Subj: Unicorn Rising CH. 5
Date: 5/28/00 4:11:50 PM Central Daylight Time
From: Charlene
Barnabas watched as Quentin flopped into the wing back chair by the fireplace, then he turned to face Eliot. He could see the excitement in his friends face. Another time, Barnabas would be the first one creating a plausible explanation for what Eliot had just overheard, but with the very real threat of Petofi facing his family, he just didn't have the time nor the concentration to do so at the moment. But, he had to act, had to do something to draw Eliot's attention elsewhere.
Stokes' face could not conceal his utter delight at having the chance to explore one of the mysteries he was currently interested in. Since his return from 1840, he had spent a great deal of time studying Barnabas and Quentin Collins, and for all that time, the only thing he was convinced of was that the cousin were more than they seemed. Now he had the chance to find out how much more.
"Eliot, " began Barnabas, "that's one of the reasons we invited you here tonight. You overheard correctly, Count Petofi has returned to Collinwood. The same Count Petofi Julia and I encountered in 1897."
"How has he come here?" Eliot inquired turning his attention from Quentin, who was taking the sherry Willie offered, to Barnabas.
"I don't know." Barnabas said, his gaze traveling towards his hands, then back to Eliot and Julia.
"Eliot, after I told you of my experiences with Petofi, you said you were going to do some research into his background. Did you?" asked Julia, hoping her old friend could help them.
"Actually, I did Julia. What I discovered was fascinating. The source of his powers is not Satanic. In fact they are quite older. Did you know he was a descendant of Medea?"
"Medea?" said Barnabas, a thoughtful expression crossing his somber face. " THE Medea?"
"Yes."
"Ok, who's Medea?" asked Quentin as he raised his arm to Willie holding an empty sherry glass. Willie retrieved the glass and went to pour Quentin another drink.
"Have you never heard the tale of Jason and The Argonauts?" asked Stokes in his best professor mode.
"I Have Professor." said Willie, "I remember seeing a movie about them when I was a kid. I remember me and my friends making fun of 'em cause all the men were in dresses, and ... "
"WILLIE!!" said Barnabas. The simple tone of voice was enough to draw complete silence from Willie.
Quentin spoke up, relieving the slight tension in the room. "I remember having the Greek Myths read to be when I was a child. But I don't remember enough for it to be helpful. Obviously Barnabas, you do?"
"I'm very familiar with the story, Medea was a sorceress."
"That's correct Barnabas." said Stokes. "But more than an ordinary sorceress. She was the daughter of the king of Colchis, a kingdom on the eastern shore of the Black Sea in what is now Turkey. She was also rumored to be the daughter of Hecate, an ancient goddess of the underworld. Goddess of ghosts, demons, sorcery and black magic."
"But according to the legend, didn't she kill her children by Jason." asked Julia.
"According to the legends, although after she fled Corinth she wed Aegeus, king of Athens and father of Theseus. After trying to have Theseus killed, she fled Athens back to Colchis with her children by Aegeus. There she and her descendants lived until around the 7th century A.D. when the Ottoman Empire was in power in that region. The descendants of Medea were said to cross the Black Sea to the western bank, settling somewhere near the mouth of the Danube in a region controlled by the Magyars, in the shadows of the Carpathian mountains.
They swore their allegiance to the Magyar rulers and received feudal serfdoms in return for using their powers to aid the Magyars. The family rules the surrounding countryside from their castle Storisende. There's an interesting legend about he castle itself, in one of the rooms, called the room of Aegeus, were three windows. Two gave a clear view to the outside world, but the middle window when opened showed a limitless gray twilight where nothing was clearly discernible but through which the descendants of Medea used their powers to show friends and enemies alike their future."
"Yes!" exclaimed Barnabas. " Petofi tried something similar to me, only he used a simple cupboard. He wanted to show me my own death, but I saw what was happening in this time."
"So, Petofi carries this power with him. Obviously then the power was not caused by the window but by those living in the castle. Fascinating. Well. Near the castle was the great Forest of Ogdon which was supposedly filled with many wondrous creatures, including a unicorn."
"Petofi claimed to have had the last unicorn. It was his most prized possession, but he killed it one night after being turned into a werewolf by the gypsies." added Barnabas.
"Yes, Petofi had many dealings with the gypsies, and wasn't always the winner. But you know that first hand, don't you Barnabas. Julia told me you had the hand of Petofi in your possession for a while."
"Yes, that's true. A great deal of his powers are centered in that hand, but he has considerable other powers even without it. What we need to know is how do we stop him?"
"That is a good question. He was a renowned alchemist. And, while I said his powers were not Satanic in origin, he was known to have participated in a few Black Masses in his youth. All in all, he was, or should I say is, a thoroughly evil being. Defeating him, as you know will not be an easy task. I'll have to look into this. I have some ideas."
"But you will help us with Petofi?" asked Quentin.
"Oh yes! I love a challenge and this certainly will be one.There are ways to defeat powers stemming from the ancient Greek Gods, but usually it takes powers stemming from another ancient Greek God to do so. That's where I'll begin, trying to find a way to defeat the powers granted by Hecate. What a fascinating challenge indeed."