Page 32 of Sanctuary

“We would have much bigger issues,” Roman said.

“True,” the druid agreed.

“You won’t be serving the God, Finn. You will be serving a god,” Roman said. “The problem with clergy is that we don’t just minister, we seek to convert, and many of us view other religions as rivals.”

The nuthatch hopped around. “Indeed. Lock five priests from different cults into the same room for an hour, and at the end you have an equal chance of either harmony or a theological bloodbath. You won’t know which it is until you open that door. It’s like the Schrödinger Synod. Although synod isn’t exactly the best term…”

Roman had to cut him off before Dabrowski veered off on a tangent.

“The point is, you need to know who you are dealing with and what they are capable of. And religions grow and evolve all the time, so you must keep up. Druids like Piotr here can be monotheists, duotheists, or polytheists. Some reject the concept of a deity altogether, and yet when they gather, they have no problem performing the same rites and rituals, and all of them follow the same fundamental ethics. Chop an oak sapling in front of them and see how united they will get.”

“Why?” Finn asked.

“Because Druidry is both a religion and a way of life,” Dabrowski said. “It is a path, a journey, measured in time rather than distance, which all of us undertake together. Life is fundamentally spiritual, nature is unknowable, and none of us have a monopoly on the truth.”

“But what do you believe?” Finn asked.

“I believe that—”

The dog door flap thudded, and a huge raven flew into the office and landed on Roman’s desk.

Damn it all.

“There you are,” the raven said in his mother’s voice.

The nuthatch cringed. “Hello, Mrs. Tihomirov.”

“Petya. And what are you doing here?”

“Leaving, actually.” Dabrowski hopped off the table and flew off into the house.

Coward.

Roman sighed. “Yes?”

“Yes? That’s all you have to say to me?”

Chernobog, grant me patience...

“I know this is a hard time of the year for you. The whole family is at the house celebrating and you are stuck out here alone like some frozen mushroom. I made your favorite pirogi. I kept waiting and waiting to see if you would reach out. I didn’t want to smother you.”

The Void is darkness, the Void is peace, I am within it, wrapped in its cold embrace, and I am at peace…

“You do not call. You do not answer. Is your phone broken? No? You probably unplugged it again. You do not send a word with one of your critters. For three days I have waited.”

Nothing reaches the Void for it is the beginning and end of all things…

“Finally, I come to check on you and find you surrounded by some zarazas who try to shoot my bird, you look like death warmed over, and all you can say to me is, ‘yes’?”

Within the Void I am serene.

“What an ungrateful son I have. Why haven’t you killed them yet? What have you been doing?”

Chernobog, grant me patience.

“As you can see, I have company.” Roman glanced at Finn. “This is Finn, Morena’s new priest. Finn, this is my mother, Evdokia, the Head Witch of the Witch Oracle.”

The raven pivoted to Finn, who stared back like a deer in headlights.

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