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I COULDN’T understand why there were two reen Groaning, I rubbed the back of a hand overon the floor, staring up at the green eyes of a chuckling Harkat Mulds "Have fun last night?" he asked
"I’ve been poisoned," I h I was on the deck of a ship during a fierce storuts and bat broth then?"
"Don’t!" I winced, weak at the very thought of food
"You and the others must have drained half the ht," Harkat re o of me
"No," he said, puzzled
"Then why’s the floor shaking?"
He laughed and steeredinside the door of our cell I had vague et on "I’ll just sit on the floor a while," I said
"As you wish," Harkat chortled "Would you like sorowled
"Is ale no longer to your liking?"
"No!"
"That’s funny You were singing about how much you loved it earlier ’Ale, ale, I drink like a whale, I am the Prince, the Prince of ale’"
"I could have you tortured," I warned him
"Never ht It takes a lot to get a va the tunnels, looking lik-"
"Please," I begged, "don’t describe theain, pulled me to my feet and led oing?" I asked
"The Hall of Perta Vin Grahl I asked Seba about cures for hangovers - I had a feeling you’d have one - and he said a shower usually did the trick"
"No!" I moaned "Not the showers! Have mercy!"
Harkat took no notice ofme under the icy cold waters of the internal waterfalls in the Hall of Perta Vin Grahl I thoughtto explode when the water first struck, but after a few minutes the worst of my headache had passed andreen-faced Mr Crepsley on our way back to our cell I bid hi, but he only snarled in reply
"I’ll never understand the appeal of alcohol," Harkat said as I was dressing
"Haven’t you ever got drunk?" I replied
"Perhaps ina Little Person I don’t have taste buds, and alcohol doesn’t affect me"
"Lucky you," I muttered sourly
Once I’d dressed, we strolled up to the Hall of Princes to see if Paris needed ely deserted and Paris was still in his coffin
"Let’s go on a tour of the tunnels beneath the Halls," Harkat suggested We’d done a lot of exploring e first came to the mountain, but it had been two or three years since we’d last gone off on an adventure
"Don’t you have work to do?" I asked
"Yes, but" He frowned It took a while to get used to Harkat’s expressions - it was hard to knohether so - but I’d learnt to read thee I need to be on the o walkabout"
We started in the Hall of Corza Jarn, where trainee Generals were taught how to fight I’d spentthe use of swords, knives, axes and spears Most of the weapons were designed for adults, and were too large and cumbersome for hest ranking tutor was a blind vampire called Vanez Blane He’d beenboth ht with a lion o in a fight with the va Generals Though he was blind, he’d lost none of his sharpness, and the trio ended up flat on their backs in short order at the hands of the ginger-haired games master "You’ll have to learn to do better than that," he told them Then, with his back to us, he said, "Hello, Darren Greetings, Harkat Mulds"
"Hi, Vanez," we replied, not surprised that he knee were - va
"I heard you singing last night, Darren," Vanez said, leaving his three students to recover and regroup
"No!" I gasped, crestfallen I’d thought Harkat was joking about that
"Very enlightening," Vanez sroaned "Tell me I didn’t!"
Vanez’s smile spread "I shouldn’t worry Plenty of others rowled
"Nothing wrong with ale," Vanez disagreed "It’s the ale- drinkers who need to be controlled"
We told Vanez ere going on a tour of the lower tunnels and asked if he’d like to tag along "NotBesides" Lowering his voice, he told us the three Generals he was training were due to be sent into action soon "Between ourselves, they’re as poor a trio as I’ve ever passed fit for duty," he sighed Many va rushed into the field, to replace casualties in the War of the Scars It was a contentious point a the clan - it usually took a ood standing - but Paris said that desperate ti Vanez, we made for the store-rooms to see Mr Crepsley’s old mentor, Seba Nile At seven hundred, Seba was the second oldest vampire He dressed in red like Mr Crepsley, and spoke in the sae, and liained in the sahted to see us When he heard ere going exploring, he insisted on co I wish to show you," he said
As we left the Halls and entered the vast warren of lower connecting tunnels, I scratched ernails
"Ticks?" Seba asked
"No," I said "My head’s been itching like s too, and ies are rare a varew along ht of a thick patch "Hmmm" He smiled briefly, then released e, Master Shan"