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I WAS SHIVERRING like a bedraggled rat when I woke up late the next day I’d been asleep for fifteen hours orHe handedfull of a dark liquid and told me to drink

"What is it? "I asked

"Brandy," he said I hadn’t tried brandy before After the first , I decided I liked it "Careful" Vanez laughed as I poured it freely downaside the rinned Then I re up "I found the way out!"

"You certainly did," Vanez agreed "It was close You were in there just over twenty minutes Did you have to swim towards the finish?"

"Yes," I said, then described all that had happened in the maze

"You perforth, and luck - no va without a healthy measure of each"

Vanez ledto eat The vampires there applauded when they saw me and crowded around to tell ht of it and acted humble, but inside I felt like a hero Harkat Mulds turned up while I was digging into my third bowl of bat broth and fifth slice of bread "I alad you survived," he said in his sihed

"The betting against you has dropped since you passed the first Trial More va on you to win, now"

"That’s good to hear Have you bet anything onto bet," Harkat said "If I did I would"

While ere talking, a ru the va closely, we learned that one of the last re vampires on his way to Council had arrived before dawn and immediately rushed to the Hall of Princes to inform the to the mountain

"Maybe it’s the sa to a dead va the course of our journey

"Maybe," Vanez muttered, unconvinced "I’ll leave you for a while Stay here I won’t be long"

When he returned, the games master seemed worried "The vampire was Patrick Goulder," he said "He came by an entirely different route, and the tracks were quite fresh It’s almost certain that this was a different vampaneze"

"What does it s of the vampires around us

"I don’t know," Vanez admitted "But two vampaneze on the paths to Vampire Mountain are hardly coincidence And when you take Harkat’s e about the Va"

I thought again of Harkat’s o vow that the Vaainst the vas to worry about, and still did - nore this ominous threat to the entire vaht of it, "the doings of the vampaneze are of no interest to us We must concentrate on the Trials We’ll leave the other business to those best equipped to deal with it"

But try as we ht to avoid the topic, the ru, and ht before went unle half-va in the balance

Hardly anyone paid attention to me when I turned up with Vanez Blane at the Hall of Princes at dusk A few pressed their right-hand fingers to their forehead and eyelids when they saw the purple flag - the death’s touch sign - but they were too preoccupied to discussti with their Generals, trying to decide what the va around Kurda was standing up for his outcast friends

"If they meant to attack us," he shouted, "they would have done so on the trail, while ere coly or in pairs"

"Maybe they plan to attack us on the way back," soed him "They’ve never attacked before Why start now?"

"Perhaps the Vaested, and nervous growls of agreement echoed around the Hall