1/11/03 - Chapter Eight is finished! So sorry for the delay updating this chapter. I think my imagination blew a fuse, too. I have no other explanation for one scene in this chapter. Hopefully it's not too disturbing. Val wasn't content being just a very minor character, so Chapter Eight grew quite a bit bigger than I thought it would.
Val isn't me. I swear - though she does behave a bit like I would, (well, if I were a braver person that is). She was just going to be a deus ex machina to finally point our boys in the right direction, but...I couldn't let an opportunity to tease D and Alucard slip by. You do realize by now I have no control over these characters, right? It's taking all I have just to keep the story on track! But I must admit, it's a fun ride! I hope you are enjoying it too!
The astute reader may notice the homage to one of my favorite fantasy authors in a comment in this chapter.
Chapter Eight - Sage Advice
D held up one hand as they approached a clearing near the base of a mountain. Alucard looked up into the warning in D's eyes and stepped back as they had arranged. Alucard rested his hand on the hilt of his sword. D advanced into the clearing, drawing his blade.
D circled once before fluidly jumping forward and driving the point of his sword into the ground.
"You can come out. I've found you," D said aloud.
"Dammit! I thought I had it that time!" There was chagrin in the voice as a woman shimmered into view, "I didn't even realize there was a shadow until you pinned it!"
Alucard, still ready to draw his sword, advanced to D's side. He looked down and realized that is exactly what D had done, as the tip of D's sword was sunk into the ground exactly where the woman's shadow lay.
"It is the best yet. Your scent and sound were completely masked," D offered.
"But my shadow gave me away," she replied, "Ah well, I guess someone would be truly invisible at night, if there were no strong light." She pushed her hair impatiently from her face, "What brings you here anyway, D? Not helping me with this thrice-cursed amulet of invisibility, that's for sure!"
"No, but strangely enough it is about an amulet," D replied.
"Hmm. And this?" the woman turned her head and looked at Alucard, "He doesn't even try to conceal his blood! Doesn't he realize how dangerous that could be?"
"Don't answer, D. Let me tell you what I see!"
The woman circled around Alucard, her green-eyed gaze flicking up and down as she took in details. In his turn Alucard assessed her.
Her long blonde hair was carelessly bound in a leather thong to spill down her back. Her eyes were a startling deep green. Her skin was pale, not unhealthily so, but as his own was, as if she shunned the daylight. She was small, only a little over 5 feet tall and very slight. Though smooth, there was something almost too careful about how she moved that made Alucard think she was older than she appeared. Her scent came wafting toward him. As he expected, it was the bright clean woodsy notes of the forest overlaying the damp, musty tang of earth. The elusive note of her blood seemed human, mostly. Alucard thought she might have some slight trace of something not human in her, but it wasn't vampire.
"Hmm. A dhampir, like you," the woman said aloud to D, "And his vampire blood is exactly as yours, marking him as a scion of Dracula," she reached forward to take up and stroke a lock of Alucard's hair, "Dracula must have been something that his sons are so gorgeous!" she grinned into Alucard's stunned face as she dropped the lock, "But this one is out-dimension. He's carrying a wealth of magic items that make all the contents of my shop look shabby in comparison!"
"I am Val," she introduced herself directly to Alucard, "And since you are traveling with D, I suppose you can be trusted, even though I can tell you are of vampire blood. I guess, in your home dimension, people aren't frightened of dhampirs any longer?"
"No...that's not it..." Alucard stammered.
"Actually, Val, that's why we sought you out. Alucard had been attacked by someone who wanted him to believe it was me. We are hoping you might be able to help," D said.
Val looked from Alucard to D, gazing into each face for long moments.
"Big brother to the rescue, huh?"
"Don't be absurd!" D snapped.
"'Absurd'? Heh, heh, have it your way, D. I'm 'absurd'! Well, now that you've found me, what can I do for you?"
"Tell her, Alucard," D commanded. Alucard did.
"Very interesting story," Val commented some time later, "So the intruder looked exactly like D?"
"There might have been a few differences, like the intruder wore a red feather in his hat and D doesn't, but otherwise, yes, exactly like D. Though now that I know D better, the intruder didn't act like him at all," Alucard replied.
"Let me see this amulet," Val offered. Alucard handed the gem to her.
"Well..." Val turned it over in her hand appraisingly, "Highly magical. Warded too."
"What does that mean?"
"It means it's protected against me trying to figure out what it is," Val replied, "Oh, don't worry! I can probably break the ward with enough time. It's just going to take some effort on my part. Now...for my payment..."
Alucard looked over at D since they hadn't discussed payment at all.
"I can pay you," D said unperturbed.
"I don't need money, the shop is doing well. What I do need is someone to go into that mountain, get past the darkness I can't go through and harvest some mushroom-moss for me," Val replied pointing toward the side of the mountain, "That would be payment enough, and should give me enough time to make this little beauty give up its secrets!"
"What darkness are you talking about?"
"It's nothing I've seen before. None of my spells or items shed any light near it. There's a passageway into the mountain. It goes more or less straight for an hour or so of walking, then turns and slopes down. A few years ago, I followed it down to a cave that was filled with all kinds of useful growing things, like the moss. Now, about halfway to the cave, there's an area of complete blackness. I've tried feeling my way along the wall down to the cave and I always wind up back at the entrance again. So there's some kind of magic at work. I have a feeling you would be able to get past the darkness that keeps thwarting me."
"I can try."
"We can try," Alucard told D, "Some of my items and abilities should be useful. And I am the one we are asking her to help."
"Well, then. Succeed or not, if you try, I will find out what I can about this gem for you," Val agreed, extending her hand to finalize it.
"I'll try my best," Alucard replied, accepting her handshake.
"How about something to eat and a night's rest first?" Val suggested, "And we can talk!" she smiled.
"That seems reasonable," D replied.
"It's a good thing two half vampires don't equal a whole one or I'd be in trouble!" Val grinned, "Hey, D! Lemme see that rascally Hand o' Darkness of yours!"
"Hey, hey, Val, what's up?" Left Hand said as D removed his glove.
"Bit of this, bit of that! How you doin', Lefty? Still getting this one inta trouble?" Val glommed onto D's arm, much to Alucard's surprise. More surprising was D's patient forbearance.
"Naw. He gets himself into enough trouble without my help these days!" Left Hand told her, "Hey! You might know... How d'ya kill a mutant who keeps regenerating?"
"Have you tried boiling it in oil?" Val replied.
"See! I told you we should have tried that, D!" Left Hand stuck out his tongue.
D sighed, "Oh, they're unifying in a silly mood against me. It's going to be one of those kinds of nights."
********
"Have you told your brother how we met, D?"
"I had been hoping to avoid that," D told her.
"Why? You were a perfect hero! It was Left Hand who was the problem!"
"Left Hand? You have to tell me now!" Alucard insisted.
"I had just settled in a small town, deciding to use my 'gifts' to make my living rather than resorting to, well, prostitution. I don't come from wealth, own land, possess trade skills; and I hadn't found anyone I wanted to marry, so my options were limited. I had sunk the last of the money my family had scraped together for me into a stall in the market and a few trappings and trimmings to make it have the right atmosphere."
"What gifts were you basing your living on?"
"Oh, you haven't really seen them yet. I can detect magic auras and have a sense of the ebb and flow of destiny, so I had set up my shop for readings, to help detect and lift curses, and maybe eventually craft potions once people trusted me and I had a good reputation."
"There was a harvest fair the day I opened my booth. As expected, a few of the young girls came for the most basic of my services, love and popularity readings and the like. People were happy, drinking wine and feeling fine. It was only a matter of time before someone of importance came for a reading and then, once I'd proven myself with an accurate reading, I'd be set."
"Well, the people hanging out in the corner of the market where my stall was were drinking and carousing quite happily, getting a bit rowdy but nothing too bad. D happened to walk by. I think he was looking for a part for his horse."
"I was."
"Some bright yokel in the crowd decided I should do a reading for D, certain I'd refuse or D would balk, I suppose, and create some excitement for them. I looked up into D's eyes and saw...well...concern..." she paused.
"I could see how ugly the crowd was becoming. I thought a non-eventful reading would calm them down and take attention away from you," D supplied.
"Yeah, well," Val gathered her wits again, "That's not what happened, is it?"
"You have me on pins and needles! What happened?" Alucard urged.
"To do a proper reading, I look into a person's eyes for a glimpse of their soul and then into the secrets hidden in the tracks of fate in their hands," Val told him.
"Their hands?"
"Before D knew what I was doing, I had reached for his hands and turned them up. Left Hand LEERED at me...and then winked! I was so startled I screamed!"
"Oh... Oh!" Alucard realized. Val began to laugh at the memory.
"You are amused?" D disapproved.
"Well, it is funny!" Val protested.
"Perhaps I should finish the story. Val's scream alerted the crowd. When they saw Left Hand, they assumed it was some curse she had placed on me and decided to oust the hunter with the demon and the witch from their town."
"They started throwing stones," Val suddenly sobered, "None of them hit me," she admitted in a quiet voice.
Alucard took her meaning.
"I regenerate fast," D said serenely.
"What happened then?"
"D escorted me to a different town, a safer one he knew of that wasn't quite so superstitious, and helped me set up my fortune telling business before moving on. My business has grown to the shop you saw. I find and craft magic items for people now, as well as help with readings or curses and whatnot. I see D every score of years or so, now," Val replied, "Of course, it's usually because he's found an item he thinks will be interesting to me, or he needs a question answered., rather than a social visit, but I take what I can get!" Val grinned.
"Speaking of interesting items, Alucard," Val began.
"Yes?"
"You are practically glowing to my magic sense! What've you got?!"
Val declared herself impressed with Alucard's magic items, exclaiming at the high magic of his heirloom sword, armor and cloak. She thought that his relics were all quite useful, and tried earnestly to get Alucard to sell one of his soul relics, the magic items that allowed him to assume different forms.
"Val," D finally told her, "Alucard said 'no'."
"Oh, pooh!" Val pouted, then winked, "I had to try! And you didn't bring me any gifts this time!" She returned to pouting.
D barked out a short sound that Alucard was stunned to realize was actually a laugh, "Oh, Val!"
"Let me see your familiar cards," Val turned toward Alucard abruptly. He blinked at her.
"I've seen something similar before, so I can tell you have them," she explained. Nonplused, Alucard drew out his cards.
Val snorted at the Fairy Card, "Bit of an odd choice for a dhampir, but Fairy Cards are pretty common." she looked closer, "Not usually with bat wings though. And she's uncommonly powerful," She set it aside.
"Oh...an animate sword. Rather boring too, I'm afraid," she set the Sword Card aside too.
"Now this is interesting. A demon! Can you call him?"
Alucard summoned Demon, who delighted Val with his subservient flunky attitude toward Alucard and his impishly inquisitive nature.
"I can see how he'd be handy to have around, but has he ever set off a trap on you?" Val asked.
"Not yet. I'm certain it's only a matter of time," Alucard admitted resignedly.
"Ohh! Is this really a ghost? An undead?!" Val demanded, holding up the last of Alucard's familiar cards, "I'm partially to undead...present company included!"
Alucard laughed as he invoked the card, releasing Demon and summoning Ghost.
The glowing, insubstantial skull darted over and enveloped D's left hand.
"Ah!" Left Hand cried out. Alucard felt the rush of a Soul Steal infusion and realized what was happening.
"What is it?" D demanded raising Left Hand.
"D! Get it off me! Get it off! Get it off!" Left Hand panicked.
"Ghost is able to siphon a creature's life force and send it to me," Alucard explained, "We could probably rid you of your troublesome Left Hand permanently." he winked at D.
"Really?" D cupped his chin with his right hand and considered, looking into Left Hand's frantically pleading face.
"D! I'll do anything! Just stop it...save me!" Left Hand promised wildly, "Cupcake! Sorry...Alucard! C'mon...you don't really want to deprive D of my powers! It's killin' me! I'm helpful, really! Ask D! You know I'm just teasing...I don't mean any harm...and I let YOU go...!"
D struggled to keep Left Hand from flailing around.
Feeling another rush of incoming life force, Alucard decided Left Hand had probably had enough. The parasite annoyed him, but Left Hand was right. Alucard didn't really want to harm it.
"Ghost!" Alucard called. The skull turned so the firey sockets could regard him, "Return to me. Leave Left Hand alone."
Ghost turned back toward Left Hand as he drifted away, but drifted back a little. He clacked his teeth warningly at Left Hand and obediently floated over to Alucard's side to hover over his shoulder.
"That's all of them, Val," Alucard declared, "Val?"
She was rolling around on the ground, clutching her sides and laughing soundlessly.
"You think that was funny?!" Left Hand demanded.
"Oh! Oh! Oh!" Val laughed, "You were absolutely frantic! That was priceless!"
"Humph!" Left Hand hid by twisting himself into the edge of D's cloak.
"Oh, come on, Lefty!" Val wheedled touching the bunched fabric.
"Humph!" Left Hand refused to come out.
"Look what I have!" Val sang out, pulling a vial from her waist pouch.
"Oh no, Val!" D protested.
"You'd rather have Left Hand sulking all night?" Val raised an eyebrow at D, "You know he will when he gets this way!"
"It's appalling what you do to my dignity!" D complained, struggling a little to force Left Hand out from his hiding place.
"Would you like a massage?" Val asked Left Hand sweetly.
"Oh! D, can I?"
D narrowed his eyes at Left Hand, then at Val, sighed and turned his head away in resignation.
"Are you going to stop sulking?" Val demanded, rocking the vial gently in her hand, mixing the contents.
"Uh, huh!" Left Hand agreed. D thinned his lips.
"And be nicer to Alucard? I can tell you've been mean!"
"Oh, Val!"
"Promise?" she insisted.
"Promise!"
"Well...okay then!"
Alucard watched as Val uncorked the bottle, poured a bit of the oil into her hands, took D's hand between hers, and proceeded to give Left Hand a very thorough rub-down. Left Hand groaned in pleasure as Val smoothed the scented oil all over him.
"Yeah, baby! You've got the touch!" Left Hand moaned, "More! More! More!"
Alucard dared to glance into D's face and read D's utterly helpless resignation to the whole spectacle. Suddenly how absurd it was hit Alucard with all the force of a charging monster. He stifled his mirth long enough to indicate he was going to answer a call of nature and get the hell out of there before he started laughing. He was pretty sure D would forgive him many things, but laughing at him while Val gave him a 'Left Hand' massage was probably not one of them.
Except for Left Hand's fatuous smile, things were much more normal when Alucard returned to the camp. Presently, after setting Sword to guard the perimeter of the camp, they turned in for the night.
"D? D!" Val whispered urgently a few hours later.
D opened his eyes to find Val's hand on his arm.
"Shh," she warned, "Look." She turned slowly and looked at Alucard.
Mist writhed around the sleeping dhampir. D squinted. The mist appeared thicker than the last time he'd seen it. Alucard's form was partially obscured.
"Stay here," D commanded. Val nodded.
D leapt over the banked coals of the fire and slashed through the mist dispersing it. Alucard started awake, the edge of D's sword a scant inch from his nose.
"What the hell?!"
"Something was hovering over you," D told him, glancing down and lifting his sword. Alucard propped himself up on an elbow and looked across to where Val stared at them with wide eyes.
"Maybe you would know. Can dhampirs have heart attacks?" Alucard asked petulantly, "D keeps startling me awake!"
"What was that?" Val asked.
"I don't know," D admitted, 'But it seems to be drawn to Alucard."
"It looks like mist. Could Alucard's relic be malfunctioning?" D asked.
Val shook her head, "The magic is entirely different."
"Do you have any idea what it is?"
"No," Val replied.
"Well," Alucard noted, yawning and stretching out on his bedroll again, "It's gone. Let's get some sleep."
Despite Alucard's nonchalant attitude, D wondered what the mist was and what its purpose with Alucard was before he fell asleep.
********
"Well?" D asked. The stood in a cave, facing a wall of complete blackness. As Val had told them, light had no effect on relieving or dispersing it.
"Hmm," Alucard considered the problem. Pondering the puzzle the blackness represented comforted him somehow. He suddenly realized why it seemed familiar, it reminded him of the many traps and puzzles Castlevania always presented to him.
"Well," Alucard pulled out Fairy's card and summoned her.
"Fairy?" D asked, raising an eyebrow.
"Demon would push any interesting switches he found causing a cave-in or who-knows-what to happen; and Ghost and Sword would simply dart forward and attack any moving thing in there. Additionally, there's simply no way to sneak up on something with Sword around. He's very proud of his abilities and loud when he attacks something. Fairy will quietly and politely let me know if there's a hidden chamber around here."
"Useful," D nodded.
"No hidden chambers, Master Alucard. At least not any I can sense," Fairy reported mournfully.
"Don't worry. I have a few other ideas," Alucard reassured.
His form shimmered and shrunk until he hung in the air on huge, leathery wings. D's eyes widened only slightly as he'd not seen Alucard's transformation to bat form before. Alucard flapped his wings twice, pondering the darkness in front of him and how best to approach it.
"What?! No! Bat, not now!" Fairy screamed out as her wings hurled her toward Alucard. She crashed into him, bringing them both falling toward the ground. Alucard shifted back to his dhampir self as he fell, turning so he wouldn't crush Fairy.
"I'm so sorry, Master!" Fairy cried out, "I wasn't strong enough to stop her!" Fairy struggled to free herself.
D and Alucard managed to free the despondent Fairy from her entanglement in Alucard's hair. Her bat wings drooped in her embarrassment.
"Come here," Alucard commanded, holding out his hand. Fairy reluctantly settled on it.
"Bat can hear me? Is she paying attention?" Alucard asked. Fairy nodded.
"Bat," Alucard began, stroking along one of the bat wings on Fairy's back, "It was possible for you to fly very close to me when I am in bat form, because your shape was right. You've always been an expert in matching my wing beats so we don't collide. But poor Fairy isn't the right shape to do that! You can't try to make her fly that close, okay?"
The wing flapped once under his hand.
"You understand?" Alucard asked.
The wing flapped one time again.
"She understands," Fairy offered, "She's sad though."
Alucard stroked the wing for a moment more.
"I'm a little sad too," he admitted.
"Fairy, Bat, stay here with D," Alucard commanded. Fairy settled on D's shoulder. Alucard met D's eyes for a moment before shifting back to his bat form again and regarding the darkness. At the highest edge of his hearing, D could just hear a thin sound before Alucard flew forward and disappeared into the blackness.
"Echolocation," D said aloud.
"Yes," Fairy confirmed.
"You will let me know if he runs into trouble?"
"Of course, Master D," Fairy agreed.
D and Fairy waiting in tense but companionable silence for many long minutes.
"You should step closer to the wall. Alucard's Force of Echo might hurt if he hits you with it directly," Fairy suggested. D did and a moment later Alucard flew out of the darkness. He shifted back to his dhampir self.
"The darkness goes all the way to the chamber Val told us about," Alucard said, "But it didn't stop my echo. It appears as though something twisted the passageway; if you were to follow it with a hand on one wall you'd wind up back at the entrance. I can fly ahead again to thread the maze. Fairy should be able to follow me easily through our familiar-bond and direct you."
D nodded. Alucard transformed into a bat again and flew into the darkness. Without hesitation, D stepped in too. His eyes strained to see, even though he followed Fairy's directions ("left turn, stop, walk straight ahead five steps, turn right...") until he stepped out into the faint glow of a torch feebly lighting a massive chamber. D easily found the mushroom-moss Val wanted. Alucard harvested a bit of everything else growing in the chamber too.
"I wonder who twisted the passage," Alucard said as they worked.
"It's impossible to tell. As long as we get what Val needs, it doesn't matter," D replied.
"True."
"Perhaps vampire bat hair would make the invisibility amulet formula work properly," D pondered aloud a little while later.
Alucard slanted a surprised look at D. "You know more about things than you ever let on, don't you?"
D stared at him for a moment then returned to harvesting.
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Reviews, comments and constructive criticisms are always welcome! Please feel free to email me also if you see something awkward that needs to be clarified or fixed. I need all the help I can get!
stargarde@stargarde.com
So sorry for the delay! Next chapter
teaser - Chapter Nine - Readings