''And here I kneel before you,' she finished at last, 'the
living proof of all that I have said. But my man is in Starside and there's no place here for me now, for which reasons I would venture over the barrier mountains with you and yours, into the dark. And what of the ones that Dinu has hidden from you, great Lord? My daughter, whom he saves for his own worthless son. Aye, and that selfsame son, Korath, who skulks like a whipped dog in his father's caravan there?' At the last she threw herself flat on the earth, sobbing and clasping Malinari's feet.
'And Malinari was silent for a while, as he considered all that he had been told. But meanwhile his men were not idle. Two of them were at the withe door of my father's caravan; finding it barred from within, they tore it from its hinges. And one of them poked his head in and saw us, calling out: 'They are here, my Lord. A youth and a girl, huddled in the dark like mice. The woman spoke the truth.'
' 'So,' said Malinari, and his voice was doomful quiet now, even as quiet as the strange dark clouds circling overhead. 'If she spoke the truth, then someone has lied. Bring these mice to me.'
'But my father cried out, 'My Lord! Have mercy, I beg you! He is my son, and the girl is his woman, and…'
' 'And… you kept them from me,' said Malinari, silencing him with a glance. 'I was not shown them, nor asked if I wanted them. You desired no mercy of me then, only now. Like the child who steals a plum then asks if he may have one. Or in this case two plums… or three, if we include this good brave woman.'
'He stooped and caught up Melana's robe, took her shoulder and drew her to her feet. 'Cover yourself,' he said. 'I believe there may be a position for a hard-working woman — as an overseer of women — in Malstack in Starside. Moreover, I know of a certain thrall called Banos, who has not taken any woman of the manse in all the time he has served me. And Banos has served me well… unlike several I could name.' He gloomed on Dinu Vadastra, then across the clearing to where a certain senior lieutenant sat all morose astride his flyer.
'And though Melana fastened her warm robe about her, still she shivered. She had felt the weird cold when Malinari touched her, the tendrils of sentient ice that flowed from his fingers. Yet still she was the brave one. 'What of my daughter, my Lord? My beloved child, still innocent despite this unworthy Korath's vile embraces?'
'Malinari looked at her and raised an eyebrow. 'You should be aware,' he said, 'of the thin line between bravery and utter folly. I'm not much known for listening to complaints, and even less for granting wishes.' But then he sighed, and said, 'First let me see this girl, this—'
''Nadia,' Melana told him.
''As you will,' Malinari nodded. 'This Nadia. And for that matter, this unworthy Korath, too.' And his lieutenants dragged Nadia and myself before him. Thus I came face to face with Lord Nephran Malinari, of the Wamphyri.'
' 'Are you your father's son?' he questioned me. ' 'Eh? Er, pardon?' (For how to answer such a question?) ' 'Eh? Pardon?' He mimicked me. 'Are you a cheat and a liar like your father, Dinu Vadastra?'
'Well, I wasn't like my father to that extent. But big and brawny I was, and perhaps a little stupid, too. 'I'm no cheat,' I told him. 'And no man calls me a liar.'
'When he moved I did not even see it! But I felt his clout, the thud of his back-hander against the side of my head, making my ears ring and knocking me off my feet. Well, it seemed plain to me that I had offended him. Now it was time to die — but not without a fight. I sprang up — and was at once pinioned by the men who had brought us from the caravan. But struggle as best I might I couldn't shift them or throw them off. And Malinari, he laughed, saying:
' 'Hold still and listen. You are big and handsome, and you are strong as a bull shad… and you are mine.' Unworthy? Well, maybe. We'll wait and see if blood runs true. But first there's work for you, a chance to prove yourself, in Starside.'
'He turned to Nadia. 'You're the image of your mother. But are you as brave? Will you come into Starside, of your own free will, to be a vampire with your father and your mother there?'
''I have no other life, Lord,' she answered.
''But you will have,' Malinari told her. 'For you shall be a stable-maid, tending my flyers in their pens, in Malstack.'
'Then in a trice, in a flowing motion too fast to follow, he leaned to her neck and bit her! It was the work of a moment, to put his life — or undeath — into her, then into her mother, so that, swooning, they collapsed on the earth. And finally Malinari turned once more to me.
'Held fast by his men, and stiffened by my terror, I could do nothing but stand stock-still, like a shad in the slaughter-yard, with my eyes half-shuttered.
'But no, he merely wrinkled his nose at me, and his lieutenants did the rest…'
CHAPTER TWENTY Dark Lords Of Starside
Korath Mindsthrall was in Jake Cutter's mind as surely as his own thoughts, so that rather than having the story related to him, it was as if Jake lived it.
And that's dangerous, said Harry Keogh, 'awakening' Jake to his true position, in the wrecked sump of the deserted Romanian Refuge. Except that wasn't the true picture (or his true location) either, for in fact he was only there by courtesy of Harry's mind-link. Jake's living, sleeping, dreaming body was airborne in a jetcopter flying east, somewhere over the Australian Simpson Desert.
'Dangerous?' Jake said, hugging his knees where he sat on a slab of concrete fallen from the ceiling, watching the black waters of the sump gurgling by. 'What is?'
To let a vampire — even a dead one — get that deep into your mind, Harry answered darkly. That's what's dangerous. And I think our friend Korath is stretching things out a hit. But:
Very well, Harry told him. That's accepted. But I'm sure you can do it a little faster. Our time is limited here.
I shall do my best, Korath answered, grumblingly. But in any case, the rest of that night is a blur, for I had been bitten, vampirized by Malinari's
lieutenants. The scenes… they all flow into one in the eye of my memory. Perhaps I desire to forget them, for what remains of them is… not pleasant. And the Vadastras were my people, after all.
Then he was silent for a moment or two, until in a little while he picked up the thread of his story…
'The bite of the vampire brings about a weakness, a lethargy, a heaviness of limbs and thoughts alike. If Malinari himself had taken my blood — and in the process transfused something of his essence — then I would remember nothing at all until much later. But I was strong and his lieutenants were only thralls. Oh, they were powerful men, and each and every one an aspirant, but they were not yet Wamphyri!
'Nadia and her mother, I saw them carried off towards the flyers while I reeled between the two who had recruited me. And Malinari, seeing that I was conscious, nodded his approval — of me, my strength, I suppose. But my senses were swimming as from drinking too much brandy; if one of his lieutenants had let go of an arm, I'm sure I would have fallen.
'Then… I remember… or I seem to remember… Malinari's voice raised, calling to my people, the entire Vadastra clan where they huddled at the far side of the clearing. 'Come join me,' he called. 'Eat, drink, partake of my tribute. For I shall free you of tyranny this night. This hated chief-this Dinu, of whom I've heard complaint — he is no more. Nor shall I require any more of you from now on. For I perceive that you have given enough. I free you, to be as you will, to do as you will, and to go where you will. Malinari has spoken… so let it be.' And his eyes burned brighter yet as he used his mentalism to reinforce his message, sending out his vampire thoughts to touch upon their minds.
'And drugged though I was — or rather, tainted with the essence of vampirism which now flowed in my veins — even I saw the pictures that Malinari painted in the minds of the people. Indeed, I may even have seen them
