Captain Rainbrain and the Tanglevine: Part One

By: Josprel

by
Josprel

Part One

It was completed! It had taken one hundred and twenty years, but finally, the ship Lord Logos, who was of The Three, commanded Noemin to build was finished. Ready to float, the massive four-decked vessel - five hundred feet long, eighty feet broad, and stretching upward fifty feet - awaited only its crew and passengers. And, yesterday, Lord Yehova had ordered embarkment.

"Noemin," he had said to the wine maker, whose home was in situated a small town called, Kannia, located in the district of Larsia, "the time has arrived. Prepare to enter. Beginning at dawn, I will guide to the ship one pair each of all creatures ceremonially unclean, and seven pairs of those that are ceremonially clean. Have no concern for them until they have embarked. Just be ready to leave."

Since that long-ago time when Lord Logos first warned him of impending judgment, the shipbuilding had not been easy. His father, Lamech, believed Lord Logos warned Noiman. So did Grandfather Methusha. Both contributed invaluable assistance to the project, but now they were gone. Lamech died several years ago. And Grandfather Methusha who, at the beginning of his extremely long lifespan of nine hundred and sixty-nine years, was a confidant of The First Parents, passed on only this year. Noemin's wife, Shiana, and their son, Japhtho, also believed. Over the years, Shiana bore two other sons, Hamath and Shema. They also were faithful. Yehova guided all three sons to devout wives. Still, now that Lamech and Methusha were gone, only these eight believed; these few - no others - only these very, very few.

After Lord Logos' first message, Noiman decided to share it at a Kannia men’s gathering. Realizing how preposterous his comments would sound his courage almost failed him. He began hesitantly, but waxed eloquent as he progressed.

“Lord Logos appeared to me. When he did so, at first I thought I must have fallen asleep and was dreaming. But Lord Logos assured me he really was standing before me and that he had come to warn the people of Terra of approaching judgment. The judgment would descend because of the great apostasy of the people and their many sins. He warned me that The Three decided to destroy all life on Terra with a great flood, and then populate it with those who believe this warning and repent of their sins against The Three.

“Lord Logos said that he would give us sufficient time to repent and believe the his warning. The people who do repent shall receive a chance to be saved from the flood. But those who refuse to believe shall die when the flood comes.

“It’s astounding how dazzling Lord Logos appeared! He wore armor that shone with the brilliance of the sun. The brightness of his face almost blinded me until he opened my eyes in a special way, so that I could see him clearly. When he spoke, his voice was like none other I have ever heard. It was very deep and sounded like the roaring waves of a stormy sea; still, I clearly understood what he said to me.

”Lord Logos commanded me to build a huge ship, so that those who did believe his warning could escape the flood. He promised to send seven pairs of the kinds of animals and birds we use as sacrifices to The Three; you know the kind – those we call ‘clean animals.’ He will also send one pair of each of the creatures that we that are not used for sacrifice, those we call ‘unclean animals.’ Lord Logos will send them to the ship after it is built. I am asking those of you who believe my report to help us construct the ship according to the plans Lord Logos gave me. Who will help us?”

After making his presentation, Noiman’s fervency abated. The ensuing hush sparked a hope that some had believed him. It was Shiana’s brother, the ever-ebullient Telmone, who shattered the silence, along with Noiman’s hope.

"Yeeowee! Yeeowee! That’s a good one, Noiman! A really good one!” Telmone shouted, laughing uproariously while amiably slapping his brother-in-law’s back, "How long did it take you to come up with that up? I only wish I had thought of it!

“So, brother-in-law, it's going to rain, is it? And we’ll all be drowned in rainwater, will we? I like your story; I like really like it. At first I though you were serious. How did you keep such a straight face? How did you keep from laughing, brother-in-law? I could never do it. Can anyone here top that practical joke?"

Telmone’s head swiveled, glancing for a taker. Finding none, he pretended to be serious. “I didn’t think so,” he growled, “But I’ll help build your ship, Noiman. A sailboat won’t do the job, huh?” he asked, still feigning earnestness, “Well, never mind, we’ll all help build your ship, won’t we men? But it has to be a great big one so all of us can board it.

“With all of us building, it shouldn’t take that long. When we finish, we’ll load it with plenty of food, plenty of drinks. We’ll take along our fishing poles to catch some fish. And, we’ll also take along lots of those pretty ladies who don’t live in Kannia, but like having fun; you know the kind I mean. And there’ll be no wives or children. That’s what I said, there’ll be absolutely no wives or children, right? They stay home.” Laughing rowdily, the others shouted agreement.

Rewarded by the laughter, Telmone now mimicked surging sea-waves with his hands. “We’ll just sail peacefully along, eating and drinking and having fun with all those pretty ladies,” he declared in singsong. “Yes, oh yes, we’ll be served by those luscious creatures. They’ll cater to our every whim.”

Telmone grew pensive, “Ahhhh, what a wonderful thing such a voyage would be, if it was only possible. Don’t wake me up. No, don’t wake me up. Just let me dream on.”

When the meeting finally concluded, the participants shook Noiman’s hand. Each thanked him for an entertaining story, well told. Even Clan Chieftain Hamial, Shiana’s powerful, taciturn father, mentioned that he had enjoyed the joke. It wasn’t until Noiman began purchasing materials for his venture that the Larsians realized he wasn’t joking, after all. Their attitudes changed. The congeniality quickly disintegrated. And their esteem for him and his family quickly evaporated. Until then, Noiman had been next in succession for the rank of Supreme Chief. Now he was treated with derision. Despite this, he continued proclaiming his warnings of impending doom.

The discovery that Lamech and Methusha also believed that disaster and death soon would engulf Terra agitated Noeman's siblings. But the news that they were helping to defray the costs of constructing a huge ship ignited a conflagration of accusations against the couple. Summoned before a conclave of Larsian elders, Noiman was accused by his siblings of bilking their father.

“Noiman’s fanaticism has driven our father and grandfather mad,” Ural, one of Noiman’s brothers charged, “He is profiteering from their gullibility and he is embezzling our inheritance for himself. We do not comprehend how an elder brother can stoop so low as to enrich himself at the expense of his brothers and sisters, but Noiman has done so. We now put nothing beyond his thievery. We leave justice to the judgment of you, our elders.”

In a conspiracy between his siblings and the elders, Noiman’s sentence was pre-determined. He was sentenced to have all his property and other possessions confiscated and awarded to his siblings. He and his family were ostracized. And, administering the ultimate blow, his brothers disowned him and his entire family. “Noiman is no longer our brother,” they publicly proclaimed.

In a seemingly strange occurrence, soon after the property settlement a stranger mounted on a pure white mount and donned in what appeared to be royal robes, rode into Larsia. 111 In another strange incident the mysterious horseman somehow knew of the fraudulent property settlement between Noiman’s brothers and the Larsian elders.

“You cannot misappropriate this man’s property. It is his by my will and must be returned to him forthwith. Since you who are his kin have conspired against Noiman and his family, you must return his property to him with an added value of one quarter. You who are elders must give to Noiman a sum equal in value to that given him by his kinfolk. If you refuse to do so, please know that I shall have you all condemned to a lifetime of servitude.”

The terrified, gaping conspirators complied immediately. Noiman’s property was returned to him on the terms dictated by the stranger. Before departing, the visitor warned the conspirators, “Do not think you have seen the last of me. You certainly shall see me again. Beware! Do no harm to Noiman or to his family, for you shall answer to me.”

As mysteriously as he arrived, the visitor departed.

Despite his reprieve by strange horseman, the severed relationship between Noiman and his kinfolk broke his heart. So devastated was he that for a long while he could not begin the project commanded by The Three. It was Shiana who eventually lifted the gloom and resolved the issue.

“My husband, when you told us that Lord Logos said judgment was soon to fall, did I not promise to assist in your work?”

“You did.”

“Did our children tell you they also would assist you?”

“Yes they did so.”

“Then, my husband, why have we not begun to build? You cannot compel others to believe. You can only do as Lord Logos commanded. Now, dear husband, begin building the ship.”

Shiana’s admonition dissolved Noiman’s doubts. He understood he had a commission to fulfill. A dresser of vineyards, he located the project in his largest field and began to build scaffolding on which to lay the hull of his ship. Almost immediately news of the project spread far and wide. Reports of the “lunatic” who was constructing an enormous ship in a vineyard hundreds of miles from deep water eventually reached the emperor in distant Kan City, the capital of the empire.

He straightaway dispatched emissaries to investigate the rumors, thus affording Noemin the opportunity to also warn him.

“Emperor BenKan you know well that he whom you worship as Lucifin the Illuminator, is the one who deceived our First Parents, Odom and Cheeva, in the Garden Reserve and caused their ouster from that paradise. You also know that he used Lucifin’s emissary, BuJiard, to beguile your forefather, Kan, who was the oldest son of our First Parents, Odem and Cheeva. Representing himself as, “The Visitor from Among the Stars,” this BuJiard succeeded in his plot to have your forefather, Kan, murder his brother, Hebel, by falsely claiming that Hebel conspired to steal Kan’s inheritance.

“After Kan murdered his brother, Lord Logos condemned him to exile. For a time he wandered and then he secretly returned to kidnap his sister, Theesa, your ancestress, as his spouse. Then he founded a village inhabited by his descendents; a village that grew into the empire now ruled by you. But it is an evil realm – a rebellious one that hates The Three, and especially Lord Logos.

“But do not be deceived by the greatness of your empire, BenKan, for it soon shall be destroyed in the great deluge The Three shall visit upon Terra. Then the empire founded by your ancestor Kan, the great apostate, shall no longer exist, and your subjects who do not repent to serve The Three shall surly perish. Heed my warning, Emperor BenKan, for I speak the message that given to me by Lord Logos.”

Noiman’s message enraged the emperor. With froth forming on his lips, he ranted, “Methusha conspired against our father and now his lunatic grandson conspires against me! I shall rid myself of this traitor! I shall destroy him and his entire household!”

BenKan’s continued raving terrified those who served on his court. More than once, he had satisfied his rages by lopping off a head or two.

“Bring us the High Priestess of the Illuminator Temple!” he bellowed, “Bring her to us immediately!”

In actuality, the High Priestess was the first of BenKan’s numerous spouses. It was she who supervised the offering of the many human sacrifices cast into the fiery jaws of an enormous idol known as “Dagon the Illuminator.” Though all-powerful among her temple priestess prostitutes, she invariably trembled whenever she received a royal summons from her husband.

Appearing before him, she prostrated herself bodily, not daring to look up until given permission by the emperor.

“You may gaze upon us and speak, Queen Tosha,” BenKan said.

“Thank you, my infinite lord. What is it that my infinite lord commands of me?”

The emperor answered, “We wish to consult with BuJiard, the Visitor from Among the Stars. When is the best time for us to do this?”

“Tomorrow is the summer solstice, my infinite lord. Should you so desire, you may come to the high temple. With your royal permission, I shall offer a sacrifice to Dagon and my infinite lord may then inquire of him.”

“Good, we shall be there.” With a wave of his hand, BenKan dismissed the priestess, “Now go; begin the preparations for our royal visit! Our personal bodyguards shall accompany us.”
***** *****

“Oh, Lord BuJiard, come to us,” chanted the empress in the temple.

“Oh, Lord BuJiard, come to us,” the priestess prostitutes mimicked.

“Oh, Lord BuJiard, come to us,” the empress chanted louder.

“Oh, Lord BuJiard, come to us,” the priestess prostitutes again mimicked.

‘Come to us, oh great Lord BuJiard. Our infinite lord and supreme emperor, BenKan, desires to consult with the wondrous Lord BuJiard, he who is the Visitor from Among the Stars. Please come to us, oh Lord BuJiard.”

“Please come to us,” wailed the priestesses, entering into a frenzy of impassioned whirling in which Queen Tosha joined with them.

“Come to us Lord BuJiard; come to us Lord BuJiard; come to us Lord BuJiard,” they repeated over and over again. The more frenzied they became, the faster they whirled; the faster they whirled, the louder they chanted.

“Come to us Lord BuJiard; come to us Lord BuJiard; come to us Lord BuJiard,” as their chants finally sounded like the howls of wolves. In their elation, they shredded their outer robes, continuing their frenzied chanting and twirling, until BenKan no longer could contain himself. He also ripped off his outer robes and joined in the ritual.

Without warning, an earsplitting screech reverberated from several priestesses, who had ceased their twirling and now pointed to Dagon. Above the sacrificial alter; in front of the gaping jaws of the idol, a barely perceptible, shimmering figure appeared. Each of the priestesses stretched out bodily on the temple floor, seemingly waiting.

High Priestess Tosha approached one of them and touched her shoulder. “Come, Senumi, it is your turn to enter the jaws of Dagon,” she stated.

“Yes, mistress.”

The priestess obediently climbed the fourteen steps that led to the white-hot furnace. She waved a farewell to the others and leaped into the flames. After she sacrificed herself, the shimmering figure gradually became more defined, until it took on the features of a man. It was BuJiard, the Visitor from Among the Stars!

End of Part One

© Joseph Perrello (Josprel)
Josprel@verizon.net

Josprel resides in Western New York - just across the Niagara River from Canada. He was among the first Air Force troops to enter Japan after W.W.II. He served three years in the Air Force, two and one half years on overseas duty, as a sergeant of operating engineers. Upon separation from service, he studied theology under the G.I Bill of Rights and holds a Master of Theology degree. A prolific writer, many of Josprel's stories and articles have appeared in print and on the Internet. He is the author of two novels in progress, "Beloved Apostate" and "Kanfal."

Article Source: http://www.articles.narrowisthepath.com

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