Bovodar and the Bears Was Inspired By Vikings

Bodvar Bjarki in bear form fights in his last battle for King Hrólf.

Perhaps the following is an obscure fact for American audiences.  But Norwegians who've read Bovodar and the Bears instantly recognized the Norse themes woven throughout the story.  Most obvious to them is the very name of the protagonist: Bovodar Yarkery.  Perhaps to us Americans this sounds like I picked out a strange and contrived name.  However, a Norwegian native will instantly recognize the altered name of Bödvar Bjarki.  

"Who is Bödvar Bjarki," you ask?  This beloved figure is one of the main characters from The Saga of Hrólf Kraki.  This Old Norse tale is about the adventures of the legendary 5th century king, Hrólfr Kraki.  The character Bödvar Bjarki is one of Hrólfr's twelve great berserkers.  Many fantastic events and magical wonders transpire during this tale, involving treasure hunts, surprise attacks, trolls, other magical creatures, and a cleverly-disguised Odin.  As for Bödvar Bjarki, he had the power to shapeshift into a bear.  In fact, his name actually translates to "warlike little bear."  At one point in The Saga, Bödvar's body is actually asleep, while his spirit takes on the form of a bear who fights for Hrólfr against an army of fierce warriors, criminals, elves, and norns---all who were formerly hidden and empowered by the witchcraft of the half-elf, Skuld.  

With all of this talk about bears, berserkers, treasure hunting, magic, shapeshifting, and high adventure, it shouldn't be too hard now to understand what part of the world a lot of B&B's inspiration draws from.  And while it may be true that a lot of the geography and landscape of B&B borrows from the lands of the Western Hemisphere, it is clear that the characters and the story draws a lot of inspiration from the Old Norse legends and fairy tales of old. 

 

The Curious Case of UFOlogist Dr. Steven Greer

I've been trying to take my mind off of mainstream news for the past month.  Instead, I've been putting my mind more into escapist pursuits.  One particular topic that's always had my attention is the UFO topic.  I very much enjoy watching documentaries about aliens and the UFO craze.  I suppose it's been this way all my life.  I started off watching this topic being covered on Unsolved Mysteries back in the 1980s, and then in the 1990s, I remember watching discussions about alien abductions on the show Sightings.  I also can distinctly remember watching reruns of In Search Of, featuring Leonard Nimoy in the late 90s.  I think it was shown on the A&E channel.  

Funnily enough, I haven't watched the Ancient Aliens series.  I think at some point I got burned out on the topic once it became more mainstream.  But also, I had already read and thought about a lot of that show's content, and so it seemed like old news to me.  I never really bought in to the whole Nibiru speculation.  My opinion about the nature of these "alien visitations" is more along the lines of this article, actually.  I truly feel that the (largely) American phenomenon of UFO sightings is actually the very same phenomenon of medieval fairy sightings that much of Europe has as its tradition.  In fact, I'm very comfortable with the idea that these visitors are actually a third kind of angelic species that is different from Heaven-angels and demons.  I am, of course, referring to the ancient lore of how Watcher angels intermingled with humans, taught them many things, and even interbred with them---the stuff you read about in Genesis and the Book of Enoch.  

So, for me, aliens are synonymous with angels or even fairies.  And so with these considerations, I've also been listening to the Scary Fairy Godmother podcasts this past winter.  And man, are they chilling.  If you want to have a hard time getting to sleep, listen to one of these narrations before bed, alone, in a dark room.  Or perhaps even alone on a drive through the night.  My favorite one is the episode about the green light fairy.  

Enter Dr. Steven Greer

I love this guy.  I don't think that 100% of what he says is true, but I feel that a lot of it is.  And even if some of what he's saying is wrong and contains fallacies, it's just fun to suspend disbelief for a while and hear his enthusiastic talks about UFOs.  His two most entertaining documentaries are Unacknowledged and Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind.  Very slick productions, they are extremely easy to watch if you have the time.  

Unacknowledged discusses how the U.S. federal government and other powers that be have worked hard to make sure that the everyday man has no idea of what's going on with what pseudo corporate-gov forces are doing with UFO sightings and captured alien craft.  And, you know, I must say that I truly do believe that there is some sort of a shadow group out there that's beyond the power of the feds, and I think they're doing something with these entities.  If you watch the documentary Mirage Men, I think you will also be convinced that the feds are working to conceal information about this matter from the general public, based on the meticulous gaslighting campaigns they've orchestrated in the past.  There's also plenty of testimony at this point (for example THIS) from military men who've had up-close-and-personal experiences with these craft.  And let's not forget that there's been plenty of reports of how, when testing the launch of nuclear weapons, there always seems to be an "alien craft" nearby---and that these entities even will nullify the nuclear weapon so that it becomes harmless, frustrating the human operators on the ground.  

Unacknowledged becomes even more interesting towards it's conclusion, when Greer starts discussing the idea that these dark corporate-gov powers are planning to initiate some kind of a grand false flag to trick the entire world.  This makes sense to me, given that we now have a Space Force.  Greer goes on to tell us that American parties have duplicated the technology of these entities, and that many times when people spot a UFO in the sky, it's actually "one of ours."  And so, these different man-made UFO craft will be utilized to fake a worldwide attack that will be blamed on space aliens from another solar system.  It's all very fascinating to speculate.

The documentary, Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind, is even more wild and fascinating, but I buy into some of that as well.  By this documentary, Greer has concluded that these entities are utilizing telepathy and other psychic/telekinetic power to materialize in and out of our atmosphere.  This same mind power is utilized to change the shape of their craft or even appear out of thin air.  This also makes sense, given the many testimonies of how, during alien close encounters, the entities do not move their mouths when there is communication, and how they seem to float, rather than walk, or that they can seemingly move through walls.  And in the context of the notion these entities are fairies/fey folk/watcher angels, it all seems consistent to me.  

Another thing put forward in Close Encounters of the Fifth Kind is the idea that Greer and his team are able to actually summon these entities through meditation.  The documentary has some wild footage of UFOs, and I can't decide if I'm seeing something authentic or computer generated.  But it sure is fun to watch.  And then there's about three highly speculative photos of purported aliens materializing in or near the group who's trying to channel these beings.  They look a bit weird, but I can't imagine these photos being fakes.  Were Greer and his people to make fake photos of aliens, they'd probably look better than this.

Sounds Like Things John Dee Would Do

I definitely believe that Greer and his team are able to channel these entities.  But I do not think this because Greer and his people have latched on to the special psychic key that unlocks interstellar technology and communication with intergalactic, highly-evolved extraterrestrials.  No, I do not think this.  But when taken in the context that these entities are the very same people as the Fey Folk, the Watchers, the "powers of the air," then I most certainly think that "summoning" makes sense.  In that context, what Greer is accomplishing is no different from the same thing performed by John Dee during Elizabethan England.  John Dee wanted to communicate with angels, and so he used techniques he borrowed from the Jewish Cabala.  I once read E. Michael Jones discuss Dee's efforts as an attempt to improve "the technology" of his era. 

Dee was most probably sent abroad to learn Cabala because both Dee and Cecil considered Cabala the cutting edge of the new science and the new intelligence technology. 

[...] 

Dee promoted imperialism, magic, usury, and the occult science as state of the art intelligence technology. "Dee is certainly following Agrippa's outline in the De occulta philosophia and that was a work founded on Renaissance Magic and Cabala. Also he hints in the Preface at higher secrets which he is not here revealing, probably the secrets of the angel-magic." 

[...] 

In an age when the King of Spain, England's archenemy, owned the gold mines of the new world, all of this had political and military implications, which is most certainly why Dee went to the continent to learn Talmudic technology and most probably why he went there as Cecil's agent. There is an obvious connection between magic and prayer: the former is a parody of the latter with supplication replaced by command.

[...]

The Steganographia brought together two of Dee's interests: angels and what later came to be known as encryption technology. In Steganographia, Trithemius proposed using angels as God did, as messengers. Trithemius's encryption system was simple. Volumes I and II of the Steganographia gave long lists of angel names, along with details on the powers of each, followed by conjurations to call them into service. Once an angel-Padiel, for example-appeared, Trithemius would hand over the message; Padiel would take it to the recipient, who would then mutter another incantation, whereupon the original message would be revealed. It was the occult version of the Western Union telegram, except the messengers were angels, and the master of this encryption technology was, if successful, indistinguishable from God. Woolley claims the Steganographia is "primarily a work of cryptography, not magic.' .... But neither Dee nor Trithemius distinguishes between the two disciplines. Books I and II "were full of ciphers, for which Europe's political tensions had produced a growing demand." But if angels could spare the spy operations the trouble of encryption, so much the better. In the 16th Century, information traveled at the speed of a horse-unless, of course, angels carried it.

- from E. Michael Jones' The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit, Chapter 10: John Dee and the Magical Transformation of England

It sounds to me as though the entire enterprise of corporate-government forces trying to tinker with the affairs of these "space aliens" and, perhaps, even reverse-engineer whatever they may have is strikingly similar to what John Dee attempted to achieve back in the 1580s.  John Dee actually succeeded when he tried to contact what he thought were angels.  Something responded to him, though it could hardly be said that they were actually angels.  At best, he was dabbling with fey Watchers, but more likely he was consorting with demons.  Whichever the case, the entities ended up suggesting Dee share his wife with other men, they'd discuss the death dates of prominent rulers, and they had Dee going around in circles about how "God's language" is spoken, yet never revealing anything useful.

It furthermore makes sense that a "John Dee situation" is likely the same kind of relationship that the shadow government is engaged in with these entities we call aliens.  But perhaps for a greater understanding, consider the documentary UFO Secret - The Friendship Case - Extraordinary Case of Mass Alien Contact.  This documentary actually shows "aliens" in a different kind of light.  In this account, we travel to Italy, where a group of young men have an encounter with "aliens" who very much look like human beings.  These entities were actually capable of causing things to materialize out of thin air, such as crumpled up notes.  And they asked at one point for delivery of fruit and food.  The kinds of situations described in the Friendship Case documentary are more striking as hijinks and gags meant to toy with human beings.  It all hardly seems like the actions of an extraterrestrial presence trying to usher humanity into a Star Trek future, and more like the flirtatious joke of a fey peoples who have a line they refuse to cross when it comes to human affairs.  

It is a concept that I've only seen one man dare to approach, the eminent Dr. Jacques Vallée.

Returning to Dr. Greer       

Is the government obtaining anything useful from their commerce with these entities?  I suppose it's possible.  We've obtained material from the fey before.  We have the Fairy Flag of Dunvegen Castle, The Oldenburg Horn, and snippets of their music.  Perhaps the ingenuity of modern Americans truly has captured different craft from these fey folk in the hopes of reverse engineering them.  Besides, the idea of a craft used by higher beings is not new.  Consider the Vimāna of the ancient Hindu texts.  These legends of flying chariots involve powerful men flying around in the sky, warring with one another, and using powerful weapons against each other in Northern India.  It's all very fascinating.      

But when it comes to the phenomenon of our day---the UFO phenomenon---many people get caught up in the idea that we are dealing with the modern notion that these are alien creatures from another planet, another solar system, or even another galaxy.  People like Dr. Greer think that these entities have traversed the interstellar medium using a psychic kind of technology that allows them to seamlessly pass through space and time, across vast distances.  He looks at these entities as space aliens, like something from a science fiction series, and that they are a part of some kind of a galactic federation that we are not yet a part of.  

To me, Greer appears close-minded.  He, like most people, cannot escape the gravitational pull of the 20th and 21st Century's mania about space aliens.  His earth-bound mind is made even more apparent when he references things like string theory and quantum physics, which are highly debatable and likely flawed concepts.  He references trendy myths of our day, such as evolution and anthropogenic climate change, which is utterly preposterous.  He looks at "aliens" as an advanced civilization.  He wants to put together a rock concert to gin up enthusiasm for the declassification of UFO encounters.  When he considers the human race, he chuckles with disdain and disgust and puts us down---so it really comes off as though he's looking at "space aliens" as a group who can deliver mankind out of ignorance.  Greer is spot-on about the idea of these entities being able to travel inter-dimensionally.  But he slips up and shows his new age, leftist bias when he puts forward these kinds of absurd notions.  

Dr. Steven Greer comes off as a man who's "got this UFO thing figured out."  The slick production of his documentaries attest to this.  So when he gets together groups of people to have sessions that involve meditation to "summon" alien craft, it really comes off as if Greer is "in the know" when it comes to outer space peoples.  But in reality, I believe, Greer's actions are no different from that of John Dee's.  His meditation is merely a prayer to the fey, a submission to a higher power that's always been here, ready to fool him.  Greer thinks he's bypassing the dark corporate-gov powers when he chooses to communicate with UFOs directly.  But in reality, he's getting wrapped up in the same spiral as them and everyone before them.  

I think there is a reason why God told mankind not to dabble with necromancy and calling upon the spirits.  And it seems to me that the fey also have a line that they also are not allowed to cross.  Some sort of rule for them that we don't know about.  And when people like John Dee, Cabalists, our deep state, or even Dr. Greer ignore that line and try to glitch the matrix of the natural universe to find a way to cheat and toy with reality like this, it can only end in disappointment.    

 

Chatting With Comic Stars, Legends, & The Rollout Of Excellence

Mary MacArthur has released some step-by-step photos of how she put together the new cover for Bovodar and the Bears.

Ladies and gentlemen, the woman uses paints. Gouache painting, to be specific. The end product is amazing, I must say. However, seeing photos of the process of making the cover art simply blows my mind. The final cover art has been released to no one, as of yet.

And again, if you want some sneak peeks as to what we're working on, I recommend subscribing to our monthly newsletter. (Click HERE to go to the form.)


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As I was explaining earlier this week in my last post, I've been marveling at my need for an entirely new catalog of terminology in order to write out comic script for Mary.

On Facebook, I asked Jon Del Arroz and Chuck Dixon---yes, I'm talking about the famous up-and-coming comic artist as well as the famous comic writer for DC---about whether or not they had any experience in turning novels into comic books. The following conversation ensued (posted with permission):


Jack Mikkelson - Author Jon Del Arroz or Chuck Dixon, do you guys have any experience in turning novels into comic books? I'm basically re-writing the book! (Which is fine, of course.)

Chuck Dixon LOADS. My bestselling book is an adaption of The Hobbit. I've also adapted:
The Forgotten Man
Call of the Wild
Some of Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time books.
Some other fantasy series I forget.
Clinton Cash
and I'm currently adapting John Ringo's zombie novels.

Jon Del Arroz Yep I did Richard Fox’s ember War. It’s more work than just writing a comic from scratch I find!

Jack Mikkelson - Author  Wow. Makes me wonder what I've taken on. But I'll say this, I am enjoying this process.  Jon, did you start off writing books/novels? Or did you jump straight into comics?

Jon Del Arroz   I would say I started my first novel first but then I got bored and wrote a bunch of comics and went back into the novel after. So both ;)

Jack Mikkelson - Author I understand. Leaving a text medium for a visual medium is more gratifying, I find. You can easily see pictures. Text has to be poured through, requiring more work. More thankless than comics, I find.

Chuck Dixon My advice? Eye candy. Eye candy. Eye candy. And consider moving some of the action around so that it's better spaced through the story. There HAS to be something going on visually ALL the time.

Jack Mikkelson - Author Noted. Thanks! I'm thinking that areas that drag a bit with dialogue should be punctuated with later action. For example, after a short spate of dialogue, it skips into the future: "Meanwhile, 5 days later..."

Jack Mikkelson - Author  I've purchased the graphic novel adaptation of The Hobbit. I'll be studying this closely soon. Thanks for your recommendations. I don't suppose they sell copies of the comic script, do they? (Probably not.)  Oh, and one more question if I still have your attention. Do you find that graphic novels sell better and attract more attention than the regular print works do?

Chuck Dixon NO! If I've learned anything in all my time in comics is that the greater reading audience for fiction actively HATE comics. Prose has a MUCH larger potential audience. I mean, 1000 times greater. Comics have turned themselves into a boutique industry,

Jack Mikkelson - Author WOW. I thought that telling a story through the visual medium would be more accessible for wider audiences. This amazes me. Mr. Dixon, may I share this conversation we had today over on my blog later? I'm just amazed by this.

Chuck Dixon Sure!


I also got permission from Jon Del Arroz through Messenger to publish this shortly before I posted this blog post. 

I was very surprised when I read Dixon telling me that fiction readers HATE comics.  I've thought for a few years, now, that Bovodar's adventures would be best told through a visual medium.  But the idea that fiction readers would disdain a comic form of the novel?  I'd never considered that.  Perhaps videogames or shorts from the story on YouTube would do even better with audiences?  Who knows?  

I can say one thing, though.  This artwork that MacArthur is doing for this series is fantastic.  She puts a lot of attention, heart, and soul into the effort, and the end result is quality work.  It shows, it's impressive, and there will be more of it.  We have so much for you all.  It's a pleasure to tell this story for you guys.      

Writing Comic Script: The Search For Body Gesture Terminology

Tonight, I was working on some things for my illustrator.  As this blog's readers will know, we're in the process of making Bovodar and the Bears into a comic series or a graphic novel.  In fact, subscribers to the newsletter (click HERE if you want to subscribe) will have already seen a preview of this comic series in this month's e-mail. 

Now, I find that writing fiction for an audience and writing a comic script for an illustrator are two completely different and very involved processes.  As many people are aware, when writing a work of fiction, you have to first put it on paper.  Then go over it to clean it up.  Then edit it again.  Then have someone look at it.  And maybe another person.  Then you go over it again.  You're always refining the work until it's presentable. 

But I am in the process of slowly transforming a novel into a comic book script format for my illustrator.  I'm doing this to give her a visual idea of what to specifically draw various scenes.  And describing a scene to an illustrator and describing a scene to a reading audience are two entirely different things. 

For example, several times in this process, I've been trying to explain to her a few gestures or facial expressions.  It would be helpful to have a catalog of body or hand gestures, as well as a dictionary/encyclopedia of facial expressions.  But I'm unsure if these things exist.  And if they do, I'm unsure I can currently afford such volumes.  Time will tell.

But I find it fascinating that I'm having to basically re-write an entire novel all over again---AND in an entirely different way---in order to pull these images out of the ether of my imagination, translate them through an illustrator, and get them onto paper for the rest of the reading/viewing world.  It's as though we are trying to psychically photograph a scene from another dimension that we can only visit in our dreams.  Writing comic script requires a knowledge of a whole new terminology, among other things.  It's been a fascinating medium to break into, and I can see so much potential in it.  Comics/graphic illustrations are set up more like a sort of 2-D theater, while raw text fiction remains an abstraction that not everyone will have the patience to see. 

Civilized Animal Productions

Recently I have been following the work of Paul Aspen.  He runs an outfit called Civilized Animal Productions, which has been putting out a video every Sunday for at least the past month.  I've been enjoying his videos very much, I've talked to him personally, and the man is very helpful when it comes to organizing content output. 

This past month, Aspen's been discussing a writer's time management. 

One of the chief things I noted right away was when he brought up how writers have different energy levels for their writing.  For example, in a day, you might have only so much time for Grade A "pure creativity" content writing.  But you may burn through that after a while, and by the end of the day, you only have lower grades of "writing energy" that are only fit to be applied towards blogging or marketing efforts.

I'd recommend checking him out.  His website for Civilized Animal Productions can be found here.  You can also follow him on Facebook, as I have been doing, and watch his Sunday podcasts.  He's been quite helpful to me, and I would recommend him to other writers in need for some external advice.

Lord of the Two Lands, Part 5

I will admit, I've been watching The Thing lately.  (The 80s version and the one from 2011.)

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Part 5

The old tycoon snarled and stomped and pointed his finger up at the count and his spokesman.  "How dare you play such tricks.  You honestly think we'll fall for something this far fetched?  Sorcery doesn't do things like this.  Street magicians do this.  We've wasted our time coming here.  Send my fire back to her flat when you're done with her."  He turned his back to the count, making his way off of the circular sidewalk.  He snarled again, adjusted his neck, and loosened his collar.

Yet then, he heard the shuffling of many feet behind him, and all of his colleagues once more spoke in unison with one voice: "Fashioned, was he, to be the sole ruler, the Lord of the Two Lands."

He turned and saw his associates and friends gathered around the obelisk, staring at him.  Behind the crowd towered the count.  He must have been over seven feet in height.  His delegate remained at his side, and in the back shadows stood his private security detail.  A moment passed.  The crowd flinched and woke from their spell.  Blinking their eyes and rubbing their hands, they looked at one another in confusion.

The count who stood as a statue for so long lifted his arms into the air, his palms facing upward.  He rolled his eyes back, closed them, and re-opened them.  Now they were white and almost glowing.  He opened his mouth, baring his teeth---his top two incisors sharp and pointy.  He looked upward into the sky, as did everyone.  Two lights, high in the air, descended to the place where they all were.  One light on each side of the obelisk hovered above the ground.  The count's head contorted itself, so that the nose came far out, and his ears rose up.  In the end, his head resembled that of an ancient Egyptian jackal.

The spy in the bushes cowered and lie prostrate on the ground, trembling and covered in sweat.  Surely all of the light will reveal my hiding spot, he thought.

The wealthy crowd stared with open jaws as they marveled at the count and the lights on each side of the obelisk.  The old tycoon stepped back to take in the scene before him.  All at once, everyone flinched and held onto their heads.  Then some fell to the ground on their hands and knees.  Others kept standing.  Their forms were changing.  One man turned a dark slimy green, his transformation ending once he resembled a man-frog.  Another fell down and metamorphed into a bull.  Other men and women moaned and cried out as they changed into other animals.

Smoke rose into the air amidst all the tumult, and the air reeked of burning cauterized flesh.  Some of the wealthy couples had their own security personnel waiting for them at the carriages, but when the noises, lights, and smoke began, all of the guards rushed up the stairs and beheld a cacophany of human beings caught up in a painful orgy of screeching, swelling, pulsing flesh, some being absorbed into one another, others fusing together.  Struck dumb with confusion, the guards of the aristocrats paused in fright at the roars, the bleating, and the screaming.  They couldn't make sense of the fangs, jowls, claws, batwings, and slithering, half-absorbed people, or the strange sight of half-man half-fish creature.  When they reached for their guns, they were gone.  As were the tazers and batons.  In short order they, too, fell to the ground and writhed in agony, themselves transforming until they became pigs.

Apart from the security men, three men, writhing on the ground, were dragged by an invisible force into each other.  Their clothes ripped from their bodies as though something was violently stripping them naked.  Their groans became muffled as their mouths disappeared, and in a gruesome display, the flesh of the trio formed together in one great mass with six legs sticking out, and the change continued until a single head of a lion emerged, and the six legs became that of six goat legs going around the main body of the creature like a wheel.  Another person, who it was the still-normal tycoon couldn't tell, was doubled up on the ground, their upper torso turned into the bust of a hawk.  Still another person was changed into a goat-man who fell over himself when he tried standing on his hooved feet.

When it all appeared finished, the frog-man and the cat-woman were dragged by an invisible force into one another, and when they fused, they became a two-headed creature---one head cat, the other head a frog---atop a base of spider legs.  While most of the other elites were transformed into animals or half-animals, this fusion of the tycoon's wife and the frog-man was the most unnatural of them all, and it caused the sweaty, flush old man to step back a little further.  This horrendous display was all for him.

"The express resemblance of the gods is changed into some brutish form!" laughed the count's spokesman.  "And they, so perfect is their misery, not once perceived their foul disfigurement, but boast themselves more comely than before.  And all their friends and native home forget, and they roule with pleasure in a sensual sty."

"Supreme Therion!" the wealthy man uttered, bowing.  "I have vast wealth.  Connections.  Infrastructure.  We can set up great things if we work together.  Tonight alone, you've liquidated over a third of my competitors.  Work with me!  Teach me your magick!  Let me be your corporate representative.  I have so much I can offer you!

A sharp pain suddenly brought the tycoon to his knees. His hair falling out, including that of his moustache and his eyebrows, he brought his hands to his face.  Something was happening to him, though he was not transforming as of yet.  Then, an invisible hand grabbed at his feet, dragging him screaming, until he was brought into the melded cat and frog creature.  After becoming absorbed into the monster, two more spider legs grew out of the creature's base, yet the original head of the man remained.  Thus, the creature was such, that it contained the head of a cat, a frog, and an old man atop a base of spider legs.

The count's smirking spokesman stepped towards the spider creature and crowned the old man's head with a wreath of leaves---a prop from the earlier play.  "My lord was more interested in a merger, I do believe."

The tumultuous herd of animals and creatures moaned and squealed, bleated and grunted.  The lights hovering on each side of the obelisk grew ever-brighter, until finally everything became white.  When the light disappeared, everyone was gone.  The man in the bushes breathed a sigh of relief.  He looked all around, but found there was no one there but him.  The count, his men, the rich aristocrats, and even the line of carriages were gone.  In fact, there were even a few people strolling the sidewalks.

Slowly, he made his way up to the obelisk, which now was only lit by the streetlamps that encircled it.  On the ground lay the cup and the necromancer wand from the earlier play.  He picked them up and found them to be harmless.  He quickly looked all around himself, swiftly returning his eyes to the two props in his hands.

"So there you are," said a voice.  He looked up.  It was the count's spokesman standing in front of him.  Behind towered the dark count, staring straight into his eyes.  "Did you enjoy your vacation?"
The fearful man fell back onto the ground, scooting away.  "No one who knows Lord Nobilious' name in this world escapes us.  You ought to know that."  He stood, turned, and bolted off toward the Great Lawn.  "It's time to come home," yelled the voice.

He thought he was well away and out of danger from the count.  But then, he found himself falling over, and rolling on the ground.  When he looked at his own body, he found he was no longer a man, but a dog.  He barked into the night and ran for his life out of Central Park.   

Lord of the Two Lands, Part 4

Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4

Part 5

The conversation was difficult to hear.  A power couple approached the count and asked something.  But their question was difficult to make out.  A lone man spoke on behalf of the count, who stood tall, dark, and silent, his eyes staring onward, beyond everything around him.  But then, after the spokesman talked, the husband, an older man in a tuxedo with a grey mustache and blue eyes, raised his voice in a temper, and he was easier to hear.

"Ley lines and Freemason rituals.  All very fascinating," said the indignant man.  His face darkened into a red hue.  "But we didn't come here for a history lesson.  We've taken a risk bringing our friends out here like this.  These are not ordinary people."  As the man spoke, two of the count's security men tensed up, edged forward, and closed in just a little around the count.  "We have properties all over this city.  We own foundations.  We have dual citizenship.  You have a lot of powerful people here.  Now, if you're just some eccentric millionaire, then our business is through, and you will pay for wasting our time tonight.  But---"

"But if you're what we think you are," interrupted the tycoon's younger wife, "and you're the sorcerer we've all heard that you are, then it's time to build bridges and make alliances.  So, tell me.  Are you, by any chance Egyptian?  Is that why you brought us out here to this obelisk?"

The speaker smiled diplomatically and extended his hand out, as the count continued to stand silent, cold, and taller than everyone standing in the circle that surrounded the monument.  "My master has spent a great amount of time in Egypt and Mesopotamia, though also a lot of time spent throughout Europe as well."

"A citizen of the world," smiled the woman.  "So, what can you tell us about Egypt that we couldn't read out of a book?  Do you know something more than what's in that museum over there?"  She pointed east, towards the Metropolitan Museum of Art. 

Her smile was the only one amid a grim collection of stony faces.  The rest of the group of moguls and their wives crowded in around the woman, their pupils dilated and their eyes staring straight, as though they were no longer themselves.  Together, in unison, the crowd chanted together, "Read it.  Read the stone."  And at this, her jaw dropped, her lower red lip quivering almost in fear, were it not for the thrilled look in her seductive young eyes. 

"Read here, my lady," said the count's delegate.  He bent over and pointed down to a plaque at the base of the obelisk.  "Read this right here.  Read loud enough for everyone to hear you."

She leaned over, and as she did, the eyes of the crowd returned to normal.  They all leaned in, watching her, curious to hear what she would say.  She read, a flirtatious smile returning to her lips: "The golden Horus, content with victory, who smiteth the rulers of the nations." 

"That is who my master is," said the count's spokesman.  "He 'smites the rulers of the nations,' as you can read here.  Look, now."  The count held in his hands the necromancer's wand and the magical cup from the play.  No one saw how he got them.  Perhaps the director gave them to him as a memento.  Whatever the case, in that moment, it was as though he pulled those props straight out of the air.  The count handed the glass over to his delegate, still saying not a single word, but now he looked down at the woman as his speaker continued: "My dear lady, 'you invert the covenants of Nature's trust, and harshly deal like an ill borrower with that you received on other terms!  Refreshment after toil, ease after pain, that have been tired all day without repast, and timely rest have wanted!  But, fair virgin, this will restore all soon!'"

He shuffled himself, there in the bushes.  It was about to happen, and there was nothing he could do about it.  If he jumped out to stop what happened next, either the guards of the tycoons, or the guards of the count would pin him to the ground, and they'd disappear him that night.  No police presence in the city could protect him from these dangerous people. 

The tycoon's wife smiled more, the freckle on her cheek making her look all-the-more younger and coy.  Her eyes widened, and she played along: "T'will not restore the truth and honesty that thou hast banished from thy tongue with lies!" She turned her eyes from the delegate to the count himself, who looked down upon her with his amused ebony countenance.  She continued: "What grim aspects are these?  These ugly-headed monsters  Mercy guard me!  Hence, with thy brewed enchantments, foul deceiver, hast though betrayed my credulous innocence?"

She addressed the count, but again, it was his delegate who returned with his poetry.  And as he did so, he held out the glass to the lady once more, offering it to her to drink.  "List, Lady!  Be not coy, and be not cozened!  Beauty is nature's coin!  It must not be hoarded, but must be current, and the good thereof consists in mutual and partaken bliss!"

She pushed the cup away from herself, her husband's eyes wide and his face flush as he watched the exchange with the count's spokesman.  "I had not thought to have unlocked my lips in this unhallowed air, but that this Juggler would think to charm my judgement!"

Once more, though, the servant held out the glass to the lady, but this time the count extended his hand a little in the direction of the cup and the lady, gesturing for her to accept the gift.  The spokesman said: "But this will cure all straight!  One sip of this will bathe the drooping spirits in delight beyond the bliss of dreams.  Be wise, and taste!"

A bright smile grew across her face, and the rest of the small upper crust crowd leaned in to watch, as she accepted the cup with both of her hands, drawing it slowly to her lips, but never taking her eyes off of the count.  Perhaps she's rewarding the count for acknowledging her, he wondered.  "I drink this cup for the powers I serve."  And then she drank. 

Swiftly, her eyes flashed wide.  She dropped the cup.  Gasping, she clutched at her chest.  Bending over, she went down, moaning, grabbing onto her head, swaying back and forth, until she finally went to the ground and she was on her knees.  Turning black, her hair went into her head, but fur came all over her face and all parts of her.  She couldn't speak---her mouth was changing its shape.  Her feminine moans grew higher in their pitch until she no longer sounded like a woman.  Then there was a black tail that came out of her dress, and her eyes turned yellow, until finally she looked like a humanoid cat, collapsed on the ground and dazed.