Rigor Mortis

Chapter Six: The Business of Prophecies

"And as the snake's Venom enters the Body of the rat, the Foul Magick by which It has been Returned to this Plane enters the Bodies of others. For it is the Humours of the Body that the Evil Trick is worked and it is the Source of the humours that must be used to Quell That which has Ris'n...I say to you again. Doe not call upp Any that you can not put downe; by the Which I meane Any that can in Turne call up somewhat against you, whereby your Powerfullest Devices may not be of use. Ask of the Lesser, lest the greater shall not wish to Answer, and shall commande more than you."

At Moebius' sage advice, I began to study, rather than fear, my inherited powers. "It would be a very bad thing for you to be walking through a graveyard one day and suddenly sneeze and awaken the entire sleeping congregation, if you know what I mean," he had said to me and laughed at how funny the idea was to him. While I did not appreciate his macabre humor, I did take it upon myself to master my Necromancy. In the dustier corners of the vast library, I had found a volume written by the very first Guardian of Death, an Ancient by the name of Vildebody. It proved helpful, though extremely archaic and hard to read, but I was determined. I did not understand this particular passage, but I was going to ask Moebius. He had been helping me immensely in finding and deciphering various Necromantic books and was urging me to test out my powers in a more controlled environment. What he really meant was that we should go to some lone gravesite to see if I could control the inhabitant while he stood by with a shovel just in case something should go wrong. I was loathe to attempt anything just yet, but I knew it was an inevitability.

That I had raised my grandmother from the dead and sent her back was plain to me, and the idea was becoming less and less disturbing as time passed. I could see the tormented spirits of the damned, as had happened upon arriving at the Citadel, and I could soothe them, sending them wherever it is that spirits go. At this, Moebius seemed intensely pleased, though he claimed he could not do the same. He was the Guardian of Time and more than once, I wondered how exactly Time magic manifested itself in him. The only outward sign that I had seen so far was the curious symbol on his forehead. I would have to ask him about it.

"Aren't you going to rhetoric class today?" I heard my companion ask from behind me. Damn him, I could never hear him approaching!

"No, this is by far more interesting," I replied without looking at him. He came over to the table and peered down at the book.

"Aren't you going?" I asked him, for we shared the same class.

"No, this is by far more interesting," he repeated.

"I think, between the two of us, we'll have a full education for one by the time we've graduated," I grinned.

"Isn't delinquency fun?" he asked.

"I've been meaning to ask you something," I said, "My power is quite evident, as far as what I can do with it. But what can a Timestreamer do? Can you...maybe...reverse time?"

He motioned at an inkwell and commanded me to drop it. I did so and watched the black ink explode onto the stone floor. I looked up at him, who was scrunching up his face in concentration. After about a minute of this, he opened his eyes brightly and shrugged.

"I guess I can't!" And then he laughed and laughed.

"Well, aren't you going to clean it up?" I demanded.

"No. I wasn't the one who dropped it," he said, tittering.

I knew it was pointless to argue with him. I retrieved a rag and cleaned up the ink as best as I could, cursing him with all sorts of new names that I had picked up from the other students. As he watched me clean, he propped his feet on the table and grinned.

"So what's on the agenda for today?" he asked.

"I was hoping we could inquire about the state of the letters that I had sent."

"Good idea. Have you asked any of the other students?" he asked.

"Yes. Those who didn't make fun of me said that they had indeed received plenty of replies. Then do you suppose they're withholding the mail of just us Guardians?"

"We haven't established that yet. Remember," Moebius said, wagging a finger at me, "You could just have a horrible mother."

"Say that again and I will hit you..." I murmured.

"I'd like to see you try."

In the end, we decided to try and find Janos and ask him about it. Even though we had no business approaching him about such a subject, we believed he would at least indulge us and tell us whom to ask. He could usually be found in his study, reading or working on some new painting. Without feeling a bit ashamed of our boldness, we traipsed down to visit the austere vampire. Before long, we were there, only to find an empty study. Books and canvasses and parchment littered the floor and an easel had been set up by the enormous eastern window to let in as much light as possible. A table stood nearby, covered in various pots of paints. I sighed. We would have to look elsewhere.

"Well, maybe he's on one of the balconies upstairs..." I ventured but Moebius had already entered the room. With no hesitation, he began to rifle through Janos' belongings while I watched in horror by the threshold. He flipped through sketchbooks, looked through books and he stopped when he saw what Janos had been working on most recently. On the easel was a freshly stretched canvas. It was evident that he had just started, but already the face could be recognized as the one belonging to his murdered sister Jadwiga. As in life, she was radiant though her smile seemed faintly sad. I heard Moebius mumble something and just as quickly as he entered, he left that room, slamming the door shut behind him.

"He will probably know you went through his things..." I warned.

"What of it?" Moebius growled. "What will he do? Take me aside and ask me why? He will do nothing. He can do nothing...nothing at all." This was the first time I had ever seen him so angry and honestly I was a little afraid of him at the moment. He completely lost the jocular air he constantly maintained and I saw something that resided deeper inside him, something that writhed and twisted in anger and remorse. I was about to say something but then we heard a sneering voice call out to us.

"What business do you two have here?" It was Vorador. I had not seen him since the beginning of the semester and his ferocious appearance had not changed. He loomed like a demon, in the hallway and I couldn't find my voice to reply in the face of his disapproving frown.

"We were looking for Janos," Moebius replied tartly.

"He is not here." Vorador said sourly.

"Where is he then?" Moebius asked.

"He's off finding the Guardian of Nature and I don't know when he'll be back I am in command of the Citadel until he does." Vorador sneered.

"Where are Mortanius' letters from his mother?" the Timestreamer asked suddenly.

"What do I know? What do I care? Get out of here before I throw you out..." Vorador warned.

"We want to go to Vassurbunde." Moebius demanded. I couldn't recall ever speaking about actually going home with him but I decided not to interrupt.

"No."

"Why not?"

"I won't explain myself to you, boy. Perhaps you should ask Janos when he returns. He tends to be more...lenient with you." Vorador hissed.

"That is what we will do, then. Thank you," Moebius said, completely changing his attitude from one of deepest hatred to that of happy subservience. He bowed at the waist, turned and walked away. Throwing an apologetic look to Vorador I hurried after him.

"What in God's name was that all about?" I demanded when we were a good distance away.

"I wanted to know if we could leave here of our own free will. Apparently we cannot," Moebius replied in a whisper.

"Maybe Vorador was just trying to be difficult..."

"Do you want to see your family?" Moebius demanded.

"Um...yes...but what's that got to do with..."

"We leave tonight." Moebius said, "Tell no one about this." I nodded gravely. I was afraid of what kind of trouble we were bound to get into, but I was even more afraid of what would happen if we didn't leave. What that meant, I didn't know but I felt it deep inside my heart.

"Will we be coming back?" I asked him.

"Of course. Our destiny lies here," he said, as though it was obvious to anyone. "Get packed. I'll get us some food and supplies for our way there."

"But what if someone tries to follow us?"

"Let me take care of that," he replied cryptically and I said no more.

On that clear night, we escaped with relative ease. It didn't seem like anyone had noticed us as we passed through the mighty archways. It astounded me at how much food Moebius had managed to procure. He had told me to dress as common as I could, and so I borrowed a brown tunic and cloak from him. Together, with our packs on our backs, we headed into the wilderness. I remembered how, on my journey here, that we had horses. I regretted not having that luxury now, but I was determined not to show my fear or weakness to my friend.

We soon reached the huge lake that surrounded the Citadel and we pulled the boat to us. I wasn't exactly thrilled at having to row again, but to my relief Moebius went ahead and did it for us. Though he was a thin man, the stamina he exhibited was astounding. He didn't take any breaks like I had and he didn't seem fazed in the slightest for it. In no time at all, we were across the lake and we proceeded to hike through the snowy fields. The brutal pace Moebius set kept my mind off of how cold it was. I had to struggle very hard to keep up with his long strides.

It was like this for the rest of the journey. He was always leading, always silent and always with that far away look in his eyes. We passed through village after village, stopping only to sleep and eat. I wanted to stop for a while to look over some historical architecture, but Moebius insisted that we keep moving. He seemed to always be listening for something, like he suspected that someone had been following us the whole way. Though I would inquire as to what exactly he was listening for, he would only wave his hand and say it was nothing.

We ran out of money long before we reached our destination. We had discovered this when we stopped at Nactholm. I was prepared to have to sleep out in the cold, like we often did when we were far away from any village or town, but we were out of food as well and I couldn't ignore my grumbling stomach. I was afraid Moebius was going to suggest stealing food, but he shook his head and said that was below us. He then led us to a tavern. A very pretty young girl led us to a table by the fire and asked what we wanted to drink. I had never been in a tavern before, so I was unsure of what and how to order (seeing as we had no money) but Moebius, with all the charm in the world, asked in the easy Nactholm dialect if she'd bring by some ale when she had a moment. I stared at him in horror as he merely grinned back at me.

"We don't exactly have money to pay for that!" I cried.

Without losing his grin, he kicked me under the table and asked me to keep my voice down.

Soon, the serving girl had returned to us with mugs of strong smelling stuff and silently I watched as Moebius went ahead and ordered some stew for us.

"What are you doing?" I finally hissed.

"I think she likes you," Moebius replied. I blushed immediately. I had never really thought about women very much but at the moment, they seemed like a very fascinating...subject.

"You really think so?" I asked timidly but then I glared at him. I was becoming used to his evasive ways and he wasn't going to get away with it this time! "Don't you change the subject!"

"Don't worry about the money. Everything is as good as paid for," he assured me. Though the stew was very good, it was spoiled by the absolute fear that we were going to be in so much trouble when it came time to pay for our meal. Before we were finished however, he jumped up on the table and in a deep, menacing voice that was not his own, began to speak of the various patrons' futures. At first, they seemed ready to lynch him, but when he spoke of one's cow about to be stolen by a covetous neighbor, they began to quiet down and listen. He foretold that if a certain farmer wasn't careful he would lose his virtuous daughter to that wandering minstrel that he so hated. Immediately a man jumped up, cried out a girl's name and ran out of the tavern. For nearly a half hour this went on, with Moebius telling the inquiring audience their fortunes.

"Alright, you damn cur! Get down off of my table and get the hell out of here!" the barkeeper demanded. With eyes lit by the fury of prophecy, Moebius turned to the unfortunate man and pointed.

"And you, sirrah, are doomed to fail at your enterprise if you do not change your cheap ways! The heavens will fall on your head, the fires will burn cold and your friends shall sicken and die. It has happened already, has it not? Though it was not your fault, you still feel guilty as though you had poisoned him yourself!" he said, still, I might add, standing on the table. There was a murmur and many gasps. Apparently his words had rang true...somehow.

"Yeah, Boris, you WERE the one who fed him the mackerel!" someone called out.

"And you are pretty damned cheap. You barely cook the meat because you don't want to use up too much wood!" another helpfully supplied. Just then, a frightened young serving girl ran into the room and said that the roof to the storage shed was on the brink of collapse. The heavy wind would be the finishing blow to it. Everyone in the bar ran outside to assist in the repair. Afterwards, when the innkeeper, so impressed with Moebius' insights on the 'heavens falling', had given us a room for free for the night, I could not repress my wonder.

"So that's how your magic works! The gift of prophecy!" I cried, delighted and warm in my soft bed.

"No, that was flat-out, bold faced lies supported by simple observations," he replied, rolling over. "My gift is mere chicanery and bravado. I only told them what they wanted to hear, using their easy-to-guess fears and hopes." At this he sighed, as though disgusted with it.

Stunned and impressed by his ease with the untruth, I went to sleep, exhausted like never before.

We had many incidences like that, where his cleverness and artifice won us a free meal or board but sooner than I expected, we arrived at Vassurbunde