Vancha threw his hands into the air. "OK — we'll do it your way. But you two will have to pick the course — as many women have attested, I'm a boundless cad who doesn't have a heart."

Mr. Crepsley smiled thinly. "Darren? Where do you want to go?"

I started to say I didn't care, then stopped as an image flashed through my thoughts — a picture of a snake-boy sticking an extra long tongue up his nose. "I'd like to see how Evra's doing," I said.

Mr. Crepsley nodded approvingly. "Good. Just last night I was wondering what my old friend Hibernius Tall was up to. Harkat?"

"Sounds good to me," Harkat agreed.

"So be it." Facing Vancha, Mr. Crepsley said in as imperious a tone as he could muster, "Sire, we head for the Cirque Du Freak."

And so our direction was decided and the dice of destiny were cast.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

MR. CREPSLEY was able to tap into Mr. Tall's thoughts and pinpoint the position of the Cirque Du Freak. The travelling circus was relatively near, and it would take us only three weeks to link up with it if we forced the pace.

After a week, we hit civilization again. As we passed a small town one night, I asked Mr. Crepsley why we didn't hop on a bus or train, which would get us to the Cirque Du Freak much quicker. "Vancha does not approve of human modes of transport," he said. "He has never been in a car or on a train."

"Never!" I asked the barefooted Prince.

"I wouldn't even spit on a car," he said. "Awful things. The shape, the noise, the smell." He shivered.

"What about planes?"

"If the gods of the vampires meant for us to fly," he said, "they'd have given us wings."

"What about you, Evanna?" Harkat asked. "Have you ever flown?"

"Only on a broomstick," she said. I didn't know if she was joking or not.

"And you, Larten?" Harkat asked.

"Once, long ago, when the Wright brothers were just getting going." He paused. "It crashed. Luckily, it had not been flying very high, so I was not seriously injured. But these new contraptions, which soar above the clouds… I think not."

"Afraid?" I smirked.

"Once bitten, twice shy," he replied.

We were a strange group, no doubt about it. We had almost nothing in common with humans. They were creatures of the technological age, but we belonged to the past — vampires knew nothing of computers, satellite dishes, microwave ovens, or any other modern conveniences; we travelled by foot most of the time, had simple tastes and pleasures, and hunted as animals. Where humans sent aeroplanes to wage their wars and fought by pressing buttons, we battled with swords and our hands. Vampires and humans might share the same planet, but we lived in different worlds.

I awoke one afternoon to the sound of Harkat's moans. He was having another nightmare and was tossing feverishly about on the grassy bank where he'd fallen asleep. I leant over to wake him. "Hold," Evanna said. The witch was in the lower branches of a tree, observing Harkat with unseemly interest. A squirrel was exploring her head of long hair, and another was chewing on the ropes she used as clothes.

"He's having a nightmare," I said.

"He has them often?"

"Almost every time he sleeps. I'm supposed to wake him if I hear him having one." I bent to shake him awake.

"Hold," Evanna said again, jumping down. She shuffled over and touched the three middle fingers of her right hand to Harkat's forehead. She closed her eyes and stood there a minute, then opened them and let go. "Dragons," she said. "Bad dreams. His time of insight is upon him. Did Desmond say nothing about revealing who Harkat was in his previous life?"

"Yes, but Harkat chose to come with us, to search for the Vampaneze Lord."

"Noble but foolish," she mused.

"If you told him who he was, would that ease his nightmares?"

"No. He must learn the truth himself. I'd make things worse if I meddled. But there is a way to temporarily ease his pain."

"How?" I asked.

"One who speaks the language of the dragons could help."

"Where will we find someone like that?" I snorted, then paused. "Can you…?" I left the question hanging.

"Not I," she said. "I can talk to many animals, but not dragons. Only those who have bonded with the flying reptiles can speak their language." She stood. "You could help."

"Me?" I frowned. "I haven't bonded with a dragon. I've never even seen one. I thought they were imaginary."

"In this time and place, they are," Evanna agreed. "But there are other times and places, and bonds can be formed unknown."

That didn't make sense, but if I could somehow help Harkat, I would. "Tell me what I have to do," I said.

Evanna smiled approvingly, then told me to lay my hands on Harkat's head and close my eyes. "Focus," she said. "We need to find an image for you to fix upon. How about the Stone of Blood? Can you picture it, red and throbbing, the blood of the vampires flowing through its mysterious veins?"

"Yes," I said, bringing the stone effortlessly to mind.

"Keep thinking of it. In a few minutes you'll experience unpleasant sensations, and maybe catch glimpses of Harkat's nightmares. Ignore them and stay focused on the Stone. I will do the rest."

I did as she said. At first it was easy, but then I began to feel strange. The air around me seemed to get hotter and it became harder to breathe. I heard the beating of immense wings, then caught a glimpse of something dropping from a blood-red sky. I cringed, almost let go of Harkat, but remembered Evanna's advice and forced myself to focus on the image of the Stone of Blood.

I sensed something huge land behind me, and felt hot eyes boring into my back, but I didn't turn or shrink away. I reminded myself that this was a dream, an illusion, and thought about the Stone.

Harkat appeared before me in the vision, stretched upon a bed of stakes, which impaled him all over. He was alive but in incredible pain. He couldn't see me — the tips of two stakes poked out of the sockets where his eyes should have been.

"His pain is nothing to what you will feel," someone said, and looking up I saw a figure of shadows, elusive and dark, hovering close by.

"Who are you?" I gasped, momentarily forgetting about the Stone.

"I am the Lord of the Crimson Night," he replied mockingly.

"The Lord of the Vampaneze?" I asked.

"Of them and all others," the shadow man jeered. "I have been waiting for you, Prince of the Damned. Now I have you — and I won't let go!" The shadow man darted forward, his fingers ten long claws of dark menace. Red eyes glowed in the black pit that was his face. For a terrifying moment I thought he was going to grab and devour me. Then a tiny voice — Evanna's — whispered, "It's just a dream. He can't hurt you, not yet, not if you focus on the Stone."

Shutting my eyes within the dream, I ignored the charge of the shadow man and concentrated on the pulsing Stone of Blood. There was a hissing scream and I felt as though a wave of frothing madness had broken over me. Then the nightmare faded and I was back in the real world.

"You can open your eyes now," Evanna said. My eyes snapped open. I let go of Harkat and wiped my hands over my face, reacting as though I'd been touched by something dirty. "You did well," Evanna congratulated me.

"That… thing" I gasped. "What was it?"

"The Lord of Destruction," she said. "The Master of Shadows. The would-be ruler of the eternal night."

"He was so powerful, so evil."

She nodded. "He will be."

"Will be?" I echoed.

"What you saw was a shade of the future. The Lord of the Shadows has not yet come into his own, but he will, eventually. This cannot be avoided, and you should not worry about it. All that matters for the time being is that your friend will sleep untroubled now."