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Cirque Du Freak Book 5
THE SAGA OF DARREN SHAN
TRIALS OF DEATH
Darren Shan
CONTENTS
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Chapter Seventeen
Chapter Eighteen
Chapter Nineteen
Chapter Twenty
Chapter Twenty-One
For:
Noraand Daveyever-gracious hosts
OBEs (Order of the Bloody Entrails) to:
The enormous, fearsome Emily Ford
Kellee "take no prisoners" Nunley
Mechanics of the Macabre:
Biddy and Liam
Gillie and Zoe
Emma and Chris
Also in the Saga of Darren Shan:
Cirque Du Freak(Book 1)
The Vampire's Assistant(Book 2)
Tunnels of Blood(Book 3)
Vampire Mountain(Book 4)
PROLOGUE
IF PEOPLEever tell you vampires aren't real don't believe them! The world's full of vampires. Not evil, shape-changing, cross-fearing creatures like in the legends, but honorable, long-living, extrastrong beings who need to drink blood to survive. They interfere as little as possible in the affairs of humans and never kill those they drink from.
Hidden away in some snowy, barely accessible corner of the world stands Vampire Mountain, where vampires meet every twelve years. The Council (as they call it) is controlled by the Vampire Princes who are obeyed by all vampires and most of those in attendance are Vampire Generals, whose job is to govern the walking undead.
In order to present me to the Princes, Mr. Crepsley had dragged me along to Vampire Mountain and the Council. Mr. Crepsley's a vampire. I'm his assistant, a half-vampire my name's Darren Shan.
It was a long, hard journey. We traveled with a friend of ours, Gavner Purl, four wolves, and two Little People, strange creatures who work for a mysterious master by the name of Mr. Tiny. One of the Little People was killed on the way by a mad bear that had drunk the blood of a dead vampaneze (they're like vampires, except they have purple skin and red eyes, nails, and hair and theyalways kill when they feed). The other then spoke the first time ever that a Little Person had communicated with anyone and told us his name was Harkat Mulds. He also delivered a chilling message from Mr. Tiny: a Vampaneze Lord would come into power soon and lead the purple-skinned killers into war against the vampires and win!
Finally we arrived at Vampire Mountain, where the vampires lived in a network of tunnels and large caves. There I made friends with a bunch of vampires, including Seba Nile, who'd been Mr. Crepsley's teacher when he was younger; Arra Sails, one of the few female vampires; Vanez Blane, a one-eyed games master; and Kurda Smahlt, a General who was going to become a Prince soon.
The Princes and most of the Generals weren't impressed with me. They said I was too young to be a vampire and criticized Mr. Crepsley for blooding me. To prove myself worthy of being a half-vampire, I had to undertake the Trials of Initiation, a series of tough tests usually reserved for budding Generals. When I was making up my mind to accept the challenge, they told me that if I passed, I'd be accepted into the vampire ranks. What they neglected to tell me until afterward (when it was too late to back out) was that if I failed I'd bekilled!
CHAPTER ONE
THE HUGE CAVERNknown as the Hall of Khledon Lurt was almost deserted. Except for those sitting at my table Gavner, Kurda, and Harkat there was only one other vampire present, a guard who sat by himself and sipped from a mug of beer, whistling tunelessly.
About four hours had passed since I learned I was going to be judged in the Trials of Initiation. I still didn't know very much about the Trials, but from the gloomy faces of my companions, and by what had been said in the Hall of Princes, I figured my chances of emerging victorious were, at best, slim.
While Kurda and Gavner muttered on about my Trials, I studied Harkat, who I hadn't seen much of recently (he'd been cooped up in the Hall of Princes, answering questions). He was dressed in his traditional blue robes, although he now wore his hood down, no longer bothering to hide his grey, scarred, stitched-together face. Harkat didn't have a nose, and his ears were sewn underneath the skin of his skull. He had a pair of large, round green eyes, set near the top of his head. His mouth was jagged and full of sharp teeth. Normal air was poisonous to him ten or twelve hours of it would kill him so he wore a special mask that kept him alive. He moved it down over his chin when he was talking or eating and back up to cover his mouth when he wasn't. Harkat had once been human but had died and come back in this body, after striking a deal with Mr. Tiny. He couldn't remember who he'd been or what sort of a deal he'd struck.
Harkat had carried a message to the Princes from Mr. Tiny, saying that the night of the Vampaneze Lord was coming. The Vampaneze Lord was a mythical figure whose arrival would supposedly signal the start of a war between the vampires and vampaneze, which according to Mr. Tiny the vampaneze would win, wiping out the vampire forces in the process.
Catching my eye, Harkat lowered his mask and said, "Have you seen much of the Halls?"
"A little of them," I replied.
"You must take me on a tour."
"Darren won't have much time for tours," Kurda sighed miserably. "Not with the Trials to prepare for."
"Tell me more about these Trials," I said.
"The Trials are part of our vampiric heritage, going back as long as any vampire can remember," Gavner told me. Gavner Purl was a Vampire General. He was very burly, with short brown hair, and he had a scarred, beaten face. Mr. Crepsley teased him a lot about his heavy breathing and snoring. "In the old nights they were held at every Council," Gavner continued, "and every vampire had to endure them, even if they'd passed a dozen times already.
"About a thousand years ago, the Trials were restructured. This was about the time that the Generals came into being. Before that, there were just Princes and ordinary vampires. Under the new terms, only those who wished to be Generals needed to undertake the Trials. A lot of ordinary vampires take the Trials even if they don't want to be a General a vampire usually has to pass the Trials of Initiation to earn the respect of his peers but they aren't required to."
"I don't understand," I said. "I thought if you passed the Trials, you automatically became a General."
"No," Kurda answered ahead of Gavner, running a hand through his blond hair. Kurda Smahlt wasn't as muscular as most vampires he believed in brains over brawn and he had less scar tissue than most, although he had three small red permanent scratches on his left cheek, marks of the vampaneze. (Kurda's dream was to reunite the vampires and vampaneze, and he'd spent many decades discussing peace treaties with the murderous outcasts.) "The Trials are only the first test for would-be Generals. There are other tests of strength, endurance, and wisdom, which come later. Passing the Trials just means you're a vampire of good standing."
Good standingwas a phrase I'd heard many times. Respect and honor were extremely important to vampires. If you were a vampire of good standing, it meant you were respected by your colleagues. "What happens in the Trials?" I asked. "There are many different tests," Gavner said, taking over again from Kurda. "You have to complete five of them. They'll be picked at random, one at a time. The challenges range from fighting wild boars to climbing perilous mountains to crawling through a pit filled with snakes."
"Snakes?"I asked, alarmed. My best friend at the Cirque Du Freak Evra Von kept a huge snake, which I'd grown accustomed to but never learned to like. Snakes gave me the creeps.
"There won't be any snakes in Darren's Trials," Kurda said. "Our last snake keeper died nine years ago and hasn't been replaced. We still have a few snakes but not enough to fill a tub, never mind a pit."
"The Trials take place one night after another," Gavner said. "A day's rest is all you're allowed in between. So you have to be especially careful at the start if you get injured early on, you won't have much time to recover."
"Actually, he might get lucky there," Kurda mused. "The Festival of the Undead is almost upon us."
"What's that?" I asked.
"We celebrate with a huge feast when every vampire who's coming to Council has arrived," Kurda explained. "We used the Stone of Blood to search for latecomers a couple of nights ago, and only three more are on their way. When the last arrives, the Festival starts, and no official business may take place for three nights and days."
"That's right," Gavner said. "If the Festival starts during your Trials, you'll have a three-night break. That would be a great bonus."
"If the latecomers arrive in time," Kurda noted gloomily.
Kurda seemed to think I didn't stand a chance in the Trials. "Why are you so sure I'll fail?" I asked.
"It's not that I think poorly of you," Kurda said. "You're just too young and inexperienced. Apart from the fact that you're physically unprepared, you haven't had time to assess the different tasks and practice for them. You're being thrown in at the deep end, and it isn't fair."
"Still whining about fairness?" someone commented behind us Mr. Crepsley. Seba Nile, the quartermaster of Vampire Mountain, was with him. The pair sat and greeted us with silent nods.
"You were very quick to agree to the Trials, Larten," Kurda said disapprovingly. "Don't you think you should have explained the rules to Darren more thoroughly? He didn't even know that failure to complete the Trials means certain death!"
"Is that true?" Mr. Crepsley asked me.
I nodded. "I thought I could quit if things weren't working out."
"Ah, I should have made it clearer. My apologies."
"A little late for those now." Kurda sniffed.
"All the same," Mr. Crepsley said, "I stand by my decision. It was a delicate situation. I did wrong to blood Darren there was no hiding from that. It is important for both our sakes that one of us clears our names. If I had the choice, I would face the challenge, but the Princes elected Darren. Their word, as far as I am concerned, is law."
"Besides," Seba Nile added, "all is far from lost. When I heard the news, I hurried to the Hall of Princes and used the old and almost forgotten Period of Preparation clause."
"The what?" Gavner asked.
"Before the time of the Generals," Seba explained, "vampires did not spend years preparing for the Trials. They would draw a Trial at random as they do now but rather than tackle it immediately, they had a night and a day to prepare. This was to give them time to practice. Many chose to ignore the Period of Preparation usually those who had undertaken the Trials before but there was no dishonor in taking advantage of it."
"I never heard of that rule," Gavner said.
"I did," Kurda noted, "but I'd never have thought of it. Does it still apply? It hasn't been used in more than a thousand years."
"Just because it is unfashionable does not mean it is invalid," Seba chuckled. "The Period of Preparation was never formally abolished. Given that Darren is a special case, I went to the Princes and asked that he be allowed to take advantage of it. Mika objected, of course that vampire was born to object but Paris talked him into it."
"So Darren has twenty-four hours to prepare for each Trial," Mr. Crepsley said. "And twenty-four hours to rest afterwards which adds up to a forty-eight-hour break between each test."
"That is good news," Gavner agreed, brightening up.
"There is more," Mr. Crepsley said. "We also persuaded the Princes to rule out some of the more difficult Trials, those which are clearly beyond Darren's ability."
"I thought you said you weren't going to ask for favors," Gavner noted with a grin.
"And I did not." Mr. Crepsley replied. "I merely asked that the Princes use their common sense. It would be illogical to ask a blind man to paint, or a mute man to sing. So it would be senseless to expect a half-vampire to compete on even terms with a full-vampire. Many of the Trials remain, but those which are clearly impossible for one in Darren's position have been eliminated."
"I still say it's unfair," Kurda complained. He faced the ancient Seba Nile. "Are there any other old laws we could use? Anything about children not being allowed to compete, or that they can't be killed if they fail?"
"None that I am aware of," Seba said. "The only vampires who cannot be killed for failing the Trials of Initiation are the Princes. All others are judged equally."
"Why would Princes be taking the Trials?" I asked.
"Long ago they had to participate in the Trials at every Council, like everybody else," Seba said. "Some still undertake them from time to time, if they feel they need to prove themselves. However, it is forbidden for a vampire to kill a Prince, so if a Prince fails and does not die during the Trial, nobody can execute him."
"What happens in cases like that?" I asked.
"There have not been many," Seba said. "Of the few that I know of, the Princes elected to leave Vampire Mountain and die in the wilds. Only one Fredor Morsh resumed his place in the Hall of Princes. That was when the vampaneze broke away, when we needed all of our leaders. Once the crisis had passed, he left to meet his fate."
"Come," Mr. Crepsley said, rising and yawning. "I am tired. It is time to turn in for the day."
"I don't think I'll be able to sleep," I said.
"You must," he grunted. "Rest is vital if you are going to complete the Trials. You will need to be fully alert, with all your wits about you."
"OK," I sighed, joining him. Harkat stood too. "See you all tomorrow," I said to the other vampires, and they nodded gloomily in reply.
Back in my cell, I made myself as comfortable as possible in my hammock most vampires slept in coffins, but I couldn't stand them while Harkat climbed into his. It took a long time to drift off, but finally I did, and though I didn't manage a full day's sleep, I was reasonably clear-headed when night rolled around, and I had to report to the Hall of Princes to learn about my first deathly Trial.
CHAPTER TWO
ARRA SAILSwas waiting for Mr. Crepsley and me outside the Hall of Princes. Arra was one of the rare female vampires at Vampire Mountain. She was a fierce fighter, the equal or better of most males. We'd fought a contest earlier during my stay, and I'd won her hard-to-earn respect.
"How are you?" she asked, shaking my hand.
"Pretty good," I said.
"Nervous?"
"Yes."
"I was too, when facing my Trials," she said with a smile. "Only a fool goes into them without feeling anxious. The important thing is not to panic."
"I'll try not to."
Arra cleared her throat. "I hope you don't hold what I said in the Hall of Princes against me." Arra had urged the Princes to make me undertake the Trials. "I don't believe in going easy on vampires, even if they're children. Ours is a hard life, not suited to the weak. As I said in the Hall, I think you'll pass the Trials, but if you don't, I won't step in to plead for your life."
"I understand," I said.
"We're still friends?"
"Yes."
"If you need help preparing, call on me," she said. "I have been through the Trials three times, to prove to myself more than anyone else that I am a worthy vampire. There is very little that I don't know about them."
"We will bear that in mind," Mr. Crepsley said, bowing to her.
"Courteous as ever, Larten," Arra noted. "And as handsome too."
I nearly laughed out loud. Mr. Crepsley handsome? I'd seen more appealing creatures in the monkey cages in zoos! But Mr. Crepsley took the compliment in stride, as though he were used to such flattery, and bowed again.
"And you are as beautiful as ever," he said.
"I know." She grinned and left. Mr. Crepsley watched her intently as she walked away, a faraway look on his normally solemn face. When he caught me smirking, he scowled.
"What are you grinning about?" he snapped.
"Nothing," I said innocently, then added slyly, "an old girlfriend?"
"If you must know," he said stiffly, "Arra was once my mate."
I blinked. "You mean she was yourwife? "
"In a manner of speaking."
I stared, slack-jawed, at the vampire. "You never told me you were married!"
"I am not anymore but I used to be."
"What happened did you get a divorce?"
He shook his head. "Vampires neither marry nor divorce as humans do. We make temporary mating commitments instead."
I frowned. "What?"
"If two vampires wish to mate," he explained, "they agree to share their lives for a set amount of time, usually five or ten years. At the end of that time, they can agree to another five or ten years, or separate. Our relationships are not like those of humans. Since we cannot have children, and live such a long time, very few vampires stay mated for their whole lives."
"That sounds bizarre."
Mr. Crepsley shrugged. "It is the vampire way."
I thought it over. "Do you still have feelings for Arra?"I asked.
"I admire and respect her," he answered.
"That's not what I mean. Do youlove her?"
"Oh, look," he said quickly, reddening around his throat, "it is time to present ourselves to the Princes. Hurry we must not be late." And he took off quickly, as though to avoid more personal questions.
Vanez Blane greeted us inside the Hall of Princes. Vanez was a games master, responsible for maintaining the three gaming Halls and watching over the contestants. He only had one eye, and from the left-hand side he looked awful. But if you saw him from the front or right-hand side, you could tell at a glance that he was a kind, friendly vampire.
"How do you feel?" he asked. "Ready for the Trials?"
"Just about," I replied.
He took me aside and spoke quietly. "You can say no if you want, but I've discussed it with the Princes, and they won't object if you ask me to be your Trials tutor. That means I'd tell you about the challenges and help you prepare for them. I'd be like a second in a duel, or a trainer in a boxing match."
"Sounds good to me," I said.
"You don't mind, Larten?" he asked Mr. Crepsley.
"Not at all," Mr. Crepsley said. "I had planned to be Darren's tutor, but you are much better suited to the job. Are you sure it is not an inconvenience?"
"Of course it isn't," Vanez said firmly.
"Then it is agreed." We all shook hands and smiled at one another.
"It feels strange being the center of so much attention," I said. "So many people are going out of their way to help me. Are you like this with all newcomers?"
"Most of the time yes," Vanez said. "Vampires look out for each other. We have to everybody else in the world hates or fears us. A vampire can always depend on help from his own." He winked and added, "Even that cowardly scoundrel Kurda Smahlt."
Vanez didn't really think Kurda was a cowardly scoundrel he just liked to tease the soon-to-be Prince but many vampires in the mountain did. Kurda didn't like fighting or war and believed in making peace with the vampaneze. To a lot of vampires, that was unthinkable.
A guard called my name, and I stepped forward, past the circular benches to the platform where the thrones of the Princes were. Vanez stood just behind me, while Mr. Crepsley stayed in his seat only Trials tutors were allowed to accompany contestants to the platform.
Paris Skyle, a white-haired, grey-bearded Prince he was also the oldest living vampire asked if I was willing to accept whatever Trial came my way. I said I was. He announced to the hall in general that the Period of Preparation would be used, and that some Trials had been withdrawn, because of my size and youth. He asked if anyone objected. Mika Ver Leth who'd suggested the Trials looked unhappy about the allowances and picked irritably at the folds of his black shirt but said nothing. "Very well," Paris declared. "We shall draw the first Trial."
A bag of numbered stones was brought forward by a green-uniformed guard. I'd been told that there were seventeen stones in it, each with its own number. Each number corresponded to a Trial, and the one I picked would be the Trial I'd have to face.
The guard shook the bag and asked if anyone wanted to examine the stones. One of the Generals raised a hand. This was common practice the stones were always examined so I didn't worry about it, just focused on the floor and tried to stop the nervous rumblings of my belly.
When the stones had been checked and approved, the guard shook them up once more, then held the bag out to me. Closing my eyes, I reached in, grabbed the first stone I touched, and drew it out. "Number eleven," the guard shouted. "The Aquatic Maze."
The vampires in the Hall mumbled softly among themselves.
"Is that good or bad?" I asked Vanez while the stone was taken up for the Princes to verify.
"It depends," he said. "Can you swim?"
"Yes."
"Then it's as good a first Trial as any. Things could have been worse."
Once the stone had been checked and put aside so that it couldn't be drawn again, Paris told me that I would be expected to report for the Trial at dusk tomorrow. He wished me luck he said business would keep him away, though one of the other Princes would be present then dismissed me. Leaving the Hall, I hurried away with Vanez and Mr. Crepsley to prepare for my first test and brush with death.
CHAPTER THREE
THE AQUATIC MAZEwas man-made, built with a low ceiling and watertight walls. There were four doors in and out of it, one in each of its four external walls. From the center where I would be left, it usually took five or six minutes to find your way out, if you didn't get lost.
Butin the Trial, you had to drag around a heavy rock half your weight which slowed you down. With the rock, eight or nine minutes was good going.
In addition to the rock, there was the water to deal with. As soon as the Trial began, the maze started to fill with water, which was pumped in through hoses from underground streams. The water slowed you down even more, and finding your way through the maze usually took about fifteen minutes. If it took longer, you were in serious trouble because the maze filled to the top in seventeen minutes exactly.
"It's important not to panic," Vanez said. We were down in one of the practice mazes, a smaller version of the Aquatic Maze. The route wasn't the same the walls of the Aquatic Maze could be moved around, so the maze was different each time but it served as a good learning experience. "Most who fail in the maze do so because they panic," he went on. "It can be frightening when the water rises and the going gets slower and tougher. You have to fight that fear and concentrate on the route. If you let the water distract you, you'll lose your way and then you're finished."
We spent the early part of the night walking through the maze, over and over, Vanez teaching me how to make a map inside my head. "Each wall of the maze looks the same," he said, "but they aren't. There are identifying marks a discolored stone, a jagged piece of floor, a crack. You must note these small differences and build your map from them. That way, if you find yourself in a passage where you've already been, you'll recognize it and can immediately start looking for a new way out, wasting no time."
I spent hours learning how to make mental maps of the maze. It was a lot harder than it sounds. The first few passages were easy to remember a chipped stone in the top left corner of one, a moss-covered stone in the floor of the next, a bumpy stone in the ceiling of the one after that but the farther I went, the more I had to remember, and the more confusing it became. I had to find something new in every corridor, because if I used a mark that was similar to one I'd committed to memory already, I'd get the two confused and end up chasing my tail.
"You're not concentrating!" Vanez snapped when I came to a standstill for the seventh or eighth time.
"I'm trying," I grumbled, "but it's hard."
"Tryingisn't good enough," he barked. "You have to tune out all other thoughts. Forget the Trials and the water and what will happen if you fail. Forget about dinner and breakfast and whatever else is distracting you. Think only about the maze. It must fill your thoughts completely, or you're doomed."
It wasn't easy, but I gave it my best shot, and within an hour I had improved considerably. Vanez was right cutting off all other trains of thought was the solution. It was boring, wandering through a maze for hours on end, but that boredom was what I had to learn to appreciate. In the Aquatic Maze, excitement could confuse and kill me.
Once my map-making skills were good enough, Vanez wrapped a long rope around my waist and attached a rock to the other end. "This rock is only a quarter of your weight," he said. "We'll try you with a heavier rock later, but I don't want to tire you out too much ahead of the Trial. We'll get you accustomed to this one first, move up to a rock that's a third your weight, then try you on the real thing for a short time, to give you a taste of how it feels."
The rock wasn't especially heavy as a half-vampire, I was much stronger than a human but it was an annoyance. Along with slowing me down, it also had a bad habit of catching on corners or in cracks, which meant I had to stop and free it. "It's important to stop the instant you feel it snagging," Vanez said. "Your natural instinct will be to tug on the rope and free it quickly, but more often than not that worsens the situation, and you wind up taking even longer to fix it. Seconds are vital in the maze. It's better to act methodically and lose four or five seconds freeing yourself than to act hastily and lose ten or twenty."
There were ways to stop the rock and rope from snagging so much. When I came to corners or bends, I had to seize the rope and pull the rock in close to me that way it was less likely to get stuck. And it was helpful to give the rope a shake every few seconds that kept it loose. "But you have to do these things automatically," Vanez said. "You must do them without pausing to think. Your brain should be fully occupied with mapping the maze. Everything else must be done by instinct."
"It's useless," I groaned, sinking to the floor. "It'd take months to get ready for this. I don't have a hope in hell."
"Of course you do!" Vanez roared. Squatting beside me, he poked me in the ribs. "Feel that?" he asked, jabbing a sharp finger into the soft flesh of my belly.
"Ow!" I slapped his hand away. "Quit it!"
"It's sharp?" he asked, jabbing me again. "It hurts?"
"Yes!"
He grunted, jabbed me one more time, then stood. "Imagine how much sharper the stakes in the Hall of Death are," he said.
Sighing miserably, I hauled myself to my feet and wiped sweat from my brow. Picking up the rope, I gave it a shake, then started back through the maze, dragging the rock and mapping out the walls, as Vanez had taught me.
Finally we stopped for a meal and met up with Mr. Crepsley and Harkat in the Hall of Khledon Lurt. I wasn't hungry I felt too nervous to eat, but Vanez insisted: he said I'd need every last bit of energy when it came to the Trial.
"How is he doing?" Mr. Crepsley asked. He'd wanted to watch me train, but Vanez had told him he'd be in the way.
"Remarkably well," Vanez said, chewing on the bones of a skewered rat. "To be honest, though I put on a brave face when the Trial was picked, I thought he'd be excuse the pun out of his depth. The Aquatic Maze isn't one of the more brutal Trials, but it's one you need a lot of time to prepare for. But he's a quick learner. We still have a lot to fit in we haven't tried him in water yet but I'm a lot more hopeful now than I was a few hours ago."
Harkat had brought Madam Octa Mr. Crepsley's spider to the Hall with him and was feeding her bread crumbs soaked in bat broth. He'd agreed to take care of her while I was concentrating on my Trials. Moving away from the vampires, I struck up a conversation with the Little Person. "Managing her OK?" I asked.
"Yes. She is easy to take care of."
"Just don't let her out of her cage," I warned. "She looks cute, but her bite is lethal."
"I know. I have often watched you and her when you were onstage at the Cirque Du Freak."
Harkat's speech was improving he slurred his words a lot less now but he still had to take long pauses for breath in the middle of sentences.