Pablo Chapter 4 | The villagers

Translation to English: Theofilos Tourzaridis
Editing and Proofreading: Cleopatra Strati
Illustration: ancalove2001

“Strange things are happening in our village lately…”

“Since the stranger came; think about the hens or the wilted rosemary of Dol…”.

The two friends stopped talking as Pablo passed in front of them heading to the cemetery to get human bones for the next spirit call. To justify his visits there he had told that an ancestor of his was from this village and wanted to learn more about him. The truth is that the longer a Master’s Sorcerer stays in one place, the more he begins to wither; he had to feed himself with some animals, or plants after the Beast’s Sorcerers poison the soil with their unholy feet.

From his research Pablo discovered that one of the spirits of the Underworld, an innocent soul he strayed, this soul was one of the miners, working under the Mayor’s supervision. Due to an accident, he died. To summon this miner’s soul Pablo needed some herbs found in Martha’s kitchen.

The cemetery is open until sunset, and at midday, nobody used to visit it. He is looking for an old grave, so as not to attract anyone’s attention. He sees, in the lower corner of the cemetery, a wooden cross embedded in the soil. He walks there and reads the engraved name and age. An 8 years old boy. Pablo might have made the sight of the cross if he was on the Other Side. Now he simply sighed and took out a small shovel from his overcoat.

~~~~~

Pablo thanked Martha for the dinner and got back to his room. He lights up the candles and stirs the herbs with the thigh bone while reciting the call of the miner’s spirit. His eyes turn black as the spirit passes through the portal he created taking the appearance he had when he was alive. He was a 20 years old young man. He looks at Pablo and gets scared.

“Do not be afraid. I won’t harm you.”

If the young man was alive he would have choked with his saliva, but now he nods at Pablo.

“Tell me about your death,” Pablo asks, as the spirit begins to pray for saving him. Pablo assures him that there is a place for him in the Heavens if he tells him what he knows. A glimpse of hope lights up his eyes. 

The young man’s spirit begins to speak.

“Before we die, we heard an explosion and then the mine fell. The entire shift was jailed even though there were already dead people because of the explosion. Everyone blamed the Mayor because although he knew that the mine would collapse at any moment, he insisted that miners could work without any problem. The Mayor, the Doctor, and the Priest had an agreement since their youth; it was some kind of a rumor that they were also responsible for the death of Axel, the innkeeper.’

Pablo rolls his eyes. What Martha’s husband had to do with those three, Pablo wondered and nodded to the spirit to continue his story.

“It was the three of them and their greed that cost our lives. They got rich because of our hard work. They got rich every time a train came to the village” said the spirit.

“The Mayor was indeed responsible for all this, but the Doctor? The Priest? How those three are connected? How they are connected to the mines? How they are connected to Axel’s death?’’ Pablo asks him, unable to find any connection.

“It was them that started all. A long time ago they had called the Priest to give the holy Eucharist to a near-death person. This poor man was all alone. All his family had died; long ago. A woman living near him took care of him; she was also an old one. The Doctor used to visit the old man day after day. One day the Doctor told her that the old man does not have much life and if he is a religious one she should call the Priest to give him the last holy Eucharist. The neighbor did as the Doctor told her. He called the Priest, who was new to our village. The Priest heard the old man’s story and seemed touched. How should we know?’ said the spirit of the young man as he was talking to himself and not to Pablo. Pablo nodded to continue. “The Doctor was already a year in our village. We all went to him. Even for our animals. Then the villagers had money, there were jobs, and villagers had money. The Doctor went to everyone who needed him, but the villagers paid him, of course.” Pablo understood.

The spirit continued his narration. “The Priest was not made to be a Priest. I have heard a lot of people in the village saying that. The Priest was jealous of the wealth of the village. Everyone worked and lived well, but when they went to Church … there they did not put their hand deep in their pocket. The Priest after giving the holy Eucharist to the old man and learning that the old man was all alone, he thought that he could benefit from the old man’s fortune, but without raising any suspicion against him. He must be careful. Poison was a good solution, but alone he did not know what poison to use or how to use it. He realized that he could not do anything by himself. He needed help, he needed an expert. The Priest knew that only one person in the whole village could help him, but the first time he approached him the Doctor threw him out of his office. But the Devil was on Priest’s side.”

“What do you mean;” Pablo asked the spirit in surprise.

“One night the Priest saw the Doctor enter a married woman’s house from the kitchen door and leave after an hour before her husband entered the front door.”

Pablo didn’t need anything more. He had it all figured out. The Priest blackmailed the Doctor to make him a poison, the Doctor could not do otherwise. He made the poison, kept his affair – according to the spirit – with the married woman, and their first victim was ready. After the old man’s death, no one suspected anything. At the second communion, the sick old man died, after he had first transferred all his property to the Church and the village Doctor to build a kind of small hospital for the benefit of his co-villagers. Not only were they not suspicious, but they also declared him a village benefactor, like many others after him, with the cooperation of the Mayor, of course.

“But how did the Mayor get involved?” Pablo asked the spirit.

“The Mayor initially did not suspect anything at all. But by a diabolical coincidence one night he overheard a quarrel between the Priest and the Doctor, because of their last two victims the Doctor or rather the “village clinic” took the biggest share.

“I understand,” replied Pablo, “and to keep their secret safe, they became three of them instead of two.”

The spirit nodded and said, “Until Axel discovered all the three of them, so they killed him.”

Pablo wished he could talk to Axel, but he’s at His side now, and he can’t be called by someone like Pablo. It was also another problem in Axel’s case: the mortals who die in such a brutal way, when they enter Heaven they forget their death. The Great Plan after all… doesn’t upset the Balance…, thought Pablo. 

Pablo remembers a detail in Martha’s story about Axel a few nights ago. “And the Policeman? How the policeman is involved?” asks the spirit.

“The policeman is the apprentice of the Mayor, to execute orders, that’s all.”

Pablo ends the communication with a nod. It was about time to become everything clear. The explosion of the mine had been on purpose by these three powerful people of the village. They were the richest people in the village. The Mayor had found another spring of wealth. More clearly and without any stress. The Mayor decided to lose the mine. The mines were useless to him. They were so rich that their money could allow them and their families to their great-great-grandchildren, and at the same time, they already have been enjoying their riches for 25 years. Unpunished. 

Pablo lays down on the bed to rest the body that has been hosting him for several years. His mind could not calm down after the latest information. He thinks once more about his plan. He still has two weeks to complete his mission. Time is running out. He closes his eyes and sinks into a dreamless sleep. For dreaming you need to have a soul. And Pablo sold his soul a long time ago.