Blood and Gold - Anne Rice [51]
He looked at me as though begging me to understand him, or perhaps forgive him.
“He was alive,” he repeated. “The blood poured out of his neck, and it poured out of his head. In the street, I put the head on the neck. It was here that I joined the arm to the shoulder. And look what I have done.”
Mael’s fingers tightened on my hand.
“Can you answer me?” I said to Mael. “Make only a sound if you cannot.”
There came that harsh noise again but this time I fancied I heard the syllable Yes.
“Do you want to live?” I asked.
“Oh, don’t ask him such a thing,” Avicus begged. “He may lack courage just now. Only help me if you know what to do.” He knelt down beside Mael and he bent over, carefully holding the lamp to one side, and he pressed his lips to Mael’s forehead.
From Mael there had come that same answer again: Yes.
“Bring me more light,” I said to Avicus, “but understand before you do. I possess no extraordinary magic in this matter. I think I know what has happened and I know how to undo it. But that is all.”
At once Avicus gathered up from about the house a number of oil lamps and lighted them and set them down in an oval around Mael. It looked strangely like the work of a sorcerer marking off a place for magic, but I didn’t let my thoughts become distracted by that annoying fact, and when I could finally see with the very best advantage I knelt down and looked at all the wounds, and I looked at the sunken, bloodless and skeletal figure of Mael.
Finally I sat back on my heels. I looked at Avicus who sat opposite me on the other side of his friend.
“Tell me precisely how you accomplished this,” I said.
“I fixed the head to the neck as best I could do it, but I was wrong, you see, I did it wrong. How can we know how to do it right?” he demanded. “Do you know?”
“And the arm,” I said, “it’s badly joined as well.”
“What shall we do?”
“Did you force the joining?” I asked.
He reflected before answering me. And then he said, “Yes, I think I did. I see your meaning. I did it with force. I meant these parts to adhere once more. I used too much force.”
“Ah, well, we have one chance to repair this, I think, but understand again I possess no secret knowledge. I take my lead from the fact that he is still living. I think we must pull off both head and arm and see if these parts, when placed in correct proximity to the body, will not join at the right angles as they should.”
His face brightened only as he slowly understood what I had said.
“Yes,” he said. “Perhaps they will join as they are meant to join! If they can join so poorly, they can join in a way that is perfect and right.”
“Yes,” I said, “but you must do this act. You are the one he trusts.”
He looked down at his friend and I could see that this task would be no easy thing. Then slowly he looked up at me.
“We must give him our blood first to strengthen him,” he said.
“No, after it’s done,” I said, “he’ll need it for healing. That’s when we’ll give it.” I disliked that I had given my word in this, but I realized quite abruptly that I didn’t want to see Mael die. Indeed, so much did I not want to see it that I thought perhaps I ought to take over the entire operation myself.
But I could not step in. It was up to Avicus how the matter went forward.
Quite abruptly, he placed his left hand firmly on Mael’s shoulder and pulled Mael’s badly joined arm with all his strength. At once the arm was free of the body with bloody ligaments trembling from it rather like the roots of a tree.
“Now, place it close to him, there, yes, and see if it does not seek its own place.”
He obeyed me, but my hand was out to guide the arm quickly, not letting it get too close, but waiting for it to begin to move on its own. Abruptly I felt the spasm in the arm and then let go of it, and saw it quickly joined to the shoulder, the flying ligaments moving as so many little serpents into the body until the rupture was no more.
Alas, I had been right in my suspicions. The body followed its own supernatural rules.
At once, I cut