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.
“Do you think … you will … be ready … for Trial?” he asked.
I shrugged. “Right now, the Trial’s the last thing on my mind — I’m not even sure I’m going to get through the training! Vanez is working me hard. I suppose he has to, but I feel exhausted. I could slide under the table and sleep for a week.”
“I have been … listening to … vampires talk,” Harkat said. “Many are … betting on you.”
“Oh?” I sat up, taking an interest. “What sort of odds are they giving me?”
“They do not … have actual … odds. They bet … clothes and … pieces of … jewellery. Most vampires … are betting … against you. Kurda and Gavner … and Arra … are accepting … most of the … bets. They … believe in you.”
“That’s good to hear,” I smiled. “What about Mr Crepsley?”
Harkat shook his head. “He said … he does not … bet. Especially not … on children.”
“That’s the sort of thing the dry old buzzard would say,” I huffed, trying not to sound disappointed.
“But I … heard him talking … to Seba Nile,” Harkat added. “He said … that if you … failed, he would … eat his cape.”
I laughed, delighted.
“What are you two talking about?” Mr Crepsley asked.
“Nothing,” I said, grinning up at him.
When we’d finished eating, Vanez and me headed back for the maze, where we practised with heavier rocks and in water. The next few hours were some of the most arduous of my life, and by the time he called it a night and sent me to my cell to rest, I was so tired that I collapsed halfway there and had to be carted back to my hammock by a couple of sympathetic guards.
CHAPTER FOUR
I WAS so stiff when I woke that I thought I wouldn’t be able to make it to the maze, never mind find my way out of it! But after a couple of minutes of walking around, I worked off the stiffness and felt as fit as ever. I realized Vanez had pushed me exactly the right amount, and made a note not to doubt his tactics in future.
I was hungry but Vanez had told me not to eat anything when I woke — if things were tight, a few extra pounds could mean the difference between living and dying.
Mr Crepsley and Vanez fetched me when it was time. Both were clad in their finest clothes, Mr Crepsley resplendent in bright red robes, Vanez less flamboyant in a dull brown tunic and trousers.
“Ready?” Vanez asked. I nodded. “Hungry?”
“Starving!”
“Good,” he smiled. “I’ll treat you to the finest meal of your life after the Trial. Think about that if you get into trouble — it helps to have something to look forward to.”
We wound our way down through the torch-lit tunnels to the Aquatic Maze, Vanez walking in front of me, Mr Crepsley and Harkat just behind. Vanez carried a purple flag, the sign that he was escorting a vampire to Trial. Most of the vampires we passed made a strange gesture when they saw me coming: they put the tip of their right-hand middle finger to their forehead, placed the tips of the fingers to either side of it on their eyelids, and spread their thumb and little finger out wide to the sides.
“Why are they doing that?” I asked Vanez.
“It’s a customary gesture,” he explained. “We call it the death’s touch sign. It means, ‘Even in death, may you be triumphant’.”
“I’d rather they just said, ‘Good luck’,” I muttered.
“That doesn’t have quite the same resonance,” Vanez chuckled. “We believe that the gods of the vampires respect those who die nobly. They bless us when a vampire meets death proudly, and curse us when one dies meekly or poorly.”
“So they want me to die well for their own sakes,” I said sarcastically.
“For the sake of the clan,” Vanez corrected me seriously. “A vampire of good standing always puts the good of the clan before his own wellbeing. Even in death. The hand gesture is to remind you of that.”
The Aquatic Maze was built in the pit of a large cavern. From the top it looked like a long square box. Around the sides of the pit were forty or fifty vampires, the most the cave could hold. Among them were Gavner and Kurda, Seba Nile and Arra Sails — and Mika Ver Leth, the Vampire Prince who’d sentenced me to the Trials.
Mika summoned us over, nodded gravely to Vanez and Mr Crepsley, then fixed his icy gaze on me. He was dressed in his customary black outfit and looked even sterner than Mr Crepsley. “You have prepared for the Trial?” he asked.
“I have.”
“You know what lies ahead of you?”
“I do.”
“Except for the four exits, there is no escape from the maze,” he said. “Should you fail this Trial, you will not have to face the Hall of Death.”
“I’d rather the stakes to drowning,” I grunted.
“Most vampires would,” he agreed. “But you need not worry — it is still water, not running.”
I frowned. “What’s that got to do with anything?”
“Still water cannot trap a vampire’s soul,” he explained.
“Oh, that old myth,” I laughed. Many vampires believed that if you died in a river or stream, your soul remained trapped forever by the flowing water. “That doesn’t bother me. It’s the drowning I’m not fond of!”
“Either way, I wish you luck,” Mika said.
“No you don’t,” I sniffed.
“Darren!” Mr Crepsley hissed.
“It’s all right,” Mika silenced him with a wave of his hand. “Let the boy speak his piece.”
“You made me take the Trials,” I said. “You don’t think I’m good enough to be a vampire. You’ll be happy if I fail, because it’ll prove you were right.”
“Your assistant has a low opinion of me, Larten,” Mika remarked.
“He is young, Mika. He does not know his place.”
“Don’t apologize for him. The young should speak their thoughts.” He addressed me directly again. “You are right in one thing only, Darren Shan — I don’t think you have what it takes to make it as a vampire. As for the rest of what you say…” He shook his head. “No vampire takes pleasure in seeing another fail. I sincerely hope you prove me wrong. We need vampires of good standing, now more than ever. I will raise a glass of blood to your name should you complete the Trials, and willingly admit in public that I misjudged you.”
“Oh,” I said, bemused. “In that case, I guess I’m sorry for what I said. No hard feelings?”
The black-haired, eagle-eyed Prince smiled tightly. “No hard feelings.” Then he clapped his hands loudly, barked sharply: “May the gods bless you with the luck of the vampires!” — and the Trial commenced.
I was blindfolded, placed on a stretcher and carried into the heart of the maze by four guards