So she did have a personal reason to keep him off the volunteer list, and it had nothing to do with him being a trip wire waiting to snap. I had no objection to romance, except when it interfered with duty. I would have to have a little discussion with her on the topic when I returned. On the other hand, if she'd fallen in love with someone like Darl, then that was probably sufficient punishment in and of itself.

  I hurried to the rest of Darl's group and found them by the stables where I—as Strahd—had told them to wait.

  "What's that?" asked Kelab, instantly noticing the disk on Darl's forehead.

  "A parting gift from Lord Strahd," I said, playing the part of my puppet. "He called it a good luck charm."

  "A charm, eh? He's not the sort to be free with gifts. Why the special treatment?"

  "He thinks rewards like this will induce a stronger loyalty from me."

  "Your loyalty's in your money pouch."

  "Exactly. Hence his generosity now. This is an important raid, probably the most important we'll ever do; he wanted to make sure I understood that. He's prepared to throw in a bonus if we finish the job before an hour's gone."

  "An hour!" said Ag'n, astonished. "How can we ride in that fast?"

  "We're not using horses."

  "Oh, and how are we supposed to get there, flap our arms?" This came from Alvi.

  "Not quite, but Lord Strahd has entrusted me with a most useful shortcut."

  Kelab, checking the set of his sword, paused. "What kind of shortcut?"

  I swung the pouch from my shoulder to the ground and dropped on one knee to open it. "Everything we need is in this. He showed me what to do. Take only what you are willing to carry and need for the next hour—and get those armbands off. Put these on instead." I passed out the neck kerchiefs bearing Aza-lin's colors.

  "But what's the shortcut?"

  "Something to do with Strahd's magic. I don't know how it works, but each of you gets one of these." From the pouch I passed out five plain brass bracelets to them and slipped the sixth on myself. "Whatever you do, don't take them off or you won't be able to get back."

  "Magic?" Alvi was obviously uneasy at the idea and hesitated.

  "Just put it on; it won't bite you."

  They reluctantly did so and gathered their gear together. I told them to stand around me in a close circle. This was met with more questioning, which was very annoying. I was too used to having people instantly jumping to my word and was hard pressed to hold to my impersonation. I snapped at them to obey.

  "Who died and made you Strahd?" grumbled Alvi, giving Darl an irked look, but he fell in with the rest.

  From the pouch I drew forth a scroll similar to those I'd presented to the other raiding parties. Since Darl lacked magical talent I had to read it in the same way as any other non-scholar. I spoke the words of power and felt the bracelet suddenly turn cold against my skin. An intense buzzing seemed to fill my consciousness as the barracks faded around us. When next Darl's eyes focused I saw that we had accurately appeared in the place I'd long scouted with my crystal, a patch of concealing trees. We were about two miles from the border, not far from the Krezk pass. In Darkon.

  CHAPTER FOURTEEN

  I felt a strong wave of disorientation that had nothing to do with the traveling spell and more with the fact that Darl was now outside of Barovia. My view of things shimmered, and for a few bad seconds I was more sharply aware of being miles away in the commander's office than in complete control of my puppet. I fought the shifting, holding hard to my crystal and keeping my focus tight. Though his will was stronger and more stubborn than most ordinary men—the reason why I had chosen him—they were qualities that I had to successfully subjugate for my later plan to work.

  The disk on his brow felt hot right through the leather strip and dragged heavily. His head bowed from the weight of it. He was fighting me, but it was no more than the frantic trembling of the bird's wing beneath the paw of the cat. After a moment he gave up and I assumed control once more.

  The others had been too busy reacting sharply to the sudden change of location to notice Darl's problems. By the time I'd straightened him up for a look around, they were nearly recovered and sensibly silent except for one.

  Alvi whimpered, but Ag'n swiftly clamped a hand over his mouth. "This is not the time to panic."

  Alvi shook him off, annoyed. "Then let me know when. I shouldn't like to be late for it."

  "Shut up," I snarled.

  "Where are we?"

  "Inside General Vychen's camp."

  "Are you sure?"

  From my hours of study with the crystal I knew the layout by heart. "Absolutely certain. We have to work fast, though."

  Azalin would have been aware of our intrusion into his land, the same as I was aware when anyone entered Barovia. He would be ignorant of specifics and of our plans and too busy to investigate, but there was no way of calculating how long that would last.

  "Vychen's tent is over there," I said, pointing. "Cylla, Nanje, which of you wants to be bait?"

  "Nanje's better at tempting men," said Cylla. "I'm better at killing them."

  "That depends on what you use for a weapon," her friend put in good-naturedly. "Help me do something with my hair, would you?"

  By the time they'd finished, Nanje's blond locks were flowing long over her shoulders. She slipped out of her full sleeved tunic and covered her torso with a low cut, tightly laced leather bodice. It brought her best assets to bear in an impressive display of creamy smooth flesh. How fortunate for her that I was really very much elsewhere.

  "Think he'll notice me?" she asked, turning. Her leather trousers fit her like another skin.

  "He'd have to be dead not to," said Kelab.

  I wisely kept my superior knowledge about Vychen's true condition to myself. "Just beware of noticing him," I warned. "Strahd said Vychen also has skill with magic, and he'll try to enspell you with it. Whatever you do, do not look him directly in the eyes."

  She bit her lip, but it was to bring out the color, not from nervousness.

  "Rings?" I asked.

  They nodded and everyone but Nanje slipped on the special rings I'd made for them. They had used them on past missions, but Nanje still gave a start. "Are you all right? Talk to me."

  "We're still here," Cylla invisibly assured her. "You go on ahead and we'll stay with you the whole time."

  "Easy for you to say," Alvi put in. "I can't see my feet."

  "Just don't trip over mine," said Kelab wearily. "And if you must, then be quiet about it. That goes for everyone. From this point on, not one word."

  Nanje emerged from the trees, close followed by her five unseen companions, and made her way toward the general's tent.

  Vychen's vast army sprawled over a wide area with the confident insolence of greater numbers, less than an hour's march from Barovia. Inner security was good, but not outstanding, which accounted for our being able to magically penetrate it. What spell casters the power-jealous Azalin allowed to practice in Darkon weren't capable of putting up the kind of protections needed to keep someone like me out.

  The present risk was getting Nanje close enough to Vychen's tent so that she could catch his eye. Whether he chose to take her or not was less important than the few moments of distraction she would provide for the rest of us. His awareness was much greater than that of an ordinary mortal, and he just might be able to see us if he was particularly perceptive. As for hearing and even smelling us, the rings had that added protection incorporated into their magic. They could not hide all sound or scent, but should adequately dampen them enough for us to accomplish our task. We were fairly safe, so long as we remained quiet.

  The limits of Darl's frail body caused me to appreciate anew my own enhanced senses, which I could not use here. He seemed wrapped about with a thick muffling fabric that blunted hearing and dimmed sight. A decided disadvantage for us both.

  Nanje sauntered within fifty yards of Vychen's tent before a sentry challenged her. During the briefing I had suggested a covering story about presenting a good luck charm on behalf of her unit as a gift for the general. Apparently—and this was confirmed by the fugitive Darkon mercenaries—it was something of a tradition in this land. I had seen this happen more than once in my spyings, a pretty young woman willingly going into Vychen's tent perhaps to give a gift or seek favors in exchange for her own. I hadn't seen what went on inside, since Vychen had some scrying protection about his person, but I could take an educated guess since they never came out again. What he did with the bodies I had been unable to discern. He was careful not to let them rise again.

  The sentry and two other fellows came close to question Nanje, who smiled, played with her hair, swayed her hips, and laughed teasingly at their bad jokes. One man was sent back to the tent to make a consultation with his immediate superior about the situation. Within a very few minutes word was passed to let her come closer. The five of us followed, Cylla holding lightly to the back of Darl's sword belt. He bumped once into someone, I think Kelab, but everyone kept quiet. Darl's heartbeat was high, and I made sure he held tight to the pouch to keep the contents from rattling.

  The last check was at the entry to the huge tent, when Vychen himself made a brief appearance. He looked out the door flap, inspected Nanje once, and grunted a gruff affirmative before going back in again. 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. She gave us all ample time to duck in ahead of her.

  Through Darl's eyes, with the help of the disk and its stone, I was finally able to circumvent the scrying protections and see inside Vychen's tent for the first time.

  The interior was larger than my castle study, and divided into sections. The front area was meant for work with its traveling desk and litter of papers; the inner portions where he had to sleep were heavily draped with many thick layers of curtains forming a tent within the tent, its object to keep all hint of sunlight from reaching him. Whatever excuse he gave his human servants for being indisposed during the day was probably bolstered by hypnotic control.

  He was at his traveling desk with two of his senior staff, paying no attention to Nanje whatsoever. As she was marginally in uniform with the identifying scarf she offered a salute none of them bothered to return. Nanje scowled, her vanity slightly bruised, but she quickly recovered and stood off to one side, quite literally to await the general's pleasure.

  This was the main weak point in my plan: how long it would take Vychen to dismiss his people that he might have some privacy. It was the one thing I could trust about his condition: in order to keep his secret he had to feed away from prying eyes. I had a limited amount of time, and if he was busy with business for too much of it the potion would wear off, trapping Darl and the others in the enemy camp without my leadership to get them out. Their safety did not concern me, but the success of this raid did.

  Nanje, growing impatient herself, began humming softly. I could barely hear her, but Vychen did. He looked up once with some irritation, and Nanje took the opportunity offer him a smoldering smile and lick her lips. She did make eye contact with him, but at this point all the power of influence was on her side. His irritation vanished, smoothing into quite another expression altogether. I recognized it, having keenly felt it thousands of times myself: hunger.

  With that particular beast now fully wakened he would find it hard to concentrate on anything so mundane as battle plans. Within a quarter hour he dismissed his people and offered Nanje a cup of wine. She accepted and expressed great admiration for her surroundings, allowing him the opening to invite her to see the rest of his tent.

  While they made small talk and he pointed out this treasure or that, I made Darl head toward the back, Cylla still holding to his belt. There were no candles here, and he could barely see by the faint light seeping in from the front. More by touch than anything else he found the flap opening to Vychen's inner sleeping quarters and we went inside. The flap moved again all by itself, and I knew at least one other of our group was inside with us. It dropped back into place, and Darl stood waiting and holding his breath in pitch darkness.

  The feeble mutterings of his consciousness went very still. Perhaps some part of him understood the utter necessity of letting me have complete control at this point. I increased my hold until I almost seemed to be Darl.

  Cylla let go of my belt and stood tense next to me. I couldn't tell where the other man had gotten to. I hoped it was Ag'n; his extra strength would be needed.

  I knelt and quietly opened the pouch, drawing out a soft felt pad about an inch thick that fit comfortably into the palm of my hand. Next I brought forth a tightly stoppered bottle, followed by a velvet bag. I passed the latter to Cylla and heard the faint chink of metal as she reached inside. My hand froze over hers to keep her still. She got the idea and stopped making noise. I straightened, bottle in my left hand, the pad in my right.

  Vychen, speaking low, and Nanje, laughing seductively, finally came to his sanctum. She thought to bring a candle and made appropriate sounds of appreciation at the sights there. The floor was covered with many layers of carpets, a broad bed stood off to one side, similarly overlaid. Beneath all he would probably have his well-hidden earth-lined coffin.

  "It's so private," she exclaimed. "All these curtains and tapestries, don't you find it stuffy when it's hot?"

  "Not at all," he purred. He was a big, powerful-looking man, with heavy features and dark eyes like hell pits. Nanje looked pathetically fragile next to him.

  "How it steals the sound," she went on. "I could wager if I screamed my head off no one outside would hear me."

  "You would win your wager," he said, moving close behind her to play with her hair. He smoothed it away from one side of her throat, a slow, lingering touch. I knew he would be able to sense the pulse of her veins, feel the warm rush of the life surging beneath his fingers and be excited by it, distracted. I saw it in his face as he began to succumb to the irresistible summons of hunger and desire. Soon he would be blind and deaf to everything but the sating of both appetites.

  Nanje put her candle down on a small table and tilted her head back allowing him to bend low for a preliminary kiss. "Why, general, are you going to give me cause to scream?" she asked when he lifted away. Her back was still to him so she could not see the budding of his fangs. He was past the flirting stage.

  Instead of answering, his arms went around her, hands exploring her body. She squirmed and gave out with a moan, but her expression was of utter disgust. Probably her inner voice was frantically telling her there was something wrong about him, even if it could not say exactly what that wrongness might be.

  I eased around to place myself behind Vychen and hoped that the others were ready. We had to move soon while he was involved with Nanje, but not so far along that she would be unable to help us.

  But I bumped into someone, not hard, but enough to make a noise. Vychen snapped alert, looking around. He sniffed the air and a growl began deep within him. Though the bottle had been carefully prepared and cleaned Vychen must have caught a telltale whiff of its contents.

  "General?" Nanje tried to draw his attention back to herself.

  But he was suspicious and turned her roughly around to face him. He fastened his fierce gaze upon her. "Who are you, woman? Why are you really here?"

  Nanje gasped, eyes wide as he started to force his hypnotic will upon her.

  Now or never.

  I yanked the stopper clear and slopped the contents all over the pad, much of it spilling onto my hand as well. The overpowering stink flooded the room in those few seconds. Vychen let go of Nanje, but before he could do anything else I leaped forward and slammed the soaked pad hard against his nose and mouth, hauling him back with all my strength. It was like trying to pull down an oak tree.

  He roared and grabbed for me, hands like clubs, then choked as the first expiration of the burning fumes from the liquid seared deep into his lungs. The roar turned into a scream of outrage and pain, but I held the pad in place for dear life, not trusting the thick tapestries to muffle all sound from his guards.

  Cylla had the wit to remove her ring so the others would see her and stay out of her way. In her hands was the metal item from the bag I'd given to her: a fine gold chain from which hung a holy symbol borrowed from the ancient Shrine of the White Sun in Krezk. The shrine had long ago been a popular place for pilgrims coming to pay homage to the gods there. Much of that faith was gone from Barovia—I did not encourage the people to religion—but the symbol yet had power within it for the likes of Vychen. Cylla deftly slipped the chain over his head. I released my hold on him, allowing the chain to drop unimpeded into place about his neck, and the white jewel of the Symbol itself landed squarely against his breast.

  He staggered, clutching his chest as though a burning brand lay against his breast, then crying out as his hands were burned when they touched the Symbol.

  The others had been told it was a magical item with the power to subdue the general. The raid was dangerous enough; had they known his true nature they'd have refused the job. It was a risk keeping them ignorant, but worth it, I thought. Such strategy had worked well for me in the long ago past, after all.

  I stepped in again with the smothering pad. Vychen was half-blind and half-mad from the pain of both weapons but still devastatingly strong. Before I could lock the stuff firmly against his face again, he swung wide and caught me a powerful blow to the body. I left my feet and went tumbling, feeling a terrible sharp pain in my chest. Broken ribs. I collided into someone; we landed in a tangle. Darl's agony was acute, but I forced him to draw breath.

  "Rings, damn it!" I wheezed out, and hurriedly slipped mine off. As I struggled to my feet I saw Nanje and Cylla each trying to hold Vychen's arms to prevent him from tearing the holy symbol free.