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I WOKE UP A LITTLE before nightfall, stretched the stiffness out of iven for a bed or hammock! - then left the inside of the cave to study the barren land ere journeying through I didn’t get much of a chance to study the countryside while we traveled at night It was only during quietin

We hadn’t hit the snowlands yet, but already we had left most of civilization behind Huround was rocky and forbidding Even anih to survive -for weeks, maybe a hts

Whenever I asked Mr Crepsley how many miles were left, he’d sot cut up badly e reached the hard ground Mr Crepsley applied the sap of herbal plants that he found along the way on rew back (I healed quicker than a huht that it was too bad that the Little People ith us, or he could have carried me on his back and flitted (Va, where they slip through space like eels through a net They call it "flitting") He said our slow pace had nothing to do with the Little People "Flitting is not permitted on the way to Vampire Mountain," he explained "The journey is a way of weeding out the weak fro Vampires are ruthless in certain aspects We do not believe in supporting those who are incapable of supporting themselves"

"That’s not very nice," I observed "What about soed "Either they do not atte"

"That’s stupid," I said "If I could flit, I would No one would know"

The vahed "You still do not understand our ways," he said "There is no nobility in pulling the wool over the eyes of one’s co codes From our point of view it is better to lose one’s life than lose one’s pride"

Mr Crepsley spoke a lot about pride and nobility and being true to oneself Vampires were a stern lot, he said, who lived as close to nature as they could Their lives were rarely easy, and that was the way they liked it - "Life is a challenge," he once told e truly knohat it ot used to the Little People, who trailed along behind us at night, silent, aloof, precise They hunted for their own food during the day, while we slept By the tirabbed a few hours’ sleep and were ready to go Their pace never changed They ht the one with the lins that he was feeling any strain

Mr Crepsley and ood We had bottles of huular doses of huh they prefer to drink directly from the vein, they can bottle blood and store it - but we drank froency

Mr Crepsley wouldn’t let ht attract attention - but it was allowed in way stations Way stations were caves or underground caverns where bottles of hu places, where vampires could hole up for a day or two There weren’t many of them - it took about a week to make it from one to the next - and some of them had been taken over or destroyed by animals since Mr Crepsley had last been here

"How come they alloay stations but no shoes or ropes?" I asked one day as armed our feet by a fire and dove into roast venison (we ate it raw most of the time)

"The way stations were introduced after our ith the vao," he said "We lost ht with the vampaneze, and huerously low The way stations were set up to et to Vampire Mountain Some vampires object to them and never use them, but most accept them"

"How many vampires are there?" I asked

"Between two and three thousand," he answered "Maybe a few hundred more or less"

I whistled "That’s a lot!"

"Three thousand is nothing," he said "Think about the billions of humans"

"It’s more than I expected," I said

"Once, we numbered more than a hundred thousand," Mr Crepsley said "And this was long ago, when that was a huge amount"

"What happened to thehed "Huht In the centuries before the vaht a in duels We came close to extinction, but kept our heads above water, just about"

"How many Vampire Generals are there?" I asked curiously

"Between three and four hundred"

"And vampaneze?"