Salvation Through Death: Chapter 1 - Traveling to be Executed

Chapter 1 – Traveling to be Executed

As I look up at the starless moonlit sky while journeying, I remember the words of the priest as he blessed me for my journey.

“I bless you for this arduous journey that you are about to undertake. May you find peace in the death that our Lord is about to give you. May your body be a vessel for His holy will as it was created to be. May the last rotten pieces of human weakness fall off you like the leaves in the fall. May this act of love, faithfulness, and sacrifice merit for you the glory of Heaven.”

A merchant driving a horse-drawn carriage with four lanterns on each side stops just ahead of me. His hair is shaggy and brown and his clothing is much the same.

“Excuse me-oh!” the man says while trying to look at me. “I’m sorry. I’m new here to Corvus and I still have some things to get used to.”

“You can say what you mean. It takes most outsiders some time to get used to seeing people with half-skeletal faces like mine,” I say.

“Right. Anyway, I wanted to ask if you would accompany me. This land is more dangerous than usual these days and I would like to help make my deliveries. I’ll pay you whatever you want.”

“Sure. As for my payment, I’ll let you know what I want after we make your deliveries.”

“Thank you so much! What’s your name?”

“Dunmire.”

“Bovis is mine. Again, thank you for accepting my offer.”

I get in the carriage and the merchant travels to a nearby town. After dropping off ten crates to a blacksmith, the merchant says that he needs to take a breather, so he sits down and tries to eat the lunch that he brought in a box, however, he coughs and struggles to eat more than a few bites before giving up.

“How do you live out here, if you don’t mind me asking? It smells rotten, it’s always dark and gray out, the buildings all look rundown or intimating, even the churches, and the lands are bumpy and dead,” Bovis asks.

“You get used to it. Being born half-dead helps as well,” I say.

“Yeah, that’s what I was told to. Does being half-dead help you wield that sword? Can I see it?”

Unsheathing my sword from my back, I show Bovis it but don’t put it in his hands. He looks at it with interest and uneasy hands as he tries not to touch it.

“It’s as large as a human man and wrapped in so many thorns,” he says. “Doesn’t it hurt to hold it?”

“Not at all.”

Bovis then looks at my fleshy and bony left arm.

“Oh, that’s right. Do ever get hurt at all or do the half-dead like you feel no pain?”

“We feel pain. It must be intense for it to register to us.”

“I’m assuming that crown of thorns of yours isn’t painful enough to bother you?”

“No, it doesn’t bother me at all.”

“I’ve been seeing people bow their heads towards you. Are you some kind of wandering prince?”

“No. The people are just acknowledging the journey I’m on by bowing their heads in honor. This journey will lead to the death of part of myself that’s still sinful.”

“As if you aren’t dead enough already. Excuse me.”

“No offense taken.”

“Anyways, that’s enough of a breather. Want the rest of my lunch? I don’t have the stomach to finish it.”

“I’m not hungry.”

“One last question. Do you eat and drink?”

“Sometimes, maybe I’ll have a little once or twice a week.”

“Well, that explains how you can survive in such a dead land. I assume that the same goes for the wildlife and what little vegetation there is.”

I nod and Bovis tilts his head in acknowledgement. We head back to the blacksmith whose servants have loaded the carriage with boxes of materials marked with my kingdom’s symbol of the crow as this was an exchange of materials from my home to the outsiders since the materials here can make more durable weapons and armor than most other kingdoms and lands. Bovis thanks the blacksmith and his servants and then we head out to the next destination where we make another delivery.

“Is wearing veils common for your folks?” Bovis asks as he drives us to our next destination.

“Yes, we do so in mourning since something or someone is always dying,” I say.

“Figures. Our next destination will be our last. Do you have a payment in mind yet? Maybe something monetary or some materials from my kingdom?”

“Nothing yet. I should know soon. Why should you pay me anyway? I haven’t protected you from anything yet.”

“You’ve given me lots of information about your homeland and its people and given me your company. I’m thankful for it, so if nothing happens, and I hope nothing does, you still should receive something.”

Bovis turns around to smile at me and I give my best smile and nod in return. My smile might’ve disturbed him since he immediately turned around with eyes wide open probably because a half-skeletal smile on my face looked off-putting to him. Our last delivery goes off without a hitch, and with that done, Bovis shakes my hand.

“Thank you for your help. So, do you have something in mind yet?” Bovis asks.

“Nothing yet, though I feel as if I should continue traveling with you. My journey to my death is one guided by the silent guidance of God with sometimes indiscernible hints,” I say.

“Well, if your journey guides you all the back to my home kingdom, then I’ll give you another reward on top of the one you’re already getting. I should’ve asked you to be my protection on my way out of your homeland, but nevertheless, I’m glad you’re coming with me.”

Once Bovis and I make it to where we can see the edge of my kingdom’s territory, I see, for the first time, the daylight that can never seem to touch this region of the southern world.

“It’s amazing, isn’t it?” Bovis says as he points at where the light is. “People call this land cursed because it seems so separate from the rest and because the light of the sun never reaches it, only the moon.”

“It’s a blessing in disguise as it reminds us of the inevitability of death, the persistence of life, and constant cycles of life and death.”

Before we make it to the edge, a band of four bandits come out of the rotted bushes and surround us on both sides. From their appearance, I can tell that they’re not from around here.

With his hands up, Bovis says, “Woah! What do you people want?”

“We want all of those materials that you’ve been acquiring,” one of the thieves says.

“Give them to us and no one will get hurt,” another thief says.

“You are all cowards,” I say as I get up and off the carriage.

“You better watch your mouth or else-” the thief says before he sees my face.

The thieves look at one another before acting as if they aren’t disturbed by my appearance.

“Or else what? I know thieves like you wander the edges of my homeland because you’re afraid of the dangers, people, and things in it, so I propose to you this. Leave or I’ll show you why you were right to be afraid,” I say with my sword now drawn.

“We’re not afraid of you!”

One of the thieves charges towards me with his sword raised high. He brings it down on me and I block it with my fleshy left arm. The sword’s blade shatters as it hits my arm and the impact gives me little pain. Before the shocked thief can make his next move, I quickly swing my sword and cleanly cut him in half. With the death of their companion, the other three thieves surround me and nervously come up with a plan on the spot before charging at me.

I let all of them impale me with their swords, look at me in fear for a few seconds, and then push them away as I pick them off one by one. For the first thief I kill, I cut off their legs before going for their head. The second I grab by the neck with my left arm and throw them into a spiky tree that impales them without immediately killing them, and finally, for the last thief, I cut off their arms in one swing and let them run away where they are eaten alive by corpse wolves. Crows and vultures are now picking at the still-alive thief that’s impaled on the tree who is begging for death along with her other companion who is still alive.

“Uh, Dunmire?” Bovis says as he tepidly approaches me from behind. “Shouldn’t you kill them?”

“No,” I say.

“Why did you kill two and keep the two alive to die these horrible deaths?”

“So, they could recognize their faults, repent of it, offer up their pain as penance for their sins, and receive Heaven as their reward. The other two who died instantly didn’t have much time to repent and probably went to Hell.”

“This seems like an unnecessarily cruel way to make people repent.”

“This is the way of the people of Corvus. If I have been too cruel to a sinful extent, then I hope that part of me is killed in my journey and my methods of executing are refined.”

“Okay,” Bovis says in a shuttering voice. “I think we should go.”

“We should. Oh, and you don’t have to give me a reward. Through you, divine providence has allowed me to execute these sinners and give the other two clarity for their deeds, a chance to repent, and penance to repay for the evil they have done.”

“You-you’re welcome.”

Getting back on the carriage, Bovis and I head out of the dead lands of Corvus and into the living kingdom of the next. Even in the darkness and a far distance, I watch as the thieves continue to slowly die with one yelling to God for forgiveness and the other yelling out to die. As far as I can see, one is saved and the other damned as it was at the crucifixion of Christ. Thank you, God, for allowing at least one to be saved and a sign that I have done the right thing according to the ways you have given my people.

“In death, there is salvation,” I whisper as I cross myself.