by Brian Lumley
But instead of (or as well as) feeling pain in the necromancer’s mind, as the Gape’s metamorphic flesh plunged a thousand small siphons into him to draw off his vital fluids, Vasagi had sensed … what, satisfaction? Even triumph? By which time his leech had known that Nestor was a leper! And even in the act of gutting the other, and tearing out his parasite in pieces, Vasagi had recoiled, let go his death-grip on Nestor, and flowed upright in the lake of their mutual mist.
Five: and just a little late, or at the precise optimum moment, Nathan lobbed his grenade into the convulsing mass of Vasagi’s innards and hurled himself backwards, away from that reeling monstrosity!
Astonishment and a point-blank refusal, an inability to comprehend, to believe, registered in Nathan’s mind — along with Vasagi’s, Eh? What? - before a muffled blast and flash of brilliant white light signalled the Gape’s end.
Nathan felt himself … splashed! Not his flesh but his clothing, and with trembling fingers began to strip himself naked. And:
Aye, Nestor gasped in his mind, let nothing … Jet nothing of … of that one cling to you! His telepathic voice was so very weak that Nathan knew he was finished. And trembling
still - but from the shock of violent action, and otherwise unafraid - finally the Necroscope went to his blood brother, and found his crushed and broken body in the mist.
Don’t touch! Nestor warned him. As Vasagi is unclean, so am I. Indeed, I am twice-tainted.
‘Wait,’ Nathan husked, and went to the camp, and returned with a cured skin to carefully wrap his brother, who seemed so small, so shrivelled now. And: Th-there,’ he said, his voice breaking and surprising him. ‘W-w-warmth for you, and protection for m-m-me.’ And cradling the other’s head, he thought, I haven’t stuttered in a long time.
‘Ahhh!’ Nestor breathed out loud. ‘Now I remember - how once I was your protection!’ His head lolled, but he lived on and the fire in his eyes flickered still.
What to do! What to do! Nathan felt crushed inside, even as Nestor was crushed. But his mother told him: You know what to do. And her tears were hot as his own, albeit in his mind.
‘She has it right,’ Nestor whispered. ‘But quickly, while I … while I have it right! Such pain should never be, and it will go on and on, and I’ll fight it to the end, because there is that of the vampire in me even now, what little Vasagi left me . ..’
‘Nestor -!’
‘Do it … do it now.’ Nestor twitched and jerked beneath his blanket.
And Nathan gathered him up and took him there - ten thousand miles south, to a brilliant blue sky high over the endless furnace deserts! And a golden orb like the hearth-fire of some alien God standing high on the southern horizon. Then:
‘It’s done!’ Nathan said, his physical voice lost in the fluttering air, as they fell like stones and he pushed Nestor away from him.
So be it, said the other.
Falling through a door, Nathan emerged below in the shade of a sun-scorched outcrop, and watched Nestor
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plummet down the blinding sky like a meteorite at noon. He left a trail, white at first, rapidly turning black, which boiled for a moment and was gone. And Nestor gone with it.
The blanket flapped empty wings, like a strange mad bird tumbling to earth.
Then:
A flash of gold! A golden dart spearing down from the sky - from Nestor! And Nathan had seen just such a dart before. It struck home, found its target and came home, like a soft silent arrow to the Necroscope’s head …
Intuition! The very essence of intuition! His father’s intuition, which in Harry Keogh had made him a Master of Numbers and of the Mobius Continuum! It was everything that had been missing from Nathan’s makeup, his personality; that which he might have had right from the beginning - if Nestor had not needed it more than he did!
It was the instinct to know these things and to understand almost everything else that had baffled Nathan to distraction. Nestor had not been the strong but the weak one, and the dart had ‘known’ it … instinctively! That was why, on the day of Harry’s death, the dart had gone to Nestor. Even Nestor’s dark and tortured future had probably been known, but as a descendant or ‘continuation’ of the Necroscope Harry Keogh, he must be given a chance. Except Nestor had not been like Harry or Nathan but had his own nature - or the dark side of his father’s? Whichever, he was omega to Nathan’s alpha, and once his course had been set, there was no help for it but that the dart must see it through with him.
And Nestor’s instinct, his intuitive empathy since childhood, had been for the Wamphyri! Because of that he would have ascended to a Lord anyway, even without the dart; but with it … little wonder his awakening had been so swift, his metamorphosis so all-consuming!
Nathan saw it all now: he understood those shards, those fragments of his father. They were guides to see him and his brother on their way through life. But the knowledge had
been in Nathan already, and he had not needed; not until that time in the Mediterranean, when at last a door had been opened for him! And all that time his dart waiting, buried in the heart of a dead machine at E-Branch HQ, ready to spring to life at the moment of his greatest need.
Just how much of the future was known, then - how much had been charted - by those incorporeal inhabitants of Mobius-space, Mobius-time, those pieces of the Necroscope Harry Keogh? Or was it a mystery even to such as them? Had they been allowed a glimpse along Nestor’s blue life-thread, to see it turn scarlet? ‘Instinctively’, Nathan knew they had; also that they must have known the end of it: how, when the hour was right, Nestor’s hitherto wasted dart .. . would come home to him!
And the hour was right. Sunside/Starside’s hour of greatest need. Now!
He stepped naked out of the shadow of the rock and felt the heat of the desert under his feet. And with his head ringing with new thoughts, he conjured a Mobius door and returned to the night…
Keeping his mind shielded as best he might, Nathan went to the oasis at Place-Under-The-Yellow-Cliffs and alerted Atwei, who found clothes for him. He didn’t dare to stay, not even to speak to Misha, but at once returned to his hell-lander colleagues in their camp -
— Where indeed all hell seemed to be breaking loose! Ben Trask acted as co-ordinator, frantically directing the efforts of Zek and David Chung respectively where they listened in on, or tracked . .. who else but their vampire enemies, who finally were on the move? And Grinner was in telepathic contact with Blaze and the grey brotherhood somewhere in the barrier mountains, receiving a mass of information and warnings, but unable to pass them on with clear definition to anyone but the Necroscope.
They’re coming, Uncle! Grinner barked in Nathan’s mind, as he saw him materialize. Those in the foothills: they’ve
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spread themselves out along the range, beating upwards into the peaks and driving the grey brothers before them! And the others from the last aerie, that vampire army out of the east: the sky is thick with them, on their way to Sunside!
A mass attack on the Szgany, it could only be. Now that Wrathstack (with the exception of Mangemanse, if Canker Canison continued to hold out) had been taken, Devetaki Skullguise would use the rest of the night to monstrous advantage! She’d be looking for Nathan, of course, but while searching for him her troops would rain terror on Sunside. Indeed, that was probably a major part of her plan, so that the Necroscope would be drawn into the open.
‘Alexei Yefros is onto you, Nathan!’ Zek and Chung called out almost as one voice. ‘Not only that,’ Chung added, ‘but he has been on you all the time you’ve been away. At a site a few miles north of here — your mother’s grave? — and even out in the desert; in fact, wherever you go! Yefros was one hell of a locator before, but now that he’s a vampire . ..’
Nathan was aghast. ‘Are you telling me he knows about the Thyre?’
‘Maybe not about them,’ Chung answered, ‘but it’s an even bet he knows where
you’ve moved all those Szgany groups! Even I would know that: I can feel their massed minds in the night, away in the south, like a soft-glowing cloud of fireflies. And … ahhh!’ Chung gasped, crouching down as a dark and pulsing manta shape passed overhead. And: ‘Jesus!’ the locator continued, ‘But that’s not all I feel!’
Trask was down on one knee in a moment, his SMG aimed up towards the stars. The Necroscope stopped him with two words: ‘No, Ben!’ Not even the fleetest of the enemy’s flyers could have got here that fast. This could only be Karz Biteri. And to confirm it:
Nathan, Karz sent, from where he hovered on a night wind. Devetaki’s army is on its way. The aether seethes with their lust! You’re in great danger, but I can take you out of here. He did not know how good the Necroscope was at taking care of himself.
My thanks, Karz, Nathan told him. But this is my fight and I have to stay here.
Karz sensed his determination, and perhaps something of his power. Can you win?
I can try. I have weapons that .. . that I can’t even begin to explain/
Good fortune then, said Karz, and my thanks. For seeing how strong you are, yet again you’ve given me strength to go on. I, too, have a fight to fight.
Nathan nodded. Yet the last time we spoke, you only wanted to die.
But no longer, not yet. For now I have a mission — in the east! Aye, now that Turgosheim is empty … or almost empty.
Maglore?
The same. Karz sounded grimly determined. And since I’m on my own again, I go there now, tonight.
Too late, Nathan told him. The night’s half done. The sun will find you out before you clear the Great Red Waste.
Is it so? Then I must wait on another chance.
Nathan thought fast, for he had enough to do here. But on the other hand, how long would it take? The answer was simple: no time at all! Karz, he sent. Land out there if you trust me. That hummock on the rim of the savanna. And even as Karz came down, he went there himself, via the Mobius Continuum.
How . ..? said Karz, astonished, uncoiling his belly thrust-ers as he settled to earth. And: What. ..?
Nathan said, ‘Upon a time, you carried me out of Turgosheim to safety, regardless of the risk to yourself. A favour for a favour, Karz. Now I’ll take you back.’ He climbed up into the saddle. ‘Lift me up.’ And in a moment they were airborne. ‘You do trust me, then?’
In Turgosheim, and ever since. But about returning there: didn’t you tell me ;’ust a moment ago the sun would find me out over the Great Red Waste?
There’s another route. So if you really do trust me, do exactly as I tell you, however strange it may seem.’
Nathan told him, and Karz obeyed. Gaining altitude, and
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folding back his manta wings, he sped like an arrow for earth, and passed through the biggest door that Nathan ever conjured! A second door lay only an instant away, but in the moment Karz soared through it -
- WHAAAT? It wasn’t only the way they’d got here that confused him, but also the sight of the place.
Turgosheim,’ said the Necroscope, and realized immediately that it wasn’t what Karz had expected. Turgosheim, right enough .. . but deserted? Oh, really?
They floated high above the rim of the gorge, while down below the signs of war were plentiful. Black smoke coiling from burned-out stumps in the gloomy bottoms, and fires still ablaze in many a manse in the towering, honeycombed walls. So that even to a dazed Karz Biteri it was all too clear what had happened here. Maglore had his opportunity /or glory, and like any or aJl of the Wamphyri…
‘… He couldn’t resist it,’ Nathan finished it. ‘Yes, I know. What did you expect, Karz? That the place would be derelict, wind-blown, dead except for Maglore?’
Something like that, aye.
Nathan shook his head. ‘Not so. There are thralls and creatures galore down there. Only the Lords and Ladies are missing. Except, as you rightly suppose, Maglore in Rune-manse. So … do you still intend to stay here? What will you do now?’
A mental shrug. I shall hope that my time will come, Karz answered, then take my chance for glory - and revenge -even as MagJore has taken his.
Then before I go I had better warn you,’ Nathan told him, ‘that there may not be a lot of time. Things are going to happen, Karz. Things of great moment.’
They can only be an improvement, said the other. But you, Nathan - these amazing powers of yours?
‘Alas.’ Nathan shook his head. ‘I’ve neither the time nor the means to explain them. But indeed, they are the weapons I mentioned. Farewell, Karz!’ He tumbled himself from the saddle.
Karz angled his great head to watch the Necroscope turn over twice in mid-air before flattening out - and disappearing through an entirely invisible Mobius door! Then Karz Bitteri, once a man and perhaps still a man, soared alone in the reeking updrafts out of Turgosheim …
It had taken a minute, maybe two. Nathan scarcely considered the time wasted as he materialized back at the camp. But Trask and the others might disagree. ‘Nathan, what’s going on/’ Zek started as he appeared, then grabbed his arm.
‘Something I had to do,’ he answered. ‘And here?’
He loosened her fingers, looked her steadily in the eyes. She knew how tense she must appear, slowed down and calmed herself. And: ‘Remember,’ she said, ‘that it’s different for you. But we aren’t… we don’t… we’re not -‘
‘- Necroscopes? All right, I’m sorry,’ Nathan said. ‘And I know I shouldn’t just leave you like that. But I have a feeling that everything will be fine. It’s going to be okay.’
Ben Trask had heard their conversation, likewise the precog and locator. All of them eased off and gathered to Nathan, and Trask asked him, ‘Are you going to explain?’
‘Let’s get round the fire,’ Nathan answered, and they did. And when they were settled:
The aerial vampire army is on its way from Wrathstack,’ Nathan started. ‘Also, they have several advance parties made up of those camps in the Starside foothills; by now they could be in the high peaks. Devetaki has Alexei Yefros, whose talent has been enhanced by his vampirism. They know where I am - or where we are - and they probably know where a good many Szgany are, too, all gathered together for them in Thyre harbour areas like bunches of grapes! But there are a lot more of the Travellers right here in Sunside, hiding in the forests, and they’ll be more difficult to find and flush out. Also, what Devetaki doesn’t know: several pockets of humanity in the forests are equipped with weapons out of Earth, and men who can use them. That’s the current situation. Now, timings:
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‘If the foothills parties come right for us, they’ll be here in a little over an hour. If they hold back and wait for Deve-taki’s main force, we’ll be safe here for at least two and a half hours more. So there’s no need for panic right now. But there are still some thirty-odd hours of night and morning twilight left before sunup, when Nature swings over to our side. And a lot can happen in half a Sunside night.
‘Now listen: the vampires can’t trap us! For we have our own talents, which are equal to theirs. Zek and I are able to “hear” them; Grinner smells them out; David knows where they are, and lan can sometimes see what’s coming. And if they get too close, I can move us out of here. So in general -as an overview? — that’s about the scheme of things.
‘But the overall, original plan wasn’t to hide from them or evade them, but destroy them, utterly! And if we fail to see it through, then all this is for nothing - especially now that Devetaki knows there’s something south of here, namely my desert-dwelling friends the Thyre! But the south spells danger to a vampire, and we have to hope she’ll think twice before committing her forces in that direction. Which leaves us with one conclusion: that she intends to saturate Sunside, flush us out, add our talents to hers and consolidate her position tomorrow night. That’s how I see it, but I could be wrong and only time will tell .. . unless you can tell me otherwise
.’
‘Us?’ Trask stared at him.
‘You’re the ones with the talents!’ Nathan answered. ‘We have two hours maximum to formulate new plans - but sweeping plans - to decimate and even destroy any last trace of Wamphyri contamination. Let’s start with you, Ben. Do you find any fault in what I’ve said? Was it a true or a false scenario?’
Trask shrugged. ‘The best I can tell you is that you yourself believe in it,’ he answered. ‘But as you’ve already said, time alone will tell.. . that is, if lan Goodly can’t tell in advance.’ He looked at the precog.
Goodly was gaunt as ever. ‘We have to plan, of course,’
he said, ‘despite that the best-laid plans … and all that. What I mean is, the future will be, but it’s always governed by the present. So I simply can’t tell you what to do - or even not to do anything - but only to do what you must. In other words, Nathan’s scenario seems sound to me. And if the future doesn’t like it, it will be changed accordingly. There’s only one thing I know for sure: that something big is coming. Oh, I’ve said it before, I know, but it’s so big it obscures everything else. And it has to do with what Nathan’s dead Thyre friends told him.’
Nathan nodded and excitedly took over. There was something he’d been wanting to show them, and now seemed the perfect opportunity. ‘Let’s take another look at that, then.’ He found the piece of bark he’d drawn on for Trask, and showed them Ethloi’s no longer mysterious symbols, for this time his new-found intuition prompted him to make changes.
