the wild, a bitch at that, and pregnant to boot! The Wamphyri are especially fond of wolf cubs basted in their mother's milk, and of heart-of-wolf and wolf meat generally, which they swear by as an aphrodisiac and positive aid to their longevity. As if they needed such!'And meanwhile Dinu's specially chosen squad of bully boys was out and about, to ensure that certain other tributes - of the human variety - were not fled. For while the tithe-markers were already drawn, the unfortunate parties had not been named for fear that they would make off into the night. Thus, as the time drew nigh, the wailing of mothers and daughters, the curses of277men and the sobbing of their sons could be heard in and around the camp, as one by one the various listed "names" were informed of their misfortune by Dinu's tithe-takers.'Some were already known, of course: the troublemakers in their cages, and outsiders who had wandered inadvertently onto Vadastra territory. But the three males, three females, and six infants of the clan itself, their naming was left to last, for the reasons stated. Then they were gathered in by Dinu's bully boys, chained and gagged before they could voice any great complaint or cause commotion, and tethered to await the coming of the tithesmen and their vampire master, Lord Nephran Malinari. As for the babies: they were wrapped in bundles on the trestle tables, along with the other wines, victuals, and sweetmeats.'Myself: I was with Nadia, "safe" in my father's caravan. From peepholes in the withe walls, silently and scarce breathing, we watched and waited as instructed. For my father liked to keep his prized ones (I still find the idea of "loved ones" hard to envisage) well out of sight of the Wamphyri, so as not to arouse their interest. Likewise Nadia's mother, Melana Zetra; Dinu had advised her to remain out of sight, hidden in her caravan, lest being comely she attract unwanted attention.'And in the fifth hour after sundown they came. 'The skies had been clear, as told, and only a warm breeze, like the breath of the dreaming forest, to tease the flames of the campfires and stir the branches of the trees about the central clearing. But the Wamphyri have their own weird ways with nature; they work their will on air, earth, and water as acid works on metals, etching them to their design.
'We had seen it all before: the mist gathering on the high peaks and rolling down like some vaporous avalanche, all milky-white in the moonlight. The sudden flurry of cold air down from the barrier mountains, beating on the flames of our fires as if to smother them, and lashing the gentler winds of the forest to frenzied flight. And suddenly, from behind the peaks, the first stain of dark clouds writhing blindly out of the north, feeling their way like snaky fingers and obscuring the glittering Northstar as they came.
'And in those clouds, riding on high, swooping and fluttering like withered leaves caught in a flurry - yet, unlike leaves, directed and with purpose - the scaly flyer mounts of the Wamphyri!'And oh, the moaning and gibbering of those plague winds, as the creatures that rode them - and the Ones who rode them - came on, gliding, descending, trapping the air in the scoops of their webby membrane wings, and settling to the foothills over Vadastra territory ... except, as by now you have surely reasoned, these lands were Vadastra in name only.'For in fact they belonged to Lord Nephran Malinari of the Wamphyri. And Malinari had come to collect his tithe ...'
CHAPTER NINETEEN
MalinariIn the gloom of the wrecked sump, in the dark of Jake's dream - which was in fact much more than a dream, indeed a metaphysical connection through Harry Keogh to an ex-lieutenant of the Wamphyri - Korath Mindsthrall continued his story:'There were vampires and vampires. In Starside's great aeries of the Wamphyri as were, I saw some who were hideous beyond description, too monstrous to look upon even through a thrall's eyes.'In general they would keep to their manlike outlines, but would shape their various parts to their own design. Their ears were often carved and fretted into fanciful sculptures; convolute nostrils might be pierced and hung with rings of gold; arms lengthened to extend their reach in battle, and teeth permanently enlarged until speech itself