Ferrous Moon – Chapter Three
"You have all the items you need?" the Wise Dragon asked.
"Our clueless knight gave them to me just an hour past. If you will simply craft the Argent Collar, I can get my part of the plan started," the Lord Chamberlain replied a bit testily.
"Should I be concerned you are so eager?" the Dragon mused.
"Oh, I'm on board with the plan as a whole, but I trust you will not deny me my moment of fun."
"I've heard about the first part of your 'fun'. Creeping Dana out is perhaps not a wise course of action, and with what you must do to the Iron Knight... Take a care you do not create a new enemy by the end," the Wise Dragon advised.
The Lord Chamberlain waved his hand as if not concerned. "Him? What danger could he pose to me?"
"By the end? More than you think. Still, that has always been a blind-spot among your kind. You might also have a care about the other one."
"The niece? I'm certainly not worried about her!" the Lord Chamberlain sneered.
"'The niece' is now mistress of Midnight Castle - you should be worried. We don't even know what her wish would be should she find the Mystery Chamber. There's no way to know if it would free us from our fates or not." The dragon heaved a mighty sigh. "I trust they will be more reasonable than you."
"The Collar?" the Lord Chamberlain sighed himself and repeated in a bored tone of voice.
"Very well." The Wise Dragon turned, rummaged in a particular area of the chamber where the overall warp effect was most pronounced, and came up with gleaming ingots. He did it again, and then a third time until he formed a sizable pile of silver on the floor. A final dive into the strange warp and the dragon came up clutching a gold triangular talisman.
"What is that?"
"Oh, a Dragon Mark. Needed to power the crafting."
The Dragon possessed far more dexterity and delicacy with his front claws than the Lord Chamberlain expected as he placed the Orb of Moonlight, Buckle of Moonlight and Beast's Plumage in the proper places on top of the silver ingots. The Dragon Mark went on top, each mystical corner touching an item to activate the merge effect.
When the brilliant flash cleared, three objects remained. The Wise Dragon whisked the two outside objects out of sight faster than the Lord Chamberlain, vampire though he was, could follow, leaving behind a silver collar ringed with wicked, dull grey metal spikes. The Lord Chamberlain reached his cane down, hooked the tip through the collar and lifted it up.
"Why are the spikes flexible? Aren't they metal?" he asked.
"The are lunarium. It is a rather spongy sort of metal. Never fear, they will have the proper effect on the Iron Knight. He is particularly weak to their influence," the Wise Dragon explained.
"Hmph." The Lord Chamberlain lifted one edge of his coat and placed the Argent Collar in an inside pocket.
"I will be 'listening in'," the Wise Dragon advised mildly. "Don't terrorize that young one too much."
For an answer the Lord Chamberlain bared his teeth back to his fangs and glared before he realized he was trying to stare down and intimidate a powerful dragon. "I intend merely to alleviate my boredom, not injure him," The Lord Chamberlain rolled his eyes. "In any way," he added.
Not deigning to repeat his warning, the Wise Dragon merely stared at the vampire in an unnervingly neutral way.
The Lord Chamberlain left the Forbidden Tower and descended to the Dungeon of the Cursed, all the while dreaming of finding a way to poison an ancient dragon for daring to boss him around. He acknowledged by the end of the winding staircase that he didn't really want to kill the mystic reptile, but give him a giant stomach ache instead. He paused and looked around, basking in the desperate and somber atmosphere before crossing the wide chamber to the far end.
The Iron Knight was shackled by his wrists to the wall. His ankles were likewise shackled so he couldn't kick as the Lord Chamberlain approached.
"May I ask what in the hell you think you are doing?" The Iron Knight's right eye gleamed in blood-red tones in time with his intense question.
"You may, but I'm not inclined to answer," the Lord Chamberlain replied. "Recognize this?" The Lord Chamberlain turned his hand to show the Vampire's Sign, a powerful ring for a venerable vampire. "It increases my power enough to craft something very special."
The Lord Chamberlain strode over to a five foot tall iron-wrought stand holding a solid iron brazier that already had an impressive amount of gold coins in the bottom. "The Burden of Obedience." He pulled the item from his pocket and placed it on the gold. "The Card of Destiny," he said as he placed the second item. "And the Binding Fate." He produced a Unique Mark from under his jacket lapel and dropped it on the pile, finally placing his hand, the one with the Vampire's Sign, on top. The brilliant flash that combined the items into a new form also set the Lord Chamberlain's hand on fire. He looked at it curiously before waving it rapidly to subdue the flames. "That was unexpectedly painful, but worth the result." He reached into the bowl of the brazier and retrieved the new item. "The Lock of the Vampire Lord."
"I'm already sworn into obedient service to you, what more do you want?" the Iron Knight asked bitterly. "That item can't compel me to obey you any more than I already do!" He narrowed his eyes at the vampire. "No, you aren't going to try to snare Dana with that thing, are you? If her will is not her own, she can't find the Mystery Chamber! Haven't we learned that lesson the hard way?"
"I know that, you fool! No, your first instinct is the correct one. This item is for you. While it cannot compel more obedience from you - a pity, I'd love to have you literally groveling at my feet once in a while - it still has a purpose. It locks another artifact's effects in place until released. Only a vampire lord can open this lock."
The Iron Knight leaned forward and pulled against the wall, testing the strength of the shackles around his wrists for the umpteenth time. "As I am well and truly trapped, and you hold no respect for me where sensible discussion would do anything to change your twisted mind, why not get on with it?"
The Lord Chamberlain regarded the captured knight. "Ah fear, a heady bouquet, almost as sweet as that of blood. But I sense resolve as well, and you are a knight, tasked with the protection of the Castle Entry. I don't wish to be bitten or suffer a head butt so..." The Lord Chamberlain waved his hand, and the heavy ring, the Vampire's Sign gleamed. "There. A spell rendering you powerless to move or speak. Much better. Your voice was starting to annoy me." The Lord Chamberlain reached forward and removed the half-mask from the Iron Knight's face, revealing the whole and undamaged symmetry of it. The Iron Knight glared helplessly at him. "You know what happens if the Dawnshadow Mask is not returned to you - the pull of the moon on one of your kind reasserts itself." He crushed the fragile mask between both hands, dropping the ruined remains to the floor.
The Iron Knight managed a low growl.
The Lord Chamberlain laughed. "Yes indeed, you know. But it is the new moon this night, no use for us. And your 'condition' isn't long-lasting enough in any case." The Lord Chamberlain opened his coat and retrieved the gleaming silver collar. "This is a greater artifact, so you would have no knowledge of it. It is fashioned specifically for you." The vampire flexed one of the spikes. "I understand now why these are softer than they appear, given how the collar is to be used." He opened the collar and turned it so the spikes faced inward. "This goes around your neck, so. The spikes burrow into your skin, delivering the full impact of moonlight directly into your body - and you know what effect that will have on your - unique biology. Do try to resist the change, dear Iron Knight. I do so love to see others writhe in agony." The Lord Chamberlain looked around the oppressive chamber and breathed deep, as if enjoying an expensive perfume. "It has been a very long time since this place rang with a scream of true agony. Surely you will grant me that pleasure?"
The Lord Chamberlain darted forward quicker than the human eye could follow, and clasped the Argent Collar around the Iron Knight's unprotected neck. It instantly contracted, driving the spikes into its victim's flesh, and the Iron Knight convulsed against the irons chaining him to the wall.
"Lovely," the Lord Chamberlain sighed. He backed up and assumed a position standing on the floor where he could watch from the best angle. The Iron Knight glared, both eyes glinting a terrible red, at the vampire. For the next hour the Iron Knight alternated between spasms and convulsions, and glaring at his pitiless captor while strain showed in every line of his body and sweat poured down his face. One especially long convulsion brought the Lord Chamberlain stepping forward.
"Not long now. You have put up an impressive fight to remain human - far longer than I thought you could manage. You have my respect for that, but I can see you are finally losing. Look!" The Lord Chamberlain used his cane to tip the Iron Knight's head back so he could see his own hand, where it was trapped in an iron shackle above his head. Silver fur had sprouted during the last convulsion and not been reabsorbed. "Just let the change happen, give me the long, lovely scream I've been waiting so patiently for, and we can go forward with our plan."
The Iron Knight jerked his head sharply away from the Lord Chamberlain's cane so he could glare at the vampire lord. "Never!" He managed the single defiant word against the Vampire's Sign's spell binding his speech.
"Hmph. As you wish. It is inevitable, after all."
Another convulsion took the Iron Knight. This time, at the height of it, a sense of sudden surprise, as if someone had startled him somehow deep in his soul, made him falter in his resistance to the mystical forces seeking to reshape his body.
Perhaps that was a dirty trick, The Iron Knight heard in his mind. but you have suffered enough, showing more resolve and stubbornness than I realized you held. I did not want to risk you disgracing yourself by giving the ghoulish one the scream he wanted.
So, I've lost? The Iron Knight could feel he had. Shackles bound him still, four of them, but they were around the four ankles of his wolfen feet, rather than a set on his human ankles and one on his human wrists. And, you've been in on this, too? I did not realize the 'Wise' Dragon could also be so cruel. A draconic chuckle sounded in his mind.
Despite your best efforts, you could not have ultimately prevailed against the Argent Collar. It was designed to have this effect on you. As for lost? That presumes we are not still on the same side. I would have handled this differently, asking for your cooperation rather than forcing it, but the Lord Chamberlain wanted his bit of fun.
My pain is his fun?! The Iron Knight demanded.
He believes it is. The sense of a sigh passed across the Iron Knight's mind. He will undoubtedly taunt you now that you have changed, but do not let it distress you. It was needful for my plan.
Why does he always look down on me? The Iron Knight couldn't help but ask, but he didn't expect an answer. The Lord Chamberlain was closer to the Wise Dragon than he was, both in proximity and power, and in everything else. The Iron Knight had always been something of an odd man out.
I believe it is because he is jealous of you, the Wise Dragon answered unexpectedly. And, you should realize that I am fond of you. We share a bond the Lord Chamberlain, for all his long years and knowledge does not - that of the perception of the beast.
Jealous? Of me?
Yes. You are the only one, of all of us now that Warren Took has become a ghost, who is both supernatural, and also human. The Lord Chamberlain, even if he doesn't realize it himself, is jealous of that, and that is why he treats you so dismissively. You still possess that which he can never have. Endure his taunting a little longer, young one, and do not dismay. There is a plan in place; more I cannot say.
The mental connection, which had never happened before, closed. The Iron Knight had a moment to wonder if the Lord Chamberlain and the Wise Dragon spoke mind to mind like this before the physical world asserted itself with a vengeance.
The foul 'dead thing that still moved' odor wafting from the elder vampire assaulted his now even more sensitive nostrils with an intensity that burned. He whimpered, flattened down to the ground in the newly instinctive urge to hide, and vainly covered his snout with both paws.
The Lord Chamberlain laughed. "Excellent! And you can't even hold that silly rose you use to mask my scent." The Iron Knight looked up, even though the stench was powerfully overwhelming. The Lord Chamberlain realized that's why he carried the rose? Was he - insulted - by it? Is that why...?
The vampire took advantage of his momentary distraction to dart forward and seal the Argent Collar around his neck with the Lock of the Vampire Lord. He laughed. "The Burden of Obedience, the Card of Destiny and the Binding Fate crafted into one - what could be a more perfect way to bring a wayward wolf to heel?" The Iron Knight charged forward and snapped his jaws on the air that a moment before had held the Lord Chamberlain's vulnerable hand. The renewed stench was punishment enough. The Iron Knight realized the last thing he'd ever want to do is actually manage to bite a vampire - undoubtedly the flesh was toxic. "Must I muzzle you?" The Lord Chamberlain asked mildly. "I could, I suppose, but it would only serve to humiliate you. The Lock of the Vampire Lord suffices in a mystical way so no physical muzzle is needed."
The Lord Chamberlain glanced at each shackle in turn, telekinetically opening them to release the Iron Knight. For his part, the Iron Knight, hackles raised, glared up at the vampire. The Lord Chamberlain turned and walked several steps away. The Iron Knight wondered if he was supposed to follow, even as a welcome breeze wafted the last of the vampire stench from the air. The Lord Chamberlain turned and smiled rather gently at him.
"Ah, do not look so hangdog, my hapless young puppy. Contrary to appearances, this is for your own benefit. As a wolf you are denied the power of human speech, but you are not released from your fate binding you to the castle or your vow to obey me." The Lord Chamberlain turned again, this time crossing the long chamber to the stairs that led up to the Throne Hall. "Meet with the Wise Dragon in the Forbidden Tower."
The odor-relieving breeze left with the Lord Chamberlain. Was he somehow using his psychic gift to fan the air on purpose? The Iron Knight pondered. Was he actually trying to help?