Hunters of the Dusk

 

I AROSE with Vancha a couple of hours after midday and commenced my training in the shade near the cave entrance. Harkat watched us with interest, as did Mr. Crepsley when he woke early that afternoon. Vancha started me off with a stick, saying it would be months before he tried me with real weapons. I spent the afternoon watching him flick and stab the stick at me. I didn't have to do anything else, just observe the movements of the stick and learn to identify and anticipate the various ways an attacker had of using it.

We practised until Evanna returned, half an hour shy of sunset. She said nothing of where she'd been or what she'd been up to, and nobody enquired.

"Having fun?" she asked, entering the cave with her entourage of frogs.

"Heaps," Vancha replied, throwing the stick away. "The boy wants to learn to fight with his hands."

"Are swords too heavy for him?"

Vancha pulled a face. "Very funny."

Evanna's laughter brightened the cave. "I'm sorry. But fighting with hands - or swords - seems so childish. People should battle with their brains."

I frowned. "How?"

Evanna glanced at me, and all of a sudden the strength went from my legs and I fell to the floor. "What's happening?" I squealed, flopping about like a dying fish. "What's wrong with me?"

"Nothing," Evanna said, and to my relief my legs returned to normal. "That's how you fight with your brain," she said as I gathered myself together. "Every part of the body connects to the brain. Nothing functions without it. Attack with your brain, and victory is all but assured."

"Could I learn to do that?" I asked eagerly.

"Yes," Evanna said. "But it would take a few hundred years and you would have to leave the vampires and become my assistant." She smiled. "What do you think, Darren? Would it be worth it?"

"I'm not sure," I muttered. I liked the idea of learning magic, but living with Evanna wasn't appealing - with her quick temper, I doubted she'd make an understanding or forgiving teacher!

"Let me know if you change your mind," she said. "It's been a long time since I had an assistant, and none ever completed their studies - they all ran off after a few years, though I can't imagine why." Evanna brushed past us into the cave. Moments later she called us, and when we entered, we found another feast waiting.

"Did you use magic to get it ready so quickly?" I asked, sitting down to eat.

"No," she replied. "I simply moved a little faster than normal. I can work at quite a speed when I wish."

We ate a big dinner, then sat around a fire and discussed Mr. Tiny's visit to Vampire Mountain. Evanna seemed to know about it already, but let us tell the story and said nothing until we had finished. "The three hunters," she mused once we'd brought her up to date. "I have been waiting for you for many centuries."

"You have?" Mr. Crepsley asked, startled.

"I lack Desmond's clear insight into the future," she said, "but I see some of what is to come - or what might come. I knew three hunters would emerge to face the Vampaneze Lord, but I didn't know who they'd be."

"Do you know if we'll be successful?" Vancha asked, observing her keenly.

"I doubt if even Desmond knows that," she said. "Two strong futures lie ahead, each as possible as the other. It's rare for fate to boil down to two such evenly matched eventualities. Normally the paths of the future are many. When two exist like this, chance decides which the world will take."

"What about the Lord of the Vampaneze?" Mr. Crepsley asked. "Have you any idea where he is?"

"Yes." Evanna smiled.

Mr. Crepsley's breath caught in his throat.

"But you won't tell us, will you?" Vancha snorted in disgust.

"No," she said, her smile spreading. Her teeth were long, jagged and yellow like a wolf's.

"Will you tell us how we are to find him?" Mr. Crepsley asked. "And when?"

"I cannot," Evanna said. "If I told, I would change the course of the future, and that's not allowed. You must search for him yourselves. I will accompany you on the next leg of your journey, but I cannot-"

"You're coming with us?" Vancha exploded in astonishment.

"Yes. But only as a travelling companion. I'll play no part in the quest to find the Vampaneze Lord."

Vancha and Mr. Crepsley exchanged uneasy looks.

"You have never travelled with vampires before, Lady," Mr. Crepsley said.

Evanna laughed. "I know how important I am to your people, and for that reason I've avoided too much contact with the children of the night - I tire of vampires pleading with me to mate with them and have their babies."

"Then why come with us now?" Vancha asked bluntly.

"There's someone I wish to meet," she answered. "I could seek him alone, but I prefer not to. My reasons will become clear in time."

"Witches are so bloody secretive," Vancha grumbled, but Evanna didn't rise to the bait.

"If you prefer to travel without me, you may," she said. "I will not impose my presence upon you."

"We would be honoured to have you as an escort, Lady Evanna," Mr. Crepsley assured her. "And please do not take offence if we appear suspicious or unwelcoming - these are troublesome, confusing times, and we bark where sometimes we should whisper."

"Well put, Larten," she smiled. "If that's settled, I'll pack my things and we'll take to the road."

"So soon?" Mr. Crepsley blinked.

"Now is as good a time as ever."

"I hope the frogs aren't coming," Vancha huffed.

"I wasn't going to bring them," Evanna said, "but now that you mention it..." She laughed at his expression. "Don't worry - my frogs will stay and keep things tidy for when I return." She started to leave, paused, turned slowly and squatted. "One more thing," she said, and by her serious expression we knew something bad was coming. "Desmond should have told you this, but he obviously chose not to - playing mind games, no doubt."

"What is it, Lady?" Vancha asked when she paused.

"It concerns the hunt for the Vampaneze Lord. I don't know whether you'll succeed or fail, but I have seen into the future of each possible outcome and gleaned some facts of what lies in store.

"I will not speak of the future where you succeed - it is not for me to comment on that - but if you fail..." Again she stalled. Reaching out, she took both of Vancha's hands in her left - it seemed to have grown incredibly large - and Mr. Crepsley's in her right. While she held hands with them, she locked gazes with me, and spoke. "I tell you this because I think you should know. I don't say it to frighten you, but to prepare you, should matters come to the worst.

"Four times your paths are fated to cross with that of the Vampaneze Lord. If they do cross, on each occasion you will have it within your power to make an end of him. If you fail, the vampaneze are destined to win the War of the Scars. This you already know.

"But what Desmond didn't tell you is - by the end of the hunt, if you have faced the Vampaneze Lord four times and failed to kill him, only one of you will be alive to witness the fall of the vampire clan." Lowering her gaze and removing her hands from Mr. Crepsley's and Vancha's, she said in something less than a whisper, "The other two will be dead.?