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Lardis Lidesci

Thron, Jazz at once scraun, and no one made the least effort to stop hi back toward their ht cockroaches where they threaded their way through scattered rocks and boulders, always seeking shade and refuge froht fell upon the their heads in their near-blind, blundering panic flight

But one of them, Gustan, still carried Zek, rithed like a snake in his grasp, beating at his head with her tiny hands Gustan was Jazz’s first target

He snatched up his SMG froround, tilted its barrel doard and shook it A few tiny pebbles and a trickle of dust fell froed in there Then he was down on one knee, seeking out Gustan’s fleeting, double-silhouette, finding it and aiun responded with a chattering diatribe of loud, lead obscenities, all hurled at Gustan’s lower legs Shaithis’s lieutenant went down as if pole-axed, raising a cloud of dust where he screamed and flopped in the shadows of a low pile of rocks, and in the nextfree of hi her ’Keep to one side!’ he hoarsely yelled ’Give me a clear line of fire!’ She heard hiet at once presented itself, ht Jazz fixed the vaht swept on, and again he fired Screa back Jazz hoped it was Shaithis himself he’d hit but doubted it: the silhouette hadn’t had his bulk On the other hand, he could still feel the bruises on his face where Shaithis’s second man had picked hi these creatures would have to learn was this: don’tfrom the shadows at the base of the cliffs ’It’s me!’ she cried as he jerked his body in her direction ’Don’t shoot!’ Wolf had reat puppy

’Get behind irl and the wolf aside ’Get ht beah wall of cliffs to the south (that’s what they were like, Jazz thought: powerful spotlights, seeking out the ene discs of reflected sunlight onto the canyon floor Reflected, yes, Jazz nodded to hi theed on Shaithis himself where the Wamphyri Lord had almost reached the flank of the nearest flyer

It was the opportunity Jazz had waited for He could have taken Zek by the hand and fled south with her, but he’d hoped for a shot at Shaithis Now his target sprang to the side of hisat the brilliant beams where they fell on him, almost as if he beat at flames, but obviously with no effect whatever, Shaithis leaped to catch his beast’s harness and draw hiht hiazine in reserve, maybe a dozen rounds, just for this

He opened up, ai that at least one would find its target Shaithis, in the act of cli into the saddle, suddenly jerked and fell back, but still clung to the harness Jazz cursed the inaccuracy of his short-range weapon, took still more careful aim His next shot must have missed Shaithis but hit the flyer in a delicate spot, for the great beast threw back its head and gave a weird cry, then co its tail frenziedly A moment more of this before a nest of hideous wor its bulk aloft And still Shaithis clung there, evento haul himself safely into the saddle!

By then the other flyers were airborne, too, and Jazz was astonished to see that they both had riders! Gustan at least should be crippled - or should he? For now Jazz remembered Encounter Five Bullets hadn’t stopped him, either; they’d merely inconvenienced him Likewise, apparently, with Shaithis and his lieutenants

Zek caazine into Jazz’s waiting hand He loaded up, looked for his targets; glanced skyward at the wide ribbon of stars riding high over the rearing walls of the pass - and found all three ’targets’ sweeping down on hi She and Wolf went scraed rocks, but Jazz saw that the aerial beasts would be upon hie theain he went to one knee, and with the three flying creatures and their riders swooping upon him from only thirtyarc of lead Shaithis was in the centre, and that here Jazz concentrated his fire He laced the three creatures, and atteain to Shaithis How he could e - if he ; but when the beasts and their Waan to believe he had in fact -pin on Jazz’s weapon slaun fell silent, and even as he made to hurl himself flat behind the nearest boulder, then at last he saw the effect of his fire The three beasts were bleeding dark red ichor from rows of black holes in the forward parts of their bodies, and their riders rocked to and fro in their saddles, apparently holding thereat lip of flesh opened in the belly of Shaithis’s ash whose scalloped lower ried at the dry, pebbly earth behind him For a moment all was darkness and he s, but then its shadow lifted from him By then, too, the unknoielders ofbeasts were bathed in lancing beaht did actually sear them; for wherever the rays struck them, clouds of loathso flesh of the beasts, like water boiling on dry-ice in the rarefied air of high altitudes

That was the end of it Reeling in their saddles, the Wanorthward to the darkness and the shadows When the pulsating throb of their leathery wings had faded into distance there was only the silence, and the pounding of Jazz’s heart in his chest

’Zek?’ he called out breathlessly in a little while ’Are you OK?’

She caht beaht where it found the three, man, woht,’ she said, but her voice was very treun down and reached for her where she stumbled into his arms He held her loosely at first, then fiercely, as much for his own comfort as for hers The encounter with the Wamphyri had shaken him badly This was his natural reaction to it So he told hi to hiainst the light playing on thehts of the pass ’We’re in full view,’ she said

Wasting no tiazine for his gun He fitted it to his SMG, then seated himself and broke open s the e While he worked, he asked: ’I take it we’ve been rescued - by friends?’

As if in answer, there cahts: ’Zekintha - is it you? Is all well?’ The voice was anxious, taut as the skin on a drumhead

’Lardis Lidesci!’ she breathed And to Jazz, ’Yes, we’ve been rescued I’ve nothing to fear from Lardis - except Lardis himself! He fancies ood man’ Then she cupped her hands to her ht!’

’Coain in a moment ’You’re not safe there’

’He’s telling us!’ Jazz grunted He finished loading up his packs, said, ’Help an to linting on the western wall, where the setting sun still turned the crags to the colour of , and every so often tiny huainst the sky Frole of Gypsyof runners where they converged on Jazz, Zek and Wolf Fleeting shadows becaarb, their faces anxious Not men of Arlek’s party but faces which were new to Jazz Zek knew them, however; she breathed her relief and said, ’Oh, yes - we’re safe enough now’

Oh? thought Jazz And am I safe, too? What will your Lardis Lidesci think of me, I wonder?

From a distance of a- cut off as they reached a crescendo of terror Then silence reigned and distant fla it out beside Zek - with Lardis’s runners on the flanks urging the in the shadows - Jazz said: ’Nohat do you reckon all that was about?’

Zek’s face was very pale ’I would guess Lardis has dealt with Arlek,’ she quietly answered ’Dealt with him?’

She nodded ’Arlek was ambitious That’s no crime in itself, but he was also a traitor - and a coward! He sought to make deals with the Wamphyri, at the expense of others - at their total expense Lardis has warned him before, on several occasions Noon’t have to warn hiain’

’You h justice around here’ ’It’s a rough world around here,’ she said

Arlek’s screaered in Jazz’s mind ’Hoould Lardis have done it?’

Zek looked away The punishment would fit the crime,’ she finally answered ’I think that h the heart, beheaded, burned’

’Oh?’ Jazz took that in, nodded again ’You ht?’

Her answer contained no trace of huht,’ she said, ’to be absolutely sure Vas to kill, Jazz’

He shook his head, thought: God, you’re a cool one!

’No, I’htly - in her own ’It’s just that I’ve been here longer than you, that’s all’

Lardis Lidesci wasn’t what Jazz had expected He wasin the arms as Jazz himself but built like a rhino as opposed to Jazz’s cat He was young, too - younger by three or four years than Jazz - and, in sharp contrast to his squat shape, he seeility of Lardis’s wasn’t only physical; his intelligence was patent in every brorinkle of his face, which was expressive and had hter-lines Open and frank, Lardis’s round face fra hair had slanted, bushy eyebrows, a flattened nose, and a wideif uneven teeth His brown eyes held nothing of , but they could also turn very thoughtful On the Earth Jazz and Zek had left behind he’d have made a professional wrestler; certainly he looked like one A his people here in this vampire-ruled environreat’tribe’ rallied behind him all the way Arlek had been a rare exception which proved the value of Lardis’s rule, and Arlek was noon the job of leader frorown crippled with so his Travellers free and secure frorown and expanded, absorbing other s as many of the eastern tribes, still Lardis’s people had a record for safety which was the envy of all the Travellers: namely that since he becaed successfully ast them There were several reasons for this

One of these stemmed from that fundamental difference between Lardis and Arlek, which was so strong that it had now resulted in the latter’s permanent removal Lardis did not believe that the Wamphyri were the natural Lords and Masters of this sphere, or that the ti raid would deciive in to the Wamphyri, would not placate them in any way Other Traveller tribes had tried this in the past, were trying it even now, and it had never worked Gorgan Lidesci, Lardis’s father, still talked of the fate of his first tribe, when he himself had been a mere boy

In those days, for a ti the Wamphyri; this had enabled the va far an’s tribe, a large one and governed by a Council of Elders, had attempted to make a deal with the Wae party would go out froan’s people to roups Since such ht be as sth of small tribes of perhaps forty adults, and since they were scattered all along the Sunside flank of the , before each sundown, a ’tithe’ of about a hundred people These were kept ihts, so that in the event of a Wamphyri raid they could be offered in appeasean’s tribe was si as the Wamphyri could find ready-lut the people of the tribe: they would not bite, as it were, the hands that fed thehts this scenario held true There were times when the Waan’s tribe (for the Travellers were never sedentary but constantly on the h hundreds of years of Wamphyri rapaciousness), on which fortunate occasions at sunup the prisoners would be set free to fend for and feed themselves, and continue their lives as of old or until the next time they were taken prisoner, perhaps before the next sundown

And when the Was to be made, and the Wamphyri Lords, their warriors and undead soldiers would collect their tithe of one hundred Travellers and depart In short, the Wamphyri became like tax-collectors; and true to the scenario, they did no harular huan’s tribe greeak, fat and increasingly careless They lost their urge to travel and so avoid Wa-holes and harbouring areas, and their treks along the Sunside flank of the mountains fell into ever more foreseeable patterns; contrary to the very nature of Travellers, there was no longer any er bothered to hide themselves and thus were easily found Now there were far fewer nights of peace and rest, when more and more often the Wamphyri would come and carry off their human tribute; but what did that matter? The tribe itself was safe, wasn’t it?

Safe, yes - until the brief alliance of a handful of Wamphyri Lords had fallen apart, until they had quarrelled and split up, and each faction of the former alliance determined to build up its individual forces, refill its storehouses, define once ain in the former Wamphyri traditions! For when arainst a ainst his neighbours -then they take and use whatever resources are available, with never a thought for conservation And the natural resources of the Wamphyri had ever been the flesh and blood of Travellers!

In a single night of terror and madness - one sundown, the space of tiain, a an’s tribe was decimated! The Wamphyri had come, first Shaithis to demand the usual tribute, which he took; then Lesk the Glut; finally Lascula Longtooth More ht have come, Belath and Volse and the others, except that by then there was nothing left to take; or if they did coer in their custo for them For after Shaithis, when the Lords Lesk and Lascula found no tribute, they had simply killed the Council of Elders out of hand and proceeded to herd off the flower of the tribe itself! At which the handful of survivors, maybe fifty old ones and a hundred children, had fled for whichever sanctuaries they could discover And not an’s tribe were universally loathed! From which tian had vowed never to put his faith in any ’deals’ with the treacherous Wamphyri Lardis, in his turn, was of the sao their oays and good luck to them, his people would never submit to the Wamphyri, nor would they prey on brother and sister Travellers for dubious personal benefits and the well-being of vile, inhuman Starside overloads As to how Lardis’s convictions worked in his favour: There were still tribes who operated one tithe syste either captive Travellers stolen fro lots and sacrificing members of their own nomad communities Such Travellers who had adopted or accepted this servile existence were generally of large eastern-flank tribes nu Their size protected theht possibly dream up, and or allowed them to make the required periodic sacrificial cull without appreciably dith of the tribe

They dwelled east of the pass because the game was more plentiful there and survival, in one sense, that much easier Lardis knew this and kept his people west of the pass; it was a little harder tobut it was also that much safer When it was sunup he kept lookouts in the southern extre west and supply intelligence reports of their strengths, persuasions, and any possible dangers to his own people springing froe

Lardis did not as a matter of course make war on Travellers who koed to the Wamphyri but preferred to keep out of their way In the event that they should war on him, however, he was always ready His er wohters; they were skilled in ambush, entrapment, hand-to-hand combat, and in the use of all manner of weaponry On the few occasions when outsiders had attempted to raid on him, then they’d been severely chastised; so that in the five years of his leadership the legend had spread abroad that he was not a roups into the tribe for its own good, but would not aer bodies His e enough to stir too h to confuse the parties froers had made for a remarkably effective equation

But Lardis’s scepticisard to Waht of appeasement, were not the only reasons for his success Oh, he kneell enough the purely physical and tactical superiority of the vaths and cruelties, the awesome horror of their war-beasts, the silent, speedy efficiency of their fa creatures - but he also knew and ht, usually in the lull before (or in the wake of) one or other of the interminable vampire wars - to supply their war effort or replenish a depleted capability as the case may be - and they invariably completed their raids with dispatch They didn’t like to spend too much time Sunside, for while they were away they could never be sure what their Starside enemies were up to; aeries ont to beco abroad! Lardis knew, too, that the Wamphyri rarely raided west of the pass: most of the tribes, and especially those which were Wamphyri-supplicants, dwelled east; so why should the Wa their prey in the hen it was openly on offer in the east? For the fact of it was that for all their ance, the Wa with each other or raiding, then they were sche thereat part, Lardis Lidesci ithout sleep And at sundown he took his rest in the briefest snatches

Another Wamphyri weakness was this: that while it was hard to kill them, they could and did die eventually - and Lardis kne to do it But there was death and there was death At the hands of another vampire, that was thinkable; Waly, for that possibility But at the hands of solory in that! Who would record that? What sort of as that for a life to blink out? Lardis had killed no actual Lord, but he had twice dealt with aspirants to that final level of vampire power They had been the sons and lieutenants of Lesk the Glut, who’d thought to coainst him in the hour i from his cave sanctuary; except Lardis didn’t know theof the word ’unwary’

Put a hardwood bolt through a vampire, behead him, burn his corpsehe was dead But Lardis had made an example of Lesk’s lads Staked out, the sun had found thereat deal of shrieking Aye, let other Traveller leaders balk at the difficulties involved in the slaying of vampires, but not Lardis The Wamphyri had co able to live for centuries, near-iainst Travellers like Lardis, who could - and would, given the chance - so rapidly and cruelly shorten one’s span to nothing!

Then there was the Wamphyri fear of silver, whichupon them like lead acts on men Lardis had discovered a small mine of that rare metal in the western foothills, and now his arroere tipped with it Also, he sarlic stink would bring about a partial paralysis in any vaeneral nervous disorder lasting for days If a kneblasch - treated blade cut Wamphyri flesh, then the infected rown in its place

It wasn’t so s were secret or known only in the tribe of Lardis - indeed, all Travellers had been aware of these facts immemorially - but rather that Lardis dared use them in the defence of his people The Wamphyri had forbidden to all Travellers the use of bronze mirrors, silver and kneblasch, on penalty of dire torture and death; but Lardis cared not a jot He was already a marked man, and a s, then, that influenced Lardis in the way he ruled his tribe and did his best to keep theh the mountains; but there was one other eleured high in his favour, confir his commonsense measures It was this: that somewhere in those western peaks, in a small, fertile valley, lived the one whom the Wamphyri feared and had naend was the main reason Lardis had been away this ti new routes and harbour areas for the tribe (and in fact he’d discovered several) but in reality he had been trying to locate the Dweller He’d reasoned that as bad for the Waood for the tribe of Lardis the Traveller Also, ru for some years now that the Dweller offered sanctuary to anyone with spit enough to dare seek him out For Lardis hih certainly it would be a wonderful thing to find a safe, permanent home for the tribe; but if the Dweller had power to defy the Wamphyri that in itself were sufficient reason to seek hie carry the fight right back to the very keeps of his vaht for him - and found him!

Noas back from that quest, and back barely in time to save the hell-lander woman Zekintha from Arlek’s treachery; Zekintha and the newco skills Arlek’s dupes hadawe On a one-to-one basis and without the intervention of his followers, Arlek hadn’t stood a chance against Jazz Well, if there was one thing Lardis Lidesci liked, it was a good fair fighter Or even a good dirty one!

Lardis saw the across the canyon’s floor, stepped forward to ht ear ’Tear down the lad you’re safe, Zekintha’

’Only just,’ she answered, breathlessly ’All credit to this one,’ and she nodded at Jazz