Chapter Two - Late Night at the Bluebird Inn

There were three knocks on William Rainsford's door, waking him from a fitful slumber. He crawled from the unfamiliar bed and came to the door to see a very shaken coachman before him.

"Powell, what are you doing here?" he said. "You're supposed to be watching the Savant's body."

"I...I am." said the boy, nervously tugging his hair. "He came with me."

Rainsford's sleeply mind tried to make sense of what Troy was saying. "Did you...exhume him?"

"No." said another voice. "I exhumed myself."

Standing in the gloom behind Troy was the earthly remains of Savant Viggo Helmsman, still wearing the dress uniform he'd been buried in. Rainsford retreated to his room, lit a lamp and returned to the cold, dark hallway. Holding the lantern up to Helmsman's face, he saw that it was indeed the Savant.

"Viggo, you're alive!" said Rainsford.

"Bill, look at me." said Helmsman. "It's cold in here--you can see Troy's breath and your own. Would you care to guess why mine is curiously absent? Now come on, let us inside and we'll try to work out what's going on here."

Troy lit a fire in the room's fireplace while Helmsman and Rainsford pulled the room's two chairs up to the table. Rainsford was fifty years old and had been in Helmsman's employ since the founding of Chimaera Laboratory thirty years ago. Rainsford had initially been a machinist, but had proven to be more valuable as an administrator, handling most of the public relations of Chimaera Laboratory. He still ran his lathe from time to time, and was in excellent shape as a result of operating the physically demanding machine for so much of his life. Rainsford had a full head of hair that had gone gray before he was thirty but had stuck around, crowning the leathery skin of his face. Though he looked to be purely a muscle man, his pale blue eyes hinted at the intelligence that danced behind them.

"Viggo, I saw you shot down this morning, but now you're here, walking and talking. How is this possible?" asked Rainsford.

"I don't know. I think that...that I am dead. I'm not breathing, I don't have a pulse. I can feel that it's a cold night, but the cold doesn't bother me. I can smell the embalming fluid, and Troy tells that I was mummified...and I don't think I could have survived that. I think I've become one of those dregs from Specter's Barrow." Helmsman's shoulders shrugged as if to sigh, though no air moved.

Rainsford's mind spun. "You may be right. I'm sure we can consult a necromancer from Specter's Barrow if we can get back to Ulgotha, but I'm worried. You were assassinated, Viggo. That much was clear--one shot was fired, and it killed you. Whoever did it knew exactly what they were doing. I'm afraid that whoever decided you were worth killing will try again if they find out that death hasn't stopped you. I think we should wake the others and sneak out of Geon tonight, and make for Ulgotha."

"You want to just run away?" asked Helmsman, his voice indignant. "Somebody bloody well kills me and you want to let them get away with it?"

"Viggo, we are in the hornet's nest. You're a national hero--the Imperator will not react kindly to you execution. I say we head back to Sardipa and convince Imperator Meadows to launch an investigation into what happened here."

"Damn...I hate it when you make sense." Helmsman turned to Troy. "Troy! Go wake the others, tell them there's an emergency and we're leaving the city right now."

"Yes, Savant." Troy picked up a lantern and left the room.

"Now, how do you propose to smuggle me out?" Helmsman asked Rainsford.

"Simple enough. They're expecting us to be bearing a dead body. Let them be right; just hold still and stay silent, and they'll have no idea you're more than they expect."

Helmsman scratched his chin. "Something...something doesn't seem right...there's something important I'm forgetting."

Rainsford thought for a moment. "Did anyone see you like this?"

Helmsman smacked his forehead in frustration. "Yes! Dammit, that was it! There were Guardsmen at the crypt wearing Bellaraphonian insignias! The King must know about it by now. That should ease our progress."

"No, it won't.." said Rainsford. "The assassin shot you in broad daylight with a single bolt. That tells me that someone had to see him and do nothing. They didn't catch him, either. I suspect King Rarc had a hand in this."

"The rat bastard..." muttered Helmsman. "I wouldn't put it past him. Come on, pack up what you have to, we need to move, now!"

"Agreed." said Rainsford, hurriedly dressing.

"I'll meet you at my coach. I'll play dead until we're clear to keep any of the men from getting hysterical." said Helmsman, heading for the stables.