Lycanthropos (46 page)

Louisa's face grew white. "Release you!"

"Yes," he nodded, "and you are correct to fear, for you run a great risk. Even if we can control ourselves, there is no way of knowing how long the control can be maintained. It may very well happen that we will lose the slender thread of
human consciousness the moment the wolfsbane is removed." He
paused. "And then, of course, we would kill you."

Louisa was trembling, but she also felt a strange and welcome sense of purpose. "And if you succeed?"

He smiled. "Then we shall go from this place, and battle
the evil without." His smile faded as he said simply, "Schlacht must be stopped."

Louisa nodded. "Whosoever loseth his life shall find
it,"
she said, and smiled at Kaldy's quizzical expression. "It is from the Scriptures, Herr Kaldy. I am to risk my own life in
the war against the powers of hell." She nodded. "Yes. Yes,
I shall do what you ask."

"Good," he said. "If all goes well, you must then
release my old friend Blasko, and together flee from this
count ry."

Louisa shook her head. "There is nowhere to flee, Herr
Kaldy. Almost all of Europe is under Nazi control, and we would be arrested long before we could reach, say,
Switzerland
or
Sweden
or
Spain
."

Blasko laughed softly. "Donna," he smiled, "I have spent
my entire
life
going where I wished to go and avoiding those
who did not wish me to. If we can escape from this building
and get out of the city, into the countryside, I can see us
both safely to the
Alps
."

"You'll have no difficulty getting out of the Palace,
Blasko," Kaldy said. "Claudia and I
will...
how shall I put
it...
escort you."

"If," Claudia said, "if…"

"Yes," Kaldy nodded. "If we do not kill you both."

The guards arrived ten minutes later, removed Blasko to
another
cell,
and bound Janos Kaldy according to their
instructions. They saw nothing peculiar about Petra Loewenstein's request that she be given extra chains, extra
wolfsbane, and a key to the cell, for they knew her to be
the scientist who was working with their commander on the genetics project. They assumed that she wished to examine Kaldy at some point, and so gave her the key, grateful that she would not be bothering them later to come down and
unlock the door. It seemed odd to them that the other woman,
whom they knew to be their commander's cousin, was also remaining behind, but it was not a matter of sufficient importance for them to question it.

After the guards left, Claudia unlocked the cell and sat
motionless as Louisa wrapped the chains around her and stuffed the links with wolfsbane. Claudia's face was drawn
and pale, and her eyes expressed the fear she was feeling at
the dread prospect which lay before her that night. Louisa left the cell and locked the door and affixed more wolfsbane to the bars. And then, silently, they waited for
the moon.

The sun was fading when Claudia disturbed the silence by saying softly, "Janos?"

"Yes, Claudia," he responded. He did not look at her, nor did she look at him, for both had their eyes fixed on the darkening sky visible through the high, narrow window.

"All those years that I suspected you. How I hated you."

"I know, Claudia."

"And just before, when you were talking about…about that night…in
Jerusalem
…how I hated you, Janos, how I hated you when I heard what you were saying."

"I know, Claudia."

"And then I forgave you."

"Yes. Thank you. And I am truly sorry."

She shook her head. "No, Janos, no. I had no right to be arrogant, no right to bestow forgiveness. I have nothing to forgive you for. What happened to me was my own fault, not yours. I betrayed my God, I turned my back on the truth, and I have been punished for it. I am the one who is sorry, Janos. I am sorry I blamed you for my sin."

After another long silence Kaldy said, "Claudia?"

"Yes, Janos."

"If I were a human being, I think I would be in love with you."

She laughed sadly. "If we were human beings, Janos, we would both have been dead for thousands of years."

He looked over at her and smiled. "That's not the point."

She returned his smile and her eyes seemed moist as she whispered, "I know."

Another long moment passed. And then they both began to scream.

Louisa's heart pounded madly in her chest as the power of the wolf began to overwhelm the two tortured people. She remembered what she had seen that first night in
Budapest
, two months before, remembered the
head of the guard rolling down the corridor, remembered that
she had watched as Kaldy ripped a man's arm from his body. She watched as the hair sprouted and the fangs grew and the talons thrust out, and listened as the screams became growls. She leaned back against the wall, ordering herself
not to faint.

And then the werewolf which had been Kaldy began to
grunt angrily, shaking its head and stamping
its
paws upon the cold stones. It looked up at the ceiling and wailed, and
then grunted and spat and shook its head again. The other werewolf, the one which had been Claudia, began to do the
same things, but its wails were louder and its grunts were more liquid. Both of the creatures were shaking violently,
the tremors reflecting a massive inner struggle more agonizing, more painful, more horrible than the monstrous
transformation itself.

Both creatures fell to the floor, the chains and the wolfsbane restraining their frenzied writhing. Milky liquid poured from their eyes and blood poured from their maws as they struggled in terrible, hellish agony against the dark side of their own beings, against the beasts within their own souls. The horrible internal battle was waged, the battle of the human soul against the rapacious instinct, the battle of light against darkness, the battle of sanity against madness, of reason against lust, of order against chaos, of Ahura Mazda against Angra Mainyu, of God against Satan, of heaven against hell.

The creature which had been Janos Kaldy shut its eyes tightly, as if to marshal its strength for the massive psychic struggle it knew it had to win.
Resist!
his still human mind commanded.
Control! Remember that you are a man!

A voice seemed to cry out from the wilderness within him.
You are a beast!

I am a man!
he insisted.

Maniacal laughter echoed horribly down the dark corridors of his mind.
You, a man? Yes, a Wolfman! Beast! Beast!

I am a man! I am not an animal!

Was it man who left the severed head of Dzardrusha lying on the floor of the fire temple, Isfendir, son of Kuriash? When your jaws ripped throats and your claws beheaded and disemboweled and your stomach was full and bloated with human flesh, were you then a man?

I did not do those things! It was the wolf that overpowered me!

Was it the wolf that led the Karpans to the sanctuary?

He struggled not to hear the words.
I am a man! I am a man!

You are a beast! the voice insisted. Lover of carrion! Flesh eater, blood drinker! Your soul is black, as black as night, so black that even the sacred fire in the sanctuary at Balkh could never illume it, a black void so empty that you have been filling it with sin and lust and murder century after century, and still it is not full. You are a beast, Isfendir, son of Kuriash, you are a BEAST!

Kaldy struggled to maintain control of his thoughts, but then he realized that the voice he was hearing did not emanate from his own mind. The voice seemed to be arising from some dark recess of his being, as if his soul itself were being assaulted by an external foe.
Who speaks to me?

You know, Isfendir, son of Kuriash.

Who speaks to me? he demanded.

Cruel, bitter laughter assailed him. You know, blood drinker, flesh eater, you know. I am he who has been with you and within you for three thousand years. I am your bosom companion, I am you father, I am your brother, I am your friend.

Liar! Liar!

Yes, the Liar, the voice laughed, yes! I am he! I am the Liar! I am the lord of the House of the Lie!

And then Kaldy understood.
Angra Mainyu!

The Devil.

Yes, Angra Mainyu. Withdraw, little man, and give me your body as my instrument, as you have done beneath each full moon, century after century, millennium after millennium! For this time is mine!

The werewolf threw itself against the hard wall of the cell, and the iron chains echoed loudly against the stone as it sought to direct its mounting rage against the inner demon that tormented it.
I shall not! I shall not!

Then madness awaits you, for the mind of man cannot control the passions of the beast! Flee, Isfendir, son of Kuriash, flee! Save yourself from the death of the mind! Flee!

I…SHALL…NOT!!!
The werewolf attempted to scream the words, but all it was able to do was emit a roar that caused Louisa von Weyrauch to shrink back from the door of the cell.

So be it, son of the Magaya! Then know me for what I am, and know yourself for what you are, and behold that which no man can behold and survive, for no man shall see my face and live! And a horrible, enveloping darkness seemed to billow up from the depths of his being, a darkness that threatened to smother his consciousness and snap the tenuous thread that still bound his human mind to the inhuman body it inhabited. Wave after wave of pure, unadulterated evil washed over the werewolf, and it threw itself onto the cold stone floor and shrieked.

I am a man! … You are a beast! … A man! … A beast …!

The frightful struggle went on and on, and the screams of the tormented werewolves became deafening. And then, after a half hour had passed, both creatures grew suddenly
still, and their rapid breathing calmed, and they stared at
each other in silence, exhausted by the ordeal, weakened by the wolfsbane, breathing heavily, trembling from fang to claw.

The werewolf which had been Janos Kaldy hobbled over to
the door of the cell, its arms still bound to
its
sides, its
legs still bound together, the wolfsbane on the chains and on the bars still draining it of its strength. It fell forward and its muzzle pressed out slightly between two of the
bars. Louisa shook with fright as the werewolf stared at
her. She trembled at the sight of the sharp teeth and the yellow eyes and the bristling fur and the moist snout. Her legs trembled and her heart beat like the heart of a hummingbird as the creature stared at her and began to
growl.

"Herr Kaldy?" she whispered. "Are you still there? Are you in control?" The creature did not answer her. "Do you know who I am?" The werewolf ‘s growl grew louder.

They couldn't do it! she thought to herself in her terror and her fear. They fought against the beast, and
they failed. These are monsters in front of me, these are monsters staring at me, monsters, monsters!

And yet…and yet…

There was something in the glowing eyes that arrested her, something somehow marginally intelligent, something other than appetite and rage. She looked long and hard into the yellow eyes of the werewolf, and the creature returned her gaze, not blinking, breathing heavily. Louisa began to suspect that there was a human mind behind the inhuman, glowing, yellow eyes.

Perhaps I should release them, she thought. Perhaps they are in control of themselves and they just can't tell me. Then again, perhaps not. Then they will kill me, and it will be a pointless, horrible death.

No. A bullet in the back of my head fired by Helmuth, that would be a pointless, horrible death.

This would be a good death, a Christian death.

She took a step forward and cleared her throat. "Herr Kaldy, I know that even if you and Claudia are still in control of yourselves, you might lose that control and kill me if I let you out. I'll take that risk, Herr Kaldy, I will, but you must let me know somehow that it is a risk worth taking. You must communicate to me somehow that you can still hear me and understand me."

The werewolf tried to speak to her, but it lacked human
vocal cords, and its lupine tongue and fanged lips could not
adapt themselves to human speech. Louisa stood and watched and listened, too terrified to move, smelling the foul odor of the creatures, feeling the inhuman, yellow eyes boring
into her, watching as the saliva dripped from the creature's
jaws and splattered onto the stones.

And then at last one audible word rumbled up from the
throat of the werewolf.

"SCHLAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACHT!" it growled.