“many a man has sought after truth and beauty,
each has its many shades
and are by no means exclusive to one another,
each must be found separately
and through entirely different means
often with considerable consequences”
“The Tryskylla Key”
Alsymius the Elder (373-448 a.d.)
Chapter XII (pages 152–154) Anna Walks with Mallory
”Your brother has been kept under a close watch for some time. We were ordered to follow him and retrieve certain items from him. He was not considered a serious threat until he went to Japan and that was when his sanity was truly doubted.” Captain Mallory remarked.
“In doubt?” Anna replied. “What do you mean?” she asked as she looked at his expression. Captain Mallory no longer looked chipper, in fact he looked rather troubled.
“It was after careful considerations and calculation that my benefactor gave the order that allowed your brother to continue on with his task.” Captain Mallory replied. “It was not his rightful task to be completed, but rather imposed on himself by Shuehorn. Your brother’s task was meant for someone else.” Mallory explained.
Immediately Anna knew to whom Captain Mallory referred, but she was more concerned with how Mr. Shuehorn was involved. “Why was Benjamin Shuehorn the cause of all my brother’s troubles.”
“It was Benjamin Shuehorn who convinced your brother that he is the successor to Ezra Bohlen. It was also Benjamin Shuehorn who prodded your brother into stealing documents and artifacts; laced and heavily laden with nedronite content” Mallory continued. “Items that did not belong to him, items that through prolonged contact would cause him to go mad, much in the same manner that Ezra Bohlen went.” Captain Mallory lifted his case in his left hand to emphasize as he further explained, “Items that your brother had the ability to utilize, as evidenced by his ability to pass through nedronite locks that were fashioned by Bohlen himself. You see Miss Wellesly, you might be of the opinion that good old Mr. Shuehorn could have instructed him to crack these locks, but it does not work in that manner. One has to have the Lu’Althan touch in order to work such devices - much like you and your crew. Why even I have these marks...”
“It was Ezra Bohlen who was the person who should have performed the task but he has disappeared.” Captain Mallory answered. “He travelled to some of the sites in Europe and even repaired some of them but he soon went mad after tampering with them in ways that they were not meant to be. According to my benefactor; it was Bohlen who was supposed to act as the medium for the harmonic pagodas. It is always the task of the third branch to act as such.”
“What happened to Bohlen? Did he die?” Anna asked as she stumbled on a crack on the darkened stone floor.
“No one can say for sure.” Captain Mallory said grimly. “He may be dead after all - it is not likely though. There is evidence that he is still alive. I like to believe that he is hiding away somewhere, working behind the scenes, probably right under our noses knowing his profile. Still in cahoots with his screwy followers.”
“Who were his followers?” Annabelle asked as she took more care to step away from cracks in the stones. “Was Mr. Shuehorn one of his followers.”
“Hmmmmm...” Captain Mallory considered for a moment. “Of his followers, there are many. Most are insignificant but the two that are truly worth mentioning are The Apple Collapse Warning League and The Lincoln Sorensen Society.” Anna looked at him with a puzzled expression. She had actually heard of these strange groups - these societies with an agenda. Even Fairsae had a few of them that met regularly. From what she had seen from them, not much good ever came from their demonstrations. “Well these strange groups have caused much mischief, destruction of property, and even some deaths in pursuing their agenda. Excuse me for a moment...”
Captain Mallory paid close attention to their bearings and the corridor turned ahead of them due left and on to another left where they eventually encountered another fork in the passage. Captain Mallory reached into his coat pocket and drew forth a smidgen of powder that he sprinkled over the torchlight. Anna wondered if it was a similar trick to what she performed the night before with her brother in thoughtsong. Captain Mallory breathed deeply as he sprinkled the fine powdered dust over the fire. He stopped to watch the flames for a moment before he closed his eyes. He opened them in time to witness the glow of the fire. It did not change color as Anna’s previous experience, instead the conical flame veered towards the passage on the right with a severe bend as Mallory shifted the torch left and right. Captain Mallory’s expression did not change but he gave a sharp jerk of his head in gesturing for her to follow him along the passage to the right.
“Again excuse me, for now I will continue,” Captain Mallory said apologetically after several paces through the passage on the right. “These groups to which I have spoken were mixed with all sorts of peculiar folks. At first they attracted just the run of the mill riff-raff. The sort of harmless nutters that will believe anything that you tell them. Their membership changed after a while.” Mallory claimed as he held the newly renewed torch aloft. “You see Miss Wellesly, a few years ago, particularly in London and I suppose also in New York; there were a lot of folks brought into a scare thinking that the world was going to end.” Anna looked at him with furrowed brow as he gazed into the darkness and continued after a pause, “Most of these folks had insecure and gullible sensibilities and a leader who was always insane. But it was on a particularly warm day at the March meeting of the Langham House Fellows Astronomical and Geological Society where Ezra Bohlen, a respected member of the house, created a fervor by delivering a speech that nearly shook London into riots and anarchy. Ezra Bohlen shocked the Fellows with not only his speech but more importantly with his revelations and proofs. Only the speech is preserved but rumors quickly spread about his scientific demonstrations. It is said that his scientific exhibition was on the verge of the miraculous - inexplicable sorcery backed with concrete scientific data - concrete I tell you.”
“I do not know. I can only speculate.” Mallory remarked. “But as you have seen from what is possible with this ore - the nedronite, I can tell you that it must have been intimidating to cause such a stir.” Mallory paused and sniffled. “The speech that he gave, coupled with the rumors of his display was augmented by the papers and hinted at his secret meetings.”
“What was it that he did?” Anna asked. “Why did it cause such a sensation?” She tried to get his attention but he kept his gaze bent on the end of the passage.
“Secret meetings?” Anna asked. “Was this the way that brought Mr. Shuehorn into the mix?”
“Yes. Secret meetings. These attracted a different strata of society and that is where Ben Shuehorn entered the life of Ezra Bohlen, but I will not get ahead of myself.” Captain Mallory explained. “The secret meetings were necessary because all of London was talking. Not the regular rabble surrounding the ever frequent scandal but this was highly tinged with fear. It has been my experience that fear will reveal things to oneself that makes them very uncomfortable. Fear will make men do things that they were never inclined to consider. And so it was that people were listening to Bohlen, and not just the salt of the earth, but people of importance, men of industry and men of nobility. This was when Ezra Bohlen made his official fracture from the other two. This fracture had tentatively been expected and therefore precautions had been taken a generation ago.” Captain Mallory paused and once again looked at Anna to see her inquisitive countenance and anticipated her questions. “Now in the history and lore of The Tryskylla Society - there have been repeated splinters in the group of three. Even before the time of Alsymius the Elder, when he broke away, there were premature departures, always from the third branch - the one called the Keystone. Their role is vital and volatile - most cannot assume the role for very long in a sane state of mind - this has been documented.”
Anna wondered about her brother once again. Was this to be his fate? It certainly seemed that way to her. Before she could even ask; Captain Mallory preempted with a response. “Now when the Tryskylla artifacts were rediscovered, the third branch broke from the tree not very long afterwards. The other two that formed the society remained and kept all but several artifacts; one of the most important; a key.
“When were the artifacts recovered and what happened to the one called the third branch?” Anna asked during Captain Mallory’s pause.
“Well, after the Fall of Rome, the artifacts and the texts of the society were seized and hidden by Alsymius the Elder. The society was in serious danger from invading armies and it was necessary to temporarily dismantle the group and stall its mission for a spell. It was Alsymius the Younger who took elements from the texts and lore and transposed them into songs and into stone monuments. These acted as clues for a future generation to find and rekindle the society. This happened some eight hundred years ago when they reinstated their society.” Captain Mallory said as he winced at the flame. “It fell upon a group of knights - from very specific families mind you; who rediscovered all of the artifacts. It has been said that these three knights were led to find the artifacts with the help of a bird. It has also been told in various accounts that these three knights had particular markings just like you and I; that being of the nedronite trace in our blood.” Captain Mallory pointed to his marking and also to Anna’s eye.
“This brings me to the other part of your question and then to the subject of the aforementioned precaution.” Mallory continued, “The third knight fractured the group and left with one of three keys, several documents and trinkets, but most of all he secreted away the family bloodline. The other two members of the group searched in vain for him until the end of their lives and thereby passed on that search to their heirs. All the while over the years, they offered the position of the third branch to the best candidate. Ezra Bohlen was one of the best in a long line, however he proved to be the maddest. The current keepers of the society are descendants of the other two knights and I have met with them on many occasions, performing work for them that they could not do in light of their place in society. Several years ago they told me that they believed that they had discovered the descendants of the lost knight. Care to take any guesses as to whom they may be referring?”
Anna was not watching Captain Mallory however she was listening intently. She was watching the next turn in the passageway but as Captain Mallory posed this question, she looked up to him and he appeared expectant of a reply. Anna did not immediately reply but took a moment to ponder. Could it be true?