Pilgrimage

It's been a long time since we have a visitor Brother Geraldus.

Especially one who has traveled as far as you.

The authority of Rome knows no distance Father Abbot.

Not even to the ends of the earth.

This cannot be. We receive no word.

My apologies.

Our holy father has many enemies

Discretion was of the utmost important. Second only to haste.

You do not know what you ask.

Father Abbot. Rome has spoken. There is no debate.

These are dark days for the faithful.

Jerusalem has been lost for 20 years now.

Our Holy Father believes the relic keep here,

has the power to separate the faithful from the faithless.

To summon the wrath of God upon his enemies.

A power that could insure victory in the upcoming crusade.

You cannot hide such power.

You will see the safe delivery for our holiest relic to Rome.

Go with God.

It has no mark on.

They are afraid of it.

Even before the lightning, they would not go near it.

Of course they were.

They know what happen to those who disturb the relic.

Perhaps you are unfamiliar with the stories, brother.

Or else you would not be so eager to remove it.

Enlighten me.

Before we have such a fine gold box to keep it in,

other foreigners tried to take it. Norse men.

They brought up bloody tide to this shore for 200 years

before they came to Kilmannán.

The monks were sleeping. The lucky ones would have died in their beds.

But they were awoken by a strange sound.

They ran out to the church and saw an angel striking the relic as if it were a bell.

The monks fled.

When they returned, they saw that a great storm has blown up.

Every single Norse ship had been dragged to the bottom of the sea,

where their souls would know no rest.

Just beside the relic where the bodies of three Norse men,

twisted and burned.

No one but a pure of heart can touch the relic and live.

No one.

How long has he served you?

He's been with us 5 summers. - He's not a monk.

He respects what we carried but he does not fear it.

But he's just a mute. A halfway.

He is not a halfway.

Diarmuid found him washed up on the shores...

- in a carrier with no oars no food. - In some lands that is a punishment.

Perhaps he's atoning.

He's obeyed every task asked of him, no matter how difficult or dangerous.

In all that time, he's never spoken.

It is not our place to ask why.

You should sleep.

I did not know you spoke my tongue, brother Ciarán.

The abbot said you were far traveled.

You have seen Rome? - A long time ago.

And the Holy Land? Jerusalem?

He says that water is no good. It runs through there.

What of it? - A place of the Sídhe.

They say that Tuatha day DenAnn come out at night to play among those rocks.

They cast spells into the water and bewitch travelers.

You are afraid of this?

You allow your course to be determined by Pagan superstition?

Geraldus, we should not tarry here. - We are soldiers of Christ.

Yet you would run from a mere scandalous?

In the name of St. Matthias.

Whose relic we are honored to bring to the feet of the Holy Sea,

I bless and purify this water.

In the Name of the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

I scatter the demons that are tainted it,

and consent them to everlasting hell, where they shall be bound in firing chains,

and crush under the heel of God Almighty.

Boy.

What is that, boy?

- It helps ward off.. - it soothes the aching stomach, brother.

- Will you try some of it?- I have no stomachache, herbalist.

You were to take us to the Merville's border.

Brothers...

Geraldus.

All I ask is for a little faith. Is that so hard?

I imagine when you joined the monastery,

They did not tell you would be a pack mule.

He's not a monk, my lord. He's a converso, a lay brother.

Some of my men think that they know you,

but not from where.

A crusade, was it?

Venice?

Constantinople?

Perhaps you might settle the matter.

There's a small wage on it. - He is a mute.

He cannot speak. - bit his tongue, did he?

Deaf also? - He can hear you.

But chooses not to.

A pretty box.

It is but a humble shell. Brother Ciarán?

This is unwise.

After Judas betrayed Christ, the apostles cast lots to replace him.

Matthias from Bethlehem was chosen.

Beholding the death and resurrection of our Lord,

Matthias traveled North

to spread the Gospel to the barbarians of Cappadocia.

There, he was martyred.

When the stones of the pagans broke his bones and spilled his blood.

Matthias gave thanks.

The rock that ended his earthly life

caught fire and burned the men who murdered him.

They cried out for mercy, but the ground opened up and hell swallowed them whole

while the body of Matthias was elevated to heaven.

And this is that rock.

Most impressive.

You talk of having some kind of agreement with these men.

I would like to know the particulars. - They do not concern you.

As regards the sanctity of the relic and the lives of my brothers,

they're very much concern me.

You are not blind to what kind of men these are.

Yet you entrust all to their protection.

You were on crusade, brother.

It cannot be so hard for you to guess.

On the day of judgment, the worst of men will have the greatest of fear.

Unless someone can intercede them their behalf.

You mean to absolve them?

A powerful man does not become so weak on incurring sins.

The Baron is not a young man.

His mind has inevitably turned to more spiritual matters.

We are the only salvation.

The blackest of their deeds bind them to us.

No.

No.

Not to us, no.

Brother?

Rua says that foreigners know nothing but war.

He says it's in their blood.

That they are descendants of the Norse men.

And they conquered France and England, and will do the same here.

But was there ever a truly peace in this land, brother?

Before the foreigners came.

That was a long time ago, Diarmuid.

I was just a boy.

A little older than you.

No.

No, there was never peace.

Not here.

Not anywhere else in the world.

Not since the fall.

Why?

Some say it's not the natural way of things.

Peace needs to be grown, cared for, nurtured.

And that..

That is beyond the reach of most men.

You're up early little monk.

I always rise at this time.

Or perhaps you are a spy.

My Lord?

Sneaking away to tell your king's men about our route South. Is that it?

No my lord... - No?

Then why do you flee?

I serve Christ.

But you serve your clan first, no? - No.

My father has always impressed with bias men.

Me? I have my doubts.

Anyone can wear the robes of monk.

You...

Does something ail you, brother?

No. It was nothing.

Death!

Don't touch it.

Don't touch it.

Stop.

Where is the rock?

Where is it? Where is the rock?

We must retrieve it.

Did you not hear the bell?

Did you not witness the miracle?

When those savages defiled rock of St. Matthias,