Part 15 (2/2)
Eventually, by repeatedly painting a sad picture of poor Tadaos in a donjon, not knowing if help was on the way or not, conteree to leave
Chapter Twelve
Our party was in sumptuous attire as ent to the riverfront at Cracow the nextequated with rank in the thirteenth century, and rank equated with services If you wanted to be treated good, you had to dress good
At the river landing, we engaged a ferryboat to take us to the northern bank of the Vistula River This boat--a raft, really--was s that had been split and burned out hollow, then shaped and sout canoes were laid lengthwise side by side to let the river flow past easily Rough planks decked it over and tied the dugouts together
A dozen men were required to pole and paddle theon the north bank, so the boatmaster sat down to wait
”You know,” I said to hi the efforts of all your men”
”What do youupstream there on the south bank?”
Yes
”If you tied one end of a long rope around that tree and the other end of it to the left side of your boat, near the bow, the force of the water would push your boat back to the other side And once you were there, if you tied the rope to the right side of your boat, the river would push you right back to here again”
He thought a while ”Would that really work?”
”Prove it for yourself Get a sht, ht”
Sir Vladiet back to Wawel Castle again, since I had promised a second visit on our return journey
Vladimir planned to take us on a short cut that skirted the Wysoki Beskid Mountains, a part of the Carpathians That would get us to Sacz in two easy days of travel
We traveled across the Vistula flood plain with Annastashi+a and Krystyana chattering constantly about all the wonders they had seen in Cracow When we started cli the foothills in the afternoon, the previously perfect weather began to cloud over In a few hours it began to sprinkle on our expensive clothes
”I'd thought that we could make it to my Uncle Felix's manor today' ” Sir Vladimir said ”But we haven't coet wet in a rainstorm the new finery our ladies made I know of caves in these hills I played in the for one of them?”
”Fine by me,” I said ”We have my old backpack with us I can treat you all to some freeze-dried stew”
Sir Vladis near the hout the Carpathian Mountains They're all harmless insectivores and there are so
It was a four-yard climb to the caveet the horses inside, but a summer shoouldn't hurt thee in it while Sir Vladimir unloaded and hobbled the horses Anna wouldn't tolerate hobbling, but she was so loyal that there was never any worry about her wandering off
Annastashi+a and Krystyana collected a night's supply of firewood and soon ere sitting in a se for the stew to start bubbling inkit Krystyana was on ht
We were settled just in ti and rain was co down in sheets I've always loved thunderstorms when I don't have to be in them, and the view from our mountain cave was spectacular But soon the shoas over and the rain alreat art fores but one that has been almost lost in modem tiht a pig, but caered Frodo Askills, but he sure knows a lot of plotlines
With dusk the bats rushed out in a clicking, squeaking swirl The girls, unfa
Sir Vladimir took this as the cue for his story, which was about a vampire His basic story line, that of a ht and water, who drank human blood and made his victims into creatures like himself, was much like astyle, with esticulations and facial expressions, added a lot to the natural setting, for Count Dracula had lived in these same Carpathian Mountains, only farther south
What's more, Sir Vladimir adamantly claimed that every word of his tale was true and his eye didn't have the wink and twinkle it had when he was fibbing He actually believed it and had the girls doing so While 1, of course, a
As he was approaching the climax of the story, he suddenly stopped and looked behind me The expression on his face was one of pure horror and I reone to Hollywood
There was a' shuffling noise and I wondered briefly how he had arranged the sound effects Then I saw that the girls too were horror-stricken and actresses they weren't
I looked over esttoward me, totally naked with skin as white as bone china
Spittle and foa and his chest was quivering He was reaching toward htened With no rational thought in my head, I drew my sword and with one motion slashed at him
I cut him entirely in half at the belt line The two pieces fell to the ground at a crazy angle, the throat twitched a few more times and stopped
Instantly, a new horror struck me I had just murdered a , for no other reason than that I was scared I had beco had become a reflex
Sir Vladirabbed a piece of firewood, sharpened it frantically with his belt knife and began beating it into the chest of the dead body with a rock
This desecration of the dead brought me back to my senses
”For the love of God, Sir Vladimir, stop that!”
”It must be done, Sir Conrad! It's still alive! It still can kill us!” There was more than a hint of panic in his voice
There was no obvious way of stopping hi the rock with all his strength but forcing a wooden stick through a hue-especially one that is open at the bottom-is no easy feat The intestines and liver were squirted out onto the cave floor, and all of us were splattered with blood
I stared at thedawned on me The foam at the mouth The white skin The convulsions ”Rabies,” I said ”RABIES! Sir Vladiet away froious! We could all end up like that poor bastard!”
”Not any risly work, a stu brutally below the corpse's left nipple
”Trust me on this! If ever in your life you take me On faith, do it now! That's a virus, a disease, like leprosy or the plague ' We must clean this blood and dirt off of us!”
”Just ould you have us do?”