Now back to the cistern, all right?
The man in crimson began to speak, but I heard no voice. At least not in the usual sense. I could hear him in my mind not outside it. And I wasn’t out of my mind, no matter what you may be thinking. What language? Sorry? What language was he speaking? Well, I couldn’t really say. I happened to hear it as German. But I think that Novak would have heard it as Serbian if he’d had the chance. You might very well have thought it was Latin.
‘We bid you welcome,’ he was saying.
‘Are you a vampire?’ I asked, surprised not to hear my own voice.
‘What’s in a name?’ he countered.
‘What do you want from us?’
‘What do we want? But you’re the one who’s come to us, dear Princess. We don’t go looking for people; they come to us. Not every one, of course, only the best, the ones who have the courage and the skill.’
‘You’ve killed so many people!’
‘No, Princess, not a single one. Doctor Radetzky was murdered by the Serb who later took a stake, as you saw, and drove it through our friend Sava Savanović. The baron died as he did, as you yourself saw. The blond count died at the hands of von Hausburg, and Vuk Isakovič was run through by the red count, who in turn was pushed to his death by von Hausburg.’
‘Dear God! But … what about Wittgenau?’
‘Who?’ The man in crimson seemed genuinely surprised.
He turned towards the others and spoke to them, but I couldn’t make out their words in my mind. From their facial expressions the discussion seemed quite animated. I stood there and waited, limbs still stiff from my recent exertions, but self-assured. Watching them. There was a familiar face, an old woman dressed in beautiful raiments, her shoulders thrown back. She was strong, not stooped with age or weariness. Although she was standing far away among the vampires, I felt she was looking back at me. She regarded me sadly, and I thought I saw tears in her eyes. That’s when I realized – it was myself. Much older. As you see me now. I wanted to cry out, but no sound would come. Soon she was lost to sight among the other vampires, and I felt a wave of relief. Seeing with one’s own eyes is always more painful than just knowing.
Once he had consulted the others, the man in crimson turned towards me again.
‘You must mean Wittgenstein.’ The words stopped for a moment. ‘He simply had to go, there was no other way.’ He made a gesture. ‘He was against us, hated us. He would say, The world is not the totality of things but of facts. You don’t really think we could allow language to be greater than the actual world? To allow anyone at all to be God except God Himself?’ The others were nodding in agreement as he spoke. ‘And he came after us, but he came the wrong way. Here’s what he did, unlike you: he left the city then made his way back along a tunnel from the outside.’ He smiled, showing all his teeth. ‘I know that you also went out, but you were wise enough to come back to Belgrade before coming down here, through the cistern, on the inside. That’s the right way.’
‘Do you mean to say you’ve been in the city all along?’
‘In the city, most assuredly. I was even at the ball and had the pleasure of speaking to you.’ He bowed.
‘What’s to become of me now?’ I asked.
‘Ah, dear Princess, for you this is only the beginning …’ And with the word beginning still in me, I was struck blind by a great light. When I was able to see again, the vampires were gone. Every last one of them, gone. Nothing remained but the endless reaches of that underground space, which seemed even greater now that it was empty.
Only then did I see that the walls were not bare but decked with the occasional halberd in that narrow-bladed Saxon style of Johann Georg I. There were also some tufted maces lying about, and some hussar sabres, and a pickaxe, nearly a dozen daggers, five or six rapiers, a two-handed broadsword that even Hercules would find cumbersome, a pair of yataghans, three katana, a set of Scottish flintlock pistols and one otherworldly Chinese landscape, on silk.
For a long time I stood taking it all in, still astonished at the vastness. I knew the vampires would never return. Slowly I turned and left. The damp air of the cistern hit me full in the face, and I had to stop for a moment. I can’t tell you why, but some invisible power compelled me to raise my hand to my nostrils and make sure it didn’t smell of brimstone. I detected nothing out of the ordinary.
I decided to take the down staircase, because that’s where Novak was sure to be. I was worried he might have slipped on the damp steps and fallen. I moved quickly, as if flying. As if I weren’t climbing at all, but running down the easiest flight of steps in the world. Just past the third turning I came upon Novak. He was struggling along, his right leg bleeding.
‘Princess! Is everything all right now?’
‘Don’t worry, Novak. Everything’s all right. You must come and see them, too. Don’t be afraid, they’re not evil. Here, just a few more steps to go. Easy does it.’ I took his hand as we went.
Suddenly he pulled back.
‘I don’t think I want to, really.’
‘There’s nothing to be afraid of. Trust me.’
At the last turning he stopped again and looked me in the eye. I was not accustomed to such directness from servants.
‘That’s an order!’ I said sternly.
Slowly we made our way to the very bottom. What I saw there took me by surprise. Only a short while ago the entrance had been completely unobstructed – yet now the way was blocked by a wooden door. I looked around to make sure, but there was nothing else there. Novak didn’t know what I had seen, and he went to the door and tried to open it. It was locked.
He shook his head, as if he’d been expecting this to happen, yet no one would take his word for it.
‘Princess, do you know what this is?’
‘Yes, that’s where the vampires were.’
‘From what I hear this is the chamber where your husband keeps the gold he got from the Turks for his betrayal. Begging your pardon, but that’s what I’ve heard. Count Wittgenau came to investigate. He found out, and your husband, or someone else from the court, paid some Serbian hajduks to kill him.’
‘But what about the vampires?’ I asked.
‘The vampires are only make-believe. Nothing but a story. Listen now, it’s time to go back up. And up there is my master, waiting. He’s convinced that the vampires exist. When we come back alive he’ll think we’ve turned into vampires, too. You know he’s got a pistol…’
‘The powder is damp.’
‘So it is. But he’s also got a dagger. First he’ll try to shoot, and then he’ll come at us with the knife. I’ll make the first move. You stay behind me where it’s safer. While he and I are going at it, you take this and…’
He picked up a stone that had fallen from the masonry and handed it to me.
‘Don’t go easy on him.’
We started up the down-staircase. Again I found myself able to run without effort, but I had to stop and wait for Novak to catch up. His leg was in pain, but still I hurried him along. I didn’t want to remain in the cistern any longer than necessary. I felt it would not be good to spend too much time down below.
The ascent was quicker than the descent. A few steps from the top Novak stopped me and drew me to him. Again he looked into my eyes then nodded. I kissed his brow. Then he went ahead of me and pushed the door open with a mighty heave.
I was right behind him. Von Hausburg tried to fire, then threw his pistol aside and drew the dagger from his boot. He lunged at us with the knife. Novak wasn’t fast enough. I heard the blade plunging into him. Carrying the stone, I stepped around Novak and struck von Hausburg in the head. He collapsed. I kneeled beside Novak where he lay bleeding. He was gripping the pommel of the dagger where it protruded from his abdomen.
I put my hand under his head. He was trying to say something. He couldn’t get the words out. Blood was flowing from his mouth now. Once more he tried to say something, and then he breathed his last.
I still owe you something? But haven’t I brought everything to its conclusion? Isn’t the dragon vanquished and the princess happily settled? What more do you think you have coming to you, dear cousin? By the time all this was happening, you had already arrived in Belgrade. I called out from inside the cistern, and Alexander had the doors opened. I stepped outside. Covered in blood. I didn’t say a word. He looked at Novak and von Hausburg lying on the ground.
What’s that you say?
‘Were they vampires?’
‘No,’ I answered. ‘And von Hausburg is still alive.’
‘What utter madness this whole thing turned out to be! Utter madness! And to think! Just to think!’ he shouted, but gleefully.
‘To think what?’
‘Why, all those voices. The voices we were hearing. It was the army and the refugees, the first contingent from Niš. Not vampires at all, just our very own soldiers and refugees. They were outside the city gates. They all arrived today. Just like you. And your cousin, Bishop-Count Thurn and Valsassina.’
I looked at him in surprise, and suddenly he seemed shorter in my eyes, shorter than before. The light had gone out of his eyes. He was happy for the same reason as everyone else. He was ordinary, just like Schmettau in fact. And Schmidlin. And the blond count and the red count. And you, dear cousin.
That’s when you appeared as if from nowhere but just in time. You came with your imperial orders. Although I never understood how you had managed the journey from Vienna to Belgrade in only five days. You looked at us all with such distaste. Alexander bowed deeply before you. You ordered them to take von Hausburg and to provide him with the best of care.
And then you announced that General Doxat had been sentenced to death for surrendering Niš and betraying Austria. You told us that you’d been sent to offer Doxat a chance to renounce his Protestant faith and become Catholic in return for his life.
That night Nicolas Doxat refused to become your eternal subject. The next morning, before the executioner had raised his axe, Doxat called out to the fortress, ‘I made you, and now you take my life.’
The executioner made clumsy work of it. There was a great deal of chopping about. Is that what you wanted to hear? Is that what I still owed you?
Who?
Von Hausburg?
But you went with him yourself that Monday afternoon to Petrovaradin, and from there to Pest, to Vienna and on to Paris, I believe. Didn’t you? He had his new servant with him, the Serb with the stake and mallet. He didn’t even take his leave of me. He spent the whole time telling his servant about his first meeting with someone named Fishmouth. As if that story meant more to him than anything else.
As for me, I’ve nothing more to tell you. I’ve told you everything just as it was.
Now let’s hear what you have to say.