'...the Teshnans claim that after death, the spark of life
that resides within each person moves on to inhabit another.
I had understood this to be a general profession of
reincarnation until I witnessed the funeral of the priest
Gushtasp. Then I realized that this statement is literally
true for the Teshnans.
Gushtasp had taught me well in the nuances of the sing-song Teshnan tongue but had oft spoken of a desire to move on. I attributed this to the onset of desire for the next life for Gushtasp was very old. He claimed to recall with perfect clarity the visit of our people into these lands. He like other Teshnans called them the Tsahtanas for the first visitors came from Sartar and so we are known as Tsartanas today even though I and many others do not come from Sartar. But at other times, Gushtasp sounded as though he was expecting to be transferred to a new position of responsibility and I worried if his senses were gradually leaving him.
One night as Somash set, Gushtasp summoned me into his chambers. After I had performed the required ablutions to purify myself for his presence and donned a clean linen khaftan, I was admitted into his presence.
He announced with a barely hidden tremour in his voice
'It is settled. I go tomorrow'. Not understanding
was happening, I asked to where he was going. He told
me that he will remain in this temple as he had always
done. Would I see him again? He replied that I would
but remarked that he would not remember me when we next
saw each other. Fearing that he was announcing that he
would go senile tomorrow, I thanked him for his tuition
and then departed his chambers.
At the dawn of the next day, I noticed in the great courtyard of the Temple, a great pyre being erected there by common labourers. When the pyre was completed, the labourers were dismissed and all the temple noviates frantically began to sweep and bless every aspect of the pyre and the courtyard as if to remove the pollution of the common labourers. As they finished their job, the courtyard became filled with new entrants and a sea of confusion descended on the courtyard as the noviates tried to clean the last polluted parts ahead of the newcomers who
When the confusion had disappeared, I amused myself in trying to identify the people who now filled the courtyard. There was the iron-girt somash archers and there was a resplendant ebon elephant clad in robes of gold and silk. A giant prayer wheel was noiselessly and endlessly turning through the stations of the Five Gods powered only by an ugly midget, a breed that seems to be everywhere in Teshnos. I was trying to identify some of the more obscure troops when some noviates of Gushtasp came to me and asked me to watch the proceedings from their place. This was an invitation I had no touble accepting as it afforded me an unparalleled view of the courtyard and thus I entered the courtyard amidst the throng of the noviates.
After the noviates and I had taken our places, the courtyard began to fill with ritualized chanting as the Priests entered. They came in one-by-one and each of them bowed before the prayer wheel before taking their place on the priestly podium. One priest, a Solfite, held a bowl in his hands. I could also see a young child among the priests and at this I wondered.
Finally a gong sounded and a lone figure walked from a secluded pavilon to the courtyard under the watchful gaze of the assembled priests. It was of course Gushtasp and I then realized I was watching his funeral.
Gustasp first prostrated himself before the giant prayer wheel and then bowed to the assembled Priests who then returned his bow. Gushtasp then went to to the pyre and was met there by two noviates and the solfite priest.
The noviates began to help Gustasp disrobe himself of the ceremonial costume until he was left in plain white breeches. This was unusual as I had never seen Gushtasp bereft of his robes before. Then the Solfite came to him and bowed reverently and offered Gushtasp the bowl that he had been holding. Gushtasp took the bowl to his lips and drank it before returning the bowl. He then climbed the funeral pyre and lay down on it clasping his hands in prayer.
A oppressive silence then stole upon the courtyard. The archers flexed their bows and the musicians rasied their trumpets to their lips. They then waited for some signal but what it was to be, I did not know. I looked at the pyre but it burned not, nor was any priest about to give a sign. I began to feel the burning rays of the Sun and worried that I might faint and disturb the ceremony. The Teshnans naturally had horrible punishments for those and the remembrance of having observed one such punishment filled me with some anxiety.
It was the elephant who gave the signal, suddenly coiling up his trunk and letting loose a terrible din. At once the trumpets sounded in chorus and the archers let fly their arrows which promptly burst into flame and left behind trails of smoke. But most startling to me was the flames which erupted from the base of the pyre and enveloped poor Gushtasp at the very top.
The two priests nearest to the boy grabbed him by his shoulders and held him fast. A third then grabbed the boy's head and held his jaws open. The boy struggled at this but was too weak to break from the grasp of the priests. Finally a priest went forth from the assembly and bowed before the prayer wheel. I had not seem him before but recognized his robes as denoting one who followed the grim goddess Furalor.
A noviate then handed the Furaloran a long stick of some sort. The priest then walked towards the fiery pyre chanting without fear even though the blaze was hot enough to warm my face amidst the assembled noviates. He plunged the firestick into the pyre so deeply that his arm was all but was engulfed by the flames. I had by now seen enough of the Teshnan fire magics so as to merely nod at this feat.
The Furaloran then withdrew his arm and slowly made his way back to the assembled priests, chanting sonorously with the burning torch in his hands. The boy realizing what was to happen to him struggled even more but to no avail. You who read this might frown at my inaction but I tell you the penalties the Teshnans would have inflicted upon me had I disturbed the rites were more than enough to keep me quiet.
The priest holding the boys head and jaws then tilted his head so that the boys mouth faced the heavens. The still chanting Furaloran walked towards the boy and then turned the blazing torch upside down and held it with both hands so the flames licked his hands. He then lifted the torch high above his head. Then with a loud cry, he plunged the burning torch through the boy's mouth such that the torch was buried into the hilt. The tip, I presume from the length of the torch, must have entered the boy's chest.
The poor boy went limp at this and would have fallen had he not been held at the shoulders by the two priests. The Furaloran then withdrew the torch which was extinguished but still glowing and used it to make a ritual mark on the boy's forehead. The two noviates then dressed the boy in the robes of erstwhile Gushtasp. When the boy was clad in the oversized robes, he was taken belore the High Priest who pronounced a blessing upon him. Then the High Priest and the boy followed by the rest of the priests began to leave the courtyard to the main temple pavillon.
After the priests had departed, the assemblage began to break up. I took this opportunity to ask the noviate standing next to me the name of the boy. He looked at me as though I was stupid and carefully pronounced the name 'Gushtasp'..."
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