Transylvania's Most Wanted (25 page)

“I’ve been watching you these last few
days,” he said. “You’ve shown yourself to be a man of considerable
qualities, but the game is ending now and you never quite
understood the game you were playing. Never the less you played
admirably. Maybe we’ll meet again in some other realm under similar
circumstances. The best I can do for you now is hope that the fall
kills you instantly.” He looked at Stone then. ““Throw him
out.”

“Uh, sure, happy to,” Stone said lifting up
Inspector Flynn, who began to kick, trying to free himself, but
Stone had a strong hold on him.

“Go ahead,” Mr. Slang ordered Stone, but
just as he said it a number of alarms went off and lights began
flashing and then the ship seemed to list to one side.

“What’s happening now,” Mr. Slang yelled as
he nearly fell over as the shipped pitched from side to side. “Get
rid of him,” he yelled at Dino as he ran out the room to see what
the problem was.

Chapter 50

“Throw him out,” Dino told Stone.

“Sure,” Stone said. “But let’s have a little
fun with him first. Grab that rope there,” Stone told Trunk
pointing at a rope left on top of a large box.

“What do you need it for?” Dino asked, “Just
throw him out the door.”

“I want to have a little fun with him
first,” Stone said. “Tie it tight around his chest,” Stone ordered
Trunk. Trunk looked at Dino for instructions and Dino nodded that
it was okay.

Tom didn’t struggle as Trunk wrapped the
rope around his chest and made a knot in front. He wasn’t sure what
Stone was up too, but it seemed slightly better than him just
pushing him out the door. Both golems had a good hold on Tom even
if he did try and escape.

“Mr. Slang told you to just throw him out,”
Dino said nervously.

“I promised Inspector Flynn that if he
scratched my car I’d drag him a mile a down a dirt road behind it,
but I can’t do that now so I’m gonna dangle him out the door until
one of the ice wolves snatches him,” Stone explained.

Stone let go of Tom then and grabbed the
rope. He feed some rope through his hand so that there was about
twenty feet of rope lying on the floor in front of Tom.

“Hurry and get this over,” Dino said as the
alarms stopped ringing then. “Mr. Slang will be coming back
now.”

“Fine,” Stone said. “Push him out,” he said
motioning for Trunk to shove Tom out the door.

Out he went.

Tom had hold of the rope as he fell, and
then after twenty feet the rope snapped and he stopped falling.
Then Stone began letting the rope run further out, and Tom was
dragged behind the zeppelin through the air, but the ship was
traveling slow enough that he also drew closer and closer to the
ground.

He looked up and saw Stone and Trunk leaning
out the cargo doors, smiling down at him as Stone let more and more
rope slide between his hands. Tom was being dangled behind the
zeppelin like a piece of bait on the end of a fishing line and
finally Stone had let out enough rope that he was flying only a few
feet above the ground.

At first he thought this was a fortunate
turn of events. That all he need do is slip out the rope and drop
to the ground, but then he heard a growl from just below and behind
him – Tom looked behind him and saw a pack of ice wolves chasing
him.

They were larger than a normal wolf, with
long fangs and a hungry look in their dark eyes. One of them caught
up to him and leapt into the air trying to sink its teeth into his
leg, and it would have, had not Stone pulled on the rope, causing
him to fly a little higher. The wolf missed, but Stone - and Tom
could hear him laughing all the way down there - lowered him down
again until the lead wolf tried once more to snatch him, but Tom
pulled his legs up toward his waist and the wolf missed.

He couldn’t possibly see this ending
well.

For the next few minutes Stone’s using Tom
as bait continued, but then Tom saw that this ordeal might just be
coming to an end.

The
Dauntless
was coming up on a large
river that was frozen over near both banks, but the rest of it was
open water where the current flowed quickly, carrying blocks of ice
along.

Tom thought that as soon as he came to the
other side of the river, he could slip free of the rope, but just
as he passed over the open water, Stone let the rope slip out of
his hand, and Tom fell into the cold, fast-moving water like a seal
diving off an iceberg.

The water was so cold it instantly stole his
breath. He slipped underneath the water, but kicked his way to the
surface and grabbed hold of a large block of ice floating by. He
began going through the mental and breathing exercises The Great
Vincelli had instructed him in, wondering then if Red had known
this was going to happen. He wondered what more Red knew, or
rather, what else he was not aware of, and he realized that Red had
been withholding information from him just so he would not reveal
it under the effects of the truth serum.

The wolves stopped when they came to the
edge of the river. They crept carefully out onto the ice, but they
did not come in the river after him. They began following him,
moving down the bank of the river, as he floated downstream.

The Great Vincelli had instructed him to
keep his heart above water in order to keep his body temperature
from dropping too much. He would not succumb to the cold, at least
not without a fight, and he began trying to kick his way to the
opposite bank, steering the ice block toward there. Tom was part
way submerged in the cold water, but he hung on, shivering as the
block of ice made little progress toward the far bank of the
river.

Chapter 51

“He done for?” Mr. Slang asked Dino as he,
Stone and Trunk came out of the cargo hold.

Dino glanced at Stone before answering. “Uh,
yeah, he’s gone. We shouldn’t hear from him ever again.”

“Good.”

“What was the problem with the ship?”

“One of the rudder cables snapped. That’s
why the ship won’t lift higher. Someone must have pulled an alarm.
We’ll be okay getting to the Vladivostok Station and we’ll stop
there to have it repaired before we go on to the Royal City. Why
don’t you three go get something to eat? I need to talk with the
king.”

Mr. Slang walked down the hallway and
knocked on the king’s door.

“Come in,” King Havel yelled.

We’ll be a little late arriving at the
Vladivostok station. Just fifteen minutes or so,” Mr. Slang said as
he came in the room.

“What were those alarms?”

“A rudder cable snapped. That’s why we’ll be
a little late. We have to fly low and go a longer route.”

“When does the bomb go off?”

Mr. Slang looked at a
clock on the wall. “2 pm, just as the
Tempest
should be approaching the
Vladivostok Station,” he said resetting his watch to U.R.R.K. time
then.

“
Good,” the king said
glancing at the clock. “The groundwork you’ve laid the past couple
of years, recruiting misfits and malcontents to the partisans’
cause is finally going to pay off. When we present copies of the
cables Count Vasili has been sending the past few months. He’ll be
blamed for Princess Alexi’s death and the country will finally
embrace its king.”

Chapter 52

Tom tried repeatedly to steer the block of
ice toward the shore, but could not make any headway as the current
kept dragging him back to the middle of the river.

The wolves were following him still,
watching him, hoping the current would bring him close enough for
them to snatch him.

He figured he needed to abandon the block of
ice and swim for the bank and hopefully be able to draw his weight
up onto the ice without causing it to break.

He was just about to attempt that when he
spotted something out on the tundra moving toward the river. It was
a man running as fast as he could. Luckily the top layer of snow
was frozen and he could run across it without sinking into it.

He was already running fast, but when the
wolves spotted him, he seemed to run even more urgently. The wolf
pack started toward him. It was going to be close, he would either
make it to the river before the wolves cut off his escape, or the
wolves would tear him apart on the tundra. Even if he did make it
to the river, Tom didn’t see how this would benefit him much, other
than he could freeze to death alongside him. At least Tom would
have some company in his last moments, since Death enjoys company
as well as misery does.

The man ran. The wolves went to cut off his
escape. When the man was a little closer, Tom saw it was Count
Vasili. The cold did not seem to bother him much. His hands were in
cuffs still and he had icicles in his hair, his coat trailed behind
him, and his breath made a cloud of steam in front of him. He ran
magnificently, gracefully, his strides long and sure like a
gazelle. Tom could not help but watch in sheer amazement. No
Olympic sprint was ever more exciting or would be as close.
Certainly none had as much at stake. Count Vasili was running for
his life.

“Run!” Tom yelled. “You can do it old man,”
he screamed, lifting himself higher onto his floating, ice coffin.
“Run, damn you run,” he yelled louder, feeling stronger. “Run you
magnificent vampire you!” he screamed loud enough for Count Vasili
to hear.

The alpha wolf moved out in front of the
rest of the pack as Count Vasili neared the river. The beast ran
with determination, with pride. It wanted more than to catch Count
Vasili just so it could eat him – the beast wanted to defeat
him.

Words cannot describe the sheer feeling of
tension and nervousness Tom felt as the two opponents, both
sprinting as fast as they could, approached one another. A single
misstep on the slippery snow would cost Count Vasili his life. It
was like watching a tight-rope walker run across his rope instead
of treading slowly and deliberately. Finally their paths were about
to cross.

“Come on!” Tom yelled, but it was in vain.
The alpha wolf sprang off the ground and flew through the air as
Count Vasili dove for the water, but the wolf stretched out and
caught hold of Count Vasili’s leg. They both spun around in the air
before landing on the ice near the shore and sliding toward the
open water, but then the wolf, its teeth sunk deep into the count’s
leg, dug its claws into the ice and began dragging Count Vasili
back toward solid ground. The count dug his fingernails into the
ice also, but the wolf pulled him backs still. Tom watched all this
as he floated closer to them.

Count Vasili tried to turn over so he could
kick at the large wolf with his free leg, but the wolf had taken
prey down before and would not let him flip over. It continued
dragging him back and then the rest of the pack arrived and
cautiously stepped out onto the ice to help with the kill. Their
howls and barking were unnerving, primal.

And then Tom heard a sound like twigs
snapping just before the ice cracked. Jagged lines shot through it
and then the ice broke into a dozen different shards like a mirror
dropped to the floor. The entire wolf pack and Count Vasili plunged
into the water as blocks of ice shot out of the water and bobbed up
and down. When the alpha wolf surfaced, it had let go of the
count’s leg.

Tom kicked toward the count, who was
swimming toward him now. He reached out for him and pulled him
close to him.

“Looks like you got dropped a little early,”
he said smiling at Tom. “Stone was not supposed to drop you until
you were on the other side of the river over dry land,” he said as
he grabbed hold of the block of ice carrying them downstream and
the wolves howled behind them.

“What?”

“I’ll explain everything once we are on
shore,” Count Vasili said. “Hand me your rope.

Tom had forgotten about the rope tied around
him. He lifted it out of the water and handed it to the count, who
immediately began swimming toward shore. Tom let go of the ice and
followed him. When the count reached solid ice, he was able to pull
himself up onto it and then he stood and walked across it toward
the shore.

When Tom came to the ice, he tried to pull
himself up likewise, but the ice could not take his weight. Count
Vasili began pulling on the rope, dragging him closer and Tom
plowed through the ice until he finally came to a spot where the
ice was thick enough that he could climb out of the water.

He began to untie the rope, but his hands
were numb and shaking.

“Don’t undo the rope,” Count Vasili told
him. “Wait till we get to shore.”

Tom held onto the rope as he tread lightly,
following Count Vasili toward the bank, which was some thirty feet
away still.

“I’m sorry,” Count Vasili said turning
around to face Tom.

“What…for?” Tom stuttered just as he fell
through the ice.

“That’s why,” the count said as he began
dragging Tom up out of the water again. “Vampire premonition
remember?”

He pulled Tom across the ice then like an
Eskimo dragging a dead seal. Tom was embarrassed, but he would
live. Assuming he did not die of hypothermia still. He was shaking
uncontrollably.

Finally he was upon solid ground, but he lay
in the snow unable to move. Count Vasili began massaging his arms
and legs then, trying to keep the blood flowing. Despite Count
Vasili being soaking wet, the cold and blowing wind did not seem to
bother him much.

“We’ll have a shot of whiskey for you soon
and then a warm cup of soup.”

“What...the...heck...are...you...talking...about?” Tom managed to
ask despite his teeth knocking against one another. “We’re still
going to freeze to death out here come nightfall. At least I am.
There’s not any shelter for a hundred miles on this hockey rink you
call a country.”