After dinner Harold Wallop appeared. He was the oldest of Mr and Mrs Wallop’s children and was training to be a Rescuer. He was big and tall and looked just like Jack imagined a Rescuer would: very tough and utterly dependable. Jack liked him at once. Harold had heard about the arrival of Jack and Timmy from Captain Steadfast and suggested that they might like to see something of Aletheia before it grew dark. Hugo and Henrietta and Hezekiah were loud in their approval of the idea and they accompanied Harold and the two boys out into the intriguing streets of the city just as the sun was finally sinking to rest for the night and the long summer twilight was settling quietly across Aletheia.
The centre of Aletheia was an interesting jumble of crowded old buildings of all types and sizes. They encroached onto cobbled streets, creating shadows and fascinating nooks and crannies and secret places. The children went first to Redemption Square which was where all the roads in Aletheia led. The square marked the highest, most central spot of the old city. It was quiet and tranquil as they entered it and Timmy’s comments about the interesting streets they spied and his wish to explore them were silenced as they entered the square, and all the chatter died away. In the centre of the large square, accessible on every side, was the cross. It was set high at the top of many steps, clear and unmistakable, and unavoidable too.
Small streams sparkled and bubbled and threaded their way through Redemption Square and Harold explained that the streams were the source of the Water of Sound Doctrine. They ran mostly underground from the cross right to the boundary of Aletheia where they all flowed into the Water of Sound Doctrine that ran continuously around the city. Jack wondered whether Timmy saw the small streams by the cross as dirty too; but Timmy did not say.
“The cross is the beginning and the end to all the questions and answers about Christian life,” said Harold Wallop when they all stood in the centre of the square.
“I don’t see how,” remarked Timmy, sounding puzzled. He craned his neck and looked up at the cross which rose so far above them. “It’s not even a gold cross,” he said.
Harold looked at Timmy soberly. “It was a cross of shame,” he said. “And it’s what the Lord Jesus did on the cross which is the important thing, not the cross itself.”
“He died for us,” said Hezekiah.
Timmy looked impatiently at Hezekiah who irritated him so easily.
“This place represents the cross where the Lord Jesus died,” explained Harold, “where He died to pay the price for sin so that anyone who trusts in Him can be forgiven of their sins and become a Christian.”
“I know about that,” said Timmy. “We have churches at home, you know. My Dad gave loads of money to repair the church steeple in our village. They have a cross there too. Tell them, Jack.”
Jack didn’t tell them anything. He was gazing at the cross, and at the many steps that led upwards to it, steps that glinted curiously in the sunlight.
“It’s because of the chains,” Harold explained the glinting steps. “People leave the chains of sin behind them when they trust in the Lord Jesus. He breaks the chains and sets them free! That’s part of the truth of Redemption.”
There were so many, many links of chain that formed the smooth steps that led upwards to the cross in the centre of the square. Countless cruel chains that now lay broken and shattered in pieces because the Lord Jesus had paid the awful price of the punishment of sin so that people who trusted in Him didn’t have to pay it themselves.
“Well,” said Timmy, “I certainly don’t have any chains of sin!”
“Everyone has sinned,” said Hugo. “The Bible says so3!”
“I haven’t done much wrong,” said Timmy, “nothing like sin!”
Hezekiah gasped. He seemed incredulous that Timmy could not see his need. “But you have,” he said earnestly. “You have, Barmy, and you need to be saved like anyone else.”
Timmy’s glance at Hezekiah would have withered the stoutest heart and Hezekiah recoiled as if Timmy had punched him very hard and knocked all of the breath out of him. It wasn’t clear what upset Timmy the most: what Hezekiah said about his need to be saved, or his use of the name Barmy, or merely Hezekiah himself. Jack and Hezekiah drew closer together as they followed the others back through the streets of Aletheia and to the Wallops’ home once more.
“Timmy’s always like that with younger kids,” said Jack, seeing Hezekiah’s dismayed expression. “He doesn’t like me much either.”
But Hezekiah’s concerns went deeper than the threat of Timmy to his own safety. “He’s not saved, Jack,” he said. “Imagine not being a Christian!”
That night Jack slept on a comfy bed in the corner of Hezekiah’s bedroom. Timmy had a bed in Hugo’s room and the large apartment soon settled to the quiet of night. Jack and Hezekiah didn’t go quickly to sleep. Into the night Hezekiah whispered and told Jack things about the city of Aletheia and the land of Err. Jack studied a poster of pictures on the wall in Hezekiah’s bedroom. They were pictures of the creatures that lived in various parts of Err. They were very strange to Jack, and he wasn’t quite sure whether to believe they were real: except that Hezekiah was so certain.
“That’s a Glutton,” said Hezekiah, looking over Jack’s shoulder at the picture of the small, gnome-like creature that was scowling back at them from the poster.
“Have you ever actually seen one?” asked Jack.
Hezekiah sighed. “No,” he said regretfully. “We learn about them at school, but not many creatures can get into Aletheia and close to the cross.”
“Why?” asked Jack.
“Dad says all bad things are defeated at the cross,” said Hezekiah.
“Oh,” said Jack.
“Meddlers aren’t scary on their own,” said Hezekiah, following Jack’s continuing examination of the poster. “Don’t you have them where you come from?”
“I don’t think so,” said Jack, suddenly uncertain about this. He thought about the unknown creatures he imagined might live in the big tree outside his bedroom window. Was it possible that Meddlers lived there? He looked closely at the picture of a small, imp-like creature which looked as if it belonged in a children’s fairy story. Beside the picture the writing said ‘these wicked flying imps stir up trouble and make people quarrel and fight…’ The Meddler had small wings on its back and looked mean and spiteful. All the same, Jack was sorry if they didn’t exist back home, even if Hezekiah was right about them causing all sorts of problems when they descended in their hosts. But Jack was very glad that the last creature staring at him from Hezekiah’s poster did not live in his village: at least he hoped it didn’t. It was a terrible monster with vicious teeth and cruel red eyes.
“It’s a Wrack,” Hezekiah said in hushed, awed tones. “I usually cover up that picture at night.”
Jack thought he would too if that monster was on his bedroom wall at home. They both got into their beds and Hezekiah continued to whisper across the darkened bedroom to where Jack lay on the cosy camp bed.
“Don’t tell Timmy I cover up the picture of the Wrack,” said Hezekiah.
“I won’t,” promised Jack.
“Timmy might not even believe the Wrack is real,” said Hezekiah.
“Timmy doesn’t know,” said Jack.
“The Wrack lives in the North,” whispered Hezekiah. “Right up in the Mountains of Destruction. There are frightening things there that even Captain Steadfast, who has been on missions up there as a Rescuer, won’t tell my brother Harold about yet. I think there might be ghosts too.”
“I don’t think ghosts are real,” said Jack, reasonably certain about this, “not in my country anyway.”
“Well,” said Hezekiah after a slight hesitation, “Snares and all the other creatures on my poster are definitely real, and they’re scary enough!”
“What do Snares look like exactly?” asked Jack. The poster didn’t show much of the Snares. You could only really see their eyes peering from a shapeless shadow.
“No one really knows what they look like,” said Hezekiah. “They’re wicked, scary, shadowy creatures. They hide in shadows and look like shadows except for their eyes glinting and always watching you! They follow you and try to trap you. And then they take you to terrible places! I bet they even torture you!”
Jack digested this in silence. “Are they everywhere?” he asked at last.
“Oh, they’re not right here,” said Hezekiah. “At least I don’t think so,” he added more hesitatingly. “They might be in The Outskirts of Aletheia, and they might travel with people who come seeking the Truth, but my Dad says they can’t come near the cross, so we’re pretty safe here! But if you leave the town, that’s when they can get you! Of course my Dad says that if you’re a Christian and dressed in your armour of salvation, then you can defeat them.” Hezekiah paused for a moment. “But even a Christian can be taken by Snares,” he concluded solemnly.
“How?” asked Jack.
“I think that it’s only if you’re not living right as a Christian,” said Hezekiah. “I don’t know everything about them yet but one day I’m going to be a Rescuer like Ready Steadfast and my brother Harold, and go on missions in Err. Then I’ll find out everything for myself! What type of Christian worker do you want to be when you grow up, Jack?”
Jack thought about this in the darkness.
It was easy to think of jobs and other things to be when you were grown up.
But it was harder to think about what type of Christian you could turn out to be.
It was very dark when Hezekiah Wallop suddenly awoke with a start. He lay still in the darkness listening intently. From across the bedroom he could hear the steady breathing of peaceful sleep from his new friend Jack Merryweather. He could hear nothing else. Aletheia was still sleeping quietly beneath the night stars and only he was unaccountably awake.
But no!
There it was again: a sudden, faint noise that didn’t belong to the calm Aletheian night; a noise that ought not to be there at all. There were faint movements; rustling; scrabbling.
Something was moving about.
The last thing Hezekiah wanted to do was be brave and get out of bed to find out what it was. He searched his mind for options. Could it be a Glutton? Despite what he had said to Jack about no creatures getting close to the cross, did Gluttons get into Aletheia after all? He didn’t really know that much about the creatures of Err; most of what he thought he knew came from other children at school who told scary stories about what happened out in the mysterious land of Err and far away from the safety of the cross. Not all the children at school were Christians and some of them had families in Err and still went home to them in the holidays. Was a real, live Glutton moving about in the apartment and placing temptations for the family to fall out over in the morning?
What about a Meddler? Everyone said that they got everywhere! Surely a Meddler wouldn’t dare to come so near to the cross right into his own home and cause trouble here?
But wait: what if some of the creatures of Err were attracted here because of Timmy Trial? Hezekiah didn’t know a lot about human behaviour but it didn’t take much to see that Timmy had no intention of recognising his need to be set free from his sin and become a Christian. And by his behaviour Timmy probably encouraged all the wicked creatures in Aletheia to come here, right into the safety of the Wallops’ home! Hezekiah didn’t even want to think what he would do if there was a Snare in the apartment, or if Stumbles now crouched all over the carpeted floor ready to stick to his feet as he walked, making him stumble and fall.
He pulled the quilt right up to his chin and lay very still, willing the strange sound to go away.
It didn’t go away.
Something was definitely out there.
But suddenly there was a very human component to the rustling. He distinctly heard someone say “Ow!” very sharply, as if they had just stubbed their toe or hit the funny bone in their elbow. Hezekiah felt a little braver but it was still with some trepidation that he got out of bed and softly crossed to the bedroom door. He wished it wasn’t left to him to protect his family and investigate the strange happenings this night. He paused at the bedroom door. His Bible! He needed his Bible! His parents and all the teachers at school always said that a Christian’s best weapon was his Bible, so he would take that with him. He fumbled slightly in the darkness as he found it by his bed. Jack Merryweather stirred in his sleep and Hezekiah wished he would wake up, but Jack merely sighed deeply and continued sleeping peacefully.
This time Hezekiah pulled open the bedroom door, crept into the hallway and immediately went towards the kitchen which was close to his bedroom. There was a light on and the noises definitely seemed to be coming from there.
Slowly Hezekiah opened the kitchen door.