I DIDN'T know where I was when I awoke. I opened my eyes and saw a ceiling high above me, with lots of panels ripped out of it, three chandeliers burning dimly now that their candles were mere waxen stumps. I couldn't think where I might be. I sat up, groaning, and looked for Mr Crepsley, to ask him what was going on.
That's when I remembered.
Moaning as the painful memories returned, I clambered to my feet and looked around in desperation. The fire in the pit of stakes had almost burnt itself out. Mr Crepsley and the half-vampaneze were charred, unrecognizable collections of brittle, blackened bones. Vancha and Harkat were sitting by the edge of the pit, faces glum, silently mourning.
"How long was I out?" I shouted, lurching towards the tunnel leading out of the cavern, falling clumsily to my knees in my frenzied haste.
"Take it easy," Vancha said, helping me back to my feet.
I swiped his hands away and spun fiercely on him. "How long?" I roared.
Vancha eyeballed me, bemused, then shrugged. "Three hours, maybe more."
My eyelids closed hopelessly and I let myself collapse again. Too long. They'd be halfway to the other side of the world by now.
"What happened?" I asked. "The gas should have only knocked me out for fifteen or twenty minutes."
"You were exhausted," Vancha said. "It's been a long night. I'm surprised you woke this soon. It's dawn outside. We didn't expect you to stir until dusk."
I shook my head mutely, disgusted.
"Are you OK, Darren?" Harkat asked, hobbling over to join us.
"No!" I snapped. "I'm not OK. None of us is."
Rising, I brushed past the puzzled-looking pair, and made my slow, painful way to the pit, where I gazed once more upon the smouldering remains of my dearest friend and mentor.
"He's in a state of shock," I heard Vancha mutter softly to Harkat. "Go easy on him. It'll take him a while to recover."
"Recover!" I shrieked, sitting down and laughing maniacally.
Vancha and Harkat sat beside me, Vancha to my left, Harkat to my right. Each laid a hand on mine in a silent show of support. My throat grew tight and I thought I was going to cry at last. But after a few seconds the tears still wouldn't come, so I let my gaze drift back to the pit, while my thoughts returned to Steve's chilling revelation.
The flames grew lower and the cavern cooled. It also darkened, as the candles overhead quenched themselves one by one.
"We'd better get up there and - relight the candles," Harkat said, "or else we won't be able to - see clearly when we go down to - collect Mr Crepsley's bones."
"Leave him there," I said sullenly. "This is as good a resting place as any."
Harkat and Vancha stared at me uncertainly.
"But you were the one who wanted to bury him," Vancha reminded me.
"That was before Steve took me aside," I sighed. "It doesn't matter where we leave him now. Nothing matters any more."
"How can you say that?" Vancha snapped angrily. "We won, Darren! We killed the Lord of the Vampaneze! The price we paid was high, but it was worth it."
"You think so?" I asked bitterly.
"Of course!" he shouted. "What's one life judged against thousands? We knew the odds coming into this. We'd have sacrificed all our lives if we had to. I feel Larten's loss as much as you - he was my friend long before he was yours. But he died honourably, and gave his life for a cause that was just. If his spirits looking down on us, he'll be willing us to celebrate his great victory, not bemoan his?"
"You remember our first run-in with the Vampaneze Lord?" I interrupted. "You recall how he masqueraded as a servant, so we paid no notice to him and attacked the others, allowing him to escape?"
Vancha nodded warily. "Aye. What of it?"
"They tricked us then, Vancha," I said, "and they've done it again. We've won nothing. Mr Crepsley died in vain."
Vancha and Harkat gawped at me.
"What ?? I don't - Are you saying ??What ?" Harkat gasped eventually.
"The cloaked half-vampaneze on the platform was a decoy," I sighed. "He wasn't the same person we saw in the glade. Steve told me the truth before he left. That was his parting present."
"No!" Vancha wheezed, his face ashen. "He lied! That was their Lord. The look of despair on their faces when we killed him?"
"?was genuine," I said. "Most of the vampaneze and vampets in the cavern believed he was their Lord. They were tricked just like we were. Only Gannen Harst and a handful of others knew the truth."
"Then we're back where we were at the start?" Vancha moaned. "He's alive? We've no idea what he looks like? No way of knowing where he'll turn next?"
"Not exactly," I said with a crooked half-smile. "There are only two hunters left now. That much has changed." I let out a long, disparaging breath, and gazed down into the pit again. I didn't want to tell them the rest, not coming so hot on the heels of Mr Crepsley's death and news of the Vampaneze Lord's escape. I'd have spared them this extra blow if I could.
But they had to be warned. In case something happened to me, they had to be told, so they could spread the word and carry on without me if necessary.
"I know who he is," I whispered emotionlessly. "Steve told me. He broke the big secret. Harst didn't want him to, but he did it anyway, to hurt me that little bit more, as if Mr Crepsley's death wasn't bad enough."
"He told you who the - Vampaneze Lord is?" Harkat gasped.
I nodded.
"Who?" Vancha shouted, leaping to his feet. "Which one of those scum sends others to do his dirty work for him? Tell me and I'll?"
"It's Steve," I said, and Vancha's strength deserted him. Slumping to the floor, he gazed at me in horror. Harkat too. "It's Steve," I said again, feeling empty and scared inside, knowing I'd never feel any different until - unless - he was killed, even if I lived to be a thousand. Wetting my lips, focusing on the flames, I said the whole terrible truth out loud. "Steve Leopard is the Lord of the Vampaneze!'
After that there was only silence, burning and despair.
TO BE CONTINUED
