Chapter 130 - Exodus of the Neirie, 23,000 Years Ago part 8

Tapas invited me to travel with his people, which I graciously declined. "My son is waiting for me back at our camp," I explained. "He is young and inexperienced, not yet strong enough to resist our hunger for blood. I would not be able to trust his restraint around your people, and I cannot abandon him."

"The boy is a blood drinker?" Tapas asked, raising his eyebrows. "I thought he was a mortal child."

He was confused. These men did not understand how a blood drinker was made, not completely. 

"He is T'sukuru now," I replied. I was reluctant to say more to the giant, to reveal the mysteries of our vampire nature. I feared I might provoke the desires of these long suffering men. Who wouldn't covet our powers, especially if they didn't understand the cost? I did not like the way his companions were watching me either, as if they were ready to drop to their knees and worship me at the slightest indication that I might desire it. I did not want to be worshipped, nor did I wish to fuel their messianic fantasies.

Tapas sensed my reservations. "I am happy your boy lives," he said. "I had a family of my own before the Oombai captured me. A wife, two young daughters. I doubt my wife still waits for me. It has been years since I was taken, but I would like to see them anyway. I would like to know if they still live."

While we conversed, some of the Neirie warriors were picking through the bodies of the Oombai I had slain. They were taking what they could salvage: clothing and armor that was not too bloodied or broken by my rampage to be of use to them, the dead men's weapons and shields. Others hovered near us like sycophants, watching me with awestruck eyes. They whispered to one another when they thought I wasn't looking.

"What are your plans? Where do you go from here?" I asked.

Tapas squinted toward the southeast, his upper lip peeled back from his teeth. "We travel first to the land of the Tanti, the home of these men who stare at you so worshipfully." He nodded to our whispering attendants with a twinkle in his eyes. "They are a spiritual people, and you have the good fortune of sharing a name with one of their gods," he said.

I glanced toward the men who continued to hover. "I don't know if I'd call that good luck," I murmured. "My people did not believe in gods. We revered our ancestors. From what I've seen of gods, they're much too generous with suffering in exchange for all this bowing and scraping."

Tapas laughed. "That could certainly be debated," he said. "My people also had little use for gods. The Tanti's gods certainly did not free us from the Oombai, despite all their prayers. Except through death, perhaps… but what good is that?" He sighed, looking away pensively. Remembering, perhaps, the indignities he had suffered. Finally, he blinked, resumed our conversation. "When we reach the Tanti homeland, we shall all rest for a while," he continued. "The Tanti might bore you to death with talk of gods and fishing, but they are a generous people and do not turn away foreigners. Once we have recovered from our journey, those who are not Tanti will continue on to their own lands. The Grell. The Pruss. Their lands lie to the north of the Tanti. I and my fellow Vis'hantu will journey south, to our lands." He glanced at me, curious. "Where lies your homeland, T'sukuru? Do you live in the east, where the other blood drinkers dwell?"

"No," I answered quickly. I didn't want to be associated with such brutal creatures. "I come from the northwest, from a land far removed from these climes. My people, however, are long departed from this world. I have become a wanderer. Alone, but for my adopted son."

"It is a hard thing for a man to be without a home," Tapas mused. "Are you certain you will not accompany us on our journey? You are T'sukuru, but my people would welcome you. It might take a while for them to trust you fully, but we have played host to your kind in the past. Other wandering blood drinkers, I should say. Not the T'sukuru of the east. You could have a home again. Men you could call brother." He grinned slyly. "Maybe even a wife-- or many wives, if that is your custom."

I laughed. "You tempt me, Tapas! I will consider it. My son and I watch over your group from a distance. We have sworn to protect you during your journey, but once you are safely home…" I shrugged. "I know not where we will go after that."

I did not tell him that I was tempted to continue east, to find this land of the blood drinkers that everyone spoke of. If not for the reputation they had among the mortal men of this region, I would seek them out for certain, but I feared for Ilio's safety. The blood drinkers of the east had such a fearsome reputation!

The fiery globe of the sun hung suspended over the horizon, casting a gold, slanting light across the great open plains. It would be dark in a couple more hours. I needed to return to Ilio. He would be worried, no doubt, of the outcome of the battle. Also, once it was dark, he would be free to move about on his own. If I did not return soon, he'd come to investigate, and I did not want him to chance across any of these mortals, not without me at his side to help guard his behavior. Mortal blood is always so tempting!

"It's encouraging to know that we have such powerful guardians looking after us," Tapas said. He looked as if he wanted to clap me on the back, but he restrained himself, hesitant to take such a familiar attitude with me. "Know that you have our gratitude, Thest. If not for you, the Oombai would have slain every man on this battlefield today. And they would have caught the rest shortly after. Dragged them back to those horrible pens. Or worse. I have no doubt of it."

Glancing at the Oombai corpses, I said, "I do not think you need worry about them anymore."

The Neirie scavengers were fighting with the vultures over the bodies now, waving their spears and clubs at the birds and cursing them. The vultures did not seem overly concerned with the mortals, however. They merely waddled away, wings spread out, or flapped to a less disputed locale. There were plenty of dead bodies.

More scavengers would come soon, though, I thought. Larger animals. Dangerous ones, perhaps.

"I think the threat of the Oombai has passed this day, as well," Tapas said, looking in the same direction, his face unreadable. "We are truly free now."