In Tongues Of The Dead

Brad Kelln

Description

In the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University there lies a 400-year-old document that no one has been able to decipher. Twenty years ago the Vatican s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith (CDF) secretly placed a guard to watch over the document. The guard, Father Ronald McCallum, is overwhelmed when an autistic child visiting the library appears to read from the manuscript s pages. Finally its secrets will be revealed! Father Benicio Valori, priest and clinical psychologist, is sent halfway around the world to verify the boy s ability to

Sujets

• Thriller

Informations

• Publié par: Ecw Press
• Date de parution: 01 octobre 2008
• Nombre de lectures: 0
• EAN13: 9781554903245
• Langue: English
• Poids de l'ouvrage: 1 Mo

Extrait

In T ONGUES of the D EAD
In T ONGUES of the D EAD

BRAD KELLN
Copyright Brad Kelln, 2008
Published by ECW Press 2120 Queen Street East, Suite 200 Toronto, Ontario, Canada M4E 1E2 416.694.3348 / [e-mail]
All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form by any process - electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise - without the prior written permission of the copyright owners and ECW Press.
LIBRARY AND ARCHIVES CANADA CATALOGUING IN PUBLICATION
Kelln, Brad In tongues of the dead / Brad Kelln. ISBN -13: 978-1-55022-830-4
1. Title. PS 8571. E 586416 2008 C 813 .6 C 2008-902387-0
Cover and Text Design: Tania Craan Cover Image: iStock Part Title and Endpaper Images: Voynich manuscript, courtesy of the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University Image of Cross: Gary Woodard Typesetting: Mary Bowness Production: Rachel Brooks Printing: Thomson-Shore
This book is set in Goudy and printed on paper that contains 30% post consumer recycled content.
The publication of In Tongues of the Dead has been generously supported by the Canada Council for the Arts which last year invested $20.1 million in writing and publishing throughout Canada, by the Ontario Arts Council, by the Government of Ontario through Ontario Book Publishing Tax Credit, by the omdc Book Fund, an initiative of the Ontario Media Development Corporation, and by the Government of Canada through the Book Publishing Industry Development Program ( BPIDP ).

PRINTED AND BOUND IN THE UNITED STATES
for Ben Jake
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Books are not written without tremendous support and encouragement. This one is no exception and I am sure I will never be able to thank everyone. I must first thank my wife, Glenna, and my sons, Ben and Jake, for their support - directly when they give encouragement - and indirectly when they leave me alone to write.
I also want to thank all those who contributed to the creative process either by listening to ideas and giving their own, reading advance copies, or answering technical questions. This includes but isn t restricted to Barry Banks, Ken Bowes, Tony Bremner, Trevor Briggs, Linda DeBaie, Anne Godley, Lindsay Hernden, Kelly Rowlett, and of course, Glenna Kelln.
Jack David and ECW Press deserve a big helping of gratitude for taking a chance on this book. Edna Barker is a wonderful editor and a joy to work with.
Finally, I need always thank my number one fans - my parents Robert and Janette.
NOTE TO READER
Although the book you are about to read is a work of fiction, many of the mysteries discussed are real. The Voynich manuscript exists, and all references to its contents and history are accurate. In addition, all references to the Bible and the biblical mystery of the Nephilim are true.
to another the ability to distinguish between spirits, to another the ability to speak in different kinds of tongues, and to still another the interpretation of tongues. All these are the work of one and the same Spirit, and He gives them to each one, just as He determines.
- I Corinthians 12:8-11
PART I
I THIRTEEN YEARS AGO
Benicio Valori took a deep breath and looked at the small crowd gathered in the auditorium at Columbia s Department of Psychology. He recognized twenty or so graduate students and faculty members, and also noticed quite a few strangers. As he spoke, he searched for his girlfriend, Jenna Dodgson. She was easy to find: her raven hair reflected the auditorium s lights, a smile on her face. God, how he loved those dimples. She was in the back row next to Benicio s best friend, Jake Tunnel, another psychology student. Jake and Jenna had listened to Benicio practice his speech many times. Yet here they were, showing their support. He could do this. He cleared his throat and began to explain his dissertation. His voice carried a vague hint of his native Italian.
Benicio knew his words would hit the room like a bomb - especially with the Jewish and Christian people in the audience. Nowhere has mythology influenced the practices of organized groups as much as in religious domains, he said slowly. Ancient lore and mythology were often the basis on which social policy was secured. As an example, in the Old Testament, in Genesis, the Bible describes a time when angels came to the Earth and had children with women. The resulting offspring were known as the Nephilim.
Benicio heard expressions of disbelief. Then a bearded man said, I ve been a Lutheran all my life. I taught Sunday school for fifteen years. I ve never heard such a ridiculous thing.
It s true, Benicio insisted. Genesis six, verse four: The Nephilim were in the earth in those days, and also after that, when the sons of God came unto the daughters of men, and they bore children to them.
Ridiculous, the bearded man repeated.
Benicio nodded. I agree with you. The story is a metaphor - the Bible is full of them. These stories weren t meant to be taken literally. They were meant to be discussed, debated, and explored. Unfortunately, organized religions have often taken myths and allegories to be literal truths. For example, some religions still desperately cling to the notion the Earth was constructed in six days - literally.
He paused, waiting for more comments or questions. There were none, so he continued. I should give you some background to the story. The angels were a special order known as the Grigori, which means the silent ones. God sent them to Earth to watch over the earliest of Earth s people. But the Grigori broke two major rules. One, they started teaching secrets from the kingdom of heaven. They taught man about herbology, astrology, sorcery, and divination. God never meant for man to know these secrets. The Grigori had angered Him. And then they began to lust after women. They eventually gave in to their desire, and the half-angel, half-human offspring, the Nephilim, were born.
Verses in the Bible tell us that God viewed this union between angel and woman as an abomination. He looked upon the offspring as mistakes, monsters, and He banished the Grigori from ever returning to heaven. He turned His back on the Nephilim, cursed them, and abandoned them. They became soulless husks, left to slowly die out. God eliminated the fallen angels by banishing them, their offspring by letting them die, and all trace of the Grigori s teachings by making men mortal. The secrets of the kingdom of heaven were hidden once more.
Benicio smiled, then continued, The Bible is full of fantastic stories. Myths that were never meant to be taken literally. But churches have used these myths to justify some of their cruelest decisions. In the Middle Ages the Catholic church decided leprosy was a sign of a person s direct descent from the Nephilim. It was the church s way to justify its complete disdain for lepers. After all, God had cursed the Nephilim. Even the word nephilim has sometimes been translated as the dead ones .
As a result, anyone suspected of having leprosy in the Middle Ages was routinely subjected to the Mass of Separation - a religious ceremony in which the leper was cast away from society. The belief that Nephilim were dead to begin with led some religious authorities to insist that the leper stand in an open grave as the Mass of Separation was performed. Once the leper was pronounced dead, the church frequently took all his worldly possessions. A fairly self-serving practice. Benicio paused and caught Jenna s eye. She smiled. He was going to marry her one of these days.
We know now that leprosy is an infectious disease - not an indication that someone is descended from Nephilim. The Nephilim and the myth that angels once had children with women were just stories. The church used the myth to promote its own agenda - to account for leprosy and obtain people s money. The psychological effect of taking mythology literally is enormous. Indeed, our world is full of myths we have taken as reality, and such interpretation shapes our understanding of self in ways we could not have imagined.
As Benicio provided specific details of his research on mythology and self-perception, Cardinal Sebasti n Herrero y Espinosa sat near the back of the room, feeling unnatural in his civilian clothes. He decided he d heard enough, and slipped out the side door. He would contact the young scholar soon. There was no way around it: Benicio Valori would join the Holy Church.
II PRESENT DAY
Father Ronald McCallum drew in a deep breath as he entered the library on Thursday morning. His library - that s how he d thought of it for the twenty-two years he d been in New Haven.
He filled his lungs with the musky smell of paper - a curious combination of dust and age. The odor had been a constant companion here at the Beinecke, which housed Yale s rare book collection.
The Beinecke Library, built by architect Gordon Bunshaft in 1963, was a magnificent edifice constructed to hold more than 160,000 rare books and manuscripts on six levels. A unique feature of the library was a massive glass enclosure that ran through the center of the building. Each floor of the facility wrapped around this central shaft, and thus natural light filled each level. The first floor housed many rare collections that rotated through climate-controlled display showrooms open to the public. The other five floors housed collections of literature, theology, history, and the natural sciences.
Father McCallum knew he could spend every day examining the priceless manuscripts - some of the finest books ever crafted - and still not have scratched the surface of each text. He was honored that the Holy Church had posted him here.
Hey, Mr. McCallum!
Father McCallum looked over and smiled warmly at the young security guard. No one knew to call him Father - he never wore his priest s habit. There were always new faces at the security posts, and he couldn t remember all the names - though he sh