The Stone Hides had warned the tribal people of this growing malignancy, even as the tribes had succumbed to more violent passions during wars that had led to grave abominations such as the eating of the flesh of captives.
The consumption of a foe’s vital organs was not the only wickedness to sprout in regard to captives, as new practices of cruel torture developed among the people of the Five Realms. The tortures took on a ritualistic, almost ceremonial tone, involving making captives run gauntlets of warriors who mercilessly beat them before they were tied to stakes for burning. Other horrific methods included the tearing out of fingernails and the setting aflame of bark belts filled with pitch and resin, which had been tied about the prisoners’ waists.
The abominations had not only been visited upon war captives, but also to some unfortunate Gallean monks that had come among the tribes to propagate the faith of the Western Church. In truth, some of the most brutal practices had been applied to the monks, including the pouring of boiling water over them three times to mimic the Sacrament of Three Immersions that the Western Church used to anoint new converts.
The tribes now looked upon such practices with a shudder of horror, and even an element of disbelief. The warrior telling the tale had been adamant to state as such after relating the blood-curdling details of the past. Janus could sense the sincere shame that the warrior felt towards the atrocities by his lineage, though it was clear that he was determined to render an honest and unfiltered account.
The telling of the dark practices was important to the warrior, in the context of what it eventually led to in the growth, wisdom, and redemption of the tribal people.
The powers of the dark had not spared the Stone Hides in those malignant times either, taking possession of some unstable individuals of their number to commit atrocities upon humans. As with the corruption within the tribes, these hideous violations also involved flesh-eating.
The only difference between the experience of the humans and the Stone Hides was that the latter had been quick in recognizing exactly what was happening. They had moved rapidly to drive out the shadowy influences from their midst, as well as those that had come under the sway of dark powers.
The warrior commented that their ancestors should have seen the trouble coming, long before the warnings of the Stone Hides. It had not been very long before that time that the Wizards Deganawida and the Light Brother had disappeared from sight.
From the perspective of hindsight, it was held by the wise among the tribes that the departure of the two mighty Wizards was a harbinger of the eroding corruption in the spirit of the people. In truth, it had not been much longer following the disappearance of the Wizards that the tribes had started resorting to bloodier and crueler impulses, openly committing horrific acts.
The loss of the Stone Hides, coupled with the people’s understanding of the vanishing of the two great Wizards, had served as a terrible shock that had spurred the tribes with a great urgency. As if awakening out of the paralyzing depths of a nightmare, they had begun to see things as they were, in all their naked and monstrous truth. The tribes had then been extremely diligent in rooting out vile witches and malevolent shamans from their haunts within the shadowy, more remote depths of the woodlands.
As they did so, they had come to fully recognize the abominations that they had been committing upon others. They were thoroughly chastened, realizing that the sickness was in truth one of the soul. The Five Realms had abruptly ceased all of the sickening, bloody behaviors, ushering in a period of widespread reform, reaffirming the tenets that underlay the Grand Council’s founding by the Wizard Deganawida.
Janus recalled the great caution that had been evidenced, and the quartz crystals that had been brought out, when he and the others had been discovered by the band of warriors. He understood then that the diligence reflected the story he was now hearing, an assiduousness that had not ceased since that period of reformation.
From the way that the warrior talked, it was now unmistakable that witchcraft was truly regarded as one of the most evil of pursuits that a human could ever choose to take, a transgression of the spirit even worse than murder. To the people, it was a direct mockery of the One Spirit, having no presence in the pure light of the world’s Creator.
The renewed mandate to oppose the dark arts relentlessly was unquestioned, becoming a major root within the story of the Stone Hides. It was the very lesson and wisdom that had been derived from what was a great, collective loss to the five tribes. The two Wizards were still gone, as were the Stone Hides, but the tribes had been able to reverse the slide into spiritual devastation.
The warrior finally ended his thorough tale of the Stone Hides and its profound lessons. Upon completion, the other warriors, including Ayenwatha, excused themselves for the rest of the evening.
In the wake of their departure, Janus and the others got up and made their way deeper into the longhouse towards their own quarters. They exchanged polite smiles and nods with the various families settling down for the night within the other chambers.
Janus felt a little awkward walking right through the midst of the families, but could see that there was absolutely no discomfort on their part. Their returning nods and warm smiles were welcoming and kind, and there was no sense of irritation or interruption.
Reaching their own chamber, the seven split up and found sleeping places up on the surfaces of the raised platforms on either side. Setting the cornhusk mats and furs into place, they bedded down for the night.
By then Janus and the others were all at the point of absolute exhaustion. He had already taken notice that more than one of his comrades had had to make a concerted effort during the last parts of the story of the Stone Hides. Heavily drooping eyelids had threatened to transit into sleep, and Janus’ companions had done what they could to resist it.
Once six out of seven of the exiles were comfortably arrayed upon their corn husk mats and hides, they had fallen asleep very quickly. The seventh, Janus, did not slumber.
He found that he was still a little restless, not yet ready to give himself fully over to the embrace of sleep. His mind was still churning with the excitement of the day’s events, the lingering images of flight yet flowing through his head.
He could not deny that it was good just to feel alive again, even if his inner torments would not completely remove themselves from his mind and heart.
Finding a little solitude was not entirely an easy task within such a communal environment, but Janus decided to seek some anyway. He quietly maneuvered past a lightly snoring Kent, and got down from the sleeping platform. With cautious steps he made his way back down the length of the longhouse, passing through the other compartments.
As with his previous nighttime venture out of the longhouse, he took great care not to let his passage wake up any of the villagers that had gone to sleep. He had to watch his step, and a few more friendly smiles and nods greeted him from the shadowed recesses of the dark compartments as he continued through.
A couple of small children in one of the compartments giggled and ducked their heads under their fur coverlets, drawing a grin from Janus. It encouraged him how he and his otherworld companions had been accepted so quickly by the Onan villagers, and their friendship and generosity continued to amaze him. He wondered if he would ever be able to return even a little of their kindness at some future time. Not being of their world, he strongly doubted it.