The Rift Walker (28 page)

“Why?”

“Who are you to ask? I am a prince.” He took a menacing step. “Take me to your king.”

The two travelers continued to observe him with slight smirks as they muttered to each other. It was quite insubordinate and disrespectful, and it rankled Gareth. He slowly extended his claws.

“No matter,” Gareth said, raising a clawed hand. “I'm content to kill you and find your king myself.”

They laughed with relaxed scorn. It wasn't out of ignorance. In fact, Gareth could see their cool demeanor was born from the confidence that they knew something he did not. Then he heard a sound from behind.

He glanced over his shoulder to see ten
ndoki
emerging from the mist. The sleet and chaotic winds had made it impossible to sense them. He lowered his claws. He had been trapped.

Gareth gave the first two
ndoki
a raised eyebrow of admiration and humility. “How long was I followed?”

They laughed even harder. “A long time, Prince. Perhaps years. Now you may see Jaga.”

The Grand Boma of Jaga was a group of caves set on an isolated plateau high in the mountains. Hundreds of vampires circled in the air and crouched on ledges. Humans milled about in the clearing between the caves. There were some signs of paltry agriculture in the thin soil leading up to the boma, proof that the
ndoki
kept permanent herds that labored to feed themselves. Jaga's herds were thin and starved. Even the most miserable stocks Gareth had seen shuffling through London appeared vigorous by comparison. The
ndoki
also seemed malnourished and hollow. Many wore remnants of clothing or fur, but a large number were naked, a sight that was rare in the north since the Great Killing.

Still, Gareth reminded himself, they were smart enough to trap him. He'd do well to fight his sense of superiority, as well as his disdain for his own kind that led him to think he was more clever than other vampires. He couldn't afford to fail by becoming smug.

When he landed with his escort, one of them screeched a loud greeting.
Ndoki
began to gather, fluttering down to clutch onto the rock faces and stare at the robust newcomer. The air filled with soft whispering.

A figure emerged from a large cave, no doubt the great Jaga. The vampire was tall, dark, and strong. He wore long strips of fur—leopard, gorilla, and various other animals—as well as a necklace of bones. His hair was long and tangled, and his beard was turning grey. He moved close to Gareth and smelled him. Behind Jaga came three women, much more vigorous than the typical
ndoki.
They wore strange cuirasses of human rib bones on their otherwise naked flesh, creating a startling effect, a grim style that Gareth thought Flay might have adopted to great advantage and set the whole of London fashion on its ear. He smiled slightly despite himself.

Jaga regarded the newcomer with surprise. “You seem cheerful so far from home.”

Gareth bowed and spoke in some semblance of the
ndoki
dialect, which he had begun to pick up from the conversations he had heard. “Are you Jaga?”

“You speak like an imbecile. Name yourself.”

“Gareth of Scotland. Clan of Dmitri.”

Jaga turned around as he shouted to his surrounding clansmen, “Behold! An ambassador from the great clan of Dmitri come to join me in my impending triumph! The name of Jaga travels far!” The king cut a glance at Gareth. “I have never heard of your clan, but you're welcome anyway. Come. Eat.” He strode back into his cave.

“Ladies.” Gareth gave the females a charming nod. They laughed as if at the antics of a child or a fool and then fell in behind him.

Once inside the cave, Jaga settled on the hard ground and Gareth followed suit. A young vampire boy came over and looped a thin arm around Jaga's shoulder. The
ndoki
king gave the boy a playful nudge and patted him on the leg. The amazon trio stood nearby while commenting among themselves on Gareth's odd appearance.

“So,” Jaga said, “tell me about your herds.”

Gareth hesitated. That was a rare topic in the north where food was plentiful. “What do you want to know?”

“Are they large? And fat?”

“Yes.”

“Larger than mine?”

“I cannot say. I have not seen all your herds.” Gareth noticed a huge pile of human bones deeper in the cave, cast aside with the remnants of human possessions.

“True. My herds are vast. I claim all of the mountains.” Jaga looked sharply at the trio of females. “Where is the food? Can't you smell how hungry he is? Go!” The amazons departed, and the king said, “I hope you will find the meal satisfactory. I welcome the friendship of the family of Dmitri, wherever they are.”

“My clan is far.”

“You must be far; I've never seen your kind here. Why have you appeared to me now?”

“I was captive of Katanga, but I escaped.”

Jaga sat up. “What? The Katangans who come against me?”

“Yes, my lord. I am here to help you.”

“How can you help me? You are one, and you are clumsy. My men took you prisoner without effort. I have my family around me, or soon will. I will destroy the Katangans and feast. There will be so much blood, it will spill on the ground.” The king grinned and rubbed his stomach. “My herds will grow so that I never hunger again. This is what I will do for my people. And I will leave a strong family for my son.” He squeezed the boy by the waist and the child giggled.

“All well and good, but—” Gareth was interrupted by bustling at the cave entrance. The females returned leading three relatively young humans.

The king rose and intercepted them. He inspected the humans, noting that two had been fed from before. So he chose the third, a young man, and pushed him toward Gareth.

“Please, eat. None hunger in the house of Jaga.”

Gareth was starving, in fact. The scent of blood had roused a fierce ache he struggled to repress, but he couldn't much longer. Here was a meal content with its fate. He whispered to the young man that he would be fine, which made no impact in the food's dull eyes. Gareth made his usual bite on the wrist and began to drink the blood that was thin and weak, not unlike some of the more decrepit herds in Europe, or similar to that of the lean times prior to the Great Killing when he had fed from the dying. The memory of it brought a scowl. There was no emotion to be read in this blood, no spice of fear or bitterness or hatred. The blood was bland, but at least it was plentiful. Gareth drank until he felt the boy's heart racing.

As he pulled his head away and stanched the flow, he saw Jaga feeding from one of the others on a spot above the shoulder. The king released his food and said, “Please, finish him.”

Gareth shook his head. “I am full. Thank you.”

Jaga sighed with relief that he wouldn't lose part of his herd to a greedy guest and sent the humans staggering out. “Very well, now tell me how you think you can help me defeat the Katangan army.”

“It will be difficult. They have many guns.”

“Guns? What are guns to me? Unless the Katangans have learned to fly, I'm not concerned.”

“These new guns do great damage and fire rapidly. Have you faced a modern human army?”

“I have seen guns in the lowlands. It is no matter. Humans are slow and clumsy. Just as I knew you were about, I know every move the Katangans make. Soon I will guide them where I wish because humans are impatient and easily led. I will let them think their magnificent guns can turn us. They will be delighted by their power and come for me.” Jaga chuckled at his cleverness. “I will draw them up into the mountains and then I will fall on them, and that will be the end.”

Gareth nodded, feeling sickened by Jaga's plan. It played precisely on King Msiri's eagerness to close with the enemy, as well as on the king's overconfidence in his numbers and weapons. By their own admission, the humans had no idea of the terrain between their foothill camp and the Grand Boma. Their ranks could easily become bogged down and separated. A well-led and motivated vampire force, even as lean as these
ndoki
, could inflict terrible damage on the Katangans.

And Adele would be stuck there with the prey.

General Ngongo's Mountaineers lurked in the moss forest above an outlying
ndoki
camp. The wind whispered through the dripping glade below, creating weird wavering tapestries from the dangling moss. At least ten vampires had been seen coming and going over the course of the night, although there was also an open cave on the far edge of the glade. There was no clear sense of how many creatures might be inside. Now, as the sun sent weak light through the dampness, the vampires began to settle down to rest.

Adele lay on a thick pad of sodden lichen, peering over a ridgeline into the forest clearing. She could barely see the Katangan scouts hidden in the dense foliage, though she knew where they were. It had been a long, tense night as the Katangans crept into position around the enemy camp. She was exhausted and soaked, but the exhilaration from impending action kept her sharp.

Anhalt was on the damp ground next to her, continually shifting his gaze from the vampires to her. He was angry that she was with the Mountaineers on this reconnoitering mission, sure that she had come in hopes of finding Greyfriar, who had stomped off in a huff three days before.

In fact, Adele knew where Greyfriar was, and that was safely in her baggage. It was Gareth who was loose. The princess did not fear for his welfare at the hands of the local
ndoki
, but she was worried that he might fall under the Katangan guns while in the company of the vampires. She doubted he was here at this small encampment, though. He most likely was aiming for Jaga's boma.

Adele glanced at her colonel, whose face was covered with streaks of red, as was her own. Gorilla blood. The entire Mountaineer company of one hundred was coated in ape blood because they felt it hid their scent from the vampires. It was something she should verify with Gareth when she saw him. She smiled at Anhalt and he dourly acknowledged her. She felt something touch her hair. Then her arm. Raindrops. Before she could even think about it, she was in a downpour so thick she could see scant inches ahead.

General Ngongo rose to one knee and put his hands to his mouth. He emitted a weird, high-pitched scream that cut through the heavy thudding of the rain. It was the cry of a leopard. Then he whoofed several times, also a leopard sound. Moss piles detached themselves from the forest and began to move. Mountaineers. The calls were picked up down the line and soldiers rushed suddenly, rifles popping, toward the vampire camp.

Adele strained to see the forest glade with her spyglass through the slacking downpour. She could make out the creatures leaping to their feet. Several tried to rise into the air, but the hard rain pressed them down. Rifle fire peppered the drifting creatures and sent them flying. Some of the
ndoki
streaked at the troopers, who shouldered through the heavy moss curtain into the clearing. Rifles flashed. Vampires dropped, but sprang up and kept coming. In an instant, hand-to-hand combat began with claws, bayonets, and swords. Soldiers screamed and fell dead.

Then a second wave of vampires tumbled from the cave. Adele gasped; there must have been nearly twenty of them. High above the glade, Ngongo screeched again and a line of Mountaineers stood on a ridgeline fifty yards above the battle. They shouldered heavy doublebarreled rifles and unleashed a thunderous volley at the new vampire wave. The boom echoed through the valley, and a curtain of smoke obscured the ridgeline despite the heavy rain. The shells tore horrific wounds in the creatures and slammed them into the mud.

“High-explosive elephant loads.” Ngongo laughed, an unfamiliar sound, at least to Adele's ears. The Mountaineers were already slapping the breeches closed on their reloaded guns and raising them for another barrage.

The
ndoki
struggled. Those in front fell and writhed in the muck with gaping chests or spilling guts. Those in the rear hesitated, only to be pounded to the earth by the second assault of destructive steel. Unleashing shrill cries, they fell back. Vampires scrambled from the clearing, tearing through the moss in an attempt to flee. The Mountaineers let loose a third volley, and the explosive shells shredded moss, blasting trees and bamboo into shrapnel and sweeping several vampires off their feet.