by Tony Evans
‘Why yes!’ I cried. ‘On my first visit to Transylvania, when I so narrowly escaped the attentions of the three who attempted to ensnare me – the former Jadwiga, Anna and Sophie, I presume – they were dressed in the finest garments of silk and silver thread, and their necklaces and armlets were of gold and precious stones.’
‘And yet the ornaments and clothing seen by Father Filimon were of a much more humble nature,’ Van Helsing said. ‘The jewellery was tarnished, and therefore made of base metal or cheap plate. What little clothing that remained was made of peasant cloth.’
‘Could not the valuable items have been taken by the youths who first found the coffins?’ Mina asked.
Van Helsing shook his head. ‘If there had been no jewellery found in the coffins, you might be correct. But why should a thief replace good quality objects with cheap ones?’
I glanced at Mina: from her expression, it seemed that she was thinking the same as I – we both realised the import of what the Professor was saying. Although the coffins may have contained three corpses, it was all too possible that the corpses were not those of Dracula’s three disciples. And if Jadwiga, Anna and Sophie were not safely dead, then despite the destruction of their master they might still remain a threat…
*
It was not long afterwards that we found ourselves at the outer gates of the courtyard of the vast ruined castle, its broken battlements looming above us. When I had last entered it late one night five years ago, the courtyard gates had been firmly closed, and had to be parted on their rusty hinges to allow me to enter. Now one of the pair had been smashed aside, and hung drunkenly by one corner. It was not difficult to see how the massive portal had been forced open: next to it lay a roughly-hewn tree trunk, one end splintered where it had been used as a battering ram. After the destruction of Count Dracula the exultant peasants had burned and looted his castle until there was little of value left.
When I looked up at the blackened windows which pierced the walls above me I was relieved that it would not be necessary for me to revisit the scene of my captivity, and to relive the shock and dismay that afflicted me when I realised the true nature of the Count. According to Father Filimon, the crypt where the three coffins were to be found lay beneath the northern part of the courtyard, accessed through a narrow archway down a flight of steps: and so it proved to be.
At my insistence I led the way, my travelling bag in my hand. Amongst other items it contained a box of phosphor matches and a small oil lamp to light our way once the remnants of illumination from the stairway had vanished. Mina walked behind me, and Van Helsing brought up the rear, he too carrying a valise that he had brought with him from Vienna.
At the bottom of the short flight of stone stairs we were faced with a low, narrow but strongly constructed door of ancient oak. To my surprise it opened at a touch, swinging inward as if the hinges had been recently oiled.
I lit my oil lamp and stepped inside the large, stone built chamber. This was the old castle mausoleum, just as Father Filimon had described it. Deep recesses lined the walls on every side, but the neat rows of coffins which had once occupied them had been pulled to the floor and smashed open: when the angry mob had invaded the castle after the destruction of Count Dracula, it was clear that they had come here as well. Their object had been more than mere vandalism: some of the skeletons which lay upon the floor showed evidence of snapped wrists and finger bones, where rings and bracelets had been torn from the corpses of their long-dead owners.
Van Helsing and I had not yet spoken to Mina about the instructions which the priest had given us: she consequently surveyed the grisly carnage with dismay.
‘I don’t see how we are to find the three coffins amongst all this destruction!’ she cried. ‘Was this the scene that Father Filimon found?’
‘It was,’ I said. ‘But he told us of a further hiding place.’
I took out my pocket book and consulted my notes. A low stone plinth lay close to the far wall, just as the priest had described. It was just light enough to allow Van Helsing and me to push it to one side, revealing a square flagstone beneath it. Set in the centre of the stone was an iron ring. It was large enough to allow all three of us to grip it, and with an effort we first lifted it clear of the recess below, then slid it to one side.
When I stood above the cavity I expected to see darkness. Instead I was surprised to find that the short iron ladder which led to the floor below was illuminated with a dull light.
Van Helsing stood next to me, and I touched his arm. ‘How can that be?’ I said.
‘There must be an aperture below, leading to the outside,’ he said. ‘Let me go first, Jonathan. Then you can follow with Mina.’
The Professor lowered himself through the opening and clambered the few feet to the floor.
‘It’s just as Father Filimon described!’ he called up to me.
Mina went next, and I followed after. Soon the three of us were standing in a small chamber no more than ten feet square. It was now clear to us from whence the dim light came: a barred grating perhaps six inches wide, set high in the far wall.
‘I think I understand,’ Mina said. ‘We’re now beneath the north wall of the courtyard. The ground below it drops off sharply, as we saw when we neared the Castle. That small opening must overlook the outside.
‘Or be connected to it by a short tunnel,’ Van Helsing said. ‘A clever arrangement – it provides ventilation, and light during the daytime. With no chance of entry to anything bigger than a rat.’
As the Professor spoke my attention was drawn to the three black coffins in one corner of the crypt. When I wiped the dirt off the nearest with my handkerchief a glossy black surface was revealed, perhaps japanned wood or polished ebony. Both the lids and the sides of the coffins were inlaid with a complex pattern in gold or gilt: if pure gold, the inlays must have been of great value. Without more ado I took a long-bladed screwdriver from my bag and started to prise open the first coffin lid. At the first touch of the tool the lid slid to the floor.
The three of us leaned forward to look inside. There was nothing to be seen except a rich lining of padded silk, as pure and unsullied by corruption as it might have been when the coffin maker first installed it.
Quickly I opened the other two coffins, to find them each the same.
‘What can this mean?’ I said, struggling with the implications of our discovery.
Mina turned towards me. ‘Someone must have removed the corpses seen by Father Filimon. Surely this must be a good sign, Jonathan. It is now still some hours before sunset, and vampires only leave their resting place in the hours of darkness. If the three acolytes were still at large, then they would be here now, in their coffins in front of us.’
Van Helsing shook his head. ‘That would be so – if these three coffins were their only sanctuary. Be as we all know from our dealings with the Count, such creatures like to have more than one resting place at their disposal. I suspect that if the vampires are still at large, these empty coffins are just one of the several places where they can lurk in the hours of daylight. It’s our misfortune that they aren’t here today, when we might have destroyed them.’
I felt a sudden chill at the Professor’s words. If the three she-demons were secreted elsewhere in the castle, we should leave now whilst we still could. Then as I was about to speak, I heard a faint noise in the room above.
Van Helsing heard it too. ‘We’ve been fools!’ he cried. ‘One of us should have waited above to guard the stairs.’
He rushed to the base of the short iron ladder, but had only climbed two rungs before the heavy flagstone dropped into place with a dull thud above his head. Immediate Van Helsing pressed up upwards on it with all his strength, but then another sound was heard. It could only have been the stone plinth being pulled back over the entrance. Now even the three strongest in the world would not be able to raise the stone that blocked our exit.
Chapter 11
The three of us reacted
to this new disaster surprisingly calmly. At Van Helsing’s suggestion, we each examined a segment of the floor and walls of our prison in minute detail, in case there was some further means of exit which had been cunningly concealed from us. After ten minutes it was clear that no such solution to our problem offered itself.
Mina sat down heavily on one of the empty coffins and sighed. ‘If only this was an episode in one of my novels, our troubles would be over,’ she said with a smile. ‘Jonathan would press upon a corner of the wall, and it would swing open to reveal a path to freedom.’
‘Unless you were writing a tale of Gothic horror,’ I said. ‘In which case, the secret entrance would lead to a pit of snakes, or an ante-room to the Inquisition.’
As we spoke Van Helsing stood directly beneath the small square grating which allowed dim light to penetrate the chamber.
‘I’m pleased you are in good spirits,’ he said sombrely. ‘I believe we may all need them before much longer. Now, let us place all three coffins one upon the other. If Mina then stands on the topmost, Jonathan and I will lift her bodily into the air. When your face is opposite the grill, my dear, you will be able to see what lies outside this dungeon.’
We did as the Professor had instructed, and after a rather breathless Mina had safely survived the experience she shook her head. ‘Just a patch of grey sky,’ she said. ‘There’s a short tunnel about six inches square and four feet long between the outside opening and the inner grill. It appears to pass through solid stone.’
‘Then it will be pointless to try to enlarge the opening,’ I said. ‘Now, let us consider what we may attempt. I have my screwdriver – but no other tools.’
‘And I a heavy mallet,’ the Professor said. ‘And a bundle of wooden stakes.’
As he spoke I caught Mina’s eye. It was clear that Van Helsing had come prepared for the worst.
‘Neither are enough to break through the stone trapdoor,’ I said. ‘Although if we can think of nothing better, we shall have to attempt it. Abraham and I can take turns to mount the iron ladder and use my screwdriver as a makeshift chisel.’
We all paused to consider that depressing prospect, which would end with our deaths by thirst and starvation as surely as if we had chosen instead to spend our last hours playing noughts and crosses on the walls.
Mina broke the silence. ‘Before we consider what next to do, I have a confession to make,’ she said. ‘You both recall that when we left the Inn this morning I suggested that we should tell someone about our destination?’
‘And I like an idiot persuaded you otherwise!’ Van Helsing cried in exasperation. ‘But do go on.’
‘I confess I was not fully convinced,’ Mina said. ‘So before we left I returned to our room on some pretext and left an envelope clearly visible on the bedside table. It was addressed to Notary Cezar Dimov, and I placed a short note inside which merely said that the three of us had left for Dracula’s Castle at half-past nine this morning, and would be back before dusk.’
I jumped to my feet and clapped my hands in joy. ‘Bravo, Mina! Thank God you did not return to Vienna as I wished. Believe me, I will never try to dissuade you from sharing my adventures again. With luck we will be saved. Remember that our horses are tethered outside! By tomorrow morning at the latest I expect us to have been missed, and a search party sent out. Rather than waste our time pointlessly trying to chip through a foot of granite, I suggest we conserve our energies for the morning. Then from daybreak onwards we can take turns yelling through that grill.’
Van Helsing walked to the base of the iron ladder and looked up to the stone above.
‘I would not dispute that course of action. However, without wishing to depress you both, remember that there is another factor in this equation. Stone flags and granite plinths do not move of their own accord. Someone has intentionally trapped us here. As the act has occurred in the daytime, I believe that a human entity was responsible, but that does not obviate the threat they pose. Will they be content to let us starve to death? Or will they even now be plotting a more sure and safe way to dispose of us? Unfortunately all we can do is sit here until dawn, and see what happens.’
*
Since there was no other course of action open to us that is exactly what we did. Gradually the dull light that had penetrated our chamber dimmed, until imperceptibly we found ourselves in inky darkness. I dare say that a cat might have made do with the vestiges of moonlight which must have penetrated through the small tunnel from outside, but to us all was invisible. There seemed little point in wasting our matches and oil lamp, as it would have served no purpose.
I must eventually have succumbed to an uncomfortable and fitful sleep, since suddenly I found myself jerked back to consciousness. I felt Mina touch my arm.
‘Did you hear that, Jonathan?’ she asked. ‘A scraping noise – I’m sure of it.’
I heard nothing for a moment. Then came the sound of the granite plinth being dragged away from the stone trap door above us. I felt urgently for my matches and lit the little oil lamp, as Mina shook Van Helsing into wakefulness. As the sound above continued, the Professor pulled his mallet from his bag and took up station at the foot of the iron ladder.
He did not need to tell Mina and me what he was about. Who could say what would soon appear? It seemed unlikely that a search party would have been dispatched so soon from Urmuz, and in darkness, when the Brezlau Way would be most treacherous. I stepped next to Van Helsing, my screwdriver in my hand. Mina stood alongside me, clutching one of the wooden stakes that our friend had brought with him.
The square flagstone above us was lifted suddenly upwards and light flooded into our chamber. A head and shoulders filled the space – and I was filled with blessed relief! It was the young Notary, Cezar Dimov. Somehow he must have found Mina’s letter soon after we had failed to return. No doubt a large party had travelled over the pass with him, plentifully supplied with lanterns to see their way.
Mina was helped up first, then Van Helsing and I clambered up after her. I expected to see others there in the ransacked mausoleum, but Dimov stood alone. The bright light that had flooded our recent prison came not from a lantern, but from a primitive burning torch that had been thrust into a sconce next to the door, flaming and smoking as it might have done when the abbot still inhabited the building.
I had little time to speculate on this strange scene before it altered most horribly. I stepped back involuntarily as Mina gasped in shock, clutching my arm. Even Van Helsing seemed shaken.
The Notary was standing between us and the small doorway which led from the mausoleum to the foot of the stares. Behind him, three figures slipped with unnatural, snake-like agility through the narrow entrance. I recognised them immediately as the terrifying creatures who had nearly recruited me to their realm of evil five years ago: the dark haired Jadwiga and Anna, and the blonde Sophie. All three were strikingly beautiful – and as I now knew, deadly.
They stepped forward in an unnaturally synchronised movement, so that they were now in front of the Notary, and only a few feet away from us. I saw Mina cast a glance behind her at the still-open trap door, then look at me and shake her head. I was sure that she had thought the same as me: it be would impossible for us to reach the lower crypt before the three women attacked us, and even if we did our situation would hardly be improved.
For a second or two we stood in a frozen tableaux. Van Helsing spoke to Mina and me in an urgent whisper.
‘Beware of their strength, both of you. They may look like young women, but each has the power of ten men. Jonathan, you and I will grapple with them. Mina, you must somehow escape through the door.’
As Van Helsing spoke I could see that Dimov had moved with his back to the wall, on the left of the three creatures. It was of great credit to him that he had not himself tried to flee. His face was blank and expressionless, no doubt affected by the shock of what he was seeing. Would he join the three of us in the fatal conflict that was surely to come? I knew
my wife too well to believe that she would follow Van Helsing’s advice, and try to escape alone.
The fair haired woman – Sophie – took a step closer, looking at Mina with a ghastly smile of anticipation, her white teeth brilliant against her red lips. Like her two raven-haired companions, she projected a peculiarly unsettling aura of malignancy combined with sensual attraction. Her eyes were like pale, luminous sapphires, whilst those of Lady Jadwiga and Lady Anna shone with an unnatural, piercing red.
With a sudden movement which belied his bulky physique Van Helsing reached into his valise and withdrew his heavy wooden mallet. In an instant he leapt forward and struck the advancing Sophie a vicious blow on the side of her head. Any mortal would have dropped down dead from the assault, but the creature merely staggered backwards under the impact. Before the professor could advance further, her two evil companions threw themselves upon him, and all three crashed to the floor.
One of the dark-haired women twisted Van Helsing’s arm in an effort to make him drop the mallet, exposing the back of her neck to me as she did so. Overcoming my natural revulsion, I plunged my screwdriver up to the handle in her smooth and flawless flesh.
The effect of my onslaught was as surprising as it was unexpected. There was no spurt of blood, and the vampire paid no more attention than she would have done if a fly had alighted upon her. Van Helsing’s weapon clattered down upon the floor. As I bent down to pick it up, his adversary struck me with the back of her hand. The blow felt as if a prize-fighter had hit me with his fist, and I was flung backwards in a daze. Through blurred eyes I looked across the room at an appalling sight. The second dark haired monster had pushed my struggling wife to the floor, grasping her by the hair. The being’s mouth was about to descend on Mina’s neck, with the certainty of a horrible fate awaiting her.
I staggered to my feet, determined to intervene, however hopeless our resistance. I called to Dimov him for assistance, but he still stood impassively in the corner as if deaf and dumb to the mortal struggle unfolding in front of his eyes.