From Night On: Magdalene

Chapters 13-14

Chapter 13:

The Strength of the Coin

"'The gods are real,'" Meira repeated what the mystic had told her to Mathew and Thomas, "'but they are not the one. Your talk of the one true god is drawing their attention. One attempted to end your words in your home city and another lied in wait for you along your path here.The more you fight back, the more you talk openly about the one true god, the more attention you're gaining from the other gods.'"

"Why you?" Thomas asked. "Why not the others of your faith? Why is it that you're the target?"

"She didn't say," Meira answered.

"Did you bother to ask?" Mathew asked with a slight chuckle. "If someone wanted me dead, I'd like to know why."

Meira kicked herself. Caught up in the mystifying reading, there were many questions that didn't occur to her in the moment. "I was more concerned with the next step," she confessed with a tinge of regret over the lost opportunity. "She told me that I would meet a teacher who would help me connect with the one and I figured that would be where the best answers would come from."

"Where is this teacher?" Thomas asked.

"I don't know," Meira answered, turning to Mathew, "but you're taking me to him."

"I am?" Mathew thought for a moment. "Marcus' orders were to take you as far as Takht-i Sangin in Bactria."

"Bactria?!?" Thomas huffed in amazement. "This is a long journey, indeed!"

"Where is that?" Meira asked.

Thomas knelt down and drew in the dirt a map to the best of his recollection. "Here is Dimasq," he poked at the dirt. "We traveled, here, to Mari, and then to here, Ctesiphon," he said as he traced a meandering line to represent the Euphrates. He then took extra care with the help of Mathew to draw the eastern continent. "Here?" he pointed at a location almost four times the distance they had already traveled.

"Close enough," Mathew nodded his approval.

"That is where we are going," Thomas said as he leaned back on his hands and taking a moment to contemplate what to expect. "This is going to be dangerous," he said, looking to Mathew.

"I know,"cMathew responded. "I tried to explain this to Marcus, but he insisted. The country is currently being supported by Greece and he has connections with the local developing kingdom."

"'Developing' is one way to say it," Thomas scoffed. "They're at war with Parthia and the Pahlavas." He stood up and dusted off his rear end. "We are going to be marching through war zones."

"How do you know so much?" Mathew asked him. The information of the region was barely spoken of among the generals, so it was strange to him that a normal soldier would be aware of the conflicts.

"I drink wine and I know things," Thomas smiled. "I have been studying Sokrates for most of my life, so I take to his methods with staying informed. I spend time with the people and I listen."

"I do that, too," Meira smiled. "I like learning of philosophy that way."

"Philosophy is fun and games," Thomas winced, "but it's very difficult to apply to life on a large scale."

"What do you mean?" Mathew asked.

"You could have all the answers," Thomas thought aloud, "you could know all the truths, and that might be helpful to you, but try sharing those truths with the people and you might find yourself drinking hemlock tea."