seymoure

Chapter 28
“The Veil”

Upon returning to his apartment in London (something he had always found worthwhile to maintain. It was the only way to insure privacy, since no one knew these were his digs.) Vaskania was able to detect no invasive magicks. Using the methods he had learned from a friend at Scotland Yard he was sure that no physical intrusion had happened either.

Opening the door he was greeted by the smell of cinnamon and the inspection of Gwangi, his pet gecko lizard. The lizard was about the size of most cats, and had more personalitythan most cat owners.

The cinnamon was telltale of the protection spell he had left behind him. He had chosen that spell, in smallpart, because he loved the smell. It could also castrate a bull elephant that was intruding without Vaskania’s permission. That was two very good things about the same spell.

He had come here for one most important reason. He was here to retrieve the veil.

The veil was created by a Persian sorcerer before the Crusades. The name of the sorcerer was lost to history, but the object he had created would sell for more than a couple of Van Gogh’s plus the original Mona Lisa with the artist’s written permission to own and sell it.

The veil, when worn, saw only truth. False things were invisible to it.

While this was not a great protection device (not good to give invisibility to false stuff that might attack) it was one of the most important investigative tools ever created.

Its odessey has become lost in the pages of even the most knowledgeable magic histories. After the Templars stole it from the castle of an Ottoman scholar, it disappears from mention anywhere until the 1940’s.

It was one of those objects for which Hitler sent regiments of men to search.

It was rumored to have spent a short time in Turan, and another tale tells of it being in Crete for a few years.

Later reports tell of the Veil being in the possession of an English actor, and he took it with him to America.

It vanishes again till 2003, when Vaskania discovered it in the possession of a stage magician, who used it in his mentalist act.

A million dollars was a cheap price, but the magician didn’t have any idea what he had. To him it was just a way to make a buck.

Baron Vaskania wrapped the Veil in a satin handkerchief and folded the combination and put it in his breast pocket.

He stroked Gwangi, listened to a few hundred phone messages on his answering machine, and then turned to leave.

The phone rang, and, with his hand on the door, he stopped to listen.

“Baron, this is Harriett Dante. The Hospital said you were going to your apartment. If you are there or you get this message, please call me back or meet me at the main branch of the library. I have something here that you need to see.”

Vaskania picked up the phone and said, “Ms. Dante, Vaskania here.”

“Baron, can you come down here?” the voice on the other end of the line asked.

“I am 15 minutes away. Can you tell me what this is about?”

At that moment the line went dead.