John Hawks - The Traveler

“I’m sorry-”

“Don’t waste your emotions,” Maya said. “We feel nothing for the rest of the world and expect nothing in return. When I was a child, my father used to tell me: Verdammt durch das Fleisch. Gerettet durch das Blut. It means: Damned by the flesh. Saved by the blood. Harlequins are condemned to fight a battle without end. But maybe the Travelers will save us from Hell.”

“And how long have they been fighting this battle?” Hollis asked.

Maya pushed the hair away from her face. “My father said that we are an unbroken line of warriors that has lasted for thousands of years. On Passover, he would light candles and read from chapter eighteen in the book of John. After Jesus spends the night in the garden at Gethsemane, Judas shows up with Roman soldiers and officers sent by the chief priest.”

“I know that passage in the Bible,” Hollis said. “Actually, it’s kind of a strange detail. Jesus is supposed to be the Prince of Peace. Throughout the New Testament, no one has ever mentioned weapons or bodyguards, but suddenly one of the disciples-”

“It’s Peter,” Vicki said.

“Right. Now I remember. Anyway, Peter draws a sword and cuts off the ear of the high priest’s servant, a man named…”

This time Hollis glanced at Vicki, knowing that she would have the answer.

“Malchus.”

“Right again.” Hollis nodded. “So the bad guy is standing there in the garden with only one ear.”

“Some scholars feel that Peter was a member of the Zealots,” Maya said. “But my father believed that he was the first Harlequin to be mentioned in a historical document.”

“Are you telling us that Jesus was a Traveler?” Vicki asked.

“Harlequins are fighters, not theologians. We don’t make pronouncements about which Traveler is the true embodiment of the Light. The most important Traveler could be Jesus or Muhammad or the Buddha. Or it could be an obscure Hasidic rabbi who was killed in the Holocaust. We defend Travelers, but we don’t judge their holiness. That’s up to the faithful.”

“But your father quoted from the Bible,” Gabriel said.

“I come from the European branch of Harlequins and we have close ties with Christianity. In fact, some Harlequins read farther in the book of John. After Jesus was taken away, Peter-”

“-backed out on Jesus.” Hollis turned away from the stove. “He was a disciple, but he denied his Lord three times.”

“The legend is that Harlequins are damned by this. Because Peter didn’t stay loyal at that moment, we must defend the Travelers until the end of time.”

“Sounds like you don’t buy that,” Hollis said.

“It’s just a story in the Bible. I don’t accept it for myself, but I do believe that there is a secret history of the world. There have always been warriors defending pilgrims or other spiritual seekers. During the Crusades, a group of Christian knights began to protect the pilgrims traveling to the Holy Land. Baldwin II, the crusader king of Jerusalem, let these knights occupy part of the former Jewish temple. They began to call themselves the Poor Knights of Christ and Knights of the Temple of Solomon.”

“Weren’t they usually called the Templars?” Gabriel asked.

“Yes, that’s the common name. The Templars became a rich, powerful order that controlled churches and castles throughout Europe. They owned ships and would lend money to European kings. Eventually the Templars stopped occupying the Holy Land and started to defend people who made spiritual journeys. They developed connections with heretical groups, the Bogomils in Bulgaria and the Cathars in France. These people were Gnostics who believed that the soul is trapped within the body. Only individuals given a secret knowledge are able to escape this prison and enter into different realms.”

“Then the Templars were destroyed,” Gabriel said.

Maya nodded slowly, as if reminding herself of a story she had learned long ago. “King Philip of France feared their power and wanted to seize their treasury. In 1307, he sent his troops into the Templar headquarters and arrested them for heresy. The grand master of the Templars was burned at the stake and the order ceased to exist-publicly. But only a few Templars were killed. Most of them went underground and continued their activities.”

“Lunchtime,” Hollis said. He set a plate of sandwiches on the table and Vicki finished making the fruit salad. Everyone sat down and began eating. Maya had relaxed slightly, but it was still an uncomfortable atmosphere. The Harlequin stared at Gabriel as if she was trying to decide if he had the power to cross over. Gabriel seemed to know what she was thinking. He looked down at his plate and picked at his food.

“But why are you called Harlequins?” Hollis asked Maya. “Isn’t that some kind of actor with a painted face, like a clown?”

“We took that name in the seventeenth century. The Harlequin is one of the characters in Italian commedia dell’arte, usually a clever servant. The Harlequin character wears a costume with diamond shapes. Sometimes he plays the lute or carries a wooden sword. The Harlequin always wears a mask, concealing his identity.”

“But that’s an Italian name,” Hollis said. “I was told that Harlequins used to be in Japan and Persia and just about every other place in the world.”

“In the seventeenth century, the European Harlequins began to contact warriors from other cultures who were also defending Travelers. Our first alliance was with the Sikhs living in the Punjab. Like the Harlequins, devout Sikhs carry a ritual sword called a kirpan. Around the same time, we also made alliances with Buddhist and Sufi warriors. In the eighteenth century, we were joined by an order of Jewish fighters in Russia and Eastern Europe that defended rabbis who studied the Kabbalah.”

Vicki turned to Gabriel. “Lion of the Temple, the Harlequin who defended the Prophet, came from a Jewish family.”

Hollis looked amused. “You know, I’ve been in that town in Arkansas where they lynched Isaac Jones. Thirty years ago, the NAACP and some Jewish group got together and put up a plaque in honor of Zachary Goldman. They make it like a peace-and-love brotherhood thing because this Harlequin killed two racist bastards with a crowbar.”

“Was there ever a Harlequin gathering?” Gabriel asked. “Did the different groups ever meet in one room?”

“That would never happen. Harlequins respect the randomness of battle. We don’t like rules. Harlequin families are connected to each other by marriage, tradition, and friendship. Some families have been allies for hundreds of years. We don’t have elected leaders or a constitution. There’s just a Harlequin way of looking at the world. Some Harlequins fight because it’s our destiny. Some of us fight to defend freedom. I’m not talking about the opportunity to buy fourteen different kinds of toothpaste or the insanity that drives a terrorist to blow up a bus. True freedom is tolerant. It gives people the right to live and think in new ways.”

“I still want to know about ‘Damned by the flesh, saved by the blood,’” Hollis said. “Whose blood are you talking about? The Tabula, the Harlequins, or the Travelers?”

“Take your pick,” Maya said. “Maybe it’s everyone.”

THERE WAS ONLY one bedroom in the house. Hollis proposed that the two women share the bed while he and Gabriel sleep in the living room. Vicki could tell that Maya didn’t like the idea. Now that she had found Gabriel, she seemed uncomfortable when he wasn’t in her sight.

“It’ll be okay,” Vicki whispered. “Gabriel is only a few feet away. We can leave the door open if you want. Besides, Hollis has the rifle.”