Tales of Midbar: Religious Intolerance

It was a whole new school year. We arrived to find that we’d been moved to a different classroom, with a new teacher, called Kerdnan, a faharni with tattoos of fruit on her face (I wasn’t sure if this was supposed to be reference to the Winemakers or Murmur. Probably Murmur as Winemakers don’t have tattoos).

Irvis went to sit next to Narim but Narim insisted on sitting next to a new boy, named Pardnis who looked bennis. Well he wasn’t new to the school but had been moved up from the class below us. I wasn’t sure why.

I didn’t really hear what they were saying because Breeze and myself got into an argument with some other girls about where we should sit. It was becoming obvious that the other kids still blamed us for the Night Leaper.

Then Irvis and Narim started fighting and Kerdnan had to pull them apart and dragged them up to the front of the class.

“What are you fighting for?” asked Kerdnan.

“He’s a Winemaker,” said Narim.

“That’s not ...” Irvis started to say.

“What do we call it when we pick on people because they have a different religion?” asked Kerdnan.

“Trulishphobia,” said Narim.

The other children laughed.

“Narim started it,” said Irvis. “He hit me because ...”

“It doesn’t matter who started it,” said Kerdnan. “You shouldn’t fight ...”

“That’s what people say when they don’t care about justice,” said Breeze. “If somebody attacks you, you have little option but to fight back.”

Kerdnan stared at her, not sure if this was Winemaker doctrine and said, “Anyway, can you tell us why you don’t like Trulists, Irvis.”

“They don’t like Winemakers,” said Irvis. “Also they practice idolatry, have temple prostitutes and don’t let psychics marry each other, which is korbarist.”

Kerdnan rolled her eyes, “Narim, what don’t you like about Winemakers?”

“They think their God is better than all the others and they’ve sent the Night Leaper to attack children ...”

“No we haven’t!” said Breeze.

“... and they’re creepy,” Narim finished.

“Are any of those things worth fighting over?” asked Kerdnan.

“Narim seems to think so,” said Irvis.

“How many lawsuits have you filed against the school board now?” asked Kerdnan. “Although you haven’t won any of them.”

The other children laughed again.

“They’ve all been suspended until we can get legal representation,” said Breeze, “but the school board has hired all the lawyers licenced to work here so we can’t get one to represent us.”

Again the other children laughed.

“Look,” said Kerdnan, “does it really matter what god you worship?”

“Yes,” said Irvis.

“Winemaker and Trulist rituals are very different,” I said, “and they have some different laws. A Trulist woman may marry another woman while a Winemaker woman can only marry a man. A Winemaker psychic may marry another psychic while a ...”

“Let’s forget the laws and rituals!” said Kerdnan. “Apart from that, is there any difference?”

“Winemakers are weird,” said Badrac.

“Nuharas are violent and hate everybody,” I said.

“Winemakers are never attacked by the Night Leaper,” said a boy.

“Nuharas aren’t violent!” shouted Pardnis.

“They persecuted my family and drove us out of Grishnarl!” I said.

“That’s a lie!” shouted Pardnis, trying to push his way towards me. “Nuharas would never do that!”

This scared me but this boy was a hipsick, how did he know this was a lie? I’d said it so many times I nearly believed it myself.

“Calm down!” shouted Kerdnan. “Eleprin, stop saying bad things about Nuharas!”

“But ...” I said.

“Let’s look at these things one at a time,” said Kerdnan. “Well let’s forget doctrines, laws, and rituals. Being weird is a bit vague. The Night Leaper is just a silly story children have started telling each other.”

“That’s not true!” screamed Tenenit, with tears in her eyes. “I was attacked by him, look!” She opened her wrap around shirt to show bruises on her shoulders, as if somebody had held her very hard and a curved wound that looked like a bite. It was white day, with Aleph shining down the valley from the east, so we could see this very clearly. “And he did other things and he keeps coming back!” She broke down in tears.

“That’s all right!” said Kerdnan, clearly very disturbed. “This wasn’t done by a Winemaker?”

I noticed Pardnis climbing onto the wall that marked the edge of the classroom.

“He’s a minion of the Winemaker God,” said a boy.

“I’ve seen Minions in the Vineyard,” said another. “One looked like a man but was covered in hair and another was a giant with webbed fingers.”

“And there was Breeze’s brother’s girlfriend,” said Narim.

“Why doesn’t the Night Leaper ever attack Winemakers?” asked Dren.

“I live in a hotel basement,” I said, “and the other Winemakers live in the Vineyard. All the attacks were ...”

“Tenenit’s been hurt,” said Kerdnan.

“Just bruises,” said another girl.

“It might be worse than it seems,” said Kerdnan who was clearly horrified by this, “I’m sure this wasn’t anything to do with the Winemakers.”

“It was a monster,” cried Tenenit, “must have been a minion.”

“He attacked me too,” said Dren. “And I know he’s a monster.”

I don’t think you had to be psychic to see that Kerdnan was shocked and horrified. She jumped onto the wall that marked the edge of the classroom and started calling for help from other teachers.

“Do you have bruises?” Narim asked Breeze and myself.

“No,” I said, “well not like that.”

Breeze shook her head.

Just then Pardnis took a flying leap at me holding something in his hand and shouting, “Nuhara’s aren’t violent!”

I ducked and felt a sudden dull pain in my back. I wondered if he was a quippa rather than a bennis or if he was a rare bennis Nuhara. He was holding onto me.

“Gods’ fornicating feces!” shouted Kerdnan.

There was some sort of explosion, blood splattered all around me and Pardnis started screaming. Kerdnan and the other children started going hysterical.

After that things were a bit confused. I remember collapsing, feeling faint and seeing a mutilated bit of meat lying on the floor. Then I realized it was part of Pardnis’s arm. Breeze was pressing on my back and shouting, “The Nuhara scum stabbed her!”

Teachers came. Some herded the other children away. I heard comments about, “She attacked him with magic!” “Fornicating Winemakers!” “Took his arm off!” and “She’s got an artifact!”

“Hey Eleprin’s the victim!” shouted Breeze at one point. “Let the feces die!”

“Eleprin should die because she’s a fornicating Winemaker!” shouted Badrac.

River arrived, picked me up carefully and carried me towards the covered part of the school, while pressing on my back.

“The Nuhara boy stabbed her,” said Breeze to River. “I hit him with an associate and destroyed his arm. I’m not very good at controlling my magic yet.”

River carried me into the nurse’s office, which was empty and lay me face down on a bed.

“I don’t think this is very deep,” she said.

She kept her hands pressed on the pain in my back. I was feeling faint and sick and not up to doing much.

Breeze was trying to tell River what had happened, very fast.

“What the fornication happened?” asked Mudar. I think he was by the door but I couldn’t see him from where I was laying.

“Narim attacked Irvis,” said Breeze, “and Pardnis attacked Eleprin ...”

“And the Nuhara boy’s arm exploded,” said River.

“Which of them has the artifact?” asked Mudar.

“They don’t have artifacts when they’re outside the Vineyard,” said River.

“Stop answering for them!” said Mudar.

“We don’t have artifacts,” said Breeze.

“You know Eleprin doesn’t have any artifacts either?” asked Mudar, skeptically.

“No I don’t,” I said.

“Excuse me master,” said Kerdnan quietly.

“I’m busy!” snapped Mudar.

“Pardnis had been taken to hospital,” said Kerdnan.

“I said ..!”

“Tenenet and Dren have been sexually abused,” said Kerdnan, quietly, “apparently by the Night Leaper.”

“What?”

“I’ve told the police but I think they’re more inter ...”

“Can’t you see I’m busy! I’ve finally caught these weirdos using an artifact!”

“We don’t have ..!” shouted Breeze.

“Some inbread’s raping little girls!” said Kerdnan. “Teachers get sued or have their careers ruined for failing to act on this sort of thing! I think that’s more important than Winemakers being insensitive to Nuharas’ short fuses!”

“The Nuhara boy stabbed a girl!” shouted River. “Why the fornication should his religion make that OK?”