The man dragged a leather valise from the floor of the car and pulled out a slender electronic notepad. After a few quick taps he looked up. “Three weddings in the gardens, two receptions at the carriage house. The normal tours,” he answered after a few seconds.
“Cancel all of them,” Mark told him. “Send the resultant claims for damages to my residence in Scotland. Tell them that they will be well-compensated for the inconvenience.”
“Of course, Your Grace.” Jackson closed the device and slipped it back in the valise. He was a small, nervous man with receding gray hair and pewter gray glasses on his nose. “Will you be requiring any services during your stay?”
“No.” Mark Andrew smiled slightly at him. “Dismiss everyone for the day. And make sure the gates are locked.”
“Yes, Your Grace.” The man nodded.
“I will call you when we are ready to leave.”
They spoke no more as the car made the scenic journey back to Canandaigua and drove through the ornate black-iron gates of the sprawling country estate. The gardens were filled with tourists. The flowerbeds and shrubberies were in full bloom and the shady walkways carried an endless parade of carriages, electric carts, hikers and strollers. Most of them stopped to watch the sleek black limousine as it passed along the long, rarely used, brick drive that led directly to the front doors of the mansion. Before reaching the portico, the car made a sharp turn and stopped at the rear of the building. The four passengers climbed out of the car and entered the mansion through the service entrance. The tour groups in the front of the house never knew they were there as they climbed a back stairway to the third floor. Mr. Jackson showed each of them to a private room under the slate roof of the imposing structure.
The three Templars retired to their respective rooms, agreeing to meet downstairs at six PM, after the gates had been locked for the night.
(((((((((((((
Luke Matthew bent to retrieve a silly magazine from the floor. It was the third time he had dropped it and nodded off. Lucio shouted something in his sleep and Luke slid from the chair onto the floor. He had not realized that he had been half asleep. He got up quickly and went to his Brother’s side.
“Vanni!” Lucio blurted out and moved his head to look at the face of the Knight who bent over him.
“He is safe, Brother.”
Luke Matthew pulled back the covers and checked Planxty’s work. The long slice on the Italian’s chest and stomach was fading. It would be a painful thing to extract the stitches now. Planxty was not the world’s best surgeon. The black sutures stood out against Lucio’s skin, causing tiny puckers.
“There was someone here,” Lucio gasped and then tried to raise his head.
“No, too soon.” Luke pushed him back none-too-gently, causing him to gasp in pain.
“Is he gone?” Lucio asked and looked about as best he could. “It was not a dream?”
“It was no dream.” Luke raised up. “Who was it?”
“I don’t know.” Lucio frowned and raised his hands slowly, passing them over the affected area gingerly. “I was sleeping. When I woke up, it was too late. He was sitting on me. I could not even move and then…”
He winced and licked his lips.
“You would like some water, perhaps?” Luke asked him.
“Si`!”
“They will want to know that you are awake,” Luke told him and started for the door. He did not want to be the one to start the inevitable interrogation that would follow. He felt very, very sorry for Lucio. He had never seen anyone aside from his brother, suffer so much. It seemed that Simon and Lucio were running a race to see which could come closest to paralleling the Knight of Death. Even in all his troubles in the underworld and the Abyss when he was in the head of the dragon could not begin to compare with the sufferings of these three.
Lucio lay staring at the underside of the canopy, trying to put some semblance of order on his vague memories of what had transpired. There had been a someone else. A woman. Merry, perhaps. She was the only woman at the estate with them. It didn’t seem that it had been Merry, but someone else.
(((((((((((((
“Barry!” Lavon rushed into the Seneschal’s living quarters unannounced and breathless.
“My God, Lavon, what is it?”
Barry placed one hand on his pounding heart. He had been searching in his little refrigerator for something to drink and the French Knight had scared him witless.
Christopher followed close behind Lavon. They were forming a very close friendship since returning to Italy and subsequently working together on the research concerning Guy de Lyons’ death. Armand de Bleu had been Christopher’s closest friend when they had attended the Academy together ages ago and now, Armand’s nephew was slowly, but surely filling in the gap left in Christopher’s heart by Armand’s absence. He often wondered about Armand… what he was doing, where he was… but there was no way to contact him freely. They couldn’t even correspond the old fashioned way, but Armand had changed profoundly since his youth. Lavon was now probably more like the Armand that Christopher remembered than Armand, himself.
“Please!” Barry held up one hand to stop them. The same gesture he still used on the boys at the Academy whenever they became too excited or rambunctious in his presence. It still worked. Both Knights drew up short and stood panting as Barry pulled out three beers instead of one and passed two along to his unexpected guests. “Sit down before you fall down.” Another phrase he liked to use on the boys.
Lavon accepted the beer absently and plopped into the chair near Barry’s desk. He glanced around at the impressive array of medieval weaponry on the walls of the sitting room. He had been here before, but the weapons always fascinated him. Christopher sat down in another of the straight-backed chairs made of smooth Corinthian leather studded with brass tacks.
“You will not believe it, Brother,” Christopher told him after removing the cap from the bottle. “More and more and more!”
“The Danites!” Lavon blurted. “The lost tribe of Dan.”
“What about them?” Barry sat down behind the desk and opened his own drink. He somehow did not want to hear any more. “Did you find them?”
“Sort of,” Christopher supplied the answer.
“We may have.” Lavon shrugged. “But we have no more proof than anyone else. And you will have to forgive me, Brother, as I have not had time to organize this information so very well.”
“I will try to keep up,” Barry told him quietly. He almost regretted having recommended Lavon to head up the research committee, but he had not been wrong about the Knight of the Wisdom of Solomon. Lavon was long on wisdom. He had a knack for looking in exactly the right place and then making great leaps of insight, connecting things that others overlooked without real prompting. It would have taken Barry years to do what Lavon had done in only a few weeks and Christopher was almost as sharp. What little Lavon missed, Christopher was quick to see.
“All right then.” Lavon tried to settle down a bit. He collected his thoughts and frowned up at the ceiling. “First of all, think bees. Honey bees. One of the symbols of the Mormons AKA the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints is the honey bee. They are found everywhere at Brigham Young University. Even the Utah state police cars have bee hives on their shields. Many of their government buildings and programs incorporate bees into their seals and logos. Now, if you will remember…” Lavon settled even deeper into the chair. It seemed that Barry could actually see the excitement exuding from the man’s eyes “…the scriptures say that one day Samson killed a lion. When he went back to see it again, he found that it contained a swarm of bees that had actually produced honey in the carcass. The lion is the symbol of Judah, another tribe of Israel. Samson, the Danite, killed the lion, Judah, and the symbol of the tribe of Dan, honey bees, took over the tribe of Judah from within. Samson took some of the honey home and his people ate it because he didn’t tell them where it had come from. A
ll symbolism, Brother. The Danites conquered the tribe of Judah from within. Remember that.”
“Now back to the Mormons. The Mormons, it would seem, consider themselves to be descendents of the Danites. Now this is quite clear to anyone who knows anything about Mormons, which I do not profess to know because I am only now beginning to study them, but the connection is obvious and not a secret at all. The Danites colors were red and white. Their symbols also included the eagle. I am sure that you have noticed the popularity of this bird as a symbol in many, many countries, organizations and so on. Our own colors are red and white and not by accident, but by association with our founding fathers with the Cathars and the Merovingians from Southern France who also traced their ancestry back to the Holy Lands and the family of Christ and the lost tribe of Dan.”
“Dan was prophesied to leave Israel from Bashan, which they did. They simply disappeared shortly after their hero, Samson, died. ‘Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse’s heels, so that his rider shall fall backward’ this is from Genesis 16 and 17. From Deuteronomy we have ‘Dan is a lion’s whelp: he shall leap from Bashan. ’ Dan is a lion’s whelp.”
“Another passage that connects Dan with Judah, the Lion and this is exactly what the Danites did. They left from Bashan and became lost. Now the Merovingians claim to have come from the Lion L.I.O.N. of Judah, not line as some people think, through Jesus Christ and Mary Magdalene and many people refute this adamantly and say that they came instead from the line of Dan. But look…” Lavon leaned forward. “If the Danites migrated to southern France when they lost their hold in the Holy Land and then when Jesus and Mary, his supposed wife, were persecuted and driven from the Holy Lands after the crucifixion, then what better place to go than to be welcomed into the arms of a Brother?”
“Furthermore, it would seem that the tribe of Dan was never lost but rather assimilated into the tribe of Judah as shown by the symbolism of the lion carcass/honeybee story. The Lion of Judah and the tribe of Dan assimilated each other. If the Danites had been pushed out of the Holy Lands they would have most likely had hard feelings against the rest of the tribes, but, at heart and by the blood of Jacob they were still brothers. Would not this have been an ideal place to seek refuge when in trouble? Therefore it is highly probable that Jesus Christ’s bloodline traces from both Dan and Judah.”
Barry had to nod. If he was to be kicked out of Italy, he would have gone straight to Scotland and if not Scotland then the Isle of Ramsay and even if he had been disgraced and excommunicated, he knew that his Brothers would not refuse him shelter and refuge.
“Now when Dan left Bashan, they must have traveled to the west. And there we have the Spartans show up. They have as their symbol and eagle with a serpent in its claws. The serpent, another of Dan’s associative symbols. Plus the Spartans claimed to be brothers of the Tribes of Israel, the stock of Abraham. They also wore their hair long and claimed that their strength and magickal powers lay in their long hair! Like Samson, the Danite hero.”
“Spartan legends tell of a King named Danaus who arrived by ship in southern Greece with his daughters and introduced the cult of the mother goddess to the Arcadians. The daughters called themselves Danades and the King’s people called themselves Danaans. This was long before they called themselves Spartans.”
“Moreover, it is known that Alexander the Great of Macedonia wore his hair long and when he approached Jerusalem, the high priest there welcomed him with open arms. Why? To save the city from him? Or was it because he was the returning prodigal son? Jerusalem was the only city in the entire region that did not fall to Alexander’s sword. Not because the priests were friendly to him, but because they were his brothers!”
“Alexander’s father, King Philip II, in Macedonia had a parliament. This parliament was called the Synhedrion. Sound familiar. Synhedrion? Sanhedrin? Jewish governing body? Furthermore, look at this. Macedonia and Greece were joined during the time of Alexander’s father. The Greek alphabet begins Alpha, Beta, Gamma. The Hebrew alphabet begins Aleph, Beth, Gimmel. Coincidence? Hardly.”
Barry’s head was beginning to spin very slowly, but he wondered at his own ignorance. Why had he never noticed this before? He had studied Greek extensively and he had had enough experience with the Hebrew writings to know this.
“Now back to the symbols. The eagle. The eagle was the most prominent symbol of the Roman Empire, even when Constantine divided the empire and moved to Byzantium, he retained the eagle making it double headed in the fourth century. Again this is the fulfilment of another prophecy wherein it was said that the Roman Empire would devour itself, but I will get to that later. Remember, Brother, that the Holy Roman Empire was ruled for a thousand years by the Hapsburg families. Their symbol? A double-headed eagle.”
“Hapsburg means hawk’s hill or burg of the hawk. Further down the line in the ninth century, a great Jewish kingdom was established above the Black Sea in eastern Europe. It’s name? Do you remember?”
Barry shook his head carefully, afraid that he would develop a headache.
“Khazaria, Kingdom of the Khazars! Khazars. Cathars. Now bear with me as I strike a tangent. John Paul Sinclair-Ramsay.”
Barry blinked. He didn’t see it. Lavon frowned at him quizzically.
“Don’t you see? John Paul was thought to be, by members of the Council, a reincarnation of the prophet Daniel. Dan-i-el. Chris, the bag, please.” Lavon stretched out his hand and Christopher deposited a lumpy pillowcase in it. Barry sat up slightly. Lavon took the bag, opened it reverently and began to set various objects on Barry’s desk. Barry leaned forward to look at the priceless works of art in porcelain, stone and precious metals. “These were given to me by Anna Sinclair-Ramsay. They were passed on from John Paul to Jozsef before they disappeared into the underworld when Jozsef was yet a young man and John Paul did not come back. According to Anna, John Paul gave these to his son and told him to keep them and study them. I would have to assume that, at some point, John Paul knew that he would not be returning home to Scotland.”
The impressive collection was comprised of one subject: Eagles. Lavon began to expound on Jozsef Daniel’s collection that he had inherited from his father. Roman, Spartan, Byzantium, American, Nazi, Hapsburgh, Varangian… some were even sitting on top of bee hives. Others held various serpents in their grasp. “Now…” Lavon sat back while Barry examined the pieces. “If you will recall, Adalune Kadif used Luke Matthew as a basis, if you will, for the creation of his son, Omar. Luke Matthew, John Paul, Jozsef Daniel, Omar… all part and parcel of the same set of genes, used again and again. John Paul, created through Mark Andrew. Jozsef Daniel through John Paul. Furthermore, look at Luke Matthew? Apparently also created by Mark Andrew.”
“How so?!” Barry was brought back to the present abruptly.
“As we all know, Mark Ramsay is not an ordinary man. He is far more than that. He was not only Luke Matthew’s twin brother… he was his father.”
“That’s ludicrous.” Barry shook his head.
“Not really considering the source, but that is another story altogether.” Lavon shrugged. “Luke Matthew, Luke Andrew, Lemarik and Il Dolce Mio are all half-brothers. I have done the genetic research myself. And believe me, it was not easy collecting some of the samples I needed. But Jozsef Daniel, Michael Ian and myself are almost identical. We are more closely related to Luke Matthew than Mark Andrew. John Paul is the real dilemma. He seems to be an exact replica of Luke Matthew. A clone, if you will. His gene sequence matched John's exactly. Just as Omar Kadif in his original form was an exact replica of Luke Matthew. Omar and John Paul were also identical genetically speaking. They were produced in almost the exact same way. Alchemically. And who is the alchemist? Mark Andrew Ramsay. Lemarik has admitted that he used his father’s alchemical texts to produce his beautiful son, Omar.”
“Saints preserve us.” Barry closed his eyes.
“Try to remain objective, Brother,” Christopher spoke up. “It was hard for me to believe as well, but Lavon has presented me with more proof than I needed.”
“Now, back to my story.” Lavon crossed his legs and Barry went for more beer. “There was a book that used to be included in the Holy Scriptures. It fell somewhere between the Old Testament and the New and was written by a prophet named Esdras. He foresaw the fall of the Roman Empire from within, symbolized in his visions as a triple-headed eagle. The central eagle head, the strongest, symbolized old Rome. It died at the advent of Christianity and the creation of the Holy Roman Empire. Constantine divided it further into the east and the west, the other two heads.”
“They devoured each other eventually and Rome stood no more as the power it had once been. And Esdras said ‘And I saw, and, behold, they appeared no more, and the whole body of the eagle was burnt, so that the earth was in great fear…’ The eagle was burnt and the whole earth was in great fear. Think about it. What bird was burned before our very eyes that sent the whole world into fear? Not necessarily at the precise moment of the immolation, but later?”
Barry leaned forward. His mouth was slightly open now from sheer wonder and confusion. The only bird that had been burnt had been the body of Omar, the Prophet.
“Yes! Omar, the Prophet.” Lavon smiled as he perceived the realization dawning on Barry’s face.
“But that was not an eagle. That was a swallow or some such. I saw it. That was no eagle.” Barry searched desperately to find some crack in Lavon’s theories.
“Or so we thought.” Lavon leaned back and sipped his beer. “I had to question our eagle expert via e-mail shortly after he went to Scotland. Unfortunately he had already gone when I made this connection. I received an answer from him a short time later.” Lavon produced a hardcopy of Lucio’s answer and handed it to Barry.
Thoth, the Atlantean Page 27
