Chapter 19 ( The Witches Blade An The Arrival of Richard )

Meanwhile in Russia……

Weiblich had led the group down into the monks area of the monastery and Vallium came forward with the food.” Let’s eat before we go down there. There is no telling how long we will be down there and what we will face” Nodding his assent, Weiblich offered the table next to them.

”Father, what was your name before you became a priest?” Hadassah said softly as she took some root vegetables onto her plate.” The young father looked a bit flushed . It was Weiblich Pavil Stuart my child I kind of liked Stu best. You look so familiar, why do you look so familiar. Who is your mother child?” He asked. Rahnyah Fury father.” Ahhh Yes, Rahnyah who could forget such a beauty? Ve were children in Romania up near the Carpathian mountains near old Budapest. I and Gregory well, we all hung out in the same circles. If I'm not mistaken Gregory was bitten as a child by a Lupe Laru was he not? Hadassah nodded her head yes." Rahnyah was completely distraught when he ran off and left her pregnant with a child. She did not quite know what to do about the woman that Gregory chose to abandon her and you for. Are you lupe larou as well child?”

Hadassah Took  a deep breath and letting it out.” Yes , I am lupe larou also , but mine is different than the others, I, like them also turn into a wolf and I can see for miles in the dark. But I am also something different too. My mother's ancestors were Riooan and Kraxon. So my natural form is a bit different than you would expect. I have both a feline and canine tail with kraxion metal ridges that spike down the center and I can become invisible like the Riooans. My most Venerable Ancestor, Momma Denise was human, Kraxon and Riooan. Mother can only become invisible for about three minutes and has slight metallic protrusions down her back and along her hair line that she covers over." The young woman flicked her fingers to the other wolf in the room and rubbed the wolf’s head softly letting Shadow's fur slip between her fingers." I retain my mind but I do not become a wolf. For some reason I do not shift like normal Lupe larou. You need not be wary, I do not bite, well not hard anyway! I wear a this jewel to keep my real self from being seen. My Riooan fur makes people nervous. I mean You'd think the hematite claws and metal spikes would .. No, it's always the fur.” She said as she chuckled softly. “ OK let us make our way into the catacombs now.” Raena looked at Nathaniel and nodded towards the Hadassah and Shadow. “ I can tell you are a good soul, Shadow likes you. Gravon will be so sad he missed this. Ill have to make sure I loot something for him” Nathaniel said softly.” I have my dark side too, it's why I wear this jewel." She gestured with her fingers, as she responded with a smirk. Hauntingly,she  picked up her staff and followed everyone into the catacomb stairwell.

Stu lit a torch and led the way and said sternly. ”Be warned there are many foul things below .” Miralania shifted on her hooves nervously and stepped lightly from step to step. Slayde touched her arm lightly to calm her and stepped in front as a gesture of protection. Soon they came upon some rubble that stopped their way and Weiblich raised his hand for them to stop.” See if you can find a way through.” He said as Raena stepped forward.” I can get us through!” She reached for the pouch at her side and spoke loudly,’ Shamanch Rhie Rhoim!” and flicked the silver dust at the rubble it shuddered for a moment then a large portal opened to the room that lay beyond.

 Looking through she noticed a river ran through it and stepped through. “ Let’s rest a bit and let us get our bearings so we can move further.”  Raena said resolutely.They all filed through the portal and sat down on the underground river bank. As Hadassah sat down and stretched her legs out in front of her, she felt something cold beneath her hand and looked to see what it was. There was this large silver medallion with greenish smoke in the center of a glass vial that was almost as large as the outer teardrop shape. The chain was quite long and she slipped it over her head without thinking about it. "Giggling softly,' Why is it that I always find cursed things? Is it only because I am a warlock that is aalso a beast or is it because I need them? The pondering question is. Who in the universe thought far enough ahead that I would be sitting here in this dank riverbank?"

She fingered the vial slightly and looked into the swirling green almost fluid and suddenly is a whoosh of wind  came through the underground cavern  and the shade of Rasputin stood before her.” You called? Of course it had to be a warlock that found my medallion.”  He said as he threw his hands up in exasperation. The young warlock looked at him and responded firmly," And you are?" Rasputin bowed low and said," Gregory Rasputin at your service." Raena said out loud with an added gasp," Gregory Rasputin? You died one thousand four hundred and ninety one years ago!"

They were all staring at the shade of Rasputin when Hadassah took her staff and called upon the ancients of her family line. Long purple chains wrapped around his shade and bound him.” You now belong to me and will do as you are told.” Rasputin shifted slightly walking along the river bank.” This was not in my Contract! I was to have everlasting life! I did not choose to belong to a half breed demoness!” Raena giggled," Some contract you had, you were beaten, castrated, poisoned, stabbed and then finally drowned probably right here on this riverbank because that's where she found your medallion. You must have really pissed Lucifer off.  It was rumored that the Romanov children were yours." Rasputin sighed, "

No only Anastasia and Nickolas were mine, that is why the Czar had me killed and truthfully the only one that got out alive was Anastasia. Such a shame, such a loss, Catherine was such a sweet woman, she did not deserve to be killed. The Czar could only have girls. When the boy was born he knew he wasn't his. That is when he began to formulate his plot to kill me. I could only grasp glimpses of my own future and I did not see that. But I saw enough of my future to ensure that I kept a bit of myself in the medallion. I can move about easily and do research or look ahead but as you can see I can not touch anything as I am a ghost."

“ Well the universe is funny that way I think, dear Rasputin, It looks as if you are now my bitch.” Now go and search what lies ahead and if you lie to us I will insure that you never come out of that vial again am I understood!?” The shade nodded his head yes looking at the ground.” Very well, go.” He slid from sight as Wieblich stepped closer and spoke,” That man killed almost the whole Romanov family except for Anastaisia who in the early two thousands made way for her great great grandson Vladimir Putin to regain the throne of the Czars. Good will win out in the end and it seems that Rasputin has his just deserts .

A few moments later the shade returned and said that there was green slimes that left an acid trail and they couldn’t get through that way they would have to take the river down stream for about fifty yards and then get out near a group of green satyrs. Miralania took a deep quick breath. Killing her own kind seemed so distasteful but it had to be done. Slowly one by one they all entered the river and flowed with the current for about fifty yards through a small opening in the rock wall. On the other side they silently emerged from the water and prepared for battle . 

There were three demonic satyrs right off the bat, close by. Slayde and Miralania rushed forward and attacked making sure they didn’t escape their aggression the others began to hit them with a barrage of magic. Raena slipped in and began stabbing the one on the right between the ribs while Miralania was slashing with her sword. Suddenly, Raena popped off a chain lightening that slightly miscast and bounced off a rock and clipped Nathaniel in the bum.” Rae watch that crap! You just hit my butt.” “ Sorry Nate, It hit the rock.” “ Woman just stick to your blades alright?” She nodded quietly as she continued to stab the creature in front of her. Soon they all lay dead before them. Weiblich spoke quickly,” Look in their pockets and then lets keep moving.” Hadassah reached into a pocket and found a rotting piece of meat from something and retched violently over the river bank. Rasputin began laughing.” See that’s what you get for binding me against my will.” In a rash of anger she rubbed the vial and said out loud ,’ Be gone till I call you, you damn worm.”

Miralania stood up and shifted on her hooves and grew nervous as she sensed the blade nearby. “Slayde? I think it’s over this way, She just seemed mesmerized by the pull of the blade and followed it as if held by some trance and walked headlong into a bunch of pygmy demons thirty of them leapt upon her and began to stab at her as they all rushed to her defense. The Father, struggled to keep her healed as they got her free of a few of them and was able to step back a moment . “ I can hear it calling to me .”Hadassah called for Rasputin and told him to kill as many as he could. Ten minutes later they had all the pygmy demons dispatched and began looting their corpses. Raena found a beautiful ring and and two daggers a bit better than her own. Nathaniel found a new bow , Stu found a tome of healing and Hadassah found the staff she was looking for and smiled as she made the shade get back into the vial.

Miralania found a doorway off the main chamber and Slayde went in before her this time making sure that there wasn’t anything too difficult to encounter. There sitting on a ornate rock was the beautiful sword of saint Catherine. Rushing forwards Miralania took the weapon and suddenly it began to wrap itself snake like around her arm and embed itself into her body systems. It snaked its way through her whole body With but a thought the blade shot out just as she turned around to find a hideous monstrosity lumbering their way. She leapt onto it with her blade and began stabbing it with both the  swords she had. Everyone else ran into the room and began to hit the beast with furious abandon. Five more slashes and the beast lay dead on the floor. Slayde looked it over and removed the chest plate and stashed it in his bag. I will have use of that. Raena dear, could you please take us to Avalon?"

Raena pulled out her bag of silver dust and spoke the words,” Shamanch Rhie Rhom!Avalon!” The portal opened to Avalon and they all stepped through to the sight of the Valudus and Rahnyah being Hailed King and Queen on their wedding night. Hadassah's eyes opened in shock to see her mother on the edge of the lake of Avalon. It had been two years since the last time she saw her.

Looking up at the flash of light as they all filed through Rahnyah grabbed Valudus’s arm and whispered.” That’s my daughter Hadassah, the one in the purple cloak.” Leading her down from the altar he led her over to her daughter and they embraced.” Oh mother you look so beautiful!” She said as she stepped back looking at her step father.” Welcome to the family your majesty.” She said as she elegantly bowed before them. “ Mom, Stu is so amazing. He is here, right over there!” Turning to her old friend she embraced him warmly.

” Congratulations on your wedding your majesty you deserve much happiness.” “ Oh thank you Stu it has been quite a long time, come and join the festivities tonight .” Weiblich hugged her and went to speak to one of the priests he knew from his younger years near old Glastonbury when he was a friar. He told them of the foul creatures below the monastery in Russia and the older priest nodded and replied,” I had known for a time. It had been rumored among the abbeys that the shade of Rasputin roamed the catacombs and brought the evil there.” Stu’s eyes widened and spoke slowly,” The young warlock actually found the vial that held his shade and she captured him and is now tormenting his soul. I actually,Lord above please forgive me.” He said looking up.” I find it quite amusing that such a man should finely find his forever in the clutches of a warlock, hell bent on making him pay for his crimes of murdering the Romanov family.” 

The older priest began to laugh out loud. Looking around he called to Hadassah.” Young lady please come here and show me the rat Rasputin.” With a evil grin she rubbed the vial and called the shade out.” Sputtering in anger he materialized in front of them. “ How many time do I have to tell you I did not sign a contract with Lucifer for nothing. This was not in the contract! I was assured my revenge on that blasted family!” Everyone nearby laughed and pointed at Rasputin.” See what you get for messing with good people, you end up in a itty bitty jar praying the warlock needs your stupid ass.” Some by stander said with venom and spite. “ Ok send me away now mistress . Unless you want me to kill something. ”He said in a more calm manner. “ No thank you that will be all you tiny bit of worm slime.” With that the shade disappeared into the vial. Clasping Hadassah on the arm.” Well done child, well done.”

Much to her surprise, as young Hadassah turned ,she saw Richard standing on the edge of the lake some hundred yards away. Only he would have a cloak that red. She had been trained by him after she told her mother she was too dark to just be a mage. Hadassah slid up beside him and said," What Pray tell is the Black Pope and Lord of the Thirteen Hells doing here?" Richard turned and said," Ahh Hadassah! So good ot see you." He splayed his arms wide and hugged her tight twirling her around slightly and putting her feet back on the ground saying," You forgot The Mayor of a small town on the coast of Rhode Island." She smirked and nodded," Yes, Of course, the local gentry.She motioned for him to folow her. " I need to go say hi to mother, it seems she got married to Val? Ok what happened to Ishellia? Now I really gotta go find out what is going on." Tugging Richard's arm she said," Is that a crown on my mother's head?" Richard looked at her raising an eyebrow," So, I assume you did not know that your mother is now the Lorthramarian queen?" She looked at him exasperated and said," I have been in Russia trying ot find my asshole father to give him a piece of my shadow spikes." Richard winced slightly, He knew how pissed Hadassah could get and it was best to stay out of her way when she got that way because no good could ever come from trying to hold her back. 

She brought him nearer her mother and the king and they listened to what they needed to find. Everyone was happy the sword of St. Catherine had been found. Richard brightened up quickly and set his glass of wine upon the table in front of him," You know, I have been alive for over a thousand years. I was born July 13th 1969. I am still the mayor of a small town off the coast of Rhoade Island. I just leave every so often from there to make them think I am a descendant of the ancient Mayor and that the position is handed down father to son or family member. Anyway," He said as he shook himself back from his reverie." Anyway, Back to the point. There is a medallion in South America that was owned by the deceased Incan High priests. A medallion of the Incan God Supay . There is also a golden idol bust apparently for other things that I have been interested in for some time. The pendant is rumored to be able to control the bloody dead." He finished as he made his fingers into the shape of a steeple and smiled at Hadassah already knowing that was where she wanted to go. Hadassah smirked," But ,is  the pendant going to be mine or yours?" Richard looked at her and winked," whichever one of us gets to it first." The young woman shrugged slightly and nodded her agreement.

Rahnyah looked at her new husband and spoke," Well sire, what do you think? Val looked at his new wife and spoke softly," Well, if the medallion controls the dead then we could have use of it going across Gahennah when we storm the citadel of Lucifer. Yes, let them go." Hadassah smiled and bounced over to her mother, could you please open a portal for us?" Rahnayh smiled and flicked her fingers and said," Shemanch Rhie Rhom, The jungle of Columbia south America," and the portal opened. Hadassah and Richard stepped through and landed on the other side. The young woman landed on her backside and Richard wobbled a bit but retained his composure. She stood up slowly rubbing her backside.

Looking around at the vegetation, he pulled out a compass and tapped it slightly. It fidgeted slightly and then pointed to the left. He looked at the young woman in front of him and said," Ok , we should go this way." He said without hesitation. When she looked at the compass she smirked," Did you enchant that thing to tell you where to go when you wanted it too?" The immortal looked at her and smirked. " Only a warlock would see that. Ok, onwards and upwards. To the Temple we go!" 

The two walked for some time through the jungle, Richard leading the way, hacking at the foliage in front of him with his machete that he pulled off the back of his rucksack. Hadassah was starting to get dizzy and nauseated as they walked. She stopped for a moment to get her bearings and moved on swallowing hard. Twenty minutes later her head was just pounding. She could feel her pulse in her temples and stumbled slightly running into Richard. He stopped and turned around and noticed that she was holding her head, taking deep breaths." Richard was flippantly rolling three obsidian spheres in his hand and spoke," When you look around at everything the retnal signals  to the brain cause motion sickness. Make sure you look only at the ground and slightly ahead so you don't like step on a snake and such. I think we are getting close. See that vegetation?" He said as he pointed to a spot about two hundred yards away. The vegetation was distorted like it had crept over a large idol of some kind.

She swallowed hard fighting back the urge to vomit and nodded her affirmation and indicated for him to take the lead. they had been walking for  a minute or two towards the right when he turned and said," Hadassah, you know I have some herbs that will he-." He said as he heard a dry cracking sound and the ground fall from beneath his feet. He fell fifteen feet down into a room with a large table in the center filled with perfectly made, buttery Peruvian flake cocaine on it. The young woman rushed forward and leaned over the edge just in time for the plume of cocaine to burst forth from the room below and cover her upper torso, face and head in the powder.

She turned slightly blinking her eyes as powder fell off from her face. She blew out a few times sending little plumes of cocaine into the air. When she had cleared her airways she looked down into the room. the dust was settling somewhat and she could make our Richard's form below. He hopped up from the table and on to the floor and swished around for a minute and did a Micheal Jackson thriller move. Then looking around he spontaneously broke into song, " The fuck, the fuck? The Fuck is in the air. The fuck? the Fuck? There's white shit everywhere. The fuck? the fuck? It's like the 90's up in here. The fuck? the fuck? a bug is in my skin. Oh yeah !that's fucking normal ." He said as he plucked the nano bot off his skin and flicked  it then pointed forefinger in the air. He began to pant rapidly then fell over like a tombstone heart attack eminent. 

(Speeding to the inside of his body, Nano bots scurried everywhere and rapidly and randomly defibrillating his heart and organs into working again.)

Taking in a deep breath, he opened his eyes and jumped up thinking to himself," How many times had these damn nano bots stopped him from dying? He agreed to be a test case for this vaccine back in 2020 just after the Corona virus pandemic and most of the people who got the vaccine turned cannibalistic.  Not that he didn't have those urges, he just had enough control over his mind to not descend into that kind of insanity."

Looking around him he saw brick after brick along the wall land opened his rucksack and started loading it down with kilo bricks of cocaine." Hey Hadassah." He said as he looked up." You need to come down here. You have to try this shit."  she leaned over the hole and said," What? I am not coming down there! Enough is coming up here. Hey, I don't need those herbs now. I can't feel my face." She said as she poked her face.

Richard twirled about the room when an old song came into his head and he started singing it." I can't feel my face when I'm with you. But I like it. But I like it." He stopped and looked down at his crotch his dick bulging out," Hey , why don't you come down here and take care of this." Looking down Hadassah saw that his member hung down to his knee. Flippantly she retorted, " Maybe when you come back up here. Do you see anyway out?" He looked around and saw a door and spoke," Um, you are going to have to come down here , just avoid the cocaine you have powers but I have the nano bots." Nodding that she understood him she dropped down into the room as elegantly as any wolf could and made her way to where he was standing.

They both pushed on the door until it cracked and opened to a pathway that they needed that seemed to be where they needed to go. Vegetation was thick overhead making it into a tunnel. " Wow! I feel great I don't have a headache anymore. What is that stuff anyway?" She said quickly feeling it's effects on her body. Richard smirked," That my dear is what they call cocaine. It was the rave in the late 1900's and early 2000's. Then like all fad drugs it fell by the wayside especially after the cracking of the Moon incident, Everyone was worried about survival that cocaine was forgotten and well we found a stash of it." As they were walking down the tunnel path he moved forward and placed his hand on the small of her back and whispered," Take off that jewel and let me see your true form. I can feel your tail, let me see it." 

Lustful passion filled her as she felt him unclasp her necklace and felt it slide down her breasts where she clasped it with her hematite claws and put it in her pocket. She turned around so Richard could see her full form. Her face and body had almost a soft crushed velvet fur. Her face surrounding her hair like were slight hematite protrusions and they went all the way down her neck to the tip of her tail. he playfully turned her slightly and grasped the base of her tail pulling her to him." She looked over her shoulder." Uh uh, that thing will never fit in me." She said as she smirked. Richard said huskily, : I take that as a challenge, come here you beautiful beastie." She wrapped her arms around his neck and he pulled them back into the jungle. A few moments later, Her excited voice  came from behind the foliage saying," Oh my!"