* * * * *
CHESTER, PENNSYLVANIA
(APRIL 30, 1931)
From the day he was born, Howard Ashton Phillips, Junior, had been referred to, by friends and relatives alike, as "Ash." And, as he lowered the commemorative floral wreath on to his father's empty grave, he now looked at his own ten year-old son, Robert. The latter's facial expression was very solemn.
"Dad; did Grandpa Howard love his work more than me?"
Ash was dumbstruck by the question for at least five seconds.
"Of course, he didn't!" he finally exclaimed: "How could you even ask such a thing?"
"Then, why did he disappear while looking for that stupid golden axe?" persisted the boy.
Ash had to ponder, for a minute, how best to answer that.
"Your grandfather could get a bit...greedy...when it came to the pursuit of knowledge. The same way 18th century pirates could get greedy for material treasure. For him, the Golden Dagger-axe of Hsia Jie was proof of a time and place that most people don't even think existed! And, thanks to his very, very diligent research, he managed to trace it from India (where the Chinese had hidden it) to ancient Greece (where Alexander the Great took it) to ancient Rome (where Julius Caesar finally brought it). It took quite a round-about route, thereafter, from a 10th century Moorish villa, on Sicily (from which it was stolen by several Norsemen), to Canterbury Cathedral in England."
"But, how it got from there to a certain uncharted island in the South Pacific is...complicated."
* * * * *
THE GREEK ISLAND OF RHODES
(27 MAY, 1432)
Sir Alan Fitzmaurice D'Angleterre--a Norman Knight Hospitaller from Ireland--knelt and kissed the proffered right hand of Cardinal Jean-Michel De Rabas. He then stood and watched as one of the cardinal's acolytes brought something, cylindrically wrapped in burlap, over to the wooden table dominating the center of this private room. The burlap was unfurled, and the metallic object within...
...fell out onto the table top with a resounding clang.
"Behold, Sir Alan! Le Bec-de-bardiche Giserne Chinois. An unholy weapon of heathen origin. And, one that has been a burden on the Holy Mother Church for far too long!"
"The last attempt to return it whence it came--a certain ruined city in the Valley of the Indus River--was made by Fray Lupo De La Cruz, of the Society of St. Hubert, over two hundred years ago. He picked it up at Canterbury Cathedral (wherein it was stored _on the very day_ St. Thomas a Becket was murdered!). And, in Constantinople, he almost joined St. Thomas in the after-life!!"
* * * * *
22 JUNE, 1175
Friar Tuck hurriedly nocked an arrow to his longbow. He aimed it at the head of the monstrosity facing away from him. Then, he let it fly. Only to see it intercepted by a quarterstaff wrapped in black cloth!
A quarterstaff wielded by a Cathayan wearing a strange conical hat.
"For a holy man of the Invisible God," growled the latter (as he plucked loose the arrow): "...you are unduly swift to judge by appearance alone."
"Are you daft, man?!" exclaimed Friar Tuck: "That abomination..."
"...is not slaughtering innocent Tuareg camel drivers. He is defending himself from disguised Assassins!"
No sooner had the Cathayan made this pronouncement when there was an unearthly howl of pain. The two men looked in the direction of the strange battle. Whereupon, they saw that the werewolf in question had been stabbed in the ribs with a silver dagger! And, that the "camel driver" wielding it...was now maliciously twisting it.
This prompted the Cathayan to enter the fray. Subduing with his quarterstaff all those Assassins not already eviscerated by the werewolf! When that had been accomplished, the Cathayan unfurled the black cloth from around the staff.
Revealing it to be the hooded robe of a Dominican priest.
"God's Blood!" exclaimed Friar Tuck: "He is a man of the faith?!"
"Fear not, good friar," wheezed the now-naked man lying on the ground: "I belong to a pack whose ancestors were Christianized, long ago, by St. Hubert of Liege, himself! Since then, we have aided the Holy Mother Church as no ordinary men of the faith could. As Domini Canes (Hounds of God)!"
"Quickly," ordered the Cathayan (who subsequently introduced himself as Wu Chang Chuan): "Help me get his robe on."
Friar Tuck did as he was bade. Together, they half-dragged/half-carried the wounded clergyman to a private room at a nearby caravansary.
"If it was not to avenge some unholy evil you perpetrated," the friar finally demanded: "...why were those Assassins after you?"
"To get hold of this," replied Fray Lupo.
Whereupon, he held up a solid gold, single-bladed battle-axe.
"My instructions were to return this to the Land of the Indus. Or, failing that, to leave it with the local Templar garrison in Jerusalem (where I had hoped to join a caravan bound for the Persian seaport of Basra)."
"But, word of what he carried obviously leaked out," continued Wu: "And those Assassins were hired to steal it by whomever covets its terrible magic power!"
"I must now ask you, good friar, if you will complete my mission," concluded Fray Lupo.
"I?!" echoed Tuck.
"Werewolves heal faster than mortals," replied Wu: "They have one potentially fatal weakness, however; a vulnerability to silver. Fray Lupo must now remain bed-ridden, for at least a month, to heal properly."
Tuck frowned with suspicion.
"How come you to know so much of his kind?"
Wu Chang Chuan smiled.
"In my native Sinkiang, I travel from village to village. Entertaining people in the marketplace as a humble acrobat, juggler, and story-teller. And, this is not my first journey westward in search of fresh material with which to spin new tales!"
* * * * *
27 MAY, 1432
"As Friar Tuck was on pilgrimage to Jerusalem, in the first place, when he stumbled across that bizarre struggle, he reluctantly agreed to finish what Fray Lupo had started," the cardinal summarized: "In retrospect, it would have been better had he refused. For look at the calamities that have befallen, since then. The recapture of Jerusalem by the Saracens; the invasion and occupation of Russia by the Golden Horde; and the corruption and dissolution of the Templars! This accursed object must be removed from the Western Hemisphere, once and for all."
Sir Alan now bowed; his clenched right fist atop his heart.
"I swear it shall be done, Your Eminence."
tbc
Giantess World
Author's Chapter Notes:
For some reason, the original version of this chapter was deleted...along with the rest of MORE THAN ONE CAN CHEW! So, here is a slight revision of the Hsia Jie-ji's backstory.