Note: Transliterated Greek words appearing in The Shepherd, other than those which have passed into English as loan words, are based on ancient, not modern, Greek. There is one transliterated Sanskrit name.

The Barren Land
The Shepherd, Book I
A Novel by Jeffrey B. Linn
All Rights Reserved

Chapter I

In one of my travels with my mentor we came upon a gray land. It rained incessantly, and the flora appeared dead throughout, although somehow not decomposed. After days of trekking through terrain of a numbing sameness, we came upon a corpse lying face down in a meadow. It was charred completely black, and steam still rose from it, yet the grass around it was untouched.

"What is this riddle?" I asked in awe.

The mentor leaned against a tree, gathering his thoughts. Did he seem older? "I had hoped that we had lost our way. For now I know who this is. He is the shepherd. You must understand that not long ago this section of the wood was a garden. This one small spot was purchased with the King's blood from the death surrounding it. The shepherd was charged with wooing the stillborn children of the wood and birthing them into this garden. And he performed his work well. One by one their distant eyes became alert and their waxen faces gained color." He paused, and I detected the faintest glimmer of emotion beneath the mentor's formidable reserve.

"Then . . . what . . .?"

"The dragon, who sometimes seems as a man . . ." he pronounced bitterly.

"Did what?"

"Oh! His devices are innumerable. And his territory surrounded the place. No doubt his first seductions were so subtle as to be virtually undetectable. He somehow got someone to leave the safety of the garden. In his realm he could fascinate them with empty artifices and hollow promises. That one or two was sent back to infect the others, sowing the lies secretly, sometimes even unwittingly, and allowing the consequences to erupt wherever they may. I was present near the beginning of this, but I was needed elsewhere, and now I can surmise how it ended. He must have watched in horror as the color faded from each face and the vacant stares returned. They all eventually wandered off. Some are probably imprisoned in the foul courts of the dragon, performing acts of degradation for his sport, without even knowing, but all the while believing they have become kings and queens. It is too horrible to think of." He gestured to the corpse. "He must have made a final hopeless stand."

"How wretched! How unfair!" I was beside myself.

"But do not cry for this one, though he has no doubt watered the ground with his tears, and has given to the very last. He will be raised up to where he will never cry again. Cry rather for his lost ones." He glanced at something in the distance.

We knelt and prayed over the fallen shepherd. When we rose, he had faded from sight. Presently a shaft of sunlight broke through, yellow on the meadow grass. We moved on.

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