Part 14 (1/2)
”I be the son of Blue,” Bane said. ”This be my friend, a shape-changer. I come to see my friends.”
”Who be thy friends?” the man asked.
”Vanneflay,” Bane said.
”Sorry, he be away these three days.”
”Vidselud, then,” Bane said.
”Him, too.”
Bane considered. ”Then Suchevane.”
The man shrugged. ”That be a coincidence! He, too.”
”All away?” Bane asked, surprised.
”But thou'rt welcome to join us in a meal,” the guard said. ”Any son of Blue be welcome here.”
”Uh, Bane-” Agape whispered uncomfortably.
Bane smiled. ”My friend be nervous about vampire viands. Thank thee, but we shall move on.”
The guard made a negligent wave of his hand.
They returned to the forest and walked on toward the west until they were well clear of the vampire's mountain. Bane was deep in thought.
”I'm glad we didn't stay there!” Agape said. ”The thought of eating blood-”
”That bothers thee? Is blood not easier to imbibe than solid food?”
”We don't consume flesh,” she said.
”Actually, the vampires wouldn't have offered us blood. It's too valuable, and they always take it fresh. That isn't what bothers me.”
”What bothers you, Bane?”
”This be not Phaze.”
She halted in place. ”What?”
”When I changed the color of our clothing, there was a flash. My magic ne'er did that. Be there a way science could have done it?”
”Changed the color? Oh, yes; some material is sensitive to certain types of radiation, so that when it flashes-”
”Methought so. And true goblins bluff not so readily; must always destroy a few ere they give over. But mainly, the vampires. They were not.”
”But the fact that we did not see them change form does not mean-”
”Oh, they might have changed form, by some device. But the friends I named-” He shook his head.
”But they really could be away,” she said.
”The first, yes. But the second, Vidselud-he be the son of Vodlevile, for whom my father did a favor. Vidselud be six or seven years my senior, but we be friends because with me he can safely travel.”
”He can't with his own kind?”
”Nay. He has a problem with the a.s.similation of blood that crops up every so often. They keep a potion in the cave that cures it, and they never let that potion go out, because it cannot be replaced. So he flies ne'er beyond walking distance of the cave, unless with me, because I can conjure him home if need be.”
”But then he should be home!” she said.
”He should be home. Yet the guard said he was not.”
”Still, that's not proof-”
”And the third one, Suchevane.”
”He could also be-”
”She.” Bane said succinctly.
”Female? But the guard said 'he'-”
”Precisely.”
”Maybe the guard forgot.”
Bane smiled. ”No male forgets Suchevane!”
Agape looked sharply at him. ”She is-?”
”Almost as lovely as thee, in girl form. And still married, when I left Phaze. If there be any male he doth not turn when she goes by, that head be blind Even the werewolves howl for her.”
”But how, then-”
”No way,” Bane said with finality. ”This cannot the vampire mountain I know, and since there be only one like this, these be other than vampires, and this be other than Phaze.”
”But why would-”
A bat flew down from the sky. As it neared the ground, it changed abruptly into a beautiful woman. ”Lovelier than I?” she demanded.
Bane gazed at her. ”Nay.” Then, after a pause, ”Sir.”
The woman changed appearance, becoming the young-seeming Citizen White, then a woman about twenty years older, still garbed in white. ”So you cannot be fooled, young man,” she said.
”No, sir.”