The Zatan of NeLlc

By Steve Flam

Set around the First Crusade, this fast-paced historical fantasy novella follows the life of a satyr born on the Island of Rhodes. Half man, half goat, the baby is taken to an exotic animal zoo and put in a dungeon where he shares a cell with an old man who raises him to love music. Escaping to a cave overlo

• Language: English
• Publisher: Palmetto Publishing
• Release date: Jul 3, 2023
• ISBN: 9798822904385

Steve Flam

Steve Flam was a professional backgammon player for twenty years and the Florida State Open Champion in 1997. He has had a variety of jobs, including waiter, bartender, delivering beer for Budweiser, mover, salesman, importer of gold and silver, NYC cab driver, flea market salesman, door to door magazine closer, gold and silver importer, and a department store Santa Claus. He has slept in fields and gambled in Monte Carlo. But through all those jobs, Steve has always wrote stories. It is his passion and all those jobs were material for his tales.

Book preview

Zatan 1

I

n the dank torchlit dungeon of Rhodes, two brothers were held prisoner. These young men were belligerent with an attitude, disrespectful to all, and a constant source of mischief and threat. Even to animals they displayed cruelty, and this the Governor of Rhodes could not abide.

Thus, in the year 1066 AD, Andreas Parsovo had them imprisoned, thinking with subjugation and weekly bible lessons he could harness their savagery and ship them off to fight against the Turkish horde.

Andreas Parsovo governed the island firmly and bestowed equal treatment amongst his subjects. His one peculiar passion was a love of exotic animals. This obsession for studying beasts resulted in a small zoo which Andreas continuously stocked. On the day the brothers made their escape, the Governor of Rhodes was visiting the Island of Cyprus on a mission to procure a baby elephant.

The two brothers, seventeen and eighteen, were confined in the same cell adjacent to Diocles, who suffered from grand mal seizures. It was common knowledge madness was the cause. Listening to the rants of their old neighbor was a source of entertainment for the boys.

Diocles had been diagnosed insane since childhood, so he himself believed it. The prisoner would dream endlessly, have visions, and since he was musically gifted, he was allowed to possess a stringed Arabic instrument called a quunan.

At 5AM, Pella makes the rounds through the dungeon corridors. With torch raised, the guard studies the small sleeping man with the shaved scalp and three holes hammered into his skull. Pella wonders how many more holes must be chiseled before the insanity disappears.

The guard hears a noise and rushes to the next cell. Something is not right! The two brothers are thrashing about on the dirt floor: tongues lolling, limbs twisting in contortions. Pella mutters: Holy Mother, protect me! His most secret fear has been realized. The demons, occupying the insane man, have entered the two brothers. He pushes the robe over his beard so he will not inhale the fetid fumes, takes a tentative step. Serves them right, such evil humans, no wonder demons seek them out. He spits the phlegm from his throat. Oh, look at them in the throes of demonism. Perhaps they will die or better yet, I decapitate them! The guard sets down the torch and unlocks the cell.

A hand grabs his boot. What is this? As Pella unsheathes his sword, the older brother leaps up and lashes his head against the bars again and again, so even when Pella’s blood stains the iron and drips to the hard dirt floor, even when the guard falls unconscious, the brothers press on. They hate Pella and what is left of the living man is strangled with large boned hands.

With the key they unlock their neighbor’s cell. Diocles, join us. You are free! The insane man does not move.

Diocles, you are free, come, come! The epileptic is still, he knows ones like them have no friends. The brothers lose patience, leave the dungeon, and climb up the stone steps into the night. The air is cool and crisp, the stars twitter. There is nothing like freedom and tonight it is mixed with the murder of Pella.

The brothers pass out the castle gate unseen, and now they know not where to go. Steal a boat and escape by sea or flee into the rugged mountainside of Rhodes? They understand little about sailing, but they can hunt and there is an olive farmer who is said to have a full-bodied wife.

Zatan 2

T

he brothers tramp up mountainous terrain, full of tall cypress and scrabbly pine. They hike on a hard-pebbled path with deep wagon ruts. It is August, the evening air is full of sound. O what joy to walk in the open beneath the dark clear skies of Rhodes, where a million stars dance with the moon. The boys talk of Pella; he’d deserved it! The guard had demeaned and poked fun at them. They’d seen him spit on their food, always clearing his throat, the pig of pigs! Pella was the first man they’d murdered, and it wrought them with wonder: the power to stifle a life, to watch the living breath cease and be still forever. There was something strange and wonderful about killing but now was the time to live! The two young men have never had a woman. Everything was about to change. It was said the olive farmer had a physically endowed wife with a fiery spirit. They would see for themselves.

For twenty kilometers they hike and by the second afternoon all their stolen supplies are gone. It is late, the sun is setting when they come upon the olive grove. A lone man is inspecting two hundred or so trees, trimming branches with care. The olives are still green. Harvesting will take place in mid-October when the olives are a purplish brown, rich and ripe.

They approach with swords drawn, silent and surreptitious, an army of two, their hearts fill with murder. The farmer never sees ‘til it is too late. His mouth opens wide, hands rise as the blades strike again and again. The slaughter is relentless; they hack ‘til the farmer stops moving, then the brothers gaze upon their work.

In the shadows behind an olive tree hides a girl of eight. Tears fill her dark eyes as a doll made of straw slips through her hand. Before today all had been innocent. Now something snaps in her brain. Her mouth opens wide, but no scream passes, for the girl is a deaf mute. She watches the men stride toward the stone house where smoke spirals from the chimney as her mother prepares dinner.

Zatan 3

R

eturning from Cyprus, Andreas Parsovo was in a foul mood. The baby elephant had been weaned too soon from its mother. Elephants, like humans, needed a mother’s care. These unscrupulous