E-Branch - Invaders Part 26

291 yet harm him even more. So say on, woman: tell me how Dinu Vadastra has betrayed me." He looked at my father dangling in his grasp, his sandalled feet barely touching the ground, then grunted and thrust him away, sending him sprawling to the earth. Dinu would have attacked Melana again, at once, but a pair of lesser lieutenants were at his side, their gauntlets ready.

And so he kept still.

'Then Melana spoke up, and the complaints she listed were the selfsame grievances that every decent Vadastra man, woman, or child capable of reasoned and intelligent thought had carried in his or her heart for long and long, without ever daring to give them substance. She spoke of the chiefs many prejudices, and of his favourites - such as herself - who remained hidden away, secret and undisclosed to the Great Lord of Vampires, when he sent his t.i.thesmen out of Starside to collect his tribute; and of Dinu's treachery to his own tribesmen: how, if he were jealous of a man's prowess, or if he should be bested in some piddling campfire argument, then the better man might expect to find himself listed for the t.i.the. So that for long and long, no one had dared say Dinu no.

'Melana went on and on, as if she would never end. For as my father's odalisque, she had been privy to a great many wicked things in his caravan - all of his conspiracies with his cronies -.

in the tim e since her good husband, Banos, had been taken in the t.i.the.

And so she lashed Dinu with her unforgiving tongue, which all the while gathered fire and pa.s.sion; for Melana knew that, one way or the other, it was all done with now, and so she might as well do her worst.

'Then, towards the end, she spoke of her man, Banos Zetra; but here she broke down, sobbing her heart out when telling how Banos - a hunter whose contributions to the t.i.the had been significant - had been carried off to Malstack in Starside simply because Dinu Vadastra had fancied his wife for himself, and for no other reason.

'"And here I kneel before you," she f inished 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. An d 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 ca ravan 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 th is 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.

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'And though Melana fastened her warm robe about her, still she shivered.She had felt the weird cold when Mali nari 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...'

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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 jet-copter 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 gurgl ing 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: / am telling it the way it was! (Korath's Voice' again, protesting). You have asked me to tell you about Malinari the Mind. How may I comply without describing his deeds, defining his wickedness?

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 h e 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, pa rtak e 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 more clearly because of that essence; but by that selfsame token I knew that those pictures lied: 297.

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'The glad bright faces of the young ones where they wandered hand in hand through the woods. The campfires where musicians played their bazouras and tambours; and meat roasting on spits while the menfolk clapped and young girls whirled in the dance. And wheeled caravans, trundling through the woods as of yore, bearing a people as free as the air; or at least free of Nephran Malinari, if not the rest of the Warnphyri.

True travellers again, aye, in the forests of Sunside- '-And all a lie.

'"Come, bring your cups," Malinari cried. "Come drink with me, to your freedom!" And his men went among my people, leading them to the tables laden with tribute.

'But supported between those who had converted me, with my poor sick head lolling this way and that, I saw how the strange dark cloud - that cloud of ill-omen - was settling towards the clearing, and how a ground mist was once more gathering in the earth. 'As for my father: 'It cannot be said that he had been a good man, but where he grovelled now under the sandalled foot of a brawny lieutenant ... who can say what thoughts pa.s.sed through his mind? One thing for sure: he knew Malinari for a great deceiver, and his mind-pictures for lies. Also, he knew that he was done for; or, in Malinari's own words, that the "hated chief of the Vad astr as w as "no more". Wherefore, what had he to lose? At least he might make a quick end of it.

'Squirming free of the lieutenant's foot, Dinu sprang up, pointed at the hovering cloud, and cried, "He brings his warrior creatures! He calls them down upon your heads! He destroys the Vadastras entire! Flee for your lives! Flee!"

'Too late, for again Lord Malinari was emplo ying his mentalism, and now his pictures told th e truth: Warriors circling in the shrouding cloud, held aloft on their fully-inflated gas bladders, extended air&tild;scoop mantles, and spiralling updraughts from Sunside's night forests.

Now they channelled gas to their propukors, trimmed 298.

their mantles, came sputtering and issuing their poisonous vapours, descending towards the woods about the central clearing. And flanking them, controlling their tight aerial formation, a host of manta flyers, their eager thrall riders gauntleted to a man, and their purpose all too obvious!

'The t.i.the? Hah! Don't talk to me of t.i.thes. Never such a t.i.the in all the history of Sunside. The tribute? But Malinari had come to claim the greatest tribute of all: an ent ire clan!

'The people fled. Coughing, choki ng, sickened by the vile exhaust fumes of Malinari's warriors, they fled for the forest... but again, too late. For the night was now a greater nightmare than ever. Hideous beasts were descending on the caravans and rude dwellings about the central clearing, flattening them to the earth. Vampire thralls slid down ropes dangling from the flyers. The people were surrounded. There was no escape!

'And through all of this, that demon Lord's laughter tinging out.

And my father on his knees now, wringing his hands and asking, "But why, Lord, why? Tell me this is not of my doing."

'Above the thunder of raging warriors, the cries of l.u.s.ting lieutenants and thralls, and the screams of the doomed people, Lord Malinari heard him. He swept back his robe, took his gauntlet from his belt and thrust his hand into it, answering, "Your doing? Yours, Dinu? Do you truly think that anything you could do would be of any moment in this world? Because you were devious, is that your meaning? No, you fool, nothing is of your doing! Why, there never was a supplicant chief in all Sunside - from here to the furnace desert - who was not an enormous liar and cheat! It is your nature, even as it's mine."

' "But Lord, if not to punish me, why do you do this thing?

Towards what end ... ?" Dinu's jaw had fallen open; his eyes were wide in a face that craved understanding. And: '"It is the provisioning," Malinari told him. "But a great provisioning! My manse is a fortress where in times of peace we do well enough. But soon the peace will be ended. I am building an army, Dinu, and my needs are great. For in Starside 299.

m a bloodwar is in the offing, and bloodwars are built on blood.

In this case, yours.'"

'With which he flexed his hand inside his glove, until all its hooks and blades stood out. And he cried out to his men and monsters: "Take the young and healthy alive as best you can.

As for the children, the middling-old and the dodderers - they are fodder." Then, to my father: '"And you, Dinu ... alas, you're middling-old."

'His gauntlet of bright metal made a downward-sweeping arc in the smoky firelight, then gleamed red - dripped red - where he held it up to the reeking night. Almost as red as his eyes.

'And after that I saw no more ...'

'... Until I awakened in Malstack, my Lord's manse in Starside.

'Now, an aerie is an aerie, and all of them much alike. Or at least they were in the olden times. Since when it seems some terrible vengeance has visited itself upon Starside; for I have seen the cadavers of those same vast dwellings, like the skeletal spines of giants, lying sprawled and b roken where they fell on the barren bould er plains. And only hollow stumps remaining, mute revenants of castles that once were mighty.

'However, and in the time of which I speak: 'The Mind's manse stood far out on t he plains, at the rim of that great clump of carve n stacks, spires, and towers whereof the vampire Lords were wont to fashion their homes. Guarding its lower levels - in the scree jumbles at its foot, and in its high-walled, gantletted approaches - Malstack had many flightless warriors faithful only to Lord Malinari, who was after all their father. Lean and hungry, they were ever watchful.

'Within: there were wells in the aerie's bas.e.m.e.nt, flabby siphoneers in the stubby turret of its roof, and in between all manner of levels to house Malinari's men and monsters, his vats of metamorphism and other workshops, stables for his flyers and warriors alike, launching bays, barracks for the soldiers, kitchens, workplaces, and quarters for specialist thralls such as weavers, metal- and leather-workers, and even musicians. Music, aye! For The Mind had something of an ear for Szgany tunes. The stringed bazoura, with its swift, sweetly liquid notes, was like a balm to ease the pain of his troubled head. For his mentalism was all things to Malinari: a blessing and a bane. One thing to hear the mere voices of men - when you have the power to stop them with a command or simple gesture - but something else to hear their very thoughts, so clamorous loud in your mind that you must struggle not to hear them!

'That was the curse of Malinari's mentalism: that it was there whether he wanted it or not. That while giving it direction, controlling it, took a great effort of will, shutting out its generally useless babble - the tumult of an entire aerie's thoughts - were almost impossible! And when the sun was up and the barrier mountains rimmed in gold, many a sleepless day for my master if not for the musicians who laved his mind with the songs of Sunside.

'But I fear I have strayed. For I was speaking of Malstack and now have returned to Malinari. Or perhaps not, for this was what you wanted: to learn about The Mind and his ways. And anyway, and as I've said, an aerie is an aerie, and all much of a kind. Enough of Malstack.

'So, what else can I tell you of my master as was? Let me think a moment...

'His origins? Oh, yes, I know of them also. For with time, after I had proved myself as a thrall, rising through the ranks to become a lieutenant - and when during the bloodwars I became the first of his lieutenants - we got to be close, Malinari and I. Well, as close as maste r and slave can get. And upon a time, during a brief lull when we took respite in Malstack, I remember he said to me: ' "Do you know, but what is in the blood usually comes out in the flesh?" 'To which I replied, "Master?"

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'"Your father," he said. "Do you know how he became chief of the Vadastras?"

' "I was a child at the time," I answered, "But yes, I remember.

You made him the chief, my Lord."

' "And do you know why?"

'"I have no idea, Lord."

'"Several reasons. One: because he desired the job. Among Szgany supplicants it takes a strong man - a man with a strong stomach - to be a chief and give away his own people.

Two: because he was big and insensitive and a bully born, which I suppose is much the same as one. And three: because Dinu was rare among men, one of a small number that I could bear to converse with. Or rather, with whom I conversed on a level, without concerning myself whether or no they lied, and so not caring."

'"I am trying to understand, master," I told him, since it seemed he required an answer.

'"I divine men's thoughts," Malinari explained. "When they think against me, then I am... angered. And when I am angered, then I lose good me n. Wherefo re it sometimes serves me well not to read them! And I tell you, I lied to your father when I told him that his devious ways were known to me. Suspected, perhaps, but never known for a fact, not until the night when that woman he'd used betrayed him. Not that it mattered greatly; the Vadastras were doomed anyway, fuel for my bloodwar. Let me make myself plain: your father's mind was closed to me. As is yours." '"Mine, Lord?"

'"Indeed, for what is in the blood comes out in the flesh. You are heir to Dinu's mental processes ... your minds are much alike, so that your thoughts, too, are vague and shadowy things to me, which I read as through a writhing mist. Oh, I could get to them more directly; should we say, by contact:3 With the very brain that holds them? For, as you are surely aware, these fingers of mine are especially gifted in their own right. Alas, but that would probably mean the loss of yet another good man. That is a luxury which I cannot afford."

'"No, Lord," I said, and I admit I backed off a pace. "No, indeed, Lord!"

'But Malinari merely tut-tutted and shook his head, then winced and twitched a little as was sometimes his wont, saying, "No, no! Have no fear, Korath. For while the rest of this manse of mine is filled with men and creatures - creatures with minds that make noise and babble and uproar in my bead, even when all else is silent! - you seem as empty as those great dark s.p.a.ces out between the stars. Oh, yes, and I like you for it."

'Then in the privacy of my master's chambers, we would sit and listen to his music together - and I would try my best not to think ...'

'He told me of his beginnings.

'His father was Wamphyri: Giorgas Malin, who sniffed out even the craftiest of the Szgany by tracking the aura of their fear. He wasn't a mentalist as such - he read no minds - but he was sensitive to sentience, and knew when intelligent, fear- filled minds were close by. He sensed the shuddering and trembling of the very brains of his prey, even when they themselves were still and silent. Wherefore Sunside's nomads feared Malin worse than any other Lord; for despite their skill at cloaking their thoughts, he was usually able to discover them. In short, his talent had been similar to that of his son.

Indeed, it had been the source of Malinari's mentalism.