“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.”
WE SOLEMNLY filed out of Evanna’s cave and circled the pond, each of us brooding about the witch’s prophecy. We’d known from the start that this would be a peril-filled quest, with death never far from our heels. But it’s one thing to anticipate your possible end, quite another to be told it’s a certainty if you fail.
We followed no particular direction that first night, only walked aimlessly through the darkness, saying nothing, barely taking note of our surroundings. Harkat hadn’t been included in Evanna’s prophecy – he wasn’t one of the hunters – but was as disturbed as the rest of us.
Towards dawn, as we were making camp, Vancha suddenly burst out laughing. “Look at us!” he hooted, as we stared at him uncertainly. “We’ve been moping all night like four sad souls at a funeral. What idiots we’ve been!”
“You think it amusing to have a death sentence imposed on us, Sire?” Mr Crepsley asked archly.
“Charna’s guts!” Vancha cursed. “The sentence has been there since the start – all that’s changed is that we know about it!”
“A little knowledge is a … dangerous thing,” Harkat muttered.
“That’s a human way of thinking,” Vancha chided him. “I’d rather know what lies ahead, good or bad. Evanna has done us a favour by telling us.”
“How do you figure that?” I asked.
“She confirmed that we’ll have four chances to kill the Vampaneze Lord. Think about it – four times his life will be ours to take. Four times we’ll face him and do battle. He might get the better of us once. Perhaps twice. But do you really think he’ll evade us four times in a