Dracula The Imperishable Ch 04 Lamia

LAMIA

"Clear this food away," Desponia said, watching as yard workers led the woman away.

Luminita came from behind and touched her arm. "Something troubles you, my lady?"

"All the world is full of woe."

"Are we still to ride this afternoon as you have promised?

Desponia turned to her gypsy with a cold smile, "As you wish, child."

An hour later, Desponia and her gypsy walked to the stables. They found Ehrlich mucking a stall.

"I would speak to you, Ehrlich."

He set his shovel aside and bowed.

"Stand up, man; you've nothing to fear. There was a ranting woman earlier in the day."

Ehrlich frowned.

"The blacksmith's wife from Medias. I know nothing more than the lady was grievous and perhaps mad."

"Meet my eyes, Ehrlich. Why would you call her mad?"

"She claimed a monster devoured her infant, a reptile walking upright, a horrible odor, snakes for hair and malignant eyes."

"Oh, how silly," taunted Luminita, "why worry over monsters? We came to ride."

She stepped forward, slapping Ehrlich across the face and tossing her hair.

"Bring us mounts!"

Ehrlich glared at the girl, a grimace giving way to a leer.

Luminita scurried behind Desponia.

"Hold your tongue, Luminita," Desponia said crossly. "I am distracted by this woman's plight. See to it that the guard doubles, Ehrlich. Keep the bridge raised and pick a patrol to walk the castle's perimeter at the top of each hour."

"Are we not to ride?" Luminita asked with a pout.

****

Meanwhile, late morning light splashed through the forest awning. A larval brood squirmed in the rotting log where Lamia sat. Gnats tortured her terrible eyes, drowning in conjunctive fluid, forming clots that floated to the edges. She wiped them away while watching the castle's guard towers. Soon Hera will have her revenge.

****

Centuries before, she'd warred against Hannibal's Phalanx, slew four hundred in a pitched battle. But the Carthaginians pressed, coming forward with spears and elephants. Forced into a box canyon, she'd prepared for death as the sky turned dark with her enemy's arrows.

But Hera came from on high to save Lamia, and, in a cloak of blinding light, she'd climbed a sheer cliff to freedom. The soldiers continued their pursuit, thinking of driving Lamia into an ambush of deadfalls and spear pits. But night fell, and she disappeared into its gloom.

****

I'll wage any battle or ambush My tail is a slicing decapitator at its tip. I am long of arm and heavily muscled. I am twice the height of men and equal in weight to their oxen. Beware my venom; it is ruinous. But fear my eyes, for men turn to stone beneath my gaze—all praise to Hera, goddess of legitimacy and marriage. Send me your godless infants I might devour and the breasts from which their sour colostrum drips.

****

The goddess and her gypsy sat again in the great hall.

"Do you find Ehrlich repugnant?" Desponia asked.

"He's a kind of farm animal, a pig."

Luminita pushed up the tip of her nose.

"Even a pig has its uses,"

"He makes me sick. His face reminds me of moss rock."

"I've heard it said Ehrlich cannot be charmed."

"Men are charmed with what they most want to believe about themselves. I would charm him easily."

"You might ply him with mutton."

"As if I would deign to serve him mutton?"

"You are cleverer than he, Luminita. Let us try this idea of yours."

"But..."

Desponia called for the cook to bring a leg of mutton. "Let us see your charms in action, Luminita."

They left the great hall and found Ehrlich pushing a wheelbarrow of potatoes across the yard.

"Here is your chance."

Desponia pressed the small of Luminita's back.

The gypsy stumbled forward, holding out the mutton.

"Take it," she said.

"For the discourtesy," added Desponia.

Ehrlich hesitated a moment, took the mutton, then tossed it on the wheelbarrow before pushing on.

"What is discourtesy?" Luminita asked.

"It is a way of saying you are a great seductress."

Luminita smiled broadly.

****

The sun stayed its course, sailing west and casting shadows.

Ehrlich stood in the courtyard, ringing a bell to close the workday.

The workers gathered in the yard, forming a line that Ehrlich walked while taking a headcount.

He motioned for the accountant's table.

The accountant appeared, carrying a ledger. At the same time, his assistant came with a poke of coins.

As Ehrlich called their names, each worker came forward, made their mark, received their coins, and joined the rest near the drawbridge. When the last of them had gathered, Ehrlich signaled the bridge down.

The workers crossed over the drawbridge, entering the tree line to the sound of a minstrel's flute.

Desponia climbed the battlements and looked over the walls, eyes scanning the trees. She cursed. Where are you hiding, gorgon?

Ehrlich ordered the bridge up, and the flute's music disappeared in the roll of the windlass's chains.

****

As evening fell, Desponia brought the gypsy once again to Maria's shop.

"I've not worked the night before," Maria said. She went nervously about her business. " Are you sure his lordship won't have me boiled?"

"Nonsense," Desponia said, "you're here because we need your services. Continue with the fitting."

"But none of us have stayed after sunset." She wrung her hands. "Oh, dear, my girls are quite nervous."

"Do not wander the castle. Stay in your chambers. Complete Luminita's wardrobe. You will have a safe passage in the morning. You're well paid."

"Yes, my lady."

"You're well paid!" repeated Luminita, stamping her right foot.

****

With the day done, Dracula stirred in his coffin. With each waking moment, the power of his immortality returned. He pushed the coffin's lid, sprang to the floor, and went to an adjoining chamber.

Six-foot-four inches in height, he was a youthful man with forgotten centuries in his eyes. Speed and flexibility were his raw and untold power. He might outrun a racehorse. He was both a gentleman and a storm of destruction, leaping upwards of two stories. At close quarters his actions were undetectable; he covered shorter distances in subdivisions of a second. A single feeding would sustain him for a week if he drained a victim's blood. Without blood, he would not suffer the incapacity of an average person for six months.

****

After finishing Luminita's fitting, Desponia and the gypsy waited in the great hall for Dracula's arrival. The goddess sat atop the table with knees pulled to her chest. Her transparent garment fell along the curves of her shoulder, between her legs, and gathered at her buttocks. A servant girl stroked Luminita's hair with a brush of boar bristle.

"How much longer would we wait?" complained Luminita.

As she spoke, the goddess detected a rumble.

"It is he," Desponia said.

The servant girl dropped the brush, scanning the room with widened eyes. In the next moment, she began to tremble.

"What is wrong with you?" Luminita demanded.

"She is frightened by the approach of our Lord, as are many," Desponia said.

"Why?"

But then she caught Dracula's eyes, and she trembled.

Desponia dismissed the servant.

Vlad stood at his full height. The weave of his clothing was unknown; the cut of his trousers and jacket collaborated with the finest Italian tailors.

Desponia had acquired the material from the stockrooms of Olympus itself.

His figure was equal to an Olympian god in stature and breadth. He held a cane by its golden handle and leaned forward as he scanned the room.

"Greet your master, Luminita." But the gypsy's eyes remained frozen to the floor.

"I am afraid." She began to weep.

Luminita lifted her head and gazed into Vlad's face, knowing he'd changed her existence.

"Well, I was sure I saw you speak last night, Luminita. Has so much changed in a day?" he asked.

"Answer, then," urged Desponia.

"Perhaps, you would play a board game?"

"No, my Lord."

"Well, then," said Dracula, taking Luminita's arm, "We shall walk corridors until you've grown accustomed to my presence."

With that, he led her to the closest hall, tugging lightly and disappearing into the castle's recesses.

Moments later, Desponia heard her gypsy's laughter echoing through the castle. They returned to the hall.

"It seems your gypsy is near exhaustion," Dracula said.

"We have yet to finish her wardrobe, Vlad; I will see to it directly. Come Luminita; it is time we retired to our chamber. The seamstresses will be along shortly."

Dracula departed in search of Ehrlich. The night was moonless, as Dracula much preferred. He found his man overseeing the arrival of heavy wagons, each holding steam trunks, and crates suitable for coffins.

Ehrlich sensed his master's approach but stayed his course, waiting dutifully for the great thump on the back he'd grown used to receiving.

If Dracula overlooked the ritual, he considered his workday incomplete.

Ehrlich's wife knew of the thump and was reluctant to predict her husband's mood when he had not received it.

The caretaker was a powerful man, so much so that once, he'd single-handedly wrestled a horse to the ground. He expected a thump from Dracula that would send a lesser man flying into a wall.

"How goes the evening, Ehrlich?" Dracula asked.

Silence.

Ehrlich's underlings looked nervously about the courtyard. Then came the resounding thump.

"All goes well," said Ehrlich with alacrity.

Nods of approval went round, and the night crew fell happily back to their chores.