Read Jerusalem Man 03 - Bloodstone for Free Online

steroids were constructed, or from what.'
    'It doesn't matter,' she assured him. The sky is beautiful, and I am alive. Let's talk about something else. I want to ask you about our . . . guest.'
    Meredith's face darkened. 'What about him? He is no farmer, that is for sure.'
    'I know that,' she said. 'But why has his memory failed?'
    Meredith shrugged. The blow to the head is the most likely cause, but there are many reasons for amnesia, Isis. To tell you more I would need to know the exact cause of the injury, and the events leading up to it.'
    She nodded, and considered telling him all she had learned. 'First,' she said, 'tell me about the Jerusalem Man.'
    He laughed, the sound harsh, his face hardening. 'I thank God that I never met him. He was a butchering savage who achieved some measure of fame vastly greater than he deserved. And this only because we are ruled by another merciless savage who reveres violence. Jon Shannow was a killer. Putting aside the ludicrous quasi-religious texts that are now being published, he was a wandering man who was drawn to violence as a fly is drawn to ox droppings. He built nothing, wrote nothing, sired nothing. He was like a wind blowing across a desert.'
    'He fought the Hellborn,' said Isis, 'and destroyed the power of the Guardians.'
    'Exactly,' said Meredith sharply. 'He fought and destroyed. And now he is seen as some kind of saviour -
    a dark angel sent by God. I wonder, sometimes, if we will ever be free of men like Shannow.'
    'You perceive him as evil, then?'
    Meredith stood and added several sticks to the dying fire, then returned to his seat opposite Isis. 'That is a difficult question to answer. From all I know of the man he was not a murderer; he never killed for gain.
    He fought and slew men he believed to be ungodly or wicked. But the point I would make Isis, is that he decided who was wicked, and he dispensed what he regarded as justice. In any civilised society such behaviour should be deemed abhorrent. It sets a precedent, you see, for other men to follow his line of argument and kill any who disagree. Once we revere a man like Shannow, we merely open the door to any other killer who wishes to follow his example. Men like the Deacon, for instance. When the Hellborn rose against us he destroyed not only their army, but their cities. He visited upon them a terrible destruction. And why? Because he decided they were an evil people. Thousands of ordinary Hellborn farmers and artisans were put to death. It was genocide, an entire race destroyed. That is the legacy of men like Jon Shannow. So tell me, what has this to do with our guest, as you call him?'
    'I don't know,' she lied. 'He claims to be Shannow, so I wondered if it would have a bearing on his ...
    What did you call it?'
    'Amnesia.'
    'Yes, his amnesia. You asked about the event that led to his being wounded.' Isis hesitated, preparing her story. 'He watched his friends being murdered, horribly murdered, some shot down, others burned alive.
    His . . . home . . . was set ablaze. He escaped and took up weapons that he had put aside many years before. He was once a warrior, but had decided this was wrong. But in his pain he tracked the killers and fought them, killing them all. Does that help?'
    Meredith sat back and let out a long breath. 'Poor man,' he said. 'I fear I have misjudged him. I saw the guns and assumed him to be a brigand, or a hired man. Yes, indeed it helps, Isis. The mind can be very delicate. I trust your talent and, taking everything you have told me as true, it means that our guest went to war against not only a vile enemy, but his own convictions. His mind has reeled from the enormity of anguish and loss, and closed itself against the memories. It is called protective amnesia.'
    'Would it be wise for me to explain it to him?' she asked.
    'Under no circumstances,' he told her. 'That is what is meant by protective. To tell him now could cause a complete disintegration. Let it come back slowly, in its own