As they'd returned from their late meal, so Zek had come up with an idea. She was a telepath and David Chung a locator. Together, they might be able to reach Harry and see what were his circumstances.
Darcy had at once protested: 'But that's just what Harry didn't want! Look, if Janos got his mental hooks into you — '
'I've a feeling he'll be too much involved with Harry to be thinking about anything else,' Zek had cut in. 'Anyway, I want to do it. In the Lady Karen's stack — her aerie on Starside -1 had the job of reading the minds of a great many Wamphyri. Not one of them so much as suspected I was there, or if they did nothing came of it. That's the way I'll play it now.'
Still Darcy wasn't sure. 'I was only thinking about poor Trevor,' he said, 'and about Sandra…'
'Trevor Jordan wasn't expecting trouble,' Zek had answered, 'and Sandra was inexperienced and her talent variable. I'm not putting her down, just stating a fact.'
'But — '
'No!' and again she had cut him off. 'If David is willing, I want to do it. Harry means a lot to Jazz and me.'
At which Darcy had appealed to Jazz Simmons.
Jazz had shaken his head. 'If she says she'll do it, then she'll do it,' he said. 'Hey, don't take my word for it! I'm only married to her!'
And with reservations, finally Darcy had submitted. For the fact was that he as much as anyone else was interested to know Harry's circumstances.
Now the three who weren't participants, Darcy, Jazz and Ben Trask, sat around the table and concentrated on what Zek and David were doing: the latter with his eyes closed, breathing deeply, his hands resting lightly on the stock and body of Harry's crossbow where it sat on the table, and Zek similarly disposed, her hand on one of his.
They had been this way for a minute or two, waiting for Chung to locate the Necroscope through the medium of one of his own possessions. But as seconds ticked by in silence and the two participants grew even more still, so the watchers began to relax a little — even to fidget — and their thoughts to drift. And just at the moment that Jazz Simmons chose to scratch his nose, that was when contact was made.
It was brief:
David Chung uttered a long drawn-out sigh — and Zek snapped bolt upright in her chair. Her eyes remained closed for several long seconds while all the colour drained from her face. Then… they shot open and she snatched herself away from Chung, straightened to her feet and backed unsteadily away from the table.
Jazz went to her at once. 'Zek?' his voice was anxious. 'Are you OK?'
For a moment she stared right through him, then at him, and accepted his arms. He felt her trembling, but at last she answered: 'Yes, I'm all right. But Harry — '
'You found him?' Darcy too had risen to his feet.
'Oh, yes,' David Chung nodded. 'We found him. What did you read, Zek?'
She looked at him, looked at all of them, and freed herself from Jazz's arms. And said nothing.
Darcy said, 'Is he OK?' And he held his breath waiting for her answer.
Eventually she said, 'He's all right, yes, and he got there safely — to his destination, I mean. Also, I saw enough to know that it will all come to a head soon. But… something isn't right.'
Darcy's heart thudded in his chest. 'Not right? You mean he's already in trouble?'
She looked at him, and her look was so strange it was as if she gazed on alien things, in a world of ice beyond the times and places we know. 'In trouble? Oh, he's that, all right, but not necessarily the trouble you're thinking of.'
'Can you explain?'
She straightened up and gave herself a shake, and hugged her elbows. 'No, I can't,' she said, shaking her head. 'Not yet. And anyway, I could be mistaken.'
'But mistaken about what?' Darcy's frustration was mounting. 'Harry is going up against Janos Ferenczy personally, man to… to thingl If he's in trouble before they even meet, his disadvantage could well be insurmountable!'
Again she gave him that strange look, and shook her head, and quietly said, 'No, not insurmountable. In fact on a one to one basis, I think you'll find that… that there's not a great deal to choose between them.'
Following which, and for quite a long time, she would say no more.
With the misted valley far below and in the streaming moonlight of the heights, Harry knew the climb would soon be over and he'd be face to face with hell. He had hoped to call up all the local dead into an army on his side, arid march with them on Janos's place. But even the dead were afraid. Now there was very little time left, and probably less hope. So the fact that he actually found himself anticipating what was to come was a very hard thing to explain. It could be of course that he'd simply 'cracked' under the strain, but he didn't think so. He'd never been the type.
His mind was still open and Möbius picked up his thoughts:
A breakdown? You? No, never! And especially not now, when we're so close. I need to be into your mind, Harry.
'Enter, of your own free will,' he answered, almost automatically.
The other was very quickly in and out, and he was excited as never before. It all fits! It all fits! he said. And the next time I come, I'm sure I'll be able to unlock those doors.
'But not right now?'
I'm afraid not.
'Then there may not be time for a next time.'
Don't give in, Harry!
'I haven't. I'm just facing facts.'
I swear we'll have the answer in minutes! And meanwhile you could try helping yourself.
'Help myself? How?'
Give yourself a problem in numbers. Set yourself a mathematical task. Prepare to re-establish your numeracy.
'I wouldn't even know what a mathematical problem looked like.'
Then I'll set one for you. The great mathematician was silent for a moment, then said: Now listen. Stage one: I am nothing. Stage two: I am born and in the first second of my existence expand uniformly to a circumference of approximately 1,170,000 miles. Stage three: after my second second of uniform expansion my circumference is twice as great! Question: what am I?
'You're crazy,' said Harry, 'that's what you are! A minute ago I would have sworn it was me, but now I know that I'm perfectly sane. Compared to you, anyway.'
Harry?
Harry laughed out loud, causing the Gypsies who struggled up the final rise with him to jump. 'A madman,' they muttered, 'yes. The Ferenczy has driven him mad!'
The Necroscope used his deadspeak again: August, here's me who can't count his toes without getting nine, and you ask me to solve the riddles of the universe?
Pretty close, Harry, Möbius answered, pretty close. Just keep at it and I'll be back as soon as possible. His deadspeak faded and he was gone.
Jesus! said Harry to himself, shaking his head in disgust. Jesus!
But Möbius's question had stuck in his head. He couldn't give it his attention right now, but he knew it was in there, lodged firmly in his mind.
And now the party had reached the top of the cliffs; and somewhere here on this wind-blasted, sparsely-clad plateau, here lay the ruins of the Castle Ferenczy. That was where Janos waited; but right here and now, here at the top of the long climb… here something else waited. Seven somethings in all, or eight if one included the Grey One slinking in the moon-cast shadows. Harry's 'escort' to the lair of the undead vampire.
The two leading Zirras saw them first, then Harry, finally the three Gypsies who panted where they laboured close behind. All drew back, startled and gasping, except the Necroscope himself. For Harry knew that he stood in the presence of dead men, which was common ground for him. What he and the others with him saw was this: