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lungful of air and blinked several times like a myopic bat and looked around. |
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"They were successful?" the goateed man asked. |
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The Dark Man rose, stretched and shook his head. "Two were damaged before they hatched and the two that did emerge were no match for the loup-garou." |
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"You do not sound surprised." |
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"The Guédé were merely a test. If they had been successful, that would have been incredibly good luck. But I needed to know how powerful the man has become." |
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"He is still confused. I do not believe he has accepted the reality of what he has become and it weakens him." |
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"Then why do you not use all your powers to destroy them before the man's powers grow?" |
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The Dark Man's eyes bored into his apprentice. "That would not have been necessary if that hairless imbecile had not infected the white man with his bite. Now, at such a distance, it will be difficult to marshal the necessary powers. And as long as the man lives, I cannot reach the woman. We may have to face them directly." |
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"You mean in person? How will we know where they are?" |
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After giving his assistant a list of ingredients to gather from the swamp around the cabin, the Dark Man took a seat in the chair and slowly rocked back and forth. He was perturbed, but he dared not let the goateed man see it. During his trance, as his mind had struggled to maintain contact with the ancient reptiles, he had felt the presence of others around him in the ether. His surprise had been such that at the critical moment in the battle with the white man he had been distracted. |
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The Dark Man got up and went to the window. His skinny assistant was down on his knees beside a log. Around him, the moonlight transformed the bog into a surreal canvas of black mud and black trees, hung with stringy black mosses. Giant spiderwebs of spun moonbeams draped like lace curtains |
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