Birgitta and Holger drew closer. Out of breath, they found Toma barring the way. Toma was now a tall, well-built young man, a lifelong friend of Julian's.
'There's nothing you or anyone can do, Holger. They are past listening.'
'Please, Toma, please!' Birgitta's pleas almost broke his heart and his determination, for she had been like a second mother to him for as long as he could remember.
'No, Birgitta. I'll do what I can. Take my caravan.' He pointed down the valley. 'The horses are hitched up. There is some food inside. You must go. They will turn on you next. You know they will.'
Julian eventually climbed down the wall. At first, the unruly mob to a man was speechless. He peered round at them all, a smile wrinkling under his eyes and a snake wriggling in its final death throes dangling from his mouth. With the bright innocence of a child, he said, 'Brother snake didn't recognise a member of his own family.'
'Julian.' Fra Johannes spoke softly, offering his open palms in sympathy and friendship. But as soon as Julian placed the dead viper in the priest's hands, the other men, fear in their cold eyes, grabbed him roughly by the arms, shoulders and neck. They were all too aware of his strength. A hundred blasphemies immediately poured out of their captive's mouth in a terrifying array of demonic voices - some as deep as the black abyss of Hell; others high like the shrieking of a thousand banshees.
'The Serpent is my Protector. Its lair in the shade is my Heaven. Its blood is my blood. When the sun is on my back, its skin is my skin. I see what it sees. We are all the servants of the Serpent. The original One who brought man and woman together in Eden.'
The men gasped in horror and tightened their grip. Fra Johannes crossed himself and sent a small girl running pell-mell to the monastery for a chalice of holy water.
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