PREACHERS' TRAIL

On the night of November 20, 1944, in the remote village of Poraje, a strange event occurred. In a small house on the edge of the marshes, belonging to Festur and Anatonia Klimowicz, a child was born, a boy of extraordinary beauty. The whole event would certainly have gone unnoticed, were it not for the fact that the newborn's parents were well into their forties, and the fact that this was their firstborn added to the mystery. Immediately, the entire village began to buzz with rumors that since Festur had been unable to conceive Anatonia for 46 years, surely someone had helped him this time. The village split into two factions. Some claimed that old Klimowicz had had an affair with a Salecian merchant who had been visiting Poraj less than a year before, while others insisted that the child's father was a forest devil, a swindler and rake, who supposedly stole wheat from the village granary every March night. Most of the superstitious and uneducated peasants stuck to the latter theory, claiming that old Klimowicz was so terrifying that only the devil himself could be tempted by her feminine charms. The Klimowiczs, grateful that fate had finally smiled upon them, paid no attention to these rumors. At the urging of old Henry, the village's biggest gossip and Anatonia's only friend, they christened the boy Ion. The name was short, pleasant-sounding, and, as Henry's wife claimed, undoubtedly royal. The poor old gossip couldn't have guessed at the time that the word she'd once heard in a conversation among Salecian merchants meant the plague, the Black Death, a disease that had once contributed to the deaths of millions of Salecian citizens. The name, perhaps not a particularly fortunate one in the boy's early years, proved remarkably apt. By the age of three, Ion could speak fluently. This would undoubtedly have been a source of immense pride for the Klimowicz family, were it not for one significant flaw. The boy spent entire days talking to his imaginary friend, "Angel," who, according to Ion, was his personal guardian angel. Initially, everyone in the village attributed this strange affliction to childhood fantasy, but as the boy grew older, he was inseparable from his invisible friend, and he was dubbed "nut." And he deservedly deserved that title. He was a misanthrope and a recluse, perhaps somewhat lost in his own private, unexplored world. He quickly became a favorite target of jokes and ridicule among the village children. He paid no attention to this until the son of the Poraj village headman, Jorund, known as the Bull, four years older and two heads taller than Ion, decided to physically beat the boy out of his otherness. When Jorund's huge bear paw landed with a tremendous thud on Ion's face, something happened that would forever go down in the history of Poraj almanacs.Instead of bursting into tears and complaining to his parents, the struck boy attacked his opponent with unprecedented fury. Unprepared for this turn of events, Jorund simply lost his mind. Instead of defending himself, he allowed himself to be knocked down, exposing himself to countless blows to his somewhat Neanderthal face. When Jorund's head began to resemble an overripe tomato, Ion, panting, had completed his work of destruction. Or so it seemed to everyone. The somewhat bewildered village urchins looked at Ion with genuine admiration but also a sense of fear. Their informal leader, Jorund, lay on the ground, moaning heavily in pain. However, the clash wasn't over. Suddenly, completely unexpectedly, like a rabid pit bull, Ion lunged for Jorund's right hand and latched onto it with his teeth. A moment later, the village headman's son's dripping thumb was in his teeth. Ion rubbed the blood all over his face and eagerly licked the remaining blood from his palm. Finally, he spat the thumb onto Jorund, who was already howling in pain, and ran off towards the swamp, his favorite playground.

A terrible scandal erupted in the village. Jorund Kaitel's father wanted to lynch his son's slayer. However, he had to abandon his plans when Kane, a two-meter-tall retired soldier and current village guard, and the priest Niobe intervened. Thanks to their mediation, the matter ended amicably. Ultimately, Festur was forced to give Katiel two of his four heifers and call an exorcist himself to exorcise the demon within the boy.

The day the exorcist arrived in Poraj, the villagers crowded the Klimowicz family's cottage. It was unusual to witness a demon being exorcised in Poraj. The exorcist turned out to be an inconspicuous, mustachioed man with a few tufts of hair just behind his ears. The ceremony began with a bizarre, somewhat amusing ritual dance with incense around a boy tied to a stake in the center of the enclosure. As the ceremony progressed, the exorcist began to dance faster and faster, occasionally shouting words in what was undoubtedly a magical language. After about two hours, utterly exhausted and sweaty, he knelt and glared irritably at the boy, from whom, strangely enough, the demon had no intention of escaping. This coincided with the moment when Ion began to yawn. The exorcist, irritated by this act, furiously threw the incense in his hands to the ground and began shouting that he had been deceived, because the boy was not possessed at all, but simply stupid. His words were met with hostility from the villagers, who began calling him a fraud and a charlatan; some even demanded a different exorcist. A few of the more spirited peasants even ran for pitchforks to punish the impostor. Kane prevented the lynching by drawing his enormous sword from his breast pocket and declaring that anyone who dared to doubt the exorcist's words would have to face him. His very appearance inspired considerable fear among the villagers, and the powerful sword held in his right hand only intensified this feeling. After brief protests, the villagers dispersed, the exorcist returned to his home, and Kane freed the tied boy, who from then on began to hold the giant in genuine admiration.

From then on, Kane became Ion's hero and companion. The boy never left the old soldier's side, sometimes irritating him to the core. Kane took a liking to the boy, so much so that he even began teaching him how to read, how to swordsmanship, and how to converse with ladies. The latter was somewhat incomprehensible and unnecessary for a seven-year-old, but the old man had it in his head that Ion would at least become a knight one day, and that such a skill would be very useful to him. Ion proved to be a very apt student. Even after his first sword lessons, it was clear he would become an excellent swordsman. He excelled even more in reading. As soon as he learned to put letters into words and words into sentences, he began devouring every book in Kane's modest library. His ability to read caused some concern among the boy's parents, who were unsure why a peasant boy, born to hard labor on the land, would bother with such trivialities. It should be added that in Poraya, except for Kane and the priest Niobe, everyone, without exception, was illiterate. Of all the books he read, the Olicelian Bible made the greatest impression on the boy. Stories of the exploits of the god Yeal and his son Crisus, crucified by humans, in the distant land of Olicelia captivated Ion's imagination. The boy fell head over heels in love with the Bible, and the thought of becoming a knight of the Lord began to haunt his mind. He imagined himself mounted on a white steed, in golden armor, sword in hand, fighting an army of pagans who dared not accept the sacrament of baptism and faith in Yeal. He immediately shared his desire with Kane. When the old man heard this, he almost roared with laughter, claiming that gods did not exist and that the Olicean Bible was merely the creation of money-hungry, corrupt, and profit-hungry priests. Kane's reaction infuriated Ion, but due to his friendship with Kane, he refrained from hurling a string of curses at him. He found support for his dream in the village priest, Niobe. Niobe was practically euphoric when he heard of these plans and decided to do everything in his power to fulfill the boy's dreams, seeing him as the first true follower of Yeal in Poraj. Officially, for 24 years, all the inhabitants of Poraj had been Olicelians, baptized and dedicated sheep of God. In reality, few in the village practiced this state-imposed religion. They continued to worship the agricultural gods Erate and Secuba, and the fertility god Sexen. These practices met with considerable outrage from Niobe. The priest repeatedly sent letters to the bishopric in Hire, requesting that a small company of troops be sent to Poraj to establish the one true order and punish those guilty of perfidy. It should be noted that the sin of perfidy, according to King Rayan's edict, was punishable by burning at the stake.If any of Niobe's letters had fallen into the hands of Bishop John, Poraje would certainly have been severely decimated. However, this did not happen, thanks to Kane, who, himself exposed to the stake for his atheistic views, secretly intercepted and then burned the village priest's letters. Thus, the village lived in a semblance of idyllic peace and quiet.

When Ion turned eighteen, a great misfortune befell him. His only friend, Kane, unexpectedly collapsed and stopped breathing during his daily rounds of the village. A barber brought in from a neighboring village diagnosed cardiac arrest, prosaically writing old age as the reason on the funeral receipt. Ion struggled to come to terms with the old warrior's death. He left the village for a few days and retreated to the marshes to mourn his friend in peace. When he returned, he was pleasantly surprised to discover that Kane had left him all his possessions. True, Kane wasn't wealthy. He owned only a small plot of land on the edge of the marshes, one horse, a crossbow, a few swords, and a modest bookcase. Despite this, Ion felt he had won the lottery. In accordance with the old warrior's will, Ion buried him in a modest grave near his own home. On the tombstone, somewhat against his will, but respecting his friend's last will, he engraved the following words: "Here lies Kane of Amerotrea, a man who did not believe in the gods." This was met with a sharp reaction from Niobe, but Ion calmed him down by shielding his friend's grave with a meter-high fence so that no one could read the inscription on the tombstone. This was all the more strange because, except for Niobe and Ion, no one in Poraje could read.

Young Klimowicz also took over all of Kane's duties, declaring himself the village guard. Initially, no one in the village protested until Ion went to the traditional monthly collection of taxes due to the village guard. He was met with a very hostile reception, resulting in a severed hand, numerous bruises, and dozens of knocked out teeth among the Poraje residents (including the last two teeth of Mayor Kaitel). These events caused a close-knit group of villagers. Taking advantage of the moment of peace resulting from Ion's absence from the village, the villagers, during a meeting in the village headman Ketel's hut, decided to kill the inconvenient young man in his sleep. Ion would have surely met a miserable end if not for a certain coincidence. While returning from the swamps, the boy heard suspicious screams. Full of foreboding, he drew his sword and ran quickly towards Poraj. His astonished eyes beheld a macabre sight. The corpses of three slaughtered peasants were strewn on the ground, and a gorilla-like figure with his pants down was preparing to cover the village headman's daughter, fully clothed and screaming in panic. His three companions, wearing debauched smiles, watched the gorilla's actions. Ion didn't hesitate for long. He raised his sword above his head and, with a cry of "Angel, on them!" With the specter of madness in his eyes, he charged at the band of thugs in unbridled fury. The thugs were utterly disoriented. The three watching the scene began to shake their heads nervously, searching for the little angel Ion had summoned. The most surprised, however, was the man with his trousers down, so much so that he didn't even realize when Ion, rushing like a hurricane, decapitated him, which fell to the ground with a dull thud. The remaining members of the gang, swords in hand, waited in apparent calm for Ion. He suddenly stopped and picked up a pike lying on the ground, undoubtedly belonging to the decapitated thug. He weighed it in his hand for a moment, then with incredible force, threw it toward the mustachioed thug furthest to the left. It hit the bandit perfectly in the eye socket. The villagers watching this Dantesque scene shuddered with horror. The thug's skull split open like a walnut cracked in two, exposing his brain and bloodstream. The two survivors looked, in considerable consternation, from each other to Ion. The village guard could be terrifying. Standing over 190 cm tall, with a well-built build and a sword in his hand, he resembled the son of Satan with a look of fury etched on his face. It was this fury, this mad, satanic glint in Ion's eyes, that made the greatest impression on the bandits. After a moment's reflection, they both dropped their heavy swords and fled. Ion followed. He knew he had little chance of catching them with a sword in his hand, but he wanted to instill fear in both bandits. Then tragedy struck. Or rather, the tragedy of one of the bandits.He was so lost in his flight that he didn't even notice a massive tree branch sticking out of the ground. In an instant, he fell heavily to the sand. A moment later, Ion stood beside him, his sword at his throat. The bandit, tears in his eyes, began to beg for forgiveness:

"No, please don't kill me, I was just watching, I didn't kill anyone!" His voice, reminiscent of the screech of a slaughtered pig, was visibly breaking.

"Ask Yeal for forgiveness and we'll see if he hears your request!" Ion said in a heavy, dull voice.

"Yes, yes, I beg your forgiveness. I humbly apologize for my evil deeds," the bandit replied in a slightly calmer voice, clearly sensing that he might be able to save his skin after all.

"God has forgiven you, brother," Ion replied. "But unfortunately, I can't." With that, he pierced the terrified bandit's heart with his sword.

The last of the bandits was already very far away, and Ion decided there was no point in pursuing him any further. He looked at the blood dripping from the sword, smeared it on his face as usual, and licked the remaining blood on his fingers, muttering that it was a gift for an angel. After this, he decapitated the bandit without further ado. He tied it to his belt with his hair and set off towards the village. The villagers watched him with both admiration and fear. The village headman's daughter, still naked, threw her arms around his neck. Ion pushed her away contemptuously and moved towards the bandit's corpse, a pike lodged in its eye socket. He repeated his decapitation ritual. The brains surfaced. The sight was gruesome. Ion summoned the villagers and handed them the two severed heads, the remaining intact ones, ordering them to be impaled on a pole and placed at the village entrance as a warning to future bandits. Finally, he ordered the bodies of the dead bandits to be buried, and, perhaps a little tired, he headed towards his hut with the two halves of the skull in his hands. He had every intention of making breastplates from them. This intention filled him with immense joy. He began to laugh loudly. This eerie, incredibly loud laughter only intensified the villagers' fear of Ion. After what they had seen, no one had the slightest intention of secretly slaying him. They humbly carried out Ion's orders and then focused on lamenting over their dead tribesmen. Meanwhile, Ion, as if nothing had happened, walked calmly toward his home. And he laughed, and laughed, and laughed, and laughed.