the stone circle, trailing his hands along the columns and their deep-set runes, caressing them almost lovingly. In fact, it might have been the tenderest moment of Zann’s life.
“Don’t you hear them, professor? The ancients? Calling to you? Whispering their secrets? Asking you for your help?”
“I hear only you, Dr. Zann,” I said. “Yours is pretty much the only voice I hear these days. And I tire of it.”
The grin faded. “And so it shall continue, my friend, until you give me what I want.”
“I’ve heard that threat before, too.”
“And I made good on it, did I not? You are here, aren’t you?”
“But not for long, it seems. Tell me, if you love this place so much, why would you leave it? Getting too hot for you in Berlin? Somebody find out something they shouldn’t have? About your little group, maybe? The government onto your cult, perhaps? Illegal, is it not? Occult dabblings were all well and good when you were in the wilderness, but in power? Well, then they can be quite the embarrassment. Not good for the Reich at all.”
I relished the discomfort evident in Zann, for it was unusual to see him not in control.
“The Reich,” he said, “has its eyes on this world, which I suppose, is fitting. It prepares for a thousand years of dominance, and it is even ready for whatever comes after. Did you know that all the new buildings in Germany are now being designed to make striking and impressive ruins? So that the glory of Germany will live forever, at least in memory? Quaint, isn’t it? But I have my eyes on a higher goal. An eternal one. One that never fades, never decays.”
“Then maybe you have a new torture chamber prepared for me? Going to beat the truth out of me? I’d like to see you try.”
Zann simply glared. I wondered, as I often did, if I had pushed him too far. It was true I wasn’t bound and Zann, visibly at least, was unarmed. But with only a word he could have me killed, shot down then and there. That he hadn’t done so already was a testament to how much he wanted the answers he believed I possessed. Still, unstable men can be unpredictable—and dangerous.
“Dr. Weston,” Zann began, “it seems always that you are full of questions, but so rarely full of answers.”
I laughed, and the sound of it seemed to pain him. “Must be the professor in me.”
“And there is the contradiction, or so it seems to me.” Zann pulled a chair from in front of one of the stone pillars and sat down. “One does not see the things you have seen, learn the things you have learned, without wanting to know more. Help me, and those truths will be ours.”
“You have the book, Dr. Zann. You can read it as well as I. What do you need me for?”
“I can read it, yes. But the book has secrets that would take decades to unfold. Decades that you have had. The book has chosen me, Dr. Weston. It speaks to me now. And yet even when you knew that it was a crime against nature to keep it, when you knew that it was not yours to possess, you refused to deliver it to me. In the past, men who have refused to relinquish Incendium Maleficarum have met with, how shall we say, unusual ends. And yet you live. It must have allowed you this respite for a reason. You must have a purpose as yet unfulfilled. I believe I know what that purpose is. You are destined to help me. The unknown calls to you. I know that it does.”
I just shook my head. “There’s nothing ‘unknown’ in what you want to do, nor is there anything altogether unique about it. It’s been tried before. Dozens, even hundreds of times. Throughout history. Stupid, foolish men such as yourself who seek to control things they do not understand.”
Zann grimaced. “You misjudge me, doctor,” he said, false hurt dripping from his voice. “I am neither stupid nor a fool. I seek only what all great men seek—a brighter, better day.”
“Then perhaps you are simply insane.”
Now Zann laughed, and, yes, there was a touch of
“Don’t you hear them, professor? The ancients? Calling to you? Whispering their secrets? Asking you for your help?”
“I hear only you, Dr. Zann,” I said. “Yours is pretty much the only voice I hear these days. And I tire of it.”
The grin faded. “And so it shall continue, my friend, until you give me what I want.”
“I’ve heard that threat before, too.”
“And I made good on it, did I not? You are here, aren’t you?”
“But not for long, it seems. Tell me, if you love this place so much, why would you leave it? Getting too hot for you in Berlin? Somebody find out something they shouldn’t have? About your little group, maybe? The government onto your cult, perhaps? Illegal, is it not? Occult dabblings were all well and good when you were in the wilderness, but in power? Well, then they can be quite the embarrassment. Not good for the Reich at all.”
I relished the discomfort evident in Zann, for it was unusual to see him not in control.
“The Reich,” he said, “has its eyes on this world, which I suppose, is fitting. It prepares for a thousand years of dominance, and it is even ready for whatever comes after. Did you know that all the new buildings in Germany are now being designed to make striking and impressive ruins? So that the glory of Germany will live forever, at least in memory? Quaint, isn’t it? But I have my eyes on a higher goal. An eternal one. One that never fades, never decays.”
“Then maybe you have a new torture chamber prepared for me? Going to beat the truth out of me? I’d like to see you try.”
Zann simply glared. I wondered, as I often did, if I had pushed him too far. It was true I wasn’t bound and Zann, visibly at least, was unarmed. But with only a word he could have me killed, shot down then and there. That he hadn’t done so already was a testament to how much he wanted the answers he believed I possessed. Still, unstable men can be unpredictable—and dangerous.
“Dr. Weston,” Zann began, “it seems always that you are full of questions, but so rarely full of answers.”
I laughed, and the sound of it seemed to pain him. “Must be the professor in me.”
“And there is the contradiction, or so it seems to me.” Zann pulled a chair from in front of one of the stone pillars and sat down. “One does not see the things you have seen, learn the things you have learned, without wanting to know more. Help me, and those truths will be ours.”
“You have the book, Dr. Zann. You can read it as well as I. What do you need me for?”
“I can read it, yes. But the book has secrets that would take decades to unfold. Decades that you have had. The book has chosen me, Dr. Weston. It speaks to me now. And yet even when you knew that it was a crime against nature to keep it, when you knew that it was not yours to possess, you refused to deliver it to me. In the past, men who have refused to relinquish Incendium Maleficarum have met with, how shall we say, unusual ends. And yet you live. It must have allowed you this respite for a reason. You must have a purpose as yet unfulfilled. I believe I know what that purpose is. You are destined to help me. The unknown calls to you. I know that it does.”
I just shook my head. “There’s nothing ‘unknown’ in what you want to do, nor is there anything altogether unique about it. It’s been tried before. Dozens, even hundreds of times. Throughout history. Stupid, foolish men such as yourself who seek to control things they do not understand.”
Zann grimaced. “You misjudge me, doctor,” he said, false hurt dripping from his voice. “I am neither stupid nor a fool. I seek only what all great men seek—a brighter, better day.”
“Then perhaps you are simply insane.”
Now Zann laughed, and, yes, there was a touch of