"Did he say anything about" I lowered my voice "the Lord of the Vampaneze or a Master of Shadows?"
She shook her head. "He said only that we was all in for rough nights, and that there much fighting and dying would be before it became over." Then she started clipping again, and after that she measured me for the suit.
I was thinking hard about our conversation when I left Truska's van and went in search of Mr Crepsley. It might be that, prompted by my concerns, my feet led me on purpose to Mr Tall's van, or maybe it was accidental. Either way, I found myself hovering outside a few minutes later, pondering the situation and whether I should ask him about it.
As I stood, deliberating, the door opened and Mr Tall and Evanna emerged. The witch was clad in a black cloak, almost invisible in the darkness of the cloudy night.
"I wish you would not do this," Mr Tall said. "The vampires have been good friends to us. We should help them."
"We cannot take sides, Hibernius," Evanna replied. "It is not our place to decide the twists of fate."
"Still," he muttered, his long face creased, "to embrace these others and parlay with them I don't like it."
"We must remain neutral," she insisted. "We have neither allies nor foes among the creatures of the night. If you or I took sides, we could destroy everything. As far as we're concerned, both must be equal, neither good nor bad."
"You are correct," he sighed. "I have spent too long with Larten. I'm letting my friendship for him cloud my judgement."
"There's nothing wrong with befriending these beings," Evanna said. "But we must not get personally involved, not until the future unravels and we have to."
With that, she kissed Mr Tall on the cheek I don't know how one so short reached all the way up to one so tall, but she did and slipped away out of camp. Mr Tall watched her go, an unhappy look on his face, then closed the door and went about his business.
I remained where I was a moment, replaying the strange conversation. I wasn't entirely sure what was going on, but I gathered that Evanna was about to do something which Mr Tall didn't like something that seemed to bode ill for vampires.
As a Prince, I should have waited for Evanna to come back and challenged her openly about the conversation. It wasn't proper for one of my standing to eavesdrop, and it would be positively rude to sneak out of camp after her. But politeness and good manners had never been high on my list of priorities. I'd rather have Evanna think less of me even punish me for my insolence and know what she was up to, than let her slip away and face a nasty surprise further down the line.
Kicking off my shoes, I hurried out of camp, spotted the top of her hooded head vanishing behind a tree in the distance she was moving fast and set off after her as quickly and quietly as I could.
It was hard keeping up with Evanna. She was swift and surefooted, leaving almost no trace of her passage. If the chase had endured, I'd have lost her, but she drew to a halt after three or four kilometres, stood breathing in the air a moment, then walked to a small copse of trees, whistled loudly, and entered.
I waited a few minutes to see if she'd emerge. When she didn't, I followed her to the edge of the copse and stood listening. When I heard nothing I slipped between the trees and advanced cautiously. The ground was damp and masked the sounds of my footsteps, but I took no chances: Evanna's sense of hearing was at least as sharp as a vampire's one snapped twig would be enough to alert her to my presence.
As I progressed, the sound of soft talking reached me. There were several people up ahead, but they were speaking in hushed tones and I was too far away to hear what they were saying. With an increasing sense of unease I crept forward, and finally I was near enough to identify a group of shadowy figures at the heart of the copse.
I didn't move any closer, for fear I'd give myself away, but squatted, watched and listened. Their voices were muffled and only the occasional disconnected word or half-sentence came across. Their voices rose from time to time when they laughed, but even then they were careful not to laugh too loud.
My eyes gradually adjusted to the darkness and I was able to make some sense of the shapes. Apart from Evanna whose shadow was impossible to mistake I counted eight people, sitting, squatting or lying down. Seven were large and muscular. The eighth was slight, dressed in a hood and robes, serving drinks and food to the others. They all appeared to be men.
I could be no more certain than that, given the distance and darkness. Either I'd have to get a lot closer to learn more about them, or the moon would have to shine. Glancing up at the cloudy sky through the dense branches of the trees, I figured there wasn't much chance of that. Rising silently, I started to back away.
That's when the servant in the robes lit a candle.
"Put that out, fool!" one of the others barked, and a strong hand knocked the candle to the floor, where a foot roughly quenched it.
"Sorry," the servant squeaked. "I thought we were safe with Lady Evanna."
"We're never safe," the burly man snapped. "Remember that, and don't make such a mistake again."
The men fell back into conversation with Evanna, their voices low and impenetrable, but I was no longer interested in what they had to say. During the few seconds of candlelight, I'd glimpsed purple skin, red eyes and hair, and knew who and what the men were, and why Evanna had been so secretive she'd come to meet with a group ofvampaneze !
CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
RETREATING STEALTHILY, I cleared the copse. Seeing no guards, I rushed back to the Cirque Du Freak, pausing neither for breath nor thought. I reached the campsite ten minutes later, having raced as fast as my powers allowed.
The show had commenced and Mr Crepsley was standing in what used to be the church's vestry, watching Rhamus Twobellies eat a tyre. He looked very dashing in his red suit, and he'd rubbed blood along the scar down the left side of his face, drawing attention to it, making him look more mysterious than usual.
"Where have you been?" he snapped as I entered, panting. "I have looked all over for you. I thought I would have to perform alone. Truska has your pirate costume ready. If we hurry, we can"
"Where's Vancha?" I gasped.
"Off sulking somewhere," Mr Crepsley chuckled. "He still has not"
"Larten," I interrupted. He stopped, alerted to the danger by my rare use of his first name. "Forget the show. We have to find Vancha.Now !"
He asked no questions. Telling a stagehand to inform Mr Tall of his withdrawal from the bill, he led me out to search for Vancha. We found him with Harkat in the tent I was sharing with the Little Person. He was teaching Harkat how to throw shurikens. Harkat was finding it difficult his fingers were too large to easily grasp the small stars.
"Look who it is," Vancha jeered as we entered. "The king of the clowns and his head assistant. How's show business, boys?"
I pulled the flap of the tent closed and sunk to my haunches. Vancha saw the serious expression in my eyes and put his shurikens away. Quickly and calmly, I told them what had happened. There was a pause when I finished, broken by Vancha, who let fly with a barbed stream of curses.
"We shouldn't have trusted her," he snarled. "Witches are treacherous by nature. She's probably selling us out to the vampaneze even as we speak."
"I doubt that," Mr Crepsley said. "Evanna would hardly require the aid of the vampaneze if she meant to do us harm."
"You think she's gone over there to discuss frogs?" Vancha barked.
"I do not know what they are discussing, but I do not believe she is betraying us," Mr Crepsley said stubbornly.
"Maybe we should ask Mr Tall," Harkat suggested. "From what Darren says, he knows what Evanna is up to. Perhaps he would tell us."
Vancha looked at Mr Crepsley. "He's your friend. Should we try?"
Mr Crepsley shook his head. "If Hibernius knew we were in danger, and was capable of warning or aiding us, he would have."
"Very well," Vancha smiled grimly. "We'll have to take them on ourselves." He stood and checked his supply of shurikens.
"We're going to fight them?" I asked, insides tightening.
"We're hardly going to sit here and wait for them to attack!" Vancha replied. "The element of surprise is vital. While we have it, we must make use of it."
Mr Crepsley looked troubled. "Perhaps they do not mean to attack," he said. "We only arrived last night. They could not have known we were coming. Their being here might have nothing to do with us."
"Nonsense!" Vancha howled. "They're here to kill, and if we don't strike first, they'll be on us before"
"I'm not so sure," I muttered. "Now that I think about it, they weren't on guard or nervous, as they would have been if they were preparing for a fight."
Vancha cursed some more, then sat down again. "OK. Let's say they aren't after us. Perhaps it's coincidence and they don't know we're here." He leant forward. "But they will when Evanna's finished filling them in!"
"You think she'll tell them about us?" I asked.
"We'd be fools to chance it." He cleared his throat. "In case you've forgotten, we're at war. I've nothing personal against our blood-cousins, but for the time being they're our enemies, and we must show them no mercy. Let's say these vampaneze and their servant have nothing to do with our being here. So what? It's our duty to engage them in battle and cut them down."
"That's murder, not self-defence," Harkat said softly.
"Aye," Vancha agreed. "But would you rather we let them go on to murder some of our own? Our quest to find the Vampaneze Lord takes precedence over all else, but when the chance to cull a few stray vampaneze drops our way, we'd be fools traitors! not to seize it."
Mr Crepsley sighed. "And Evanna? What if she takes the side of the vampaneze against us?"
"Then we fight her too," Vancha sniffed.
"You fancy your chances against her?" Mr Crepsley smiled thinly.
"No. But I know my duty." He stood, and this time there was a certainty to his stance. "I'm going to kill vampaneze. If you want to come, you can. If not " He shrugged.
Mr Crepsley looked at me. "What do you say, Darren?"
"Vancha's right," I said slowly. "If we let them go, and they kill vampires later, we'd be to blame. Besides, there's something we're overlooking the Lord of the Vampaneze." Mr Crepsley and Vancha stared at me. "We're destined to cross paths with him, but I think we have to chase that destiny. Maybe these vampaneze know where he is or will be. I doubt it's coincidence that we're here at the same time as them. This might be fate's way of leading us to him."
"A solid argument," Vancha said.
"Perhaps." Mr Crepsley didn't sound convinced.
"Remember Mr Tiny's words?" I said. "To follow our hearts? My heart says we should face these vampaneze."
"Mine too," Harkat said after a moment's hesitation.
"And mine," Vancha added.
"I thought you had no heart," Mr Crepsley muttered, then stood. "But my heart also demands confrontation, although my head disagrees. We will go."
Vancha grinned bloodthirstily and clapped Mr Crepsley on the back, then without further ado we stole away into the night.
At the copse we made our plans.
"We'll close on them from four different angles," Vancha said, taking charge. "That way well make them think there are more of us."
"There are nine of them in all," Mr Crepsley noted, "including Evanna. How do we divide them up?"
"Two vampaneze for you, two for me, two for Harkat. Darren takes the seventh and the servant he's probably a half-vampaneze or vampet, so he shouldn't pose too much of a problem."
"And Evanna?" Mr Crepsley asked.
"We could all rush her at the end," Vancha suggested.
"No," Mr Crepsley decided. "I will handle her."
"You re sure?"
Mr Crepsley nodded.
"Then all that's left is to split up and move in. Get as close as you can. I'll start by launching a couple of shurikens. I'll aim for arms and legs. Once you hear screams and curses hit them hard."
"Things would go much smoother if you aimed for throats and heads," I noted.
"I don't fight that way," Vancha growled. "Only cowards kill a foe without facing him. If I have to as when killing the vampet with the hand grenade I will, but I prefer to fight cleanly."
The four of us split up and circled the trees, entering the copse at different points. I felt vulnerable and small when I found myself alone in the woods, but quickly thrust such feelings aside and concentrated on my mission. "May the gods of the vampires guide and protect us," I muttered under my breath, before advancing, sword drawn.
The vampaneze and Evanna were still in the clearing at the heart of the copse, talking softly. The moon had broken through the clouds, and although the overhanging branches kept most of the light out, the area was brighter than it had been when I was here before.
Easing forward, I got as close to the vampaneze as I dared, then pulled up behind a thick trunk and waited. All was silent around me. I'd thought Harkat might alert them to our presence he couldn't move as quietly as a vampire but the Little Person was taking great care and made no sound.
I started to count, silently, inside my head. I was up to ninety-six when there was a sharp whistling hiss to my far left, followed by a startled shriek. Less than a second later, another whistle and another scream. Gripping my sword tight, I swung around the tree and darted forward, roaring wildly.
The vampaneze were quick to react, and were on their feet, weapons in hand, by the time I reached them. Fast as they were, Mr Crepsley and Vancha were faster, and as I locked swords with a tall, muscular vampaneze, from whose left shin stuck a silver shuriken, I saw Mr Crepsley cut open the stomach and chest of one of our opponents, killing him instantly, while Vancha's thumb took out the left eye of another he dropped to the ground, wailing.
I had just enough time to note that the man on the ground wasn't purple-skinned like the rest a vampet! then I had to concentrate on the vampaneze in front of me. He was at least two heads taller then me, broader and stronger. But size, as I'd been taught in Vampire Mountain, wasn't everything, and while he lashed out at me with savage strokes, I jabbed and feinted, nicking him here, poking him there, drawing blood, enraging him, spoiling his aim and rhythm, causing him to swing erratically.