Reuben Cabot: 3/23/97 (Part II)
We finally reached the head of the line. At the front, behind a massive wooden table, sat a man who could only be described as a stereotypical bureaucrat. He was dressed in a white oxford shirt, with a neutral beige tie, and blue pants - he looked as if he had stepped out of modern-day Washington, D.C. straight to this place. Behind him were two guards dressed in military uniforms that probably dated to World War I. Oddly, they carried not guns but swords in scabbards at their waists.
Looking at the papers he was shuffling before him, the bureaucrat said disinterestedly, "Anything to declare?"
We looked at each other, and Walks All Paths cleared his throat nervously and said, "Uh, no."
The bureaucrat finally looked up at us. After scanning the group, he looked closer at the garou and his eyes widened. "Nothing? You're sure?"
Walks All Paths shifted uncomfortably. "No, not that I know of."
The bureaucrat stood up and leaned over the table. "The you won't be declaring those swords you're carrying? Those SOULBITERS?" he said, incredulous. "Look, those stay out here. As does any metal you might be carrying. It'll dissolve the streets - you should know that."
"Oh. Um, just a minute." The garou motioned us to the side, and we held a hurried conference. We didn’t want to leave our possessions alone with this guy, but at the same time we had to get into the city to see Lord Balthazar. We decided to split up: Eric, Kasee, and Renee volunteered to wait with our possessions outside of the city, while Cab, Kevin, Walks All Paths, Dog, and myself would go in and see Lord Balthazar. We gave them our swords, daggers, coins, and any other metal we had and went back to the bureaucrat.
Kevin approached the table. "They'll stay here with our stuff. Only the five of us will be going into the city."
The bureaucrat nodded, looked us over once more, and waved us through. We passed through the gate between two more guards, these dressed in Vietnam-era fatigues, who eyed us warily as we passed between them.
Once into the city, we entered a large market square. There were people everywhere, and their clothing was a riot of styles, from the most modern pants and skirts to Victorian suits and dresses to an occasional Roman toga. On the outer edges of the city, the architecture was modern - it could have passed for downtown Chicago, except for the people around us. Looking at the wide boulevard which extended into the city, I saw that the further one went from the outer walls, the older the architecture became - from here I could see all the way back to the crowded brownstones of the early twentieth century.
Kevin led us over to a group of young boys who were proclaiming loudly their services to guide newcomers through the city. He approached one kid who couldn't have been more than twelve years old, dressed in an outfit reminiscent of the 1930's.
"We need someone to take us into the city. Can you do that?"
"Absolutely, you betcha. No one knows this place better than I do. Where you headed?"
Kevin glanced at us, then said, "We are looking for a man named Lord Balthazar."
The kid gave a harsh laugh. "You're kidding, right? Right? You're not kidding. Well, OK, I guess I can do that. First, of course, there is the matter of price."
Kevin looked nonplused, then reached into his pocket and pulled out one of the rings he had just traded for. The kid examined it closely, then slid it into his pocket. "That'll do. C'mon, we're going this way."
The chaos of the architecture continued as the boy led us through the city, regressing in time through Victorian, to Renaissance, to medieval. The kid pointed out a few sights along the way, including Merchant's Row (a string of stalls with merchants selling wares I couldn't identify as we rushed past). As we neared the center of the city, the architecture changed abruptly to Greco-Roman, and the boy informed us that we had just entered the Lords' District. All of the buildings were brilliantly white or light gray, and they seemed well kept up.
Except for one, that is. One building had been white originally, but had been painted all sorts of garish colors, with swirls of red and aqua battling a polka dots of purple and fuchsia, and I swear I saw a hint of a horrid yellow and black plaid on the corner. The kid waved toward the multicolored structure and said, "That's it. That's Balthazar's." We saw that the black tendril we had followed since Raleigh led directly to Balthazar's house.
Kevin pointed to the tendril and asked the boy, "Do you know what that is?"
The kid looked over to where Kevin was pointing and looked confused. He stammered, "Uh, I guess Lord Balthazar put that in recently. I'll be leaving now. Bye." And with that he ran off back the way we came. We looked at each other and shrugged, then walked to Balthazar's front door.
I picked up the huge door knocker and rapped the door three times and we waited, trying not to blinded by the horrendous color scheme, or lack thereof.
A man answered the door, in an outfit and demeanor that screamed, "Butler!" Walks All Paths said, "My name is John Walker, from Raleigh. I am here to see Lord Balthazar about my soul."
The butler looked us up and down and said, "I see. Please come in."
He escorted us into a well-appointed sitting room and asked us to wait while I informed Lord Balthazar we were here. We sat quietly; I examined at the sofa, which looked like it dated from the Louis XXIV period. The room reflected none of the hideous decorating of the outside of the building. Strange.
After a brief wait, a man strode in wearing a bright yellow toga. He was tall and thin, and had black, curly hair that occasionally fell into his eyes, causing him to brush it away impatiently. He approached the garou.
"Here about you soul are you? Interesting, interesting…"
Walks All Paths stood up. "Yes sir, I -"
Balthazar cut him off. "I haven't seen any souls around here, but I might - are those wings?"
The werewolf fluttered his wings and said, "Yes, yes they are. They were a gift from Owl. He told us to seek you out."
The man's expression suddenly became guarded. "And how is Owl these days?"
"He seemed fine when we spoke to him."
Balthazar nodded and spun to face Mary. "Nice stick." She nodded shyly, but he had turned away back to the garou. "So how do you know that your soul is missing?"
"We have been following a black tendril for many miles. I am told that my soul lies at the other end of it."
Balthazar looked up at the ceiling. "If I had a tendril miles and miles long and a soul…I'd have a date on Saturday night."
I couldn't resist. "I hear women like that sort of thing."
He shrugged and replied, "Who cares?"
I turned to Dog. "I like this guy."
Balthazar had walked over to Kevin and was peering at him intently. "Did you know you have a soul?"
Kevin backed away a step. "Uh, yeah, I'd sort of suspected that…"
Balthazar turned and charged out of the room. "Now where is that tendril…"
I looked at Walks All Paths and said, "He's nuts, you know that."
He nodded and shrugged, "You got any better ideas?"
I sighed. "Nope. Let's go." We filed out of the room after Balthazar.
We found him in the atrium, where we had come in. He was gazing at the ceiling, then at the walls, then at the floor, alternately covering first his right eye, then his left.
"Now where is it, where is it…Ah! There it is." He walked over to a chest by the wall and pulled out a stick with a carabiner on it - a device used for climbing that looks like a chain link, but with one side that is spring-loaded and can be pushed in to snap around a loop of rope. He unscrewed the end of the rod and looked through it, scanning the room.
"Where did it go? Oh, there it is again. Uh huh. Uh huh." He muttered as he approached the tendril, which we could see just fine. He screwed the rod back together then swung it back behind his head and struck the tendril, hooking the carabiner around it. He stood there for a minute like he was waiting for something, then gave a shout as he shot through the wall and disappeared.