The strange man grabbed Catalina’s small hand, and led her to the table, and made a gesture for her to sit. A bit numb, she obeyed; curiosity was bigger than her grief at that point.
“Have you ever wondered, my Princess, why did the Moors have such ingenious tools and instruments and your people don’t?”
“Knowledge acquired by unholy means.” She replied the trained answer her mother had taught her.
“Ah, you Spanish Infanta…” he shook his head. “Well, it is a knowledge acquired by a different mean. But why do you call it unholy?”
“It wasn’t sent by God.”
“Says who?”
She thought for a while. “Well, it cannot have been.” Catalina finally replied. “If He was to give any kind of knowledge to someone it would be to us, who worship Him, who are His true children. To my mother, His most devoted daughter, who did His work on Earth and who had the ear of God…”
“Catalina, your mother is dead.” He interrupted her. “Dead by the hands of the Moors. Where was your God then, when she was begging for mercy? Where is your God now?”
Catalina’s bottom lip trembled, and the tears started to pour from her sapphire-colored eyes. The man sighed.
“I know it is hard but I must ask you one thing: Forget all you know about God.”
“My mother…”
“Your mother was a great woman, I do not deny that. She was a great general. We all know she won battles, she built a city out of stones, her name will be forever remembered by her great achievements. But she was wrong.”
Catalina tried to protest, but then the man continued to talk.
“There are things your mother could not understand, Infanta, because she was blinded by her faith. Those things made our people stronger and enabled us to defeat your kingdom.”
“What is it, then?”
He sighed. “Our means are not unholy. They are merely different. We have embraced knowledge and fed our hunger for it, that is why we have been gifted.”
“Gifted, you say? By whom? The devil?”
He laughed. “Oh, no... Forget all about this. I will show you something, Infanta. Something that will change your life forever.”
Catalina could barely breath; “What is it?”
“The Truth.”
The man carefully placed his hand on the Infanta’s forehead, in an attempt of a kind move. He pointed at a strange object placed in the corner of the room. It looked like a black table without its legs, made of some strange material Catalina had never seen before. It was placed to face them, with its weird dark-mirrored surface staring directly at the Infanta.
“You will see it right before your eyes.”
“What kind of witchcraft object is this?”
“We call it television, and don’t ask what it is for, you will see”
He pressed a small circle on the top of the object, and for Catalina’s surprise, she saw an image appearing on its surface. She would have screamed in shock if it wasn’t by the comforting touch of the boy’s hands, and his calm smile in her direction.
“This holds a message sent by very special beings.”
“By whom?”
“By the ones who watch us from across the skies?”
She frowned. “The angels and saints?”
“No, my child, I told you to forget all about this. I am talking about those who do not live in this world. They watch us from above, they watch our very move, and they decide to interfer whenever they believe it is necessary.”
“What?” She inquired, but her attention was grabbed by the strange images on the television. She saw people injured, bleeding, after a strange battle with fire; she saw people being held in strange cage, wearing stripped clothes, bare headed and sad, tortured by men wearing a strange symbol on their arms; she saw children that looked Moorish being beaten up by grown men wearing a strange green outfit with a small rectangle on it stripped with red and white holding a smaller blue rectangle full of starts; she saw two big buildings, different from everything she had ever seen, being swallowed by fire. The scenes passed right in front of her eyes, and Catalina felt the warm tears falling down her eyes. She did not know those people. They dressed differently, looked differently. But she felt the pain in them.
“What is this?” she sobbed.
“This, my child, is our world in a few centuries.” The man replied. “And all that you’ve seen is what will happen to people.”
“Who are they? What did they do to deserve so much pain?”
“They are simply different.” He replied “Most of what you’ve seen will become true. And it will be done in God’s name. Men will find ways to make their wishes God’s. And they will kill each other in God’s name. Men will say that they must purify their race, getting rid of anyone different from them. They will turn against each other. Women and children won’t be spared from cruelty and violence. There will be a time that no one will even care about God’s will, and the world will not even know if they believe there is a God or not. But every action taken to benefit themselves will be done in His name.”
Catalina did not reply.
“Well…” he continued. “If we think about it, it already started.”
“My mother always told me it is God’s will to make the world faithful…” she whispered.
“Perhaps it is, Infanta. But how do we know? We have never heard Him saying it to us. But one thing I know… If God is like your people preach, then He is merciful and good. Would he allow children to be tortured and women to be violated in His name? Would he allow people to set fire to others only because they believe in different things?”
“He is merciful… But when people don’t believe in Him…” she started, a bit uncertain.
“That means they are supposed to be tortured?”
“I don’t know.”
He smiled. “Yes. We don’t know. We can’t be sure of anything, can we? I am glad you said that, Infanta. Not knowing is better than thinking you know everything.”
He sat by her side. “All I know is that there will be a time when we will all have to remain together. Regardless religion, age, gender, social class… We will need to put aside the human pride and stay together. We will have to stop killing each other and fight a greater challenge.”
“How come your people have these objects?” she asked.
“After your parents started to take over our houses and our home, we were visited by some unusual people.” He said “They claimed to be from this Earth, but from a different time. From the year 2099.” Catalina’s eyes widened up.
“Then, they showed us books about History, they introduced us to their technology, gifted us with devices and taught us many things. They claimed that if we developed that knowledge, we would be able to stop the course that the Earth was taking. Of mass-destruction in the name of religious matters.”
“I am a religious man myself” he smiled. “Allah and I meet in prayers every night and morning. But I am only religious because I do not believe Allah would ever tell me to beat a child or violate a woman. I do not believe He would tell me to kill a man, even though it is an assassin or a thief. Who am I to judge people, who am I to do so?”
“Religion, Infanta, is not for that. It is for us to find comfort and piece, to restore our inner-balance and to help us find answers when we need them. But men have been using it wrongly.”
Catalina could not stand it anymore. She started to sob heavily. That kind man’s words made her realize her mother was wrong, her father was wrong, and everything she knew was wrong. What made her better than anyone else?
“Now now, do not cry, my child. There is a reason why you are here.”
“Why me?” she asked.
“Because you can prevent a lot of bad things to happen.”
“How so?”
“You are supposed to be Queen of England. And England will go through tough times, where religion will be a matter of life or death. But you will be the Queen. Life will not be easy for you, Infanta. The path is not at all pleasant. But you are strong. Your mother taught you to be Strong and to fight for your kingdom. That is why we need you, Catherine of England.”
She looked up as he addressed to her as such. It was the first time someone called her by the English variation of her name. Catherine. Catherine of England. The title she knew she would receive, but never fully understood its meaning.
“Your husband, your people and your country will need you.” He said. “No matter what happens, try to help them. We have hope, Catalina, that you will help a big disasteee in our world. And if you do so” he looked at the television “perhaps the future has a chance.”
“Will I have to avoid something from happening?” She asked, frightened.
“No, my dear, you cannot avoid it. But you can make is better. You can be the figure the world needs, to show everyone that they are going through a dangerous path. Your life will have joy, but mainly sorrow, pain and probation. I am not talking about being an ordinary queen, bearing children and being replaceable. You will be the one everyone will remember years ahead us, for being the one who gives faith the true meaning. You will hold The Truth, and spread it. Be faithful to what you believe, without having to discredit anyone else for disagreeing with you. There will be a time when you will need their help.”
The Infanta was silent, looking down. It was too much for her to understand at once. She was only a girl, and with a great burden to carry. The old man seemed to know that, so, he stood up, and offered her his mechanical hand.
“Catherine, Queen of England.” He said “Time to go back. You have work to do.”