Se pegó a la pared como si quisiera fundirse con ella de forma que pudiera percibir con mucha más nitidez todo lo que pasaba y se dio cuenta de que el gato, después de terminar su festín, dormía plácidamente. Al menos, había alguien a quien su encuentro con la serpiente no le había modificado su vida. "Al menos de momento", oyó dentro de sí. Y tuvo que asentir.
Siguió moviéndose con cuidado a través de los túneles, sin necesitar luz alguna a través de la interminable oscuridad y sintió que la monstruosa serpiente estaba ya cerca de la nave principal. Pronto descubriría lo que había pasado... y sabría que había estado en lo cierto cuando pensó que había alguien más y que ese alguien no era un simple gato.
Así que intentó moverse un poco más deprisa pero aún así no estaba nada seguro de qué estaba pasando y eso era lo que le preocupaba más de todo. Tampoco creía que el calvo fuera a solucionar nada, ni siquiera siendo grande, fuerte y musculoso como era (aunque le llamaba gordo a veces para reírse de él, no era realmente así y ni siquiera era alguien de quien debiera reírse, pero le apetecía simplemente). Aquel calvo había protagonizado hazañas que eran de dominio público, razón por la que todo el mundo se había sentido sorprendido de que fuera a vigilar aquel templo. Sí, es cierto, los monjes que lo habitaban eran importantes en aquel territorio, pero allí iba a tener pocas ocasiones de luchar contra gente realmente despreciable... O eso era la creencia generalizada.
No quería decir que el calvo supiera que esto podía pasar pero todo era posible.
Precisamente, lo bueno de que todo hubiera ocurrido de noche era sin duda que ningún fiel iba a estar rezando en el templo y que los monjes estaban todos en sus celdas, situadas en un edificio distinto, separado por más de km y medio del templo. En ese terreno, los monjes mantenían un huerto y un jardín lleno de flores que les permitía experimentar con pociones para curar.
La entidad se paró: cuando descubrieran lo que había pasado, no iban a esar contentos. Se situó y comprobó que sólo quedaban unas escaleras para llegar a la puerta que daba al pasillo en donde se situaba el pequeño apartamento del guardián. Fue entonces cuando percibió una quietud extraña: estaba en lo cierto, el sueño que percibía no era desde luego natural y sólo entonces pudo localizar dos pequeños seres que estaban al lado de la cama, aunque aún no estaba seguro de lo que estaban haciendo.
Se pegó de nuevo a la pared (había que tener cuidado) y entonces percibió la respiración agitada del guardia y eso le preocupó aún más. Aquellos seres bajitos y rechonchos (no eran más altos que la mesilla de noche del guardián) estaban volviendo a darle algo para beber. Encontró un pequeño hueco en la pared y pasó a través de él y entró en el cuarto.
Aquellos dos seres deformes (ahora ya no tenía ninguna dificultad para distinguirlos) sintieron su presencia y sacaron unas pequeñas dagas que llevaban en el cinto, dagas extrañas con una hoja en forma flamígera y un adorno raro en la empuñadura y se prepararon para acuchillar a quien entrar por la puerta.
Mala suerte: no tenía la costumbre de usar las puertas, se elevó por la estancia y se encaminó a la lámpara redonda y con brazos que colgaba del techo en la que dos velas estaban aún encendidas e hizo que aumentara la temperatura alrededor de la cuerda que la sujetaba. La lámpara cayó produciendo un ruido metálico y luego un chirrido al arrastrarse un rato por el suelo, cogiendo a aquellos dos seres en su caída, atrapándolos como moscas en la miel.
Ahora venía lo difícil: al ser incorpóreo no podía despertar al calvo, así que tenía que idear otra solución. Y entonces oyó los ladridos graves de los perros en la habitación contigua. Los dos mastines gigantes del guardia estaban allí encerrados y ellos sí podían ayudar a transportar al guardián a la enfermería o, por lo menos, al excéntrico monje de la torre que hacía experimentos raros.
Estaba allí parado cuando, de repente, la puerta se abrió y un hombre alto, enjuto y con la abundante cabellera y barba completamente blancas, que sólo llevaba un pobre hábito aunque aseado se precipitó en la habitación.
Era el monje excéntrico quien de una sola vista a la habitación entendió lo que pasaba: cogió una soga que había colgada de un clavo en la pared y ató a los dos seres que habían dado de beber su mezcla de potingues al guardián y los colgó después del balcón. "De ahí no os vais a escapar", le oyó decir visiblemente enojado.
Después miró a la cama y dijo:
-"Lasánides, hay que llevarte a la enfermería, despierta"- lo dijo mientras le daba pequeñas tortas en la cara para hacerle volver-. "Te necesitamos, algo está pasando y temo que sea lo que llevo mucho tiempo temiendo".
Claro, ahora se acordaba: el calvo se llamaba Lasánides. Mientras miraba la escena sólo pudo percibir la inquietud del monje. Después pensó: "tampoco me acuerdo de su nombre. Me estoy haciendo mayor".
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The nightmare of the bald guardian:
The entity, frightened as it was, stood a while more hidden and, when it came out of is hiding spot, its its terrifying appearance was not the more worrying of its features.
It clung to the wall as if it wanted to merge with it so that it could perceive everything that was happening much more clearly, and it noticed that the cat, after finishing its feast, was sleeping peacefully. At least, there was someone for whom his encounter with the serpent had not changed his life. "At least for now," he heard within himself. And he had to nod.
He continued to move carefully through the tunnels, needing no light through the endless darkness, and felt that the monstrous serpent was now close to the main nave. He would soon find out what had happened... And he would know that he had been right when he thought that there was someone else and that this someone was not just a cat.
So he tried to move a little faster, but he still wasn't at all sure what was going on, and that was what worried him most of all. He also didn't think the bald man was going to solve anything, even though being big, strong, and muscular as he was (although he called him fat sometimes to laugh at him, he wasn't really like that and he wasn't even someone to be laughed at, but he just wanted to). That bald man had performed deeds that were in the public domain, which was why everyone was shocked to know that he had applied to watch over that temple and win the position! Yes, it is true, the monks who inhabited it were important in that territory, but there he would have little opportunity to fight against really despicable people... Or so it was widely believed.
But those facts didn't mean that the bald man knew this could happen, but anything was possible.
Precisely, the good thing about the fact that everything had happened at night was undoubtedly that no worshippers were praying in the temple and that the monks were all in their cells, located in a different building, separated by more than a mile and a half from the temple. On that ground, the monks maintained an orchard and a garden full of flowers that allowed them to experiment with potions for healing.
The entity stopped: when they found out what had happened, the ascetic monks were not going to be happy. He stood and saw that there were only a few stairs left to reach the door that led to the corridor where the guard's small apartment was located. It was then that he sensed a strange stillness: he was right, the dream he perceived was certainly not natural and only then could he locate two small beings that were next to the bed, although he was not yet sure what they were doing.
It stuck firmly to the wall again (you had to be careful) and then it felt the guard's heavy breathing and that worried him even more. Those short, stocky creatures (they were no taller than the watchman's bedside table) were giving him something to drink again. He found a small hole in the wall and passed through it and entered the room. Those two deformed beings (now he had no difficulty in distinguishing them) sensed his presence and took out small daggers from their belts, strange daggers with a flaming blade and a strange ornament on the hilt, and prepared themselves to stab anyone who entered the door.
Bad luck: it was not in the habit of using doors, so it rose through the room and made his way to the round lamp with arms that hung from the ceiling in which two candles were still burning, and made the temperature rise around the rope that held it. The lamp fell, producing a metallic noise and then a screeching sound as it crawled on the ground for a while, catching those two beings in their fall, like flies in honey.
Now came the hard part: being incorporeal, it couldn't wake up the bald man, so it had to come up with another solution. And then he heard the low barking of the dogs in the next room. The guard's two giant mastiffs were locked up there, and they could help transport the keeper to the infirmary, or at least to the cell of the eccentric monk in the tower who was always doing weird experiments.
It was standing there when, suddenly, the door opened and a tall, wiry man with abundant and completely white hair and beard, wearing only a poor but neat habit, rushed into the room. It was the eccentric monk who, at a single glance at the room, understood what was happening: he took a rope that hung from a nail in the wall and tied up the two beings who had given their mixture of potingues to drink to the guardian and hung them after the balcony. "You're not going to run away from there," he heard him say, visibly angry.
Then he looked at the bed and said: "Lasanides, we have to take you to the infirmary, wake up", Meanwhile, the monk gave him soft hits in the face to make him come back. "We need you, something's going on, and I'm afraid it's what I've been dreading for a long time."
Of course, now he remembered: the bald man's name was Lasanides. As he looked at the scene, he could only sense the monk's uneasiness. Then he thought, "I don't remember his name either. I'm getting older".
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