Chapter 20: Announcing the News to the Prince of Elves

Later Friday Night.

After the stereographic ass chewing, I got all night Friday night, I finally was able to get upstairs to my room. Where another blast met me. Helen was evidently warned that I may have recaptured Cindy’s soul as well as thirty others. And what of her other daughter, Lynn, she asked?

“Helen, I would do whatever I could to restore her. She was my lover and my friend. We talked mentally that night with you in the hallway of the hospital. And I felt her pass. I felt her soul and spirit leave. And there was no capture of it. I wish that there was.”

“Why can’t you bring her back? Why can’t you bring back my baby?”

“Because the evil fiends that took her didn’t desire to allow her to be captured. She was struck in a manner that was intended to allow her to slowly die. Like Bernie, both were bluntly killed because they fought back. Cindy didn’t have time to fight back and so she was captured.”

“Have you found them? The evil bastards who took my daughter and tried to take us?”

“I have found where they were. They are powerful and I want to plan how to cope with them. But I promise that they will wish that they had never touched my Family. I will end them. Brutally.”

“I will hold you to that, Hank. I have some things of Cindy’s at my house in the room she was staying in. Perhaps there is something there we can use? A hairbrush, or toothbrush?” Helen said.

“We will look in the morning. I promise.” I said to her. We hugged as people who have suffered loss do and wished for a different time. A different place. A different history.

Sleep didn’t come easily.

Saturdays shouldn’t be this hard

Right after breakfast, I got a hot turd dumped in my coffee. Sir David had called and left me a voice mail message. “I have spoken with Arno regarding your return of the Elven Helmet. As you know this is an Elven artifact and as such, we are bound to return them when we manage to acquire them. I realize that your method constitutes theft, however that will be overlooked in this case as it is the theft by you of property that belongs to a third party. As such we must return that property as the treaty provides. I expect that you will be responsible to compensate the damaged party for his loss of a historical artifact. I will speak to you of this and other behaviors tomorrow with the council meeting that I am calling to review your behavior.”

Hello to you too, Sir David Drummond ne Sir David Campbell. Well, obviously Peter went running to Sir David with his report. I wonder if his report includes our work in rune/spell assimilation. Which I am sure would be a nasty shock to the three stooges if they found out. No, Reggie was not a stooge. But I am not sure about the English and European connection. I think they are too buried in the past to accept change.

They also seem rather blasé about the death of my mother, father, and my three lovers that were all taken by the person that I have identified as currently Nagy and who probably has a host of other names and profiles. But they were mainly concerned about my treatment of this person who attacked me, was behind the murders of my family and the ripping of the minds of women I loved. My treatment of one of their own. For me, that was unacceptable.

Breakfast almost came back up. But I went down to the 2^nd floor and checked the desk in the receptionist room for any notes that came up overnight. Nothing. Well, that was good. So, I went down to go to the Lounge to see what activity was going on and encountered some unusual guests standing in the public lobby. At almost eight o’clock on a Saturday. Two Dwarves in armor, an Elf in colors of Arno’s family, and two large Orcs standing with spears who were prodding my friend Ogernaut and threatening him and his family with imprisonment if they did not produce the required artifacts immediately.

Brimstone was standing next to him, staring at the two Orcs while wearing his natural Dragon skin. And beginning to get upset. I looked at this mess and said “Freeze.”

And the visitors were. Yep, nice having gargoyles who are fed every week doing their first rotation in the lobby. Where their energy was at its maximum, charged amulets and all.

“Thaw out the head of the elf only, please, Pie’le? I would like to talk with him without any interruption.” I said.

“Un freeze me you stupid human and surrender the helmet. Or.”

“Or I will hurt you blah blah blah. Who are you and who sent you on this fools errand?”

“I am a member of Prince Arno’s court and I have come here to reclaim the property that was stolen from us.”

“Are you here on orders directly from Prince Arno?” I asked.

“No. I am here doing a service to him as my liege. And you are...”

“Pissed off at you standing in my public lobby as we are getting ready to open up with all of you without your Geas. You are natural and unless you can convince people these are masquerade costumes you are in violation of the treaty.” I said with some anger. “Do you know who I am?”

“No, human nor do I care.”

“I am Hank Lambert. Friend of Fae. And who were you before you were caught here?”

“I am known as in your language as Setno. I am a member of the royal court of Prince Arno.”

“And you sought to curry favor with the seizure of a piece of property from my home to scurry away to Arno or possibly his father? And You came here with four men at arms to threaten anyone who stood in your way. Normally, Elves are not that stupid, greedy or incompetent. Egotistical and self-righteous, but I can deal with that. None of them I have met before are just plain stupid. Ok. You and You,” I pointed to the two Orcs with the spears. “Drop the sticks when you are released from your freeze and walk through the arch home to Brazil.”

“You two in the uniform. When he’s released, escort this individual back to the Palace in Brazil and tell Arno I will be there in one hour. And that I count it as a blessing that I will not consider this a major fault of any of you. Not even this Elf.”

Pie’le unfroze the hands of the two Orc’s. Who wisely dropped their spears. When Pie’le totally unfroze them, they stood tall at attention and walked toward the arch to Brazil. The Dwarves were next, and the Elf was last. The Dwarves then marched by the side of the Elf as they walked to the Arch as well.

“Thank you, Master. I had my amulet, so they couldn’t hurt me, but they would not listen. They were hardheaded and vulgar. I am ashamed of their behavior.”

“My friend, just remember. They were not Clan Lambert. They did not stand up to the code of conduct that you do. They are to be pitied for their lack of integrity. And I will tell Prince Arno of that remiss.” I said to my large green friend. “Now about some coffee and checking on the progress with the artifacts. And when you see Peter, tell him I want to talk with him. And if you see Grace first, tell her I want to see him.”

What manner of God allowed man to invent good coffee. I don’t know, but my world runs on it. Obviously, I needed to get formally dressed. Yana Marenko, here I come, I thought to myself as I walked to her door.

I hate buying clothes. But Yana is a wonderful woman who knows how to dress men, women and Fae. (She did all of the blazers, vests and covers for all of the clan. Beautiful work.)

“Yana, I am in a pickle.”

“Again Hank? What did you do this time?” Yana asked.

“I think I crapped on the floors of Sir David and possibly Prince Arno. I have to go to Arno’s court to make peace and see that there is not a treaty violation in the wind.”

“That’s serious. The Fae take treaties VERY seriously. You need to look both elegant and humble. Let’s start with pants, boots and a blouse.”

Twenty minutes later, I was formally dressed. “And finally, a Hat. A cavalier hat. Remember to take this off your head before you speak to Arno, and to bow when you remove it. Then stand up straight and speak clearly. Like the old movies about the French courts of the 1700s.”

I looked at myself in the mirror. What a transformation. I looked like a great dandy from a movie set. “Do I need a sword?” I asked.

“No. But if you have that dagger that Sir David gave you, I would carry that. It makes a statement in that it is Charmed Iron, which Elves cannot do, and it has the Clan Lambert crest on it. Put the holster in the outside of the calf of your right leg. Make sure that the handle is visible. It makes a major statement that you are an independent lord, not of the Fae.”

“Yana, how do you know so much about the Fae formalities?”

“Who do you think my largest group of customers are here? I close the doors at Six PM, and they keep me hopping until almost two AM. And they spend Money.” Yana said with a smile.

“Good to know. Ok. I guess I need the dagger and then I am Off.”

It was fifty-five minutes from the time that Sento left that I walked through the gate to the Brazilian courtyard where goods flowed to and from Augusta. And I was met by two Elven members of the Royal Guard. Who were somewhat surprised that I was so prompt.

“Gentle Beings, I seek audience with Prince Arno on a matter of treaty and trade.”

The taller (not by much) elf said “We were told to expect you. We are delighted to escort you to the Palace court.”

With that, we turned toward the building in the close distance and walked to the front gates. “This is a lot easier than the last building I snuck into” I thought to myself. Of course, this time I was expected.

Striding a lot more confidently than I felt, I approached the Throne and stopped a full pace before the bottom step. I remembered to remove my hat and tucked it under my arm.

From the Walls of the Palace

“Henry Allen Lambert, I am happy that you were able to come to us so promptly. Our mutual interest is to preserve the treaty that exists between our people’s. The issue here regards the return of an element of our property that lost over three thousand years ago, and which has recently come into your hands. This piece of property and its’ attached crystals are a abomination and an insult to the Fae Race, and we desire them back to be destroyed and never seen in our history again. It is my understanding that you have these properties in your current possession and did not provide them to a member of the Fae Court here when they were requested. People of Clan Lambert deliberately blocked and evaded those requests and you in fact turned those members of this court down and sent them back, with the promise of your attendance to explain these actions. Explain please.” Arno said.

Ok Arno was pissed. Probably because he was sandbagged and thinks I had something to do with it. Ok. Need to get this out in the open.

“Arno. I recovered these objects at great personal risk the night before last. My search for them was based on the murder of my mother, my father and three of my lovers. Two of whom died in the conflict and the last who’s mind, and soul was ripped from her body. I followed my connection to her and told her I loved her and that she had to go. And she did. Finding that these objects may contain a part of her to be either retrieved or laid to rest was my motivation. Clan Lambert is strenuously researching these objects for their use and history to unlock the secrets to reverse these processes if possible and to lay to rest those who were unjustly imprisoned in these crystal hells.”

“How is it that you have not come forward to me with the knowledge of these objects and their source?” Arno asked.

“Because the history of these objects is so shrouded and convoluted that their true source is not clearly visible. As you well know, efforts to hide the source have been successful for over three thousand years.” I replied.

“Your own Senior Wizard, Sir David Drummond, reached out to me to inform me of your possession of these objects. Did he not tell you of his contacting me?”

“He left me a message two hours ago about that, with very cryptic comments on my behavior as to obtaining them. Which I will settle with him later. I plead that I did not have time to assemble a complete story around these objects and to plea for us to be allowed to study and reverse the operations that were performed on the people that were captured. We have always returned objects that were loaned by the Fae to Wizards, Mages and others as soon as we gained custody.”

“I’m not sure that, given the history of the possession of these objects, that we can leave them entrusted with anyone not a Fae under my control.” Arno said.

“Arno. You speak of wanting this helmet from me and tell me that these crystals are an abomination and that all of these must be returned to you. You haven’t told me what they are, or what is their history or why you are so disturbed by them. Fae people came into My House and say to my people here that they must obey and return to you any and all of these artifacts and threatened their families with Fae Punishments if they do not. You have said I am a Friend of Fae. You have said that for almost a year. You have teased with me that “my finest people are flocking to you like birds to a feeder”. You have been open and frank with me, and we have talked about sins of the past, as we work to build closer and better relationships. On the wall of this palace, it is written that “We are Prisoners of a past we seek to forget, because ignorance and greed seek to hide our sins and rewrite history to cover these truths. Which leaves us open to repeating those same sins with new faces and new names.” What is the story of these artifacts?” Hank said calmly.

“Damn Hank. When did you learn to read Elvish?” Arno asked with frustration in his face.

“I learned over time from the friends you have let come here to live with me, guide me, and be honest in all things with me. What is the story that so disgusts and so upsets you about these helmets and these stones? What is the history and shame that so drives you to seek to recapture it from a Friend of Fae? Who will gladly give it back, if we can first untangle the mysteries of its use and abuse and restore those injured by it to their true lives.” I said.

“You cannot restore them. Their bodies are gone, and beyond recovery. That was part of the Immoral penance that was forced on them.” Arno said.

“Not all of them. Some, yes, may be beyond recovery to their own selves. But we can work to give them a facsimile of those lives that this action cut short and imprisoned them in a crystal tomb, forever watching and listening and not being seen or heard”. I said. “Let us work to undo the injustice of the past, and then work to never allow it to repeat in the future.”

“You have always been so damn logical and honest, it’s a pain in the ass to negotiate with you.” Arno said.

“And you have always been so honest and open that it has been a great joy to work with you.” I said.

“Hank, this is an embarrassing piece of our Fae History. One I am ashamed of because it was done by my father.” Arno said.

“Arno, we are not responsible for our relatives’ misdeeds. But we do have to live with them and often correct them when we can. I admit that I cannot appreciate your history because it was so different from mine and so different socially. But I can try to understand. What is so important about these artifacts?”

“Hank. The Mind stripper does two things. First, it strips the entire mind, personality, memories and what you humans call the “Soul” of the individual. Everything is laid bare. All the sins, all of the mistakes, all of the hundreds of little and big mistakes a person can make and It stores all of this in a crystal. And it lays all of this open to probing, playing, and interrogation without any of the person’s ability to lie, or stop the outside interrogation. My father commanded its creation almost three thousand years ago, in the middle bronze age of your Celtic people. It was lost when the Celts overran a Fae army command post in Rumania, in a battle that was later known as the Battle on the Lake. One of my father’s armies was destroyed and this helmet was lost. He believed that no one would be able to decode its operation. He forbids anyone from talking about it to this day.” Arno said, with some disgust.

“And why does this artifact have such a strong forbidden wall around it within your people?”

“Hank, among us, the integrity and honor of people is paramount. This device separated Fae from their deepest secrets of their family and exposed them to my father’s interrogators. Worse, they stripped, captured and contained all that Fae’s mind, allowing the body to die and to fade to dust. You have seen what happens when we die. The result of use of this ripper on a Fae immediately causes their body’s disintegration and leaves the mind captive, with nowhere to go home to. It is the ultimate punishment for Fae.” Arno said.

“And the second helmet?”

“The Restorer. We have that here. This was an abomination that Arch Mage Darius designed and constructed in the late days of the Persian empire. He had control over the Stripper and he decoded it’s operations and it’s use. Then he built the restorer to operate in reverse and sought to place the captured minds into the other bodies. His early experiments caused insanity, so he sought insane people to place these new minds into. Not with any success. Both were lost and managed to separately find themselves in the British Museum in the late seventeen hundreds. Where the ripper was stolen before Sir David Drummond was able to whisk both to us. Like me, he desired to send those abominations back.”

“So. these do have some notoriety in our mutual history’s.”

“Yes. The Restorer played a part in an early piece of some literature of your English people named Mary Shelly. Which was almost an history of the young doctor’s attempt to use it. It was embellished somewhat, but it had a element of truth. The young doctor was trying to revive an old Alchemist into a modern body. It did work but only for a short time because the body disintegrated due to being dead for too long.”

Hank thought about this from a Fae perspective. Fae live life in the now, with influences from the past. They don’t brag about their history, because they have so much of it. They are preserved with their full vigor and strength until their end. To be trapped in a crystal, without any source of physical interaction with their families, or friends, or others. To be isolated in a crystal whose power gradually faded away and the soul and memories of the person trapped within dissolved had to be the most distressing thing of all.

“Arno, not all these crystals are traps of Fae. Some of them are traps of Humans. But in any case, do you agree that these persons cannot have done anything to deserve being placed in these crystal prisons? And that efforts should be made to Make Whole these unfortunates who were placed here by evil people using a device that they had stolen?”

“Hank, I don’t know of any method that can be used to do that.” Arno replied.

“Arno. I am Friend of Fae. I ask you for the right to work on this within my Clan to try to reverse this injustice that was inflicted on these people, both Fae and Human, by those who did so with no regard for the integrity of the spirit. As a Friend of the Fae, please let me do this. Let me right the wrong done to these by actions of people who used Fae artifacts dishonorably.” Hank said.

“How will you do this, Hank?”

“First, let us agree that it should be tried. And that restoration is my burden. If you allow me to investigate with the Restorer, and we are able to fully understand the process by which these two worked together, I will surrender to you the Mind Stripper. Which will appease your needs. Once we have full comprehension of the process to restore, we will then work to restore these minds to some function of a body. Real or otherwise.”

“And again, how will you do this, Hank?” Arno asked.

“I don’t know yet, but I have friends that I do know who may be able to help me to find a way. And lead these imprisoned ones out of the wilderness of their trapped minds.”

“What manner of security will you provide over these devices while they are in your possession?” Arno asked.

Looking him dead in the eyes, I thought of a somewhat smart assed answer. “Tomato Paste.”

Arno sat back for a moment, and then remembered the story of the cleanup that Ogernaut told him about. And began to barely laugh. He then stood tall and looked at me seriously.

“I risk my own loss of integrity by letting you do this, Hank. Please do not disappoint me and the Fae.” Arno said earnestly.

“You are releasing these objects to the governance of Clan Lambert for the purpose of restoration of the wrongly trapped souls. If we cannot do this action that you are charging us with, we will return these objects to your custody for destruction. You are doing this to prevent any Fae from becoming contaminated by these objects, and are leaving it to us Humans, who are not so sensitive.” I said.

“Nicely done. It alleviates me and mine from touching these objects and leaves you to work to discover a release to undo the burden of guilt on my family. What will you need in addition to this permission? “ Arno asked.

“Put it in writing so I can stick it up the ass of Sir David Drummond and Cecile Henrard. I don’t want to hear any more “Treaty Violation” from that stereo sound.” I said.

“My my, Hank. That’s positively not like you. And what about your encounter with Setno?” Arno asked.

“I did not bring any conversation to you about any encounters with any of your court, because I will work as hard as I can to avoid any enmity from anyone Fae. I ask that they remember, as you have said and as my clan has said “I am Friend of Fae.” Without any foreseeable exception to this rule. I remain “Friend of Fae.””

Arno looked around at all of his court. Straightened up and repeated that aloud “Hank Lambert is Friend of Fae. Clan Lambert is Friend of Fae.”

With that announcement, I bowed my head, backed away from the court three steps, and turned to walk away. Every eye was on me, and many were smiling. Even Sento had a grudging look of respect on his face. His lips moved carefully and formed “Nicely Done.”

My two elven guards confronted me as I approached the door. “Mr. Lambert, sir, please wait with us while we get The Restorer.” They asked. Yes, asked. Not ordered. Evidently respect did roll downhill here. Pity it didn’t with the Mages and Wizards councils. But that was another battle for another day.

A short time later, two Goblins’ came out of the palace. One was carrying a stack of parchments and books, and the other was carrying a large object wrapped in silver cloth. Both were hurrying to get to us. One of my guards grasped the books, and I grasped the object in the cloth. “I will not have any Fae demeaned by touching this object if I can help it.” I said.

We walked through the arch to Augusta, and across the hall, and into the Lounge where Paula and Jeffery were busy working on documents.

“Hello Hank. Gentle beings, if you like you can put those down on the table here and we will inventory them in a moment. Hank, is that the Restorer?” Paula asked.

“Yes, And I believe that these documents are the unabridged history of it.”

“Wonderful. But you and Peter have a meeting coming up and Sir David has been calling constantly.”

“Dear God, I forgot the letters.” I said to myself.

One of the two guards looked at me and said “You mean these?” as he handed me two parchment scrolls. “I believe that these are your suppositories.”

Elves have a sense of humor. They then looked at Ogernaut who asked “Gentle beings, would you care for some sweet wine? I have some from France here that is a nice rose.”

As the Elves walked toward the bar, they noticed the Fumeral in the middle of the room. And the two Dragonets curled up on the stones. And they felt the raw power being circulated in all around them. Raw and controlled and bubbling. The taller one stopped, looked around and noticed the Gargoyles in the corners, the dragonet’s on the hearth, and then looked at the shorter one. “Tomato Paste. I understand now.” The shorter one look as well, and nodded.

Ogernaut looked at the two while he handed across two wine glasses. “Things are safe here.”

“That’s’ what we will report. This is good wine.”

“Will I ever hear the end of that story?” Paula complained under her breath.

“I hope Not. It makes an excellent deterrent.” I said to her.

“But it’s embarrassing.”

“Not at all. It’s a very strong discouraging reminder to people to be respectful. Besides, Brimstone almost made a bigger mess. Two Orcs, two Dwarves and an Elf. I was lucky that Pie’le was fresh out there. He froze all five before things could get out of hand.” I said.

“No. Sento was lucky. He won’t come here again without an invite.” The taller Elf said. “He had no idea of what was here. We had heard stories from Ogernaut from before Clan Lambert was declared and he joined. And we have heard stories from Dwarves and Gnomes coming through on rotation. This place is considered an Armed Holiday resort.” The shorter elf said.

“So, when are you gentlemen coming to visit with us?” I asked.

“Our allegiance to Prince Arno is totally encompassing. We would have to be released from that before we could ask to Join Clan Lambert.”

“I understand. Still, it’s an honor for you to visit. Please let someone here know when you would like to come or to come to the Arch Park. I think Ogernaut keeps the schedules of what Fae Games are being played.” I said. “I have found that the Fae we have here are generous and proud of what they have to share.”

“Thank you, sir. But we will take our leave now. We know that the artifacts here are safe for the explorations you intend. Thank you for the courtesy and the wine.” They two elves saluted, turned and left.

After they had gone, I turned to Paula saying “And on that note, I need to get to Yana and put this wonderful suit cleaned and in storage and to pay for it, and then catch up with Peter and then finally Sir David. And to ship them these documents.”

“Suppositories?” Paula asked.

“Yes. To shove them up their asses.” I said.

“Grumpy this morning?” Paula teased.

“After last night being grilled, this morning being barbequed, and now Sir David wants to bless me with his insight. Nope. Not a bit.” I said.

And then I left go put my royal clothes in storage and get into some more normal rags.

Constant Conversations.

After leaving Yana’s and being more normally dressed, I stopped on the second floor and looked at the desk to see if there were any new notes. Nope. So, I went up to my condo and fixed some lunch. My gosh, where had the morning gotten to? A quick sandwich and I was almost ready to deal with the Wizard’s Leader. But first, there was a tap, tap tap in my mind. Someone was looking to talk to me first.