you. I am nothing. DON'T LEAVE MEEEEEE!
And just as suddenly the loathing was gone and Jake found himself pitying this Thing. Until Harry told him:
That, too, is a mistake. Vampires are the greatest cheats and liars imaginable, devious beyond measure. This one, Korath, is no exception. Later, we'll ask him why Malinari chose him — 'his chiefest lieutenant' — to block this pipe, when he had at least three others to choose from. On a whim? Hardly. You don't indenture or instruct someone far as long as Korath Mindsthrall claims he was in thrall, just to kill him out of hand. Malinari had a reason.
NO! Korath howled. That is a lie! No, no — forgive me — not a lie but… but a misconception? Malinari had no reason; he was never required to reason! He was The Mind, and whatever he willed would be done. Flesh was needed to block this pipe, and myjlesh… it was pliable and available. That was enough. Say no more.
So, said Harry, yourjlesh was pliable—
But not that pliable! The vampire cut in. You cannot possibly imagine the agonies that 7…
— And you were compliant.
I was not! (Korath denied it).
Zek? Jake? said Harry, and there was something new in his low deadspeak voice. They knew what it was: that he spoke only to them, that he was shielding his thoughts from Korath Mindsthrall. Let me handle this. Zek, it probably isn't going to be pleasant, so by all means leave it entirely to me. Korath will say things you don't want to hear. And so might I.
I'll absent myself, she answered him at once. I've had my fair share of dealings with vampires, as you know, and I don't need reminding. Jake, I
look forward to working with you if or whenever you need me. Meanwhile there are others I should talk to, and let them know you're here. You won't be alone, Jake.
Before the dreamer could answer there was an emptiness in his mind where Zek had been, or not so much an emptiness as an awareness of her leaving. And: 'How about me?' he asked Harry. 'Any chance that I could perhaps 'absent myself, too?'
None at all, Harry told him. You don't have to join in if you don't want to, but you should at least listen. If I can, I'll get Korath to tell us his story; or, more importantly, his master's story. And those of Vavara and Szwart, too. If you're going to defeat your enemies, Jake, you need to know them. Why don't you just take it easy this time out and listen in? Learn something about the Wamphyri and their ways, and learn it from the horse's — or the vampire's — mouth? Without waiting for an answer, he spoke again to Korath:
I've a mind to leave you 'to your own devices', yes. Just as the teeming dead advise. But that would make me as cruel as the master who crushed you and left you here to die. And so I'm tempted to stay with you a while, and converse with you in your loneliness, which you must know will last for ever and ever. But on the other hand — having had to do with vampires before — I see no point in talking to one who is bound by his very nature to tell me nothing but lies.
Korath's answering cry immediately went up: Ah! Ah! Have mercy! Have mercy! Pity me, I pray. For a moment then I thought that you had gone, I thought you had left me! Then I felt your warmth — though yours is not so obvious as that of your friend, er, Jake? — and so knew you were still here. Now hear me: I am a gruff and violent vampire, that is true, but I was not always this way. I was made what I am, by Malinari! Made by him, and now unmade by him. So what more harm can he do me? Who or whatever you are, talk to me. Only allow me to bathe in your light, which burns like a candle in this intolerable darkness, and ask of me what you will. I shall not lie. As men are known to speak the truth on their deathbeds, so I shall speak it from beyond.
I want to know about Malinari, said Harry. And Vavara and Szwart. I want to know all about them, from the beginning.
And Korath eagerly answered: None knows their stories better than I. But… such tales will take time in the telling.
I have time, said Harry. Well, within certain limits. And so do you. You have an eternity of time.
One question, said the other.
Ask it.
Wry?
Because 1 would exterminate them and all that they stand for, Harry answered, truthfully and ruthlessly. Their kind are not wanted in this world. And:
Good! said Korath, his voice gurgling with phlegmy anticipation. Why should they have life, having deprived me of mine? In Starside we acknowledge four states of being/unbeing. These are, one: the void before birth. Two: the time of warm-blooded life such as the Szgany of Sunside enjoy it. Three: a 'higher' condition known as undeath, when a man's existence might possibly reach to eternity. And four: the true death, which is nothing less than a return to the primal void. But I, Korath, have found the last to be a lie. It is a darkness, aye, but never a void. The true death is an absence of motion, but not of mind. I think! I ami But immobile, forgotten, lost in the long, long night, I have no peace. So why should the ones who put me here have peace? Why should they have anything? No, I will not lie to you, Necroscope.
Then get on with it, said Harry. Begin with Nephran Malinari, since he would seem the most dangerous.
Wrong! said Korath. For each is as bad as the others. Why do you think they were banished out of Starside?
Doubtless I'm about to find out, said Harry. But I'll warn you now: while time is not of the essence, don't try to spin it out. I'm not long on patience and could be about better things. Is that understood? It is indeed, the vampire answered. Then: Without pause Korath got on with it; and by virtue of the nature of deadspeak — also because the ex-lieutenant's tale was illustrated with vivid mind-pictures — Jake found himself listening in. Along with his mentor, he soon became absorbed in the narrative…
'It was hundreds of years agone,' (Korath began) 'though to me, having spent so much time in the ice — frozen and stilled, and
preserved even in my thoughts — it stands out in my memory like yesterday. Or perhaps yestereve.
'I was of the clan Vadastra; indeed, I was the son of the chief, Dinu Vadastra. Our place was in the forest many miles to the east of the great pass into Starside. We toiled in gathering and growing, in the breeding of domesticated livestock, and in hunting and fishing. Being settled — unlike the majority of the Szgany, who are nomads — there were no bounds for my father to beat. In any event we were not troubled by foreign settlers; indeed, our land was shunned by all the neighbouring tribes. For you see, my people were supplicants who gave of their goods (a portion, or 'tithe' as you would say) to Lord Nephran Malinari, called Malinari the Mind, out of Malstack in Starside.
'Now, do not ask me if I enjoyed our situation. I was born to it and knew no other way. Likewise the Vadastras as a tribe; only the old men of my people had been travellers, who in their time had known the ways of the true nomad. The life of the supplicant suited them to perfection; the Wamphyri had no use for ancient, withered flesh or desiccated blood. And so the elders were safe so long as they could work, gathering the wild honey and fruits of the woods. My father was also safe, for while he had not as yet grown long in the tooth, still he was the chief of his people, whom Malinari had appointed keeper of the tithe… for which reason he was greatly feared and in most matters obeyed without question. In most matters, aye.
'And my father, Dinu Vadastra, was a hard man: tall, broad, and a bully. When lesser men complained of the 'theft' of their wives, sons or daughers taken in the tithe, he would deal very harshly with them. Why, they might even find themselves listed as troublemakers and, regardless of the draw, destined for Malinari's great aerie when next his tithesmen did their rounds.
'There was a girl I loved… at least I think I loved her, but all such things are a mystery to me now. Love?
