The Quest: A Novel Part 22

Mercado did not reply.

Purcell closed his notebook and said, "Well, I have enough to write the story. Now let's find the black monastery so I can write the end."

Purcell stood, and Mercado said to him, "For a writer, a journey of a thousand miles begins in a library and ends at the typewriter."

"We should be so lucky as to end this journey at a typewriter."

They left the room and Mercado said something in Italian to a monk, who walked toward the reading room with a large key in his hand.

They walked out into the December sunshine, then headed into the Vatican gardens toward the Ethiopian College, where Purcell hoped they'd find a map with a notation saying, Black monastery-home of the Holy Grail.

They should be that lucky. Or not.

Chapter 19.

Priests and nuns strolled the garden paths, and Purcell thought that wherever they had come from, they had arrived here at the center of their world and their faith. Their spiritual journey would never end, until they were called home, but their physical journey had ended and they seemed at peace with themselves.

He and Henry, on the other hand, had a ways to go to find whatever they were looking for. And Vivian, too, who had seemed happy just to be out of Ethiopia and to be with him, had not gotten Ethiopia, Henry, or Father Armano out of her head. But if everything went right, three troubled souls would come together in Rome and make their peace and begin their journey.

Mercado spoke as they walked. "The next significant mention of the Grail in Ethiopia is dated 1527."

"Are we back in the library?"

"Yes. I found a report, written in Latin by a Portuguese Jesuit named Alvarez, written for Pope Clement VII. Father Alvarez says to Pope Clement that he has just returned from Ethiopia and while there he met another Portuguese gentleman, an explorer named Juscelino Alancar, who had reached the Ethiopian emperor's court at Axum with his expedition forty years earlier. Father Alvarez further states that Alancar had been treated well, but he and his men had been put under house arrest by the Coptic pope for the remainder of their lives."

"That seems to be a recurring theme in Ethiopia."

"I also learned that as a result of Alancar's visit to Axum, a number of Ethiopians, most of them Coptic monks, made a pilgrimage to Rome to see the Holy City and were welcomed by Pope Sixtus IV, who granted them the use of the Church of Saint Stephen, near Saint Peter's Basilica, and this was the founding of the Ethiopian College that we are about to visit."

"Very generous of the pope. What did he want in return?"

"Perhaps some information." Mercado returned to the story of Father Alvarez. "Father Alvarez with some other Jesuit priests had been looking for Axum because its name appeared in many ancient writings that were being circulated during the Renaissance. Also, Father Alvarez believed that Axum was the legendary lost Christian kingdom of Prester John."

"Did he find that?"

"No, what Father Alvarez actually found was the capital of Ethiopia and the seat of the Ethiopian Coptic Church. He also found the last surviving member of the Alancar expedition, who was Alancar himself." Mercado added, "Father Alvarez says in this report to Pope Clement VII, that, quote, 'Juscelino Alancar told me that he found and saw the cup-the gradale-that his Holiness Sixtus had sent him to find.' "

"Which got Senhor Alancar life in Ethiopia."

"Apparently. And because Alancar told Father Alvarez what it was that he had found and seen, Father Alvarez was also kept in Axum under house arrest."

"But he got out and wrote to the pope."

"Yes, what happened was that Ethiopia was being attacked by the Turks, so the Ethiopian emperor, Claudius, let Father Alvarez go so he could tell King John III of Portugal about the lost Christian empire of Ethiopia, and to ask the Portuguese king for military aid. Alancar himself was dead by this time, so Father Alvarez and his fellow Jesuits left Axum and made their way back to Portugal. King John actually sent an expeditionary force to Ethiopia, and in 1527 a combined Ethiopian and Portuguese force defeated the Turks, and the Ethiopian emperor Claudius pledged everlasting thanks to King John III and to the Jesuits, who, Father Alvarez says in his report to the pope, are now welcomed back into Ethiopia by the emperor Claudius."

They continued through the acres of gardens, and Purcell could see a building ahead that Mercado identified as the Ethiopian College.

Mercado slowed his pace and continued his story. "There is another report from a Jesuit priest named Father Lopes to the next pope, Paul III, which tells of the Jesuit missionary influence in Ethiopia, and of all the good works that they had done in spreading the Catholic faith. But this report also says that the Jesuits are being expelled again because the Ethiopian emperor and the Coptic pope have accused them of excessive prying into the affairs of the Coptic Church and for making inquiries about the monastery of obsidian." He added, "This is the first reference to the black monastery and to the Grail possibly being there."

"Where it remains."

"Yes. Also, it would seem that a succession of Catholic popes had an interest in Ethiopia, and in the black monastery, and therefore the Grail." Mercado continued, "I guess you could make the case that this is a secret pa.s.sed on from pope to pope, and that's why Father Armano got the sealed envelope from Pius XI. And it also appears, from other oblique references I've read, that the Jesuits, who are the shock troops of the papacy, have been tasked with the mission to find the Holy Grail."

"If that's true, they haven't done a good job of it."

"They are patient." He thought a moment, then said, "Or, more likely, they and the recent popes have lost interest in this because they no longer believe in the existence of the Holy Grail."

"It's a hard thing to believe in, Henry."

"It is. But-"

"You believe it because it is impossible."

"I do."

They reached the Ethiopian College, a Romanesque-style structure that Mercado said was built in the 1920s when the college was moved from the five-hundred-year-old monastery of Saint Stephen. Purcell saw a number of black-robed, dark-skinned monks going in and out of the main entrance, and he couldn't help but recall Father Armano's story of the monks in the black monastery who'd greeted him and the Italian soldiers with clubs. "Is this place safe, Henry?"

Mercado smiled. "They're good Catholics, old man. Not Copts with clubs."

"Good."

But he saw that Mercado crossed himself as he entered, so he did the same.

Mercado confessed, "I haven't been here before, but we have permission and we have an appointment and we are on time."

They stood in the large antechamber and waited.

A tall, black, and bald monk came toward them and Mercado greeted him in Italian. They exchanged a few words, and Purcell could tell that there seemed to be some problem, notwithstanding their appointment.

Purcell suggested, "Tell him all we want to do is see the map that shows the black monastery."

Two more monks appeared from somewhere and the discussion continued. Finally, Mercado turned and said to Purcell, "They are refusing entry. So I'll need to go through channels again."

"Try a different channel."

"All right, let's go. I'll work this out."

They exited the Ethiopian College and walked down the path through the gardens.

Purcell asked, "What was that all about?"

"Not sure."

"When you asked permission, to whom did you speak?"

"I spoke to a papal representative." He explained, "The pope is considered the special protector of the college."

"Doesn't look like that place needs any outside protection."

Mercado didn't respond.

"So what did you tell this papal representative?"

"The truth, of course." He added, "That I had just returned from Ethiopia and I wanted to do some research on a series of articles I was writing for our newspaper about the Coptic and Catholic churches in post-revolutionary Ethiopia."

"Which is the truth, but not the whole truth."

Mercado did not reply and they continued to walk back toward the Vatican Library, or, Purcell hoped, the offices of L'Osservatore Romano, or, better yet, lunch. He said, "I a.s.sume you didn't mention the black monastery."

"It didn't come up."

Purcell thought about this. If Henry were actually in league with someone or some group here in the Vatican who wanted him to look for the Holy Grail, then there must be another group here who didn't want him to do that. Or the only people here whom Henry Mercado was working for were his editors at L'Osservatore Romano, and he, Purcell, was seeing conspiracies where there were only bureaucratic screwups or miscommunication. He wasn't sure, but at some point, here or in Ethiopia, he'd know what, if anything, Henry was up to.

Mercado said, "Just as well. When Gann gets here, we'll have this all straightened out, and I'm sure Colonel Gann can read a map far better than you or I."

"Good point."

"Would you like to go back to the library? There's more."

"The monk locked the door."

"He'll open it."

"Let me buy you lunch."

"All right..."

"The Forum." Purcell explained his restaurant choice: "I'm waiting for a telex."

Mercado looked at him and nodded.

They exited the Vatican through Saint Peter's Square and hailed a taxi on the Borgo Santo Spirito, which took them to the Hotel Forum.

Purcell said, "Go on up and get us a table by the window, and a good bottle of wine."

Mercado hesitated, then walked to the elevators.

Purcell went to the front desk and asked for messages. The clerk riffled through a stack of phone messages and telexes and handed him a sealed envelope.

He opened it and read the telex: ARRIVING FIUMICINO TONIGHT. WILL TAXI TO CITY. HOTEL UNDECIDED. WILL MEET YOU AT FORUM BAR, 6 P.M. I MISS YOU, V.

He put the telex in his pocket and walked to the elevator.

Well... no mention of Henry. Hotel undecided. Don't meet me at the airport. See you at six. I miss you.

And, Purcell thought, I miss you too.

He rode up to the Forum restaurant and found Henry speaking on the matre d's phone. Henry motioned to a table by the window, and Purcell sat.

Mercado joined him and asked, "Any messages?"

"No."

Mercado looked at him and said, "It's all right."

He wasn't sure what that meant, but he nodded.

"I ordered the same amarone."

"I thought we drank it all."

"Do you feel that you are intellectually and spiritually prepared to go on this quest?"

"I do, actually."

"And do you think Vivian will come with us?"

Purcell reminded Mercado, "You seem to think that the Holy Spirit has told her to go. So ask him. Or her."

Mercado smiled.

Purcell suggested, "Let's talk about something else."

"All right. I just spoke to my office. Colonel Gann telexed. He can come to Rome right after the New Year and may be able to go to Berini with us."

"Good. Did he mention Ethiopia?"

"He said he would go if he could get in."

"Getting in is easy. Getting out, not so easy."

"I a.s.sume he meant getting in without being rearrested."

The wine came, and Henry poured it himself. He raised his gla.s.s and said, "Amicitia sine fraude-to friendship without deceit."

"Cheers."