"I assure you that you are quite safe here, my friends. Diplomatic immunity, and all that! Welcome, My Lady, and Good Sir. My name is Horvath - Istvan."
Eason had turned from the door, and moved toward Percilla, standing next to her, protectively. He's suspicious, and rightly so, Percilla thought, with death or worse pursuing us!
"I ask you, be at ease, here," Horvath was saying, "for inside these walls, you are under His Majesty's protection, as are we all. Here, also, we might speak as friends, and in confidence." At this, he produced the coin, in its proper aspect. Percilla and Eason did likewise.
"Would you care for refreshment, either of you?" Horvath said. "If you follow me, please?" And he turned to the passage in the wall, beckoning them to follow. Percilla, her eyes flashing once more, stood her ground and did not move. Her composure returning, her tone turned biting.
"Not one step shall I take, Sir," she said, "until I get my answers! I demand to know why I've been brought here, by a foreign power, so it seems, and why we were assaulted, and what manner of enterprise it is, that I have seemingly stumbled into!"
Eason rose to Percilla's defense. "Sir, even though you have demonstrated your connexion to Percilla and I, can you not tell us more? We have so little information to go on. This whole thing started when Percilla's uncle died on her very doorstep -"
"Ah, yes, and the unfortunate circumstance that was," Horvath admitted. "Yes. It is time for both of you to know what it is, we ask of you. And, what your desity holds for you, My Lady St. Cyr."
"I am the Assistant Attache' to his Excellency, the Ambassador from Budapest to The Court Of St. James. As such, my schedule permits greater freedom of action, and allows me to assist The Order in its activities. We were alerted to your discovery of the document, and anticipated your departure, based on what we knew of your temperment, My Lady. We were fairly certain that you would set out to find more on your own, and expected that our resources would be required."
"You knew of our finding the scroll?" Eason asked.
"Certainly, young man," Horvath said. "As you shoulld have surmised, we have been following the descendants of Baron Mircea since his death, fifty years past. And it was Edgar who, unwittingly, set our plans in motion, thogh they are premature and forcing us to react, rather than act at a time of our choosing."
"Uncle Edgar knew of you!" Percilla said. "Of course! He was a member of The Order of the Dragon, all this time -"
"Yes, and no, My Lady," Horvath said. "Edgar was never a member of the Order, though due to his unique family connexion, he divined our existence, and our mission.
"There are three ranks to the Order: The Outer Court, the Inner Court, and the Elders. I, as a member of the Inner Court, have been charged with two missions: to ensure your safe passage out of England and on the next stage of your journey; and to bring you advise and counsel on what is to come."
"So, does this mean," Percilla said, "that Eason and I are now members of the Order?"
"Not precisely, no," Horvath replied. "While you, as the heir presumptive to Baron Mircea, have a blood claim to membership, and your friend, Eason, is your protector and companion, out of necessity you have only been presented with the lesser passwords, and knowledge of the Order. But neither of you is even inducted into the Outer Court - yet. Once I receive communication from the Elders, that staus most certainly will change."
"But, sir," Eason asked, "what IS the Order of the Dragon all about? It must be more than simply the continuation of an obscure noble family in Europe! And to have international reach and resource, as you claim, there must be more than what we already know!"
"Eason speaks for me, Your Excellency," Percilla said. "I, too, wish to know more. My mother and grandmother, apparently, knew of their heritage, as I now do. And there are forces involved who are willing to use deadly force to stop them from some unimaginable goal of their. Will you now make this plain, even to me?"
"The Order of the Dragon dates back to the Fifteenth Century, when the Holy Roman Emperor, King Sigismund of Hungaria, along with Queen Barbara Cilli, formed the Order from members of the crowned heads of Europe. The Order's purpose and mission, was to "defend the Cross and to do battle against its enemies", wherever they might be found. These were the times of the Crusades, and the greatest threats to Christendom were the Ottoman and Turkish Empires, especially after the fall of Istambul.
"As the centuries passed, the Crusades ended, and the expansion of empires continued apace, but the Order fell into obscurity. But their purpose never changed: to defend Christendom. And the Order changed with the nature of the threat. Rather than leading the fight for temporal power, the Order recognized that the metaphysical threat was no less great. And that the natural world, might become the target of the forces of the supernatural, as well.
"So, the Order exists today, in the Twentieth Century, with its ancient purpose intact, but fighting a two-front war. Forces of one world will attempt to use power of the other world, for its planned confrontation. And the Order stands in their way, even now.
"You, My Lady, were born Percilla St. Cyr, of an English noble family. Your true bloodline, however, brings you in direct line of descent from Mircea Szilagy, who was Baron of Sibiu, and a Knight-Commander of the Order of the Dragon - and one of the last ones to hold the rank who possesed temporal authority as well as supernatural. The time and opportunity have arrived, Madam, to make claim to the Barony - and to the knighthood, and possibly help to restore some of the power and influence of the Order, so that the imminent confrontation with the Enemy will be successful!"