The Greyfriar (Vampire Empire, Book 1) by Clay & Susan Griffith;Clay Griffith;Susan Griffith (8 page)

Simon was lying in bed tugging on the clothes he had been given to
wear. "They're not very well tailored," he observed without malice. Then
he sniffed his sleeve and wrinkled his nose. "Wool." His face was black
and blue, and he had been bandaged tightly around his chest. He had
hurt very badly until he was given some drops of laudanum. Now he
couldn't feel much of anything and the world was pleasantly fuzzy.

Anhalt turned from the window casement, and the lovely moonlit
view of the harbor crowded with small sailing ships and a few steam vessels. He was pleased to see the prince had movement in his upper body;
it was a good sign. The doctor had said that Simons back was not broken
and that he would likely regain much of the mobility in his lower body,
despite his rough and ready conveyance from the battlefield to Marseilles.
This relieved Anhalt's burden of guilt considerably on that matter.

Simon asked, "When are we leaving?"

"Soon. Messages have been sent to your father, the emperor." Anhalt
carefully eased his full weight back onto his injured leg.

"Won't you escort me all the way to Alexandria?"

"My duty lies with Her Highness, Princess Adele."

Simon's eyes welled with the first sign of tears since the battle and
loss of his sister. "If I were emperor, I'd make sure everyone was safe from
vampires."

"Do you wish to be emperor someday?"

The boy lay still, but his sniffling broke the silence. He rubbed his
cheek against the pillow. "Not really."

"Then don't worry. You won't have to. Her Highness, your sister,
will be fine." Anhalt clapped his hands behind his back and straightened. "Is there anything you want me to tell her when I see her?"

Simon thought. "No. I guess not." He grinned. "Tell her she was
stupid to get captured." He giggled. "All that training she does with
Mamoru and it didn't help." Simon paused, then said, "Mamoru scares
me. He was a priest in Java." Suddenly Simon stopped and looked
around. "Um ... I'm not supposed to say anything about that." He bit
his lip.

"Don't worry. Mamoru scares me too. But he is a man of honor and
discipline. Speaking of discipline, do you have any?"

"Why?" Simon now noticed that the soldier was holding something
behind his back. "Yes! I do! I do!"

Anhalt produced a sheathed dagger. He drew it out for Simon to see.
It was a nine-inch steel blade with a fine copper and ivory hilt, simple
and unadorned. "Do you know how to use this?"

The boy gasped at it, although he had countless fancier ones as ornaments throughout his imperial residences. "Yes!" He reached out. "Here,
I'll show you."

The soldier pulled the blade back. "No, no. I want you to have this,
but only if you'll be careful with it."

"Have you killed any vampires with it?"

"Yes."

The boy stared wide-eyed at the blade and breathed, "Deus
vobiscum!"

The soldier slid the dagger back in the sheath and handed it to the
boy. "It's yours. It's very sharp. Know this: the first time you cut yourself, I must take it away from you."

Simon carefully slid the blade from the sheath. "Thank you, Colonel
Anhalt. I'll keep it forever."

"Long life to you, Your Highness." Anhalt saluted and departed, his
boot steps echoing away down the corridor.

H MORNING LIGHT had yet to make an appearance over
the eastern sky, so Adele kept her hand on Greyfriar's cloak as
he steered her through the forest. She prided herself at this point that
she was able to see branches and vines, and twist to avoid them. They
stayed in densely wooded areas as much as possible, which permitted
only the barest of light from the sliver of moon in the night sky.

Adele couldn't help but marvel at the man with her. His abilities
were uncanny, practically mystical. Much of what she felt toward him
was jealousy, since she craved his endurance, sense of direction, and
night vision. But in those small gaps between envy and ragged exhaustion, she wished to know him better. The skills he had mastered, the air
of nobility about him, demanded her attention. What had made him the
man he was? What harsh childhood had he borne which turned him
onto his current path? Certainly it must have been something epic to
make someone choose such a life.

Such maddening curiosity made Adele forget her misery, though
sadly it sparked little else. To her shame, she was lost. Their direction
had changed so frequently that she no longer could tell where they were
heading. The brief snatches of night sky through the branches, though
brilliant with stars, did not give her the time to check constellations.

She was at Greyfriar's mercy.

To her relief, Greyfriar slowed his pace. His masked face turned
slightly toward her. Surprisingly, a sheen of sweat was on his brow and
his breathing was actually laboring. She wasn't sure if that was a good
sign or bad.

"We're close," he said.

"To what?"

"A human settlement. We should find shelter there."

Relief welled in the young woman. They were safe finally. "How
large a settlement?"

Greyfriar paused to listen to something she could not hear. Then he
answered her question. "Several hundred souls. They call it Riez."

"Let's go." She strode forward.

"Slowly, Princess," he commanded. "There is open ground between
us and the town."

Adele frowned at the swordsman for a split second for his tone, but
quickly relented. He had not led her astray yet. Also, she noticed
instinctively that he didn't use the proper "Your Highness" as befitted
her position, and she found it irreverently amusing. With a gesture of
her hand, she said, "After you."

She imagined a flicker of amusement, as if he smiled beneath the mask.

"This way."

Adele saw pale lines of smoke rising from numerous chimneys
beyond the clearing and smelled the delicious warmth of wood smoke.
The small frontier town was a decrepit shell of what it had once been. It
was now reduced to overgrown medieval structures and a few poor
farmers going to and fro beginning their daily chores. It looked picturesque and peaceful. Adele thought it was the most beautiful sight in the
world.

She raised her gaze to the sky as Greyfriar was presently doing, scanning the cobalt blue above them for signs of vampires.

"Clear?" she asked.

He drew his gleaming sword. "If something happens, I want you to
run toward the village. Scream."

She raised her eyebrows defiantly.

Bemused at her pride, he added, "To attract attention. Don't look
back and don't try to help me. Do you understand?"

Adele's heart raced, pounding with such force it almost hurt. "Yes."
She looked around the woods, almost afraid to ask, "Are they here?"

"Possibly. Flay would know this is one of the closest settlements. She
could have been here before us. Waiting."

"I'm ready." It was a lie. If it were left to her, she would stay right
where she was for the rest of her days. The thought of walking across an
open field while malicious vampires waited to strike made her knees so
weak she doubted she was going to be able to follow Greyfriar. But she
knew that she had no choice.

"Quickly now," he bade her, and they ran.

Greyfriar slipped through the high grass, aiming for a worn path
that ran to the village. His eyes scanned about him, watching for
ambush. Clouds of dust billowed up at his pounding feet. Adele was
beside him with dagger in hand.

People from the village noticed them and paused in their morning
toil. Adele lifted her arm, but had no breath left to call out. A few
farmers started walking toward them with implements in their hands.

But nothing horrible erupted from the treeline and nothing
swooped down from the morning sky. They were going to make it! Perhaps Greyfriar overestimated Flay, Adele thought with excitement. Flay
was just a vampire, after all. Cunning, perhaps, but only in the way a
savage beast was cunning.

Greyfriar's attention had already turned to the farmers.

"Greyfriar!" exclaimed a tall gaunt man with a scythe in his grasp.
"It's the Greyfriar!" he shouted to the others with excitement.

Adele could only watch, stunned by the enthusiastic greetings of
these people for the man beside her. A bearded man in rough twill work
clothes grabbed her as her legs trembled and finally failed her.

"What has happened?" the thin man asked Greyfriar in French.

"A ship was attacked by vampires," Greyfriar replied in an accent so
perfect he might have been born here. "We need shelter."

"Of course you shall have it! Bring her into town."

"I may have been followed."

"Spread the warning, Makepeace," the thin man shouted, and
clasped Greyfriar by the shoulder. "We offer you our protection."

"Thank you, Shepherd. It is good to see you again. I wish it were
under better circumstances."

"We cannot always choose our moments of reunion. Who is this
young woman? A survivor of the attack?"

Greyfriar nodded, letting his friend make his own assumptions and
not offering more.

"Not the only one, I hope?" Shepherd inquired with growing horror.

"There were few left alive when I arrived."

"The poor thing. How long have you been on the run?"

"A day or so."

Shepherd tsked. "You need food and rest."

Greyfriar habitually checked to be sure his mask was in place before he
turned from the window. "I've sent word that will soon reach the
Empire. You will be home before too long. I hope."

"Thank you." Adele was watching him, desperate suddenly to learn
something about her rescuer before they parted ways. "What does your
name mean?"

The swordsman seemed confused briefly as he slowly paced along
the rough plaster wall. "Oh. Greyfriar is a church in Scotland."

"Scotland? Have you been there?"

"Yes."

"So far north? How do you manage it?"

"It's not as difficult as you might imagine. If you're alone."

"Are you a geomancer?" Adele leaned forward. Her mentor, Mamoru,
had told her about the skills of geomancy that allowed certain humans to
move unseen by vampires. She had always wondered whether it was true.
"I've heard stories about them. They travel the north, spying on the vampires. But they can't be seen. Is that right? Can you do that?"

"No. I've heard those stories too. I assume they're just stories. How
is such a thing possible?"

"Well, how are you possible? I thought you were just a story too. Just
a creation by people so sick of living in fear they created a man who
couldn't possibly exist."

"Perhaps I am."

Adele didn't appear to hear his soft reply. She had fallen into her
own thoughts.

Suddenly she said with great vigor, "I hope they all die. The vampires. My father intends to kill them all, you know. That's why I am to
be married." Her hands gripped the chair's arms till her flesh turned
white. "I hate them!" Her grief was surging out as anger now that they
were relatively safe. "When I'm empress I'll send all my airships to kill
the vampires. They're not magic; they can die."