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Back at the Chateau Bronnitsy in the osani found Borowitz absent His secretary told hior Boroas inher coosani phoned him anyway
’Ah, Boris,’ the old man’s voice was soft for once, eor, I’ a ritual he didn’t really understand ’But I thought you’d like to know I got what you wanted More than you wanted Shukshin is dead Gor’
’Good,’ said the other without emotion ’But don’t talk to me now of death, Boris Not now I shall be here for another week After that it will be a while before I’h old bitch She had a tu Very peaceful at the end I miss her a lot She never knehat a secret was! That was nice’
’I’ain
At that Borowitz seemed to snap out of it ’So take a break,’ he said ’Get it all down on paper Report to osani’s hand tightened on the telephone ’A break would be very welcome,’ he said ’I or, can I take Max Batu with me? He, too, has done his ell’
’Yes, yes - only don’t bother osani’
And that was that
Dragosani didn’t like Batu, but he did have plans for hi companion: he said very little, kept himself more or less to himself, and his needs were few He did have a passion for slivovitz, but that didn’t present a probleol could drink the stuff until it came out of his ears, and still he would appear sober Appearance was all that mattered
It was the middle of the Russian winter and so they went by train, a much interrupted journey which didn’t see theosani hired a car with snow chains, which gave hi of the independence he so relished Eventually, on the evening of that second day, in the rooe near Valeni, finally the necrorew bored with Batu’s silence and asked hi here? Aren’t you interested to find out why I brought you along?’
’No, not really,’ answered the ol ’I’ll find out when you’re ready, I suppose Actually, itPerhaps the Coe parts’
Dragosani thought: No, Max, there’ll be no h me But out loud he said only, ’Perhaps’
Night had fallen by the tiave Batu the first hint of as to coht, Max,’ he said ’Bright starlight and not a cloud in sight That’s good, for we’re going for a drive There’s someone I want to talk to’ On their way to the cruciform hills they passed a field
where sheep huddled together in a corner where straw had been put out for them There was a thin layer of snow but the teosani stopped the car ’My friend will be thirsty,’ he explained, ’but he’s not much on slivovitz Still, I think it’s only fair we should take hiot out of the car and Dragosani went into the field, scattering the sheep ’That one, Max,’ he said, as one of the aniol where he leaned on the fence ’Don’t kill it Merely stun it, if you can’
Max could He crouched, his face contorting where he directed his gaze through the bars of the fence Dragosani averted his face as the sheep, a fine ewe, gave a shrill cry of terror He looked back in time to see the ani heap of dense wool
Together they bundled the animal into the boot and went on their way After a little while Batu said: ’Your friend est appetite, Comrade’
’He does, Max, he does’ And then Dragosani told the other soht about it for soosani, I know you are a strange e men - but now I aosani bayed like a hound, finally brought his boohter under control ’You mean you don’t believe in vampires, Max?’
’Oh, indeed I do!’ said the other ’If you say so I don’t mean that you’rethe thing up!’
’We shall see e shall see,’ Dragosani growled, , Max What ever you hear or see - no matter what may happen - you are not to interfere I don’t want him to know you’re even here Not yet, anyway Do you understand what I’? You’re to stay out of it You’re to be so still and quiet that even I forget you’re there!’
’As you will,’ the other shrugged ’But you say he reads your mind Perhaps he already knows I’osani, ’for I can sense when he’s trying to get at me and I kno to shut hihting with me, not even mentally No, Thibor Ferenczy has no idea that I’hted when I speak to him that he won’t think to look for treachery’
’If you say so,’ and Batu shrugged again
’Now,’ said Dragosani, ’you have said I must be mad Far from it, Max But you see this vampire has secrets that only the undead know They are secrets I want And one way or the other I intend to get theh to deal with So far Thibor has frustrated et at these secrets then so be it!’
’And do you kno? - to raise him up, I mean?’
’Not yet, no But he’ll tell me, Max Be sure of that’
They were there Dragosani parked the car off the road under the cover of overhanging trees, and in the cold bright light of the stars they trudged slowly up the overgrown fire break together, snaring the burden of the twitching sheep between theosani took the animal on his shoulder and whispered: ’Now, Max, you’re to stay here You may follow a little closer if you wish, and watch by all means - but remember, keep out of it!’
The other nodded, came a few paces closer, huddled down and wrapped his overcoat tightly about hiosani went on under the trees and up to the toround
He paused at the rim of the circle, but farther out than when last he’d visited ’Ho, old dragon?’ he softly said, letting the treround at his feet ’Ho, Thibor Ferenczy, you who have made a vampire of me!’ He spoke softly so that Max Batu could not hear, for as always he found it easier to speak out loud than merely think his conversation at the vampire
Ahhhh! ca breath of one roused froosani? Ho! - and so you’ve guessed, have you?
’It didn’t take uesswork, Thibor It has been only a ed e, Dragosani? No fury? Why, it seems to me that this time you come almost humbly! Why is that? I wonder
’Oh, you knohy, old dragon I want rid of this thing’
Ah, no (a mental shake of some monstrous head) unfortunately not That is quite iosani And did I not call you , I think, that osani’s osani couldn’t afford the luxury of anger Not yet ’Son?’ he pressed ’This thing you put in me? Son? Another lie, old devil? Who was it told me that your sort have no sex?’
/ think you never listen, Dragosani, the varows and becomes more properly part of you, so you beco
’But with his mind?’
With your mind - but subtly altered Your ed a little Your appetites will be sharper? Your needs different Listen: as a es were lith, a man’s capabilities But as one of the Waine in you with nothing to drive but a bundle of soft flesh and brittle bones? What - a tiger with the heart of a osani had expected fro to a final, perhaps irrevocable decision, he tried one last tiive myself into the hands of physicians They’re a different breed to the doctors you knew in your day, Thibor And I shall tell them a va out They have tools you wouldn’t dream of When they have it they’ll cut it open, study it, discover its nature And they’ll want to kno and why I shall tell theh, measure me up for a strait-jacket - but they won’t be able to explain it away And so I shall bring them here, show them you It will be the end Of you, of your "son", of an entire legend And wherever the Wamphyri are, men will seek theosani! Thibor was dryly sardonic Bravo!
Dragosani waited, and after a moment: ’Is that all you have to say?’
It is I don’t converse with fools
’Explain yourself’
Now the voice in his er now, but real and frightening for all that You are a vain and egotistical and stupid osani, said Thibor Ferenczy Always it is "tell me this" and "show me that" and "explain"! I was a power in the land for centuries before you were even spawned, and even that would not have happened but for
me! And here I must lie and let myself be used Well, all that is at an end Very well, I will "explain myself as you demand, but for the very last time For after that then it will be ti I’osani, as you well know, and you have the power to get me up out of here That is the only reason I’ve been patient with you at all! But now my patience is no more First let us deal with your assessive yourself into the hands of physicians Well, by now certainly the vampire will be discernible in you It is there, physically and tangibly, a real organisht osani But cut it out? Exorcise it? Skilled your doctors may well be, but not that skilled! Can they cut it from the individual whorls of your brain? From the fluids of your spine? From your tripes, your heart itself? Can they wrest it froh to let theh your spine, leak poison into your brain Surely by now you have co of our tenacity? Or did you perhaps think that survival was a purely hu of the word!
Dragosani was silent
We round finally continued / have kept ain Now then, what of yours? Is it not tiosani was taken aback ’Are you joking? What bargain?’
Have you forgotten? You wanted the secrets of the Wamphyri Very well, they are yours For now you are a Wae will coether
’What?’ Dragosani was outraged ’My ination by a vaain?
What the hell was that for a bargain? I wanted knowledge, wanted it now, Thibor! For myself - not as the black, rotten fruit of so!’
You dare spurn , one new life to ave mine to you
’Don’t act the proud father with ed ’Don’t even try and make out I’ve hurt your pride I want rid of this bastard thing in me Do you tell me you care for it? But I know you vampires hate one another even worse than round knew that Dragosani had seen through hi, he said, coldly
’The hell with bargaining - I want rid of it!’ Dragosani snarled Tell me how and then I’ll raise you up’
For long moments there was silence Then -
You cannot do it Your doctors cannot do it Only I can abort what I put there
’Then do it’
’What? While I lie here, in the ground? Impossible! Raise osani’s turn to ponder the vampire’s proposition - or at least to pretend to ponder it And finally: ’Very well How do I go about it?’
Thibor was eager now: First, do you do this of your own free will?
’You know I do not!’ Dragosani was scornful ’I do it to be free of the hag in me’
But of your own free will? Thibor insisted
’Yes, damn you!’
Good First there are chains here, in the earth They were used to bindsince worked loose of wasted tissues You see, Dragosani, there are cheredients which the Wamphyri find intolerable Silver
and iron in the correct proportions paralyse us Even though round And the silver is here, too First, then, youout these silver chains ’But I haven’t the tools!’ You have your hands
’You wish rub in the dirt with my hands? How deep?’
Not deep at all but shallowThrough all the long centuries I’ve worked these silver chains to the surface, hoping someone would find theosani? ’More than ever’
Then take it with osani did not want to appear to be stalling, but on the other hand there were certain arrange­ will it take? The entire process, I mean? And what does it involve?’
We start it tonight, said the vampire, and tomorroe finish it
’I can’t actually bring you up out of the ground until toosani tried not to show too osani But I note you’ve brought th fro and after you have taken away the chains -’Very well,’ said the necro?’ Come closer, my son Come to the very centre of this place There - there! Now you can dig
The flesh crept on Dragosani’s back as he got down on hands and knees and tore at the dirt and leaf-ers Cold sweat started to his brow - but not from his effort - as he remembered the last time he was here, and what had happened then The vampire sensed his apprehension and chuckled darkly in his osani? For all your bluff and bluster? What? A brave young blood like you, and old Thibor Ferenczy just a poor undead Thing in the ground? Bah! Shaosani had scraped most of the surface soil and debris to one side and was now five or six inches deep He had reached the harder, rave itself But as he drove his fingers yet again into that strangely fertile soil, so they contacted so that clinked dully He worked harder then, and the first links he uncovered were of solid silver - and ed of silver rods at least half an inch thick!
’How how asped
Enough to keep osani, came the answer Until now
The vampire’s words, simple and spontaneous as they were, nevertheless contained awhich set the short hairs at the back of Dragosani’s neck standing erect in a lue, filled with all the evil of the pit itself Dragosani was a necromancer - he knew hiround he felt innocent as a babe!
He caught hold of a great rope of silver links, stood up, used a strength which astonished even hi open the ground, erupting in scabs of clotted soil and crusts of dusty, s the roots of the trees which had grown up through all the long years to cover this place and keep it secret And dragging the treasure in three trips to the outer ris and torn earth, Dragosani calculated that there must be at least five or six hundred pounds of the stuff! In the Western World he would be a rich man But in Moscowto even try to profit from it would be worth ten years in the Siberian saltas treasure trove in the USSR - only theft!
On the other hand, what good was treasure to hiood at all, except as a means to an end He couldn’t enjoy the fruits of his labours like other men But one day soon he would be able to enjoy, when other men -all other men - crawled to his feet, and world leaders came to do obeisance in the courts of the Great Wallachian Hyper-State These were thoughts Dragosani kept hidden as he hauled the last of the chains aside and stood panting, staring in darkness at the scarred, riven earth of this secret place
And he gave a wry snort of self-derision as he remem­bered a ti at all in this dark place, even with his cat’s eyes But nohy, it was like daylight! Yet another proof that a va on his body as it would one day attempt to batten on his osani knew that wasn’t worth a handful of tomb-dirt! Well, if he must live with the leech so be it; but he would be master and not the beast within Somehow, sohts, too, he kept to himself
At last he was done and the silver chains lay in a great circle all about the torn-up area ’There,’ he told the Thing in the ground ’All finished Nothing to keep you do, Thibor Ferenczy’
You’ve done well, Dragosani I’m well pleased But now Ito return fro, if you please, which I trust you’ll leave ain toht, before I can stand with you under the stars Then, and only then, will you too be free
Dragosani kicked the ehich at once started to life
He trapped the shivering anis as it lurched to its feet, yanked back its head The glittering blade he wielded passed through the front part of its neck effortlessly, coushed out on to the dark, unhallowed ground Then he picked the shuddering aniht pick up a cat, by scruff of neck and ru it centrally into the circle It thudded down, and again came to its feet - and only then seemed to realise that it was hurt and that this was the end Awash in blood the beast fell on its side, kicking spastically in its own reek as the rest of its life puosani stepped back then, and farther yet, and in his h of pleasure, of reatly tobeyond a doubt I owe you thanks, one, for I’ whose addiction I’ve not yet broken
Dragosani needed no second bidding He backed away fro, huddled shape at the centre of the circle But even as he went his eyes were on the alert for son of the vampire’s new freedom, its mobility Oh, yes! - for Thibor Ferenczy was mobile now - the necro himself, could alroan of old bones as they soaked in blood and so of their brittleness went out of theed, slumped lower, closer to the blood-soaked earth It was as if some seismic suction had pulled at the animal, as if the earth itself were a htered beast, but Dragosani couldfor certain
He backed away, backed up against a tree and quickly groped his way around it, putting the rough bole between hi But still he kept his eyes riveted on the ewe’s carcass
The aniosani watched so it seemed its bulk shrank down a little, caved in upon itself - diminished! The necroround, but such was the lusting bestiality it was met with that he at once withdrew it And still the ewe continued to shrink, shrivel, dwindle away
And as the eas devoured, so the cold ground about began to s the rest of the act It was as if the earth sweated - or as if so, long tiosani turned away and quickly joined Max Batu With a finger to his lips he beckoned the other to follow, and quickly they descended the fire­break together and made their way back to the car
Earlier that sah decided, standing at the grave of August Ferdinand Mobius, (born 1790, died 26th September 1868) that it had been a very bad day for the science of numbers, a very bad day indeed Orastronomy The day in question was the date of Mobius’ death, of course
There had been students here earlier - East German, mainly, but -haired and tattily attired; but properly respectful, Harry had thought And so they should be He, too, felt respectful; even awed that he stood in the presence of such a e, Harry had waited until he was alone Also, he had needed to think how best to approach Mobius This was no ordinary figure lying here but a thinker who’d helped guide science along ht paths
Finally Harry had settled for a direct approach; seating hihts reach out and touch those of the dead man A callassy look; for all that it was bitterly cold, a fine patina of sweat gleareare that indeed Mobius - or what remained of hiures, astronourations beat against Harry’s awareness like the pulses ofcom­puters Butall of this in one hts very nearly simul­taneously? And then it dawned on Harry that Mobius orking on so as he sought to tie together the elements of a puzzle too co o on for days And Harry simply didn’t have the time
’Sir? Excuseway to see you’
The phantasures and formulae stopped at once, like a computer switched off ’Eh? What? Who?’
’Harry Keogh, sir I’ht pause before the other snapped: ’English? I don’t care if you’re an Arab! I’ll tell you what you are: you’re a nuisance! Nohat is this, eh? What’s it all about? I’’
’I’m a necroscope,’ Harry explained as best he could ’I can talk to the dead’
’Dead? Talk to the dead? Ho came to the conclusion that I was So obviously you can Well, it comes to us all - death, I
es Privacy, for one - or so I thought until now! A necroscope, you say? A new science?’
Harry had to smile ’I suppose you could call it that Except I seem to be its one practitioner Spiritualists aren’t quite the sa’
’I’ll say they’re not! Fraudulent bunch at best Well then, how can I help you, Harry Keogh? I ood reason, that is?’
’The best in the world,’ said Harry The fact is I’ down a fiend, ahiht set about it, and that’s where you co down a murderer? A talent like yours and you use it to track downto Euclid, Aristotle, Pythagorus! No, cancel that last You’d get nothing froorean Brotherhood! It’s a wonder he even passed on his Theorem! Anyhat is this clue of yours?’
Harry showed him a mental projection of the Mobius strip ’It’s this,’ he said ’It’s what ties the futures of ether’
Now the other was interested Topology in the ti questions Are you talking about your probable futures or your actual futures? Have you spoken to Gauss? He’s the one for probability - and topology, for that matter Gauss was a master when I was a mere student - albeit a brilliant student!’
’Actual,’ said Harry ’Our actual futures’
’But that is to presuppose that you know sonition another talent of yours, Harry?’ (A little sarcasm)
’Not limpses of the future, just as surely as I -’
Twaddle!’ Mobius cut him off ’Zollnerists all!’
’ - talk to the dead’ Harry finished it anyway
The other was silent for a moment or two Then: Tm probably a fool but I think I believe you At least I believe you believe, and that you have been misled But for the life ofin you will help you in your quest’
’Neither can I,’ said Harry dejectedly ’Except what about the Mobius strip? I o on Can’t you at least explain it to me? After all, ould know more about it than you? You invented it!’
’No,’ (a mental shake of the head,) ’they merely stamped my name on it Invented it? Ridiculous! I noticed it, that’s all As for explaining it: once there was a ti Noever -’
Harry waited
’What year is this?’