Page 16 (2/2)

Give yourself a problem in numbers Set yourself a mathematical task Prepare to re-establish your numeracy

’I wouldn’t even knohat a mathematical problem looked like’

Then I’ll set one for you The great mathee one: I ae two: I am born and in the first second of my existence expand unifore three: after my second second of uniforreat! Question: what am I?

’You’re crazy,’ said Harry, ’that’s what you are! A o I would have sworn it was me, but now I know that I’m perfectly sane Compared to you, anyway’

Harry?

Harry laughed out loud, causing the Gypsies who struggled up the final rise with him to jump ’A madman,’ they muttered, ’yes The Ferenczy has driven hiain: August, here’snine, and you ask me to solve the riddles of the universe?

Pretty close, Harry, Möbius answered, pretty close Just keep at it and I’ll be back as soon as possible His deadspeak faded and he was gone

Jesus! said Harry to hiust Jesus!

But Möbius’s question had stuck in his head He couldn’t give it his attention right now, but he kneas in there, lodged firmly in his mind

And now the party had reached the top of the cliffs; and somewhere here on this wind-blasted, sparsely-clad plateau, here lay the ruins of the Castle Ferenczy That here Janos waited; but right here and now, here at the top of the long clis in all, or eight if one included the Grey One slinking in the moon-cast shadows Harry’s ’escort’ to the lair of the undead va Zirras saw them first, then Harry, finally the three Gypsies who panted where they laboured close behind All drew back, startled and gasping, except the Necroscope himself For Harry knew that he stood in the presence of dead round for him What he and the others with hireat Thracians, dead for ain fro They had the aspect of life at least, but there was a great deal of death in them, too They wore helmets and sorey flesh showed naked it was scarred, disfigured Their helned to terrify any beholder: they were do bronze, with oval eye-holes dark in the flicker of their torches, and curved, doard-sweeping flanges to cover the jaws of the wearers

All seven were big ood four inches taller than the rest He stepped forward, massive, but the eyes behind the holes in his k looked at Harry Keogh and the five who cowered behind hiue was ancient but his- the way his bronze sword touched Harry’s ropes - couldn’t be any spokesman stepped cautiously to Harry’s side and loosened the nooses a little around his neck And to Bodrogk the Gypsy said: ’You arethe Ferenczy’s creatures?’

Bodrogk didn’t understand He looked this way and that, frowning, wondering what the man’s question had been Harry read his deadspeak confusion and answered: ’He wants to know if Janos sent you’ He spoke the words aloud, letting his deadspeak do the translating And now Bodrogk’s gaze centred on Harry alone

The massive Thracian paced forward and the Gypsies fell back Bodrogk caught the ropes around Harry’s neck and snapped therunted an introduction, then said: ’And so you are the Necroscope, beloved of all the world’s dead’

’Not all of the the dead even as there are a If I can’t know them - because they are afraid to know k, I’ve no great desire to be loved by thralls’

Bodrogk’scloser to the Gypsies on the bluff, herding thee leader took off his hel aside His neck was a bull’s, his face full-bearded, fierce But it was grey, that face, and, like the rest of his flesh, gaunt with an unspoken horror His haggard, harried aspect told far better than any words the way in which Janos had dealt with hi to the dead,’ said Bodrogk ’You must know that all of Janos’s thralls are not cowards’

’I know that the Thracians in the vaults of his castle are dust, and so can’t help me They told me they would but can’t, because only Janos himself may call them up, for he alone has the words On the other hand you and your six are not dust’

’Are you calling us cowards?’ Bodrogk’s calloused hand fell upon Harry’s shoulder close to his neck, and in his other hand a great bronze sas lifted up a little

’I only know that where some suffer Janos to live,’ Harry answered ’I came to kill him and remove his taint forever’

’And are you a warrior, Harry?’

Harry lifted his head, gritted his teeth He had never feared the dead, and would not now ’Yes’

Bodrogk slanced beyond Harry ’And these others with you? They captured you and brought you here, eh? A la to the Ferenczy,’ Harry nodded

The other looked at him and his eyes went into Harry’s soul ’A warrior without a sword, eh? Here, take mine,’ He placed it in Harry’s hands - then scowled at the Szgany and nodded to his men The six Thracian lieutenants fell on the Gypsies with their swords, swept thee of the cliff like chaff It was so swift and sudden, they didn’t even have ti and clattering into the deep dark gorge

’A friend at last,’ Harry nodded ’I thought I ht find a few, at least’

’It was you or thek answered ’To s Thralldo as it may last Not much of a choice I made the only decision a man could ht have gone the other way For

’You’ve taken an enor back his sword

’The dead called out to k answered ’In their thousands they cried out, all of theue lashed like none other! Why, she ht have been my own hed, and thought: thank God for you, Ma!

’Your mother, yes,’ said the other ’She half-swayed me, and Sofia did the rest’

’Your wife?’

’The sa the way back towards the ruined castle in the heights ’She said to hty? Rather the applause and cold co dead, and thralldo ashes in the monster’s vaults!"’

Harry said, ’We have much in cok, I already have ht with Sofia in mind, and you cannot lose,’ And deep inside, unseen, unheard, he prayed it was true Except: ’I have no plan,’ he adrimly, and answered, ’A warrior without a sword, nor yet a plan of carasped the Necroscope’s shoulder and added: ’I have been dead a long tieneral of arist of my race, and all the centuries flown between could not rob ’

Harry looked at the Thracian, striding gaunt, gri suffice, when the vampire need only mutter a handful of words to return you to dust? I think you’d better tellof your plan’

’The words of devolution k ’Janos is one such He et And to hit the target he ainst him as individuals! You, ht We approach and enter the castle from all sides He cannot smite us all at once And with mere words, even Words of Power, he can’t smite you at all! Some of us shall fall, aye What of it? We’ve fallen before; we desire to fall, and to remain fallen! But while Janos deals with so enough to deal with hiood a plan as any,’ he said ’But surely he isn’t alone?’

’He has his vak answered ’Five of theany, and two but recently joined him One of these is a woman with Powers -’

’Sandra,’ Harry breathed her nae of how it must be for her, and hoas yet to be

’And the other a k continued ’Janos broke him to force his obedience As for the wo!’

Then we have them to deal with, too’

’Indeed - and now!’

’Now?’

They are waiting for us, there beneath the trees, beyond which lie those tuive you into their hands, when they in turn will take you to their master’

Harry looked, saisted, wind-blasted pines leaning towards the cliffs of the ultie And in the shadows formed of their canopy, he also saw the yellow flaht He reverted to true deadspeak, using only his mind to ask: Do you kno to deal with them?

Do you? Question matched question

The stake, the sword, the fire, Harry answered, grik Fire too, in the torches which my men carry And stakes? Aye we cut a fehile aited for you at the cliff For, you see, there were vampires in my day, too So let’s be at it

Janos’s undead thralls ca arhastly sued But even as they ringed the Necroscope about, so the Thracians fell on them and cut them down!

It was butchery, and it was quick All three vah their hearts But only three? As Bodrogk’s men took up the bodies of their victims and draped them across low branches, and set fire to the tinder-dry, resin-laden trees, Harry saw a crooked figure standing a little apart And in the next hed ’Harry! Thank God!’

Moonlight turned his sallow flesh golden as he opened his arht sky The Thracians looked at Harry; there was nothing he could do; he nodded and turned away -

- And saw a tall, dark figure standing at the edge of the ruins, only a dozen paces away

Janos!

Bodrogk’s men had done with Layard now They too saw the vampire there in the dark of the ruins, his scarlet eyes furiously ablaze The Thracians began to h for two of theether

Janos pointed at the voice swelled out like a curse on the night air:

’OGTHROD AI’F - GEB’L EE’H - YOG-SOTHOTH!

There was more, but the effects of the rune of dissolution were already apparent The two Thracians ere Janos’s target had already cried out, fallen against each other, collapsed to insubstantial wraiths which, as he finished his devocation, drifted to the earth as dust!

Harry glanced all about; Bodrogk and his re four were nowhere to be seen; another terror approached

The wolf - the Grey One which had also been part of his escort, but who had kept himself well back behind the party of Thracians - was now creeping up on hi him towards the castle’s master The Necroscope stooped, took up one of the bronze swords of the deht Sk’s sword, still it was no rapier Harry knew he couldn’t hope to wield this thing, but it was better than nothing

He looked for Janos, saw theback into the darkness of the ruins A ploy, a feint: Harry’s cue to pursue him Well, and wasn’t that what he was here for?

As he followed after Janos, so the Grey One rushed up behind hi into a bar of flesh and bone and lashed out, and felt teeth crunch as his foot concertinaed the beast’s slavering muzzle He snarled at the creature and took up his sword two-handed and astonishingly the wolf shrank back, whining!

Before Harry could wonder at thefour stepped froether fell on the animal The sounds of their attack were brief and re so much as a butcher’s shop as they first crippled the beast, then cut short its yelping and howling by taking its head

Harry’s eyes were more accustoht was entirely re else he had no time to consider Instead he looked into the heart of the tu behind a toppled wall The aze was fixed on a point beyond Harry - the Thracians, of course But as he pointed his great talon of a hand, so the Necroscope shouted: ’Look out!’

’OGTHROD AI’F’ Janos co rune of devolution, and before he’d finished another Thracian had cried out, sighed, and cru dust One of the two had been saved at least, and Harry found hik

But now the Necroscope went after Janos with a vengeance Athletic, sure-footed even in the dark, he saw the vampire commence a descent apparently into the earth itself behind a mound of rubble In the last moment before he disappeared he turned his freakish head and looked back, and Harry saw the crie written there which the Necroscope couldn’t resist

He found the stone trapdoor raised above hollowed steps leading down, and alan his own descent - until a voice frok and his rereat Thracian rumbled ’You’ll be first down Go swiftly! Preserve my Sofia!’

He nodded, cla stairwell - a wall of stone on one side and a chas But setting foot on the solid stone floor

Janos aiting!

The vampire came from nowhere, knocked the sword out of Harry’s hands, hurled the Necroscope against the ith such force that all the as hammered out of him Before he could draw breath Janos towered over hiainst the wall Physically there was no ht

Harry Haaarry! his mother cried out to hier nuraves across the world Their voices soughed in the deadspeak aether, filled it, penetrated the threshold of Harry’s subconscious mind and wrapped him in their warmth Warmth, yes, for the minds of the dead are different from the common clay of their once-flesh

Ma? he answered through his pain and the struggle to rise up, back into the conscious world Ma I’ over I feel it we all of us do Lie still, Harry, and feel hoe feel for you Behind her, the wash of background deadspeak was building up to a crescendo, a wall ofstill won’t help, Ma, he said Nor all the gnashing of teeth I hear going on there I’ to have to shut you all out I need to wake up And when I’ve done that I’ll need help just to live

But the dead can help, Harry! she told hi to contact you even noho has part of the answer

M&ou about Möbius

No, not him, Harry sensed the shake of her head Another, someone who is much closer to you Except there’s not ainst all of this Wait, and I’ll see if I can quiet them

She retreated, spoke to others, passed on a e that spread outwards like ripples in a calm pond where a stone has been tossed, until it encompassed the world The mental babble quickly faded away and an extraordinary silence followed Out of which -- Harry?

Whoever it was, his deadspeak was so weak that at first the Necroscope thought hefor me? he answered, eventually Who are you?

I ahost Or at very best a ghost even a o my friends and I discovered the Castle Ferenczy

Harry nodded He killed you, right?

He did more, worse, than that! the other moaned, his deadspeak thin as the slither of dry, dead leaves He took ! Not even a place to rest

Harry felt that this was very ireat e Vulpe told him When the Ferenczy lay in his urn, they were the ones who came to feed and refuel him with their blood But I was different On ers!

Now Harry gasped You were the one!

He has ain And I can’t rest Ever

What was he? Harry wanted to know I mean, how did he usurp you, drive you from your body?

The other explained My blood drew him up from his urn I was a son of his sons, from the Zirra clan But I didn’t know that Only my blood knew

He came from his urn? Harry pressed As essential salts?

My blood transformed him

Harry needed help to understand He uncovered Faethor

Daed

Be quiet! Harry told hi to me

Faethor heard Vulpe’s story, said: Why, isn’t it obvious?

Janos had taken precautions When I reduced his brain and vampire both to ashes, his ever faithful Zirras hid him away in a secret place until he could perform this this metempsychosis But it wasn’t merely a transfer of minds: Janos’s leech was revived from its ashes The creature itself entered this one’s body! And now -

But Harry at once closed hie, he said, thanks for your help I don’t see what good it will do h, rapidly fading to nothing

Harry strove to rise up from unconsciousness, to revive hi, then Möbius came

Harry! Möbius cried We have it! We believe we have it! He entered the Necroscope’s ht! But are you ready?

I’ve never been so ready, Harry answered

That’s not what I meant, said Möbius I mean, are you prepared ust, what is this?

The Möbius Continuum, Harry I can open those doors, but not if you’re not ready for it There’s a different universe in there, doors opening on places undreaet sucked into your own mind!

Sucked into - ? Harry shook his head I don’t follow

Look did you solve e and frustration boiling up in hi proble problems?

Did you even think about it?

No Yes! yes, I thought about it

And?

Nothing

Harry, I’ to open one of those doors now!

The Necroscope felt nothing Did it work?

It worked, yes, Möbius breathed And if you have the equations, you should be able to do the rest yourself

But I don’t feel any different

Did you ever? Before, I mean?

No, but-

I’ll open another door There!

But this ti off fireworks in his head It was soed for him if ever he should be tempted to use his deadspeak, but since he was already unconscious its effect was greatly reduced And it served an entirely different purpose

Instead of blacking him out, it jabbed hihtot into his throat and stung hih It was - alcohol? Certainly it was volatile It s in it He struggled to his hands and knees, tried not to breathe the fu up into some sort of flue directly overheadA blackened flue Fire-blackened!

Harry kneeled in a basin or depression cut from solid rock, kneeled there in this pool of volatile liquid Impressions came very quickly He must be in the very bowels of the castle, down in the bedrock itselfa huge cave and against the opposite here rough-hewn steps led up to the higher levels there stood Janos watching hi its fire

Their eyes met, locked, and Janos’s lips drew back frorin ’And so you are awake, Necroscope,’ he said ’Good, for I desired that you should feel the fire which will make you mine forever!’ He looked at the torch in his hand, then at the floor Harry looked, too At a shallow trough or channel where it had been cut in the rock It ran from Janos’s feet, across the floor, to the lip of the basin

Jesus! Harry lurched for the rim of the shallow pool, and his hands shot out from under him He ed in the liquid, put one hand on the rihter and saw hi the brand to the floor!

My problem, Harry! M&ouht back terror to picture the thing, instinctively translating Möbius’s circumferences into diameters:

And his intuitive mathematical talent, returned to him at last, did the rest

What am I? Möbius howled, as the fire of Janos’s torch descended to the liquid fuse

’Light!’ Harry cried aloud ’What else can you be? Only light expands at twice the speed of light - fro to a diameter of 744,000 miles in two seconds!’

Fire whooshed, ca blaze

Which light? M&ou until you came into existence,’ Harry yelled ’Therefore you are the Priht!’

Yes!!! Möbius danced in Harry’s mind And my source was the Möbius Continuum! Welcome back, Harry!

Computer screens opened in Harry’sheat roared up in a tongue of blue fire that belched into the chied the hair fro It lasted perhaps one tenth of a second - until Harry conjured a M&ouh it!

He knehere to go, conjured a second door and fell out of the Möbius Continuum into a deep drift of snow at the roof of the world He was scorched, yes, but alive Alive as never before Elation filled hihter - hysterical as Möbius’s own -quickly died doent out of hily in his throat

Janos had seen hih was invincible The Necroscope had gone where? And he’d be back when? And what aweso with him? Janos dared not wait to find out

He bounded up the stairs through the lower li in the area of massively vaulted rooms which housed his urns and jars and lekythoi And discovered Harry there ahead of hi Thracians

Janos fell back to crouch against a wall, hissing, then straightened up to cok, and pointed his finger

The huge Thracian chief and two of his captains ducked through an arched door into another rooht in the blast of Janos’s devocation:

’OGTHROD AI’F, GEB’L - EE’H,

YOG-SOTHOTH, ’NGAH’NG AI’Y,

ZHRO!’

The devolved hed his last and fell in a cloud of grey-green chehter, leaped to take up the fallen warrior’s sword He advanced on Harry, sword raised high - and the Necroscope knew exactly what to do For Harry was a ht now, crying out fro urns, a thousand deadspeak voices instructed him in the Words of Power!

He pointed at the jars scattered all about, and turning in a circle uttered the rune of invocation:

’Y’AI ’NG’NGAH, YOG-SOTHOTH,

H’EE - L’GEB, F’AI THRODOG,

UAAAH!’

The vaulted roo Harry, Janos and all And out of the rush and reek came the cries of the tortured There had been no ti of chemicals; these resurrected Thracians, Persians, Scythians and Greeks would all be ieance would be entirely in keeping

Janos knew it, too He careened through their sturew up like roup and put theain, so the Necroscope called them up! There was no way the vah, and the ranks of resurrected warriors were rapidly closing on hi a path of dust before hiions above and passed froht The hideously incomplete army would follow after, but Harry cautioned them:

’Stay here Your part is played But this tio down, you know that you may rest in peace’ And they blessed him as he returned thek

And taking Bodrogk with hiain into the ruins of Castle Ferenczy

They waited, and in a little while Janos caht He saw theed and reeled as he stumbled away from them out of the ruins He was spent; he had no breath; he tottered to the cliff behind the castle and clik waiting for hie Thracian carried a battleaxe

There was nowhere left to run Janos looked outwards to the night and his criazed on empty space In all his life there’d been only one Wamphyri art he never mastered or counterfeited, and now he e, and his clothing tore as his body wrenched itself into a great blanket, an aerofoil of flesh And like a bat in the night, he launched himself from the cliffside path

He succeeded! - he fleith the tatters of his ripped clothing fluttering about hik’s hurled battleaxe buried itself in his spine

Harry and Bodrogk returned to the ruins and found thethere where he’d crashed down in the rubble He choked and coughed up blood, but already he’d worked the axe loose and his va him The Necroscope kneeled beside him and looked hi, terrified face

’Bastard Necroscope!’ Janos’s eyes bled where they bulged

’You have a man’s body,’ Harry answered, without emotion, ’but your mind and the vampire within you were raised froer ’Ashes to ashes, Janos, and dust to dust! OGTHROD AI’F, GEB’L - EE’H’

The vaed and regained his man-shape

And the Necroscope continued: ’YOG-SOTHOTH, ’NGAH’NGAI’Y’

’No!’ Janos howled ’N-n-noooooooo!’

As Harry uttered the final word, ’Zhror, so Janos’s entire body convulsed in instant, unbearable agony He writhed frantically, vibrated, then grew still Finally his head flopped back and his awful hts went out in his eyes Then -

- His h No air escaped hi on the air The rest of his body, even his head, must be full of the stuff And as the dust of that devolved va so much as the spores of those weird mushrooms at Faethor’s place on the outskirts of Ploiesti

Which in turn served to re else as yet unfinished

Bodrogk’s lady Sofia came up out of the ruins, and Sandra ca in the way of vaht, but Harry knew that she was less than Sandra now Or li: of an alien creature that caht and lusted after him, but only for his blood Sandra was now an alien creature, ould lust after men for their blood

She flew into his arhtly - as much to steady himself as to steady her - he looked over her sallow shoulder to where Bodrogk gathered up his wife And he heard Sofia say:

’She saved irl found me where Janos had hidden me and set me free!’

And Harry wondered: her last free-will act, before the monstrous fever in her blood claims her for its own?

Sandra’s beautiful, near-naked body was cold as clay where it pressed against the Necroscope, and Harry knew there was no way he could ever warht as surely as if it had been spoken, and drew back a little But not far enough

His thin sharp stake, a splinter of old oak, drove up under her breast and into her heart; she took one last breath, one staggering step away frouish, did the rest