Darkness Visible
by Martha Wilson
http://www.rtis.com/nat/user/chimera/legends.htm
The Less Than Legendary Journeys
Part 2
***
Drifting, Iolaus came back to cold hard reality when he was
deposited on a stone floor. Shivering with weakness and blood
loss, he lifted his head and watched the room swim in and out of
focus. His shirt had been torn open in the struggle and
remembering that his amulet had been tucked inside it, he felt for
it to make sure it was still there.
Finally he managed to make his eyes work. He was in a corner of a
small room lit only by one torch jammed into an iron wall sconce.
It threw shadows over a dusty tapestry, a few pieces of bulky dark
furniture and the stuffed head of an antlered animal that looked
as if it was probably carnivorous. Iolaus pushed himself into a
sitting position and saw Hercules kneeling before the hearth,
trying to get a fire started. He sank back against the wall in
relief. Then he stabbed his lip with his new teeth again and
remembered just how bad things were.
The little fire leapt to life though as far as Iolaus could tell
it had no effect on the numbing chill in the air. Hercules stood,
looking around the room as if assessing it for something. He
nodded to himself and muttered, "Right."
"You're taking this awfully well," Iolaus ventured, trying to make
conversation. Hercules looked down at him but before Iolaus could
make out his expression a spasm in the gut doubled him over. He
curled up around the agony, gritting his teeth.
The spasm faded and Iolaus fell back against the wall, panting.
It was hunger, so intense it was crippling. Maybe that was why
fledgling strygoi attacked their first victim, but Iolaus couldn't
imagine how they managed it. All he wanted to do was curl up in a
foetal position and moan. He blinked pain tears out of his eyes,
seeing that Hercules was facing away from him. He couldn't
remember if Hercules had said why they had come to this room. He
tried to speak, had to clear his throat, and finally managed, "Why
are we here?"
"I didn't want Vlad or any of the others finding us while I'm
doing this."
_Oh, yeah, gotta kill me. Right._ "How long were you planning to
take with it?" Iolaus asked worriedly. He braced himself against
the wall, trying to lever himself up enough to see what Hercules
was doing. "I was thinking something really quick." His thoughts
were going in circles and the room kept tilting to the right,
making him slide down the wall. "What happens when you die here?
Never mind, I want to be horrified -- I mean surprised. Did I say
that out loud?" Another hunger spasm hit, hunching him over
again. When he managed to lift his head, Hercules was sitting in
front of him.
Iolaus found himself pressing back against the wall. While his
brain knew how necessary this was, his body was obviously not
convinced. _He could at least act a little upset,_ Iolaus
thought, looking at Hercules' calm expression and beginning to
feel a little pique mixed in with the confusion and misery. _Or
say goodbye, or something._ He had the idea he should say
something, maybe an apology, but it was so hard to think. He
tried anyway. "Hey, about killing me--"
Hercules interrupted, "Iolaus, can you hear Vlad?"
Iolaus looked around wildly, startled. "What, he's here?"
"No." Hercules caught his shoulders, turning Iolaus back to face
him. "In your head. I found Galen -- he was bitten too -- he
said he could hear the strygoi in his thoughts."
"Oh yeah, that, at first. Blah, blah, blah, whatever. I just..."
Iolaus hesitated. It was hard to put into words, especially when
it was so difficult to stay coherent. "...made it stop. He's not
strong, like Dahak, he's just annoying." He blinked up at
Hercules, realizing he couldn't hold himself up anymore. Things
were starting to slide back into the dark again. Iolaus had one
clear thought that this might be the last time.
Somebody grabbed him by the back of the neck. Everything blurred
as panic hit and the instinct to fight overrode everything else.
He broke the hold with a twist and a forearm smash, the strength
he hadn't had a moment ago returning in a rush. Something grabbed
him again and an instinct took over; he smelled bare living flesh
and sank his teeth into it.
Iolaus came back to himself as the room spun in slow circles. He
realized Hercules was supporting him with an arm around his chest
and for a moment he couldn't remember what they were doing. Then
he realized that coppery tang he could taste wasn't his own blood.
Shocked, he said, "I bit you."
"I know. I'm sorry," Hercules said, sounding a little shaky
himself. "How do you feel?"
Iolaus pulled away, sagging back against the wall, gagging. The
room stopped swinging around as his dizziness faded and his
pounding heart slowed. He took a full breath without pain and
blinked, trying to sit up. He couldn't figure out why Hercules
was apologizing to him. Sick with guilt, he asked, "Where did I
get you?"
"The wrist. It's nothing." Hercules leaned over him anxiously.
"You look a little better. How do you feel?"
_He took off his gauntlet. He deliberately let me--_ Iolaus
shook his head, running a shaking hand through his hair. The
numbing chill that had sapped his strength was draining away,
leaving him shaky but able to hold himself upright. His head was
clearing, too. He looked at Hercules, appalled. "Are you out of
your mind?" he gasped, caught between relief that he wasn't dead
and outrage at the method Hercules had used to save him. "You
could have told me what you were doing--"
"You were dying and I didn't have time to argue with you about
it," Hercules said with a calm assurance that at the moment Iolaus
found damn irritating.
"You didn't know what could have happened--" he sputtered, his
voice gaining strength "I could have killed you! Or-- Or turned
you into one of these things too--"
"No, you didn't take that much."
"You didn't know I'd stop!" Iolaus couldn't believe Hercules had
taken the chance. At close quarters, with Hercules trying not to
hurt him, it would have been impossible to control him even with
the demigod's strength. "It was a stupid thing to do!"
Hercules sat back, shaking his head. "I'm not going to discuss
it."
"I didn't ask for this!"
Hercules pressed his lips together, glaring at him, then gestured
helplessly. "You asked me to kill you. How do you think that
makes me feel?"
"Under the circumstances--" Iolaus began determinedly. He had no
idea how to finish the sentence but he knew he wanted to argue.
Hercules shook his head, holding up an admonitory hand. "I don't
want to discuss it."
This left Iolaus sputtering again. "Well, I'm not going to
apologize to you--"
"I'm not going to apologize to you," Hercules said in annoyance,
apparently forgetting that he already had.
"Fine!" Iolaus snarled, throwing his hands in the air. He hated
giving up on an argument even when he wasn't sure what it was
about. Hercules picked up his gauntlet and Iolaus grabbed his arm
before he could put the leather back on, turning it to look at the
bite mark. The twin wounds were tiny but that didn't make him
feel any better about it. "Does it hurt?" he asked worriedly.
"No." Hercules fitted his gauntlet back on and looked closely at
the livid mark on Iolaus' neck. He winced. "Vlad must have
bigger teeth."
"These feel huge," Iolaus grumbled, investigating his own set.
Probing too carelessly, he pricked his thumb again. "Dammit!"
Doing the buckles on his gauntlet one-handed, Hercules looked up,
alarmed. "What?"
Iolaus shook his head. "Never mind."
_I can't believe I let this happen,_ Hercules thought, looking
down and keeping a tight rein on his own emotions. In Sumeria he
had walked blindly into the trap, despite the warnings of his own
nightmares. This time he had known something was wrong; he had
been cautious and suspicious and it still hadn't helped. Iolaus
was right to lose faith in him.
He was going to kill Vlad Tepes.
If Vlad hadn't leapt to the balcony as Hercules broke down the
door, he would be dead already. Beheading killed strygoi just has
surely as the wooden stakes Galen used and at that moment Hercules
had been ready and willing to do it bare-handed.
With effort, he put that thought aside for now. At least Iolaus
didn't look as bad as he had a few moments ago: he wasn't as
deathly pale and though the bruises on his face were livid they
didn't stand out as much as his skin took on a more normal tone.
The bite mark on his neck still looked inflamed and painful.
It seemed incredible that Iolaus had gone through everything,
Dahak, the Paths of the Dead, his painful return to life, just to
end up a victim of strygoi. _He's not dead, that's the important
thing._ As long as he wasn't dead, being a strygoi was a
temporary condition. Hercules said, "Galen and Darius both said
that everyone who was bitten would turn back to normal if the
Strygoi Master was killed."
Iolaus just looked glum. Hercules had to admit that since Darius
had been eaten and Galen turned it tended to throw doubt on their
strygoi expertise. But Galen had also told them that the Strygoi
Master would be able to change shape as long as the sun was down,
turning himself into mist or smoke, and Hercules had witnessed
that. He said, "There's only one likely candidate for the Strygoi
Master and that's Dracul, Vlad's father."
Iolaus sat up suddenly, alert. "It is him."
Hercules nodded as Iolaus repeated what Vlad had told him. "That
settles it," he said, getting to his feet. In one way, nothing
had changed. They still had to find the refugees and destroy
Dracul, even if it meant killing all the strygoi in the castle.
_Well,_ Hercules reflected, looking down at Iolaus, _almost all._
"We need to find someplace for you to stay while I go after
Dracul. This is too close to the living quarters, they could--"
"What do you mean?" Iolaus surged to his feet. "I'm going with
you."
Hercules hesitated. _He looks like Iolaus, except for the teeth.
He sounds like Iolaus. He acts like Iolaus._ "Are you sure you
feel up to it?"
"I'm fine." Iolaus eyed him suspiciously. "Stop staring at my
teeth."
"Sorry." Remembering there hadn't been any sign of what Vlad had
become, even at close quarters, he added, "Vlad was able to hide
his."
"I'm sorry, I must have missed the orientation lecture," Iolaus
said tightly.
"That wasn't a criticism, I--" Hercules contemplated the ceiling
for a few moments, regaining his calm. "All right, never mind."
"You can trust me," Iolaus said. His voice was determined but his
eyes were pleading.
"I know that," Hercules said, then thought, _Yes, I do know that._
If Iolaus could resist Dahak for so long, then he could handle
this. Hercules was willing to bet his life on it. He put a hand
on Iolaus' shoulder and said, "Let's go."
***
They went back to the stair Hercules had found earlier, the one
that led down into the lower parts of the castle.
"Why did Mattias agree to bring us here?" Iolaus wondered as they
worked their way down the dark spiral. Dust hung in the cold air
and the light from the torch Hercules carried reflected off damp
stained stone. "He's not a strygoi but he must have known what
had happened." They had seen Mattias travel in daylight,
something that strygoi couldn't do.
Hercules nodded. "He's under Dracul's control, somehow. Or maybe
Dracul still had mortal supporters and Mattias is one of them."
Iolaus shook his head, amazed at the chamberlain's blind,
misguided loyalty. _I can't believe this,_ he thought, torn
between embarrassment that he was in this situation and the strong
desire to murder Vlad and every other strygoi he could catch.
His throat still hurt, though he didn't feel as stiff and achey
from the fight as he should have. There was a strange core of
heat inside his chest; it banished the cold but made him realize
that there were still changes going on in his body. It scared the
Tartarus out of him. _But I'm still me,_ he told himself
stubbornly. If Dracul escaped them, or if the legend about the
death of the Strygoi Master restoring all the victims was just
that, a legend.... _What'll you do, stay in Dacia and find a cave
to haunt? Yeah, right._ He sighed and it came out more as a
groan.
Hercules stopped, looking back up at him with a worried frown.
"What?"
"Nothing," Iolaus told him hastily.
The stairs ended in a well with three high-ceilinged corridors
branching off, their upper portions lost in shadow. It was easy
to see this part of the castle had been unoccupied for a time;
cobwebs clung to the stone carvings of gargoyles and snarling
gryphons and the place smelled dusty and unused.
Hercules headed for the corridor that led deeper into the mountain
but Iolaus paused, his attention caught by something up the other
darkened passage. He squinted, realizing he wasn't looking down
into unrelieved darkness: he could see doorways and a branching
corridor further down, and a gallery looking down on it from
above, all outlined in stark gray. There must be windows at the
end of the passage, looking out into the moonlit night. There was
also a strygoi down there somewhere, watching them. Stalking them.
_How do I know that?_ Iolaus wondered. Not sight, not sound, not
smell, either. Hercules had already started down the other
corridor and Iolaus called to him, "Hey, I've got to check
something out. Just keep going, I'll catch up with you."
"Right." Lifting the torch to look into a room he had found,
Hercules nodded, distracted. An instant later he processed what
his partner had said. "Wait, no, Iolaus!" He spun to make a wild
grab, but Iolaus had vanished. Hurriedly he looked down the other
corridors but there was no sign of him anywhere.
Aghast at how quickly the disaster had occurred, Hercules swore,
then pressed his lips together. It was entirely possible that
Iolaus was planning to come back. Hercules let his breath out,
pushed a hand through his hair, and turned to continue up the
corridor. "This is just great," he muttered.
***
Iolaus moved soundlessly down the passage, so absorbed he didn't
even hear Hercules calling for him. He reached one of the pillars
supporting the gallery at the end, found handholds in the carved
rock, and climbed it to perch on the balustrade. He hesitated,
looking for the windows which provided the muted light that
allowed him to see shapes and objects but not colors. There
weren't any and he smacked himself in the forehead in realization:
he could see in the dark.
_At least that'll come in handy, unlike the damn teeth._ He
slipped off the balustrade and ghosted silently along the gallery.
It crossed the passage and turned into another corridor,
parallelling the one Hercules had chosen to search. Iolaus paused
to take down an old javelin from a set that was making up part of
an elaborate wall decoration. He could still sense the strygoi
somewhere ahead. Unaware of Iolaus, it was focused on hunting the
demigod, trying to get ahead of him.
Iolaus caught up to the creature just as it reached a balcony that
overlooked the lower corridor. Suddenly aware of his presence, it
turned with a soundless growl. Iolaus had time to notice it was
an undead Strygoi, even more horrific than the one that had killed
Darius. Its hair was a ragged mane, its clothes and leather armor
just tattered filthy remnants, and this close it stunk like a
decaying corpse. Baring fangs, its face twisted into a snarl.
It leapt at him and Iolaus swung the javelin, snapping it across
the strygoi's head. He blocked a wild blow as it staggered into
the wall, then slammed the broken end into its chest.
It didn't go easily. Gurgling, its eyes glowing with fury, it
clawed at him, the rigid nails on its hands tearing at his shirt
and scratching his arms as he grimly forced the javelin further
in. It slid down the wall, finally going limp.
Breathing hard more from exhilaration than effort, Iolaus stepped
back, shaking his hair out of his eyes. _That's one,_ he thought
with satisfaction, nudging the limp creature with his boot. _Out
of who knows how many._ It was a start, anyway.
He leaned down to pick up the other half of the broken javelin and
froze, staring at his extended hand.
He had claws.
With a soft curse he straightened up, staring at his hands.
Unlike the appearance of his teeth, it hadn't hurt a bit.
Iolaus flexed his fingers thoughtfully, watching the claws appear
and withdraw. He lifted a brow. _Huh. Well that could come in
handy too._
***
Continuing the search, Hercules half-expected Iolaus to reappear
by dropping off one of the shadowy balconies onto his head. He
paused, peering warily down a dark cross-corridor.
"Hey, you know what's funny? I--"
Hercules flinched violently. Iolaus was standing at his elbow.
"What's with you?" Iolaus demanded, looking him over suspiciously.
"Nothing," Hercules managed. "Where...." He trailed off,
studying Iolaus closely. Something was different.
Noticing the scrutiny, Iolaus said, "Oh, I figured out how to make
my teeth go back in." He stepped forward, pulling up his upper
lip. "Want to see?"
"Not really." With a hand on his shoulder, Hercules eased him
back a step. "What were you saying?"
"Oh, right. I can tell where the strygoi are, at least the undead
ones."
Hercules frowned, not understanding. "What do you mean, tell
where they are? How?"
"I don't know." Iolaus shrugged. "It's like I could just tell
that one was nearby, hunting us."
"Huh. That could come in handy," Hercules admitted. "Is it still
there?"
"Yeah, but it's more dead than undead." Iolaus scratched his
chest absently, then flexed his fingers. "Oh yeah. There's
something else I wanted to mention."
***
The strygoi charged and Hercules reversed the heavy spear,
catching the creature with the broken end. He pinned it to the
wall, waiting grimly until its struggles ceased. Stepping back,
he turned as another strygoi fled by him, then hastily jumped
aside as Iolaus shot past, yelling, "That one's mine!"
"Right." Used to this behavior by now, Hercules looked around the
dark chamber, wondering why the undead strygoi had decided to
congregate here. This wasn't even an actual room, just a wider
spot in the passage where it formed an outer corner of the
bastion. If the strygoi had been planning an ambush, they had
done a lousy job of it, allowing their quarry to catch them
completely by surprise.
There was a window in the far wall but boards had been hammered
into the wooden frame, completely covering it. Hercules pulled
them out, revealing a night time view out over the snow-covered
mountains and the river valley below. The perpetual cloudcover
had finally parted and the full moon was shining brightly.
Hercules studied the sky, not certain how much longer they had
until morning. The nights were long here. _Too long,_ he
thought, pressing his lips together. After a couple of hours of
searching they had found several undead strygoi but no sign of
Dracul, Vlad or any of the others who had to be here somewhere.
At least he knew that all the strygoi, dead and undead, would
sleep during the day. If they could just locate the nest, killing
Dracul then should be relatively easy. _Should be. But it's
never easy._
"There's no strygoi out there," Iolaus said, suddenly appearing at
his elbow and bristling with impatience. Like the demigod, Iolaus
had several broken pieces of boar spears and javelins tucked into
his belt for use on the strygoi. "Come on."
Hercules eyed him thoughtfully. He was getting used to Iolaus'
sudden appearances and disappearances. The only thing that was
still a little disconcerting was that Iolaus didn't seem to
realize he was moving in complete silence. Something else
occurred to him and he asked, "The undead Strygoi.... They don't
have blood, do they?"
"No." Iolaus spat into the dust. "They're useless."
Hercules let out his breath, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He
wasn't sure how long Iolaus could go without more blood. _I'm not
going to let him die,_ he thought stubbornly.
The more he had seen, the more sure he was that Iolaus just wasn't
like the other strygoi. When Hercules had seen Galen, his eyes
had been red, the pupils elongated like an animal's; Iolaus' eyes
were the right shape and still the same familiar blue. And except
for a single-minded determination to kill strygoi that amounted
almost to a monomania, he was behaving consistently like himself.
"Hey, let me see your hands." Hercules had avoided closely
examining Iolaus' physical changes. But he didn't have to steel
himself nearly as much as he would have expected to look at
Iolaus' new set of claws.
With an impatient snort, Iolaus held out both hands. Hercules
took one, examining it thoughtfully. It felt the same; the thick
layer of callous over the palm that came from using a sword all
his life, the tiny burn scars from his days as a blacksmith. Then
he pressed Iolaus' fingertip and a good half-inch of claw
protruded.
"Hey!" Indignant, Iolaus yanked his hand back. "That feels
weird."
"Sorry. I'm just trying to figure out.... You don't seem very
much like the other strygoi."
"So...." Iolaus shifted uncertainly. "What am I?"
Hercules shook his head, wishing that was one question he could
answer. "I don't know. But I have the feeling Dracul and Vlad
didn't plan on it."
Iolaus let out his breath, running a hand through his hair
impatiently. "I don't want to be an undead anything--"
"You're not dead," Hercules said pointedly. "You're breathing,
your heart is beating--"
Frustrated, Iolaus threw his arms in the air. "I have to drink
blood to survive--"
"Well, there are obviously ways to deal with that." Hercules
realized that having this conversation over the moldering corpses
of strygoi probably wasn't the best idea. "Come on, let's go down
this way. That window was covered so the strygoi could pass
through here during the day. There could be dozens of them right
around the corner."
Iolaus snorted. "Stop trying to cheer me up."
***
After they had gone only a short distance down the corridor,
Iolaus could see that Hercules was right. The dust that should be
coating the flat flagstones of the floor had been recently
disturbed by large numbers of feet. Suddenly he paused, one hand
on the damp stone wall. "I smell blood."
As Hercules gave him a sideways look Iolaus realized that was
probably not a reassuring statement to make, especially under the
circumstances. Hercules asked mildly, "More strygoi?"
"No, people. Live people." Iolaus wrinkled his nose and moved
further down the corridor, trying to follow the coppery scent
drifting on the cold air. He wasn't sure how he could tell it was
fresh blood. Probably the same way he could sense the undead
strygoi when they ventured too close, or the blood moving through
Hercules' veins.
Iolaus stopped, frowning. Inexplicably, the odor was coming out
of the wall, from the cracks in the mortar between the stones.
Wondering if he was officially crazy now, Iolaus ran his hands
over it. No, not crazy; he could feel a tiny drafts against his
fingers. "Herc...."
"Uh huh." Hercules had halted to make his own investigation. He
lifted his torch and Iolaus saw he had found a distinct gap
between the stones, running from the floor up to vanish in the
shadows near the ceilings. The stream of air issuing from it made
the torch flutter.
"Great. Knock it down." Iolaus stepped back, gesturing
impatiently toward the wall.
Hercules lifted a brow, giving him one of those "I think not"
looks. "I'll just do this." He took hold of the empty candle
sconce to the side of the gap and twisted it.
A faint groan issued from the wall and the stones shivered. A
section half the height of the tall corridor and nearly as wide
across began to lift up, all in one piece. Invisible gears and
chains moaned with the effort. Iolaus exchanged a look with
Hercules, both moving to the side so as not to be directly in
front of the opening about to be revealed. Hercules stuck the
torch into a handy bracket, freeing his hands in case anything
charged out at them.
As the wall lifted away Iolaus saw a broad torchlit stairwell,
spiraling down into the depths of the mountain. A stream of cold
air flowed up and out, carrying with it a prison stink of blood,
urine and unwashed bodies. With a grim expression Hercules
started down the stairs and Iolaus plunged after him.
Two turns down Iolaus sensed strygoi and pushed ahead. He could
hear people now too, moving, whispering, a woman crying out weakly
in alarm.
They were both pelting down the steps now and the strygoi were
sure to hear but Iolaus didn't find that a compelling enough
reason to slow down. Another turn and he burst through an archway
into a large cave-like chamber. One wild look around told him it
was full of people, roughly-dressed Dacian peasants. Most of them
lay in huddled bundles, chained to the walls or the supporting
pillars. A strygoi was just standing up from the prone body of a
woman.
Iolaus hit it in a flying tackle, knocking it sprawling across the
stone floor.
Rolling away, it caught him in the chest with one foot, shoving
him back. It leapt up and made an abortive dart towards the
stairs, but Hercules shifted to block its way. Iolaus came to his
feet in one smooth motion, kneecapped it with a kick, then landed
on its chest, poised to drive the javelin through its heart.
It was at that point he realized it wasn't undead. The man was
still breathing, his heart still beating. His clothes weren't the
moldering grave rags that the other strygoi wore, but well-made
leather armor, with the seal of the Dacian Royal Guard on the
breast. He snarled up at Iolaus, nothing left of the man he had
been behind his eyes.
Behind him Hercules shouted, "Iolaus, no! We talked about this."
_Damn, I was hoping he'd forget about that._ Hercules had
resolved not to kill the living strygoi, the ones who could still
be restored to normal, unless it was unavoidable. In a weak
moment Iolaus had agreed to it. He said through gritted teeth,
"I've had a really, really bad day."
"I know," Hercules said more softly. "But...no."
Trembling with the effort of restraint, Iolaus stared down into
the creature's empty eyes and thought _that's going to be you if
you're not lucky._ All the more reason to kill it. He swore and
slammed the strygoi's head back into the stone floor, knocking it
unconscious.
He held on to the creature as Hercules found a spare set of
chains, then they got it locked securely to a pillar on the far
side of the chamber. After that Iolaus had to lean against the
wall, his head down, breathing hard and trying to hold on to his
self-control. _I really, really hate those things._ Hercules
paused a moment to rest a hand on his back, then turned away to go
to the imprisoned refugees.
After a time Iolaus shook himself and went back across the chamber
to find Hercules snapping chains to free the prisoners. Most of
them were barely conscious, too confused to realize they were
being released. They all had multiple bite wounds in the neck,
their arms. The strygoi hadn't wanted to turn these people; they
were here as a food supply, as cattle to provide the other strygoi
with blood. Iolaus knew he should help Hercules, but the smell of
all the fresh blood.... He didn't feel out of control, as if he
was going to attack anybody -- that murderous impulse seemed to be
reserved for other strygoi -- but he turned away, passing a hand
over his face to conceal his expression.
He could get used to the claws and seeing in the dark, he could
get used to the extra stamina, he could even get used to the
frigging teeth if he tried hard enough, but he couldn't get used
to the blood-drinking part. _I don't want to get used to it._
If his stomach started to growl--
He sensed Hercules step up behind him, just before the demigod
rested his hands on Iolaus' shoulders. "You all right?" he asked.
"Yeah, just...having a moment." He shook his head, turning
around. "What are we doing?"
"I found Galen's sister."
***
"I was travelling to Varna to meet my brother," Vela explained,
speaking Greek with an accent. Galen's sister had dark eyes, long
dark hair and creamy white skin, marred only by bruises and the
bite wounds on her arms.
They were sitting in the archway at the bottom of the stairs,
where they could listen for any approaching strygoi. Hercules sat
on the steps next to her but Iolaus perched on the rocks a few
feet away. Being around Hercules already gave him enough issues;
the combination of blood scent and beautiful woman was almost too
much for his concentration. Vela continued, "I was staying at the
inn at Bistritz when the strygoi attacks started. I fled with the
others to the fortress, but as you see, it was a trap."
She rubbed her arms and shivered, looking over at the other
Dacians. Hercules had found a small well near the far wall and
the prisoners who were able to walk were carrying water to those
still too weak to move. It would help, but it wouldn't be enough.
These people needed food, blankets, healers. These were the
farmers and artisans whose labor supplied the nobility's castles
and whose sons filled the ranks of the Dacian armies. And in
return they had been tricked into coming here for shelter and been
betrayed to the strygoi.
After one brief glance Iolaus looked away. They had to realize
what he was; perhaps they were so glad to be free of the chains
that they didn't care who had rescued them.
Vela turned back to Hercules and said, "When they locked the
others in here I managed to slip away in the confusion, but the
way up into the rest of the castle was guarded and I couldn't get
out." She absently picked at a bite wound on her arm. "My
brother had told me that strygoi slept during the day and I
thought if I could find them, kill Dracul while he was
helpless...."
"It was a good thought," Hercules said, watching her. It was, in
fact, what they had planned to do themselves. "I take it it
didn't work out that way?"
She shook her head, her mouth twisting ruefully. "They slept, but
they weren't helpless."
_There goes plan alpha,_ Iolaus thought, exchanging a troubled
look with Hercules.
She said, "I found a large cave on the lowest level. It looked
like a dungeon, but there were war banners hung on the walls and a
chair like a throne, as if it was an audience hall. No one was
there, but a passage led off from it to the crypts, so I went down
it."
Hercules flicked a glance at Iolaus, who answered with a half-
lifted brow. Guts and stubborn impetuousness obviously ran in
Galen's family.
"I found Dracul sleeping in a crypt but when I tried to drive the
stake through his heart he woke." Vela shivered at some memory
her story had too vividly conjured. "He threw me against a wall
and knocked me out. When I came back to myself two of the others
were dragging me back here."
"Can you tell us where that room was?" Hercules asked.
She nodded. "Of course."
Hercules looked thoughtful and Iolaus rolled his eyes. He knew
what that look meant. "Herc," he said deliberately. "Can we
talk?"
"Hmm?" Hercules glanced up, distracted. "Oh." He smiled
reassuringly at a puzzled Vela and stood.
They retreated a few steps away to the far side of a pillar.
Iolaus said, "You can't walk in there. They'll be waiting for
that!"
"I know." Hercules nodded with calm determination. "We walked
into his trap once, we're not going to do it again." He planted
his hands on his hips, a speculative frown on his face. "We need
to make him come to us. If I could--"
Iolaus' brows lifted. "Let me do it. It's perfect. They think
I'm one of them." In case there was any doubt, he added, "Which
I'm not."
Hercules grimaced. "I know that, but--"
"But what?" Iolaus asked. Almost against his will, he found
himself adding, "Don't you trust me?" He wasn't sure he wanted to
know the answer to that one. Hercules had said he knew he could
trust him, but that was before the claws and being able to smell
human blood in the air.
Hercules squeezed his shoulder. "It's not you that I'm worried
about."
Somewhat reassured, Iolaus persisted, "Look, they did this to me
to get to you. I've got a right to do this."
Hercules glared at him, but it was the expression he usually got
when he couldn't think of a better argument. Finally he let his
breath out in resignation. "All right." He gestured helplessly.
"Just--"
"I know." Iolaus nodded with grim resolve. "Believe me, I know."
Hercules left Vela in charge of the refugees with instructions to
block the door after he and Iolaus departed. If enough time
passed where she thought it must be morning and they still hadn't
returned, she was to lead the others out of the castle and try to
make for the nearest town. One man had demanded, "Why? Why
should we do this? Why not leave now?"
Already on edge, Iolaus had looked at him and snarled, "Because he
said so."
There hadn't been any other objections.
***
...continued in part 2
by Martha Wilson
http://www.rtis.com/nat/user/chimera/legends.htm
The Less Than Legendary Journeys
Part 2
***
Drifting, Iolaus came back to cold hard reality when he was
deposited on a stone floor. Shivering with weakness and blood
loss, he lifted his head and watched the room swim in and out of
focus. His shirt had been torn open in the struggle and
remembering that his amulet had been tucked inside it, he felt for
it to make sure it was still there.
Finally he managed to make his eyes work. He was in a corner of a
small room lit only by one torch jammed into an iron wall sconce.
It threw shadows over a dusty tapestry, a few pieces of bulky dark
furniture and the stuffed head of an antlered animal that looked
as if it was probably carnivorous. Iolaus pushed himself into a
sitting position and saw Hercules kneeling before the hearth,
trying to get a fire started. He sank back against the wall in
relief. Then he stabbed his lip with his new teeth again and
remembered just how bad things were.
The little fire leapt to life though as far as Iolaus could tell
it had no effect on the numbing chill in the air. Hercules stood,
looking around the room as if assessing it for something. He
nodded to himself and muttered, "Right."
"You're taking this awfully well," Iolaus ventured, trying to make
conversation. Hercules looked down at him but before Iolaus could
make out his expression a spasm in the gut doubled him over. He
curled up around the agony, gritting his teeth.
The spasm faded and Iolaus fell back against the wall, panting.
It was hunger, so intense it was crippling. Maybe that was why
fledgling strygoi attacked their first victim, but Iolaus couldn't
imagine how they managed it. All he wanted to do was curl up in a
foetal position and moan. He blinked pain tears out of his eyes,
seeing that Hercules was facing away from him. He couldn't
remember if Hercules had said why they had come to this room. He
tried to speak, had to clear his throat, and finally managed, "Why
are we here?"
"I didn't want Vlad or any of the others finding us while I'm
doing this."
_Oh, yeah, gotta kill me. Right._ "How long were you planning to
take with it?" Iolaus asked worriedly. He braced himself against
the wall, trying to lever himself up enough to see what Hercules
was doing. "I was thinking something really quick." His thoughts
were going in circles and the room kept tilting to the right,
making him slide down the wall. "What happens when you die here?
Never mind, I want to be horrified -- I mean surprised. Did I say
that out loud?" Another hunger spasm hit, hunching him over
again. When he managed to lift his head, Hercules was sitting in
front of him.
Iolaus found himself pressing back against the wall. While his
brain knew how necessary this was, his body was obviously not
convinced. _He could at least act a little upset,_ Iolaus
thought, looking at Hercules' calm expression and beginning to
feel a little pique mixed in with the confusion and misery. _Or
say goodbye, or something._ He had the idea he should say
something, maybe an apology, but it was so hard to think. He
tried anyway. "Hey, about killing me--"
Hercules interrupted, "Iolaus, can you hear Vlad?"
Iolaus looked around wildly, startled. "What, he's here?"
"No." Hercules caught his shoulders, turning Iolaus back to face
him. "In your head. I found Galen -- he was bitten too -- he
said he could hear the strygoi in his thoughts."
"Oh yeah, that, at first. Blah, blah, blah, whatever. I just..."
Iolaus hesitated. It was hard to put into words, especially when
it was so difficult to stay coherent. "...made it stop. He's not
strong, like Dahak, he's just annoying." He blinked up at
Hercules, realizing he couldn't hold himself up anymore. Things
were starting to slide back into the dark again. Iolaus had one
clear thought that this might be the last time.
Somebody grabbed him by the back of the neck. Everything blurred
as panic hit and the instinct to fight overrode everything else.
He broke the hold with a twist and a forearm smash, the strength
he hadn't had a moment ago returning in a rush. Something grabbed
him again and an instinct took over; he smelled bare living flesh
and sank his teeth into it.
Iolaus came back to himself as the room spun in slow circles. He
realized Hercules was supporting him with an arm around his chest
and for a moment he couldn't remember what they were doing. Then
he realized that coppery tang he could taste wasn't his own blood.
Shocked, he said, "I bit you."
"I know. I'm sorry," Hercules said, sounding a little shaky
himself. "How do you feel?"
Iolaus pulled away, sagging back against the wall, gagging. The
room stopped swinging around as his dizziness faded and his
pounding heart slowed. He took a full breath without pain and
blinked, trying to sit up. He couldn't figure out why Hercules
was apologizing to him. Sick with guilt, he asked, "Where did I
get you?"
"The wrist. It's nothing." Hercules leaned over him anxiously.
"You look a little better. How do you feel?"
_He took off his gauntlet. He deliberately let me--_ Iolaus
shook his head, running a shaking hand through his hair. The
numbing chill that had sapped his strength was draining away,
leaving him shaky but able to hold himself upright. His head was
clearing, too. He looked at Hercules, appalled. "Are you out of
your mind?" he gasped, caught between relief that he wasn't dead
and outrage at the method Hercules had used to save him. "You
could have told me what you were doing--"
"You were dying and I didn't have time to argue with you about
it," Hercules said with a calm assurance that at the moment Iolaus
found damn irritating.
"You didn't know what could have happened--" he sputtered, his
voice gaining strength "I could have killed you! Or-- Or turned
you into one of these things too--"
"No, you didn't take that much."
"You didn't know I'd stop!" Iolaus couldn't believe Hercules had
taken the chance. At close quarters, with Hercules trying not to
hurt him, it would have been impossible to control him even with
the demigod's strength. "It was a stupid thing to do!"
Hercules sat back, shaking his head. "I'm not going to discuss
it."
"I didn't ask for this!"
Hercules pressed his lips together, glaring at him, then gestured
helplessly. "You asked me to kill you. How do you think that
makes me feel?"
"Under the circumstances--" Iolaus began determinedly. He had no
idea how to finish the sentence but he knew he wanted to argue.
Hercules shook his head, holding up an admonitory hand. "I don't
want to discuss it."
This left Iolaus sputtering again. "Well, I'm not going to
apologize to you--"
"I'm not going to apologize to you," Hercules said in annoyance,
apparently forgetting that he already had.
"Fine!" Iolaus snarled, throwing his hands in the air. He hated
giving up on an argument even when he wasn't sure what it was
about. Hercules picked up his gauntlet and Iolaus grabbed his arm
before he could put the leather back on, turning it to look at the
bite mark. The twin wounds were tiny but that didn't make him
feel any better about it. "Does it hurt?" he asked worriedly.
"No." Hercules fitted his gauntlet back on and looked closely at
the livid mark on Iolaus' neck. He winced. "Vlad must have
bigger teeth."
"These feel huge," Iolaus grumbled, investigating his own set.
Probing too carelessly, he pricked his thumb again. "Dammit!"
Doing the buckles on his gauntlet one-handed, Hercules looked up,
alarmed. "What?"
Iolaus shook his head. "Never mind."
_I can't believe I let this happen,_ Hercules thought, looking
down and keeping a tight rein on his own emotions. In Sumeria he
had walked blindly into the trap, despite the warnings of his own
nightmares. This time he had known something was wrong; he had
been cautious and suspicious and it still hadn't helped. Iolaus
was right to lose faith in him.
He was going to kill Vlad Tepes.
If Vlad hadn't leapt to the balcony as Hercules broke down the
door, he would be dead already. Beheading killed strygoi just has
surely as the wooden stakes Galen used and at that moment Hercules
had been ready and willing to do it bare-handed.
With effort, he put that thought aside for now. At least Iolaus
didn't look as bad as he had a few moments ago: he wasn't as
deathly pale and though the bruises on his face were livid they
didn't stand out as much as his skin took on a more normal tone.
The bite mark on his neck still looked inflamed and painful.
It seemed incredible that Iolaus had gone through everything,
Dahak, the Paths of the Dead, his painful return to life, just to
end up a victim of strygoi. _He's not dead, that's the important
thing._ As long as he wasn't dead, being a strygoi was a
temporary condition. Hercules said, "Galen and Darius both said
that everyone who was bitten would turn back to normal if the
Strygoi Master was killed."
Iolaus just looked glum. Hercules had to admit that since Darius
had been eaten and Galen turned it tended to throw doubt on their
strygoi expertise. But Galen had also told them that the Strygoi
Master would be able to change shape as long as the sun was down,
turning himself into mist or smoke, and Hercules had witnessed
that. He said, "There's only one likely candidate for the Strygoi
Master and that's Dracul, Vlad's father."
Iolaus sat up suddenly, alert. "It is him."
Hercules nodded as Iolaus repeated what Vlad had told him. "That
settles it," he said, getting to his feet. In one way, nothing
had changed. They still had to find the refugees and destroy
Dracul, even if it meant killing all the strygoi in the castle.
_Well,_ Hercules reflected, looking down at Iolaus, _almost all._
"We need to find someplace for you to stay while I go after
Dracul. This is too close to the living quarters, they could--"
"What do you mean?" Iolaus surged to his feet. "I'm going with
you."
Hercules hesitated. _He looks like Iolaus, except for the teeth.
He sounds like Iolaus. He acts like Iolaus._ "Are you sure you
feel up to it?"
"I'm fine." Iolaus eyed him suspiciously. "Stop staring at my
teeth."
"Sorry." Remembering there hadn't been any sign of what Vlad had
become, even at close quarters, he added, "Vlad was able to hide
his."
"I'm sorry, I must have missed the orientation lecture," Iolaus
said tightly.
"That wasn't a criticism, I--" Hercules contemplated the ceiling
for a few moments, regaining his calm. "All right, never mind."
"You can trust me," Iolaus said. His voice was determined but his
eyes were pleading.
"I know that," Hercules said, then thought, _Yes, I do know that._
If Iolaus could resist Dahak for so long, then he could handle
this. Hercules was willing to bet his life on it. He put a hand
on Iolaus' shoulder and said, "Let's go."
***
They went back to the stair Hercules had found earlier, the one
that led down into the lower parts of the castle.
"Why did Mattias agree to bring us here?" Iolaus wondered as they
worked their way down the dark spiral. Dust hung in the cold air
and the light from the torch Hercules carried reflected off damp
stained stone. "He's not a strygoi but he must have known what
had happened." They had seen Mattias travel in daylight,
something that strygoi couldn't do.
Hercules nodded. "He's under Dracul's control, somehow. Or maybe
Dracul still had mortal supporters and Mattias is one of them."
Iolaus shook his head, amazed at the chamberlain's blind,
misguided loyalty. _I can't believe this,_ he thought, torn
between embarrassment that he was in this situation and the strong
desire to murder Vlad and every other strygoi he could catch.
His throat still hurt, though he didn't feel as stiff and achey
from the fight as he should have. There was a strange core of
heat inside his chest; it banished the cold but made him realize
that there were still changes going on in his body. It scared the
Tartarus out of him. _But I'm still me,_ he told himself
stubbornly. If Dracul escaped them, or if the legend about the
death of the Strygoi Master restoring all the victims was just
that, a legend.... _What'll you do, stay in Dacia and find a cave
to haunt? Yeah, right._ He sighed and it came out more as a
groan.
Hercules stopped, looking back up at him with a worried frown.
"What?"
"Nothing," Iolaus told him hastily.
The stairs ended in a well with three high-ceilinged corridors
branching off, their upper portions lost in shadow. It was easy
to see this part of the castle had been unoccupied for a time;
cobwebs clung to the stone carvings of gargoyles and snarling
gryphons and the place smelled dusty and unused.
Hercules headed for the corridor that led deeper into the mountain
but Iolaus paused, his attention caught by something up the other
darkened passage. He squinted, realizing he wasn't looking down
into unrelieved darkness: he could see doorways and a branching
corridor further down, and a gallery looking down on it from
above, all outlined in stark gray. There must be windows at the
end of the passage, looking out into the moonlit night. There was
also a strygoi down there somewhere, watching them. Stalking them.
_How do I know that?_ Iolaus wondered. Not sight, not sound, not
smell, either. Hercules had already started down the other
corridor and Iolaus called to him, "Hey, I've got to check
something out. Just keep going, I'll catch up with you."
"Right." Lifting the torch to look into a room he had found,
Hercules nodded, distracted. An instant later he processed what
his partner had said. "Wait, no, Iolaus!" He spun to make a wild
grab, but Iolaus had vanished. Hurriedly he looked down the other
corridors but there was no sign of him anywhere.
Aghast at how quickly the disaster had occurred, Hercules swore,
then pressed his lips together. It was entirely possible that
Iolaus was planning to come back. Hercules let his breath out,
pushed a hand through his hair, and turned to continue up the
corridor. "This is just great," he muttered.
***
Iolaus moved soundlessly down the passage, so absorbed he didn't
even hear Hercules calling for him. He reached one of the pillars
supporting the gallery at the end, found handholds in the carved
rock, and climbed it to perch on the balustrade. He hesitated,
looking for the windows which provided the muted light that
allowed him to see shapes and objects but not colors. There
weren't any and he smacked himself in the forehead in realization:
he could see in the dark.
_At least that'll come in handy, unlike the damn teeth._ He
slipped off the balustrade and ghosted silently along the gallery.
It crossed the passage and turned into another corridor,
parallelling the one Hercules had chosen to search. Iolaus paused
to take down an old javelin from a set that was making up part of
an elaborate wall decoration. He could still sense the strygoi
somewhere ahead. Unaware of Iolaus, it was focused on hunting the
demigod, trying to get ahead of him.
Iolaus caught up to the creature just as it reached a balcony that
overlooked the lower corridor. Suddenly aware of his presence, it
turned with a soundless growl. Iolaus had time to notice it was
an undead Strygoi, even more horrific than the one that had killed
Darius. Its hair was a ragged mane, its clothes and leather armor
just tattered filthy remnants, and this close it stunk like a
decaying corpse. Baring fangs, its face twisted into a snarl.
It leapt at him and Iolaus swung the javelin, snapping it across
the strygoi's head. He blocked a wild blow as it staggered into
the wall, then slammed the broken end into its chest.
It didn't go easily. Gurgling, its eyes glowing with fury, it
clawed at him, the rigid nails on its hands tearing at his shirt
and scratching his arms as he grimly forced the javelin further
in. It slid down the wall, finally going limp.
Breathing hard more from exhilaration than effort, Iolaus stepped
back, shaking his hair out of his eyes. _That's one,_ he thought
with satisfaction, nudging the limp creature with his boot. _Out
of who knows how many._ It was a start, anyway.
He leaned down to pick up the other half of the broken javelin and
froze, staring at his extended hand.
He had claws.
With a soft curse he straightened up, staring at his hands.
Unlike the appearance of his teeth, it hadn't hurt a bit.
Iolaus flexed his fingers thoughtfully, watching the claws appear
and withdraw. He lifted a brow. _Huh. Well that could come in
handy too._
***
Continuing the search, Hercules half-expected Iolaus to reappear
by dropping off one of the shadowy balconies onto his head. He
paused, peering warily down a dark cross-corridor.
"Hey, you know what's funny? I--"
Hercules flinched violently. Iolaus was standing at his elbow.
"What's with you?" Iolaus demanded, looking him over suspiciously.
"Nothing," Hercules managed. "Where...." He trailed off,
studying Iolaus closely. Something was different.
Noticing the scrutiny, Iolaus said, "Oh, I figured out how to make
my teeth go back in." He stepped forward, pulling up his upper
lip. "Want to see?"
"Not really." With a hand on his shoulder, Hercules eased him
back a step. "What were you saying?"
"Oh, right. I can tell where the strygoi are, at least the undead
ones."
Hercules frowned, not understanding. "What do you mean, tell
where they are? How?"
"I don't know." Iolaus shrugged. "It's like I could just tell
that one was nearby, hunting us."
"Huh. That could come in handy," Hercules admitted. "Is it still
there?"
"Yeah, but it's more dead than undead." Iolaus scratched his
chest absently, then flexed his fingers. "Oh yeah. There's
something else I wanted to mention."
***
The strygoi charged and Hercules reversed the heavy spear,
catching the creature with the broken end. He pinned it to the
wall, waiting grimly until its struggles ceased. Stepping back,
he turned as another strygoi fled by him, then hastily jumped
aside as Iolaus shot past, yelling, "That one's mine!"
"Right." Used to this behavior by now, Hercules looked around the
dark chamber, wondering why the undead strygoi had decided to
congregate here. This wasn't even an actual room, just a wider
spot in the passage where it formed an outer corner of the
bastion. If the strygoi had been planning an ambush, they had
done a lousy job of it, allowing their quarry to catch them
completely by surprise.
There was a window in the far wall but boards had been hammered
into the wooden frame, completely covering it. Hercules pulled
them out, revealing a night time view out over the snow-covered
mountains and the river valley below. The perpetual cloudcover
had finally parted and the full moon was shining brightly.
Hercules studied the sky, not certain how much longer they had
until morning. The nights were long here. _Too long,_ he
thought, pressing his lips together. After a couple of hours of
searching they had found several undead strygoi but no sign of
Dracul, Vlad or any of the others who had to be here somewhere.
At least he knew that all the strygoi, dead and undead, would
sleep during the day. If they could just locate the nest, killing
Dracul then should be relatively easy. _Should be. But it's
never easy._
"There's no strygoi out there," Iolaus said, suddenly appearing at
his elbow and bristling with impatience. Like the demigod, Iolaus
had several broken pieces of boar spears and javelins tucked into
his belt for use on the strygoi. "Come on."
Hercules eyed him thoughtfully. He was getting used to Iolaus'
sudden appearances and disappearances. The only thing that was
still a little disconcerting was that Iolaus didn't seem to
realize he was moving in complete silence. Something else
occurred to him and he asked, "The undead Strygoi.... They don't
have blood, do they?"
"No." Iolaus spat into the dust. "They're useless."
Hercules let out his breath, rubbing the bridge of his nose. He
wasn't sure how long Iolaus could go without more blood. _I'm not
going to let him die,_ he thought stubbornly.
The more he had seen, the more sure he was that Iolaus just wasn't
like the other strygoi. When Hercules had seen Galen, his eyes
had been red, the pupils elongated like an animal's; Iolaus' eyes
were the right shape and still the same familiar blue. And except
for a single-minded determination to kill strygoi that amounted
almost to a monomania, he was behaving consistently like himself.
"Hey, let me see your hands." Hercules had avoided closely
examining Iolaus' physical changes. But he didn't have to steel
himself nearly as much as he would have expected to look at
Iolaus' new set of claws.
With an impatient snort, Iolaus held out both hands. Hercules
took one, examining it thoughtfully. It felt the same; the thick
layer of callous over the palm that came from using a sword all
his life, the tiny burn scars from his days as a blacksmith. Then
he pressed Iolaus' fingertip and a good half-inch of claw
protruded.
"Hey!" Indignant, Iolaus yanked his hand back. "That feels
weird."
"Sorry. I'm just trying to figure out.... You don't seem very
much like the other strygoi."
"So...." Iolaus shifted uncertainly. "What am I?"
Hercules shook his head, wishing that was one question he could
answer. "I don't know. But I have the feeling Dracul and Vlad
didn't plan on it."
Iolaus let out his breath, running a hand through his hair
impatiently. "I don't want to be an undead anything--"
"You're not dead," Hercules said pointedly. "You're breathing,
your heart is beating--"
Frustrated, Iolaus threw his arms in the air. "I have to drink
blood to survive--"
"Well, there are obviously ways to deal with that." Hercules
realized that having this conversation over the moldering corpses
of strygoi probably wasn't the best idea. "Come on, let's go down
this way. That window was covered so the strygoi could pass
through here during the day. There could be dozens of them right
around the corner."
Iolaus snorted. "Stop trying to cheer me up."
***
After they had gone only a short distance down the corridor,
Iolaus could see that Hercules was right. The dust that should be
coating the flat flagstones of the floor had been recently
disturbed by large numbers of feet. Suddenly he paused, one hand
on the damp stone wall. "I smell blood."
As Hercules gave him a sideways look Iolaus realized that was
probably not a reassuring statement to make, especially under the
circumstances. Hercules asked mildly, "More strygoi?"
"No, people. Live people." Iolaus wrinkled his nose and moved
further down the corridor, trying to follow the coppery scent
drifting on the cold air. He wasn't sure how he could tell it was
fresh blood. Probably the same way he could sense the undead
strygoi when they ventured too close, or the blood moving through
Hercules' veins.
Iolaus stopped, frowning. Inexplicably, the odor was coming out
of the wall, from the cracks in the mortar between the stones.
Wondering if he was officially crazy now, Iolaus ran his hands
over it. No, not crazy; he could feel a tiny drafts against his
fingers. "Herc...."
"Uh huh." Hercules had halted to make his own investigation. He
lifted his torch and Iolaus saw he had found a distinct gap
between the stones, running from the floor up to vanish in the
shadows near the ceilings. The stream of air issuing from it made
the torch flutter.
"Great. Knock it down." Iolaus stepped back, gesturing
impatiently toward the wall.
Hercules lifted a brow, giving him one of those "I think not"
looks. "I'll just do this." He took hold of the empty candle
sconce to the side of the gap and twisted it.
A faint groan issued from the wall and the stones shivered. A
section half the height of the tall corridor and nearly as wide
across began to lift up, all in one piece. Invisible gears and
chains moaned with the effort. Iolaus exchanged a look with
Hercules, both moving to the side so as not to be directly in
front of the opening about to be revealed. Hercules stuck the
torch into a handy bracket, freeing his hands in case anything
charged out at them.
As the wall lifted away Iolaus saw a broad torchlit stairwell,
spiraling down into the depths of the mountain. A stream of cold
air flowed up and out, carrying with it a prison stink of blood,
urine and unwashed bodies. With a grim expression Hercules
started down the stairs and Iolaus plunged after him.
Two turns down Iolaus sensed strygoi and pushed ahead. He could
hear people now too, moving, whispering, a woman crying out weakly
in alarm.
They were both pelting down the steps now and the strygoi were
sure to hear but Iolaus didn't find that a compelling enough
reason to slow down. Another turn and he burst through an archway
into a large cave-like chamber. One wild look around told him it
was full of people, roughly-dressed Dacian peasants. Most of them
lay in huddled bundles, chained to the walls or the supporting
pillars. A strygoi was just standing up from the prone body of a
woman.
Iolaus hit it in a flying tackle, knocking it sprawling across the
stone floor.
Rolling away, it caught him in the chest with one foot, shoving
him back. It leapt up and made an abortive dart towards the
stairs, but Hercules shifted to block its way. Iolaus came to his
feet in one smooth motion, kneecapped it with a kick, then landed
on its chest, poised to drive the javelin through its heart.
It was at that point he realized it wasn't undead. The man was
still breathing, his heart still beating. His clothes weren't the
moldering grave rags that the other strygoi wore, but well-made
leather armor, with the seal of the Dacian Royal Guard on the
breast. He snarled up at Iolaus, nothing left of the man he had
been behind his eyes.
Behind him Hercules shouted, "Iolaus, no! We talked about this."
_Damn, I was hoping he'd forget about that._ Hercules had
resolved not to kill the living strygoi, the ones who could still
be restored to normal, unless it was unavoidable. In a weak
moment Iolaus had agreed to it. He said through gritted teeth,
"I've had a really, really bad day."
"I know," Hercules said more softly. "But...no."
Trembling with the effort of restraint, Iolaus stared down into
the creature's empty eyes and thought _that's going to be you if
you're not lucky._ All the more reason to kill it. He swore and
slammed the strygoi's head back into the stone floor, knocking it
unconscious.
He held on to the creature as Hercules found a spare set of
chains, then they got it locked securely to a pillar on the far
side of the chamber. After that Iolaus had to lean against the
wall, his head down, breathing hard and trying to hold on to his
self-control. _I really, really hate those things._ Hercules
paused a moment to rest a hand on his back, then turned away to go
to the imprisoned refugees.
After a time Iolaus shook himself and went back across the chamber
to find Hercules snapping chains to free the prisoners. Most of
them were barely conscious, too confused to realize they were
being released. They all had multiple bite wounds in the neck,
their arms. The strygoi hadn't wanted to turn these people; they
were here as a food supply, as cattle to provide the other strygoi
with blood. Iolaus knew he should help Hercules, but the smell of
all the fresh blood.... He didn't feel out of control, as if he
was going to attack anybody -- that murderous impulse seemed to be
reserved for other strygoi -- but he turned away, passing a hand
over his face to conceal his expression.
He could get used to the claws and seeing in the dark, he could
get used to the extra stamina, he could even get used to the
frigging teeth if he tried hard enough, but he couldn't get used
to the blood-drinking part. _I don't want to get used to it._
If his stomach started to growl--
He sensed Hercules step up behind him, just before the demigod
rested his hands on Iolaus' shoulders. "You all right?" he asked.
"Yeah, just...having a moment." He shook his head, turning
around. "What are we doing?"
"I found Galen's sister."
***
"I was travelling to Varna to meet my brother," Vela explained,
speaking Greek with an accent. Galen's sister had dark eyes, long
dark hair and creamy white skin, marred only by bruises and the
bite wounds on her arms.
They were sitting in the archway at the bottom of the stairs,
where they could listen for any approaching strygoi. Hercules sat
on the steps next to her but Iolaus perched on the rocks a few
feet away. Being around Hercules already gave him enough issues;
the combination of blood scent and beautiful woman was almost too
much for his concentration. Vela continued, "I was staying at the
inn at Bistritz when the strygoi attacks started. I fled with the
others to the fortress, but as you see, it was a trap."
She rubbed her arms and shivered, looking over at the other
Dacians. Hercules had found a small well near the far wall and
the prisoners who were able to walk were carrying water to those
still too weak to move. It would help, but it wouldn't be enough.
These people needed food, blankets, healers. These were the
farmers and artisans whose labor supplied the nobility's castles
and whose sons filled the ranks of the Dacian armies. And in
return they had been tricked into coming here for shelter and been
betrayed to the strygoi.
After one brief glance Iolaus looked away. They had to realize
what he was; perhaps they were so glad to be free of the chains
that they didn't care who had rescued them.
Vela turned back to Hercules and said, "When they locked the
others in here I managed to slip away in the confusion, but the
way up into the rest of the castle was guarded and I couldn't get
out." She absently picked at a bite wound on her arm. "My
brother had told me that strygoi slept during the day and I
thought if I could find them, kill Dracul while he was
helpless...."
"It was a good thought," Hercules said, watching her. It was, in
fact, what they had planned to do themselves. "I take it it
didn't work out that way?"
She shook her head, her mouth twisting ruefully. "They slept, but
they weren't helpless."
_There goes plan alpha,_ Iolaus thought, exchanging a troubled
look with Hercules.
She said, "I found a large cave on the lowest level. It looked
like a dungeon, but there were war banners hung on the walls and a
chair like a throne, as if it was an audience hall. No one was
there, but a passage led off from it to the crypts, so I went down
it."
Hercules flicked a glance at Iolaus, who answered with a half-
lifted brow. Guts and stubborn impetuousness obviously ran in
Galen's family.
"I found Dracul sleeping in a crypt but when I tried to drive the
stake through his heart he woke." Vela shivered at some memory
her story had too vividly conjured. "He threw me against a wall
and knocked me out. When I came back to myself two of the others
were dragging me back here."
"Can you tell us where that room was?" Hercules asked.
She nodded. "Of course."
Hercules looked thoughtful and Iolaus rolled his eyes. He knew
what that look meant. "Herc," he said deliberately. "Can we
talk?"
"Hmm?" Hercules glanced up, distracted. "Oh." He smiled
reassuringly at a puzzled Vela and stood.
They retreated a few steps away to the far side of a pillar.
Iolaus said, "You can't walk in there. They'll be waiting for
that!"
"I know." Hercules nodded with calm determination. "We walked
into his trap once, we're not going to do it again." He planted
his hands on his hips, a speculative frown on his face. "We need
to make him come to us. If I could--"
Iolaus' brows lifted. "Let me do it. It's perfect. They think
I'm one of them." In case there was any doubt, he added, "Which
I'm not."
Hercules grimaced. "I know that, but--"
"But what?" Iolaus asked. Almost against his will, he found
himself adding, "Don't you trust me?" He wasn't sure he wanted to
know the answer to that one. Hercules had said he knew he could
trust him, but that was before the claws and being able to smell
human blood in the air.
Hercules squeezed his shoulder. "It's not you that I'm worried
about."
Somewhat reassured, Iolaus persisted, "Look, they did this to me
to get to you. I've got a right to do this."
Hercules glared at him, but it was the expression he usually got
when he couldn't think of a better argument. Finally he let his
breath out in resignation. "All right." He gestured helplessly.
"Just--"
"I know." Iolaus nodded with grim resolve. "Believe me, I know."
Hercules left Vela in charge of the refugees with instructions to
block the door after he and Iolaus departed. If enough time
passed where she thought it must be morning and they still hadn't
returned, she was to lead the others out of the castle and try to
make for the nearest town. One man had demanded, "Why? Why
should we do this? Why not leave now?"
Already on edge, Iolaus had looked at him and snarled, "Because he
said so."
There hadn't been any other objections.
***
...continued in part 2
