From Book 14
They got all the people loaded into the airplanes, it was crowded, but they refused to leave anyone behind. The planes were loaded to capacity and, perhaps, a bit more. The pilots could feel the drag as they raced down the runway and clawed their way into the sky. They set course for Buenos Aires and, again, had to threaten the tower in order to be allowed to land. James had mind sent ahead to alert the doctors about Lord Prince Consort Roberto and the two human brothers, who, he would change them himself!
THE LORD KEEPER'S SONS
King Jeremiah's Wolves had practically taken over the Argentine Government. There were Warrior Guards in every department head's office and Lord Keeper's Warrior, Prince Lewis, sat in the office of the Publisher of the largest newspaper in the country.
Lewis had sent the Chief Editor away, wrapped in a rubber sheet and was gibbering to himself about magical wolves and glowing stones. The man would never again be able to function as an adult and would require custodial care for the remainder of his life.
Prince James rushed the two boys to the quarters offered to them by Roberto and Alberto. He held the boys in his arms as he requested use of a bedroom, he had two boys who required immediate conversion.
Both Roberto and Alberto were delighted to be of service and felt honored that The Lord Keeper's Warrior, Lewis, had thought to come to them for assistance.
Kenneth had told James that his father had been Publisher of the largest newspaper in Chicago and, before he sat with the boys to begin their conversion, he mind sent to Lord Clan Alpha Tosco the information and asked the he secure the boys' inheritance while they underwent conversion.
Tosco promised he would attend to it himself, Prince James' new sons would lose none of their patrimony!
Lewis next mind sent a request to King Jeremiah asking permission to convert the two children, he got his reply immediately, "Lord Keeper's Warrior, do as thy heart demands, thou art permitted in all things."
Things settled down a bit for Lewis, sequestered in the local Clan's Safe House.
Lord Alpha Antonio, Lord of Met, fully recovered from his ordeal, visited Lord Lewis and his safe house daily to make sure they had everything they needed to protect Lord James and his children.
He had two companies of local Wolf Warriors surrounding the house, there were going to be no further Wolves taken hostage or injured while he could prevent it!
Towards the end of the week, loud bangs and rumbles were heard behind the closed door where James and his sons were enclosed. Sometime during the last night of the boys' conversion, the whole safe house shook and rattled on its foundations. Bright light was seen streaming from beneath the door and both Lord Antonio and Lord Alberto were alerted there was something of great import happening within the guest bedroom.
By daybreak, Antonio, Alberto and Roberto were standing in the hallway outside the door.
The King had been summoned and Lord Lewis, The Keeper's Warrior, arrived. He stood outside the door with a huge smile on his face, he announced, "THE KEEPER'S OWN CADETS ARE HERE!"
None but King Jeremiah understood what Lewis had said. Jeremiah leaned down to his messenger and whispered in his ear.
The youngling replied, "At Once, Your Majesty."
The page ran off and soon returned with two elaborate, Silver Daggers in Presentation Cases! The King smiled at the young Page and whispered to him, "Hold those Daggers ready to be presented to Lord Keeper James' sons, they are to be his Pages, like yourself."
The door finally opened and a drawn and tired James led two younglings of the Wolf Kind from the room.
King Jeremiah nodded and his page knelt before Prince James and his two sons, the page said, "My Lord Keeper, Prince James, I am commanded by my Liege Lord, King Jeremiah, to present to thy Sons, Princes Kenneth and Richard, their Daggers of Appointment to your service as Cadets and Pages of The Lord Keeper."
James gave a tired smile and pushed the two boys forward.
The King's Page said, "Princes Kenneth and Richard Meese Tate, sons to Lord Keeper, Prince James, Holder of the Eye of Scotland and Bearer of The Sword of Truth, I present to thee, gifts from the King of The Wolves, thy Daggers of Appointment to Pages of The Lord Keeper. Be thee true to thy Trust and Honor, for thee guard the Soul of our Folk."
Without knowing exactly why, the two brothers knelt before the King's Page and each replied, "I accept thy honor, Page of the King, I swear before the Lord of Wolves, Above Us All and The Lord God, Creator of us all, that I will be true to thy charge, unto mine own last breath."
The two boys then stood and bowed to their new father.
As they placed their daggers in their belts, bells all over the city began to ring. Local folk ran out into the streets, wondering what momentous event had occurred.
Those standing in the hallway KNEW that they had just witnessed a further manifestation of their Lord of Wolves, Above Us All and that the Great Creator approved.
As they turned back to the boys, everyone saw a nimbus of light begin to fade from their bodies, there was several years' difference in their two ages, but, as everyone watched in stunned amazement, both boys assumed the height of their father, Lord Prince James, and they had the look of formidable Warriors, strong and fearsome in anger, yet kind and gentle to those whom they loved.
The two boys again knelt before their Father and gave their oath, "Father, whom we love and honor above all others, we pledge our bodies and our souls to thy protection. As thou hast given us new life, so also shall we protect and sustain thy life. None shall harm thee so long as there is breath in our body and blood in our veins. This we swear, upon our immortal souls before Our Lord of Wolves, Above Us All and our Lord God of the Everlasting Light!"
Again, the city's bells began to ring furiously and people ran out into the streets, fearing there was a great fire or earthquake.
Those nearby, saw a cloud of light above the House of the Wolf Folk and they gathered in front, wondering what was happening.
The two boys took their Father's hand and led him out on the balcony above the street, Kenney announced, "People of the Argentine* (*the Ancient's name for what had become Argentina), The Lord Keeper, Prince James of The Wolf Folk is here to protect thee, he shall speak only truth and he shall shield thee from those who would deceive thee, steal thy goods and lives and place thee in bondage. Thou shalt be a free folk and assist us in driving out the demons who call themselves, POLITICIANS! I, Prince Kenneth, son and Page of The Lord Keeper say this and it shall be so!"
The people in the crowd stood there, looking at one another as it began to dawn on them that they had been played the fool by the politicians, claiming to be working for the betterment of all the people.
They neither rioted nor caused violence, but they marched on the capital and demanded the politicians' resignations.
As the crowd got larger, the President called on the Army to protect her, but the Army had already seen the light and had joined the crowd.
The woman President and her lackies barely made it to a plane they had secreted away at the airport and they flew out to an unknown destination.
A hundred miles out to sea, the plane caught fire and nose-dived into the sea, there were no survivors!
THE NEW ARGENTINE REPUBLIC
The Argentine Government was in a shambles and about the only honest person in the entire elected government was the Vice President, Honorio Louise Albertania. He was an elderly, but spry, short statured little man, he came only slightly above Lord Prince James' belt line! He surveyed what was left of his government and decided to pay an official visit to King Jeremiah.
He had met the King's son, Tosco, many years earlier, when he was a boy and a runner in the Banco del Republica and Tosco was assisting some folks he called Family Met. He wondered if the King's son would remember him.
His secretary made the appointment for him to meet with King Jeremiah and, on the appointed day, he walked the short distance to where the Wolf Folk had set up their headquarters.
Honario was flabbergasted when he approached the doors where two huge men stood guard. They both bowed to him and said, "We welcome you, Mr. Vice President of the Argentines and be relieved, King Jeremiah is expecting you and has arranged a welcome for you!"
The two men pulled the doors open to allow the Vice President to enter the foyer, there were two young boys standing there, dressed smaller copies of the uniforms the Guards were wearing and both boys had highly polished silver daggers hanging from their belts. On the left breast of their tunics was a large, golden wolf's head, complete with a silver crown.
Both boys held tall silver staffs, topped with polished, Golden Globes. They bowed low and asked him to follow them that they would take him to their King.
The boys walked slowly, leading the elderly man in great ceremony, they tagged the floor at each measured step, with their silver staffs and those they passed bowed to the Vice President and greeted him in the name of their King Jeremiah.
They approached a set of doors that two more guards swung open and the two pages said as one, "Lord King Jeremiah OF THE WOLF FOLK, His Highness, the Vice President of the Argentines has come for a meeting with thee. Greetings Vice President Honorio and be thee welcome among us."
The two pages bowed again and went to stand at the inside of the now closed doors.
Jeremiah stood and welcomed the man and asked him to please be seated.
Jeremiah had a huge smile on his face as he said, "Greetings, Mr. Vice President, it is with great pleasure I welcome thee among us and I take joy in meeting you after so many years. We were both much younger back then, but thee treated my Son, Prince Tosco, my charge and heir and also the Young Wolf Lord of Family Met, Lord Antonio, with great courtesy and you assisted my son in solving the many problems that plagued the Wolf Family Met."
The man, obviously pleased that this King actually remembered him after all as he had been a child and only a minor functionary of the bank at that time.
Jeremiah smiled and said, "Not so Honorio, you were the only one willing to assist my son, Tosco at that time, the rest of the humans in that bank became interested only when they discovered that I was very wealthy."
Not thinking, the man said, "Sir, how is it you have not aged, after all, that was many years ago and I am an old man, you look hardly older than a boy!"
Jeremiah laughed, "Sir, how old do you think I am?"
Honorio replied, "Well, I am sixty-five, most certainly you are not much younger!"
Jeremiah chuckled and replied, "Sir, I am approaching four hundred years old, my Father recently celebrated his two thousand, five hundred year and remains well enough to golf nearly every day and goes deep sea fishing at least twice a week, while I slave to serve our folk!"
Honorio said under his breath, "Oh, My God, what have I done?"
Jeremiah leaned across the desk and said, "Sir, you have done naught to shame thee. We have much to discuss, thee and me. We must fix this problem of the Argentines and clean up the mess that woman has left for you."
Honorio sat very quietly and replied, "Sir, you are reading my mind, are you not?"
Jeremiah said, "Yes, I have that power and much more, however, your private thoughts shall never be intruded upon by myself or any of my kind. We would die of shame were we to invade your private mind without your permission or of a desperate need!"
Honorio figured he had better get to business before he committed some awful mistake with this strange and powerful being, so be began, "Sir, we need assistance in changing our government, we cannot continue electing criminals every six years and letting them rob our people blind. They steal everything that is not nailed down and leave us nothing to support our people. Were it not for your own folk, many of mine would have already starved and your local Wolf Folk already feed more than half the city now!"
The two leaders talked the remainder of the day and far into the night before they had reached a resolution to the problem.
Jeremiah offered Honorio the use of a bedroom and both men slept comfortably in the knowledge they had found a mutual solution to the problem.
The next morning, King Jeremiah of the Wolf Folk held a press conference with the news media. Vice President Honorio Louise Albertania stood next to Jeremiah as the announcement was made.
Jeremiah said, "We have agreed, that a plebiscite shall be held in this country to decide on a new form of government, there shall be a Prince Regent as head of state and two Vice Regents, one from the Military and one from the Civilian side. They will be lifetime positions and will report only to the Prince Regent. Only he may fire a Vice Regent, but it will take two to approve his or her replacement, that of the Regent and myself, The King of The Wolf Folk. All other positions shall be appointed and will serve at the pleasure of the Prince Regent. Local Governments may either elect their own officials or the Regency will choose them, in either case, the Prince Regent must approve or disapprove of all local appointments. They, also, shall be appointed for life and serve at the pleasure of the Prince Regent."
A reporter asked "And just who will choose the Prince Regent?"
Jeremiah replied simply, "ME!"
Another reporter asked, "Who will be the Prince Regent?" Jeremiah responded immediately, "My Adopted Son, Prince James, The Lord Prince Keeper of The Wolf Folk."
Jeremiah could hear the wheels grinding, "This guy is young, so his son will be even younger, we can control him easily!"
Jeremiah channeled their thoughts to Honorio, who was having great difficulty not bursting out in laughter!
The news services reported that an election would be held soon, to make their beloved republic a kingdom and urged their readers to vote no.
They had not reckoned with the public's distaste for the entire criminal goings on in the Capitol and, even before the election got underway; various government officials were grabbing what they could and making flight reservations to get out of the country.
They didn't realize that Lord Prince Keeper James had taken over the computer systems that ran, among other things, the airline reservation system! No matter what their tickets said, they were all booked on one-way flights to Castillo de Pinciera, the infamous prison high in the Andes, where once Lord Roberto, Lord Prince Consort of Family Met had been imprisoned!
The election returns came in slowly, the system the country used was primitive and corrupt, but despite that, the vote was overwhelming to "Throw The Bums Out"!
Jeremiah had already alerted his son, James that he was going to be wearing two hats, a National Leader and Lord Keeper of The Wolf Folk.
James had asked his Father earlier if he could wear both hats and Jeremiah agreed, just so long as neither job was neglected.
James had an ideal candidate for his representative as a stand-in "Associate" Lord Keeper, Prince Peter!
When Peter heard about this, he had an absolute fit and was not seen again for a week! When he finally returned, he had resigned himself to the job and was even pleasant to James for even suggesting it!
James was more than a little worried, he knew that his Uncle Peter had a long memory and a strong sense of revenge!
It would be a long time before James felt safe, sleeping at night!
THE ARGENTINE WOLF REGENCY
Soon after the elections, Prince Tosco arrived in the Golden Wolf, he had volunteered to assist the Prince Regent in setting up his new government.
The few officials who had remained on the job and had not fled, were vetted by a team of Wolf Managers, only a few had to be let go, mostly for incompetence, rather than misdeeds.
Jeremiah sat back and watched his son build a government. He patted himself on the back, almost every morning, that he had rescued James and converted him so many years earlier.
Once or twice, he heard in his mind, "Who Chose WHO?" He knew that James was listening in on his public thoughts.
It was considered a heinous moral crime to listen in on private thoughts, unless it was a grave emergency. Even then, no wolf would do such a thing without careful consideration and an ironclad reason for doing so.
Surprisingly, the new government came together rapidly and with few problems. Perhaps the biggest headache they had was the prison population at Castillo de Pinciera.
The new Prison Governor was given full authority to handle the problem and, after a few hangings, the rest of them settled down! Since the Prison Governor had a Wolf Warrior Advisor, the hangings were gruesome and unusual; the convicted prisoner was left hanging by his or her heels, totally drained of blood!
Honorio wanted out of government and to just retire to enjoy his grandchildren, but James convinced the old man that he was needed and, as soon as he wavered, he found himself as Governor of the nation's Banking System!
With an energy even he did not know he had, he cleaned house in a matter of a couple of weeks.
Folks who had been sure they had been missing monies from their accounts over the years, suddenly discovered their accounts had doubled and even tripled in value!
The value of the Peso also rose accordingly and housewives were astounded that the cost of imported items in the stores actually went down!
They discovered the National Company, Petroleos de Argentina was siphoning off refined petroleum products and reselling them in other countries; within days, Argentines were allowed to purchase any amount of gasolina or petroleo they wished at a third less than they had been paying for rationed amounts! Likewise, food was plentiful and the National Electricity Board reduced the price of electricity to every household by half!
Every so often, there was a public hanging, James had warned all government employees they would be investigated for theft and cheating the public, a few didn't think the young kid who had come to run their government would ever catch them. Those who discovered what and WHO James was, quickly left the country or mended their ways immediately!
By the year's end, the entire country was being managed well and hunger and homelessness had virtually disappeared. Countries that surrounded the Argentine were looking on in envy and wondering how they, too, could cash in on this bonanza!
The public pressure in adjoining Uruguay was rising towards an urgent level! The people of that country were streaming across the border to purchase goods and foods that were unavailable in their own country.
King Jeremiah and Lord Tosco and most of the Wolf Warriors left at the beginning of the New Year, they put on a show for the people. The Wolf Forces took up the entire Plaza Central with their Warriors.
As the Warriors performed their routines, they found little boys and a few girls marching alongside of them, grinning and their faces full of envy, longing and most of all, hope!
More than one child wormed his or her way into a heart of a Wolf Warrior, during their stay in the Argentine and the Sergeants gave up trying to prevent their Warriors from bringing a child onboard the aircraft as they loaded for departure.
When the Sergeants went down the aisles, counting heads, the Sergeants reported that nearly every Warrior had a child sitting on his or her lap! Many had TWO children on their laps!
King Jeremiah laughed and said to his staff, "Let them be, both are happy in their choice and are causing no harm. That child will have a happy home and almost any future he or she desires. There will be no more hungry nights nor sleeping in an alley and, if they wish Conversion, we can handle that, also!"
So it was that thirty-two hundred Argentine Children and quite a few from Uruguay, who had sneaked across the border, made their way to North Carolina.
In less than a year, nobody could tell the difference and, except for a slightly darker tan, only a Wolf could truly detect an Argentine or a Uruguayan child.
The Regency Government went well, and Lord James was afraid he was in for a lifetime job. He was, Lord Prince James, Regent of the Argentines, as well as The Lord Keeper and he would spend the next seven hundred years as Regent, until he could convince one of his many children to take the job while he ran for cover!
TBC
Many of the countries of Latin America would look on as the Argentine Regency prospered and its people became the envy of much of the world. It would not be long before deputations of citizens from countries suffering from criminal governments, came knocking on King Jeremiah's door!