Post by Lorpius Prime on Mar 26, 2007 0:27:20 GMT -5
The room Jay Thomson found himself in was dusty, it was cramped, and it smelled of old wood. The lantern was still rocking on the hook from which he’d hung it, warping shadows as it moved.
Jay was letting water run over his hands in the dirty little washbasin tucked away in a corner. He wouldn’t have wanted to live here, and from the bunks it looked like at least four people did. Or had at one time.
There’d been a room like this at the Blake manor when they’d first acquired it. Jay’s father had had it renovated into a much more livable space for the butler alone, and built an annex with comfortable quarters for the rest of the small host of servants.
If Münchhausen had ever had any servants living in this house, Jay didn’t think they were here anymore. He didn’t think any human could live in this place. What that said about the Baron himself, Jay carefully avoided thinking about.
He stripped out of his mud-caked outer clothing and draped them over the side of a metal tub. He wasn’t at all sure what to do about getting them washed here. He really hated the thought of losing almost all of his good clothing in just a couple days.
Now padding about in just his damp undergarments, Jay picked up the lantern again and went looking for a change. He found a tall wardrobe beside one of the beds and set the lantern down precariously atop the mattress for want of something better.
He opened the doors of the wardrobe and immediately starting hacking at the amount of dust which billowed out from within. He waited a moment for the cloud to settle while his eyes watered painfully. There were some old coats hanging in the wardrobe that Jay didn’t even want to touch. To his relief, however, he discovered a chest beneath them that seemed to be made out of cedar. He opened the chest to find some folded clothing inside. They were dusty themselves, and the wood smell was pungent, but at least it looked like he would now have something to wear.
The trousers did not fit well. He had suspenders to hold them up, but they still hung very loose about his waist, enough so that he wished for a belt as well.
Thankfully, though, he wouldn’t have show off the ill-fitting pants to anyone else. Among the contents of the chest he found a nice baggy overcoat to cover his baggy trousers. It wasn’t high-class by any standard, but it was weatherproof and it was comfortable. Jay slid it on over his shirt and waistcoat and did up the large buttons to conceal his waistline.
And then he found the real gem in the treasure trove.
He had to blow out another mountain of dust to be sure, but once he finished sneezing and could open his eyes again, Jay was quite giddy. When he pulled it off of the top shelf, it was exactly what he’d suspected. He held in his hands a leather buckled steeple hat which seemed to be in fine condition. It wasn’t his trusty homburg and it was a little old-fashioned, but at least in the rain it wouldn’t turn into a wet rag like the cap he’d thrown into the tub.
He’d retrieved the lamp and was reaching for the doorknob to leave again when he checked himself. Stepping back to his discarded clothing, Jay took his grandfather’s prayer-book from out of his muddied jacket. He also dug in the outer pockets, but found that he’d apparently left his notepad and pen in their carriage. That was unfortunate, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now. He tucked the prayer-book under his arm and reentered Baron Münchhausen’s dark hallway.
When Jay made it back to the… parlor, he supposed, he found that Jack and the Baron had made good use of the time Jay had taken to secure dry clothing. In addition to dusting off a chair for Jack to sit in, they were now both smoking. Jack still looked like Jack with a cigar in his mouth, but Münchhausen’s pipe seemed entirely out of place. The bowl was made of incredibly ornately carved meerschaum treated and polished to a pearly sheen. The stem was so long that the pipe nearly reached the Baron’s lap while still held in his teeth, and looked like something a Chinaman would smoke, not a creepy and reclusive German nobleman. Jay nearly tripped over his own feet when he saw it.
Jack was speaking to the Baron, “…had some friends in the Brest garrison that would be able to get me in via the Bug.”
“Hello again, Mr. Blake,” Münchhausen said without looking at Jay.
“Ah, hi,” he felt awkward being unable to meet the Baron’s eyes.
Jack twisted in his chair and nodded to Jay, who set the lantern back down on the shelf it had occupied earlier.
Münchhausen took his pipe out of his mouth to speak, “Well it is an admirable search, Mr. Duggan. But I’m afraid I think you will only be disappointed going to Russia, and for more reason than one. Instead, might I suggest that you direct your attention towards the mountains of Bohemia, or even the Carpathians. I think you would have much more luck there.”
“Wait just a minute now; you’re talking about Jack’s big hunt? Don’t tell me you believe in the dragons too.” Though Jay wasn’t entirely sure why he was surprised.
“Of course I believe in dragons,” Münchhausen was still looking straight at Jack, “as should you.”
Jay rolled his eyes, “It might help if I had a reason. And I’m sorry to say the two of you telling me to is not a convincing reason.”
The Baron blew a puff of smoke out of his mouth, “Nevertheless, I assure you they are quite real.” Then his head turned with a snap and he was staring directly at Jay, “What is that book you’ve got there? May I see it?”
Jay looked at the black book tucked under his arm, “This?” He turned it over in his hand, “It belonged to my grandfather?”
Münchhausen gazed at it hungrily, “A journal? Might I look at it?” He held out a hand.
Jay walked around the chairs towards him, “Something like that. It was his prayer book, but he wrote all over it.” He handed it towards the Baron.
The right side of Münchhausen’s face twitched and he hesitated for a moment, but then he did snatch the book from Jay’s hand. When he opened the book, he didn’t so much turn the pages as he seemed to caress them. His face fixated on the contents. Jay shared a glance with Jack.
The Baron waved to Jay with a free hand, “Please, sit down Mr. Blake.”
Jay shrugged and turned to give the chair next to Jack a highly dubious look. It was still covered with nearly an inch of dust. Jack wasn’t volunteering any advice on the matter, so Jay doffed his new hat and shook it at the chair.
That was a bad idea.
Jack protected his face with his own hat and seemed to weather the storm with a minimum of his discomfort. Jay got a face full of dust. He stuck out his lower lip and sighed, sending little spirals of dust wafting out of his hair.
“I will thank you not to dust any more of my possessions,” Münchhausen said without looking up.
Jay bit his tongue against the first resentful remark which came to mind, “I don’t think that will be a problem.”
“No, let us hope it won’t.” He snapped the book shut and held it back out for Jay.
Jay took it back and then dropped into the chair, kicking up some residual dust.
There was an uncomfortable silence for about half a minute before the Baron set aside his pipe and pressed his fingertips together, “Shall we begin, then?”
Jay’s eyes darted from side to side, “With what?”
“With why you are here, of course.”
“We came here to get help for Major Farragut.”
Jack snorted, but didn’t say anything.
“Yes, but now he is dead and you are still here.” Münchhausen was speaking to Jay as if instructing a rather slow child.
“Well, yes…” Jay fidgeted.
“So there must be a reason for your continuing presence. Would you not agree?”
Jay wasn’t at all sure how to answer this, but fortunately he did not have to.
Jack stubbed out his cigar in an ashtray on a little table between his chair and Jay’s. “The people in charge outside are probably not very happy with us. So far, you haven’t tried to kill us. On that account, I’m content to stay here for now.”
“You are very perceptive, Mr. Duggan, and I agree with you. I myself am content to let you stay here and not kill you. For now.”
“Um…”
The Baron turned, “Sentences, Mr. Blake, are the life’s breath of language. Writing for a newspaper, I would think you should have learned that by now.”
Jay started to protest, but shut his mouth and turned to Jack instead, “Did you ever find out how he knows these things?”
Jack shook his head.
“Has it ever occurred to you, Mr. Blake,” Münchhausen smiled, “that I may simply take the paper?”
It hadn’t occurred to Jay. One could get the Times delivered out here, if one didn’t mind a day’s delay per issue. But frankly he hadn’t gotten the impression that anything was delivered to Baron Münchhausen’s mansion, whether it was newspapers, milk, or even mail.
“You—you do?”
“No.”
Jay breathed in very deeply, letting the stale air and smell of old paper fill his lungs. Then he exhaled slowly as his fists unclenched.
“Why are we here, Baron?”
“Oh, you were quite correct a moment ago. You needed a place to bring the corpse in the other room.”
Jay winced at the word ‘corpse’. “So what’s the mystery?”
“Please, Mr. Blake, but you need to look deeper. Why did you need to bring that man here?”
“Well… well good God but he looked half dead after Jack got through with him.”
“A crude assessment, but accurate nonetheless,” he looked to Jack who showed not a hint of remorse. “Regardless, we have not yet reached our answer. Why is it that Mr. Duggan here felt the need to do the Major such grave injury?”
“Because he tried to kill us, didn’t he?! Tried—tried to kill me.”
Münchhausen nodded, “Why?”
“I…” Jay blinked. “I haven’t the foggiest.”
“Indeed.”
The Baron stood up from his seat and turned his back to his two guests. He picked up his pipe again and ran a hand along one of the rows of books behind the winged leather chair.
“But the weather is changing.”
Jay knew he had to be bluffing, there weren’t any windows visible.
Book One, Chapter:
-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-
-22-23-24-25-26-27-28-29-30-31-32-33-34-35-36-37-38-39-40-41-42-
-43-44-45-46-47-48-49-50-51-52-53-54-55-56-57-58-59-60-61-62-
Appendix: -A-B-C-
Jay was letting water run over his hands in the dirty little washbasin tucked away in a corner. He wouldn’t have wanted to live here, and from the bunks it looked like at least four people did. Or had at one time.
There’d been a room like this at the Blake manor when they’d first acquired it. Jay’s father had had it renovated into a much more livable space for the butler alone, and built an annex with comfortable quarters for the rest of the small host of servants.
If Münchhausen had ever had any servants living in this house, Jay didn’t think they were here anymore. He didn’t think any human could live in this place. What that said about the Baron himself, Jay carefully avoided thinking about.
He stripped out of his mud-caked outer clothing and draped them over the side of a metal tub. He wasn’t at all sure what to do about getting them washed here. He really hated the thought of losing almost all of his good clothing in just a couple days.
Now padding about in just his damp undergarments, Jay picked up the lantern again and went looking for a change. He found a tall wardrobe beside one of the beds and set the lantern down precariously atop the mattress for want of something better.
He opened the doors of the wardrobe and immediately starting hacking at the amount of dust which billowed out from within. He waited a moment for the cloud to settle while his eyes watered painfully. There were some old coats hanging in the wardrobe that Jay didn’t even want to touch. To his relief, however, he discovered a chest beneath them that seemed to be made out of cedar. He opened the chest to find some folded clothing inside. They were dusty themselves, and the wood smell was pungent, but at least it looked like he would now have something to wear.
The trousers did not fit well. He had suspenders to hold them up, but they still hung very loose about his waist, enough so that he wished for a belt as well.
Thankfully, though, he wouldn’t have show off the ill-fitting pants to anyone else. Among the contents of the chest he found a nice baggy overcoat to cover his baggy trousers. It wasn’t high-class by any standard, but it was weatherproof and it was comfortable. Jay slid it on over his shirt and waistcoat and did up the large buttons to conceal his waistline.
And then he found the real gem in the treasure trove.
He had to blow out another mountain of dust to be sure, but once he finished sneezing and could open his eyes again, Jay was quite giddy. When he pulled it off of the top shelf, it was exactly what he’d suspected. He held in his hands a leather buckled steeple hat which seemed to be in fine condition. It wasn’t his trusty homburg and it was a little old-fashioned, but at least in the rain it wouldn’t turn into a wet rag like the cap he’d thrown into the tub.
He’d retrieved the lamp and was reaching for the doorknob to leave again when he checked himself. Stepping back to his discarded clothing, Jay took his grandfather’s prayer-book from out of his muddied jacket. He also dug in the outer pockets, but found that he’d apparently left his notepad and pen in their carriage. That was unfortunate, but there wasn’t anything he could do about it now. He tucked the prayer-book under his arm and reentered Baron Münchhausen’s dark hallway.
When Jay made it back to the… parlor, he supposed, he found that Jack and the Baron had made good use of the time Jay had taken to secure dry clothing. In addition to dusting off a chair for Jack to sit in, they were now both smoking. Jack still looked like Jack with a cigar in his mouth, but Münchhausen’s pipe seemed entirely out of place. The bowl was made of incredibly ornately carved meerschaum treated and polished to a pearly sheen. The stem was so long that the pipe nearly reached the Baron’s lap while still held in his teeth, and looked like something a Chinaman would smoke, not a creepy and reclusive German nobleman. Jay nearly tripped over his own feet when he saw it.
Jack was speaking to the Baron, “…had some friends in the Brest garrison that would be able to get me in via the Bug.”
“Hello again, Mr. Blake,” Münchhausen said without looking at Jay.
“Ah, hi,” he felt awkward being unable to meet the Baron’s eyes.
Jack twisted in his chair and nodded to Jay, who set the lantern back down on the shelf it had occupied earlier.
Münchhausen took his pipe out of his mouth to speak, “Well it is an admirable search, Mr. Duggan. But I’m afraid I think you will only be disappointed going to Russia, and for more reason than one. Instead, might I suggest that you direct your attention towards the mountains of Bohemia, or even the Carpathians. I think you would have much more luck there.”
“Wait just a minute now; you’re talking about Jack’s big hunt? Don’t tell me you believe in the dragons too.” Though Jay wasn’t entirely sure why he was surprised.
“Of course I believe in dragons,” Münchhausen was still looking straight at Jack, “as should you.”
Jay rolled his eyes, “It might help if I had a reason. And I’m sorry to say the two of you telling me to is not a convincing reason.”
The Baron blew a puff of smoke out of his mouth, “Nevertheless, I assure you they are quite real.” Then his head turned with a snap and he was staring directly at Jay, “What is that book you’ve got there? May I see it?”
Jay looked at the black book tucked under his arm, “This?” He turned it over in his hand, “It belonged to my grandfather?”
Münchhausen gazed at it hungrily, “A journal? Might I look at it?” He held out a hand.
Jay walked around the chairs towards him, “Something like that. It was his prayer book, but he wrote all over it.” He handed it towards the Baron.
The right side of Münchhausen’s face twitched and he hesitated for a moment, but then he did snatch the book from Jay’s hand. When he opened the book, he didn’t so much turn the pages as he seemed to caress them. His face fixated on the contents. Jay shared a glance with Jack.
The Baron waved to Jay with a free hand, “Please, sit down Mr. Blake.”
Jay shrugged and turned to give the chair next to Jack a highly dubious look. It was still covered with nearly an inch of dust. Jack wasn’t volunteering any advice on the matter, so Jay doffed his new hat and shook it at the chair.
That was a bad idea.
Jack protected his face with his own hat and seemed to weather the storm with a minimum of his discomfort. Jay got a face full of dust. He stuck out his lower lip and sighed, sending little spirals of dust wafting out of his hair.
“I will thank you not to dust any more of my possessions,” Münchhausen said without looking up.
Jay bit his tongue against the first resentful remark which came to mind, “I don’t think that will be a problem.”
“No, let us hope it won’t.” He snapped the book shut and held it back out for Jay.
Jay took it back and then dropped into the chair, kicking up some residual dust.
There was an uncomfortable silence for about half a minute before the Baron set aside his pipe and pressed his fingertips together, “Shall we begin, then?”
Jay’s eyes darted from side to side, “With what?”
“With why you are here, of course.”
“We came here to get help for Major Farragut.”
Jack snorted, but didn’t say anything.
“Yes, but now he is dead and you are still here.” Münchhausen was speaking to Jay as if instructing a rather slow child.
“Well, yes…” Jay fidgeted.
“So there must be a reason for your continuing presence. Would you not agree?”
Jay wasn’t at all sure how to answer this, but fortunately he did not have to.
Jack stubbed out his cigar in an ashtray on a little table between his chair and Jay’s. “The people in charge outside are probably not very happy with us. So far, you haven’t tried to kill us. On that account, I’m content to stay here for now.”
“You are very perceptive, Mr. Duggan, and I agree with you. I myself am content to let you stay here and not kill you. For now.”
“Um…”
The Baron turned, “Sentences, Mr. Blake, are the life’s breath of language. Writing for a newspaper, I would think you should have learned that by now.”
Jay started to protest, but shut his mouth and turned to Jack instead, “Did you ever find out how he knows these things?”
Jack shook his head.
“Has it ever occurred to you, Mr. Blake,” Münchhausen smiled, “that I may simply take the paper?”
It hadn’t occurred to Jay. One could get the Times delivered out here, if one didn’t mind a day’s delay per issue. But frankly he hadn’t gotten the impression that anything was delivered to Baron Münchhausen’s mansion, whether it was newspapers, milk, or even mail.
“You—you do?”
“No.”
Jay breathed in very deeply, letting the stale air and smell of old paper fill his lungs. Then he exhaled slowly as his fists unclenched.
“Why are we here, Baron?”
“Oh, you were quite correct a moment ago. You needed a place to bring the corpse in the other room.”
Jay winced at the word ‘corpse’. “So what’s the mystery?”
“Please, Mr. Blake, but you need to look deeper. Why did you need to bring that man here?”
“Well… well good God but he looked half dead after Jack got through with him.”
“A crude assessment, but accurate nonetheless,” he looked to Jack who showed not a hint of remorse. “Regardless, we have not yet reached our answer. Why is it that Mr. Duggan here felt the need to do the Major such grave injury?”
“Because he tried to kill us, didn’t he?! Tried—tried to kill me.”
Münchhausen nodded, “Why?”
“I…” Jay blinked. “I haven’t the foggiest.”
“Indeed.”
The Baron stood up from his seat and turned his back to his two guests. He picked up his pipe again and ran a hand along one of the rows of books behind the winged leather chair.
“But the weather is changing.”
Jay knew he had to be bluffing, there weren’t any windows visible.
Book One, Chapter:
-1-2-3-4-5-6-7-8-9-10-11-12-13-14-15-16-17-18-19-20-21-
-22-23-24-25-26-27-28-29-30-31-32-33-34-35-36-37-38-39-40-41-42-
-43-44-45-46-47-48-49-50-51-52-53-54-55-56-57-58-59-60-61-62-
Appendix: -A-B-C-