Carpathian (63 page)

“And it looks as if this man has been traveling.” He looked down at his grandmother with an angry expression. “Did you order this?”

“Yes, and now I have orders for you, man-child,” she said as Denise started prepping her swollen ankle and leg for the impromptu surgery. “A storm is coming,” she said, finally looking at Marko. “Tonight you will see your fondest wish fulfilled, my grandson: you will prove your worth and become king of the Gypsies, and join the long line of Jeddah going all the way back to Kale Al-Saul.”

Marko and Anya were both shocked at the statement.

“The future of our people and of the Golia will be in your hands, Marko, in the next few hours. Many Golia and Jeddah will not be seeing the dawn after this coming night.”

Marko looked back at Anya, who was watching the exchange while holding the American’s hand. It looked as if she were struggling with his grandmother’s decision.

“Do you plan on cutting off my grandmother’s ankle or Mikla’s?” he asked the doctor as she brushed past him with a pan of water that Ellenshaw had retrieved from the mineral hot springs that spewed forth the steamy liquid from deep beneath the mountain. She stopped and stared angrily at the arrogant man.

“Your grandmother needs to be in a hospital,” Denise said as she handed Niles Compton the bowl of water. “I don’t have the right equipment and the sanitary conditions are off the scale in here. I’ve got dust and dirt falling from a three-thousand-year-old ceiling and I’m performing major surgery on a woman in her eighties when her grandson could place her in one of those broken-down pieces of crap you people drive and get her to a real facility where they can treat her!”

Niles saw that Denise was close to losing it. He was asking too much of a medical doctor to suspend her belief long enough and actually cut off the old woman’s lower leg to save another that a scalpel would never touch. He stepped up to her and gestured outward by holding the pan of water. Denise nodded and understood that she had just lost it. She gestured for the director to place the water at the head of the table. Denise reached into her bag and brought out a small bottle of morphine and then looked at Madam Korvesky. Denise halfheartedly smiled, shook her head, and then started arranging her instruments.

“Do you think my grandmother would listen to me?” Marko asked. He sniffed and huffed. “If she is choosing Mikla over herself so be it. She hurt herself by being secretive about her plans when all of this could have been avoided by naming me the heir many years ago.” He stepped closer to the table and looked down upon the old woman. “Now we will do things my way,” he said and then shocked everyone by leaning over and kissing her on the forehead.

“You are not king yet, man-child, I have one last task for you.”

Denise slowly pushed a syringe into the small brown bottle and then looked at Niles and shook her head in anger. She knew the old woman could not survive the amputation, she was just too old and the infection had spread too far. Her fate would be the same as Mikla’s, only Mikla would die before the surgery was completed. Denise eased the needle into the old woman’s arm and then she locked eyes with Marko.

“Say your good-byes, because your grandmother has chosen suicide over common sense.” Denise angrily threw the needle against the far wall of the room. Charlie Ellenshaw eased over to the young doctor and placed his arm around her.

Marko ignored the indignant American doctor and returned his attention to Madam Korvesky as her eyes started to settle into a far more relaxed state.

“Go to your new friends at the resort and have them release the Americans.” The Gypsy queen ordered her grandson as she allowed her eyes to flutter shut as the morphine was starting to take effect. “Explain to your partner that if this is done, he will be rewarded in the ways of avarice. The trinkets you have delivered to him are nothing compared to what the Gypsy queen is prepared to give him for the favor of releasing the Americans.”

“I do not have to ask, I will order their release.” Marko once more leaned over and spoke directly into his grandmother’s ear. “After that, the Jeddah will begin a new life, one we deserve. Do you understand me, Grandmamma?”

She lightly patted his hand as she started to slide into unconsciousness. “You will be king so you will be able to do anything you want. Now go and free the Americans, they will not want to be at the resort after the day ends tomorrow night.”

The last words were nearly unintelligible as Marko allowed her to sleep. He closed his eyes and said a small prayer for the woman that raised him, one that he respected and loved like no other, but also one that he had always feared as being the one who would always make the hard choices and decisions. That was something Marko himself hoped he had inside of him.

Suddenly Marko’s demeanor changed completely. He turned to Anya and then looked down at the American.

“These people must be gone from Patinas tomorrow.” He looked from Niles to the faces of the others. He stopped at Denise and then said, “Please help my grandmother, I would not want to see her go out this way.”

“Listen to me, you little backwoods jerk, I’ll do what it is I—”

“Doctor!” Niles said louder than he had intended.

Denise cut off her angry reply and then just shook her head.

“I will gather my men and we will pay our partner a visit, have lunch, and wish him well on his grand opening of his ridiculous castle. Then I will order your friends released. Then you will leave Romania and never return. This mountain is not yours.”

They all watched Marko leave the room, quickly followed by the two large men, who hesitantly patted their friend on the back at his new honor.

“Well, we have little time, her fever is up to a hundred and five degrees. We have to remove that leg now.”

As Marko climbed the large staircase he stopped and looked back down to the four village women who stood silently around Mikla in the center of the temple. His eyes traveled up to the gallery high above and saw that every single one of the Golia young were lined up and watching Mikla. Marko then turned with a smile and started outside.

As one, the Golia started howling as Mikla yelped and started growling as the amputation had started.

With the pain-filled howl of the sleeping Golia echoing inside the lost Temple of Moses, the last twenty-four hours of the ancient tribe of Jeddah were about to begin.

*   *   *

Denise Gilliam fought for one solid hour to remove the shattered lower right leg of Madam Korvesky. The blood loss had been tremendous. Dr. Gilliam was amazed at how the old woman seemed to control not only the pain, but also the flow of her own blood. At first Denise was willing to chalk the strange ability up to a fluke, but she was now convinced that Madam Korvesky actually managed to control the speed at which her heart was operating. That told Denise that the Jeddah had more than just unusual control of their minds, but of their bodies as well. It would be later that Denise, Alice, Charlie, and Niles would conclude that the Jeddah had the ability to not only control the Golia to a point, but also the physical and metaphysical world around them. They thus came to the conclusion that the rumors of vampires, werewolves, and other strange in the Carpathians were the kind of stuff that made legend seem like fact.

As the surgery was taking place, Niles and Charlie Ellenshaw stayed as close to Mikla as they dared. Several of the village’s biggest men-folk had managed to slip restraining ropes around Mikla to hold him to the stone dais. The ropes had been passed around the eight-hundred-pound beast several times because the men of Patinas knew what it would take to restrain one of nature’s most tenacious killers.

Mikla had calmed down when Madam Korvesky was given the morphine injection by Dr. Gilliam. One minute Mikla was snapping and snarling at the men around it and the next the bright yellow eyes became dull and the great Golia listless. The men still kept their distance. It was crazy Charlie and later he would admit to being pressured by the bravery of Ellenshaw that pushed him to follow the nutty cryptozoologist toward the now still yet perceptive animal. Charlie’s eyes were fixed firmly on the dais and the ankle of the Golia. Compton wrung his hands together as he too watched the wolf for the reaction that they knew was coming.

“I’ve always heard of remote healing, Niles, but never remote healing with a pinch hitter before. I mean to take the leg of someone who wasn’t actually injured, only psychosomatically, and that removal of the offending limb is supposed to heal the actual injury that occurred to another entity—amazing.”

Niles looked at Ellenshaw, who was excited at what was happening since they entered the temple. Compton, as was his habit, always watched and then calculated his opinions. And thus far the director of Department 5656 wasn’t completely satisfied that Madam Korvesky could be trusted. Her sudden turnaround on the appointment of her grandson, Marko, spoke of a plan that Niles had yet to figure out. It was like the old woman had become tired of the struggle and surrendered the leadership of the tribe of Jeddah to Marko and not the better-equipped Anya.

Charlie looked from Mikla to Niles and then at the four men standing around but still far away from Mikla. Charlie gulped and then placed a hand near the break in the beast’s right lower leg. The wound was swollen and Ellenshaw could clearly see the break in the bone. One bend was larger than the others but he still counted three separate breaks. He shook his head as the odor hit him. He turned back to Compton with a sad shake to the head.

“Gangrene has set in; Mikla’s whole leg has gone bad.” Charlie removed his glasses and closed his eyes. “There is no way this wolf can survive. Even I cannot believe in this … this—”

“Magic?” Niles said, cutting off Ellenshaw’s logical conclusion.

“Okay, I’m glad you said and I didn’t. I would have—”

That was as far as Ellenshaw got in his explanation when Mikla suddenly strained at the offending restraining ropes. The beast thrashed and twisted, threatening to rip the thick ropes holding it down. The mouth opened and spittle flew and then the loudest howl any human had ever heard shattered the interior of the temple.

Compton and the men from Patinas saw them first. The adult Golia were everywhere. Whatever strange mission the adults had been on was clearly not a priority for them today as they were all streaming down the steep walls of the temple, coming from someplace only the Golia knew. They came down headfirst, sideways, and backward, each holding on to the rough-hewn walls of the temple. They were all coming to Mikla’s aid. The four men of Patinas knew it was time to leave. They sprinted from the center of the temple, leaving a startled Charlie and Niles to watch their retreating forms. Compton looked from the running men to the flailing body of Mikla thrashing on the stone table.

“I think we better follow suit and get the hell out of here,” Niles said as he grabbed Ellenshaw by the arm and started pulling him away from the injured wolf. Just as Charlie nodded that he thought Niles’s assessment of the situation was spot-on, they both turned and saw Stanus standing at the bottom of the stone steps leading to the outside. The Golia was standing with one arm raised and holding the wall for support. The claws had actually dug into the stone. The animal was breathing hard and staring at the two Americans.

“You know what, Mr. Director? I don’t think he looks all that happy and I suspect that the captain is no longer a passenger aboard that particular thrill ride.”

Niles couldn’t answer as he felt the other adult Golia start to settle onto the floor of the expansive temple complex. There were at least a thousand of the amazing wolves. The males ranged in weight from a few hundred pounds to close to a thousand as they walked on all fours toward the dais where Mikla was thrashing horribly. One by one the Golia took up station in a circle around the injured Mikla. For the moment Niles and Charlie were ignored, but Compton figured that would last only as long as Stanus allowed it to. Still, the alpha male watched. Its breathing was calming somewhat but the animal was still clearly angry at having been host to a stranger.

Suddenly Stanus strode with a purpose toward Niles and Ellenshaw. The beast came close to a large stone block and angrily swiped at the ten-by-ten slab. As they watched in amazement only feet from their own deaths, Compton and Ellenshaw saw a large chunk of the stone fly off and strike the wall. With a single blow the angry leader of the wolf pack had shattered solid stone. Compton was near to closing his eyes when Mikla let out a howl that sent shivers down the director’s spine. It even made him forget the immediate threat of Stanus and turn to look at Mikla. At the same moment Stanus stopped and stared as the other adult Golia, covered in mud and filth, started to repeat Mikla’s painful howl.

As they watched, the ankle of the great wolf popped and straightened. Mikla screamed in absolute pain. The center rope restraining him snapped with an audible twang as the two halves separated. The Golia thrashed and growled. Stanus raised his muzzle to the ceiling and let loose a blood-curdling howl that made Charlie cover his ears. At the same moment the other adult Golia and then the offspring high above started howling. The noise was deafening as the healing of Mikla continued. Compton could only wonder at what the old woman was enduring for the sake of the animal she had sent to protect Anya.

Before anything could be figured out by the two men from the Event Group, Mikla screamed in utter pain. The body stiffened and the animal rolled onto its back and the legs went straight into the air. The large mouth opened and they saw the amazing whiteness of the teeth as a howl of pain came through with not a sound. Then Mikla’s body went limp. Charlie winced as he realized the pain of the spell of healing had been just too much for Mikla, and Ellenshaw was starting to suspect that things didn’t go well inside for Madam Korvesky.

Stanus stood before the two men with its yellow eyes bearing down upon them.

With Niles and Charlie watching in stunned and terrified silence, Mikla suddenly tore free of the remaining ropes that held him down. He slashed with his claws and with his teeth until the ropes were in tatters around the dais. The giant wolf sprang from the table and landed on all fours. The rear right ankle looked as if it had never been injured. Charlie felt his will to advance science was at stake as he took a tentative step toward Mikla as it stood watching the men and shaking its head to clear it of the painkillers that had been given it by Dr. Gilliam. In response to Ellenshaw’s bravery, Mikla roared in anger and then stood on two legs. The right hand bunched into a fist and then it came down on the stone dais. The enormous block of stone cracked but stayed intact.