Chapter Eight
The Congress of Elders
London, England
The Congress had been in deliberation for three days. There in a large cave-like room the Elders stood in a great circle resembling Stonehenge; each under a large stone arch-way. Thirty of them were positioned in the outer ring, six in the middle, while the Kor Tant Yul stood solitary in the center at a grand stone altar. Each individual wore rich burgundy robes with gold embroidery around all of the hems and possessed flaming torches stationed to their rights. A weary yet reverent silence had over taken the once deafening commotion.
The six Highest Ones in the inner circle stood firmly as the light from their torches danced brilliantly off of their richly adorned breastplates that hung from their necks by a simple golden chain. The plates were large and square. There was a row of hieroglyphs down the center of the plates that spelled out the rank they held as highest in their order. On either side of the glyphs were many large and rare gems imbedded into the gold. It was obvious that these adornments were very old and important; each Highest One had been given their particular breastplate from their predecessors and so and so on. Little had changed over the millennia when it came to choosing a Highest One for each of the six orders of magics. Every Highest One had to have a lifetime of experience, vast knowledge of the magics of his order, and proven him self to be the greatest among his Brothers. After these were determined, and the candidates were chosen, the order would vote and this would establish a Highest One. The choosing for the Kor Tant Yul is very similar, but the recent decision to bestow Martin Kessler with that honor had caused a bit of a coo and since all of the turmoil that had arisen under his leadership, the Highest Ones have been reluctant to trust that he was the wise choice.
Kessler scribbled furiously on the parchment, he looked up to see all eyes on him as they had been for the last few days. Chills ran down his spine as the sweat of responsibility collected upon his forehead. "Why me?" He thought to himself. He reached out for the small wooden mallet. Kessler took a deep breath as he studied the shiny sphere at the end of the wooden stick. Did he want to continue? Or would it be possible to just turn around and walk out of this hot and damp cave? Shaking the thought from his strained mind, he looked over the altar. There lie the scrolls and parchment with quill he had been writing on, and to their left the ring. A large brass ring hung from an iron stand and awaited Kessler to tap it with the simple mallet he held in his moist palm. With a forced move, he brought the mallet down onto the ring and the high pitched sound rung out and reverberated against the walls for seemed like forever.
"Bona per Pondera." Kessler called out with arms out in an open gesture.
"Ago Porro quod Prospicio." The group returned. There was a series of yawns and then coughs before the silence returned.
"Now that I have all of your attentions, let me continue. It is clear that after hundreds of years, The Faithful have returned and plan to resurrect the most holy Ba Musal." His comment had once again triggered several wails and outbursts from the Congress of Elders.
"Blasphemy!" Several cried out.
"Balderdash!" Others huffed. As the onslaught of angry voices continued Martin Kessler bowed his head and pinched the bridge of his nose in exhaustion. Without looking up, he took the mallet in his right hand and banged it over and over again onto the brass ring. Slowly, but not completely, the voices lowered. When the cave did not become silent, Martin called out.
"If I break this bloody thing trying to get you all to be quiet than I will just have to get a much larger one and a jackhammer!" Silence befell the crowd. "Thank you."
The Highest One of the Order of Veneficus tapped his staff onto the stone floor signaling that he requested to speak.
"The Kor Tant Yul recognizes The Highest One of the Order of Veneficus." Martin announced and allowed the man who was widely considered the greatest medium in history to speak.
"It has been widely accepted that The Faithful was no more than a fairy story. If we are to actually believe that they have risen up and plot to destroy all that we have worked for generations for, how do they plan to pull this do off?"
Martin nodded. His frustration was mounting. He answered and re-answered these questions for three days now! It was proof that they never really listened to him! Or, it was that they were trying to catch him in a lie. "As I have discussed with my fellow Brothers, at length these last few DAYS, I have informed you that I found a very ancient scroll, ironically, hidden among the texts on magical concealment. It speaks of The Most Holy origins of the Ba Musal."
Once again the group began to rustle with restless malcontent. Further mumbles of blasphemy echoed through the cavern. As before, Martin Kessler raised his mallet to the ring and tapped hit accordingly, as he called for them to quiet their disparity.
"Brothers! Please! All of us in this room sprang into existence from that of our mothers' wombs! How is it so difficult to believe that the Ba Musal was any different?"
Another Highest One raised his torched and tapped it onto the damp stone floor.
"The Kor Tant Yul recognizes The Highest One of the Order of Sive." Martin gestured for the master of the art of conjuring to step forward and share his piece.
"It is not that we find the thought of the Most Holy Ba Musal being birthed from a womb, even a mortal womb! The notion that is most despicable to us is the suggestion that the seed to which fertilized that womb, her father, was a low-creature… An Uradda!" The Highest One clenched his fist as he uttered the ancient name of the vampires. He spit upon the ground and all of the Brothers in the stone gathering began tapping their torches on the floor. Embers spat forth from the tidy flames and smoke rose to the stalactites above. Martin fought to regain control by tapping the ring but it barely rose above clamor of the beating torches.
Without recognition the Highest One of the Order of Mens Tractus stepped forward and began his accusation of the appointed Kor Tant Yul. "And all you have to show us is a scroll reading more like an old gypsy fairytale and little more! That is what you are claiming isn't it? That our glorious Goddess was nothing else but a Dhampir!"
Martin continued to tap on the ring and doing his best to ignore the man who had decided to forgo the procedures and attack him. The Highest One of the Order of Sive became agitated by the Kor Tant Yul's disregard to his insights and with his telepathy; he forced the mallet out of Martin's hands and caused it to fly into his own. Martin's temperature began to rise at the Highest One's audacity. Wasn't their whole shtick about tradition and following ritual and procedure? And here this pompous and pious blowhard was stepping all over his proverbial toes! He looked out amongst the crowd. The Highest One of Sive stood still holding the mallet and looking at Martin with quizzical eyes. If he was to gain their respect, now was the time. They would never acquiesce to what he called for.
They wouldn't believe a man whom they didn't think should be in this position. They found him to be weak and stupid. He knew for a fact they did! They made jokes behind his back, and sometimes he even found satirical cartoons drawn to imply that he preferred his magic with a wand and a top hat! He had also found some that called reference to the fact that his father was a dear friend of the last Kor Tant Yul before he died. It was often suggested (most often in the cartoons he found scrawled on napkins left on lunch tables) that because his father also passed away before he could be named, the Brotherhood settled for second best; that Martin was chosen out of pity.
Martin did his best to force the deafening noise from his head. He had to show them why he was the Kor Tant Yul. Not because of his father and not because of pity. But, that he was a powerful member of the Order of Lamia and that he WOULD be heard! He clapped his hands together and angrily cried out. "SUSMA!" A pale light grew between his hands and he then ripped them apart and held his arms outstretched at his sides. With a quick flash the crowd fell silent. The befuddled Brothers looked back and forth at each other trying to speak but not sound escaped their lips. They pounded their torches upon the stones but not an echo was heard. Some looked towards the Kor Tant Yul in confusion the others looked at him in anger. But, Martin Kessler had accomplished his goal; they all were looking at him waiting for him to speak.
"I know what the Highest Ones are thinking right now, that I have violated out sacred protocols. But, if you will read carefully over the Modus Operandi of the Congress, you would see than once the Highest One of Sive spoke out of turn, and causing from his statement a riot, I had gained the right to re-establish order by means that I saw fit with in reason. And I am fairly certain that I was not going to be heard otherwise!
"Just because some of you do not think that I am old enough, or you think I am weak, or you think I gained this position because of my father's acquaintances, well, to an extent you might be correct! But, there are several of you out there who called for me because you know I can do this! I came to this position at a joyous and now difficult time. I have to weigh every option. Even if it means opening my self up to possibilities I once who think as blasphemy. But, if you would just allow yourself to listen for a moment, you might see that it makes sense! It doesn't make her any less of a goddess! It makes her more so than ever! She was the child of a vampire! It would make sense that she would be given some advantages. We know she had a soul. Hell, we used it to create an army of warriors like her! The fact that she made a choice; a choice to use her abilities to strike down evil, THAT my Brothers is what made and makes her a Goddess. I don't believe that good and evil are ever truly predetermined. I don't believe you are either until you are forced to make a decision. It's the choice that defines it! Don't you see? That is what separated us from the Faithful, we made different choices! We devoted our lives to ensuring the lives of future innocent people. They devoted theirs to selfish desires and misread texts!
"I am asking you all now to make a choice. Will you stand together now as one voice and help us find the Faithful to stop them from birthing a new Dhampir to mold towards their self-seeking purposes. Or will you allow them to destroy humanity's only hope against hell on Earth?" Martin took a breath and waited for a response. After a moment he noticed he was receiving odd looks from the crowd and realized he had not yet lifted the spell. "Oh! Sorry bout that!" He clapped his hands once more and spoke, "AMSUS!" Once again, the Brothers were able to create sound.
Relieved, the Brothers looked at each other. Then, like the hand of a clock, one by one they pounded their torches onto the stones making the flames shoot up higher than before. Each Brother in the outer circle and then the inner circle of the Highest Ones had caused their flame to rise. As soon as the last torch burned larger the Highest One of the Order of Sive stepped forward and spoke. "We are with you Kor Tant Yul."
Martin's heart relaxed and he smiled in relief. The Highest One returned his mallet and Martin then banged on the ring to signal that the Congress was adjourned. As soon as the sound echoed throughout the circles, Brothers began removing their hoods and heading for a set of large oak doors to the left of the congress stones.
Martin did the same just as his old friend Frederick came up next to him and patted him on the shoulder. "Well done old chap! Well done in deed! I only wish you would have delivered that speech two bloody days ago!" They chuckled as they followed the group filing out of the large oak doors. As if perfectly ordinary, they casually stepped through the doors from the dark, dank and damp cave into a shiny, modern and bustling lobby complete with receptionists and security guards. "So what do you say old boy? Roberto's for lunch? I hear they have a fantastic ravioli de pesci!"
But, before Martin could finish removing his robes, a very frantic Virginia came sprinting (as best as she could) across the chocolate and beige diamond, marble tile. "MR. KESSLER! THERE'S NEWS! YOU HAVE TO HEAR STRAIGHT AWAY! MR. MACALISTER IS IN MISERY!"
"Misery?" Frederick repeated perplexed by why this would be as dire as she made it out to be. "Has he been hurt Ms. Welch?" Martin's companion asked the out of breath and red faced woman.
"I don't think so he sounded fine to me on the telephone!" She huffed as she gasped for air. "He said something had come up. That he knew where Finch and Fellows were. He said that they too were in misery." She straightened her short brown curls and waited for Martin's response.
When he realized that once again Virginia had garbled the message, he rolled his eyes and began reminding him to remind himself to hire a new assistant when this was all over. "I get it. Missouri. Virginia, thank you. And take the day off and get your sodding ears checked, will you?" Virginia smiled and tuttled off.
"I guess this means my flight plans have changed. Maybe I will check out Roberto's when I return. I have to go and call Mr. MacAlister and find out where I am buying a ticket to in Missouri!"