Page 11 (1/2)

THE FESTIVAL of the Undead caht The celebrations started several hours before sunset, and though the Festival officially ended with the coht, a number of vathe final day of the Festival The ti I learned reat vaht with huht through the night if I had not had to leave to learn about my next Trial

This time I picked the Hall of Flarim-faced when the Trial was called out

"It’s bad, isn’t it?" I asked Vanez

"Yes," the games master answered truthfully "It will be your hardest Trial yet We will ask Arra to help us prepare With her help, you ht

I spent e fire The Hall of Flae metal room with lots of holes in the floor Fierce fires would be lit outside the Hall when it was time for the Trial, and vampires would use bellows to puh the floor Because there were sofrom the fires to the holes, it was impossible to predict the path the flae

"You must use your ears as much as your eyes," Arra instructed The va the Festival, and it was in a sling "You can hear the fla before you see them"

One of the fires had been lit outside the Hall, and a couple of vampires pumped flanize the sound of the fire traveling through the pipes Arra stood behindme out of the way of the fla?" she asked

"Yes"

"That is the sound of fla sound - like that!" she snapped, tugging me back as a pillar of fire sprouted from the floor at my feet "Did you hear it?"

"Just about," I said, treh" She frowned "Just about will kill you You have very little time to beat the flaood to react immediately - you must react in advance"

A few hours later, I had the hang of it and was darting around the Hall, avoiding the flaood," Arra said as we rested "But only one fire burns at the moment Come the time of your Trial, all five will be lit The flareater volume You have much to learn before you are ready"

After more practice, Arra took me outside the Hall and over to the fire She shovedbranch, and ran it over the flesh ofme alive!"

"Be still!" she commanded "You h - you can stand a lot of punishh the Hall of Flaed Your chances of e alive depend on how you react to your injuries If you let yourself feel the pain, and panic - you’ll die If not, you ht survive"

I knew she wouldn’t say these things unless they were true, so I stood still and groundtip of the branch overSeba’s application of the cobwebs, flared into life again, adding toa break, I studiedbranch over it It was a nasty pink color and stung when touched, like a bad case of sunburn "Are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked

"You row used to the lick of flames," Arra said "The more pain we subject your body to now, the easier it will be to cope later Be under no illusions - this is one of the most difficult Trials You will suffer before the end"

"You’re not exactly filling me with confidence," I moaned

"I’m not here to fill you with confidence," she replied "I’m here to help you save your life"

After a short discussion between Vanez and Arra, it was decided that I should go without my usual few hours of sleep before the Trial "We need those extra hours," Vanez said "You’ve had three days and nights of rest Right now, practice is more important than sleep"

So, after a brief break, it was back to the Hall and the fire, where I learned how to narrowly dodge fla the Trial That way you could listenwhere the next burst of flahtly burnt, but that was preferable to taking a wrong step and going up in a cloud of smoke

We practiced until half an hour before the start of the Trial I nipped back to e clothes - I’d be wearing leather shorts, nothing else - then returned to the Hall of Flaathered to wish me well

Arrow - the bald-headed, tattooed Prince - had come from the Hall of Princes to oversee the Trial "I’ized, n

"That’s OK," I told hiracious competitor," Arrow said "Now, do you know the rules?"