Wolfweir by A. G. Hardy Read Free Book Online

the Seine. Vesuvio had taken away my clothes. The boatman took me to the police, and, well, you know the rest. Lord and Lady Blackgore have hunted me since. At last they found out where I was being kept, and also who was keeping me locked away in that big building. Then after observing your parents and yourself in the Bois they schemed a way to have you, little Alphonse, release me from my cell. So that they could do the full moon ceremony."
     
    Why not free you themselves?
     
    "As I have said, Vampyres like not to take risks. They do not wish ever to be in danger. So, instead, they scheme to have others do the filthy work for them."
     
    Alphonse, almost choking on the rising bile of rage and horror, chalked:
     
    And so I brought you back to that rotten beast, Vesuvio .
     
    Lucia touched his wooden wrist softly with her fingertips.
     
    "Yes. But then, of course, you also rescued me with your sword. At the risk of your own life, you fought Vesuvio and Lord and Lady Blackgore , ah my brave and loving friend."
     
    Alphonse looked down, nearly faint with emotion. After a while, he chalked: Stop them. We. Must.
     
    "Oh yes," Lucia said. "Do not worry. But we must make our way to Wolfweir , first. My father the great king will help you to kill this Lord and Lady Vampyres and free your parents from the hideous spell. And then we will also find a way to free you and the other puppet boys enslaved by Vesuvio's magics ."
     
    Yes, Alphonse thought. It was the only way. How could he, a little puppet, do it all by himself? They must go to Lucia's kingdom and seek the help of the Man Wolf King and this esoteric Blood Amulet. You can only fight strong dark ancient magic with stronger darker and even more ancient magic. Right? It stood to reason. But maybe his puppet head wasn't thinking too clearly. Never mind.
     
    He tucked the schoolboy slate into his vest, and put the chalk into a trouser pocket. He stood. He was ready.
     
    Exit
     
    Much as Alphonse wished to see his parents again, he knew it would be useless, senseless, and unconscionably dangerous to try to sneak into the hospital where they lay stunned and comatose, blood-sucked, with or without the wolf girl. You could assume the Vampyres had other people beside magical gypsies in their pay. Guards, orderlies, concierges, fruit-sellers, gendarmes. No. Better to get to Wolfweir and take it from there. But how?
     
    **
     
    Lucia, tossing her radiant hair back, asks: "Do you have some money?"
     
    Alphonse nods his puppet head.
     
    "Maybe even enough for the train?"
     
    Alphonse takes out his chalk and slate:
     
    Yes but which way?
     
    "Over the Alps is the quickest way to my kingdom. Through Germany to the north of Italy near the border with Switzerland. Then we must hike and climb. I will recognize the valley by its flowers."
     
    Alphonse went to his father's study and found a blue train schedule. He brought it back and unfolded it and placed it before Lucia. She bent over it, her lips pursed.
     
    "Ah," she said. " C'est la."
     
    Putting her index finger on a line in the schedule.
     
    Alphonse, standing on his puppet toes to peer over Lucia's shoulder, read: Milan Express, departing from the Gare du Nord, twelve o'clock. Overnight. Wagon lits .
     
    There were a number of stops scheduled. The train would cross the Alps and arrive in Milan late the following night. Yet they, puppet Alphonse and golden Lucia, wouldn't go as far as Milan. They'd jump the train someplace in the mountains, likely enough before sunrise.
     
    An adventure. Climbing. Sneaking about. Dangerous stuff. All to the good. Like the breathless plotting of a serial novel. Maybe it would take some of the black, clinging despair out of Alphonse's puppet heart.
     
    (Once, Alphonse rode on this train with his parents -- it happened when he was very small. He remembers the smells of steam, smoke, rain, and pipe tobacco, and the jolting night landscape, and the sudden beaming arc lights of the remote