Vampyre: Desire Immortal

Chapter 14

I Am a Dead Man

How often do the webs you weave as you deceive

become a trap from which there's no escape?

*****

I stand in the chapel. Not to pray. Though I must go hunting tonight, I like it here. It is dark. It is quiet. The smells and noises do not lay heavy inside these walls. I think it is because the priests regularly scour the place. Or maybe, it is because so few come here.

How I long for the darkening curtain to fall upon the earth.

The stars move above as I fly about, looking for my next delight. I am not choosy. A cow, a peasant.

I snicker in spite of myself.

A peasant. A cow. A bovine peasant!

The blood feast.

This ravenous desire devours my every waking thought.

Wolfstan will come tonight, too. He has sent a note.

He wants to taste my 'forbidden fruit' before the vows are made.

He thinks he shocks me.

But it is I who will surprise!

Throwing my head back, I enjoy a hearty laugh.

*****

Wolfstan could not stop giggling. Perhaps, it was the wine, but Galleron thought it was more likely the fact that Wolfstan believed his 'plan' would work wonderfully well, tonight. Galleron was dispatched for the mercury ointment, the Arabian Dancing Silver Bead, from Urien.

The young alchemist assured him that this balm would cure the pox that seemed to have taken Wolfstan by storm. The ulcer that appeared on Wolfstan's spindle had been painless, and so he had ignored it. But then, the rash came with foul weeping sores on his face and body that threatened to drive him mad.

Galleron had seen this evil plague. Grown men screamed as flesh their flesh dissolved to the bone. Just desserts, he'd thought. But a second later, he remembered the young lass soon to be Wolfstan's bride.

When Wolfstan arrived at Castle Corlac, he'd immediately dispatched his servant to find someone with a balm to ease his suffering.

"Find me a cure for this odious malady," he had drunkenly demanded.

Galleron spoke to the crowds who were milling near the castle gate. They told him the alchemist, Urien, was the king's favorite. He went at once and demanded a cure for his master.

"I have just the answer," Urien said. "The Dancing Silver Bead."

Perdix was standing nearby. He had been summoned by Gilia who was frantic that the young princess was pale and lethargic.

"I fear she has been stricken by a fever," whispered the old maid.

"But the king has forbidden me to see her. He trusts only Urien in these matters, now," whispered Perdix.

"That quack speaks from his toes, Perdix. I saw him with our Majesty. Nothing he did helped her. She is worse."

"He is young and has much to learn," said the old man.

"He knows nothing. A braggart. A leaf who thinks he is the tree," said Gilia.

"Give him time," said Perdix. "He has many mistakes to make before humility's robe he wears."

"What is with you? Are you ill? You look like you've aged a hundred years. I come to you for help! You give me dull words that are meaningless!"

"My magic fails me," Perdix whispered. "No matter how hard I try. Nothing works."

"Nonsense," whispered the maid. "You're are simply suffering from a dry spell. Get some sleep. Come after you nap, and your powers are restored. You must see what I am talking about, Perdix. If you do not help me, I fear the worst will overtake her."

Gilia left the alchemist near Urien's open door. It was there he overheard Galleron's pleas for a cure for Wolfstan's malady.

The young alchemist was prescribing mercury for the patient's venereal disease.

"But he has tried that to no avail," said Galleron.

"But he has yet to try Urien's special ointment. I have added several secret ingredients that are sure to free your master of this pox."

"If Urien is right," Perdix muttered, "I am a dead man."