Apocrypha of the First, Chapter IV

No spiders, flies, or worms. None of them come near the well anymore. It may be the cold; it may be that Jak-Ur is lying down there like a sick dog that has accepted his fate. He will rot and die if he doesn’t move.

He heard the priest’s mule whinny so I had to do something. I harnessed the ropes to the mule, and it pulled and pulled. It pulled Jak-Ur ten feet high, and he would climb more. I had to cut the rope; he didn’t see me doing that. He can’t...