Chapter 181 - Zenzele, My Captor part 8

The raiding party set off shortly after. Of the blood drinkers, Zenzele, Palifver and Tribtoc took the forward position, riding upon the backs of the great snorting beasts they called horses. The little one named Hettut scurried along at our flank, running on his hands and the tips of his toes in a dog-like manner, which I reluctantly found amusing. The giant blood drinker named Bhorg took rear guard, sauntering after the group with his big hammer slanted across his shoulder. I had not seen the Neanderthal blood drinker since the previous night. He was the party's scout, and had set off well before everyone else. The captives marched between two columns of the blood drinkers' mortal guards, and Vehnfear ran alongside his mistress.

As Zenzele had said the night before, the raiding party could only travel at the pace set by their captives, and the mortals—who were headed for sale in the city of the blood drinkers-- were understandably reluctant to meet with their fate. Despite frequent lashings, they trudged forward like arthritic old women, delaying all they could. The sodden ground and mounds of crunchy snow did not ease our travel either.

I expected the slave traders to be impatient with our slow pace, but they didn't seem to mind. If vampires share one universal trait, it's a love of travel.

(Wouldn't you, if you had all the time in the world?)

I walked alongside my mistress's mount, taking care to project an air of submissiveness. I still did not fully grasp the intricacies of her relationship with Palifver, but Zenzele had intimated that her second-in-command was an influential figure in their society, and that I should be careful in his presence.

The leaders of the raiding party ambled along on their horses, conversing idly, though mostly they wanted to know about me. Palifver was especially interested in my past. He spoke to me in Tanti, as their T'sukuru tongue was still a mystery to me, asking me the name of the blood drinker who had made me into a vampire, what tribe I hailed from, and the circumstances that had delivered me to the dominion of the T'sukuru.

I answered his questions as respectfully as I could. I didn't even bother to deceive him. I told him about my maker, how I had tried to end my life, and how I had awakened on the frozen steppes. I told him of my battle with the Oombai, recounting the slaughter of the Elders. They listened with amusement, but their entertainment didn't matter to me. All I cared about was getting as far away from the Tanti as possible. Their safety, and the safety of my vampire child Ilio, was paramount in my thoughts. The further away we got, I knew, the safer my loved ones would be. For that, I was probably more impatient of our pace than the slave traders themselves.

I gleaned just as much information from his questions as I gave to him. I learned that the T'sukuru considered this whole region, from the steppes where I had encountered the mammoth hunters to the city of the blood drinkers, part of their extended domain. They called it the Western Dominions. I also learned that, in their society, the making of new vampires was a highly ritualized thing and subject to the approval of their god king Khronos.

Zenzele's second-in-command seemed amazed that I did not know the name of my maker, and was disturbed when I confessed that I had killed him shortly after he changed me, saying that it was a terrible crime in their culture, one that Khronos would judge me for shortly after our arrival.

"And how will this be done?" I asked.

"Khronos will look into your soul," Palifver said with a forbidding grin. "The blood is the soul, maker-killer, and it will tell him if your creator deserved to die by your hand." Judging by his expression, he did not seem to think it likely, but he went on: "If your actions were justified, Zenzele will be allowed to keep you. You have sworn yourself to servitude in her house, but such things depend upon the blessing of Khronos."

"Khronos is the First One," the other vampire interjected-- the one I had speared during our battle in the forest. Tribtoc spoke with a wondering expression, staring off toward the moon-limned peaks. "The Great Father will judge your heart, foreigner. He will judge you as he judges all."

I waited for him to elucidate, but that is all he said.

Palifver looked annoyed. He turned away from Tribtoc and said, "You are lucky in one regard."

"What is that?" I asked.

"Your mistress was a stray like you. She has no clan, other than her own house. She answers only to Khronos."

Palifver's observation stank of prejudice. I glanced up to Zenzele, but her face betrayed no emotion. She merely rode, her luminous eyes set on the distant mountain peaks.

A stray like me... I ruminated.

I wondered then how she had come to be a vampire. Was her maker as cruel as mine? Was she made an immortal against her will? What strange paths had delivered her unto the city of the blood drinkers, and how had she risen to a position of such authority?

I would have loved to ask her all those questions, if only we had some privacy in which to speak, but she had made it clear that she was reluctant to confide in me with so many other vampires around. Considering our enhanced senses and our skills at observation, I could certainly understand, especially if her position in their society was not secure, but what if we were alone? What if we could speak without the risk of being spied on?

I must remain alert for any opportunity.

The land gently rose as we marched. The peaks of the Carpathian Mountains grew almost imperceptibly. By the time the sky had begun to lighten, the rugged mountains dominated the eastern horizon.

Palifver and Zenzele discussed the pass we were headed toward. Palifver wanted to press on through the mountain pass, but Zenzele thought it would be wise to make camp early, so that we would be at a safe distance in case of any avalanches.

"What good is it to hurry, Palifver?" Zenzele said. "Frozen carcasses have little value in Uroboros."

As if on cue, we heard a distant rumble. A great sheet of snow had broken away and went crashing down the side of one of the mountains.

Zenzele glared at Palifver smugly.

He did not reply, just scowled and turned away.

Zenzele called a halt to the procession. The captives were given food and drink while fires were built and tents erected. Goro returned and reported that he'd come across a small settlement of mortals just to the north of our position.

"Several homes. Not very well guarded. I think they are Grell."

Zenzele nodded. "We'll have a look at them tomorrow night. If there are any old ones or sick among their number, we will take a few of them to feed on. Else we'll have to bleed some of the slaves, and they've been bled enough already."

Goro bowed and sauntered away. He ducked inside the main tent.

Zenzele glanced toward me. "Do you hunger?"

"I prefer to hunt on my own," I replied.

"I know you feed on animals," she said, and at my look of surprise, she smiled and added, "I can smell it on you. It's... not unpleasant, but it's strange."

I waited.

"Regardless, I cannot let you hunt on your own," she said with a sigh. "The others think I give you too much liberty as it is."

"What do you care what they think," I asked.

Zenzele looked at me darkly. "I am without clan, beautiful one. I must be above reproach if I wish to remain that way. Our laws are very strict. Those who do not abide by our ways are placed under the supervision of a clan master. I would lose my standing, my house… my very freedom."

"Then run away," I whispered to her fiercely. "Run away with me! We--!"

She slapped me—hard enough to turn my head.

"Hold your tongue!" she hissed. She looked around with a worried expression before returning her attention to me. "There is no escape, fool! Khronos is a god!"

She could see that I was wounded, that I did not fully understand.

"Do you know what they do to our kind when we do not obey his law?" she asked.

I knew she meant blood drinkers like us, the true immortals.

"Khronos will select five clan masters," she whispered. "Those five will take hold of your head and all four of your limbs, and then they will pull you apart. Not even this can kill us, not the eternal ones, but when it is done, each of the five will take a part of your body and they will ride in five different directions. They will hide the pieces in the most remote locations they can find, and none will ever say where they have hidden them. Khronos will keep the head, of course. Until he tires of playing with it."

I stared at her in horror.

She smiled at me, but there was pity in her eyes. "Your old life is over, beautiful one," she said. "It is better, perhaps, that you accept it now."