Page 12 (1/2)

WE LEFT the va where we’d killed them (Vancha said they weren’t worthy of burial) and set off at dusk As we marched, Mr Crepsley told the Prince of Mr Tiny’s visit to Vampire Mountain, and what he’d predicted Vancha said little while Mr Crepsley was talking, and brooded upon his words in silence for a long tienius to surmise that I’m the third hunter," he said in the end

"I would be reed

Vancha had been picking between his teeth with the tip of a sharp twig Now he tossed it aside and spat into the dust of the trail Vancha was a reen, and he could hit an ant at twenty paces "I don’t trust that evil meddler, Tiny," he snapped "I’ve run into hi the opposite of anything he says"

Mr Crepsley nodded "Generally speaking, I would agree with you But these are dangerous times, Sire, and-"

"Larten!" the Prince interrupted "Its ’Vancha’, ’March’ or ’Hey, ugly! while we’re on the trail I won’t have you koing to rew serious again "These are dangerous tinore Mr Tiny’s prophecy? If there is hope, we h "For hundreds of years, Tiny’s let us think ere doomed to lose the hen the Vampaneze Lord arose Why does he tell us now, after all this time, that it isn’t cut and dried, but we can only prevent it if we follow his instructions?" The Prince scratched the back of his neck and spat into the bush to our left "It sounds like a load of guano to ht on the subject," Mr Crepsley said "She shares some of Mr Tiny’s powers and can sense the paths of the future She ht be able to confirm or dismiss his predictions"

"If so, I’ll believe her," Vancha said "Evanna guards her tongue closely, but when she speaks, she speaks the truth If she says our destiny lies on the road, I’ll gladly pitch in with you If not" He shrugged and let theit mildly! I’d never met anyone like him He had a code all of his own

As I already knew, he wouldn’t eat cookedbut fresh water, milk and blood, and he made his clothes from the hides of ani the six nights it took us to reach Lady Evanna’s

He followed the old ways of the vao, vampires believed that ere descended froood lives and stayed true to our beliefs, we’d becoain e died and roaht To that end, they livedcivilization except when they had to drink blood,the laws of the wild

Vancha wouldn’t sleep in a coffin - he said they were too coround, covering himself with no more than his cloak He respected vampires who used coffins but had a very low opinion of those who slept in beds I didn’t dare tell hireat interest in dreams, and often ate wild mushrooms which led to vibrant dreams and visions He believed the future was mapped out in our dreams, and if we learnt to decipher them, we could control our destinies He was fascinated by Harkat’s night them with the Little Person

The only weapons he used were his shurikens (the throwing stars), which he carved hiht hand to hand coht with one’s hands He’d no time for swords, spears or axes and refused to touch theht so ready to break ca!" he replied sharply "Here - let ether, he stood opposite me and told me to draw my sword When I hesitated, he slapped my left shoulder and jeered "Afraid?"

"Of course not," I snapped "I just don’t want to hurt you"

He laughed out loud "There’s not much fear of that, is there, Larten?"

"I would not be so sure," Mr Crepsley demurred "Darren is only a half-vampire but he is sharp He could test you, Vancha"

"Good," the Prince said "I relish worthy opponents"

I looked pleadingly at Mr Crepsley "I don’t want to draw on an unarmed man"

"Unarmed?" Vancha shouted "I have two arms!" He waved them at me

"Go ahead," Mr Crepsley said "Vancha knohat he is doing"

Pulling out e He didn’t move Simply watched as I pulled the tip of my sword up short

"Pathetic," he sniffed

"This is stupid," I told hi else, he darted forward, seized me by the throat and made a small, painful cut acrossaway from him

"Next time I’ll cut your nose off," he said pleasantly

"No you won’t!" I growled and swung at him with my sword, properly this time

Vancha ducked clear of the arc of the blade "Good," he grinned "That’sslowly I kept the tip of my sword low, until he came to a halt, then moved towards him and jabbed I expected hiht hand up and swiped the blade away, as he would a flat stick As I struggled to bring it back around, he stepped in, caught hold of ave a sharp thich caused me to release the sword - and I eaponless

"See?" he sht was at an end "If this was for real, your ass would be grass" Vancha had a fouldeal," I sulked, rubbing my sore wrist "You beat a half-vaainst a full-vampire or a vampaneze"

"I can and have," he insisted "Weapons are tools of fear, used by those who are afraid One who learns to fight with his hands always has the advantage over those who rely on swords and knives Knohy?"

"Why?"

"Because they expect to win," he beamed "Weapons are false - they’re not of nature - and inspire false confidence When I fight, I expect to die Even nohen I sparred with you, I anticipated death and resigned myself to it Death is the worst this world can throw at you, Darren - if you accept it, it has no power over you"

Picking up my sword, he handed it tohe wanted me to cast it aside - and I was tempted to, to earn his respect But I’d have felt naked without it, so I slid it back into its sheath and glanced down at the ground, slightly ashamed

Vancha clasped the back of my neck and squeezed amiably "Don’t let it bother you," he said "You’re young You have loads of tiht about Mr Tiny and the Lord of the Valooht bare-handed I’d studied unarainst opponents ere also unar what to do if I lost ht how to take on a fully ar only my hands Vancha said it would take years to master, and I could expect lots of nicks and bruises while learning I waved away such concerns - I loved the thought of being able to best an ar couldn’t start on the trail, but Vancha talkedtactics e rested by day, and proot to Evanna’s

The Prince would tell h he did say she was both the fairest and least attractive of woht Vancha would be strongly anti-vampaneze - the vampires who despised vampaneze the most were normally those steeped in the old ways - but to ainst thehts before we reached Evanna’s "I don’t agree with their feeding habits - there’s no need to kill e drink - but otherwise I admire them"

"Vancha nominated Kurda Smahlt to become a Prince," Mr Crepsley remarked