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WE’D STARTED back for the Halls when I re after I’d arrived at Vaareed to tag along "Burial chah the tunnels

"That’s an odd view for a vampire," I noted "Don’t you sleep in a coffin?"

"Coffins are different," Gavner said "I feel snug in a coffin It’s graveyards, ues, and crematoriue was a large cave with a dorew thickly on the walls A streah the middle of the cave and exited via a tunnel that led it back underground The stream ide, fast, and loud We had to raise our voices to be heard above its roar as we stood at its edge

"The bodies of the dead used to be carried down here," Kurda said "They were stripped, placed in the water, and let loose The streah the mountain and out to the wilderness beyond"

"What happened to them then?" I asked

"They washed up on some far-off bank, where their bodies were devoured by animals and birds of prey" He chuckled when I turned pale "Not a pretty way to go, is it?"

"It is as good as any," Seba disagreed "When I die, this is hoant to be disposed of Dead bodies are an essential part of the natural food chain Feeding flesh to fires is a waste"

"Why did they stop using the streaot stuck," Seba cackled "They piled up a short way down the tunnel The stench was unbearable A team of vampires had to tie ropes around themselves and swim down the tunnel to hack the bodies free They were pulled back by their colleagues, since nobody could swiainst so furious a current

"I was on that work detail," Seba continued "Thankfully I only had to pull on the rope and did not have to venture into the water Those ent down the tunnel to free the bodies could never bring theazed down at the dark water of the strea down the tunnel to pry loose stuck corpses, a thought struck me, and I turned to Kurda "You say the bodies washed up for animals and birds to feed on - but isn’t vampire blood poisonous?"

"There wasn’t any blood," Kurda said

"Why not?" I frowned

Kurda hesitated, and Seba answered for him "It had been drained by the Guardians of the Blood, who also reans"

"Who are the Guardians of the Blood?" I asked

"Do you remember the peoplein the Hall of Cremation and the Hall of Death when I took you on a tour of the mountain?" Kurda said

I cast e, ultrapale people with the eerie white eyes, dressed in rags, sitting alone and quiet in the somber Halls Kurda had been reluctant to discuss them and said he’d tell me about theotten to follow up on the mystery "Who are they?" I asked "What do they do?"

"They’re the Guardians of the Blood," Kurda said "They cao - we don’t know froo off wandering every decade or so, so quarters beneath the Halls and rarely e, customs, and beliefs"

"Are they hurunted

"That is unfair," Seba tutted "They are loyal servants, deserving of our gratitude They are in charge of the cre the dead Plus, they provide us with blood - that is where most of the human blood in our stores coh to supply the needs of all the vampires at Council, so we rely upon the Guardians They do not let us feed directly from them, but they extract their blood themselves and pass it to us in jars"

"Why?" I asked, perplexed "It can’t betheir blood away What’s in it for thehed uncomfortably "Do you knohat a saprotroph is?"

I shook anisms - which feed on the waste or dead bodies of others The Guardians are saprotrophs They eat the internal organs - including the hearts and brains - of dead va if he was joking But I saw by his grim expression that he wasn’t "Why do you let the

"We need them," Seba said plainly "Their blood is necessary Besides, they do us no har dead bodies is harasped