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ACOUPLE OF LONG, quiet nights passed Harkat had been kept in the Hall of Princes to answer questions Gavner had General business to attend to, and we only saw hi out with Mr Crepsley in the Hall of Khledon Lurtup to do with old friends he hadn’t seen in many years - or down in the stores with him and Seba Nile
The elderly vampire was e He was the second oldest vampire in the mountain - the oldest was a Prince, Paris Skyle, as ht hundred - and the only one who’d been here when Mr Tiny visited and o
"A lot of today’s vampires do not believe the old stories," he said "They think Mr Tiny’s warning was so vampires But I remember how he looked I recall the way his words echoed around the Hall of Princes, and the fear they instilled in everyone The Vaend He is real And now, it see"
Seba lapsed into silence He’d been drinking aof warm beer but had lost interest in it
"He has not come yet," Mr Crepsley said spiritedly "Mr Tiny is as old as tiht mean hundreds or thousands of years from now"
Seba shook his head "We have had our hundreds of years - seven centuries to make a stand and tackle the vaardless of the consequences Better to have been driven to the point of extinction by humans than wiped out entirely by the vampaneze"
"That is foolish talk," Mr Crepsley snapped "I would rather take my chances with ahuluht I am old My brain does not work as sharply as it used to PerhapsStill"
Such pessimistic words were on everybody’s lips Even those who scoffed outright at the idea of a Vampaneze Lord always seemed to end with a "still" or "however" or "but" The tension was clogging the dusty , stifling everyone as present
The only one who didn’t seem troubled by the rumors was Kurda Smahlt He turned up outside our chaht after Harkat had delivered his s," he said "I’ve had a hectic two nights, but things are calht I’d take Darren on a tour of the Halls"
"Great!" I beaot around to it"
"You don’t htest," Mr Crepsley said "I am overwheluide so close to your investiture" He said it cuttingly, but Kurda ignored the elder va if you want," Kurda offered cheerfully
"No thank you" Mr Crepsley smiled thinly "Okay," Kurda said "Your loss Ready, Darren?"
"Ready," I said, and off ent
Kurda took e caves, built deep beneath htly The cooks worked in shifts around the clock during times of Council They had to in order to feed all the visitors
"It’s quieter the rest of the time," Kurda said "There are usually no more than thirty vampires in residence You often have to cook for yourself if you don’t eat with the rest at the set ti Halls, where sheep, goats, and coere kept and bred "We’d never be able to ship in enough milk and meat to feed all the vampires," Kurda explained when I asked why live animals were kept in the mountain "This isn’t a hotel, where you can call a supplier and restock anyti in food is an enormous hassle It’s easier to rear the animals ourselves and butcher them e need to"
"What about human blood?" I asked "Where does that come from?"
"Generous donors" Kurda winked, and led me on (I only realized much later that he’d sidestepped the question)
The Hall of Cremation was our next stop It here vampires who died in the mountain were cremated "What if they don’t want to be creh, hardly any va to do with all the time they spend in coffins while they’re alive However, if someone requests a burial, their wishes are respected
"Not so long ago, we’d lower the dead into an underground stream and let the water wash them away There’s a cave, far below the Halls, where one of the larger streah it’s never used now I’ll show it to you if we’re ever down that way"
"Why should we be down there?" I asked "I thought those tunnels were only used to get in and out of the ," Kurda said "I’ve been trying to make accurate maps of the mountain for decades The Halls are easy but the tunnels are much more difficult They’ve never been et down to theions, but I don’t have as much time to work on them as I’d like I’ll have even less when I’ hobby," I said "Could I co? I’d like to see how it’s done"
"You’re really interested?" He sounded surprised
"Why shouldn’t I be?"
He laughed "I’ about maps Most have no interest in suchvampires: ’Maps are for humans Most vaardless of the dangers, than follow directions on a onal roo full of cracks There was a pit in the middle - where the dead vanarly benches on the far side,on the benches, whispering to each other, and a young child was at their feet, playing with a scattering of animal bones They didn’t have the appearance of va, with lank hair and rags for clothes; their skin was deathly pale and dry, and their eyes were an eerie white color The adults stood e entered, grabbed the child, and withdrew through a door at the back of the room
"Who were they?" I asked
"The Guardians of this chamber," Kurda replied
"Are they vampires?" I pressed "They didn’t look like vaht I was the only child vampire in the mountain"
"You are," Kurda said
"Then who -"
"Ask me later!" Kurda snapped with unusual briskness I blinked at his sharp tone, and he sy "I’ll tell you about them when our tour is complete," he said softly "It’s bad luck to talk about theh I’m not superstitious by nature, I prefer not to test the fates where the Guardians are concerned"
(Although he’d aroused e, so-called Guardians until much later, since by the end of our tour I was in no state to ask any questions, and had forgotten about the the matter of the Guardians drop, I exaround There were leaves and sticks in the bottoe pots were set around the hole, a clublike stick in each I asked what they were for
"Those are pestles, for the bones," Kurda said
"What bones?"