"THE ARCANE SORCEROR" "AN ESOTERIC FABLE FROM OUR COUNTRYSIDE" "To Francesco" "I place myself in the presence of Our Lord Jesus Christ, and I submit to His majesty." "Christ crucified for the greater glory of Thy name." "Hold back all spirits of the air, of the earth, of the underworld, of water, fire and wind." "Hold back... errant souls... and emissaries of the satanic world." "By virtue of Thy most precious blood, sunder all spells, magic, tricks, artifice, deception, or harmful influences." "It's better now." "In the past few months there have been fewer attacks, and the women have found... pieces of putrid flesh in his excrement, that emanated a foul stench." "He has spewed from his mouth and nostrils, an enormous quantity of filth and worms." "Since then the sorcery must have left him." "He has been heard reciting endless "Glorias" and "prayers" ." "Give me your blessing." "Father, I beseech you." "Command Thy angels and Thy spirits to protect him, from the evil contagion, and all the snares of the Devil." "I'm back." "You asked to speak with me?" "Does that mean that... you intend to free yourself of the terrible burden that afflicts you?" "He dragged me into the realm of the Dead, and I am still prey to the spell." " Who is 'he'?" " The Evil One." "And you expect me to believe you?" "If I can find the courage, to describe the depths I've been to, you'll believe me." "Perhaps it will do us both good, if you start from the beginning." "And in exchange?" "The salvation of your soul." "It all began one September night..." "What happened?" "I had been reported to the Ecclesiastical Court.." "for having made pregnant... a certain Renata Morosini, an upholsterer from Santa Catarina, and forcing her to abort." "Thus, I was obliged to flee the Seminary, and Bologna, where the scandal was about to ruin me." "...that Cabaletta sang well, is only your opinion." "You should have heard His Excellency Cardio!" "He was scandalised..." "In a moment of such great anguish," "I was secretly led to a certain house, where it was said that the Evil One could be called upon for help." "It was there that my journey into His realm began..." "Rose of roses... flower of flowers... woman of women... lady of ladies..." "Come closer." "Have no fear." "Come closer." "You're safe here..." "Sit." "It is within my power to save you... to get you out of the Church State, this very night." "There is a person very dear to us, who was a member of the Chapter, and the parish priest at St Bartholomew." "The Church repudiated him years ago, because of his studies and esoteric research, and exiled him to the hills." "Over the past few years, his health has deteriorated so badly... that the court granted permission... for him to break his solitude... and allowed him a secretary." "But I must be certain... of your capacity not to utter a word... about the extraordinary things that you will surely see... in the coming days." "Yes, I swear it." "Are you prepared to give me a solemn pledge... that binds you to this promise?" "Are you?" "I am." "You are carrying, sewn into the hem of your cloak, an object very dear to you... one which you would not exchange for anything." "How do you know this?" "It is the cord of thorns and silk thread... which your departed mother... used to tie around her waist to punish her sins, and which is still steeped in her blood." "Is that not so?" "But how do you know?" "Unstitch the lining and show it to me." "Remember, in a few hours it will be day." "We haven't much time." "Are you willing to make this pact?" "By wounding yourself with this same thorn, you mix your blood... with the blessed blood of your mother, binding you to this oath for ever." "When the oath no longer holds, you will return here... and this relic, so dear to you, will be returned to you." "Wherever you may flee, you will be eternally bound... to our pact." "Rose of roses, flower of flowers..." "That very night I found the records... of the ecclesiastical trial... of the priest of St Bartholomew." "It stated... that he possessed the most copious library of esoteric works... in all of the Church State." "Thousands of volumes, on death and the great mysteries that surround it." "He was defrocked because... he belonged to a coterie practising initiation rites, where he was nicknamed "the Arcane Sorcerer"." "Is there someone there?" "Is there someone there?" "Remember to let me hear from you!" " Look after the children!" " Have a good trip, bye!" "Departing for Granaglione, Riolo," "Medelana, Le Donzelle, Porretta and the Pass." "I don't remember whether I have the blanket for mamma's bed." "You may leave;" "your papers are in order." "Board the coach with your papers." "Be careful: it's fragile." " Have a good trip." " Don't worry." "Your papers." "Here." "Where are you going?" "To the baths at Porretta, with my mistress' third-born." " And you?" " All in order." "Elenella, make room for the clergy man." " Thankyou." " You'd never believe it... but after 10 days of pernicious fever, she has been restored to health, to the world of the living." "Just think: she had already received the Extreme Unction." "Isn't that so, Elenella, that... you've returned from the beyond?" "Whose things are these?" "Mine." "What's in here?" "China ink." "The reason for the paper and pens?" "I'm going to join the notary I work for in the Grand Duchy." "And where are you going?" "To the baths." "Are you also travelling with someone risen from the dead?" "I don't think you'll have the same success with the election... of the next Apostolic Legate." " Why not?" "Well, one of your number forces a girl to abort... it's seen as sacrilege... and it's certainly not good publicity for the Curia of Bologna." "He's probably already in jail and he hadn't yet taken his vows." "Certainly not that of chastity!" "You can be sure that the itch will leave him forever." "We have some very efficient methods." "I don't mean to disturb you... but as it is Friday," "I have anchovies prepared in the manner of Bari... if the clergyman will allow?" "Of course." "Some more?" " They're good, aren't they?" " Yes, almost alive." "Who's getting off in Medelana?" "Time to change the horses!" "Is there any mail for me?" "Hurry, we're leaving!" "That case goes to the parsonage." "Watch your step." "Those who have to answer the call of nature can go behind the church." "I have a message." "What is it?" "Your good mother... sends you this flower... from purgatory." "It will protect you from "the Evil One" ." "Hurry, we're leaving!" "Those signals that seemed to come from the hereafter... announced that I was entering an unending nightmare." "I could no longer escape." "Come with me." "Give me a hand." "No-one is allowed up here." "No-one is allowed to speak with the Monsignor... on pain of excommunication." "For ten years or so, they left him all alone." "Then he fell ill... and an influential relation... procured him a secretary." "In all these years, none of us has ever seen his face." "You'll have this good fortune at once." " And the coffin?" " For the clerk you're replacing." "What did he die of?" "All the wicked deeds he did." "Such as?" "Making girls disappear, selling his soul to the Devil..." "How do you know he's dead if no-one's allowed up there?" "The charcoal-burners..." "They found a letter to the parish priest at Medelana, stuck to a tree along the path." "That's how we found out." "All this belongs to his family." "That house down there has been given to the Lay Sisters for life." "They are the ones they send away from convents, but who aren't wanted back at home." "That's where you go for supplies." "They're all mad." "They say the angels plow the fields, at night, with their wings." "I have to let him know that I'm here, so that he can hide." "Monsignor!" "We're here!" "Monsignor!" "We're inside." "He's hidden back there." "He'll stay there... until I leave." "This is his room." "Look." "This is one part of your new master!" "Come, let's look for the body." "Here it is." "Pick up the material;" "be careful not to touch him." "Take heed:" "don't touch him." "I don't think someone like him would appreciate it." "I think Nerio slept in here." "When the Monsignor wants you, that will ring." "This was his food... but given the relations he had with the Evil One," "I wouldn't touch it... and I'd burn his clothes too." "Here are candles and firewood." "I'm going now." "May God help you." ""The pit should be dug near the house." "The dead man who'll be buried there is to take the name of 'Flower'." "He'll bring his maidens back from the Underworld for games of love." "The grave is to be sprinkled with animal piss. "" ""The first king to be evoked is named Bael... and he is the power of the East." "He inflicts wounds that never heal... and has a bat in lieu of a soul. "" "Come in." "Have you seen this library?" "It has taken me a lifetime to build it up." "I wanted it to be like a ship, from whose main mast sprout... texts on the origin of life, which descend increasingly into darkness, into the seductive territory of death." "Do not be afraid." "As a child a ferret trap cut off my hand, but my crazy mother would not resign herself... and tried to make up for it with these." "The house in town was full of them, commissioned by the best sculptors." "But we have work to do." "You'll have a little trouble finding these books, but it is your trade, is it not?" "You're dismissed." "Monsignor..." "Monsignor." "Poor Nerio... it would have taken him all night." "That will be all." "Good night." "And welcome to this place." "Rose of roses, flower of flowers," "woman of women, lady of ladies..." "You've burned his things!" "What did they tell you about him?" "Nothing." "There must be a reason why you have burned his clothes." "They say he was involved with Evil." "And me, what do they say about me?" "Nothing." "The person who brought you here... what did he say?" " Nothing." "Nothing!" "But you must know that in the eternity of all these years... you are only the second person that I've been allowed to see, to talk to." "Did you know that?" "Something extraordinary happened here last night, and I need your help." "Do you know what coding a message means?" "That both you and the recipient use the same book." "So?" "The word in code is found on that particular page, in that particular line, and it is the first or the second, or so on, of the line itself." "So, imagine what my enemies would give... to obtain this little book." "Now write:" "37... 11... 6... 62... 14... 2..." "47... then 12... then 7." "All of the letters you will carry from now on... will pass through the hands of the guardian of the House of Hosts." "Her name is Severina." "She will make herself known to you." "She is the only one who knows about this secret correspondence." "And she is the only person... who can ensure that it gets to he who awaits it." "These hosts are for St Brucedo... and these for St Trinita' del Monte." "Which parish are you from?" "The Monsignor sends me." "Come." " It's the new one!" " Yes, but this one's handsome!" "You like them all!" " You'll burn them!" " He's more handsome than Nerio." "Be quiet; he can hear you." "See: you burned them." "Then it's true that Nerio is dead?" " He was ill." " Yes, with all the poison he had inside... and all the evil deeds he did." "What evil deeds?" "Making people disappear from this world, for instance." " Who disappeared?" " Two of our girls." "He was supposed to bring them through the Pass, but they never got here." "I saw two girls dressed like you near the woods, yesterday." "Last night I heard a girl singing in the attic." "It wasn't them:" "they disappeared many years ago." "Once, to scare me," "Nerio told me he killed them with a pick-axe." "If the priest didn't want to bury him in consecrated ground, then there must be a good reason." "What?" "He knew a lot about Nerio." "Even though he's gone... take this and keep it with you always." "You're sure to need it." "So it's true that up there, at night... the furniture moves by itself." "And the birds drink human blood!" "That Monsignor writes letters to dead men." "You know that, don't you?" "Beware!" "Nerio said he'd discovered how to return from the hereafter!" "I can take you to the other side, if you want." "Are you Severina?" "Welcome, Monsignor!" "The new confessor from the Curia, but it's better for you not to meet him." "He's here to investigate certain disappearances..." "Perhaps he may want to know how you came to be here." "Remind him that he's killing himself with this stuff." " What is it?" " Lime, alcohol and valerian." "It's very harmful for his health." "I don't know what they've told you, but he is a holy man." "He used to come here every summer." "He did a lot of good." "They used to say that touching his stump would heal all ills." "There was too much envy around him." "They did all sorts of wicked things." "And then they dragged him on trial." "So you didn't betray me!" "No." "They must have asked you things, and you will have asked about Nerio." "Am I right?" "He boasted that he'd killed some lay nuns." "Do you know why they always hated him, and why they're probably happy that he's dead?" "Because he never heeded their itches... and their heat." "They're bound to start with you soon." "Do you know what they call your letters?" "Letters to the dead." " They're ignorant." "The same bad faith as the Curia that expelled me." "All they could see in my studies was diabolical sorcery." "Do you know what happened last night, and why I had to send that letter?" "After many years of waiting, of small signals, always ambiguous and uncertain, irrefutable proof reached me." "A scholar who lives in a distant land... travelled here by the power of his mind." "His spirit crossed mountains, forests, rivers, precipices... to come to me." "We can create a double of ourselves, by means of the magnetic forces of the mind." "How does this presence that visited you last night... manifest itself?" "Tonight I'll try to make him return." "Now everything... has become possible here." ""To fecundate the place of all prodigies, and call up the Duke of Darkness, the flower must be buried..." "He must not be blessed, anointed... or buried in hallowed ground."" ""The prince to call up is Marcos, who is third in the hierarchy." "He takes the form of a night bird who sports the fangs of a dog... and feeds on human blood." "He teaches how to restore a voice to the dead... and in his presence wounds start bleeding anew. "" "Monsignor!" "Is that you?" "He's come back." "I knew it." "He's here now." "There." "That's him." "He's gone." "He's returned whence he came." "You saw it too;" "I don't have hallucinations." "I'm not mad." "In the scriptures, God prohibits his people... from practising spells and calling up spirits." " And who pefrorms these miracles?" " Perhaps the Devil." "Everything that is done here is a work of poetry... and the Evil One, in spite of what your priests have taught you... is quite incapable of poetry." "Now the conditions are right for the miracle... that Nerio had awaited for years... to take place." "Are you sure that there is no-one concealed in this house?" "Who would want to live in a prison like this?" "Yesterday, I heard whispering upstairs... and I saw two girls here." "Your imagination." "One of the rooms in the attic is locked from inside..." " So?" "And the rumour about Nerio and the missing women..." "Break the door down." "I give you my permission." "That way you will be free of doubt." "Please... don't become like the others." "We have a lot of work to do." "We may have an extraordinary night ahead." "But first, we must go down into the subterranean rooms... where they gathered snow in winter, and where my vocation began." "I have lived with ghosts since I was a boy." "It all began in this house." "They say that centuries ago... our ancestors were buried here." "That contained the body of our great-grandfather... a cardinal." "I used to sneak down here with my cousins, and at times the glass fogged up, blocking the deceased from view." "We'd delude ourselves that he'd left the case... and was wandering around the house, moving objects, whispering words, or even touching us." "Many years later, whilst out walking, I found a tarot card." "It was a Major Arcana." "I kept it, although I knew that the game was one of the Devil's tools." "Some time later, in a completely different place, I found another." "Then I found another, and another..." "I felt I had embarked upon a mysterious game." "Then I received a letter." "The writer said that he knew of my finds... that's how I made contact with this mysterious personage, to whom I send the results of my research." "It was his fingers that made that crystal ring out... in this room last night." "I have to resort to this mixture." "It brings on an infinite weariness, close to the loss of the senses." "Give me a hand." "The cold slows down the blood's circulation, and the heartbeat." "Weakness is fundamental... in enabling the mind not to oppose signals from 'outside'." "You must bleed me." "Take a little blood from my arm." "I can't ." "Everything you need is on the table." "You must open a vein... and take out a little blood." "Then, when I tell you, tie up my arm tightly." "I can't ." "Please." "Nerio was afraid the first time too." "I can't ." "I don't have much time left." "You promised me... that you'd help me." "Come on!" "Do it." "When the pendulum strikes 10 times... it will mean that it's all over." "To awaken me, blow on my face... and rub my ankles vigorously." "I think I have lost enough blood..." "Before going out... cover your footprints over with flour." "I dress in the armour of God, to avoid the snares of the Devil." "Jesus Christ, crucified, dead and resurrected... hold back the elements of air, water and earth... of fire and wind." "Monsignor!" "Monsignor!" "Monsignor!" "I'm cold." "He materialised... didn't he?" "He came in here, and approached my bed." "I felt him leaning... over me." "I heard him whisper..." "something." "But I could not make out his words." "Why this cross?" "14... 7... 2... 27... 11... 5..." "Keep away." "We must finish our work." "52..." "I've brought some dirty linen, and some stockings and breeches to mend." "Have you taught him to bathe?" "What can you tell me about the women who disappeared?" "All I know is they disappeared." "What were their names?" "Were they young, old?" "I don't know." "It was long ago!" "Don't ask me again." "Be careful!" "The lady told me she saw Nerio the other night." " Who is 'the lady'?" " Why do you want to know?" "Who is she?" "There she is." "See that tumbledown house?" "That is the luxurious abode where she prostitutes herself." "She has syphilis." "But God will forgive her her sins." "Rose of roses, flower of flowers..." "This is for you." "Why another so soon?" "It's dangerous." "You risk being condemned by delivering these letters." "Who are they to?" "I don't know." " You must have some idea." " Maybe someone who will vindicate him, who'll see that he's received back into the Mother Church, with all honours." "But he still has too many enemies." "You know, this is the farthest I've been... from the house in all these years." "Do you know why I was assigned to you?" "You committed some sacrilege or other, but I tried to forget what exactly." "I got a girl pregnant and forced her to abort." "A heavy sentence awaited me, but a mysterious lady saved me by sending me to you." "Why this confession here, now?" "A priest's come from the Curia." "I glimpsed him yesterday, but today I recognised him." "Although he is young, he has made a name for himself... in the inquisition's trials." "I don't believe a person of such rank... has been sent here just to hear the confessions of the lay sisters." "I think he's here to inquire about Nerio, or to look for me." " Did he recognise you?" " I'm afraid so." "Thank you." "You may go now." "You're ill; you have a temperature." "I'm all right." "Go." "Perhaps it's a question of days... that priest will take you away... and I'll be left alone again." "You ought to know... that if you have found refuge here... it is no coincidence of destiny." "Your welfare... depends on what you do to help us now." "What do I have to do?" "I am afraid that after the disappearance of some innocents here... the Evil One is being called up." "We have had some confirmation... but before we can act, we need irrefutable evidence." "His family is very powefrul and the letters he sends... go to an eminent member of the Senate." " Which letters?" " The ones you brought today." "Does Severina betray him?" "No, we make copies before they reach the recipient." "Since that other fellow died, we can't decipher them anymore." "He uses a book unknown to us." "I want you to reveal to me the contents of the letters he dictates." "I don't know them." "He only dictates numbers to me." "The book he uses?" "He jealously guards it;" "I've barely glimpsed it." "Find out!" "It is your only hope of avoiding a heavy sentence." "We fear the Monsignor and his old secretary... made a pact before the latter died." "What?" "It's possible that this defrocked priest... is using his science... to call up Nerio from the grave." "From what they say, he was greatly attracted to the Evil One." "Remember:" "the Devil will only serve if he can be master." "Woman of women, lady of ladies..." "You're new here." "Yes." "Where did you hear that song?" "Nerio." "Come." "You told the lay nuns that you saw him." "Why did you make that up?" " He was here two nights ago." "That's not possible; he's been dead for many days now." " I swear it was him." " What did he want?" "He wanted me to sign an oath..." "What?" "Then you knew something about the missing girls?" "I introduced them to him..." "You only like asking questions?" " What did he want?" " I asked him where he had been." "He said to a place that is both near and far." "Then?" "He picked one of those flowers... and put it in a button hole in his jacket, the way he always used to." "Sooner or later, he'll be back." "Come here now." "I've been really ill." "I called you again and again;" "where were you?" "Give me something to cleanse my mouth." "You've lost a lot of blood." "We ought to call someone." " I'm all right now." "Where were you?" "I think I know who comes at night." " It's Nerio." " You've seen that damn priest!" "He's the one who put this idea into your head." "Yes, I've seen him, but I didn't tell him anything." " Why should I believe you?" " You have to listen to me." "There are too many strange coincidences." "Yesterday I told you what I was running from." "What was Nerio running from?" "From his profession." "What was it?" "Will you tell me?" "He squired ladies." "He perfumed and powdered himself, and offered his arm to the noble women of Bologna, for the ball of the sirens, or the procession of the Madonna." "He was in great demand." "Then he aged and they wanted escorts with smoother skin." "But women weren't his only interest..." "He studied as well." "Do you know what this is?" "Passages from the 'Pseudomonarchy of Demons', by a certain Weyer." "It is a forbidden book." "The Church melted down the type metal and burned all other copies." "Once Nerio met a man who sold old books, and he bought some." "This 'Pseudomonarchy of Demons' was one of them." "He thought I'd appreciate it." "No sooner had I held the book... than I ordered Nerio to make a fire, with the wood of an old crucifix, and I myself threw the book into the hell flames, and watched until it was ashes." "But before it was burned, he copied certain parts of it, that make sense today." ""The Flower must not be buried in sacred ground... he must not be blessed or anointed..." "When he is buried there, the field is capable of prodigies... "" "Why wouldn't the priest have him in consecrated ground?" "Anything that touches me... is at once considered diabolical." "Flower of flowers, woman of women, lady of ladies..." "Monsignor!" "Monsignor!" "Wake up!" "Keep your promise; it's time for the games you promised us." "Come, keep your promise, you are our night-time companion." "We are dying of love." "Come, keep your promise..." "I come from the house of the Ropos." "I want to see the priest." "What's happened?" "Come!" " Excuse me, at this late hour..." " Are you Nerio's replacement?" "Yes, I'm his replacement." "Who are Giulia and Anna?" "Why?" "Have they been found?" "They're the two lay nuns who disappeared?" "Why do you want to know about them?" "They say you have proof that Nerio did away with them." "He convinced them to follow him up there with his tales, of when he accompanied great ladies to balls." "Why wouldn't you bury him in the parish cemetery?" "Who told you that?" "This is the letter... that your master sent me telling me of Nerio's death, and his decision to bury the body up there." "It seems this Nerio... isn't completely dead." "The Evil One lives in the possessed, who die without having been exorcised." "Nerio, in recent years," "I believe he was initiated by a vendor of esoteric books, come from Germany." "They stole two ciboria full of consecrated hosts." "They relieved themselves in the church." "I think he has manifested himself in the house, in many ways, these past nights." "And does the Monsignor lose strength, every time he manifests himself?" " Yes." " He will end up absorbing it all." "If you want to save him, you must free the field from infection, exhume the body and bring it to a holy place, where it can be purified of the spirits that inhabit it." "But not tonight." "You're alone, and it's very dangerous." "I must go back." "Monsignor is not well." "I can't leave him all alone." "Monsignor!" "It could be dangerous for you." "Tell me what you're looking for;" "I'll get it." "Monsignor!" "Monsignor?" "Monsignor, wake up." "But that's not Nerio." "My God, who is it?" "He's missing a hand..." "Monsignor!" "It's all over!" "Monsignor!" "'Pseudomonarchy of Demons'" "You were right." "It was Nerio... who committed those atrocious crimes." "I have spent years in here with these cadavers." "But now... you have freed this place forever... from his ill-omened presence." "Where did you take the scoundrel?" "Down to the church, in Medelana." "You didn't want him buried down there." "I saw your letter." "Do you believe me... or that lie?" " I can no longer believe you." " Why?" "You assured me you'd burned... that accursed text... that invokes demons." "So?" "It's the book you use to put your letters into code." "The recipient has another the same... he is a person bound to the Devil." "Who are you?" "Who are you?" "You're Nerio!" "Are you Nerio?" "You're the Devil." "You killed the priest who was investigating..." "You killed the Monsignor, because he discovered your crimes." "Wherever you flee... you're bound for ever... to our pact." "The bat flew away to seek other bodies... to hide in and continue his misdeeds." "I knew... that just as the Lord God is in all the good things of the world... so does the Devil pervade evil souls." "I passed many nights... in the vain attempt to free myself from that boundless nightmare.." "but I carried the sign of the pledge on my body, which bound me to those mysterious events." "What happened?" "What do you want?" "I'm looking for the lady." "Many ladies have always lived in this house." "This lady lived in a room full of frescoes." "There are no frescoed rooms here." "She had to return a pledge to me!" "She must have taken it with her." " Do you know where she went?" " Where people go when they die." "Rose of roses, flower of flowers, woman of women, lady of ladies..." "Subtitled by ---Lord Retsudo"