Chapter 17: The Polish Prince

There was no sense of time or sights or sounds in the white cube. Jakub was not used to illumination that surrounded him on all sides and up from the floor. He felt the drain on his person from the power sucking spell that enclosed the cell. The walls, the ceiling, the floor were all a translucent white, and he had no connection to the power that was making this prison. Jakub had no idea of how long he had been in here. He had yelled for the first hour after his clothes exploded off of his body and he was tossed into here, but there was no answer. And no echo. Everything seemed to be absorbed by the sponge like mass of white that surrounded him. After some time, a White Table materialized in the corner of the Cell and a Dwarf walked through the wall, placed a tray on the table and walked out. That event took Jakub by surprise and he didn’t have time to talk or move or do anything before the Dwarf walked back out through the wall. Jakub only saw a Band of silver around the wrist of the Dwarf, and that vest that he wore. As he walked out, the last thing that Jakub saw was the coat of arms for the House Lambert, in orange, gold and red on the back of the white vest.

The food was good, and there was a bucket fastened to the floor in the corner that Jakub used when he finished. There was a roll of toilet paper next to the bucket. The table was fastened to the floor as well. Eventually, Jakub had a fitful sleep.

The following day was more of the same. A dwarf came into the cell, exchanged the tray from the previous day, and walked out. This time, Jakub began shouting in English and in Polish to be released, and promised a generous reward if his jailer would give word to his cousin of his capture. The Dwarf looked, smiled, shook his head and walked out.

Later another Dwarf came in, exchanged the tray and looked at Jakub. And spoke.

“Prisoner number four. They will be taking you up for questioning soon. I suggest you eat carefully and think about what you are going to say.”

The Dwarf then picked up the older tray and walked out.

The two Orc’s that went into Jakub’s cell and grabbed him and brought him into the area in front of his cage. There was no resisting the masses of almost solid muscle that grabbed him. And their interest was only in getting an orange jumpsuit on him, with handcuffs and leg irons and chains around his waist. They then escorted him to the elevator and up to the second floor where he was taken into a conference room and chained to a chair. He tried to spit at the three people sitting across from him, but he couldn’t. The two men he recognized from when he was captured. The woman in the middle had big tits, and a milk maid face. She would have made a good romp. “So, if you are smart, you will release me before it’s discovered that you have taken me. There are forces you have no idea of who will tear this shack down to get my release. You have no idea of who you have.”

The two men looked at the woman in the center and gave a smile. The older one on the right looked at the woman and said, “After you, dear.”

“Ok.” Natalie said.

“Jakub Sobielsk. That’s how it’s pronounced, right?” Natalie said as an opening.” One of the many illegitimate children of Augustus II the Strong of Lithuania and Poland from 1720. A daughter of a milkmaid that he took a liking too while in his second rein. Sort of an intermittent King, your father, eah?”

“What do you know about Polish Nobility and history, bitch?” Jakub snarled back. “You’re just a mosquito. You suck blood, get swatted and then die.”

“We know quite a bit about you, Jakub.” Natalie said as she dropped the folder in front of him.” Here we have an almost complete litany of your life. Look at it and tell us what’s not accurate. Because we will have it in our archive when we reference your tombstone.”

“You don’t scare me, slave.”

“Look again. I’ve never been a slave. That would be the woman you called Morgana. Would that be the real Morgana Le Fay? That would be the woman that Merlin foretold as the parent of Mordred. Our Paula used to be a slave, until she emerged here at the House Lambert. And became a Power Wizard in her own right. You saw how she made a mess of those three Warlocks you brought with you from Lithuania. They are now watering the grass with their blood. What were their names? So that we can place them in the family tree archive we have here.”

“Archive? There is no archive. You are lying.”

“Not at all. Here’s yours”

Paula opened the folder that was in front of the prince and unfolded the six folds of family tree going back to 1700 and Augustus II and his affiance with the milkmaid that produced a third child out of wedlock. And from there the early years up to Jakub’s Emergence during the second rein of Augustus II. His power emerged in about 1714 and was hidden by the hedge witch that was his mother. Until she died in 1720. Her name was Clarissa Weltin.

From his birth and early years to two years ago, the litany of Jakub’s different allegiances, actions, names and relationships of the last two hundred and eighty years were laid out with names, dates, probable women, possible children, and probable killings. Everything from the drunken murder of his older brother to the rape of his niece in 1730. A whole list of crimes and bad behavior. Across six sheets of joined paper was the timeline, the name changes, the wives, lovers, children, and criminal acts that stretched out from birth to two years ago, when the record ended. And it was detailed and accurate.

Jakub turned white when reading this. These records were supposed to be gone; their knowledge hidden with the bodies of those Jakub had killed. How has this come about?

“You’ve been a bad, bad boy, Jakub. We wanted to get to you to wring you out like a wet rag of all of the actions you have taken over the last fifty years or so. And we want details of what you know about the persons who are attacking House Lambert. The more you tell us of the truth, the less we will have to force you to tell us later. You are not leaving here alive. Your cousin Cecile can’t lose you in transit again. You are not leaving here. Confess your sins. Tell us the Who, and The What, and The Why you have decided to work with against House Lambert, and who you are working for. We know you didn’t kill Harold Lambert’s Father and Mother. We know you were not the one that killed his lovers. Your smell of magic does not match the stench that we captured from their bodies or the burned-out shell of the house. We want that person. And in exchange, we will give you a clean and painless death. That is the best you can get from here. Otherwise, you will be kept in a white walled, white ceilinged, hard floored room with no bed, the stench of your own excrement, and constant noise until you lose your mind and try to take your own life. Which we won’t allow. Let me give you a taste of what you have coming to you. Paula.”

Paula entered the room and walked around to the side of the table where Jakub was chained. He was holding a white porcelain coffee mug. She poured the contents over Jakub’s head and walked out.

“This isn’t liquid, Jakub. These are fire ants. They are going to eat you alive. We can stop them at any time. Whenever you want to have us stop, just offer up answers to our questions. Shall we begin?”

Paula went ahead and left the room, smiling at Jakub’s face, and closed the door behind her. The Sand that she had poured over Jakub was simple white granular sand, with no additives. But the spell that she got from the Illusionist Helmut Von Zaftmund was a different story. And the ties of that to the spell that was hinted at by Itsuki for mental imaging was a piece of artistry. This being a Wizard was fun. Thank you, Hank, for letting me play, Paula thought to herself.

It began with a small, slight itch. Like a flow of feet going over Jakub’s head. And down his neck. It grew to the feeling that he was covered with ants. After a few moments, the Ants started to cause small bites. Then they stung at different places on Jakub’s upper torso. And then a couple crawled into his ear and he felt the nibble of the ant mandibles on the inside of his ear canal. The cuffs on his hands prevented him from reaching up to his upper body and stopping the itches. And then the stings began. The toxic alkaloid feel of the sting felt like a touch of a hot match, which got hot and then banked only to flare up again.

“STOP THIS” Jakub said “You can’t do this to me”.

Jeffery smiled and stopped the spell.

“You mean like this? Is this what you want, Jakub?” Paula asked quietly. “We can stop it at any time. And we can also start it, like this.”

The ants returned to marching. And biting. And stinging. On Jakub’s neck. And down the front of his chest. And marching toward his crotch.

“STOP. What do you want to know?”

And the questions began. Carefully, Natalie asked each one and wrote down the answer in the memo book pad that was in front of her. Whenever Jakub started to be evasive or belligerent, Jeffery simply let the ants start walking again in Jakub’s mental image of his body. Natalie’s persistent questions, with Jeffery’s careful attention to the responses and running the on/off switch of the ants marching across Jakub’s body, coupled with Peter’s experience in questioning suspects in all manner of violent crime, allowed the team to create a picture of who was involved, what they did and when, where and how they did what they did. The goal was to total up all the actions taken. Why would be asked after an intermission, where Jakub would eat, and use the bathroom while under the watchful eye two Fae, and then a retake of the questions and answers to verify that Jakub answered correctly the first time. Where there was any discrepancy, Jakub was reminded of the ants marching, not yet stinging and asked if he wanted to amend his answers.

Peter was an old hand at these sorts of games. “I wish I had these ants when I was in Philadelphia.” He thought to himself. “To use on the lawyers first.”

“Jakub. We are going to do some comparison of your answers to what we currently know and tomorrow, we will get back with you to finalize your statements. You now have a bed, and a shower, and clean clothes in your cell. And the settings will allow it to get dark so you can sleep tonight. Tomorrow, we will resume questioning, with a focus on some details of the last two years, and who is behind this.” Natalie said. “We will see you tomorrow. Don’t try to kill yourself, it won’t be allowed.”

A bewildered and scared Jakub was then escorted back to the elevator, and down to the hallway and into the warehouse and into his cell. Where his chains were removed, his jumpsuit removed, and he was sat on the bed that now was in his room. He was never so scared in his life.

“Well, Hank, we have some information. Jakub was pretty forthcoming after Paula introduced him to fire ants marching, and he because quite a chatterbox about the things he had done. I think he’s glimpsed the possibilities of what his end could be and wants to have at least some comfort.” Natalie said.

“Do you think he feels he can bargain his way out of here alive?” Hank asked.

“He’s a “Prince of the Realm” and I think he feels he is above justice. I think we shook him us for now. But tomorrow he will try to reassert himself. What do YOU think we should do?”

Hank realized that Natalie was asking the question that Peter and Jeffery wanted to get the answer to as well.

“He hired the bad actors and committed actions himself. I think that Abrams and Kaslov deliberately built the tools to enslave people and force their actions. And for that they should be deprived of those tools in addition to the binding of their ability to do magic and their return to the jurisdictions that can punish them for their crimes against normal people. IF that can be done in a way that does not expose Warlocks, Mages and Hedge Witches. Otherwise, end their lives. For the Prince? Same treatment. But first, we get his testimony against Cecile.”

“Peter, you have the most recent experience of punishment as handed out by the Mage Council. What would these four get from that court? “Hank asked.

“Depends. They are bad actors, historically, so we have a lot of Criminal Behavior to talk about. But why do you feel WE should go after them?” Peter asked.

Hank had to think about this for a moment. He wasn’t the Justice of the World of Mages and Wizards. How did he claim the right to punish wrongdoers?

Clan Lambert. Justice for those who were members of his Family. He could strike out against those who had hurt his family. No “Civil Justice” with respect to Mages and Wizards. Simple justice against those who struck against him or his Clan.

“Peter, currently you are outside of the Family of Clan Lambert. That is because of your previous loyalty to Reggie and the American Council of Mages and Hedge Witches, and the current service you have engaged in for the Wizards Council under Sir David. As such you cannot really act as an Agent of Clan Lambert where those interests may conflict.”

Peter’s face took on a concerned expression. Hank continued “However, I would welcome your input into the historical justice decisions that the Council has had to mete out for violators overall. Clan Lambert will not argue or block any of those actions Except that we will endeavor to conduct ourselves to a higher standard of behavior and enact a stronger penalty for violations committed by our membership. Where you charge a ten dollar fine, we will charge fifty. But we need to get from you those baselines from your experience for our own judicial filings.”

“Natalie, you have a lot of work to do with the collation of these interrogations, I am sure, but I am asking you to please do the following. Look at and review with Amelia the documents from the Wizard’s Council, the American Mages Council and the Over Council and see what they list as being the Rights, Responsibilities, and duties of membership of the previous Clans. We want to compile a charter from these documents as well as the Same elements from the Fae. We are going to declare House Lambert dating back 2 years, to the date that Carrie and Maggie seduced me under the waterfall, and I became a Mage. And we are going to formulate a set of the Responsibilities, Duties and Rights that I expect from All of the House Lambert. Mages, Wizards, Warlocks, Elves, Dwarves, Orcs, Ogres, Goblins, Gnomes and Trolls when they arrive. Every single one. And since almost All of them now are wearing bracelets or collars that have their name inscribed, we won’t have any trouble listing them.”

“You are declaring the membership?” Peter asked. Jeffery smiled at this statement.

“Yes. And we need to document our Responsibilities, our rights, and the fact that I am holding myself personally accountable for the actions of those within the family. If anyone has an argument with the actions of my Clan, they can remark to the clan member first, but in all cases, the clan member can refer them to ME. I will hold the clan member accountable for the actions taken, and either compensate or dismiss the complainant.”

“You may have some issues with the Fae on that.” Peter said.

“I already have settled that issue with Prince Arno for Fae Members of Clan Lambert.”

“Ooooh Kaaaaay. And when are we presenting this lovely punch bowl present to. Never mind. This is what you are doing Sunday?” Peter said with a smile on his face.

“Got it in one. Natalie, you got work to do. Kickoff is 0900 EST Sunday” Hank said.

Ogrenaut fixed a magnificent dinner Friday night. A total taste bud celebration from soup to dessert, and all of the family was there to enjoy. Even Bedlow was invited. Peter and Grace, Jeffery and Paula, Natalie, Helen, Amelia and William, John and Charoltte, and the rest of the acquired Slaves. There wasn’t room at the table for all of the Gargoyles, but Brimstone and Brynstan were there, with eyes shining.

After the meal, Hank stood up to say “Folks, I have an announcement. Today is the first formal declaration of Clan Lambert. I want all of you and all of the rest of you who are not here to realize that I have an honor of knowing you. Each of you has made specific contributions to this family, and each of you who are here have reasonable expectations of Health, A full stomach, and the protection BY the family against outsiders who would do you harm. If you find the need to defend yourself against outsiders, do so with the minimum force needed, and bring the aggressor to Me. You and I will discuss what that punishment should be and who will deliver it.”

“I assure you of two things. Unfair treatment or abuse of a Clan Lambert member will not go unpunished. And that All members, Male and Female, Human and Fae, Wizard, warlock or Mage will be treated equally and fairly. And by Me within the Family.” Hank said.

Ogernaut stood for a moment to speak. “I have been here several months. In that time, I have learned what a real Friend of Fae is. We have long been treated with distaste, or with anger, or with disregard by humans. Often among out own kind we have been treated similarly. Except here. Hank is a Friend of Fae. Hank has a code of conduct that is simple and honest. Hank has treated with everyone to benefit to both sides. He Asks questions. He listens to answers. He thinks before comment, and he always gives his advice. He has lost and has suffered. But he has never blamed group, but individuals only. We should honor that and be that way as well.”

After a few moments of silence “Thank you, my friend” Hank replied. “I will always try.”

After a few moments, Hank continued. “People, we have work to do, I guess. Natalie and Peter and Jeffery, if you can spend a few moments with Amelia going over the notes of today’s interrogations about the accuracy of the timelines for the archive before you tackle the results of today’s work, I would think that would be good. Then, Amelia and William, if you can go over the documents we got from the various sources and find the relationships on responsibilities, rights, and personal governance and distill it into a common language we can work on as a group, to form a formal charter for House Lambert. We want to send that out tomorrow evening. If we can do that, I would appreciate it.”

“What about you, youngster? What are YOU going to be doing?” Natalie asked with a smile.

“Whatever you ladies and gentlemen tell me. Just like always.” Hank replied.

The laughter continued long and loud.

A lonely Dinner for a Prince.

“How had this gone so wrong, so quickly?” Jakub Sobelski thought to himself while sitting and eating. At least the meal was good. The plastic fork and knife were worthless, and the plate was hardened paper, none of which could be changed into a tool or weapon. And he was sure that he was under observations. He could feel the eyes watching him through the pale white walls. It was silent. Almost oppressively silent. Jakub had only his thoughts to reflect on. His requests for anything beyond water and the food he had went unanswered.

“This is a prison. How can these young ingrates put ME into a prison? How dare they threaten me with death? None of these Mages or even the Wizard is older than my wine at home. And they speak to me by a number, except that bitch at the table, with no regard for my status. If they didn’t have these drains on me, I would show them.” Jakub fumed.

“They have even silenced my Familiar, inside of me, I feel his flame has almost extinguished. My power is almost gone. How did this happen?”

“You sought to kill a Dragon with my energy. She captured that energy and consumed it. You almost killed me by conjuring a second arrow, but the Wizard convinced you to not use it. That’s why I am still alive. And so are you.” The voice of the familiar said in his mind. “Since you implanted me some years ago, I have grown and ebbed within you. But you have almost gotten me killed at this time. Your carelessness has shamed me.”

Jakub sat and contemplated the sins and offenses that the bitch upstairs had quietly accused him of. And he sank into anger and frustration. No Narodniks was going to judge him. He was a Prince. With the spirit of a double headed Eagle.

Bit by Bit

Some people after dinner watch TV. Some people after dinner relax and read a book. And then there are those in the Lambert Clan. Who were hammering out across four sets of documents the various council’s and kingdoms to define what would be the Lambert House Charter. With a 17 ¾ year old kid helping to define what and how that House would be socially, politically and with justice for all of its members.

“Where” Peter Gill asked himself again “Did the brains of the fifty-year-old man come from that were transplanted into the head of this kid? What did that Fumeral do to him?”

“So, Hank, what do you really want this document to say?” Helen Albris asked.

“The rules by which almost all Mages and Wizards and Fae are governed provide limits to behavior. They do not provide Goals for behavior. They accept discrimination, segregation, and conflict and do not promote recognition of the individual strengths, needs, and goals. Only barely in either the Human or the Fae communities have we seen the beginnings of honesty and mutual fair trade within and among them. We will enforce that recognition and acceptance of Individual strengths, as contribution to us all. And we reward those strengths with recognition and protection from all outside who would seek to attack us and from all inside who would seek to demean us.”

Silence greeted that statement. Everyone in the Lounge looked at each other and thought for a moment. “That’s a hell of a mission statement” Jeffery said. “What will you follow it up with?”

“Article One. A code of Conduct. Each and every one of you is answerable for your actions to the family and to me. And each and every one of you is responsible for the defense of any other family member. If you see an outsider attacking a family member, you are to use just and sufficient force to bring that attack to a halt with minimum damage. In cases where death of our family member was the intent, death of the attacker is the allowable result. Please wrap them in a shield first to keep the damage localized.” Hank said with emotion.

Paula smacked me behind the head for that comment. “I’ll never hear the end of that.”

“Nope. It took two hours and a step ladder to clean the blood off the ceiling tiles.” Peter said.

“Article Two. In any and all cases where outsiders have complaints of conduct or behavior of a Clan member, they will first approach the clan member for a remediation. IF there is no successful remediation, they will jointly appeal to Me, Hank Lambert, for adjudication. I, Hank Lambert, am responsible for the actions and behaviors of all members of Clan Lambert. If we are at fault, I will work to resolve the issue. If we are Not at fault, the claimant can depart.”

“I take it that there were grumps over the issues with the dragonets and the gargoyles and the two Mages when we were recovering Maggie and Carrie?” Paula asked.

“Yea, Arno heard it first and wanted an explanation I gave it to him, and he said “Ok, you own the behavior”. Hank replied.

“Hank. Do you realize what you did when you said that? You accepted the fault and blame for all Fae Actions as though they were yours.” Natalie said.

“Yes. Hank is Friend of Fae. We would not under any condition embarrass him.” Ogernaut said from the bar. “I was afraid I had caused it when I broke those two men with the guns.”

Jeffery’s eyes opened wide at that comment. Looking at Peter he said “Ok. Now I know what happened. Makes sense to me.”

“Why is it no one talks about that, and everyone talks about me?” Paula said.

“Because it didn’t take two hours to clean up.” Peter said, ducking his head.

“Article Three. All transactions of commerce are to benefit both sides. We are not interested in those transactions where there is not an honest benefit to both sides.” Hank said.

“Even if there isn’t any other source for the goods and service that we can provide. We set the value, and they agree to the service or goods.” Natalie said.

“I think that’s enough for tonight. I think we all agree that this is a good start of what we want. This is essentially a Charter statement for the House of Lambert. We are setting standards of what we want internally and to represent to the rest of the world. Let’s get a early start on this tomorrow, and collate the documents and archive for review and our second session with Jakub” Hank said.

“We’re going to hang around here for a while.” Maggie said. “Carrie and my mom want to do some talking.”

“Yea I guess there is something to that.” Hank said. “I’m bailing. Good night folks.”

And so it was that Natalie, Jeffery and Paula talked about humans, Mages, Wizards and all manner of things that were going to have to go into this Charter. And to craft a living document that would last the life of House Lambert.

Saturday Morning.

The lights gradually brightened up in the cell where Jakub had been in his bed. The blanket was warm, and the room was pleasantly cool to the skin. When the lights came on full, a Dwarf came in and exchanged the tray for one with breakfast.

“Your second interview is in one half hour” a voice from the walls informed him. “Please be in your clothes so that we can take you upstairs.”

“That was different,” Jakub thought. “Perhaps they want to treat me better, so I don’t bring the entire eastern army against this little stash house. I do have to admire the food. They have a good cook. Maybe I will find out who he is so we don’t kill him when we come back.”

Half an hour later, Jakub was sitting in the chair across from Natalie, with an arrogant look on his face. They hadn’t bothered to handcuff him this time, because they knew that he had no leyline energy within himself. All that remained was his biological energy. And some traces of some residue. He presented no threat.

“So, Jakub, We reviewed all of your answers and found there are only a couple of things that we have questions about. Why exactly did you get put into this position to come here? Why didn’t George Nagy come back? Isn’t’ it unusual for him to outsource work he had already started? Or did he expect you to fail? Was he playing the long game to get rid of you?” Natalie asked. “Did he underestimate us and feel he could let a second stringer finish the job? Or was he setting you up to get caught? We really want to know so we can estimate what he will come back with next time?”

“You don’t know anything.” Jakub said, becoming angry. “You piddle little hedge witches and sluts are not worth his efforts. Or mine. You should release me now and hope we don’t come back to destroy you for lunch.”

“You mean like the three that Paula, a real Wizard, destroyed outside of the house in Prince George? Or the knees that Jeffery took out of the Mage that you had keeping watch on Deacon Thomas? What other useless pieces of cast-off trash does he have left in the eastern edge of Europe? Cecile doesn’t really know how run down that bunch of euro trash is, does he? Or is he just sticking around to keep the faith with a bunch of failures that happen to be his cousins?” Natalie finished up, closing the book in front of her.

Jakub became red in the face. His temples throbbed as his anger roused him upright in the chair and without thinking, he threw his right hand toward Natalie. And from that hand flew, not an arrow, but the small glowing figure of a double headed white eagle. Which flew into Natalie’s chest and dissolved.

“WHAT THE FUCK” Peter bellowed as he reached across and backhanded Jakub off of the chair. Jeffery’s reaction was a bit different. He immediately turned toward Paula and pumped as much energy as he could into her, seeking to heal whatever Jakub had done.

Peter, on the other hand, went across the table and found the sniffling, crying Jakub on the floor curled into the Fetal Position. Moaning that he had lost it. It was gone. He was alone. Saying that over and over. Peter wanted to kill him but felt that something was wrong here.

Paula in the meantime, was coping with the presence of a new Guest. “I’m alright, Jeffery. It’s Ok, Jeffery. Honest, I’m ok.” Natalie said.