Fast paced action adventure set in the Cascade mountains of washington state. |
The music seemed to lift and carry Tobal Kane as he swirled his partner through the many colored mists. The strains of the Blue Danube waltz echoed around the dimly lit auditorium as costumed dancers appeared and disappeared like ghosts from another time and place. The elaborate decorations struck a chord deep inside him and he didn't know why. Fog generators created an eerie atmosphere of colored fog that seemed to float and move over the polished hardwood floor of Albert Pike auditorium. The school had done a good job with the decorations and costumes but that didn't surprise Tobal. They were the best money could buy. Tavistock Educational in the City-State of New Rome drew from the wealthiest and most privileged families in the world. There was a waiting list of families wanting to get their children enrolled. At times he had wondered how his uncle had managed to get him enrolled. This year's Halloween theme was a perennial favorite, Freemasonry and secret societies in general. That was appropriate given the nature of Tavistock Educational, a small influential private school. Throughout history the elite and powerful moved within small secret societies far removed from the public eye. They met for many purposes. Not all of them were strictly legal or moral. The stated purpose of Tavistock Educational was to train and educate the next generation of world leaders. Freemasonry, Rosicrucianism, Templars, the Bavarian Illuminati and the occult practices of those mysterious people known as the Pennsylvania Dutch from the black forests of southern Germany certainly all had their roles to play in the founding of what used to be the United States of America. George Washington and all of the early presidents were known Master Masons. The Boston Tea Party was known to be a lodge activity. The Templars were high level Masons with political connections in continental Europe and in England. The Masonic symbols of the level and the square were widely known and recognized. Tobal saw many of these symbols as they circled the auditorium. Lesser known were the secretive Rosicrucians. Benjamin Franklin was the head of the Order in the Americas and Thomas Jefferson was his successor. The Rosicrucians were an inner circle that stemmed from the Jacobite rebellion and protestant split away from the Holy Universal Catholic Church. In England the Imperator was Sir Francis Bacon. In Germany it was Martin Luther who put the Rosy Cross on his family coat of arms. It was not widely known that the Rosicrucians under the leadership of Sir Francis Bacon were responsible for the creation of modern Freemasonry as a social experiment. Secrets within secrets were the hallmark of the Bavarian Illuminati founded by ex-Jesuit Adam Weishaupt. This associate of Benjamin Franklin and curious look alike to George Washington was always suspected of political connections with the early colonial Americans and founding fathers but it was never proved. The Illuminati always cropped up from time to time in various incarnations loosely modeled on the original and always deeply involved in world politics. The symbol of the red rose and golden cross hung on a chain around Tobal's neck. What could be said about the Pennsylvania Dutch? Those were simple folk seeking only the freedom of religion to worship as they wished in peace. The Black Forrest area of southern Germany was a stronghold of occultism and according to legend the birth place of Christian Rozencruez, the founder of the Rosicrucian Order. The Teutonic Knights or "Mariam Ritters" of Germany were the "Knights of Mary". They were keepers of the occult secrets of early gnostic Christianity when Mary, mother of Jesus, and Mary Magdalene, wife of Jesus and mother of his daughter, Sarah, were secreted away from the Roman Catholic Church deep in southern France. The lost blood line of Jesus led through the Merovingians into the nobility of Europe along with the "Divine Right to Rule" supported by the Roman Catholic Church. Many of these secrets and occult practices made their way into the very folklore of these otherwise common folk looking for religious freedom in the new world. But that was ancient history. Still, it was the "Divine Right to rule" that connected the families of these students at Tavistock Educational. For one reason or another these families felt they had been given a divine mandate to rule the rest of humanity. That belief in their own elitism and superiority led them to want the very best for their children in terms of education and social advantage. Each family was hoping that their own children might be "invited" into a higher and more secret elite society and social strata than they had reached on their own, a group so secret that they didn't even know existed. Perhaps that is what the families desired but tonight they were just teenagers dressed in costumes enjoying the music and dance. They had practiced ballroom dancing for months in preparation of this evening and spirits were high. |