Ocean; pirates and princes locked in conflict were a battle for the ages. Though the pirates had the strength of their victory, the princes not only had the furor of the wronged, but they also brought something else to the battle … the fury of the wolf. The pirates had contended without the knowledge that the sons of Leonidas were more than mere princes; they were werewolves, powerful and mighty, who could tear a man apart with their talons, jaws and fangs. And though the pirates eventually would fall in defeat to the lupine princes, the sons of Leonidas would come up empty handed in the quest for their father’s stolen treasure.
It was a cold night as the somber howls of werewolves cut the stillness of the now-peaceful, lapping water that had claimed all of Silverbeard’s mighty armada as her own … all but one small vessel whose crew had been wise enough to see that they were indeed up against a force they had underestimated. Now led by the first mate Jeremiah Needlander, that crew’s fate would be even more dire.
Among the maidens their pirates had taken from the Portugese kingdom was the sister to the king, the Princess Lavinniah. As Leonidas was a wizard, she was a witch and a devious one at that, for long had she plotted against her brother. Even as she was wont to pronounce her final curse on the surviving pirates who had plundered her home, maimed her people, stolen from her brother, escaped her nephews’ onslaught and fled the battle early, instead she devised a more devious plan. She opted to use these surviving pirates to aid her in overthrowing her brother, the king. She would feign love for their leader, the one named Needlander, in hopes of ensnaring him in her plot. But the ultimate irony would be on her, for she would indeed fall in love with the dark pirate and ride the seas with him and his crew, wreaking all sorts of horrid terror. She nearly forgot her anger toward her brother the king.
By chance, off the coast of North America one chill night, their ship the RachelleLee crossed paths with a lone vessel stranded in the cold blue seas. The pirates’ interest was piqued by the royal crest of the vessel.
“Wot did ye find?” Needlander asked his search party as the Rachelle Lee sidled up to the smaller vessel.
“Just these old baubles, Jeremiah,” Tommy Two Hands answered, holding up purple robes.
Lavinniah interpolated herself between the two. “Let me see that!” she hissed, examining the clothes.
“Wot is it, lass?”
“I know these garments,” Lavinniah said. “What else did you find down there?”
“Just a sleeping sailor …” Tommy Two Hands reported, “who’s seen better days, I’d wager, from the looks of it.”
Lavinniah insisted on inspecting the vessel, and more importantly, this sailor. She ventured onto the vessel with Needlander and they entered the cabin. She gave a start as she saw the emaciated form bound below.
“Brother!” she gasped.
“Lavinniah,” the sailor replied, ”Gracias a Deus!”
“It’s my brother,” she whispered to Needlander.
“The king?” Needlander asked.
Lavinniah and Needlander wined and dined the stranded king royally. Leonidas had set out in search of his sons and had lost all of his crew to the plague. Had it not been for the fact that he had drunk from the elixir of life, which ran bountifully in the Forever Kingdom, he too would have perished. For her part, Lavinniah’s thirst for his treasure and his birthright was sparked anew. Exceptionally grateful for rescue, Leonidas failed to reckon with his sister’s still-burning hate. Mostly she hated him because he refused to grant her what she desired most—free and unobstructed access to the fountain of youth. Lavinniah was quite vain, truth be told.
But Leonidas was oblivious to this and in one careless moment, he let slip to the devious couple that he had placed a curse on the Forever Kingdom treasure, a curse that would prohibit its opening for centuries at a time. Lavinniah promptly enlisted Needlander in a plot to destroy her brother and to take back the treasure for themselves upon its reopening one hundred years later. But first, she would persuade her brother to bestow the gift of longevity on the entire crew, as such it was in his power to do, having this elixir in his possession as well. Next to the elixir of youth, the elixir of longevity was the best thing to have swirling through one’s veins.
“It’s the ultimate revenge, my love,” she told him.”For you, against a captain who deserted you and for me, against a brother who never recognized me for my full potential.”
Leonidas indeed shared with his sister, Needlander and all of Needlander’s crew his elixir of longevity. They had rescued him from sure oblivion on the frosty Atlantic seas. “Tonight, I feel that we are as one,” he said, leading them in downing portions of the mystical juice. “Drink with me, sister and brother and all the rest of you; but understand that with longevity often comes surprises you may not have anticipated.”
Leonidas’s final words were lost on Lavinniah, Needlander and the other pirates, who were busy relishing the prospects of long and treasure-filled lives … you see, pirates as a rule did not tend to live very long, so this was quite a gift indeed from the rescued king. Once they consumed the longevity elixir, all gratitude was over and Lavinniah and Needlander wasted no time in moving forward with the next steps in their plan. They plotted to do away with Leonidas in his sleep, but as the king was a light sleeper, their intent was discovered and he was able to defend himself against their onslaught mightily.
A terrific and spectacular battle between the spurned lovers and the king without a kingdom ensued, and in the end, Leonidas was able to call upon the mighty west wind to extricate his sister up, up, and deposit her far away. Aided by the wind, King Leonidas sent Needlander and his crew into a powerful vortex of forgetfulness, where they would be destined to sail round and round until such time as the vortex lost its whirl.
Leonidas himself washed ashore, nearly spent, displaced from the Rachelle Lee during the course of the battle with his sister and the pirate. The elixir of longevity had been lost to him forever when he fell overboard. Yet he found mercy in the quiet hovel of a fisherman who nursed the king back to health. This fisherman possessed the power to grant continued life, but only with a price. As Leonidas lay near death—a place to which he had never been so close before—he agreed to pay that price. Initially Leonidas had thought his fortune truly wonderful, cared for by a benefactor who could give him what he thought was lost to him forever when he fell off the ship. But once he learned the cost of his decision, Leonidas may very well have wished that he had never condoned such a contract.
The House of Ghouls, October 30th, ten years ago
The mood in the old hall was somber and austere. As the gathered denizens held their breaths in anticipation, a woman was brought forward. Her hair a bright magenta hue, she wore a tight, long, dark-green dress that spilled onto the stony floor in a lengthy train. Her face was set, proud and defiant. Gathered about her were her children, all boys, cretinous and wolfen in their appearance. Her sister, equally garish and holding her own raven-haired son, stood by her side. The witch Zeldabub strode into the room and met their countenances with her own steely reserve. She nodded to the small troll who held a scroll in his hands, waiting for her nod.
He began to read from the scroll. “Leticia Corvalis and Latrease Samuels, be it herefore decided on this thirtieth day of October that you both have been found to be in violation of the Halloween laws.” He continued, “Your crimes against the House of Ghouls as committed with your estranged husbands are unconscionable and unbecoming of a witch or a warlock. It is therefore the opinion of the Queen of the House of Ghouls and her executive counsel that you must—in no uncertain terms and in
