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"You care for thelowed briefly, then touched the left side of Harkat’s head Harkat gasped and fell to his knees "You’ve been having nighters still at Harkat’s teroaned

"You want theo of Harkat, who cried out, then gritted his sharp teeth and stood up straight Sreen tears of pain trickled from the corners of his eyes

"It’s time for you to learn the truth about yourself," Mr Tiny said "If you cohtmares will stop If you don’t, they’ll continue and worsen, and within a year you’ll be a screa wreck"

Harkat trembled at that, but didn’t rush to Mr Tiny’s side "If I wait," he said, "will I have another chance to learn the truth?"

"Yes," Mr Tiny said, "but you’ll suffer uarantee your safety If you die before learning who you really are, your soul will be lost forever"

Harkat frowned uncertainly "I have a feeling," hewhispers to me-" he touched the left side of his chest "- here I feel that I should go with Darren and Larten"

"If you do, it will i the Vampaneze Lord," Mr Tiny said "Your participation isn’t instrumental, but it could be important"

"Harkat," I said softly, "you don’t owe us You’ve already saved my life twice Go with Mr Tiny and learn the truth about yourself"

Harkat frowned "I think that if I leave you to learn the truth, the person I was won’t like what I’ve done" The Little Person spent a fewabout it, then squared up to Mr Tiny "I’ll go with the, I feel my place is with the vampires All else must wait"

"So be it," Mr Tiny sniffed "If you survive, our paths will cross again If not" His s

"What of our search?" Mr Crepsley asked "You mentioned Lady Evanna Do we start with her?"

"If you wish," Mr Tiny said "I can’t and won’t direct you, but that’s where I would start After that, follow your heart Forget about the quest and go where you feel you belong Fate will direct you as it pleases"

That was the end of our conversation Mr Tiny slipped aithout a farewell, taking his Little People (they’d co), no doubt anxious to make that fatal volcano of his the next day

Vaht Mr Tiny’s visit and prophecy were debated and dissected at length The vareed that Mr Crepsley and me had to leave on our own, to link up with the third hunter - whoever he ht be - but were divided as to what the rest of theht that since the clan’s future rested with three lone hunters, they should forget the ith the vaer seereed and said it would be crazy to stop fighting

Mr Crepsley led Harkat andPrinces and Generals behind, saying we needed to get a good day’s rest It was hard to sleep with Mr Tiny’s words echoing round ed to squeeze in a few hours

We woke about three hours before sunset, ate a short s (I took a spare set of clothes, sooodbyes to Vanez and Seba - the old quartero - thenout of the Halls He told us Mika was staying on to assist with the night-to-night running of the war He looked very poorly as I shook his hand, and I had a feeling that he hadn’t many years left - if our search kept us away froht be the last ti hihly after we’d shaken hands

"I will ht and hissed in my ear: "Find and kill him, Darren There is a cold chill in e Mr Tiny has spoken the truth - if the Vampaneze Lord comes into his full powers, I am sure we all shall perish"

"I’ll find hiazes with the ancient Prince "And if the chance falls to me to kill him, my aim will be true"

"Then may the luck of the vampires be with you," he said

I joined Mr Crepsley and Harkat We saluted to those who’d gathered to see us off, then faced down the tunnels and set off We moved quickly and surely, and within two hours had left the round, beneath a clear night sky

Our hunt for the Lord of the Vaun!