The Bog

by Talbot, Michael

  As he stood transfixed by the spectacle before him, he got an inexplicable but distinct feeling that the light was aware of his presence. No sooner had he gotten this impression when the light suddenly spoke to him, not in words, or even sounds, but in feelings. It told him that everything was all right, and to be patient for a while longer. And then, out of the swirling vortex of energy, a vapory tendril reached out and gently pushed him back into the hall. As soon as it had done this the door abruptly swung shut with a hush and a puff of glistening mist.

  For another two hours David sat out in the hall, mesmerized, as the walls and the floors of the house rattled and the room beyond continued to seethe with unknown energies. Occasionally the forces rumbling within became so intense that brilliant shafts of light would stream out from the cracks around the door, and once or twice David even thought that the door itself was going to blow out of its frame. Then finally, as suddenly as the activity had manifested itself, it ceased, and everything was quiet. After several minutes David heard someone walking around in the room, and a moment later the door opened and Ur-Zababa looked up at him calmly.

  The energy disturbance that had enshrouded his body was now gone, and he seemed changed not at all, save that he appeared a little more rested.

  But his gaze was frighteningly determined. “The time has come,” he said.

  “Tonight?” David questioned.

  “Tonight.”

  He looked at his watch. “But it’s already past seven.”

  “It doesn’t matter,” Ur-Zababa went on. “My power has now returned, or at least a portion of it has, and Malakil will have most assuredly sensed its coming. It is only a matter of time before he or Julia pays you a visit to see if you have had anything to do with it.”

  “What do you mean a portion of your power?” David asked worriedly.

  Ur-Zababa looked at him somberly. “I told you that I was too newly incarcerated in this body to tap the full of my power.”

  David’s consternation increased. “Do you have a plan?”

  “Of sorts, but it is not going to be easy. Let’s go downstairs and I will tell it to you.”

  David turned and went down the stairs, Ur-Zababa following. In the living room he sat down on the sofa while his diminutive companion remained standing. Ur-Zababa flexed his fingers in front of him and started to pace.

  “Exactly how much power do you have?” David asked, his agitation increasing.

  “Please,” Ur-Zababa said, “that will become obvious as I explain to you the plan I have in mind. Now, will you please trust me and allow me to continue?” Begrudgingly David listened.

  Ur-Zababa once again lapsed into thoughtful pacing. “To begin, do you recall about what time it was when you first saw Julia assume her true form and visit the feeding grounds in the bog?”

  “Just about midnight, I guess.”

  “And what time was it when she left the manor house the evening that you had your conversation with Malakil?”

  “Much earlier. Maybe nine or nine thirty.”

  Ur-Zababa grimaced. “That is unfortunate. I was hoping there would be more regularity in the times that she went on her nightly prowl.” He considered this for a moment. “We are just going to have to proceed on the assumption that midnight is closer to her usual feeding time, and the fact that she left the house earlier the night of your visit was due to the unusualness of the circumstances.”

  “Why? Is there some reason that your plan requires that Julia be in the bog?”

  “Not in the bog. Just out of the house.” Ur-Zababa looked at David almost apologetically. “You see, when I told you that a portion of my power had returned, what I meant is that I have enough power to perhaps catch Malakil off guard. But the modicum of power that I now possess would certainly be no match for Julia, unless of course we gain possession of the jewel.”

  “How do you propose to catch Malakil off guard?” Ur-Zababa smiled faintly. “I intend to put him to sleep.”

  “You have enough power to do that?”

  Ur-Zababa nodded. “Unless Malakil has figured out that I am here, and has had the foresight to cast a spell specifically designed to counter it, I have the power to put him and his entire household into a deep sleep for at least ten minutes, perhaps a little longer.”

  David looked only slightly encouraged. “What happens during those ten minutes?”

  “You go in and get the jewel.”

  “What about Katy and Melanie?”

  Ur-Zababa sighed. “I suppose you are going to insist on bringing them out as well?”

  “Of course I’m going to bring them out. It’s my wife and daughter that we’re talking about here.”

  “But they will be safe once we have the jewel. And besides, your wife is the last person Malakil is going to want to harm.”

  “And Katy? Didn’t you say that Malakil would retain some of his powers even after we take the jewel? Isn’t there a chance he will be so outraged that he will seek revenge against Katy?”

  Ur-Zababa looked suddenly sheepish, as if he had anticipated this but considered getting the jewel so important that he had not wanted to mention it. “Yes,” he conceded. “That would certainly be a logical move for him to make.”

  “Then I at least have to get Katy out. And if I’ve gone to all the trouble to get Katy out I might as well bring Melanie out along with her.”

  Again Ur-Zababa sighed. “Yes, if you insist. But you must understand, the spell I cast will put them into a deep sleep as well. That means that once you are in Malakil’s house they will not be able to answer you if you call out their names in your attempts to locate them. It also means that even if you do happen to discover which room or rooms they’re in out of the dozens Malakil has there, because they will be asleep, you will have to carry them out bodily. And you must do all of this within the space of ten minutes, and still make sure that you have left time to retrieve the jewel, for without the jewel it will all be for naught. Do you think that you will be able to manage?”

  David nodded, realizing that the task he was setting for himself would be difficult if not impossible. But he knew also that he could not go into the house, be so near to Katy and Melanie, and not do something to get them away from Grenville’s clutches.

  “Where will you be during all of this?” he asked. “Not far from the house,” Ur-Zababa returned. “I must use part of my power to keep Malakil from sensing my presence, and that demands that I not approach too closely. It also demands that I remain motionless during the whole time that Malakil and his household are asleep, so I may sustain the concentration necessary to keep them in their slumber. That is why I will not be able to assist you in your endeavors. It is also why I must go to the house alone, and why you must time your arrival at the house to coincide exactly with my casting of the spell. It would be taxing my powers too much to try to shield Malakil from sensing both of our presences should we arrive together.”

  “You mean Malakil could sense our presence even if he or Julia were not watching?”

  “Oh, yes, Malakil is a very special organism, and in a sense even the air around him is an extension of his being. He can detect a person of my energy emanation several miles away, and a normal human being, or even a small animal, if it approaches within several thousand feet. In a sense, Malakil exists in a web of being that surrounds him like a bubble.”

  David suddenly recalled the strange behavior of the bittern that he had seen flying over Wythen Hall the first time that he had visited Brad at the excavations, and realized that it must have collided with what Ur-Zababa was now calling the bubble of Grenville’s being. His mind also continued to reel with other thoughts. He was horrified that Ur-Zababa was not going to be able to accompany him into the house, for he knew that their greatest risk of failure was most assuredly in the fact that he was going to have to tackle such an enormous task alone. He also realized that he himself was going to be in considerable peril at least until Ur-Zababa cast the spell that put Grenville i
nto his temporary slumber.

  “So what you are telling me is that Malakil will most likely be aware of my approach?”

  Ur-Zababa nodded.

  “What makes you think that once he’s aware of my approach he’s just going to sit by and do nothing until you cast your spell?”

  “Curiosity,” Ur-Zababa replied. “Since he will have sensed the energy disturbance that the coming of my powers has caused, and since it is possible that you, as his greatest adversary, have had something to do with that disturbance, he will at least want to talk to you before he kills you.”

  “Great,” David returned. “So how do we make sure that I time my arrival to coincide precisely with your casting of the spell?”

  Ur-Zababa looked at the watch on David’s wrist. “Do you have another one of those?”

  David thought for a moment. “I think Melanie has a spare one in her jewelry box.”

  “Then you must get it for me, and we will set them so they beat as one.”

  “You mean synchronize them.”

  “What? Oh, yes, synchronize them.”

  Another worry crossed David’s mind. “What if Malakil has had the foresight to cast a counter spell? How will I know not to enter the house?”

  “I will try to get word to you somehow,” Ur-Zababa offered. “But if for some reason I am unable to, you must also rely on your own wits to tell you that.”

  “And if by some miracle I do get the jewel, what do I do with it?”

  “You get in your car and you drive away, and I will meet you a little farther down the road. Since the commands must be given to Julia in Eblaite, I am obviously the one who will have to take over from there.”

  “What if Julia happens to show up during all of this?”

  “I’m afraid that is—how do you say it?—the one wild card working against us.”

  “You mean that the sleeping spell would not work on her?”

  “Nothing that I can do will have any power over her until I am in possession of the ruby. It is for that reason we must pray that she indulges in her usual habit of passing the night in the bog, for if she does show up, all will be lost.”

  David looked fearfully at the darkened window. “How do we know that she has not already shown up, that she is not out there watching us even now?”

  “Because I would have sensed her presence,” Ur-Zababa returned. “I am far more sensitive to the pain in the jaw than you are.”

  Ur-Zababa’s last revelation, that all would be lost if Julia intruded on their plans, did nothing to quell the growing knot of fear in David’s stomach, and for the next several hours he tried every trick he could think of to try to calm himself. First, he got Melanie’s watch and scrutinized it like a hawk for over an hour to make absolutely certain that it was indeed in sync with his own. Then, he paced up and down the stairs and through the rooms. And finally, as midnight approached, he got Ur-Zababa a pair of Tuck’s tennis shoes and a small navy-blue jogging outfit that he had purchased for Tuck shortly before coming to Fenchurch St. Jude. On such a clandestine undertaking he reasoned that Ur-Zababa should at least wear something that wasn’t visible in the moonlight.

  It was as the clock struck quarter to twelve that Ur-Zababa appeared behind him in the living room.

  “I should be leaving soon,” he said.

  David looked down at him and as he did so, over his fear, he felt another amorphous veneer of emotion, a darker and deeper panic.

  “What is it?” Ur-Zababa asked, seeing the change in his expression.

  “I don’t know. Just worried, I guess.”

  “Well, you must calm yourself. We both must be as concerted and determined in this effort as our will allows.”

  “I know,” David said. He handed Ur-Zababa the outfit.

  “What is this?”

  “I thought you should wear something that would be less visible in the night.”

  Ur-Zababa smiled grimly. “Being sighted visually was the last thing that I was worried about, but I suppose it is a good idea.” He went into the back part of the house and put the outfit on, and when he returned he handed David a small object wrapped in a cloth.

  David opened it, and his heart sank when he saw that it was a knife in a leather sheath, one of the hunting knives from the gun room, and that Ur-Zababa had carved into its handle a row of mystic symbols.

  “What is this for?” he asked, already knowing the answer.

  Ur-Zababa became even more somber. “As you know, it pains me more than I can express to tell you this, but if all else fails, perhaps you can use it...” His voice trailed off.

  David went pale. “On Melanie? No! Please!” He handed the knife back to his little companion.

  Ur-Zababa refused to accept it. “Take it,” he begged. “If, in the end, you do not have the courage to use it, I will understand. To perform such a deed would be asking more of you than one has the right to ask any man. But please, remember that there is far more at stake this evening than just our own lives. And please, take the knife so if that terrible moment comes you will at least have the choice.”

  Every fiber of David’s being still rebelled against the notion. “But why must it be a knife?” he asked, his voice cracking. “Why not a gun?”

  “Because that is the way it must be,” Ur-Zababa returned quietly. “The symbols I have written on it give the knife a special power. It is the only way that we can be assured of success.”

  His head spinning, David fought back the lump in his throat and reluctantly accepted the knife.

  Ur-Zababa picked up the watch, ludicrously feminine, and strapped it on his wrist. “I want you to leave precisely twenty minutes after I have left. It should take you another ten minutes to drive to Wythen Hall, and when you do, at twelve thirty-five exactly, I will have cast the spell. I can guarantee you ten minutes undisturbed in the house, no more. Malakil will most likely be in the study with the ruby around his neck. The servants, of course, will all be asleep, so they will not bother you. Once you have gotten the ruby and your wife and daughter are out of the house, drive away and I will join you down the road.”

  Ur-Zababa looked up at David and motioned for him to stoop down. When he did so the little magician placed both of his hands on the sides of David’s arms and patted him firmly.

  “May Nabu watch over us,” he said.

  “Nabu?” David asked.

  “The god of wisdom,” Ur-Zababa explained, “and the patron saint of all those seekers of knowledge who work for the good.”

  “May Nabu watch over us,” David repeated.

  With that Ur-Zababa smiled and then turned and strolled out into the night. It was as David watched him vanish into the darkness that he realized what had caused him to experience the second veneer of panic. As the last feature of his little companion, the band of white rubber on the backs of tennis shoes, was swallowed up by the blackness, he realized that he could not divorce himself from the feeling that somehow it was Tuck who was now walking off into the night. It was Tuck who was now going up against Grenville, and it was Tuck who would be in danger if he encountered Julia, who risked being torn limb from limb so that not even his countenance, the last vestige of what had once been David’s son, would remain.

  Fighting back his remorse, he looked down at his watch.

  It was ten minutes after Ur-Zababa had left that David heard a sound. At first he could not determine what it was, but then it was clear to him that it was the sound of a car pulling up.

  Stunned, he ran to the front window and looked out. He felt a rush of adrenaline when he saw the headlights click off and heard the car door open and shut. There was a crunch of gravel, and the sound of footsteps. And then a firm knock on the door.

  Trembling, David slowly opened the door and was amazed to see Brad standing on the step beyond. “What are you doing here?” he demanded.

  Brad looked slightly surprised. “Aren’t you going to ask me in?”

  “But you don’t understand,” David said, gl
ancing nervously at his watch. “Now is not a good time. I have—”

  “—Professor Macauley,” Brad interrupted. “I think I know what is going on.”

  Shocked, David hesitated and then reluctantly let him in. “What do you mean?”

  Brad became his normally diffident self. “Well, I don’t know exactly what is going on,” he stammered. “But I know that something has happened to you. I know that you are up against something... well, something very strange, something that’s got you by a stranglehold, and I want to help.”

  “But what makes you think that?” David asked, still being evasive.

  “Well, among other things, the fear you displayed when you saw the moth the other night. It was just like the incident in the pub.” Brad glanced sheepishly down at his feet before looking up again. “I know you, Professor Macauley. For the villagers of Fenchurch St. Jude to be so frightened at a moth is one thing. But you, your feet are firmly on the ground. If a moth has you that upset it has to be because something quite extraordinary is going on. Please. You can confide in me. You can tell me what is going on.”

  Again David felt a wave of reluctance, but at the same time another part of him was crying out to tell the younger man what was going on. He looked at his watch and realized that he had only another five minutes before he had to leave. In a flash of hope and excitement, it occurred to him that if Brad were to help him once they were in the house, if he were to assist David in finding Katy and Melanie and getting them out as well as the jewel, it might be the only way they could achieve such an impossible task before Grenville woke up. And besides, if they were going for broke anyway, what did breaking just one more of Grenville’s rules matter? He turned to the younger man and, like a dam bursting, something broke within him and he decided to take Brad into his confidence.