1.
This is also why Abraham is mentioned in the New Testament as being a pilgrim and stranger in the land
2.
struck up a conversation with a pilgrim returning home to
3.
aware of this crucial point, and turned towards the pilgrim
4.
A moment ago he was simply a pilgrim on his way to
5.
towards the town’s pilgrim hostel
6.
‘Your friend was the only pilgrim to report a theft
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insignia of the pilgrim stitched across its seam
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We should ask at all the pilgrim hostels and
9.
arms outstretched, welcoming the pilgrim after his long
10.
pilgrim hailed the two men cheerily as he approached
11.
‘Jean Bellimont of Troyes,’ said the pilgrim
12.
When they got there, the pilgrim was
13.
‘What’s happening?’ asked the pilgrim
14.
week, but the weary pilgrim was eager to be on his way
15.
No matter; since His wisdom permeates the earth and the sky, the Pilgrim felt he could only accept and never wonder
16.
He was the Pilgrim, the one honored to pay homage to the Land of God and the resting place of their forefathers
17.
That he was a good man, that he would be a true Pilgrim, one that God would accept
18.
It would not be without precedent that he should meet a ghost of the Holy Lands, perhaps some other Pilgrim before him who had wandered the Holy Lands and now roamed them freely, to warn the Pilgrims and the faithful and guide them through danger
19.
He reminded himself to be wary though; perhaps the pale man was a ruinous force in disguise, a servant of those that would always be evil, seeking to corrupt men and everything good and wholesome that the Pilgrim tried to protect from their rotting grasp and their insidious machinations
20.
The Pilgrim look at him puzzled
21.
‘He might be asking where I’m coming from, or where I’m going,’ the Pilgrim said to himself silently absorbed in thought
22.
The Pilgrim hoped he was indeed a brother though this could always prove to be a trap, a wicked machination; an evil thing sent to thwart him and his Pilgrimage, to mock God and his divine plan
23.
The Pilgrim made the sign of God once more and looked at the strange man he now considered a brother under God; he felt a bit saddened that his words could not be understood and could not answer his brother’s questions
24.
Though he was starting to find some sounds common, the Pilgrim did not possess the wisdom of an elder or the eloquence of their Prime
25.
He was just a Pilgrim, and thanked God silently for that preordained fate that brought him to the Lands where no one else could venture
26.
As the man ended his incessantly long phrase, which the Pilgrim thought it could contain the man’s life story, the Pilgrim felt that perhaps he was wrong to be so wary of him
27.
The Pilgrim believed he could learn from his brother then, slowly
28.
For where else could this man walking on the True Path be going, other than to the Holy Grounds themselves? It was their journey now, the Pilgrim thought and then he smiled, carefully pronouncing each syllable slowly before bowing and once again pointing upwards:
29.
The Pilgrim thought he had been too critical of his brother
30.
The thought made the Pilgrim break down in laughter
31.
The man was gesturing with his hands up and down the Path and the Pilgrim thought he was probably trying to say: “Where does it lead?”, “Does it lead to the Holy Grounds?”
32.
Without further ado, the Pilgrim gestured onwards towards the way the Path shone under the light of the first stars
33.
The Pilgrim saw his brother smile gently, bow constantly and offer too much praise and thanks to a mere brother
34.
But he was otherwise quiet and respectful of the Path, the Pilgrim thought in silence
35.
The Pilgrim aroused Molo from his fretful sleep with a nudge
36.
The Pilgrim thought his brother was troubled, as he had been for the last two nights
37.
The Pilgrim saw in him a fervency, an ardor
38.
Though his brother’s purpose was still to be revealed, the Pilgrim knew in his heart his own was renewed; that he should act as this man’s mentor and tutor, as a wise and benevolent father to fill his heart and mind with the joy that was God and Truth
39.
‘I should have been more thorough when I woke him,’ the Pilgrim thought while walking with a sure, easy pace, slowly climbing to the top of the crest
40.
The Pilgrim shook Molo more violently, this time making sure he would wake up, stand on his feet and walk with him
41.
Molo stirred and moaned a complain, something unintelligible even if the Pilgrim could understand his language
42.
He put a hand out as if letting the Pilgrim know he was really awake this time
43.
The Pilgrim said something that Molo could not understand perfectly; something about the weary man finding consolation in God’s plan, but he wasn’t sure that was the proper translation
44.
He’d stick around, as long as the Pilgrim proved his usefulness
45.
Molo hoped the Pilgrim would be much more helpful in that respect
46.
It remained a mystery to Molo how the Pilgrim could remain unperturbed by the roughness of the terrain, the adverse conditions, and the unforgiving miles he had walked to get here in the first place
47.
The Pilgrim used one of the stones as a guide, for getting his direction straightened out
48.
Molo had noticed that every time the Pilgrim used it, always after offering praise to his God and praying, he slightly changed course as if adjusting to what the stone showed him
49.
Indeed each time the Pilgrim used it, it was as if they were suddenly put inside an invisible bubble of glass that was protective and mindful of their basic comfort
50.
But Molo felt there was probably so much more he could learn from the Pilgrim
51.
So many mysteries that could be unraveled just because the Pilgrim knew these things, like he had always known them
52.
Molo thought more about how the Pilgrim had introduced himself at first, and remembered that he had referred to himself as ‘a’ Pilgrim
53.
He had not broached the subject because when he did ask the Pilgrim about things, even about relatively simple things like what they would eat or when would they stop for a break, the answers he received were nothing short of enigmatic, occluded by religious reverence and pious deference to God and his plan
54.
He believed that it was best he gathered what the Pilgrim would share without knowing, and infer whatever knowledge he could from scraps of information alone
55.
He did not think the Pilgrim could be extorted through fear or driven to betray his beliefs
56.
Truthfully though, Molo did not think he would have been able to survive the tribulations of the desert had it not been for the Pilgrim and his stones
57.
The Pilgrim had turned around to check up on how far behind he was
58.
Molo took the chance to build more of a rapprochement with the Pilgrim, something he could perhaps use later on
59.
The Pilgrim on the other hand, felt he understood his brother better
60.
The Pilgrim offered Molo his leather flask which was filled with water they had gathered from a meaty, barbed plant, its juices nothing more than water
61.
He would have to trust the Pilgrim for their survival
62.
Unfortunately, he had not yet seen yet the Pilgrim use a stone that would produce food or water like the girl in Esphalon’s account presumably did
63.
They started off once more and trudged onwards, Molo right behind the Pilgrim
64.
His pace lessened and soon the distance between him and the Pilgrim began to grow
65.
The Pilgrim took notice at some point, paused, and urged him onwards gesturing with his arms and head
66.
Soon enough a grin formed on his face while the Pilgrim remained apathetic, almost indifferent
67.
The Pilgrim was proving his value to Molo with each passing day and he couldn’t help but feel genuine respect for the man, even though he suspected there had to be some aid from the stone, albeit he had not seen him use one right then and there
68.
When their flasks where filled and they had some water to drink, the Pilgrim motioned for Molo to sit in a somewhat flat space of sand
69.
Molo noticed the Pilgrim had already done that, the outline of his rising and falling ribs following the rhythm of his breathing: slow, deep, and steady
70.
The Pilgrim was handling the roasting of the meat on his knife expertly
71.
The Pilgrim jogged him back into reality with a slap on the shoulder that he must have considered an expression of brotherhood and amicability towards him
72.
The smile on the Pilgrim’s face assured him of how wildly imaginative he had become concerning food during the past few days, and grudgingly decided to feed on whatever the Pilgrim had caught
73.
In reality, he thought it was quite important to never know what it was that the Pilgrim had offered him, especially since it tasted so much better than the previous things he had been forced to taste by necessity
74.
Noticing that the eyes of the Pilgrim were lost in the sea of sand, he sat for a while idly gazing at the dunes, trying to make out anything worth noticing in the amorphous dune crests
75.
He felt that they should be moving on right away, but the usually relentless Pilgrim had quietened down and was sitting still and cross-legged on the warm sand, the shelter stone nowhere in sight
76.
But here he was, a savage man with no ties to such trappings of the civilized man, a pilgrim that somehow managed to cripple his mind with nothing but a smile and a prayer
77.
There was something very strange about this Pilgrim
78.
He saw the Pilgrim was already putting some distance between them
79.
To which the Pilgrim replied with a gaze to the sky and the sign of God
80.
Molo had mysteriously let go of his prohibitions, of his logical and analytical mind, of his reasoning and his fears, and just trusted the Pilgrim
81.
He shuddered slightly at his touch and then started crying, in fervor or in fear, the Pilgrim could not honestly tell
82.
The Pilgrim started chanting, his clear voice challenging the howls of the rising wind, cutting a clean path through the hurtling sands towards the heart of the storm
83.
Why else, the Pilgrim asked himself, would he be carrying no guiding stone? It was because he knew
84.
Still, it was indeed as the Pilgrim had put it: “God provides”
85.
The Pilgrim then turned to Molo and pointed to him with a smile, letting his unusually healthy white pearly teeth shine brightly in the first rays of the suns
86.
He said to the Pilgrim in a clear, resounding voice:
87.
The Pilgrim felt the moment could serve well to enlighten his brother with some words of wisdom which should be seldom needed, but not unjustly so
88.
The Pilgrim raised a hand at that remark, looking at Molo with intensity and even wariness
89.
The Pilgrim gave a small pause and then continued, in somewhat accented but still quite understandable High Helican:
90.
Molo returned the smile, but only faintly; his mind was focused on the deep thoughts the words of the Pilgrim had given birth to
91.
He resolved that he would ask whatever came to mind, and he would answer whatever the Pilgrim wanted to ask
92.
The Pilgrim motioned this time with even more vigor, bowing slightly and gesturing with both hands
93.
For an instant Molo was reminded of an usher of festivities or a lordly servant, but such an image did not do the Pilgrim any justice
94.
The Pilgrim brought out his shelter stone and touched it with both hands
95.
It could be the feeling the Pilgrim had warned him about
96.
He felt he had to ask the Pilgrim:
97.
The Pilgrim did not stop, neither did he slow down
98.
He then felt it would not be inappropriate to ask more of the Pilgrim, the strain from the arduous walking evident in his voice, gasps of breath between his questions:
99.
The Pilgrim brought a hand up, a gesture that implied Molo should be silent
100.
His hand briefly occluded the two suns, offering Molo a small patch of shadow so he could look at the Pilgrim with more ease
