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way it means that we can only check it by daylight. We'd better do it now, though, if there are going to
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be Gipsy guards around later."
"What exactly do you want to check?"
"I want you to slither down into the place and see whether it's suitable or whether there's not enough
left for it to be our center. I'm too big to fit down the opening. I'll stand watch above and let you know if
anyone comes by."
"I'll do it," he hissed. "Let's be on our way."
We started out.
"And you'll have to use your imagination, too. It may look bad, but if it could easily be enlarged by a
few men with picks and shovels, tell me."
"Does this mean that Larry Talbot is a player?"
"It doesn't matter," I said. "It's one of the places it might be."
"What are the others?"
"Let's not get greedy," I said.
We made our way through the wood. When we reached the clearing there were no Gipsies about,
nor anyone else.
"Check the crypt first," I said. "You've gotten me wondering whether he's still using it."
Quicklime slithered into its opening. A little later he returned.
"He's there," he reported, "and so's Needle. Both of them are asleep."
"Good. All right. Try the church now."
I paced about, sniffing the breezes, watching the trees. No one was near, no one approached.
In a little while Quicklime emerged.
"No," he said. "It's a complete disaster, filled with dirt and rocks. Nothing's left. We'd have to start
over again and rebuild."
I approached the opening, forced myself in as far as I could. It narrowed quickly to the crack down
which he had taken his way.
"How far back in that crack did you get?"
"Ten feet, maybe. There were two side ways off of it. Neither goes as far."
I believed him, from what I could see.
"So what does it mean?" he asked.
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"That this isn't the place," I replied.
"Then what is?"
I thought quickly. I didn't like giving anything to the competition. But in this case one real fact could be
misleading; and it was a fact he'd learn sooner or later, anyhow.
I backed out of the opening, turned toward the woods.
"Vicar Roberts," I said, "has a good disguise as a fanatic churchman. . . ."
"What do you mean?"
"He's a player."
"You're joking!"
"No. He holds midnight services to the Elder Gods, right there in the church."
"The vicar . . . ?"
"Check it out," I told him.
"What does that do to the pattern?"
"I've calculated that if we count the vicar and drop Larry Talbot that places the vicarage and the
church at the center of the pattern. This isn't final if the Count is moving around, of course, but that's how
it looks right now if we figure it this way."
"The vicar . . ." he repeated.
We entered the woods.
"So," he said after a while, "if the Count has a home away from home, or two, we need to find out
whether they were established before or after the death of the moon."
"Yes," I agreed. Everything was frozen at that point. Death, relocation, withdrawal of a player, all of
these shifted things about only before that time. Afterwards, we could kill each other or move about as
we wished without disturbing the geometry of the business. "If there were a way of getting Needle to talk,
we could find out."
"Hm," said Quicklime.
It occurred to me as we passed among the trees that I could be wrong, that I had just given him the
correct information. But it seemed to me that the weight of Larry's presence, along with that anticipation
business he spoke of, made him too big an influence on the game _not_ to count him as a player, whether
he collected ingredients and wove dueling spells, protections, opening spells, closing spells, or not. With
him included, along with the vicar, it had to be that old manse rather than the church. And the
oft-restored place looked as if it went back far enough to have a chapel around somewhere, or
something that had once been a chapel.
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Besides, it wasn't really a bad thing to reveal the vicar for what he was. The others would start doing
things to skew his efforts once the word was out.
"So what about watching the Count's comings and goings?" I asked.
"Let's hold off on it, Snuff," he hissed. "No need to bring the others into this yet. I've a much better
idea for finding out about the Count's doings."
"Even with the Gipsies about?"
"Even so."
"What've you got in mind?"
"Let me pursue it on my own for a day or two. I promise I'll share it with you, after this. In fact, it
would be a good idea. I think you're a better calculator than Rastov."
"All right. We'll hold off."
We parted at the edge of the wood, him going left, me right. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]

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