Wilk tore his eyes from Loni’s legs. He looked Banyon straight in the eye with no embarrassment. “We know you have one of the Orion weapons,” he stated.
“Why would you say that?” Banyon carefully worded his reply.
“We are going to have to trust each other if we are to succeed in this relationship,” Wilk responded. “I know a lot about you, you should know a lot about us.”
“Nothing is going to be the same,” Loni cried into Banyon’s big chest. “He knows too much about us. We will never be free again.”
“Change is sometimes good you know” Wilk responded philosophically. “I assure you the society means you no harm. On the contrary, we need your help. Please sit down,” he said and patted the couch, “I have something to show you.” Banyon disengaged Loni, and sat back down. He pulled her small body onto his lap.
“I want to tell you all about the society so you will want to become members,” Wilk announced. “But first let me show you how we know you have the weapon known as ‘Peace’.”
Wilk slipped a round disk from the inside pocket of his suit jacket. It was about eight inches across and appeared to be made of some sort of silver metal or stone. It was highly polished and etched with many markings. It looked like a large concaved eye lens. He put it on the table between them.
“What does it do?” Loni quickly asked as she rubbed her eyes.
“This is not really a weapon,” Wilk explained. “What it does is keep track of the Orion weapons. It is called ‘Insight’. Whenever a weapon is activated it will show the image of the last surroundings before it became inactive again. All of the Orion weapons can be viewed through this talisman.”
“Where did you get it?” Loni inquired as she stared at the artifact.
“It was passed to me by the last head of the society,” Wilk said. “We have held this talisman since antiquity.”
“Where does it come from?” Loni asked.
“It came from Orion himself,” Wilk announced.
“How does it work?”
“I’ll show you, if you stop asking questions,” Wilk said in a frosty manner. Wilk leaned forward in the chair. Suddenly he spoke in a language Banyon didn’t understand. The words came out in the form of a chant. He passed his hands over the object. Immediately, a hologram appeared. It showed a slim beautiful woman of Indian decent wearing the talisman. She was in a large office in what looked like a museum.
“That’s Previne!” Loni exclaimed as she pointed to the hologram. “Why is she wearing the talisman?”
Banyon was stunned. Not by the hologram, but by seeing Previne. He quickly realized that she was the last person to activate the talisman. It had to have happened recently as she had only just brought it to India within the last two weeks. Banyon now wondered. What is she up to?
“It seems that one of your team members was attempting to place a thought into someone’s mind, that’s what the talisman does,” Wilk remarked clinically. “The person that she was trying to control had to be in the same room, or very nearby. That weapon is called Influence.”
“I’ll have to ask her,” Banyon said in shock. Previne was an accredited archeologist and curator at the museum in New Delhi. She was beautiful, brilliant and cunning. But she had a devious mind as well. She was also obsessed with Colton Banyon. She believed that one day Loni would not be in the picture and she would have her chance with Banyon. He now wondered if the incident had to do with him.
“That’s amazing,” Loni gushed. “How many weapons are you tracking?”
“There are one hundred and fifteen weapons,” Wilk replied. “But not all have been located here in Poland. We only have been charged with fifteen here.”
“And you can track all of them?”
“We can only track the weapons entrusted to our branch. But that is the problem,” Wilk said sadly and raised a finger. “Many of the weapons we are responsible for have disappeared over time. We want them back. One item actually has eight weapons on it. So, a total of fifteen weapons are missing. That is why we need your help. Won’t you help us?”
“How long have they been missing?” Banyon quickly asked.
“Some for several hundred years,” Wilk replied with sadness.
“They weren’t all stolen at the same time?” Loni asked suspiciously.
“No,” Wilk answered. “And some weren’t stolen, they were given as a loan by my predecessors,” he added.
“You’d better explain that!” Loni remarked suspiciously.
“For the last several hundred years, Poland has been in turmoil. We have changed leaders, governments, and alliances on a regular basis. There have been many revolutions. The land has been partitioned many times. The Polish people have been fighting for freedom since the seventeen hundreds. At times, the society attempted to help by loaning out the Orion Weapons to noblemen whom they thought they could trust. They never returned the talismans. Some were stolen by the many conquering invaders. It was an impossible task to keep the weapons hidden when the hordes were banging on the door.”
“Do you know the last place that they were seen?” Banyon asked knowing that Wolf could track history given a time, a place to start, and what the item looked like.
“Most were last seen here, in Poland, in a secret vault that Jakub Banyon built to house them. They were our complete stock of Orion weapons. We must get them back,” Wilk said with fire in his eyes.
“Was Jakub the head of your society?” Loni asked.
“No,” Wilk quickly replied. “But he was a member, and actually returned one of the items in the seventeen-nineties. It later went missing again in the twentieth century.
Chapter Thirteen
Things were moving too fast for Colton Banyon. He only learned the history of his ancestor, Jakub Banyon, a few months ago and now everything he knew about him was changing. Albin Wilk told him that Jakub had a special power. It was the same one that Colton Banyon possessed. During the meeting he also discovered that Wolf, his trusted mentor, and spirit friend, had hidden important information about their relationship. He had hidden it from him for many years. Banyon suddenly had many questions about the spirit Wolf. Then Previne suddenly entered the picture, attempting to use one of Orion’s weapons, one that they had only recently found. And finally this man Wilk, someone he had never met before, informed him that he knew Banyon could talk to Wolf. He was near panic, the room felt like it was closing in on him. He felt he needed more information. He could tell that Loni was thinking the same thing. She had a pensive look on her pretty face.
“Can you tell us something about Orion and why the Society of Orion exists?” He asked Wilk patiently. Loni nodded her head in agreement as she leaned forward on the couch.
“Of course,” Wilk responded. He sat back in his chair, made a steeple with his fingers, and started with a question. “Do you believe in God, Colt?
“I was raised as a Roman Catholic, so yes I believe in God,” Banyon replied sincerely. “Why do you ask?”
“Well, I believe that there is more than one God. The society members believe there are several Gods and they have influenced mankind since we first came to this world. You see, we follow the path of ancient Greek Mythology, particularly the history of Orion. There are many Gods in mythology.
“I know there is a constellation named after him,” Loni blurted out. To Banyon, Loni seemed to be less frightened now. She was determined to get to the bottom of this mystery. She had already put on her detective’s hat.
“That is true, Loni,” Wilk said. “Many people believe he lives there. We expect he will come back to earth someday.”
“But isn’t the mythology that surrounds Orion unclear? I mean there are many variations to his story. No one can prove any of it. I have read that scholars argue about the true history of Orion even to this day,” Banyon injected.
“Also true,” Wilk said as he nodded his head in agreement. “Let me tell you the real story as we know it. Our original members were there with h
im when he died, it was a very long time ago.”
“How long ago?” Loni asked with interest.
“No one knows for sure. They didn’t have the means to track time properly back then,” Wilk replied.
“This is beginning to sound creepy,” Loni muttered.
“It is not creepy at all, Loni. It is part of the history of mankind,” Wilk chided her. “But one only a few people know.”
“Then tell us the story of Orion,” Banyon asked as he gave Loni a sharp look to keep her quiet.
***
“Orion was a half-man and a half-god,” Wilk started. “He was a giant among men and was known as the hunter. He was the son of a God, Poseidon. His mother was the daughter of a king. As a result, he had characteristics of both humans and Gods. He had the needs of man and some of the powers of an immortal. He mostly hunted in the wilderness. He often boasted that there was no animal that he couldn’t kill. In his wake, he often left carcasses of meat that he didn’t eat. People began to follow him for the food that he left.
He often got into fights. At times he defended his homeland and the wilderness against invaders. He was soon considered a hero by the people. He was hurt many times during his adventures. He even was blinded at one point. Poseidon became concerned for his son’s safety as several other Gods wanted him murdered. So the god Poseidon collected unusual objects which he found on the sea floor, shaped them, and gave them to Orion to use when fighting. Those are the weapons. There are one hundred and fifteen of them.”
“How big was Orion?” Loni interrupted.
“Again, we don’t know for sure,” Wilk told her, “Some myths say he was several stories tall, some say he simply towered over men. But remember, men were probably very short at that time. He was very handsome and sported many muscles. He wore the weapons draped around his body like armor, so he was clearly bigger than normal.”
“He sounds like a hunk,” Loni interrupted as she batted her now bright eyes.
“That was his downfall,” Wilk pointed out. “You see, he couldn’t keep his hands off of women. They came willingly into his arms. Some were married, some were goddesses, and some were daughters of kings. He was always fighting or running from the relatives of someone he had bedded,” Wilk explained.
“From what I know of Greek Mythology, it seems they were a horny bunch,” Banyon agreed.
“They were very promiscuous and adventuresome. They often participated in wanton sexual experiments indulging in what we would consider taboos today,” Wilk said as he nodded his head.
“Sounds like it was a great time,” Loni giggled. “And all they wore were loin cloths and tunics.”
“In any case,” Wilk said with a touch of irritation in his voice. He was a little annoyed with Loni. He was being serious, and Loni was almost mocking his story. But he continued. “Orion eventually met a goddess named Artemis. She was the goddess of wilderness, and in some cities; she was the goddess of fertility. Orion loved her, but she was heavily influenced by her twin brother Apollo who disliked Orion because he wasn’t a full god. Orion eventually got in trouble with one of her female followers. She decided to have him killed.”
“A woman scorned,” Loni uttered.
Wilk ignored her comment and continued. “Artemis sent a huge scorpion to fight Orion. It was an epic battle. They were both mortally wounded. As he lay dying from poison injected by the scorpion, his followers rushed to his side. He told them he was about to die. He told them they needed to protect and keep his weapons. As the poison made its way through his body, he patiently explained each weapon and gave it a name. The followers recorded everything. Orion promised to someday return to earth. And that is how the Society of Orion began.”
After a minute, Banyon asked, “and this is the true history of Orion?”
“I could let you read the scrolls if you want. They were written sometime after Orion died, but the documents contain about a hundred thousand words. They are written in ancient Greek,” Wilk confidently replied.
“I’ll take your word for it,” Banyon replied with a wave of his hand.
“So, how many people currently belong to the society?” Loni suddenly asked.
“We have seven chapters all over the old world. But there are none in America,” Wilk told her. “There are currently less than fifty of us worldwide. In Poland, I am the only member besides Professor Orlich, because we have nothing to protect. All the weapons originally stored here have been stolen or misplaced except the Insight talisman.”
“Why is the society not all located in one place?” Loni logically inquired.
“Good question,” Wilk admitted. “At first, the founders stayed together. Eventually, after a long period of time, they became concerned that someone could find them and steal Orion’s legacy. They divided up the weapons, and went to live in separate secret locations around the known world to prevent anyone from collecting the entire cache of weapons.
“How are you funded?” Banyon suddenly asked.
“The society has plenty of money,” Wilk explained with a wave of his hand. “The money came from diamonds that Orion used to lure women. The society has invested wisely over the centuries. I don’t have to work. I collect a stipend for my efforts.” Banyon now knew that Albin Wilk was not very ambitious. He didn’t work and he had no weapons to protect. He was the ultimate welfare recipient.
“But how did they communicate with each other?” Banyon inquired. “They must have set up a way to contact each other?”
“They did,” Wilk acknowledged with a nod of his head. “It happened in the Middle East thousands of years later. When our ancestors first decided to leave Egypt, and scatter, they all agreed to meet at the largest open market in Jerusalem on the Pharaoh’s birthday every year. The Pharaoh at that time was Thutmose III. His birthday is on February twentieth. The heads of each chapter have met there every year since that time,” Wilk said. “And no one knows where the others members live.”
“Wait a minute,” Banyon yelled. “If my history is correct, isn’t that the time of the great Exodus from Egypt?”
“Yes,” replied Wilk proudly. “Many scholars and archeologists believe that the great Exodus took place when Ramesses II was the ruler, around 1250 BC. But it actually took place around 1450 BC.”
“Your ancestors were Hebrews?” Loni barked.
“We lived among the Jews. It was, for a long time, the best place to hide. But, no, none of us are Jewish, we follow the Greek Gods.”
“But were you part of the Exodus?” Banyon asked in disbelief.
“The staff that Moses used to part the sea is one of Orion’s weapons,” Wilk replied quickly.
Loni’s mouth suddenly hung open.
Chapter Fourteen
Colton Banyon had already decided that he would help the society to recover the Orion weapons. If nothing else it would insure that Albin Wilk never told anyone of Banyon’s secret power. The society would have a lot to lose as well. It was the best position that he could think of to protect himself, Loni, and the Patel clan. What he was going to do about Wolf and Previne, he didn’t know yet. He needed to consider everything first and he didn’t have time for that right now. He had artifacts to recover.
“Where was the last place that the items were all together? And when was that? We need a date to start searching,” Banyon asked the head of the society. He hoped that Wolf could find each item quickly.
“That I can’t actually tell you because I don’t know. It all happened well before my time, but I think the place to begin should be the underground vault which Jakub Banyon built to keep the weapons safe,” Wilk said. “They were all there at one time.”
“Is it nearby?” Loni asked.
“It is not far from here.”
“Then we should go there tomorrow,” Banyon replied. He needed to talk to Wolf privately. He planned to do that at the hotel that evening.
“We may have to move more quickly, Colt.” Wilk said anxiously.
“Wh
y is that?” Banyon suddenly sensed that something was wrong. There was something he didn’t know.
“The Insight artifact has shown me that one of the missing weapons has been recently activated. It seems that whoever has it has been able to make it work.” Wilk said sheepishly. “It could create a huge problem.”
“You mean another weapon besides the one that Previne has in her possession?” Loni suddenly asked.
“Yes,” Wilk nodded his head once again.
“Wait a minute,” Banyon yelled out. “After a hundred years, someone has suddenly figured out how to work one of the weapons while we are here in Poland?” Banyon said incredulously. “That is too much of a coincidence, Wilk. What is really going on?” There was demand in his voice. I don’t trust this man.
The suddenly nervous Albin Wilk replied. “There is more to tell you. What I haven’t had time to explain is that a journal, written by your ancestor, Jakub Banyon, has recently been discovered. They found it while renovating the last section of the Banyon Arcades where his old office used to be located. It was found in a hidden panel in the wall.”
“Jakub Banyon kept a journal about the Orion weapons?” Loni screeched.
“Yes,” Wilk responded sheepishly. “He was a very detail oriented man.”
“What is in the journal?” Banyon wondered.
“It contains information on the power of each weapon. It also has the chants and prayers used to activate them,” Wilk said softly. “The government worker who found it turned it over to a newspaper. They published the entire journal. Anyone who has one of the weapons would be able to activate it, once they have translated the information. It could be a world changing problem. We must stop them and recover the weapons.”
Banyon was in real shock now. He realized that his ancestor was the cause of a current world threatening crisis. He already knew the Orion weapons were very powerful. The one that he and his team had captured had almost caused the toppling of the American President. His replacement would have been a fascist dictator.
The Polish Discovery: The Society of Orion 1-3 (Colton Banyon Mystery Book 17) Page 6