26.
The train ride from
Munich was the Oriental Express Service then which started form Paris passing
several notable cities like Munich, Vienna, Budapest, Bucarest and then Costantinople.
If there were words to describe the service, it was a showcase of luxury and
comfort with the hypnotic rumbling of the carriage while the scenes that unfold
outside the window was unbelievably beautiful.
Lady Harkness have her
seat at the far corner with the gaslight lending her some reading time. She had
closed the window covers from the distracting lights outside. It was eventful
for her that the Orient Express was a sombre memory to her. She looked to the
journal placed at her lap. It was leather bound and the pages worn by the
constant flipping on it. Lady Harkness could recalled every word written there.
Like her, those words were immortalized in her mind.
“he
realizes he is a prisoner, but after a brief period of vocal despair (Dracula
is gone during this part of the day), he realizes he must keep his wits about
him in order to survive and, eventually, escape. Harkness plans not to let on
to Dracula that he, Harkness, knows he is a prisoner. When Dracula returns for
the day, Harkness sees him making a bed in a room in the castle, thus proving
Dracula is the only other person there.”
Her love then was a
prisoner within the physical walls of the Count but she was his prisoner by
curse on the bites he had rendered on her neck. Lady Harkness then
instinctively reached for the two puncture marks on her neck.
“Was it a curse or a
blessing?” Lady Harkness muttered to herself. She had contemplated suicide and
other forms of death so that her curse then will end but her wounds healed
themselves over time. The slashes and the maimed will join once attached as if
it was never removed. When the Count disappeared, she had left the continent
for a search for her ailment. With the generosity of the Count, she was
entrusted with the means to travel but above it all, the curse had retained her
beauty and increased lust for men. She had been with several but the short
affairs were to extract more wealth and at times influence. She had not
forgotten Jonathan after his death but her soul needed redemption from
loneliness. She had travel to the other main continent and even to the far land
of the eastern province of the warrior ways. She was offered an end with the
removal of her head but her will defeated her then. She travelled back to the
more civilised land and went on a spree of adventure to end at the tip of the
continent before she boarded the ship back to Europe and then England.
“England?” She cursed
at it but it was then she heard of the advancement made by the medical sciences
and sought her cure but in vain. It was Mycroft who found her instead and with
a promise of adventure once more she was here.
“May I join you?” Van
Helsing did not wait for the reply and sat down. “You are an amazing lady. My
predecessor spoke …”
“Too much like you. Mr
Helsing, I am not keen to talk. I need to rest and enjoyed my reading
….alone.” Lady Harkness dismissed the
younger man and he took the cue to move on. He soon joined the Holmes brothers
and Watson. He plunked on the available seat and saw them stared at him.
“I am sure you need
four to play Bridge.” Lady Jane heard the slayer trying to justify his seat.
She then looked at the man opposite her crouched with the knees drawn up. She
wanted to reach for him but she knew his moods. He was thinking of the past
events. He may be a civilised but a major part of his mind was still back there
with the apes. She stood up and went for the bathroom. She found it at the rear
and went in. Once inside, she sat down on the seat there and cradled her face
with her hands. It was her personal sanctum then.
Across the continent,
the rider went for the lone cabin on the northern steppe but he was not
stopping. At the lone cabin, another rider was preparing to ride the next
stretch with the fresh mount. It was the older way of sending the messages by
the steppe to the far east and was favoured by the Mandarin The first rider did
not slowed down and the second rider intercepted him in the path with the same
speed before taking the canister from the first rider. Once the canister was
passed, the second rider slung it across his chest and then rode on. The first
rider then slowed before he dropped off the saddle.
Further to the eastern
side of the steppe and then past the desert to the dry sands outside of the
city named as Tientsin and into a huge Chinese designed mansion that stretched
over two lakes and one huge pavilion that could accommodate over five hundred
seating. It was occupied that day with the full audience all facing the one
person that they revered to more than the Emperor.
“Brothers, I am pleased
that you are all present.” If one was to refuse the invitation, there would be
major retribution. No one ignores the Mandarin order unless he held the whole Ming
Dynasty army behind him but that was just rumours. No one really command the
entire army.
“I am here to tell you
that my counterpart in the Western continent have immobilized the government
and will soon be taking over. We will do the same here.” The man who spoke sat
on the high throne seat sported a thin long grey beard with his slant eyes
giving him a sharp edged expression dressed in a yellow cloak over his red
mandarin suit with the high collar. He wore the yellowed knee high fleeced
boots and held a bejewelled broad sword in the yellow scabbard with the motifs
of the dragon. On his hat was the Ming Dynasty headgear with the huge jade on
it.
“I am here to celebrate
that there will be a new dynasty.” The assembled cheered. “But before we
celebrate let me showcase one other event that reflect our loyalty and
discipline.”
The guards brought in
the two figures in chains. One was an oriental and the other was an European.
They were striped to only their pants and were marched in barefooted. The two
chained man were brought up to the Mandarin.
“The new dynasty
favoured the ones that know how to take order and perform it.” The Mandarin
looked to the condemned figures. “You have all failed me. For that the sentence
is death.”
“Mandarin, we were
close to the findings.” The European called out. “The bones you found gave us
some good details on the origin.”
“Your findings will
continue without you. We have others who can continue on. You however may still
communicate with the new masters of yours when they join you.” The Mandarin
replied. It was then a screen of iron grilled bars was rolled in and then it
surrounded the two condemned figures. They rushed to the grilled bars but were
driven back by the guards who had stood outside the screen. A cage was brought in
and it contained a creature named the Tiger or to be more organized South China
Tiger. It was a native creature to the provinces of Southern China. It’s the
ancestor of all other tigers.
“The fable of Wu Sung
that slay the tiger was told by many but today we will witnessed it once more.”
The Mandarin signalled the cage to be brought to the screen. A catch was
released and the trap door opened to release the hungry tiger to the enclosure
with the two figures.
None at the pavilion
heard the cries for mercy but they saw the mauling and then the feasting.
“By golly, they do
spread a huge feast here.” That was Mycroft visibly delighted at the lunch
spread when they arrived on the steamer ship that leaving Istanbul for Calcutta
on West Bengal.
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