Chapter 106 - The Battle with the Elders part 5

It was never my intention to allow him join my battle with the Elders, but I thought the boy would be safe enough if we should raid the warriors I'd seen camped upon the plains. I planned to avoid a direct confrontation with the men who were searching for us. I merely intended to pick a few stragglers from the edge of their encampment, steal some weapons and clothing and blood for our sustenance. Ilio, I felt sure, would be safe enough on this mission, and it would give him a bit of experience in such matters, experience he would require in the future, should we ever be parted.

At the rim of the great grassy plains, we climbed to the top of a tree and scanned the flatlands for their camp.

"There," I said, pointing.

As the moist wind whipped through our hair, we looked down upon the campfires glowing in the dark. The warriors had moved their camp closer. Much closer. "They saw your fire last night," I said to the boy, glancing toward him gravely.

Clinging to a swaying branch a few feet away, Ilio returned my grim stare. "They were coming for us?" he asked.

I nodded.

"I knew they were too far away to reach us before we rose," I said. "But we will have to abandon our muddy little hole and find someplace else to sleep come morning. Come, boy. We have much to do tonight." I released my grip and allowed my body to plummet to the ground. Bounding lightly from bough to bough, I landed in a crouch and awaited him.

Ilio dropped beside me. With the vampire child at my side, we moved swiftly through the grassland toward the warriors' camp.

As we travelled, I counseled him on our strategy, and upon the manner in which he must fortify his courage. To make war, I told him, one must put aside fear and sympathy. One must embrace the thought of death in battle as a glorious fate, and have no pity upon one's enemies, even if they cried and begged for mercy. To cling to either of those sentiments led only to failure. Both were a sure recipe for disaster.

"You must remove your mind away from your flesh when you make war," I said. "You must make of your body a weapon to be thrown upon your enemies. If your thoughts are free of fear and sympathy, your strategies will be more cunning, your success more assured."

"Your people must be great warriors," Ilio said admiringly.

I laughed. "No, we were very peaceful, but we knew that all living things must fight for their survival. It is an evident truth. You need only observe the world around you to see it. So we trained ourselves to fight, even as we enjoyed our days of plenty. We had no love for conflict, but we did not deny its necessity."

"It's easy to have no fear when you are strong," Ilio said, worrying perhaps about his small stature.

"The fight is won here," I said, pointing to my temple, and he nodded.

As we neared the encampment of the Oombai warriors, we slowed and took care where our feet fell. Staying low, we circled the camp stealthily. When we came upon a lone sentry, standing guard at a little distance from his fellow warriors, I put my hand on Ilio's shoulder to halt him and pointed toward the man, whose back was to us.

"See how that one longs for death?" I asked. "He stands at a distance from his brothers, with his back turned toward the night."

"He's watching the fire," Ilio whispered.

"I want you to take him. Move as quickly as you can. Cover his mouth with your hand and pull him into the darkness. Do not allow him to struggle or cry out. Bite his throat here on the side and drain his blood with all your might. Do it quickly, without pity, or return to our muddy hole now and await my return."

Ilio's eyes gleamed with hunger. I'd barely finished speaking when he shot from my side. Had I thought he needed encouragement? I'd underestimated his blood-thirst. I watched as he swept through the grass toward his target. If his back had not been turned toward us, the human might have seen a pale blur, if anything at all, though I could follow the boy's movements easily enough. He was fast. I watched him flash through the dark with new respect.

Ilio leaped like a crazed badger upon the larger man, knocking the sentry to the ground. Although their struggle was not as silent as I would have wished, the low grunts and cries were not loud enough to rouse any of the other warriors.

Ilio dragged the man away from the light of the campfires, his arms wrapped about the sentry's neck and shoulders. He jerked and wrenched his victim's body as he stumbled away with his prey, having a little bit of difficulty with the task, but only because he was inexperienced, not because he lacked strength. I moved to join him, and arrived in time to see Ilio duck his razor-sharp fangs to the doomed man's neck.

His victim bucked and kicked his legs as the boy drained him, but fell limp quickly enough. Ilio drained the man as I'd instructed. The warrior's body sagged. His arms rolled into the grass, fingers twitching.

Ilio's head jerked up as I drew near. His mouth and chin glittered with blood, black in the moonlight. His eyes were as feral as any wild predator guarding its prey from another.

He grinned then, the wild look in his eyes fading as he came back to himself. "It tastes good!" he sighed.

Then he dipped his mouth back to the man's neck.

Watching the boy make his first human kill filled me with horror and self-loathing. He was blameless in this crime, as he would be blameless in all the rest that were sure to follow. Out of weakness, out of loneliness, out of love, I had made him what he was-- a killer—in full knowledge of what that entailed… and in so doing, had unleashed more death on the world. His sins would forever belong to me. I would wear them like a stone about the neck.

The Oombai warrior's spirit had departed. I didn't want to look at the man's face, but my eyes were drawn to it nonetheless. Mouth drawn in pain, empty gaze rolled toward the moon, Ilio's victim silently accused. I ripped my gaze away, shame stabbing me deep in the guts.

"Come, boy," I whispered hoarsely. "Strip his body and take his weapons. We must hurry."

We hunted a while longer, claiming four victims-- two each-- before quitting the camp. Before we were finished, we were respectably clothed and armed. I'd even claimed a magnificent cape, one of dyed woven cloth trimmed in black crow's feathers. The mantle of a commander, who I killed as he shit in the weeds. We stole away into the night, our predations undiscovered and our bellies bulging with the hot blood of our enemies.

We traveled north until I felt we were a safe distance from the warriors who pursued us. In a thicket of pine, I embraced the boy and gave him some final instructions before I departed, just in case I didn't return.

Continue south, I told him. Look to your safety before all things, and refrain as much as possible from feeding on humans.

"You'll come back," he said, smiling at me confidently.

I returned his smile, then turned and blurred into flight.