More information was required, and I wanted Auric along. The center of the chamber's vast floor was interrupted by a low circular wall, quite similar to a crofter's sheep pen in construction. Well and good. ", I gave him a thin smile. Often had I done the same myself, spending hours poring over the volumes in my library. He studied the item without reaching for it, having the intelligence to be wary of magic. "As for this thief Azalin, I will see to him. I had many experiments in progress, testing and practicing the spells I'd learned, and his own work vied for space with my own. Most Barovians were in the habit of slapping a coat of new paint on their shelters as soon as the weather permitted after the wear of winter. "Don't get yourself killed. "Just remember your instructions. Most cooperative of him, to be sure. Some of the parchment pages were the color of cream, thick and substantial, made. ", I spread my hands, smiling. We would not wait for the Mists to come, but hurry to meet them and hopefully the final oblivion. He continued as though he had not heard me. We had not much time left. I had supped lightly during my time in the village, taking pains not to kill anyone while Lord Vasili was a guest, keeping my normal hunting activities as unobtrusive as possible lest it indirectly invite some fool to harm Tatyana, as had happened before. She would want something, no doubt of it. "And these are your allies against the Necromancer.". It was but a formality, something to give work to the scribes. Nanje flashed a provocative smile at the sentries and lifted the flap high to enter, then paused for another exchange with them, talking humorous nonsense, and otherwise doing an excellent job of flirting. No need to inquire how he knew where to find me. ", Madam Eva shook her head. "I-I get a little hungry between meals, you understand. Leave out nothing," I instructed, and listened for a quarter hour as she created a more detailed picture of the last evening's events. The attached house was a near shambles again, only now Azalin no longer bothered concealing the shortcomings with illusion. As I suspected, their memories had altered to match the changes in the land, and they were quite aware of Darkon's presence on their northern borders. Part of my training for the militias was for them all to get a thorough grounding in battle history by reading the memoirs of past soldiers, including my own observations on the topic. I've dealt with his sort before. He could not wait to get rid of me. He bumped once into someone, I think Kelab, but everyone kept quiet. He did not reply, his concentration focused on the zombie. What was missing? All of this tugged at my memory. "I-l do not understand. In all your time here you must surely have noticed how the weather reacts to your state of mind. Back then I'd been able to summon a protecting spell to allow me passage; now I had the sinking feeling I would need something much more potent to get through this check. Not the first time had I mentioned that point. Unlike me, he had little practice at self-control, so his dalliances tended to be of very short duration. Neither party dared show too much eagerness lest it adversely effect the price of the product. Perhaps someone else had finally disposed of him. He smoothed his facial illusion back to its usual lines of disdain and turned from me to the new land. Her face is aglow with such joy as to make my heart burst from the sheer happiness at the sight. Not wise, since the smallest detail might be able to aid me in my escape. No one was around to replace it, so I accomplished the act with a word and gesture while on the outside. "He wounded me slightly with only a scratch along my ribs." I pretended to search the table for something, hoping my reaction was casual. Tied fast around his brow was the leather strip. Though it was a struggle I held back my temper, partly because of our agreement and partly because I still need Von Zarovich to cast the spells which I cannot learn. Happily, I had not been blasted back to my aerie, sparing me another flight home. Firan Zal'honan was born in the earldom of Knurl, a city-state in the eastern Flanaess. His voice boomed in my mind, and I staggered from the force of it. ", "The chances are," he added, as if to discount the profound importance of what he had just done, "that this is but a temporary situation.". When it came down to actualities, I was the true power here. ", "Surely a redundancy of statement, madam. But despite the best efforts of my enemies I had not died. When my spirits were beaten down enough to listen to it, I would work out possible strategies for destroying Azalin. Few others I had made possessed that quality since it was an extremely difficult casting to achieve. He waved again, and that's the last thing I remember until waking in my wife's arms.". Your argument is an insult to my intelligence; you have no evidence upon which to base it. As soon as he saw me looming over him with the knife he set up such a screaming row you would have thought I was killing him instead of saving him. I despise thieves. I immediately rose and made use of the crystal to see what was amiss. ThriftBooks sells millions of used books at the lowest everyday prices. Click to read more about I, Strahd: The War Against Azalin by P. N. Elrod. I can already anticipate that the transport of supplies for my needs is going to be an infuriatingly slow process. Another hour and I was in too much discomfort to continue. I'd begun the process to make her like myself so that she need never serve anyone ever again, but I had underestimated the fear and ignorance of those around her. Winter Solstice Night, 469 Barovian Calendar, Barovia. "I have had dark dreams of this for the last few nights. I let my cloak drop open, to reveal well cut, but ordinary clothing, the style identifying me as nobility. It was a location spell- and my cue to leave. As a tiny bat, this feat was simple enough. "I've spoken at length with Voan Darl. Noble or peasant, my justice was the same for all. Like a razor. Resvalan backed off, showing her teeth, and it was not a smile. "This represents you, the ruler of Barovia. She wanted to faint or wake up-anything, if it only freed her from his unbearable presence. Send her to me. They have little interest in material wealth beyond the needs of the moment. I've been most distracted by this and poor Cazi doesn't make it any better. ", "Just so," I said. It would not do for this lot to lose their leader in their first fight. I had, it seemed, stung a tender spot. I did manage to locate his secret journal, which was something to celebrate. The terrible pain did not stop, but… changed. Apparently any friend of Strahd's was a friend to them. They were already white-faced from my sudden appearance, for no one ventures out after dark here, and anyone who does is exactly the sort one would not wish to encounter. I turned from the fog drifting around the outside base of the curtain wall and spread my cloaked arms wide, assuming the shape of a bat and taking to the cold heavy air to make a wide circle of the castle. She looked up, dark eyes flashing mild amusement, and jerked her chin in the direction of a small stool, probably the same one I had used on my previous visit. In his overly colorful, self-aggrandizing narrative, he has made scant reference to the Mists, the single most important element that has to do with our mutual imprisonment. He used spell work to keep out the rain and snow through the year. "Yes, and it was interesting enough…" Mrs. Heywood began to explain to him the nature of his find, but he interrupted when she mentioned the business about forgery. "You do not rule it out, then? And why be honest with me unless he felt himself safe? My court at that time had been very concerned with such trivialities. For an instant I caught a glimpse of green and gold. When would it become a lion? Was he aware of what it had done or was he genuinely as ignorant as he had seemed? An intense buzzing seemed to fill my consciousness as the barracks faded around us. Biding my time and content with the knowledge that I at last held the key to Azalin's undoing, I continued my search. One winter night I awoke to a decided feeling of unease and knew another great change had taken place. A full gallop. ", "They forsook any privilege of my protection when they broke my law, but their crimes have to do with murder and thievery and the like, not treason. His is the sort of mind that would meet itself in a maze. The adults find it dark enough. Whatever had happened must have been fairly drastic to hurtle me here, for I always kept a contingency spell wrapped closer than skin about my person ready to sweep me to this spot when necessary. His earnings, due to the modest means of his fellow players, were marginal at best. Lamordia. Von Zarovich has also taken it upon himself to circulate wild stories about me meant to increase their uneasiness. But please do be careful, and I don't mean about Mr. I quietly lay back down and shut my eyes. "What do you have in mind? Von Zarovich's vulnerability to religious faith is yet another powerful tool that could be employed against him, but Barovia's isolation has diminished that as a feasible ploy at this time. There might be a fresh snowfall before morning, further obscuring the road to the castle. After all these years we did not have that much to say to each other. I was not about to take the chance. If they made contact with the one I held there…. I realized that there was a direction to it as I mulled things over while getting ready to depart. When Van Richten's voice died away, Mrs. Heywood closed the book with a thump. I had always harbored a determination on finding a way out, of discovering a passage through the Mists as had these Vistani. This went down well with the rest, many swelling with bright-eyed pride at their prowess. If the Vistani rumors of them were correct, goblyns are deadly with their slashing claws, and their usual form of attack is to grasp one's neck and start tearing into your face with their long teeth. The innkeeper, a short, stout man apparently arrested in mid-word to one of his customers by my entry, broke away altogether and hastened toward me, an uncertain expression on his red face. Some were all for a headlong charge to break the ranks of the coming zombies, which I explained would be pointless. All the cots were gone but two, and one of those was occupied by the unconscious form of General Vychen. The Wachter holdings were closest to the Krezk pass. "Cylla, Nanje, which of you wants to be bait? He opened it and a look of shock crossed his features as I took to the narrow steps and boosted myself inside without further invitation. Of course, a lot of preparation had gone into this. By now every one of them knew the antidote for the fog, but so far they had kept that secret well within the tribe. The shock of the strike hurtled me into man-form again, staggering for balance and blinking hard to clear my suddenly clouded vision. No one, not one child, not even the vista-chiri birds. It moved freely past the point where earlier I had been blocked. Deciding to swallow my annoyance at her presumptuous tone, I obeyed her. The creatures were nearly to the border. "I think you can see the advantage of cooperation over conflict. So what was I looking at, a new land linked to Barovia? was my first thought. "I see you have made the acquaintance of Baron Latos," I said loudly, stepping into the room. If Azalin had any assassins in the camp, they would have a better chance to kill me while I was in this distracted state. We would never share the making of it with outsiders. It confounded my vision, for as I stared through one of the broken windows, I saw a man's figure within, but it was shadowy, without detail. Barovia was a singularly dangerous place to be up and about after sunset; why should Forlorn be any different? I could hypnotize them into it, but though such was convenient for me, it was also no true substitute for actual enthusiasm for a task. Thin lines appeared in the unmarked marble and widened to the point where I could grasp the stone plate and pull it to one side. So far did he go in giving in to my wish that I almost felt fused to him in a strange way. There are dangers in Barovia of which you have no knowledge. Who's this 'one' yer on about?". Dr. Rudolph van Richten smiled gently at Mrs. Heywood and made a self-deprecating shrug by way of a reply. As it was all the way on the other side of Mount Ghakis as well as beyond a spur of Mount Sawtooth, I had a considerable journey ahead of me this night. My instincts were that the Barovian peasants here would simply accept the continuation of the land into Arak without question, the same as the mining communities in the south had accepted Forlorn. As he was well spoken and well dressed we gave him audience, though I was very afraid of him for reasons I could not then understand. I could have easily cast a spell enabling me to understand them, but deemed it unimportant for the time. Our most recent attempt to escape last solstice had been a miserable disappointment, and he'd decided that the fault was mine. She got the idea and stopped making noise. "A title, then," I murmured to myself. If he guessed that I had anything to do with the fog coming to his timely rescue, he made no mention of it. "One would hope we would have a chance," said Darl. He deigned not to respond to that, and I took my leave skyward, riding the winds along the new border, going over the ground I had viewed in the crystal. That was what had disturbed me during the day. To hear a living heart, to scent the fear driving it, was more than enough to rouse my hunger and tempt me to forget the promise I had made to Madam Eva so very long ago. Any second and all would be finished. Stories about this were also mainstays of the taverns, but one cannot always direct everything to one's advantage. Around us the growing storm whipped up snow devils that spun and crashed against the rocks to be born anew in a fresh gust of wind. Then I heard it-a kind of voiceless whisper, the sort that can only happen when spoken directly into one's mind. Damnation. I got to my feet, brushing off an unexpected layer of dust and cobwebs. There was absolutely no sign of the house, not one brick or nail. The general's horse was brought forward, and I heaved his muscled bulk into the saddle. How good to know Eva could make an error. "Oh, yes, of course," he said, his initial excitement visibly dampened. Sometimes he would share the most amazing stories of his many journeys in the world, which were very welcome, since she had not seen much of it after setting up her modest book business in Mordentshire some twenty-five years ago. They loomed close, converging from four directions at once, crashing with agonizing slowness into the central globe. "Perhaps," he said, sounding abstracted again. ", "Are you complaining about the population's lack of intelligence? You are the land. I crossed the courtyard to the sound of fiddle, fife, drum, and some kind of bagpipe. Had other lands suddenly attached themselves to Barovia as well? The paper was very thin and fine, as was the nib of the pen used, but, the handwriting was the same. Damnation. Linked as I was to Auric's mind I felt what he felt. And that was as far as I could take it. "I came in regard to a recent incident that has come to my attention. The tower still stood, though some of the more explosive failures had taken their toll on the integrity of the stonework. I recognized it, having heard something very similar centuries ago when making my bargain with Death. It was nowhere close to the faded grandeur of my own domicile, but it still possessed a distinct gloominess of aspect that belied its smaller size. As ever, he held up well under my gaze, and though he did not at all resemble his ancestor Victor, he strongly reminded me of him all the same. The best way to do that-when the time comes-is to simply assassinate him. Such things did not escape my exchequer officers who were responsible for arrests. Though what had specifically happened to their friends would be beyond their ken, they would understand that whatever prowled here was more than capable of attacking them with the same success. Make sure to issue them neck chains.
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