Vampyre: Desire Immortal

Chapter 38

The Clock Ticks

The proud heart withers.

All is ash and dust.

*****

Perdix was in a frantic race against time. Fye had told him there was only one way to ward off the oncoming peril. The Ancients had told her so in a dream. He dug through notes, slung jars off the shelf. His hands were a blur of frenetic movement.

The danger was so imminent and so perilous, Perdix felt he had to ask for Dyryke's assistance. Dyryke turned him down. Perdix was a fool. Besides, the King wished to hear the fantastic stories of the caves again.

"But I've listened to your yarns," said Perdix. "They are entertaining, but they are far from the stuff of legend."

"I think the old man grows mossy in his head," Dyryke muttered. "But I didn't say that. Besides, how do I know that you're not planning some devious assassination plot."

"I would never hurt His Majesty," Perdix said.

"Not him," said Dyryke. "Me."

"The coming peril is too great for me to waste my energies on such a foolish plot. We are young, Dyryke. Together our combined strength will be unbeatable."

"Unbeatable, huh! You didn't see me as such last night! What about the laughing powder you slipped into my wine," said Dyryke. "I made a perfect fool of myself in front of the Count. He thinks me daft. You have nailed the coffin that is my reputation. All of Megara thinks me the court idiot! "

"You must admit," said Perdix, "you were quite entertaining."

"You think of me a jester, as well as a fool! No, I won't help," said Dyryke. "I don't know what all the fuss is about, anyway. I believe you have lost whatever sense you once possessed. I see no evil omens. I have consulted at least half-a-dozen of the court's wisest sorcerers. They all agree that nothing foreboding is on the horizon. Megara is safe. You, Perdix, have lost your mind."

"That lot is a sham," said Perdix. "Their ears are stuffed with wax, and their eyes are glazed with animal fat. They couldn't discern evil if it walked into the room and bit their heads off! They are soft and lazy, lulled to sleep by the luxuries provided them by the King!"

"You put too much stock in those witches outside the castle walls! You spend so much of your free time among those charlatans, you might as well dig a hole in the ground out there and set up your abode! Outcasts. Pissants of purgatory! And to think, I once considered you a wise man! I was wrong! Listen to me! Nothing is going to happen, Perdix. Nothing! Your efforts are for naught. A frightened titmouse always crying, the tiger comes! That is you, Perdix. And there is no tiger! You stupid fool!"

Perdix ignored Dyryke's taunts. He worked night and day, determined to stave off the scourge he knew was headed to Corlac.

On the night Kelda and his band decided to attack, Perdix stood on the top of the western wall, awaiting their arrival. Just at midnight, the young wizard raised both hands high in the air. Jagged bolts of blue lightning raced back and forth between his uplifted hands. His body locked in a spasm so terrific that his face touched the backs of his knees for a full minute. The grip on his muscles eased. He stood again.

His eyes were white orbs of radiant light. When his arms dropped, Perdix bent at the waist. It was the signal.

The water in the moat that surrounded the castle began to boil and bubble. The air grew electric. Everyone from around the nearby villages was cloistered inside the castle walls. The great drawbridge was up. The castle doors were locked. A pink haze coiled from the north tower of the castle, shooting from a window and covering the entire structure and the surrounding lands for a mile.

As Kelda and his band ran over the hills, they saw nothing but barren wasteland. The men stopped in their tracks. They began arguing with their leader. The magic of the locusts overtook Kelda's army.

One man threw a rock, striking Kelda on the head. He fell to the ground. Others threw punches at random, and an all-out brawl began in earnest. A thick cloud of dust rose up around the fighting men. Kelda crawled off behind a bush. He was dizzy and groggy. If he dared to show his face to the crazed gang, they would lop off his head.

When he awoke a few hours later, he gazed at the remnants of his warriors. The battlefield was strewn with body parts. A fight to the death for every single one of them. Only he remained. Kelda shook his head.

How could this have happened?

The extent of the carnage was sickening to his battle-hardened stomach.

What had possessed his men to do this?

But Kelda knew. His shoulders slumped. He was just about to give in to dying despair when a strange pink haze appeared on the horizon. He watched, mesmerized. When the mist dissolved, the great castle walls shimmered before his eyes like a heat mirage.

"The great Castle Corlac," he muttered. "Impossible!"

What great wizard was responsible?

Kelda turned toward Megara and the towering structure. He looked like a tiny speck topping the far hill, slowly making his way toward the castle's main gate.