Part 18 (1/2)

Christabel stood up, and was ignored as the thing walked past. Vathek had not told her about any mailed monster. This was a new addition to the Histories of Udolpho.

The armoured giant moved slowly, but with purpose. Its visor was down, but there was a blue glow behind the slits.

Not knowing why, she stepped out into the thing's path, and looked up at it. There was an unfamiliar crest on its helmet.

The giant halted, and stood over her, its arms outstretched.

She was impressed with its sheer presence, its size, its power. If she stretched her arms out to their limits, she could barely touch both the thing's shoulders. She touched her fingertips to the iron chest. It was smooth, and slightly warm, metallic but living. She let her palm linger on the sculpted muscles.

The giant made Lawyer Vathek seem truly pathetic.

It embraced her. She felt a flush of pleasurable fear, as she was lifted by the giant. It could crush her with no effort. She slipped her arms around its neck, and hung in its grip. Sensing a male presence beyond the visor, she felt drawn into the blue light.

After a moment, he set her down gently, and pushed past her, continuing on his way. She watched his armoured back as he turned the next corner. Her heart, she realized, had nearly stopped. She felt faint, but overcame her weakness. Her body was still vibrating with the pleasure of the giant's touch.

She could not yield to womanish feelings. Less carefully than before, she strode through the pa.s.sages towards the doctor's apartments. She wanted this over with.

Dr. Valdemar sometimes worked late in his laboratory, distilling the infusions which had been keeping Old Melmoth alive all these years. He would always be found surrounded by bubbling retorts and smoking crucibles. When she had done her business with him, she would set a fire and no one would suspect anything. The elements and chemicals he was fooling with were dangerous. There had been more than one unfortunate explosion in his rooms.

The doctor's door was open. She held her loop ready, and slipped in. There was a fireplace, its blaze shrunken to embers, its orange glow cast through the room. A chair was outlined before the fireplace, and Dr. Valdemar's bald head shone above its back. He was staring into the hot coals.

On the points of her toes, she crossed the floor, and, with a swift movement, fixed the loop around Dr. Valdemar's head. She pulled tight, and felt the wire through her gloves as she struggled to choke the life out of the doctor.

He didn't resist.

Immediately, she realized why. Dr. Valdemar was tied to his chair, and shoved close to the fire. His legs had been pushed into the grate when the coals were burning high. Now, his boots and britches were partly burned away, and his feet were stubby cinders at the end of blackened legs.

The doctor's head rolled in her strangling grip, and she saw that his mouth had been stuffed with pages of parchment. In his forehead three metal pimples were s.h.i.+ning. They were nailheads.

d.a.m.n, she thought, the twins have been here first!

XVI.

'Did you hear that?'

'What?'

Someone was singing. A mournful lament, wordless and haunting. Kloszowski would never forget it.

'That.'

'Ignore it,' he told her. 'It'll be more trouble.'

The melody was far away, but getting louder.

'But'

He kissed her, and pressed her head against the pillow.

'Listen, Antonia. Here's my plan. We stay here, and pa.s.s the night pleasantly. Tomorrow when the storm is over, we get up early, steal some clothes and get away without looking back.'

She nodded her agreement as he slipped his hand down to her cleft, and teased. She bit her underlip and shut her eyes, responding to his touch.

The singing was almost that of a choir.

Kloszowski kissed her shoulder, and tried to forget the song. It was no use.

Antonia sat up.

'We can't do it.'

This wasn't going to work.

'We have to find out.'

'I think that'll be a very bad idea.'

She was out of the bed, and pulling on the nightgown she had been wearing. Kloszowski was cooling off.

He got up, and wrapped the novice's robe around him. He looked around for a weapon. He could probably smash someone's skull with the basin, but it was hardly convenient.

He tried to open the door. It was bolted, from the outside.

'We're locked in,' he said, fairly relieved.

Antonia pulled the mirror open. 'No we're not. There are tunnels and stairways. I saw them on the way here.'

She picked up the candle and stepped into the pa.s.sage. Suddenly, it was dark in the cell. He heard her ankle bells tinkling tinily.

'Come on.'

He blundered his way into the boots, and followed.

XVII.

Genevieve heard a rap at her door, and the scurry of small feet. It was the twins playing knock-and-run-away again, she knew. She didn't open the door. It would only encourage them.