A Biz-tsar Gathering
#64 of The Moonrise Chronicles
Maggie tried to stop him, but the woman demurred. "Let him
go." She called to one of the other wolves, who approached and transformed into
full were form. "Yes leader?"
"Mortalia,
you're in your breeding cycle aren't you?"
"Yes!"
"Would
you care to take this; uhm, man as your mate?"
Edward
was sniffing the air and salivating. She sighed and replied, "If you direct me to
do so, so shall it be."
"Oh no.
You will have to consent to lying with this one. If you do, I will ensure that
survive the process."
She
looked him up and down and licked her lips. "I will do it leader."
The old
woman picked up Edward's ring and slipped it on the newcomer's finger. "This
will protect you from permanent damage, though not the pain."
Mortalia
bit Edward and looking over her shoulder, loped off into the woods. He was
after her like a bolt of lightning.
"I'm
sorry if you disapprove young lady, but he needs to be kept under wraps, and
the easiest way I could think of to handle him was to give him what he wanted.
Now we shall have several days of peace while we bring each other up to speed."
"Oh I'm
not mad. He went a little crazy on me on the trip here. I'm not ready for what
he has to offer in that form."
"Yes,
he is rather extraordinary. I'll need to know everything about him before I can
determine how to help his problem. We simply cannot have a mindless beast
raging through the land, even in such a remote location as this." She turned
towards the woods. "Follow me please."
Once
they got to where they were going, the old woman pulled aside an overhang of vines
that covered a hollow in the stone face. It wasn't much of a shelter, but it
was all the geology of the region could provide. That is, until the woman
pushed on the back wall and it rotated in place, showing a much deeper fissure
beyond.
"I have
had need to hide myself for a long time. Even now, when the world has been
assured that I am dead, there seems to be one who still seeks my destruction. I
have only gone into the great city a few times over the span of my life and
each time I feel that there are eyes upon me."
Maggie
agreed. "We came here under the protection of the Vatican and we still were
very nearly killed. The priest at St Catherine's was little help to me, but it
was he who had the box."
They
were walking down into the darkness. After a little was the dark gave way to a
dim light. It was provided by heavy glass imbedded in the cavern ceiling.
Apparently this whole cave had been modified into a secret chamber.
Inside
were chairs and tables, cabinets and other pieces of very old furniture. It was
all ornate, but much worn. In some instances pieces had obviously been repaired
or reupholstered in new material. The woman pointed to a chair and Maggie sat,
waiting expectantly for some answers.
"Who
should go first?" the woman asked with restrained excitement.
"How
about you? I think you need to explain a few things so that maybe I can tell
our story in a better context."
"As you
wish. First, allow me to tell you about my family, as I remember them. Father
was a kind and doting man. He loved us all very much. But he was very
possessive of little Alyosha."
"Who?"
"Sorry.
Alexei, our little brother. Father had all girls except for him, and he was
born very ill."
"Yes I
know the story. They say he had hemophilia."
"Bah!
That was from the doctors. They had no idea what they were trying to treat."
"So he
had complications from his werewolf genes?"
"So it
seemed. Of course, the curse was never spoken of in the household, for no one
else had it. I mean to say, no one had it manifest itself in any form. Father
found someone who claimed he could help with Alexei's problem. I suppose you
already know about him,"
"Yes,
Grigori Rasputin."
"The
very one. After he came, little Alexei recovered."
"How?"
The old
woman smiled. "How else my dear. He bit him and allowed the transformation to
take hold of him."
"How
did that go over?"
"Not so
well. Mother and father were thrilled, since there had been no such
manifestation in the royal lines for a while. Mother's grandmother had it, but
she never ever let on about it to her subjects. People just weren't accepting of
the aberration as they used to be."
"I take
it word got out?"
"Yes.
Many people had hoped that Alexei would die, bringing down the reign of the
tsar. If there were no male heirs, then maybe a new ruling family would
takeover. With Rasputin saving his life, many people grew angry. They even
tried to kill him."
"I know
that story as well."
"But
did you know he survived?"
"I
recently came to that conclusion." Maggie was leaning forward, hanging on every
word.
"They
tried to kill him, and they very nearly succeeded. You see, my family had two
of the rings. I have one, and the other is apparently missing. Father brought
him back from the apparent grave and had him hidden away, substituting the body
of another who looked very like him. Few knew him personally since he wasn't
from the city, and after a body had floated in the river, it got distorted. It
wasn't too hard to convince people he was dead."
"So he
did survive. After all they did to him..."
"Yes,
and after the revolutionaries captured and held us, he came to us secretly."
"I get
it. He bit you, didn't he?"
"Yes,
and I guess he did the same to Anna, though I never knew it."
"Which,
in the long run, meant that you two were able to survive being shot with
regular bullets! Your dress!"
"Yes,
my dress." She looked down ruefully at the tattered material. "I guess I've
worn it for the last time. I have saved it for all of these years. As for you,
don't you think some clothing is in order?"
"Nah. I don't mind; unless it bothers you?"
"It
doesn't. Now where was I? Oh yes. We were shot and buried in the middle of
nowhere, but Gregori found me, dug me out and carried me to a farmhouse. I can
only guess he did the same for Anna, only to another location. It seems cruel,
but I guess he was hoping that at least one of us would survive."
"What
of your little brother?"
"I
don't know. I never ever heard word about him or Anna; about any of the family
until a few decades ago. The government claims to have found the remains of
everyone, but since I am still alive, and you say Anna is still alive, then
whose bodies did they find?"
"A good
question, but then governments can lie to cover up the truth, or the facts, or
their own ineptness."
"Well
spoken. So I have lived out in the wilds to survive being hunted down and
destroyed this whole time."
"But
who was trying to kill you? And us for that matter?"
"I
don't know. For the first few decades I stayed away from the cities. Communism
did nothing to help my country. It only made everyone paranoid. A stranger was
looked upon with suspicion. I began looking for others like me, though I knew
the trait wasn't likely to extend too far into the population. The ability to
change came mostly through royal bloodlines. But Gregori had it, so there was
hope a few others might also carry it. I suppose there was a good side to
having bastard children."
"So
when did you know someone was trying to kill you?"
"I'm not
certain. You see, I was attacked often, mostly by piggish men intent on rape.
They all ended up dead. I suppose I left a trail of destruction behind for
someone to follow."
"But at
some point you must have known?"
"Yes.
You see, Gregori had managed to steal this ring, and maybe the other one, I
don't know. With it on, I was able to change from one form to another much
easier, and with practice, I could even make my human appearance change. It was
the day I was struck with a silver bullet that I knew that someone with superior
knowledge was hunting me down. No one wasted silver on ammunition unless they
were trying to kill one of us."
"Yes,
those men at the bar had silver bullets. Who do you think they worked for?"
"I wish
I knew, for then it would make tracking that someone down and killing them a
lot easier."
"So
you've been living out here for nearly a century?"
"Not
just here. There are other spots that I have strung across the landscape. If I
stay in one spot for too long I risk being found. When you and your fiends
arrived, I thought you were here to kill me."
"As you
now know, that's not the case. But what of the other one who was with us? The
one called Kolzac. He said you didn't like him. Why?"
"I see
he's been changed," she said with a frown. "I have nothing against him
personally, but he has no pedigree. I am trying to build a community of fairly
pure blood here."
"That
seems rather highbrow."
The
woman smiled. "Well, I am from nobility my dear, as are you. The line has
gotten diluted in the past one hundred years, and as the royal lines fail, so will
the kind."
"I
would think you'd want everyone who had the blood in them to join together.
Just because he doesn't meet your standards doesn't make him bad."
"No, I
suppose it doesn't. But he was not of the proper type."
"But
now he is. So give him a chance. Everyone deserves a chance."
"I will
bow to your compassion, though such kindness often backfires. So; now that you
have found me, what will you do?"
Maggie
sighed. "I don't know. I came here to find out about my past, not find living
relatives. I had hoped to find some little trinket or clue, maybe some document
or paper. I can hardly take you back with me, and father is a mess. If I tried
getting him on a plane in his present condition he'd probably go nuts and trash
it in midair."
"You
could stay here."
Maggie
smiled. "I appreciate the offer, but it seems to me that I need to get back
home and see if I can find my grandmother."
The old
woman made a face. "I thought you said she was alive."
"Well, since
my mother died, I haven't seen or heard from her."
"I think
you need to tell me your story dear. It's only fair. Maybe I can give you some
pointers. If she has the brains I know she has, she probably had a reason to
vanish. But she'll still be looking out for you."
So
Maggie launched into her own story, and for next several hours the women
exchanged stories. Maggie related of how her and Edward first met, and how he
had first transformed, and how his change had been hindered by the small dime."
"He
carried silver in him and he never knew it. That's extraordinary!"
"Yes.
And another man, he had silver in him too. So it seems there's some flexibility
in our ability to deal with it. It might account for why father hasn't died
from the bullet."
"I
don't know dear. There seems to be some agent acting here than we can fathom. Logically
a silver bullet directly into the brain should have killed him outright. Yet it
didn't. The ring would have had to have been on his finger at that exact
moment. So the only way I can think of for him to have been saved was if he had
on a second ring."
Maggie
held up her hand. "We have two with us. The master has one and I left another
with the twins." They had already discussed all of what had happened in France.
"It
makes no sense to me. So let's look at it logically. He is alive, but his mind
is gone. So the bullet did do some damage to his brain. But he's alive, so it
didn't manage to kill him. And if the bullet is still in there, and he's not
wearing a ring, what does that tell us?"
Maggie
considered the possibilities. "Either that his body is fighting the silver and
that's why his mind is gone or..."
"Or
what dear?"
"I
don't know. I'm telling you the truth. He had just slipped his ring on my
finger when the bullets flew. I wasn't wearing mine and I guess I was getting a
little drunk." She started to cry.
"It
doesn't matter. He didn't have a ring, and yet he survived. That is a trick of
fate that I would love to be able to count on in a time on need."
Maggie
was thinking. "All we have to do is touch the ring; right?"
"Yes
dear. You wear it on your finger and it protects you."
Maggie
grinned. "No, it just has to touch you. I had mine stuffed up my..." She looked
embarrassed as she pointed to her crotch. "I kept it hidden and out of sight,
and it still worked."
"Are
you suggesting that he has another ring stuffed inside him?"
"I
don't know. It would make a certain amount of sense. Are all the rings
accounted for?"
"Of
course not! There's your two, this master you speak of, the twins you mention
and, well that's it."
"It may
not be that simple." Maggie got thinking about the boxes. "I guess there is one
box at least that can't be opened, and you mentioned that your family had two."
"We had
two rings and one box. Father had a different box made for the other ring. But
I digress. I'm just suggesting a logical solution to the problem. Maybe
Leonardo did something he didn't mention."
It was
something to think about. "You could be onto something. Can you explain then where the extra ring
would have come from?"
"I
could offer several explanations, but I will let you think on it. In the end
it's not my concern; that is to say, if I can get you on your way again."
"Let's
hope so. But won't you consider coming with us? I haven't seen my grandmother
in a while, but if we find her, I know she'll wish you were with us."
"We'll
see child. I don't know how I would react in the world of humans anymore. Out
here I can do as I please without the worry of what anyone thinks. In society,
you always have to meet a certain approval of the masses."
"Like
you're not guilty of that even out here. I say you should damn the torpedoes
and go for the gusto."
The woman
gave her a dirty look. Then she grinned. "Maybe you're right. I have been
running for years, and I'm not getting any younger. The question is, can you
get me out of the country?"
"I'm
not certain I can get myself out at the moment, but that'll never stop me from
trying."
"You
have spunk girl. I'll tell you what. If we can manage to get your friend, or
father, or whatever he is to you; if we can get him restored then I will come
with you. I long to see home again, and it's about time I handed the reigns
over to one of my progeny."
"It's
settled then. We need to get that bullet out of his head. Any ideas?"
"Only
one, and you won't like it."
The woman
explained it. Maggie only frowned. "I think I'd rather leave him here than to
try that. I think that would be more likely to kill him than the bullet would."