The Black Throne

He nodded.

"The man drives a hard bargain."

"If he were me he'd have brought his own athletic team, to keep the other two honest."

He clapped me on the shoulder.

"Spoken like a true soldier," he observed. "One of the reasons I hired you. You're going to have to tell me all about your odyssey when this thing's done."

"What is Von Kempelen's edge, anyhow?"

"He's got something we want," he said.

"And after you get it how does he walk out of here?"

He took a deep draw on his cigar and let it go. He showed me a lot of teeth then, but said nothing.

"Care to see his lab?"

"I want to see A

"She's probably there."

"What happens to her," I asked, "when this is all over?"

"She's the greatest natural psychic in the world, you know."

"What does that mean?"

"A powerhouse like that is worth money in a lot of other endeavors."

"What if she doesn't want to work?"

"She's becoming dependent upon certain chemicals. She'll work for them."

I felt tears come into my eyes.

"I'm glad you're not my father," I said, on impulse.

He stepped back as if I had struck him. My hand was on the hilt of my blade. I let it drop. I still needed him.

"And I'm not Poe's father either," he said through clenched teeth.

"Never said you were. Do you have any children?"

He turned away.

"None to speak of," he said.

I followed him in what I took to be a northerly direction.

"You hate me, don't you?" he asked, after a time.

"That's right."

He paused at the head of a wide stone stairway. He turned and leaned back against the wall.

"I'd like to clear that up before tonight."

"So that's what you meant about my timing?"

He nodded.

"Tonight's the night. But you must have known that, at some level."

"I guess I did."

"I get to keep all the gold," he said then. "But I had to surrender a lot of my holdings, including most of this place."

"And A

He nodded again.

"But I'm going to want you on my side tonight, Perry, when it's time to pick up the pieces. Yes, I promised them A

They're going to have to be happy with the real estate, the jewels, the foreign holdings. I get the gold, you get A

"You're too Byzantine, Ellison," I said, "too Machiavellian. There's no way I could trust a man like you even if I wanted to."

He sighed. Then he stared downward at his feet. A full minute must have gone by. Either he really had at one time been an actor or there was a great internal struggle in progress.

Then, "All right," he said, and he reached beneath his dressing gown and withdrew a silver flask. He unscrewed its top, removed it and waved it under my nose. It smelled like whisky.

He filled the top, which was the size of a shot glass, and he tossed it off in a single swallow. Then he refilled it and extended it toward me. I accepted it and did the same.

"I crossed over by accident myself, during a strange storm," he said, "apparently in exchange for my counterpart. So I knew it could be done. It took me a long time to figure how it might be managed—which is how I first came to know Griswold and Templeton. We worked together to discover the means. But they'd gotten greedy on a recent deal." He offered me the flask again. I declined. He took another slug himself, capped it, and put it away. "So I've no qualms about reneging on part of a deal with them. If the lady really means that much to you, she's yours."

I sat down on the top step, massaged my brow.

"Consanguinity makes these things easier," he said at last.

"Damn you, sir," I said.

"I'm not asking filial piety, just cooperation," he said. "We'll finesse these bastards and come out on top.

I'll get my gold, you'll get your A

"Your troops look pretty evenly matched to me."

"I've reserves they don't know about," he said. "They show up on cue, the balance gets tipped, nobody fights. We all back away from each other, snarling and go about our business."

"What about Von Kempelen?"

"What about him?"

"He gets to live."

"Why?"

I remembered the old popeyed man who'd given us a cup of tea back in Paris and shown concern for our welfare as we scrambled away over the rooftops. True, he was venal. But he was not a killer, not a madman, not a predator. But I couldn't say this, and even if I did, it would mean nothing.

"Because that's how I want it," I answered him.

He made as if to reach for the flask again, thought better of it, let his hand fall.

"It'd mean my watching him for the rest of his life, to see he doesn't try the gold trick again."

I felt the left corner of my mouth quirk upward.

"Think you can afford that?" I asked.

"Damn you, sir," he quoted. "If that's what it takes, you've got it. Shall we shake on it?"

"No."

He dropped his cigar to the floor and stepped on it.

"All right then," he observed. "Between you and me, now, everything must be staged. We block out the action, we agree upon our cues. We have our entrances and our exits... ."

We entered the deep cellar, illuminated by torch and candle, a bit later in the day. The setup was somehow reminiscent of the arrangement on the worktable in Von Kempelen's Paris apartment, only on a much vaster scale. There were several ovens cooking things. There were jars and vials and alembics and retorts. But the majority of the chemicals occupied large vats, arranged about the floor in some pattern I did not understand. A massive quantity of dark metal was stacked upon a tarpaulin at the room's center. A

She looked our way as we entered, let go the rods and came to me. I held her.

"I knew you'd come," she said, "today."

Von Kempelen looked our way.

"I know you," he said. "You was with the little man—and the monkey."

I nodded.

"I get around." Then, "Come on, A

She looked to Von Kempelen.

"Go ahead. You can finish charging it later," he said.

I took her out of there and up the stairs and through the halls and gallery and out into the garden, leaving them there below.

A long while later, as we lay amid beauty and sunlight, regarding golden trees, I remarked, "So the process involves mesmerism?"

She nodded, she yawned.

"It's the secret ingredient in such transmutation on a large scale," she explained, "a special kind of mesmerism."

"Oh," I said. " 'Special?' In what way?"

"Other-worldly energy," she replied. "There will be a vast flux of it when the door for Poe's return is finally closed."

"And that takes place tonight, during the work?"

"They would like it to,'' she said, "but it shan't. I haven't been keeping it open all this time for their benefit."

"You've lost me."

She smiled.

"No, I haven't lost anyone yet. Not even Poe. I plan to give them their gold and get him back, too. The three of us will finally be together, here."

"I am not a scientist," I said, "and my training as a mesmerist is far from complete. But even without knowing the mathematics that must prop such matters, I'm sure of one thing: The universe doesn't give you something for nothing. What's the price?"

She smiled again.

"Mr. Ellison does not know that I am aware of his secret," she said. "He is from that Earth. Therefore, I can exchange him for Poe and then close the door. We will be reunited, and Mr. Griswold will be extremely grateful."