The fatal blow
The death knell (published 2001 ) is a historical-fantastic novel by Wolfgang Hohlbein and the third volume of the Chronicle of Immortals . The story of a vampire in search of the secret of his origin takes place in Eastern Europe in the 15th century.
action
Sword master Andrej Delãny and his Nubian companion Abu Dun have left the kingdom of Prince Draculea and made their way to Bavaria within the next ten years . Here the vampire Andrej hopes to find the Puuri Dan, a wise gypsy who is said to know more about the origin of the blood-sucking immortals. At the same time, he cannot forget his beloved Maria, whom he lost sight of a decade earlier.
You reach the small village of Trentklamm, where most of the residents greet you with suspicion or even hostility. Only the farmer Birger offers them his hospitality and tells them what has recently happened in the village: followers of a threatening cult are up to mischief in the forests, raiding the village and robbing women and children, including Birger's daughter. He wants to hire her as a mercenary to free her.
The two reluctantly consent and go on a search with Birger and two young villagers. Soon they find a battered corpse, and the next moment they are attacked by a strange creature with wet skin and animal-like claws, but in the form of a human being. Andrei tries to beat her in battle, but she is superior to him. Then he uses his vampire powers and sucks the life energy of the being. However, this negative, impure energy weakens him and makes him pass out.
The next night they reach the alleged monastery where the sect resides. In the dungeons under the building they find Imret, Birger's completely neglected daughter, and Andrej brings her to Birger while Abu Dun fights the cultists. Birger, however, reacts differently than expected: He lets one of the young men, Stefan, ram a dagger into Andrej's back.
When Andrei wakes up ten days later, he is looked after in the monastery by the monk Brother Thobias. He asks him not to tell the abbot, Father Benedict, that he was commissioned by people from Trentklamm. When Benedict questions him and Abu Dun, who is also a prisoner, it turns out that Imret was a prisoner of the Inquisition . Thobias, who claims to have met some kind of werewolf three years earlier , studies the legends of vampyres, werewolves and revenants in the dungeons . Because also three years ago, after a group of gypsies had roamed the village, a puzzling disease began to afflict the residents; many died, and some of these bodies subsequently disappeared from their graves. The creature they attacked in the forest was one of them.
They start hunting the creatures in the nearby mountains. One of them attacks them and seriously injures Abu Dun, who in a fever demands to be turned into a vampire by Andrei. The latter declines resolutely, and they return to the village, where they watch a funeral ceremony . Influenced by recent events, they open the grave and experience firsthand how one of the dead comes back to life.
Later the werewolves attack Thobia's father Ludowig and kill him. Andrej and Abu Dun pursue them and get into a fierce fight in which one of the creatures is critically wounded. They chase the rest into their cave, where they find the pack: a pathetic bunch of misshapen half-men, most of whom are already dying. In one of them they recognize Birger, who asks them to at least save Imret. They failed to transform into werewolves, which is why they became non-viable monsters. The vampire cannot help them, however, whereupon Birger demands that he kill them so that they no longer have to suffer agony. Andrej can't bring himself to this, but stays with them until their agony is over the next day.
When Andrej and Abu Dun return to Trentklamm, the village is on fire; Father Benedict has returned with soldiers from the Inquisition and wiped out the city. He keeps the survivors in the monastery, where Andrej watches him a little later with Thobias. Then soldiers rush up and report that they have captured Abu Dun. Andrej was then arrested and overheard a conversation between the clergy. Little by little he learns the truth: Thobias and Benedict are the only werewolves who survived the transformation. They have arranged everything so that the Inquisitor Martius can come to Trentklamm and kill all witnesses of their transformation. This is the only way Thobias believes he can live in peace.
However, when his father also comes to life as a werewolf and sees what his son has done, he attacks him. In the following fight Thobias is killed. Ludowig, the last of the Trentklamm werewolves, remains in the castle that is burning down. Inquisitor Martius acknowledges that Andrei and Abu Dun are not to blame for this tragedy. He gives them an hour head start before starting the hunt for them.
background
In this volume, Hohlbein introduces the werewolves as another sex of the immortals , although it remains unclear to what extent they are actually related to the vampyres.
expenditure
- Wolfgang Hohlbein: The Chronicle of the Immortals. Volume 3: The fatal blow . vgs, Cologne 2001, ISBN 3-8025-2771-2 .
- Wolfgang Hohlbein: The fatal blow . Ullstein, Munich 2002, ISBN 3-548-25378-4 ( The Chronicle of Immortals , Volume 3).