Empire of Fear by Brian Stableford

Author:Brian Stableford
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Skyhorse Publishing

FOUR

The sun was already high in the sky, and Noell rejoiced in a feeling of well-being such as he had not experienced for a very long time.

He sat up, thrusting aside his blanket in order to inspect his body. He was not naked, being dressed in some kind of light chemise, but his arms were bare, and he saw that the discolouration beneath his skin was very faded there, and that the ordinary colour was nearly returned, though paler for the lack of recent exposure to the sun. When he pulled the hem of the nightshirt up to his waist he was able to see that his legs were still somewhat darker, and there was not the ordinary degree of feeling in his calves or his feet. His legs were much thinner than he remembered them, and the flesh on his arms was reduced, as though the muscles had wasted.

He found that he could stand up, with a little difficulty, and managed to limp across the room to the alcove. Then he looked for his clothes, in order to dress himself, but while his other possessions, including the microscope in its box, were still at the foot of the bed, his clothes had been taken away. He sat down again, greatly enfeebled by comparison with his former state.

Later, he was able to sit up to eat a breakfast of cool porridge and fruit, and he asked one of the black men who brought the food if he could have his clothes again. The servant did not understand the words he used, but gestures helped supply the meaning, and his clothes were brought, along with water to wash himself.

As the sun reached its zenith he was visited by Kantibh. Berenike was not with him, but there were two ancient vampires, who were introduced by the Persian as Aiyeda and Nyanya. Aiyeda was the Oni-Shango that Noell had seen several times before, though he could not entirely recall the occasions or the circumstances.

‘Are you well enough to talk with us?’ asked Kantibh, in Latin.

Noell reflected that they had tried him with as many questions as they could even when he was not well enough to provide coherent answers, and told them that.

‘It is true,’ admitted Kantibh, squatting on the mat with the elemi to either side of him. ‘We have found out much of what the elders asked us to discover. But there are many things which you could not communicate in your former state. We would like to hear more reasoned arguments, which can only come from a calm mind.’

‘Are we prisoners here?’ asked Noell, abruptly.

‘You are prisoners of circumstance, certainly,’ replied Kantibh, smoothly. ‘When the Logone and the Gongola are in flood, the journey to the headwaters of the Kwarra is very difficult. You could not reach Bauchi before the wet season is at its worst.’

Noell stared at the man suspiciously. ‘The wet season! The wet season will not begin until April.’

‘By your calendar,’ said Kantibh, serenely, ‘it is the month of May.

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