Bane

September 29, 1964

"The gypsy."

"Aye, the gypsy. Her father Abram, God rest his soul, claimed to know what it was, and personally brought it to my attention."

"...we didn't... you didn't..?" Clayton gestured with his thumb, sliding it across his throat.

Grifford laughed, and despite the tension around them, Clayton felt a little of the severity in the air ease. "I compensated him handsomely for the piece, and bought some of that rich tobacco they smoke. The stuff mixed with roses."

"...and hashish."

Grifford shrugged.

Clay nodded, and let go the subject. "What did they find""

"Monsters, my dear friend. Monsters."

"What, like Lon Chaney, and Boris Karloff?"

Grifford grinned his fractured grin, genuinely amused. "Sculptures. Statues I suppose, they are certainly large enough. Eight of them. Well, seven of them intact. One was in a pile of itself."

"I don't understand."

"Like I said. No one understands. No one seems to know or if anyone knows, no one wants to discuss it."

"...but you believe you know."

Grifford nodded. "I apologize for all this suspense. I spend perhaps too much time with Marisal. She tells a fine tale, and I believe her when she says the value of anything worth knowing is in the way you tell it."

"I don't much trust the gypos."

"I do not blame you. Marisal might be an ally, but she is easily an opportunist. She refused to join The Order, but disdains much of the same things we disdain. The rest of her caravan? Let us say simply this... I keep my pocketbook far out of reach."

"With your driver?"

"I leave it at home. In a safe. Just in case."

It was Clayton's turn to laugh now.

Grifford looked happy - was in fact happy - and he was glad for it. If there were any in The Order he was unwilling to sacrifice, it was Clayton. Clayton was not the greatest fighter among them, nor was he the smartest. Clayton's greatest asset was his House - not his home, or the land he owned; it was not the vast wealth a long line of Walkers accrued over the past three-hundred-forty years. It was the fact his House stood beside Grifford's from the very beginning. Since their houses landed at Plymouth Rock, House Walker was a staunch ally. They were there when the court of Oyer and Terminer formed at Salem, and stood by to see the heathens hanged, crushed, or drowned for their crimes against God and Nature.

The Walker line was a line that was, and always would stand by his, but equally as important, they would always stand by The Order, even if no others would.

"Your honor?"

"It is time I rewarded you for your loyalty to The Order, and your trust in me to make the correct decisions. I am proud to call you a Goodman, Clayton Walker... and I am proud to call you friend. I am not going to tell you what we found in the mines."

"Judge?"

"I am going to show you. Come with me. My driver is waiting."

✟ ☧ ✟

Under the clouded night sky, the depth of the quarry looked like a gaping mouth in the ground, as though the land were yawning... or a wide open mouth waiting to feed.