The Descent

She is alive.

The desert never looked more lonesome or desolate. It looked unwelcome and foreboding. It was dark. His mind and heart were racing. Why did he feel elated to be in darkness? His wife could be dying. No!

She must be alive.

Without her the world would truly be in darkness, a pure black bed sheet covering his eyes while he walked in eternal sleep. A living slumber from which he knew he could never wake.

Once, long ago, he gave her a ring. She held it in her delicate hand and saw only a beautiful ring. But it was more. Using arts that had been passed down to him, he placed an incantation upon it. He said to her,

"You and I will be together, now and forever. Our souls are like one. Where you go, I follow. Where I go, you will follow."

He clutched his ring. Sarn was upon them. Leon had ridden by his side the entire journey. He did not speak to him. Only a glance into his eyes and he could tell that Leon had been dismayed by his actions back at the camp. For Mathias the world seemed to be enshrouded in silence. He did not hear guards opening the gate. He did not hear the voices calling out to him. He rushed inside and quickly dismounted from his horse. He ran for the stairs leading to her quarters and left Leon behind. A large group of people stood huddled around the door to Elisabetha's chambers. In his trance like state, Mathias brushed passed them all disregarding proffered hands and condolences.

The bed chamber was scented with incense. Covering the bed itself was a thin veil through which Mathias could see the shape of his beloved. He noted her figure was motionless. The local priest stood nearby with his two acolytes. He rose from where he was kneeled and made the sign of the cross. He turned and was surprised to find Mathias standing behind him. Maintaining his composure the priest began, "Lord Cronqvist, I am so…"

The priest was cut off by Mathias' desperate howl. The master strategist and noble warrior fell to his knees at the bed's side. The air was filled with his grief stricken wail. Leon burst into the room and found his friend on the ground. Mathias grabbed at the veil and soaked it with his tears. Leon also began to feel moved by the scene and felt a tear falling down his own cheek. Suddenly he felt his hand was grasped by another. Sara stood by him. The discoloration of her face was evidence enough of her grief. Together they stood in silence as Mathias proclaimed his beloved's passing with the hymn of his anguish.

Unable to stand idle, the priest walked towards Mathias. Leon tried to warn him but it was to no avail. The priest's hand touched the grieving noble's shoulder. In a flash a blade was unsheathed and slashed the top of his hand. The priest staggered back in shock. Leon stepped forward and grabbed a hold of Mathias' armed hand as he stood up.

"Get out!" he exclaimed wildly. "All of you!"

Already struggling, "Mathias, get a hold of yourself!" Leon pleaded.

The crowd outside did not need much incentive, for they dispersed quickly. Even the priest, quickly attended to by his acolytes, exited the room. Only Sara remained behind, refusing to budge without Leon.

Staring into his bloodshot eyes, Leon struggled to find a little trace of his cool and sensible compatriot. However that Mathias seemed lost amongst the throes of angst.

"What would she want? Think! Would she want you to be like this? Think of Elisabetha!"

The name echoed in Mathias' ear. It had a calming effect. For a moment, the waves of anger and despair subsided within him. For a moment, he was himself again. Leaning on his friend, Mathias made a soft spoken request.

"Leave me. I need to be alone with her. Just for some time."

"Will you be all right alone?" Leon asked.

"I wish to mourn her, in peace and solace, Leon. Give me that."

Reluctantly, he nodded. "Very well, but remember, I am here when you need me."

Mathias led both Leon and Sara to exit the quarter. Subtly he tried to hurry them however they took their time walking out. Finally, he closed the door behind them and found himself face to face with a crucifix hanging from the door. Teeth grinding, his hand snatched the cross from the door. He then rushed back into the bed chamber and threw the cross to the ground. The knife he had cut the priest with lay on the ground. He dropped it when Leon grabbed his hand. The knife lay there, blood stained. He knelt and picked it up from the ground and proceeded to stand above the cross.

Sometime after he met Elisabetha, after he realized that he loved her, he made her a promise. It was a difficult promise to make. It went against an oath that he swore to his father. Now, he would have to break both promises. In a swift and silent motion, he stabbed the cross with the bloody knife. His eyes closed for a moment. When they reopened he turned and found his old chest waiting for him. The chest did not have a lock; however it would not open for anyone else. From inside, he lifted a large book. The book itself was deceiving to look at. It simple outward appearance disguised the many secrets hidden within. This was a book not to be found in any library on the face of this world. It had been passed onto him by his father. The passages within have been culled together from years of oral tradition. Mathias had hoped that he would be able to add to the secret arts already recorded there, as his father asked him too. However, fate intervened and he turned his back on the expansive knowledge open to him and exchanged it for the love of one woman. He would not allow his sacrifice to be for naught. Turning the pages of the book, he found the passage he needed. Speaking out an incantation in a language rarely spoken aloud on this plane, Mathias made the call.

Silence enveloped the room. Mathias considered that perhaps he had spoken the words incorrectly. He closed the book and kneeled beside his love's corpse. Moving aside the protective veil, his hand touched her face. The coldness of her flesh sent a chill through his body. He felt himself ready to cry again when suddenly he felt a strong gust of wind. Looking to the entrance of the bedchamber he saw a whirlpool of light form inside the doorway. The whirlpool became a portal and Mathias felt all of reality shift. The walls all around him disappeared and were swallowed whole by the vortex that formed beneath him. The only part of the room that remained was Elisabetha on her deathbed. An inhuman screech accompanied the enormous figure which materialized before him. The figure was a dry skeleton clinging to the last vestiges of its tarnished clothing. Once elegantly dressed in life, now it was but a shadow of its former self. Mathias recognized the creature as the one fabled to have been the first to die, yet forever dying, and yet still unable to die. Carrying his scythe and traveling through all planes reaping the world of excess souls, it was Death standing before him.

"Who dares to call upon me?"

"I, Mathias Cronqvist, prince by blood, and last living Knight of the Societas draconistarum, summoned you."

"Bah, a useless title owing to a forgotten order."

Mathias held up the book. "You know what is written in this book. You will hear me out."

"Speak insolent fleshling. My patience grows thin."

"I come to reclaim the soul of my wife."

Death remained silent.

"She was wrongfully taken from me. I will have her back. Return her now, or face the consequences." Mathias said standing his ground.

"Foolish mortal, you know not what you ask. You presume to be my master!" Death's skeletal hand reached out and picked up Mathias from the non-existent floor. "You know nothing of life or Death!"

"Give her to me!" Mathias cried.

"I bring death, not life. Only one may bring life and He will not. Your wife is dead. Her time is passed. Accept it."

"No! I refuse. You say only one may bring life? It is God you speak of; I know it. If he will not give her back to me then I will curse his name. I will refute all that he is!"

Death's laugh was unlike anything Mathias had heard before. Committed though he was in his words, he felt afraid. "You are mad, mortal. You wish to dethrone Him? He is master of life and as well as Death."

"I will. I will become his antagonist, his bane. And I will begin by mastering Death!"

"Foolish human, a worm such as you may not master me!"

Mathias stared into Death's cavernous eyes. "We shall see. You are correct in saying that I am now but a worm. A year from now I will call you again. When I do, you will call me, Master."

The screech that had announced Death's entrance book ended his exit as well. Disappearing into a portal, Mathias was quickly surrounded once more by the familiar surroundings of his bedchamber. The experience left Mathias drained and he felt compelled to fall to his knees in exhaustion. Tired beyond description he could not hold back the tears that fell streaming down his face. Crawling to Elisabetha's side he whispered to her.

"I am sorry, my love. I am so sorry. Sorry that I was not here. Sorry for what I have done. Sorry for what I must become. I cannot live without you. Understand, this world is a vacuum without you. I am in darkness when you are not at my side. All I see is the darkness in men's hearts, especially my own." Clutching her hand he found her still wearing the ring he gave all those years ago. "Perhaps there is still hope. Perhaps I will find your soul, one day."

Leaving her body in peace, Mathias took a seat by her bedside and began to peruse the book. He knew that in order to master Death he would have to learn how to hold it back. Deep in the books passages he found his answer.

Nosferatu. Vampire. Immortal.

"No," he said to himself aloud. To master Death it was not sufficient to merely hold him back. He must have something that he does not. His eyes stared into the letters written on the page and they blurred before eyes. The pages of the book began to turn of their own accord. His mind seemed to bond with the text and he felt himself searching through hundreds of years of knowledge. At last he found his answer.

The Crimson Stone

Of course! Mathias' thoughts began to race. The stone's purpose was to use a vampire's soul as power for the wearer. Vampires hold back Death by drinking the blood of the living. Whoever wore the Crimson Stone could take a soul denied even to Death. That was it. That was real power. That is how he would master Death. But what of the price? The price was a small one to pay. Humanity. What did he need of humanity? Arising from his seat, Mathias walked into the next room to his Shatranj board.

Yes. It would work. He was wise to tell Death that he would call him in a year. He would need time to prepare. First he must set up his pieces, and then he must prepare himself. Yes, a year would be time enough.

"Poor Mathias," Sara said. "I cannot imagine his grief."

"Nor can I," Leon responded suddenly clutching his beloved's hand. "I too cannot imagine a world without you."

"Have no fear, Leon. I will always be with you. I will always love you."

The two lovers sat by a balcony overlooking the interior of Sarn. They had passed Mathias' quarters sometime ago to see if he needed anything. There was only silence from the room. That silence had left Leon concerned.

"What of us, Leon?"

Leon was snapped out of his thoughts. "I'm sorry?"

"Our wedding?"

"I loathe to say, we must postpone it a while longer. I cannot go ahead with it so soon after this."

"I understand, and agree. My only concern is that you may be called away again to campaign." She buried her head in his shoulders. "I fear for you each time you go."

"I know, I…"

His words were cut off by the sound of a woman's scream. Leon rushed off into the direction of the scream leaving Sara trailing behind. He tracked the scream to a woman curled up on the floor outside Mathias' room. For a moment, Leon feared the worst. He recalled that his friend still had a blade in the room when he left. Could he have taken his own life? Leon burst into the room prepared for the sight he had already envisioned in his mind. Mathias lay face down on the ground of the bed chamber. Gone was any evidence of the events that had transpired there. Gone was the chest with the book. Leon turned Mathias' body. To his surprise, he was still breathing. His eyes were open and seemed to respond to his presence.

"Mathias?"

The man remained silent. The expression of his face was a blank one. A search of his body produced no wound that could have caused such a condition. A doctor soon appeared on site and examined him. "A state of shock," the medic said. "Nothing is really wrong with him." Mathias just seemed unwilling to respond to the world around him. Set in this vegetative state, Leon ordered he be given his own separate bed until Elisabetha was buried.

The next several days passed quickly for Leon. Elisabetha was buried in a quiet burial ceremony. Mathias was carried in a specially prepared chair. It seemed for several moments that Mathias was going to snap out of his trance but then his face would remain expressionless. An odd twitch would take over his face all through out the funeral as if he wanted to speak or cry. Ultimately the day ended and Mathias was returned to his room and left in bed.

A person was selected to care for Mathias. Although he would not speak or move, he still needed to be fed and taken care of. It did not bother Leon that he had not selected the person or that he did not even know the person. In fact he could not even say if it were a man or woman. He was oblivious to Mathias' needs. He was not consciously being evasive he just seemed to stop being concerned about him. His mind always assumed that he was well looked after. He was oblivious to his obliviousness. In fact, everyone was. Even the Bishop Le Puy, who came at once upon hearing the news of Mathias' health and Elisabetha's death, seemed to unknowingly assume that Mathias was just bedridden and that there was no need to see him. After all, like everyone, he vaguely recalled seeing already.

When the Bishop arrived, he brought with him a large regiment of soldiers, shortly there after he requested to speak with Leon privately in his quarters.

"This is unfortunate business, Mathias becoming ill." The Bishop's voice betrayed no sense of real concern. He spoke of it very matter-of-factly.

"Yes," Leon said simply. He wanted to keep his words to a minimum. For some reason he never liked the Bishop. His eyes always gave the impression of someone who was always planning and plotting. Mathias would sometimes have a similar expression, but for some reason it never bothered Leon.

"I see you have taken charge here. This provides us with an excellent opportunity."

"I don't see what you mean."

The Bishop nearly laughed. "Surely you are not so blind? With Mathias out of the way, you have a clear chance to claim Sarn for yourself!"

"I think your eminence is confused. Mathias is my friend. I have taken charge here only temporarily until such time Mathias get well."

"And you think he will?"

"I certainly hope so."

Le Puy walked to the window of Leon's room. Gesturing to the outside, "Do you see all of those men I have brought with me? They are here to relieve Mathias' forces. They will take up the responsibility of guarding Sarn. You are to take Mathias' garrison here and lead them to Antioch where they will help in the siege of that city. After which, you will order them to return home. They are not to return to Sarn."

"Those men answer to Mathias. I cannot order them home."

"They answer to you now…"

"It is a privilege that I will not abuse!"

"Sarn has been strategically located since Tartery fell. We must have it as a back up should we not hold Antioch."

"Not at the expense of Mathias."

"Need I remind you, Baron Leon Belmont, that we have been very kind to you? Giving you land, title, and even over looking your interest in an eastern woman."

"What does Sara have to do with this?"

"Nothing. You just seem to forget on whose summons you are here for. You also seem to forget the fundamental differences between us and them."

Leon held back the urge to strike the man across the face with his gauntlet. "The only one here who has forgotten why we are here is you, clinging to differences of opinion to justify your own self interests!"

"Perhaps I should rephrase myself. If you do not take charge of Sarn, I will ask Casmir to come and assume control. Now who do you think Mathias would prefer? You or Casmir? I personally prefer you. Casmir has proven himself, less than trust worthy. You at least I know can be trusted. Trusted to do what he is told, if he wants to keep his title, his land, his chance to be married to the woman he loves."

"I don't care about the land or the title. But leave Sara out of this."

The Bishop extended his hand with his signet ring. "Do we have a deal?" Leon stared at the hand and merely turned and stormed out of the room. "I'll take that as a yes," Le Puy whispered to himself.

Leon had no idea how far he had walked or for how long after he left the Bishop in his quarters. The voice that called out to him was like a beacon in the dark. It was Sara.

"What's wrong, Leon?" she asked worriedly.

Leon merely stood and allowed himself to lean against the wall of the hallway they were in. Sara embraced him. He was much taller than her and thus she had to look up to him. "Tell me," she pleaded.

"Change," he said simply. "Irony," he muttered. In his mind he twice damned Mathias for being right about everything. The motives of the crusaders were not as pure as their goal. Everything he had told himself to believe in, the crusader oath, the pope's calling, their purpose here, was all for naught. It meant nothing so long as the men who led the armies would no care. He joined Mathias first because he knew he and fallen in love with the woman he now held in his arms. Second, he knew that Mathias was fighting the battle justly. Now Mathias was gone, and he was left with no choice but to become exactly what he opposed.

"Damn it. Damn it all."

Hidden in the darkness of a hood, a grin passed along the face of the lone observer watching Leon and Sara. How quaint the figure thought. The Bishop Le Puy acted exactly as he had predicted. All he had to do was remove himself from the board, and things would begin to fall apart. Everyone was showing their true colors. All the blackness in men's heart would be made plain to him. From that very blackness he would gain strength. The figure walked passed the pair of lovers but they did not notice. In fact no one noticed him. He had been in the room with Leon and Le Puy but they would not know it. The spell he used to make everyone ignore him had worked perfectly. He had the freedom of the city. He could do as he liked and of course everyone believes he is sick, lying in bed. The book had many secrets that he would be learning in the year ahead. Mathias was pleased.