Heart and Blood

The formal dinner had just ended, and the waiters were swiftly and silently clearing the last of the used cups and dishes from the tables as the guests engaged in polite small talk. As Henry listened to the conversations around the dinner table, he found that his mind was distracted, unable to focus or follow anything that was being said.

‘This is it’, the young man said to himself, ‘I’m nearly there. In a short time, I will be done with the initiation process and I will be in the Circle.’

The opulence of the ballroom that they were in impressed even Henry, and that was remarkable. This was because he was the product of an upbringing that few men could even aspire to having. In his short time on earth, he had seen and experienced things and places that few others could have done. Henry was the product of the best schools, the best colleges, the best homes and the best connections that snobs and social climbers dreamt and whispered about. But for Henry the aspirations of those lesser mortals were for him nothing more than common place, the obsessions of lesser creatures in the jungles of life.

Nevertheless, Henry as he sat in that ballroom, in amongst the epitome of the “cream de la crème” was not quite there yet. Like a climber on the highest ledge of the tallest mountain, his whole being was focused on the summit over where he was. His focus was not on the distance between where he was from the mass of humanity below, it was transfixed on the glittering prize above.

“Is that for me!” suddenly exclaimed Roxanne his girlfriend when she was presented with a large and colorful cocktail by a waiter.

As Roxanne gesticulated at the gaudy looking drink before her and started making loud proclamations as to how wonderful the drink looked. However, Henry noticed that Roxanne was the only one on the table who was given this surprise drink. No one else, male or female was given a drink either like the one in front of Roxanne, or any other sort of beverage like a coffee, tea or liquor. To Henry, well versed in accepted table etiquette of first-class restaurants, this seemed odd. First class establishments like the one they were in did not serve one guest at a time, unless it was some sort of special order by the guest or an occasion such as a birthday cake.

Henry’s thoughts about this were interrupted when his father promptly stood up. Henry was worried that his father was about to reprimand his girlfriend for her loud and uncouth behavior, but instead he just turned to Henry and announced, “it’s time to go son.”

Henry stood up to follow his father’s lead but as he did so he turned to Roxanne to explain where he was going when she said in a voice that was obviously affected by alcohol, “bye babe, have fun with your ceremony and when you’re finished come to bed and we’ll screw like there’s no tomorrow.”

Henry was horrified at what his girlfriend had just casually let slip what he had sworn her to keep confidential, but now that Roxanne had announced to the world that that she knew about it, Henry was left standing awkwardly not knowing what to do.

At that moment, Henry’s father turned and walked briskly away from the table towards the exit of the ballroom and Henry had to nearly run to catch up with his father in order to catch up with his father as the older man moved out of the ballroom into the corridor beyond.

Henry tried to explain about what Roxanne just said but his father was not communicative, so after a few attempts at offering explanations as to the indiscretion they just witnessed, the two men were left to walk in silence.

Presently, the two men reached a set of thick wooden doors, and Henry’s father used a heavy iron knocker to summon whoever was inside.

The doors opened, and a tall man dressed in a ceremonial costume, resembling that worn by attendants of medieval middle eastern temples, stood silently before them.

Henry’s father then chanted something to the man in a language that Henry could not understand where upon the tall man turned his back to them and the door was again shut.

“What language did you just speak in?” asked Henry whilst they waited, “I have never seen you use that language before.”

“It was Aramaic,” replied Henry’s father, “and it’s a language that you will learn to master in the Circle.”

Henry’s father then turned to face his son and said, “Henry listen to me carefully because what I’m about to say to you is very…very important.”

Henry said nothing but he just nodded.

“You are about to enter the inner sanctuary of the Circle…and according to the Circle’s principle of ‘blood in blood out’, when you come out again you will either be a part of the Circle or you are a dead person,” Henry’s father looked intently into Henry’s face, “do you understand what this means?”

Again, Henry said nothing, but nodded.

“The previous ceremonies you went through last year and the year before were just preparation for the ceremony tonight. This is the night you become a part of the Circle or you are put to death for your failure to complete the initiation process,” the stern expression on his father’s face had a sobering effect on the young man, “I need to make sure that you understand that once you enter this room you have to do everything that is required or you will be put to death?”

Henry involuntarily gulped and nodded once more before asking, “dad what will be expected of me to complete the initiation?”

“When you are in the sanctuary and the membership of the Circle itself you will have to be bound to the Circle with both ‘heart and blood’ according to the ancient laws of the Circle.”

Henry thought about what his father said and replied, “does that mean I have to marry someone assigned to me by the Circle? Someone I’d have to stay with throughout my life without any chance of divorcing that woman?”

Henry’s father’s expression softened at his son’s question, and he replied, “don’t you know son that everything in this world has its price?”

The old man paused then asked, “so, are you asking because you have feelings for that girl?”

“No…I mean not really…” Henry’s tone of voice was deeply uncertain, “we’re not serious…I mean…I was going to breakup with her eventually…”

Henry’s father then responded by just saying, “good then there should be no problems.”

Before Henry could think more deeply about his father’s response, the door opened and the same tall man appeared and asked, “do you now wish to enter the sanctuary?”

Henry’s father replied without hesitation, “yes I do.”

The two men then turned to Henry and waited for his response without saying anything.

For a very long moment Henry was silent but eventually he replied with little resolution in his voice, “yes…yes I do.”

Henry and his father were then led into a large room, lit only by a few torches affixed in various places on the walls of the room. The room was dark but Henry could make out there were people standing just out of the light so he could not make out many details of them.

The two men were next led to the center of the room and the people all around them came towards them. Henry’s father then left Henry to stand alone in the middle of the room on a spot that was marked on the floor by a star painted on the ground.

Henry watched as his father joined with the people in the room, and all together they stood in a large Circle around with Henry in the center of the circle.

Henry looked around him at the people that all formed a circle facing him. He noticed right away they were all dressed in the same sort of gown worn by the tall man that opened the door to the sanctuary. Henry had expected before tonight that the members of the circle would be mainly white middle-aged men, but it was plain to him now that he had been wrong. The people who stood around him were a mixture of people from different races, backgrounds and age groups. Briefly, Henry could see a tall blonde man who looked Nordic standing next to someone who was obviously a Sikh because he had Indian features and wore a white turban on his head. Elsewhere in the circle, Henry spotted an elderly looking African lady with a necklace laden with jewels standing in between a youngish looking Asian man and a middle-aged lady who looked Latino.

When his father had finished putting on a gown identical to the ones being worn by the rest, he turned to Henry and said, “do you present yourself as worthy of being a part of this Circle?”

Henry hesitated and then he answered, “yes…yes I am.”

Henry’s father then commanded, “look all around you.”

Henry’s eyes scanned the people in the room.

“Know that when you are part of the Circle that all who form the Circle are bound by sacred oath to come to your aid in whatever endeavors you undertake in your life just as you are bound to aid any other person in the Circle no matter what the cost.”

Henry nodded and then added a belated “yes…I understand and agree to this.”

Henry was then handed a script in a strange unknown language to read out loud followed by the people in the Circle speaking back to him words in that language in a tone that sounded solemn and binding.

Henry took his time reading the script because he was not familiar with the language the script was based on.

Then, after he had finished reading, his father said to him that there was one last stage of the ceremony that had to be completed.

From the folds of his gown Henry’s father produced a silver dagger and handed this to his son.

“Now that you have taken the scared oath you have to be bound to the Circle by heart and by blood as you have agreed to in accordance with the words you have just sworn by.”

Henry looked down at the dagger and was nonplussed by what he had just been told. He then looked all around him in the circle and saw each individual held up to show Henry they all processed a dagger identical to the one in his hand.

“Henry all members of the Circle have spoken the same oath that you have taken and spilt blood and produced a heart as you now have to do.”

Henry was still confused and did not know what to do next.

Henry’s father then stood aside from the spot he occupied and a curtain behind him was drawn back to reveal an altar.

On the altar, Henry could see a body lying still as if that person was sleeping but as Henry moved closer to the alter he could see it was Roxanne who was lying there, unconscious and unmoving. In her hand was the empty cocktail glass she had been presented a short time ago.

Henry’s father then stood next to him and said softly, “it is time son to fulfil your oath. Time to produce your offering of heart and blood.”

Henry looked at his father and then back at Roxanne.

He stood frozen for a moment before he took the dagger, and as he raised the blade with both hands the last words Roxanne had said to him repeatedly echoed in his mind again and again, “like there’s no tomorrow...like there’s no tomorrow…”