Snowfall

The priest woke me the next morning all too early, but soon enough I was in good spirits again. I looked forward to my next visit with Amar and everything around me seemed far more beautiful. Happiness does that, doesn\'t it? Make everything seem far more beautiful than when you looked at it before. People seem wonderful, you find qualities about them that you love but never seemed to have taken the time to notice. Birds sound more pleasant and every event seems designed to aid in your good spirits. If only such happiness lasted longer than those briefest of moments in our lives.

I continued to visit Amar at night. We talked of various things, what I had learned or what he had seen. We spoke of ancient civilizations and the great works of Roman philosophers. I found he was very learned for a man not brought up by the church and for one so young. I asked him about his education and he told me his father had been a wealthy noble who saw to it that his son was as educated as he could possibly make him in preparation for Amar to one day hold his title.

We were coming up to a small town and the priest and I were to stay in the church that was there. I dreaded it because I did not know how I was going to be able to see Amar while we were here. The streets were of cobblestone and the whitewashed houses were quaint. I should have been excited to see such a charming place. It was bustling with activity and there were many things to see. The people were also quite proud of their new church. It was the largest I had ever visited and awe at its size quickly turned into dismay. There was no way I was going to manage to slip through the length of such a place unseen. How would I keep my appointment with Amar? I didn\'t want to disappoint him. I trudged listlessly up the stairs and listened only partially to the brother who was explaining, with some pride, about the various points of interest in the new building. He eventually showed us to our rooms. Rooms! We were not to be given the same room! The brother explained that with the new church they had plenty of room for visiting priests. That caused me some hope, I started looking around with a little more interest. The cells were identical to each other, with very little more than a bed and a small desk in each. I looked out the window of one, watching the landscape through the trees. The trees!

\"Father, do you mind if I take this room?\" I turned to the Priest who was still speaking to the Brother.

\"Not at all my son, one is as good as another. Might I ask what has caused such a love for this one?\" He chuckled at me.

\"I find the view very lovely. I am sure it is as lovely from the other one but...\" I shrugged as if to say I had seen the view from this one and I liked it and didn\'t want to chance it not being so interesting from the other window. The brother beamed at me and walked over to look out.

\"Yes, yes. See from here you can see the tavern, ungodly place.\" he muttered the last part and continued on. \" There is the bakery and the tailor is just visible over there. You can see the town square.\" He pointed through the leaded pane. \"Look, I think you can just make out a juggler. I don\'t know what kind of money he expects to make on a day like this, better he should make an honest living.\" The monk sniffed and then remembered he had other people present. \"You\'re right it is a lovely view, if this tree where not in the way you could see more of the square. Perhaps from the other window you would have a better view.\"

\"No! I like this room.\" I stated a little too quickly but I hoped that both would take it as some childishness that I had yet to grow out of. Apparently that was exactly what both men decided because they both smiled at me indulgently.

\"It is your room then, Albin. Now come along we don\'t want to be late for mass.\" Father John headed out of the room followed by the brother. I laid down my few belongings and followed after them.


Night crept over the Church and I listened to the strange silence with unease. After so much time spent outdoors, the lack of nature sounds made it seem unnaturally quiet. The occasional shuffle of monks moving past the door made me glad that I had not tried to sneak out in that direction. This was much larger than the tiny Abbey I was used to. Slowly I climbed out of bed and moved to the window, the leaded glass was lovely in its new wooden frame, it also had yet to be warped by the wet rains to the point of making it difficult to open silently. A fact for which I was grateful.

Carefully, I climbed up onto the window sill and reached one hand out to the tree limb nearest me, using it for balance as I slowly stood up. Leaning my weight on the hand holding the tree, I then released my hold on the window ledge and placed the other hand on the limb. From there it was an easy task for a former farm boy to swing himself to a lower branch. I made my way down the tree silently, thanking the monks or the architect for not clearing away such a sturdy old friend as this oak.

Once down I wondered just where in town I would be likely to find Amar. I frowned, the only place likely to be open after dark would be the tavern. There was no help for it. I would have to try there. I had no money save the one coin I found and I doubted that would buy me more than one drink. Drink, you say? Should a boy going into the priesthood be buying drinks? That\'s not such a crime as you\'d imagine. Remember it was monks that invented beer. People drank at young ages in those days and the clergy did as well. The bigger issue would have been my sneaking out of the Church to go to a tavern, that would have gotten me some stern looks indeed, some serious punishment and quite a few prayers to say. Not to mention the extreme disappointment of Father John.

I was thinking more on these things than on my surroundings so that when I passed out of the shadow of the church and onto a side street that would take me closer to the tavern I did not notice the men up ahead. They seemed to have been more observant.

\"Que fait-il nous avons ici?\"

I looked up and tried to smile pleasantly but they looked rather rough. Do not judge so quickly, Albin. Definitely Father John\'s voice in my head. \"Bonsoir Messieurs.\" They laughed. There were three of them, each dirtier and more drunk than the last.

\"C\'est une dame, ici?\" Another asked. Was I a lady? He thought I was a woman? I reached up self consciously to one curl. I was taller than all of them, certainly they didn\'t think I was female.

\"Elle est très grande, une amazone, non?\" Great they decided I was a tall woman, an amazon. Just their lucky day to be visited by a vision out of Greek mythology. I might have wondered how they even knew of Amazons if I were in a better situation to contemplate it but looking back later I realized they were sailors and if there was one thing sailors tended to know other than the ocean and ships, it was stories and superstitions.

Just this moment however, they were pushing towards me, I backed up trying to move backwards towards the Church.

\"Non, poupée , ne parte pas.\" Don\'t leave... That\'s exactly what I planned to do. One moved around towards my side and I found my way backwards was becoming narrower. I soon found myself backed up against a building and I knew then that I was where they would have wanted me all along.

One of them told me to be good, the largest and obviously the leader of the bunch pressed himself up against me. Turning away from his reeking breath, I could feel his large hand groping for the cord around my waist. I clutched protectively at my clothing, pressing it against me. What would he do when he found I was not a woman? He grabbed me hard around the arm and spun me around. My face bit into the brick of the building and I shut my eyes in dispair. My large attacker was pressed up against me along one side to keep me traped against the wall, but turned away just enough to begin pulling my robe upwards. I heard the fabric tear and my first insane thought was how was I going to explain my ripped tunic to Father John. I then felt his warm dirty hand squeeze my inner thigh and I shuddered. It caused a riot of laughter from all three of them . The poppet, or doll as they kept calling me was behaving so well. My mind went back to all of those times that I was beaten as a child while I did nothing to stop it; Here it was happening again and there was nothing I could do even if I wanted to. \"Non, S\'il vous plait.\" I murmered \"Avez la charité\" This was still more entertaining, the laughter grew louder then stopped abruptly. I wondered what new horror was planned, when I felt the man\'s weight suddenly pull away from me, my robe falling haphazardly back down my over my legs. For what seemed like an eternity I stood still feeling the cold night air sneak its way up under my abused clothing causeing me shiver. I reached up to straighten it by force of habit, and only then dared to turn around.
Amar stood before me, the large leader in his grasp. He was biting him? The other two men had backed away and were cursing and praying at the same time. Eventually they got far enough away to take off at a run, the words demon and vampire fading into the night. Amar dropped the body of my attacker, letting it fall lifeless to the ground. He licked his lips and wiped the back of his hand across his mouth, it was then that he looked up at me.
The horror must have been very evident in my eyes for there was a look of hurt and pain that crossed his face. He then schooled his features into a blank expression and said with the courtesy that I had come to expect from him.

\"I am sorry that you had to see that, Albin. It was not my wish.\"

\"What was your wish? That I be next?\" Had I lost my mind? This man just saved my life. Man, was he a man?