Chapter 6
As time passed,Tahano learned to accept his nature. He craved the taste of humanblood but swore never to feed upon his own people. So he left theland in which he had been reared. He wandered the earth and became agreat hunter. He roamed through Asia and Asia Minor. He fed inBucharest and in Kiev. Soon legends of his ravening journey grew andthe humans, who did not know of his origins called him Benza, theUndead.
Tahano no longerthought of himself as a Kanakao, for he was now a beast, and hereveled in his isolation. He felt no pity for the mortals upon whomhe fed and he learned to entertain himself with them. His power, hediscovered, was not merely to feed, but to possess. Human powers ofconcentration were so poor that he could overwhelm their psyches withhis will.
From time to time amemory would return, some notion of the forest, of Palao's youngface. But he cast such ruminations from him, because they no longerwere relevant to his life.
Chapter 7
Sana must have heardPalao's prayers from the small raft, for her makeshift conveyanceendured the ocean waves for three nights and three days until it cameto rest on the sandy shores where resided a benevolent people. Thesepeople rescued Palao. The journey had taken a toll and she wasgravely ill when discovered. The people cared for the woman and whentime came for the child to be born, they made a home for the tworefugees.
They did not askquestions of Palao. She did not have to explain her history. Thesegood people understood that tragedy had driven her, with child, outto sea and desperation had caused her to throw herself upon the mercyof strangers.
Palao named thechild, who was a girl, Morai, in honor of her mother. The child wastold of her heritage, of the warriors who were her ancestors, but shewas never told of the barbarian who was her father.
Palao and youngMorai lived in peace for six years. Then, Palao who had never fullyregained her strength, succumbed to illness. Moria was left in thecare of a family who raised her as her own. And just as Palao hadentreated of Sana, the child grew to have her own offspring and theblood line of Palao's family continued. These descendants survivedthrough the invasion of the Europeans and they traveled to new lands,arriving eventually in the Western Hemisphere.
The story of theirancestors was lost over the years, the noble heritage forgotten. Butnever lost was the seed that Palao had carried in her womb and whichwas to survive into modern times to realize a destiny that neitheryoung Tahano nor his betrothed could ever have imagined.
Centuries passed andthe seed of Palao endured. It survived the great plagues that sweptacross the globe. And invasions from successive aggressors. Itsurvived world war and the nuclear age. The seed multiplied and thenwas reduced. It spread across the world and suffered misfortune,until, in the the 21st century there were but two remainingdescendants of that Maori princess who fled the barbarians on ahand-crafted raft.
It would be one ofthese upon whom Benza happened one night. With the discovery ofdescendant of Palao, the course of history for both vampire and humanwould irrevocably change, as would that of many others who fellwithin their influence.
Chapter 8
With the bite of thevampire Tahano had been cast into the wilderness. He would no longerknow companionship with man or beast but would be regarded by all asa specter that roamed the forest--fierce with a rapacious appetite,ruthless in the scope of his hunt. Tahano, betrothed of Palao, scionof the Kanakao, had become for all time a moral and existentialorphan.
His first meal, thatgruesome repast of live bats harvested from a mountain cave, was aninstructive lesson in his new character. The bats struggled even ashe swallowed them. He did not bother to dispatch them with hisincreasingly powerful jaws but consumed them as a snake might itsprey. Only after the deed was done and he reflected on his actionsdid he realize the grotesque dimension of his offense.
He sought refugedeep in the most remote regions of his land--refuge though from what?For the nightmare he fled was himself and from that there was noescape.
He reached a point,not long after he had taken stock of his lot, when he decided hewould not continue. He walked to the edge of a bluff that stood highdown upon a chasm. Without hesitation he hurled himself over the sideand onto a bed of unforgiving rocks.
He awoke after aspan of time he could not reckon, and found himself barely injured.Detectable on his body were faint traces of the wounds he must ofsuffered in the fall, and yet very quickly even these tracesvanished. Tahano thought about the words of the beast who had wroughthis transformation into vampire. Whether it is a curse or gift, thebeast had said, only Tahano in time would decide. Tahano understoodnow the full import of those words. This gift--or curse--was not astate easily abandoned.
Daylight wasinsinuating itself on the horizon. He began to feel a generaldiscomfort, something he had noted occurred each day as the sun rosein the sky. Light, it seemed, was not for him. He was to be a nightcreature. He sought refuge in the recess of a deep cave and lay uponthe damp floor. His rough bedchamber was home also to vermin--rodentsthat scurried in the shadows and bats that swung noiselessly fromtheir perch. This was his place--a beast among beasts, refugee fromall that was human.
He roused himselfinstinctively as the sun disappeared over the farthest trees. He mustconsider the mode of existence open to him and exercise the fewchoices that he understood to be open. Palao, no matter where shemight be or in what circumstance, was no longer something he couldhope to possess. He also was not worthy of his family and, new to hiscondition as he was, he could not even trust himself around them.
However, althoughprofound changes were taking place in his mind and body, he did notfeel in any measure an abatement of his concern for those he hadalways loved. The sensation he felt toward them had changed--it wasbecoming a more intellectual experience, but it was no less intense.In fact, it seemed that the importance of those he had loved hadincreased. He did not care any longer for his ownwell-being--survival for him was a matter of instinct and impulse.His higher cognitive function was dedicated now to the welfare ofthose others.
He would find Palao,if possible. He would not reveal himself to her but would assurehimself of her safety. And he would visit the homestead of his familyto protect them from the beast who had destroyed his own life. Tahanodid not contemplate long-term goals. He, like any beast, lived in themoment and survived for the day. All of his planning and regard werereserved for those who were still living and who, as long as theylived, at least kept alive in their hearts memory of the boy who wasonce known as Tahano.
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For Tahano the lossof his humanity was like an ache deep within his body. He struggledagainst the process of becoming a beast, but as he consumed the bloodof living creatures, the the aspect of him that was the essence oflife shriveled and eventually disappeared.
Through his longdescent he held onto the memory of loving Palao. That memory wasstronger than anything else in his existence. He dedicated himself toit. The rest of his energy was spent in feeding and wandering. Dayswere indistinguishable from one another. Only the idea of Palao stoodout. And because of that idea, that ineradicable image, he wasdetermined to find her, to learn if she was alive. And if she wasalive, to help her.
Tahano went on ajourney. He began a methodical search of every island in thesurrounding seas. He discovered that these islands were virtuallynumberless. Some were inhabited by barbarians. Some by peoples whoshared the customs of the Kanakao. Some of the islands were notinhabited at all.
Not until he hadscoured many islands and crossed wide expanses of water, did he comeupon a place where the people knew of Palao.
He found on thatisland the shattered fragments of the great canoe that had been underthe leadership of Dopali, the canoe that had carried Palao and hermother away from their homestead. Tahano descended upon a tent filledwith old women and he forced them to speak of the events surroundingthe landing of Dopali's canoe.
He was told that theKanakao warriors were savagely murdered and were given no chance todefend themselves. Morai's gruesome decapitation was described tohim. And he discovered from these women that Palao had been forcedinto marriage.
Tahano gripped thescrawny crone who described these events.
"What became ofPalao?" he asked and the woman trembled so that she could notspeak. "Calm yourself old woman, for if you have not personallyinjured this girl you have nothing to fear."
"She was withchild," the woman feebly muttered. At Tahano's fiery look sheshuddered and fell silent.
"Speak, woman, Itell you. Or you will never speak again."
"She went into herhusband's tent one night and when he was sleeping took a knife tohis throat and let his life blood drain onto the ground. She thenfled to the forest and recovered a raft that she had hidden. Shedrifted out to sea and we have never heard anything of her since."