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The tunnel twisted a lot, but ran directly under the stands to the open interior of the stadium Vancha and I walked side by side in absolute silence If Steve aiting, and the night went against us, one of us would die within the next few hours There wasn’t much to say in a situation like that Vancha was probablyabout ould happen after the fight, fixed on the idea that thereof the Lord of the Shadows
There were no traps along the way andnobody When we left the confines of the tunnel, we stood by the exit for athe chaos which Steve’s troops had created Evanna e too
The big top of the Cirque Du Freak, along with most of the vans and tents, had been set ablaze &ued the air overhead The perforether about twenty metres ahead of the tunnel, clear of the stands Harkat stood arey face filled with such rage They were surrounded by eight arhts which had been taken fro top were trained upon thee crew, but one was a long-serving star of the show ¨C the skinny, supple, ain
Ripping the piece of cloth away fro the survivors &un of her In a panic, I exaain, for fear she was lying a them ¨C but I couldn’t see her
Several va the burning tents and vans, controlling the fla pyre of the big top, through a wall of fire, rubbing his hands together He earing a red top hat and gloves ¨C Mr Tall’s I understood instinctively that he’d left Mr Tall’s body inside the tent, using it as a makeshift funeral pyre Mr Tiny didn’t look upset, but I could tell by his donning of the hat and gloves that, on some level, he’d been in so tent and the surviving members of the Cirque Du Freak stood a new addition &u from the crossbeam, but only one was filled ¨C with the poor, thin neck of the snake-boy, Shancus Von
I cried aloud when I spotted Shancus and ripped my left wrist and jerked rowled
"But-" I started to argue
"Lower your gaze," he said quietly
When I did, I saw that a band of varouped beneath the crossbeam and knotted ropes All were ar on so evilly, stood their master, the Lord of the Vampaneze ¨C Steve Leopard He hadn’t seen us yet
"Easy," Vancha said as I stiffened "No need to rush" His eyes were sliding slowly left and right "Howin the stands or behind the burning vans and tents? Let’s work out exactly e have to deal with before we go barging ahead"
Breathing deeply, I forced myself to think calmly, then studied the lie of the land I counted fourteen varouped around Steve ¨C and uessed he would be close by Steve, hidden by the group of circus folk between us and the gallows
"I make it a dozen-plus vampaneze and three times that areed
Vancha looked sideways at me and winked "The odds are in our favour, Sire"
"You think so?"
"Most definitely," he said with fake enthusiasood We were vastly outnumbered by enemies with superior weapons Our only ace card was that the vampaneze and vampets couldn’t kill us Mr Tiny had predicted doom for them if anybody other than their Lord , we started forward at the exact sa two knives, one in either hand Vancha had drawn a couple of throwing stars but was otherwise unar with his bare hands at close quarters Evannaour every footstep
The va the i but didn’t react, except to close a littleThey didn’t even warn the others that ere here Then I saw that they didn’t need to ¨C Steve and his cronies had already spotted us Steve was standing on a box, or so happily at us, while the vampaneze in front of him bunched defensively, weapons at the ready