still he will kill the offender, if only because his action or reaction reminded him of his infirmity."
'And Vavara said, "Yet you say he's not mad?"'"Not yet," Malinari told her, "Though it must come eventually. Perhaps in a hundred years, or fifty, or maybe less. But he was here tonight; you saw him; he reasons."' "I have seen him, yes," Vavara answered. "And his reasoning is as warped and fluctuating as his flesh! He looked like a mad thing to me, or close enough."
'"Have it your own way," my master told her. "But if he is a mad thing, then for the moment he's our mad thing. Also, he's the Lord of Darkspire, commander of men and monsters, and Darkspire guards our flanks ..."'Then for a while they were silent, until Vavara inquired: "What of his parents, the incestuous twins?"'"Szwart was born beautiful and seemed perfect," Malinari answered. "At seventeen he ascended. And at eighteen his father found him in Darkspire's Desmodus colony, hanging with the bats from the fretted ceiling - but hanging in flaps and folds, like a blob of dough such as the Szgany use when baking their bread! In his gluttony, he had absorbed a great many bats before falling asleep.' "Father and mother both, they tried to trap and burn him. He trapped and burned them! So the story goes. My advice: never treat Szwart with disdain because he is not pretty. And as for his quirks: we are Wamphyri and we all have quirks - even you, Vavara, or so I've heard it rumoured. But with the exception of our mutual enemies, no one takes us to task over our little ... idiosyncrasies? As for Szwart, who is our ally: neither slight nor scorn him. And don't underestimate him, eitherKorath had been silent for some little time. Perhaps he brooded on the past. Whatever, Harry prodded him with a thought:Korath? And he responded with a grunt:Huh?
My time fare grows short now, (Harry's deadspeak voice was faint and wavering) and Jake isn't far from waking. We've come a long way, in more senses than one, but we're by no means finished. When I go, your contact with Jake goes with me. Then you will be alone. If you ever want to hear from us again - for who knows? We might yet find some mutual benefit in renewed contact - then you'd fast get on with your story. But make it as brief as possible. Here's how it goes:
Malinari and the others, they lost their bloodwar and were banished. Then for four hundred years you survived the Icelands and eventuallyreturned to Starside. And finally you came fare. That's the story, now fill in the details.And Korath answered, Ah, but the details may take a little longer!But not too long, said Harry.
As for Jake: this time he voiced no complaint. He was so 'into' Starside now - Korath's story had so intrigued him - that he wanted to know the rest of it, no matter how ugly it might get. And:
Very well, said Korath. Then let's be done with it...'So then, Malinari, Vavara, and Szwart, they were made out to be the weird ones, the freaks, the outsiders. But in fact they were no more freakish than many of the Lords and Ladies in the camp of Dramal Doombody. Ah, but Lord Doombody had problems of his own. For the time being it seemed he had his leprosy under control, true, but what of the future? Even a man as mighty as Dramal has his limits, and likewise his vampire leech. He knew it was time to consolidate his position against a dubious future, when he might become weak and vulnerable.'Since his aerie towered close to the centre of the clump, Dramal had resolved to annex all of the neighbouring stacks and so make them his own, or at least give them to allies with whom he had unbreakable pacts. This way - as he became less capable over however long a time - he would be surrounded by "friends" as opposed to enemies. And there in a nutshell we have the real basis of what was falsely termed "Malinari's bloodwar": in fact it was forced on The Mind and the other "freaks" by Dramal himself.'Anyway, my master and his allies were determined to make a good long fight of it, and they did. Briefly, then:'Malinari, Vavara, and Szwart: they set