The Quest: A Novel

looking for the Holy Grail.”
    “Yes,” agreed Mercado, “but the Holy Grail does not actually exist, Frank. It is a legend. A myth.”
    “I thought you were a true believer, Henry.”
    “I am, old boy. But I don’t believe in medieval myths. I believe in God.”
    Vivian was looking at Mercado thoughtfully and said to him, “I think, Henry, that you’re not so sure of what you’re saying.”
    “I am sure.”
    Purcell speculated, “Maybe you’re trying to cut us out of the deal, Henry. Or cut
me
out, and take your photographer along to look for the black monastery.”
    Mercado looked offended and said, “You’ve been in the sun too long.”
    “Look, Henry,” said Purcell, “you and I and Vivian all believe every word of Father Armano’s story, including him finding the Holy Grail in the monastery. But the problem is the Grail itself. The priest saw it, but is it actually
the
Grail? The cup used by Christ at the Last Supper? Or is it something that the monks
think
is the Holy Grail?”
    Mercado nodded. “That’s the most logical conclusion.” He asked rhetorically, “How many false relics are there in the Catholic Church?” He answered his own question: “Probably hundreds. Such as a piece of the true cross. The nails used to crucify Christ. A piece of his robe. That is what the priest saw—a false relic.”
    “Correct,” agreed Purcell. “But what we need to decide is whether or not we want to look for this black monastery, and the so-called Holy Grail. Is that enough of a story to risk our lives for?” He added, “Don’t forget what happened to…” He nodded toward the grave.
    Mercado glanced at the fresh earth, but didn’t reply.
    Vivian reminded them, “Father Armano said that the sacred blood healed his wound.”
    Purcell explained, “If you believe strongly enough, you can experience a psychosomatic healing of the body, and certainly of the mind. We all know this.”
    “Well… yes…” replied Vivian. “But he also described the Lance of Longinus dripping a never-ending supply of blood into the Grail.”
    “Well, you got me there, Vivian.”
    She continued, “And apparently the Vatican believes in this—if you believe that part of Father Armano’s story. And I do.”
    Purcell pointed out, “The Vatican does not necessarily believe that the Holy Grail even exists, or that it somehow wound up in Ethiopia. But they decided to take advantage of the Italian invasion of Ethiopia and send a bunch of priests here with the army to check out something they heard or read—and while they were at it, grab anything they could find.”
    Mercado agreed and said, “The Italian army looted a great number of religious artifacts from Ethiopia.” He further informed them, “The steles sitting in front of the Italian Foreign Ministry in Rome were taken from the ancient Ethiopian capital of Axum.” He added, “The Ethiopians want them back.”
    “The spoils of war,” Purcell said, “go to the victors.”
    Mercado agreed. “Europe, the Vatican, the British Museum are filled with objects looted from the rest of the world. But those days are over, so even if we decide to look for this relic, and we find it, we have no right to try to… take it.”
    Purcell said, “You’re getting ahead of yourself, Henry. We’re not sure we’re going to look for it. And if we do look for it and we find it, what we’re going to do is take a few photos and write about it—not steal it.”
    Mercado clarified, “We don’t believe it is the actual cup used by Christ at the Last Supper, and we could not prove that in any case. And we most definitely do not believe it has any mystical powers, contrary to legend. But the priest’s story—the Vatican, the cardinal, the pope, the monastery, the monks, the Grail, and the lance—are the stuff of a great news story.” He added, “A human interest story. The dying priest who has been imprisoned since the Italian invasion—”
    “Correct, but we couldn’t write only about what the dying priest told us and then not report that we followed up by looking for the black monastery.” Purcell added, “We’d look like all those journalists sitting in the Hilton bar in Addis, rewriting government press releases.”
    Mercado replied, “We are certainly not that.” He added, “We’re
here
.”
    Purcell asked rhetorically, “So have we talked ourselves into this? Are we willing to risk our lives to look for the Holy Grail that probably says ‘Made in