but what
they can’t cope with is a cattle plague. The Plains tribes don’t know it yet, but when Laredo set out to punish the
nomads for border raiding, the Laredans drove several hundred head of diseased cattle ahead to mingle with the
nomads’ herds. It was Hannegan’s idea. The result will be famine, and then it will be easy to set tribe against
tribe. We don’t, of course, know all the details, but the goal is a nomad legion under a puppet chieftain, armed by
Texarkana, loyal to Hannegan,buy runescape gold, ready to sweep west to the mountains. If it comes to pass, this region will get the
first breakers.”
“But why? Surely Hannegan doesn’t expect the barbarians to be dependable troops, or capable of holding an
empire once they finish mutilating it!”
“No, m’Lord. But the nomad tribes will be disrupted, Denver will be shattered. Then Hannegan can pick up
the pieces,”
?89 312168 3
“To do what with them? It couldn’t be a very rich empire.”
“No, but secure on all flanks. He might then be in a better position to strike east or northeast. Of course,
before it comes to that, his plans may collapse. But whether they collapse or not, this region may well be in
danger of being overrun in the not-too-distant future. Steps should be taken to secure the abbey within the next

more devout in those days, and more credulous. I think Francis was that one’s name. Poor fellow. I buried him
later. Told them in New Rome where to dig for him. That’s how you got his carcass back.”
The abbot gaped at the old man as they walked through the mesquite toward the water hole, leading the
horse and the goat. Francis?? he wondered. Francis. That could be the Venerable Francis Gerard of Utah,
perhaps??ato whom a pilgrim had once revealed the location of the old shelter in the village, so that story went
?abut that was before the village was there. And about six centuries ago,wow power leveling, yes, and?anow this old gaffer was
chiming to have been that pilgrim? He sometimes wondered where Benjamin had picked up enough knowledge
of the abbey’s history to invent such tales. From the Poet, perhaps.
“That was during my earlier career,lotro gold, of course,” the Old Jew went on, “and perhaps such a mistake was
?82 312168 3
understandable.”
“Earlier career?”
“Wanderer.”
“How do you expect me to believe such nonsense?”
“Hmm-hnnn! The Poet believes me.”
“Undoubtedly! The Poet certainly would never believe that the Venerable Francis met a saint. That would
be superstition. The Poet would rather believe he met you?asix centuries ago. A purely natural explanation, eh?”
Benjamin chuckled wryly. Paulo watched him lower a leaky bark cup into the well, empty it into his water
skin,cheap lotr gold, and lower it again for more. The water was cloudy and alive with creeping uncertainties as was the Old
Jew’s stream of memory. Or was his memory uncertain? Playing games with us all? wondered the priest. Except
for his delusion of being older than Methuselah, old Benjamin Eleazar seemed sane enough, in his own wry way.
“Drink?” the hermit offered, extending the cup.
The abbot suppressed a shudder, but accepted the cup so as not to offend; be drained the murky liquid at a
gulp.
“Not very particular, are you?” said Benjamin, watching him critically. “Wouldn’t touch it myself.” He
patted the water skin. “For the animals.”
The abbot gagged slightly.
“You’ve changed,luna online gold,” said Benjamin, still watching him.
“You’ve grown pale as cheese and wasted.”
“I’ve been ill.”
“You look ill. Come up in my shack, if the climb won’t tire you out.”
“I’ll be all right. I had a little trouble the other day, and our physician told me to rest. Fah! If an important
guest weren’t coming soon, I’d pay no attention. But he’s coming, so I’m resting. It’s quite tiresome.”
Benjamin glanced back at him with a grin as they climbed the arroyo. He waggled his grizzly head. “Riding
ten miles across the desert is resting?”
“For me it’s rest. And, I’ve been wanting to see you, Benjamin.”

currents of air while they hungrily watched the land.
There was a dead hog beyond the Valley of the Misborn. The buzzards observed it gaily and glided down
for a feast. Later,world of warcraft gold, in a far mountain pass, a cougar licked her chops and left her kill. The buzzards seemed
thankful for the chance to finish her meal.
The buzzards laid their eggs in season and lovingly fed their young: a dead snake, and bits of a feral dog.
The younger generation waxed strong, soared high and far on black wings, waiting for the fruitful
Earth to yield up her bountiful carrion. Sometimes dinner was only a toad. Once it was a messenger from
New Rome.
Their flight carried them over the midwestern plains. They were delighted with the bounty of good things
which the nomads left lying on the land during their ride-over toward the south.

The buzzards laid their eggs in season and lovingly fed their young. Earth had nourished them bountifully
for centuries. She would nourish them for centuries more …..
Pickings were good for a while in the region of the Red River; but then out of the carnage, a city-state arose.
For rising city-states, the buzzards had no fondness,wow power leveling, although they approved of their eventual fall. They shied
away from Texarkana and ranged far over the plain to the west. After the manner of all living things, they
replenished the Earth many times with their kind.
Eventually it was the Year of Our Lord 3174.
There were rumors of war.
Fiat Lux
12
Marcus Apollo became certain of war’s imminence the moment he overheard Hannegan’s third wife
tell a serving maid that her favorite courtier had returned with his skin intact from a mission to the tents of
Mad Bear’s clan. The fact that he had come back alive from the nomad encampment meant that a war was
brewing. Purportedly, the emissary’s mission had been to tell the Plains tribes that the civilized states had
entered into the Agreement of the Holy Scourge concerning the disputed lands, and would hereafter wreak
stern vengeance on the nomadic peoples and bandit groups for any further raiding activities. But no man
carried such news to Mad Bear and came back alive. Therefore,aion power leveling, Apollo concluded the ultimatum had not
been delivered, and Hannegan’s emissary had gone out to the Plains with an ulterior purpose,. And the
purpose was all too clear.
Apollo picked his way politely through the small throng of guests,age of conan power leveling, his sharp eyes searching out
Brother Claret and trying to attract his glance. Apollo’s tall figure in severe black cassock with a small

donkey and started riding it up the slope toward the ambush. Brother Francis snatched up the precious document
and hiked along beside the robber, thanking him profusely and blessing him repeatedly while the robber guided
the ass toward the shrouded archers.
“Fifteen years!” the robber snorted, and again shoved Francis away with his foot. “Begone!” He waved the
illuminated splendor aloft in the sunlight. “Remember?atwo heklos of gold’ll ransom your keepsake. And tell
your Pope I won it fair.”
Francis stopped climbing. He sent a glowing cross of benediction after the departing bandit and quietly
praised Cod for the existence of such selfless robbers, who could make such an ignorant mistake. He fondled the
original blueprint lovingly as he hiked away down the trail. The robber was proudly displaying the beautiful
commemoration to his mutant companions on the hill.
“Eat! Eat” said one of them, petting the donkey.
“Ride,tales of pirates money, ride,wow power leveling,” corrected the robber. “Eat later.”
But when Brother Francis had left them far behind,ro zeny, a great sadness gradually engulfed him. The taunting
?51 312168 3
voice still rang in his ears. Fifteen years! So that’s what you do over there! Fifteen years! What a woman’s work!
Ho ho ho ho . . .
The robber had made a mistake. But the fifteen years were gone anyhow, and with it all the love and
torment that had gone into the commemoration.
Cloistered as he had been, Francis had become unaccustomed to the ways of the outside world, to its harsh
habits and curt attitudes. He found his heart deeply troubled by the robber’s mockery. He thought of Brother
Jeris’ gentler mockery of earlier years. Maybe Brother Jeris had been right.
His head hung low in his hood as he traveled slowly on.
At least there was the original relic. At least.
11
The hour had come. Brother Francis, in his simple monk’s habit, had never felt less important than at that
moment, as he knelt in the majestic basilica before the beginning of the ceremony. The stately movements, the
vivid swirls of color, the sounds which accompanied the ceremonious preparations for ceremony, already seemed
liturgical in spirit, making it difficult to bear in mind that nothing of importance was happening yet. Bishops,
monsignori, cardinals,cheap tales of pirates gold, priests, and various lay-functionaries in elegant, antiquated dress moved to and fro in the
great church, but their comings and goings were graceful clockwork which never paused, stumbled, or changed
its mind to rush in the other direction. A sampetrius entered the basilica; so grandly was he attired that Francis at
first mistook the cathedral workman for a prelate. The sampetrius carried a footstool. He carried it with such
casual pomp that the monk, if he had not been kneeling, might have genuflected as the object drifted by. The
sampetrius dropped to one knee before the high altar, then crossed to the papal throne where he substituted the

“What about the copy?”
“I made it myself. Please, sir, it took me fifteen years. It’s nothing to you. Please?ayou wouldn’t take fifteen
years of a man’s life?afor no reason?”
“Fifteen years?” The robber threw back his head and howled with laughter. “You spent fifteen years making
?50 312168 3
that?”
“Oh, but?a” Francis was suddenly silent. His eyes swung toward the robber’s stubby forefinger. The finger
was tapping the original blueprint.
“That took you fifteen years? And it’s almost ugly beside the other.” He slapped his paunch and between
guffaws kept pointing at the relic. “Ha! Fifteen years! So that’s what you do way out there! Why? What is the
dark ghost-image good for? Fifteen years to make that! Ho ho! What a woman’s work!”
Brother Francis watched him in stunned silence. That the robber should mistake the sacred relic itself for the
copy of the relic left him too shocked to reply.
Still laughing, the robber took both documents in his hands and prepared to rip them both in half.
“Jesus, Mary,wow power leveling, Joseph!” the monk screamed and went to his knees in the trail. “For the love of God, sir!”
The robber tossed the papers on the ground. I’ll wrestle you for them!” he offered sportingly. “Those against
my blade.”
“Done,” said Francis impulsively, thinking that a contest would at least afford Heaven a chance to intervene
in an unobtrusive way. O God, Thou who strengthened Jacob so that he overcame the angel on the rock …
They squared off. Brother Francis crossed himself. The robber took his knife from his belt-thong and tossed
it after the papers. They circled.
Three seconds later, the monk lay groaning on the flat of his back under a short mountain of muscle. A
sharp rock seemed to be severing his spine.
“Heh-heh,” said the robber,buy tales of pirates gold, and arose to reclaim his knife and roll up the documents.
Hands folded as if in prayer, Brother Francis crept after him on his knees, begging at the top of his lungs.
“Please, then,cheap tales of pirates money, take only one, not both! Please!”
“You’ve got to buy it back now,” the robber chortled. “I won them fair enough.”
“I have nothing, I am poor!”
“That’s all right if you want them that bad, you’ll get gold. Two heklos of gold, that’s the ransom. Bring it
here any time. I’ll tuck your things in my shanty. You want them back, just bring the gold.”
“Listen,buy wow gold, they’re important to other people, not to me. I was taking them to the Pope. Maybe they’ll pay you
for the important one. But let me have the other one just to show them. It’s of no importance at all.”
The robber laughed over his shoulder. “I believe you’d kiss a boot to get it back.”
Brother Francis caught up with him and fervently kissed his boot.
This proved ton much for even such a fellow as the robber. He shoved the monk away with his foot,
separated the two papers, and flung one of them in Francis’ face with a curse. He climbed aboard the monk’s

versions became nearly illegible after a time, due to the impermanence of the inks employed. He had not the
slightest notion why the ancients had used white lines and lettering on a dark background, in preference to the
reverse. When he roughly resketched a design in charcoal, thereby reversing the background, the rough sketch
appeared mere realistic than the white-on-dark, and the ancients were immeasurably wiser than Francis; if they
had taken the trouble to put ink where blank paper would ordinarily be, and leave slivers of white paper where an
inked line would appear in a straightforward drawing, then they must have had their reasons. Francis recopied
the documents to appear as nearly like the originals as possible?aeven though the task of spreading blue ink
around tiny white letters was particularly tedious, and quite wasteful of ink, a fact which caused Brother Horner
?37 312168 3
to grumble.
He copied an old architectural print, then a drawing for a machine part whose geometry was apparent but
whose purpose was vague. He redrew a mandala abstraction, titled “STATOR WNDG MOD 73-A 3-PH 6-P
1800-BPM 5-HP CL-A SQUIRREL CAGE,wow power leveling,” which proved completely incomprehensible, and not at all capable
of imprisoning a squirrel,city of villains power leveling, The ancients were often subtle; perhaps one needed a special set of mirrors in order to
see the squirrel. He painstakingly redrew it anyhow.
Only after the abbot, who occasionally passed through the copyroom, had seen him working at another
blueprint at least three times (twice Arkos had paused for a quick look at Francis’ work), did he summon the
courage to venture to the Memorabilia files for the Leibowitz blueprint,buy rs money, nearly a year after beginning his free-
time project.
The original document had already been subjected to a certain amount of restorative work. Except for the
fact that it bore the name of the Beatus, it was disappointingly like most of the others he had redrawn.
The Leibowitz print, another abstraction, appealed to nothing, least of all to reason. He studied it until he
could see the whole amazing complexity with his eyes closed but knew no more than he had known before. It
appeared to be no more than a network of lines connecting a patchwork of doohickii, squiggles, quids, laminulae,
and thingumbob. The lines were mostly horizontal or vertical, and crossed each other with either a little jump-
mark or a dot; they made right-angle turns to get around doohickii, and they never stopped in mid-space but
always terminated at a squiggle, quiggle, quid, or thingumbob. It made so little sense that a long period of staring
at it produced a stupefying effect. Nevertheless he began work at duplicating every detail,aoc power leveling, even to the copying of
a central brownish stain which he thought might be the blood of the Blessed Martyr, but which Brother Jeris
suggested was only the stain left by a decayed apple core.
Brother Jeris, who had joined the apprentice copyroom at the same time as Brother Francis, seemed to enjoy
teasing him about the project. “What, pray,” he asked, squinting over Francis” shoulder, “is the meaning of
“Transistorized Control System for Unit Six-B,” learned Brother?”
“Clearly, it is the title of the document,” said Francis, feeling slightly cross.
“Clearly. But what does it mean?”

“investigator.” The Dominican seemed a rather mild-humored man, and was not carrying any visible engines of
torture.
“We expect the case for canonization of your founder to be reopened soon,” the messenger explained. “Your
Abbot Arkos is a very wise and prudent man.” He chuckled. “By turning the relics over to another Order for
examination, and by having the shelter sealed before it was fully explored?aWell, you do understand,buy daoc platinum, don’t
you?”
“No,wow power leveling, Father. I had supposed he thought the whole thing too trivial to spend any time on.”
The Black Friar laughed. “Trivial? I think not. But if your Order turns up evidence, relics, miracles, and
whatever, the court has to consider the source. Every religious community is eager to see its founder canonized.
So your abbot very wisely told you: “Hands off the shelter.’ I’m sure it’s been frustrating for all of you, but?a
better for the cause of your founder to let the shelter be explored with other witnesses present.”
“You’re going to open it again?” Francis asked eagerly.
“No, not I. But when the court is ready, it will send observers. Then anything that is found in the shelter that
might affect the case will be safe, in case the opposition questions its authenticity. Of course, the only reason for
suspecting that the contents of the shelter might affect the cause is?aWell, the things you found.”
“May I ask how that is, Father?”
“Well,runescape money, one of the embarrassments at the time of the beatification was the early life of Blessed Leibowitz?a
before he became a monk and a priest. The advocate for the other side kept trying to cast doubt on the early
period, pre-Deluge. He was trying to establish that Leibowitz never made a careful search?athat his wife might
even have been alive at the time of his ordination. Well, it wouldn’t be the first time, of course; sometimes
dispensations have been granted?abut that’s beside the point. The advocatus diaboli was just trying to cast doubt
on your founder’s character. Trying to suggest that he had accepted Holy Orders and taken vows before being
certain his family responsibility was ended. The opposition failed, but it may try again. And if those human
remains you found really are?a” He shrugged and smiled.
Francis nodded. “It would pinpoint the date of her death.”
“At the very beginning of the war that nearly ended everything. And in my own opinion?awell, that
handwriting in the box, it’s either that of the Beatus or a very clever counterfeit.”
Frauds reddened.
“I’m not suggesting that you were involved in any counterfeit scheme,” the Dominican added hastily, upon
noticing the blush.
The novice, however, had only been remembering his own opinion of the scrawl.
?35 312168 3
“Tell me, how did it happen??ahow you located the site,cheap gaia online gold, I mean. I’ll need the whole story of it.”
“Well, it started because of the wolves.”
The Dominican began taking notes.
A few days after the messenger’s departure from the abbey, Abbot Arkos called for Brother Francis. “Do

who remained under orders not to discuss them,runescape power leveling, and preferably to think of the matter as little as possible. Still, he
could not avoid hearing things now and again, and he knew that in one of the abbey’s workshops, monks were at
work on the documents, not only his own but some others that had been found in the ancient desk, before the
abbot ordered that the shelter be closed.
Closed! The news jolted Brother Francis. The shelter scarcely had been touched. Beyond his own adventure,aion kinah,
there had been no attempt to penetrate further into the secrets of the shelter except to open the desk which he had
tried to open, with no success,buy warcraft gold, before he noticed the box. Closed! With no attempt to discover what might lie
beyond the inner door marked “Hatch Two” nor to investigate “Sealed Environment.” Without even removing
the stones or the bones. Closed! The investigation abruptly choked off, without apparent cause.
Then there began a rumor.
“Emily had a gold tooth. Emily had a gold tooth. Emily had a gold tooth.” It was, in fact, quite true. It was
one of those historical trivialities that manage somehow to outlive important facts which someone should have
bothered to remember but which went unrecorded until some monastic historian was forced to write: “Neither the
contents of the Memorabilia nor any archaeological source yet uncovered disclose the name of the ruler who
occupied the White Palace during the middle and late sixties, although Fr. Barcus has claimed, not without
supporting evidence, that his name was?a”
And yet, it was clearly recorded in the Memorabilia that Emily had worn a gold tooth.
It was not surprising that the Lord Abbot commanded that the crypt be sealed forthwith. Remembering how
he had lifted the ancient skull and turned it to face the wall, Brother Francis suddenly feared the wrath of
Heaven. Emily Leibowitz had vanished from the face of the Earth at the beginning of the Flame Deluge, and
only after many years would her widower admit that she was dead.
It was said that God, in order to test mankind which had become swelled with pride as in the time of Noah,
had commanded the wise men of that age, among them the Blessed Leibowitz, to devise great engines of war
such as had never before been upon the Earth, weapons of such might that they contained the very fires of Hell,
and that God had suffered these magi to place the weapons in the hands of princes, and to say to each prince:
“Only because the enemies have such a thing have we devised this for thee, in order that they may know that
thou hast it also, and fear to strike. See to it,wow power leveling, m’Lord, that thou fearest them as much as they shall now fear thee,
that none may unleash this dread thing which we have wrought.”
But the princes, putting the words of their wise men to naught, thought each to himself: If I but strike
quickly enough, and in secret, I shall destroy these others in their sleep, and there will be none to fight back; the
earth shall be mine
Such was the folly of princes, and there followed the Flame Deluge
Within weeks?asome said days?ait was ended, after the first unleashing of the hell-fire. Cities had become
puddles of glass, surrounded by vast acreages of broken stone. While nations had vanished from the earth, the
lands littered with bodies, both men and cattle, and all manner of beasts, together with the birds of the air and all
things that flew, all things that swam in the rivers, crept in the grass, or burrowed in holes; having sickened and
?31 312168 3

throwing the novice’s pilgrim into the twilight region, into the same perspective as the old man’s first appearance
as a legless black strip that wriggled in the midst of a lake of heat illusion on the trail, into the same perspective
as he had occupied momentarily when the novice’s world had contracted until it contained nothing but a hand
offering him a particle of food. If some creature more-than-human chose to disguise itself as human,lineage 2 power leveling, how was he
to penetrate its disguise, or suspect there was one? If such a creature did not wish to be suspected, would it not
remember to cast a shadow, leave footprints, eat bread and cheese? Might it not chew spice-leaf, spit at a lizard,
and remember to imitate the reaction of a mortal who forgot to put on his sandals before stepping on hot ground?
Francis was not prepared to estimate the intelligence or ingenuity of hellish or heavenly beings, or to guess the
extent of their histrionic abilities, although he assumed such creatures to be either hellishly or divinely clever.
The abbot, by raising the question at all, had formulated the nature of Brother Francis’ answer,warcraft gold, which was: to
entertain the question itself, although he had not previously done so.
“Well, boy?”
“M’Lord Abbot, you don’t suppose he might have been?a”
“I’m asking you not to suppose. I’m asking you to be flatly certain. Was he, or was he not, an ordinary flesh-
and-blood person?”
The question was frightening. That the question was dignified by coming from the lips of so exalted a
person as his sovereign abbot made it even more frightening, though he could plainly see that his ruler stated it
merely because he wanted a particular answer. He wanted it rather badly. If he wanted it that badly, the question
must be important. If the question was important enough for an abbot, then it was far too important for Brother
Francis who dared not be wrong.
“I-I think he was flesh and blood, Reverend Father, but not exactly “ordinary.” In some ways, he was rather
extraordinary.”
“What ways?” Abbot Arkos asked sharply.
“Like-how straight he could spit. And he could read, I think.”
The abbot dosed his eyes and rubbed his temples in apparent exasperation. How easy it would have been
flatly to have told the boy that his pilgrim was only an old tramp of some kind, and then to have commanded him
not to think otherwise. But by allowing the boy to see that a question was possible, he had rendered such a
command ineffective before he uttered it. Insofar as thought could be governed at all, it could only be
commanded to follow what reason affirmed anyhow; command it otherwise, and it would not obey. Like any
wise ruler,wow power leveling, Abbot Arkos did not issue orders vainly, when to disobey was possible and to enforce was not
possible. It was better to look the other way than to command ineffectually. He had asked a question that he
himself could not answer by reason, having never seen the old man, and had thereby lost the right to make the
answer mandatory.
“Get out,” he said at last, without opening his eyes.
5
Somewhat mystified by the commotion at the abbey, Brother Francis returned to the desert that same day to
complete his Lenten vigil in rather wretched solitude. He had expected some excitement about the relics to arise,lineage 2 power leveling,
but the excessive interest which everyone had taken in the old wanderer surprised him. Francis had spoken of the