"You are a priest." "Light from far land." "How do you know this?" "I have been waiting for you." "There is a village, San Martín, to the south." "Take the boy there." "He cannot speak." "But he understands." "I will bind your legs where they are broken." "And then I will take you both." "There is no need." "I have touched your soul, young priest." "Take the boy." "You will know what to do when you get there." "We are looking for the village of San Martín." "Esteban, I thought you trained her to come only to me." "I did, Don Emilio." "I swear it." "The boy's a witch." " He has come to fight a devil for them." " I will take you to our village." "Someone once said it was easier to raise a devil than to put him away." "When the people dream of witches and the devil their minds are filled with thoughts of what might be." "Not of what is." "They are happier that way." "So am I." "What is the matter with these people?" "What do they suffer?" "They are cursed by el brujo." "They have not eaten for many days." "I fear they will die, as our sheep and goats have died." "Tadeo." " Look at him." " Another one." "Perhaps I can help." "I have some small knowledge of healing." "He's on fire." "Is he also cursed?" "What am I to do?" "Give him a little of this in warm water." "He must eat nothing." "The same tomorrow." "Carlos has done this." "You're a fool, old man." "You cannot defy Carlos with a boy." "You only make him more angry." "You will kill us all." " Who is Carlos?" " El brujo." "The one who curses us." "And the only one who can save us, if he will." "What troubles you, grasshopper, that the boy was your own age?" " He spoke of a curse." " Who was it that cursed him?" "His master, Sorcerer Liu, because he ran away." "The undiscerning mind is like the root of a tree." "It absorbs equally all that it touches, even the poison that would kill it." "But he took no poison." " And he was not ill." " That is true." "Why did he die, master?" "I do not understand." "Did the boy not believe that he was to die?" "He did not believe otherwise." "And so his life had no choice but to fly away." "Learn from him, grasshopper." "The one who brought the boy to the village." "A man to serve a boy." " You dare to come in here?" " I seek help for the child." " He is ill." " Many are ill." "Unmarked." "Untouched." "It is just as it was before." " You do not suffer, but others do." " Yes, by my power." " Do you draw pleasure from their pain?" " It is pain to them, but nothing to me." "And so it is pleasure beyond pleasure." "A man who is moved by nothing is no man at all." "You are right at what was there to see from the beginning." "Were you not with the old lady when she died?" "I was there." " And, still, you did not learn?" " What is there to learn?" " Not to grow old?" " Go, servant." "Go while you can." "What shall I tell the people of San Martín?" "They wish to please you." " What do you want of them?" " Let them suffer." "Let them die." "I will tell them that." "Perhaps they will then know that it costs them nothing not to please you." "They have seen my power." "They have seen that no one can stand against me not the old woman, not your boy." "The boy will be well." " I will tend to him." " You tend a grave within a grave." "The boy was dead when you brought him to San Martín." "Look." "Do you admire the workmanship, Esteban?" "Very much, Don Emilio." "What does it say to you?" "I know only that it is still good after many years." "It was my father's and his father's before him." "I would like to have known those days long ago." "Men lived well then, handsomely." "And nobility was unchallenged." "Their culture rich." "Their fields fertile." "That world will never come again." "My family has no memory of such things, Don Emilio." "We have always lived here in the village." "Who is the stranger who came with the boy?" "He calls himself "Caine."" "He's either a witch or he is a fool." "We have enough of both, don't we?" "Don Emilio, he went to the cave." "I followed him." "He went inside." " Well, did he come out again?" " I do not know." "I don't suppose you believe in this witchcraft, do you, Esteban?" "I didn't think you did." "I am happy you see things as I do." "Yes, Don Emilio." "You seem to appreciate what I have done for San Martín." "We have dignity here and peace while so many of the other villages are filled with anger and bitterness." "To keep this balance, we must guard against anything that would disturb it." "Like a stranger in our midst." "Look for him in the village." "If you find him escort him out." "Please." "You're alive." " Did you go into the cave?" " Yes." "And you saw el brujo?" "You spoke to him?" "He will do nothing to help." "He wants your people to suffer." "Perhaps he will lift the curse after we perform the ritual." "We are making The Day of the Devil." "The men are drawing lots to see who will wear the devil's mask." " Where is the boy?" " The priest came." "He took him to the church." "Please excuse me." "I must go inside." " You are ordered to leave San Martín." " I will leave as soon as I can." "Señor Fiero says it must be now." "Esteban!" "I wish to see the boy." "You are welcome." " I'm Father Salazar." " I am Caine." " You are from another land." " Yes." "Tadeo told me about you." "He said you knew the old woman." "I knew her only a moment." "I met her on the road." "But she trusted you with the boy, and the boy was important to her." "She thought of herself as a witch." "Her knowledge came from within not from what she observed." "And from where does your knowledge come?" "From my teachers and the days I have lived." "You are not like any other man in this part of the world." "You are strange, as the old woman was strange." "Are you a witch?" "I am a priest." "Of what faith?" "What do you worship?" "Life." "Tadeo." " What is this?" " Father, we have the respect for you but you are with us only one day of the month." "Satan is with us always." "How can a shirt and a pair of scissors protect against Satan?" "A witch can change himself into el cuervo and fly overhead to take the soul away." "This charm will cut his wings." "The boy will be safe." "I cannot have such things in the church." "Take them out." "I am the Sorcerer Liu." "I'm looking for my apprentice." " He is dead." " I'm grieved to hear that." "It was my desire to instruct him in great secrets." "He said you put a curse upon him." "It was his own foolishness that cursed him and the same, now, curses me." "I'm left with no one to instruct." "What will become of my great secrets?" "Are these secrets not known to my masters in the temple?" "They are known only by me." "They are the secrets of the universe." "I can cure any sickness, converse with the dead and confound a thousand masters." "But I must pass this knowledge on to one who is worthy." "Will you come with me and learn the secrets of the universe?" "Yes." "Do you believe in their superstitions?" "No." "Yet you sent the charm outside." "There is no place for a pagan thing in here." "I do not understand." "This is an empty room and outside are people who are afraid." "I have tried to teach them not to be afraid, but..." "But I have failed." "Many of their rites are a blend of faith and local legend." "A villager dresses up as the devil, others as priests." "There is a procession of sorts." "If all goes well, the devil's mask is burned at the end of the ceremony." "In the original rite, the man himself was burned." "What is the matter with him?" "Do you know?" "It is something from within himself." "I will leave some medicines." "They may be of some use to you." "I brought this myself from Mexico City." " It is for washing?" " Yes for washing away the stains of the past, and for bringing new life." "I can do nothing for these people." "They have no faith in me." "I can do nothing against this evil, and they strengthen it with their belief." "My baby is well." "You have broken the spell on him." "If you go, who will teach them?" "You, perhaps." "They have faith in you." "God works in strange ways, my friend." "Look, look." "El cuervo." "It is Carlos." " It is only a bird." " It is Carlos." "You must do something." "There's nothing to be afraid of in a bird." "It is only a creature of the Earth." "Carlos is after the boy's soul." "Hurry." "You did nothing." "It has happened." " He has cut the hair of the boy." " He has taken his soul." "Be still." "Stand silent." "The air is filled with a multitude of creatures some human, some not." "Bind them to yourself and you will learn the secrets of life." "Creature of light, burn bright." "Creature of Earth, hold true." "Creature of fire and smoke incense and perfume cast away any phantoms of evil intent." "Appear." "Come forth and serve your master!" "It has begun." "You saved my baby, broke the spell that was upon him." "Why is it you cannot help the boy?" "I cannot reach into his fear." "But you have the power." "I know it." "I feel it." "The only power I have is to see into myself." "You must destroy Carlos before you leave." "If Carlos ceases to be, he will be replaced by another Carlos and another and yet another as long as your hearts are filled with fear." "Then use your power to take our fear away." "Only you can do that." "I sent word for you to leave San Martín." "He saved my baby, Your Excellency." "He is a good man." " He has the power to heal." " Yes." "Well, once the rite of the devil has been performed there will be no more need for such power." "The stranger will move on." "I'm sure he will heed my advice." "Is he well still?" "I am glad." "I feared the fever would return." "Miguel!" "Enough." "Observe the rite." "Something is wrong outside." "Miguel." " What have you done with Miguel?" " He is cursed." "He will wake when I tell him to wake." " I will have justice for this, Carlos." " No, Don Fiero." "I will have justice." "I will curse anyone who slips into your fields until you deliver to me the man who murdered my wife." "This year, the devil will not be put away." "Señor Caine." "Don Emilio begs you to see him." "He has information which may allow you to help the people." "Go with him." "I will stay with the boy." "In the night, the hawk broke her strap and flew away." "This morning my fields are empty, all the servants are gone." "I am glad you chose to stay." "How is Miguel?" "Afflicted like the rest." "Everyone in the village is afraid, except you." "They believe you are a witch, and that you have special powers." "When Carlos came at you last night, you did not back away." " Why did you send for me?" " I'm threatened by Carlos." "A threat cannot harm unless you accept it." " I do not accept it." "But I feel the weight of it." "Perhaps, with reason." "I know something of the brujo's wife." "She was very young, spirited, but ambitious far beyond her station." "She was as beautiful as her name." "Helena." "Don Emilio, I found the hawk." "You must come." " There is no mark on it." " My mark is on it." "It's dead by my power." "Caine, I want your protection." "I can stand between you but the truth is a better shield." "I killed his wife." "She thought I was sleeping." "She came at me with a knife." "I buried it within myself in as dark a place as I could find." " Darkness is light to the devil." "And it served my purpose just as well when she died." "I am the one who sent her with a knife." "You." "What do you want?" "Everything." "By the spirits that serve me by the forces of hell, you're dead, Don Fiero." "When the sun sets, you will be no more." "Please help me." "Why do you believe him?" "You cannot shoot me." "The gun burns your hand." "Caine." "I am Don Carlos de San Martín." "You will return to the fields." "I wish to see the boy." "This is mine." " No one may enter." " I must." "You think you can break my power?" "Yes." "And what will you do?" "Nothing." "In an hour's time, the shadow of the cross will slice the circle." "When the shadows touches you, your blood will run cold in your veins." "Your breath will be heavy in your lungs, and you will die." "Leave the circle now while you can." "Blood of the she-goat slain in the night." "Ream the grave." "Bring dark to light." "When the shadow touches you, you will be no more." "Master." "I have been to the temple of the Sorcerer Liu." "I followed him thinking to learn great secrets." "I ran away." "Before you learned his great secrets?" "He cursed me as he cursed the boy who died." "Now I shall die." "Will this lift the curse?" " What do you see in the mirror?" " The flame of a candle." " Is the mirror harmed by the flame?" " No, master." " It only reflects it." " Be like the mirror." " How am I to do that?" " Allow no evil to pass through you." "Reflect it to its source." "Then shall I be safe?" "Go and sleep, grasshopper." "You have broken his power." "As you have done." "It is over." "There's no need to leave." "There's no need to stay." "I should not have been afraid, but I was." "You know why?" "Perhaps because of what I buried in as dark a place as I could find."