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IT WAS another long, tiring night in the Hall of Princes A Va tovaht hundred years under his belt He had flohite hair, a long, grey beard, and had lost his right ear in a fight o
Staffen Irve had been active in the field for three years, and had been giving us a quick rundown of his experiences in the War of the Scars, as it had coertips, the coe war There were no big battles and neither side used ht only with hand to hand weapons like swords, clubs and spears The as a series of isolated skirainst a si to the death
"There was four of us ’gainst three of the us about one of his more recent encounters "But my lads was dry behind the tonsils, while the vampaneze was battle-hardy I killed one of ’e two of my lads dead and the third with a useless arm
"Have any of the vampaneze spoken of their Lord?" Paris asked
"No, Sire Those I take alive only laugh at my questions, even under torture"
In the six years that we’d been hunting for their Lord, there’d been no sign of him We knew he hadn’t been blooded - various va their ways before becoeneral opinion was that if ere to have any chance of thwarting Mr Tiny’s predictions, we had to find and kill their Lord before he assumed full control of the clan
A cluster of Generals aiting to speak with Paris They nalled the of warm blood, I passed it to the one-eared Prince He smiled and drank deeply, then wiped red stains fro hand - the responsibility of running the war council was taking its toll on the ancient vaht?" I asked, worried about Paris’s health
He shook his head "The night is young," he muttered
"But you are not," said a familiar voice behind me - Mr Crepsley The vampire in the red cloak spentme He was in a peculiar position As an ordinary vanizable rank, and could be couardian he wielded the unofficial powers of a Prince (since I followed his advice practically all the tie only to Paris Skyle, yet nobody openly acknowledged this Vaure!
"You should rest," Mr Crepsley said to Paris, laying a hand on the Prince’s shoulder "This ill run a long time You must not exhaust yourself too early We will have need of you later"
"Rot!" Paris laughed "You and Darren are the future I am the past, Larten I will not live to see the end of this war if it drags on as long as we fear If I do not make my mark now, I never will"
Mr Crepsley started to object, but Paris silenced hier "An old owl hates to be told how young and virile he is I as, and anyone who says otherwise is a fool, a liar, or both"
Mr Crepsley tilted his head obediently "Very well I will not argue with you"
"I should hope not," Paris sniffed, then shifted tiredly on his throne "But this has been a taxing night I will talk with these Generals, then crawl off to e without e," Mr Crepsley said confidently, and stood slightly behind me as the Generals advanced, ready to advise when required
Paris didn’t ue about - by studying reports on theto pinpoint the possible hiding place of their Lord - and it was close to midday before the ancient Prince slipped away
I treated rabbed so tutors, ere training the latest batch of Generals After that I had to send t Generals out into the field for their first taste of coh the small ceremony - I had to daub their foreheads with vampire blood and mutter an ancient war prayer over them - then wished them luck and sent them off to kill vampaneze - or die
Then it was tie of problems and queries As a Prince I was expected to deal with every sort of subject under the , inexperienced half-vampire, who’d become a Prince more by default than merit, but the members of the clan placed their trust coree of respect as Paris or any of the others
When the last vampire had departed, I snatched about three hours of sleep, in a ha up at the rear of the Hall When I woke, I ate some half-cooked, salted boarof blood Then it was back toand reports