"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."
I glanced down at Harkat, who was resting peacefully. "He's OK?"
"He will be, for a time," Evanna said. "The nightmares will return, and when they do he'll have to face his past and learn who he was, or succumb to madness. But for now he can sleep soundly, unafraid."
She headed back to her tree.
"Evanna," I stopped her with a soft call. "This Lord of the Shadows... There was something familiar about him. I couldn't make out his face, but I felt I knew him."
"So you should," she whispered in reply. She hesitated, pondering how much to tell me. "What I say now is between you and me," she warned. "It must go no further. You can tell no one, not even Larten or Vancha."
"I won't," I promised.
Keeping her back to me, she said, "The future is dark, Darren. There are two paths, and both are winding and troubled, paved with the souls of the dead. In one of the possible futures, the Vampaneze Lord has become the Master of Shadows and ruler of the dark. In the other..."
She paused, and her head tilted backwards, as though she was staring up at the sky for an answer. "In the other, the Lord of the Shadows is you.?
And she departed, leaving me confused and shaken, dearly wishing that Harkat's moans hadn't woken me up.
A couple of nights later, we hooked up with the Cirque Du Freak.
Mr. Tall and his band of magical performers were playing outside a small village, in an abandoned church. The show was drawing to a close when we arrived, so we slipped inside and watched the finale from the back. Sive and Seersa - the twisting twins - were onstage, twirling around each other and performing incredible acrobatic stunts. Mr. Tall came on after them, dressed in a dark suit, with his customary red hat and gloves, and said the show was over. People began to leave, many muttering about the weak finish, when two snakes slid down from the rafters, sending waves of fear rippling through the crowd.
I grinned when I saw the snakes. This was how most of the shows drew to a close. People were tricked into thinking the show was over, then the snakes appeared and gave the crowd one last scare. Before the serpents could do any damage, Evra Von - their master - would step in and calm them down.
Sure enough, as the snakes were about to slither on to the floor, Evra stepped forward. But he wasn't alone - there was a small child with him, who went to one of the snakes and controlled it as Evra controlled the other. The kid was a new addition. I assumed Mr. Tall had picked him up on his travels.
After Evra and the boy had wrapped the snakes around themselves, Mr. Tall came on again and said the show was over for real. We kept to the shadows while the crowd streamed past, chattering with excitement. Then, as Evra and the child unwound and brushed themselves down, I moved. "Evra Von!" I roared.
Evra whirled around, startled. "Who's there?" I didn't answer, but walked forward briskly. His eyes widened with astonished delight. "Darren?" he yelled, and threw his arms around me. I hugged him tightly, ignoring the feel of his slippery scales, delighted to see him after so many years. "Where have you been?" he cried when we let go of one another. There were tears of happiness in his eyes - mine were wet too.
"Vampire Mountain," I said lightly. "How about you?"
"All over the world." He studied me curiously. "You've grown."
"Only recently. And not as much as you." Evra was a man now. He was only a few years older than me, and we'd looked much the same age when I first joined the Cirque Du Freak, but now he could have passed for my father.
"Good evening, Evra Von," Mr. Crepsley said, stepping forward to shake hands.
"Larten," Evra nodded. "It's been a long time. I'm glad to see you."
Mr. Crepsley stood to one side and introduced our companions. "I would like you to meet Vancha March, Lady Evanna, and Harkat Mulds, whom I believe you already know."
"Hello," Vancha grunted.
"Greetings," Evanna smiled.
"Hi, Evra," Harkat said.
Evra blinked. "It spoke!" he gasped.
"Harkat speaks a lot these nights," I grinned.
"It has a name?"
"It has," Harkat said. "And 'it' would like very much... to be called 'he'."
Evra didn't know what to say. When I'd lived with him, we'd spent a lot of our time gathering food for the Little People, and never once had one of them said a word. We thought they couldn't speak. Now here I was with a Little Person - the limping one, whom we'd nicknamed Lefty - acting as if his being able to talk was no big deal.