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WE SOLEMNLY filed out of Evanna’s cave and circled the pond, each of us brooding about the witch’s prophecy We’d known from the start that this would be a peril-filled quest, with death never far fro to anticipate your possible end, quite another to be told it’s a certainty if you fail

We followed no particular direction that first night, only walked ai note of our surroundings Harkat hadn’t been included in Evanna’s prophecy - he wasn’t one of the hunters - but was as disturbed as the rest of us

Towards dawn, as ere"Look at us!" he hooted, as we stared at hiht like four sad souls at a funeral What idiots we’ve been!"

"You think it a to have a death sentence imposed on us, Sire?" Mr Crepsley asked archly

"Charna’s guts!" Vancha cursed "The sentence has been there since the start - all that’s changed is that we know about it!"

"A little knowledge is a dangerous thing," Harkat ," Vancha chided hiood or bad Evanna has done us a favour by telling us"

"How do you figure that?" I asked

"She confirmed that we’ll have four chances to kill the Vampaneze Lord Think about it - four times his life will be ours to take Four tiet the better of us once Perhaps twice But do you really think he’ll evade us four times in a row?"

"He will not be alone," Mr Crepsley said "He travels with guards, and all vampaneze in the area will rush to his aid"

"What ed him

"He is their Lord They will sacrifice their lives to protect him"

"Will our fellow vampires back us up if we run into trouble?" Vancha responded

"No, but that is because" Mr Crepsley stopped

" Mr Tiny’s told therinned "And if he’s picked just three vao head to head with the Vampaneze Lord, maybe-"

"- he has only picked three vampaneze to help their Lord!" Mr Crepsley finished, excited

"Right," Vancha bea hiree?" All three of us nodded thoughtfully "Now," he continued, "let’s say we ’s ear of it We face him four times, we blow it, and our chance to defeat him passes What happens then?"