Chapter 11 the Bars

When I could walk without a stick and when I could stand up straight properly without it hurting me I decided to enter the Games Room and see what there was on offer. I saw a huge wooden contraption that looked like a set of monkey bars but instead of going across the bottom a woman was standing on top of it holding a long stick that looked odd.

I saw the woman hit the other woman with a stick and she fell off onto the hard stone floor but she got straight up and started cheering on her friend who was also aloft.

About ten minutes later only one woman was on top and the others had been knocked off. I was surprised but it looked like fun.

"I would like to have a go on this contraption" I said nervously.

"What on the Bars?" The woman asked me.

"Yes it looks like fun" I said.

"It is fun. Anyway what brings you to the mountain? Who are you?" The woman asked me.

"I am here with Larten. I have to be presented to the Vampire Council and my name is Sarah" I explained.

"What are you doing here with Larten? Do you not know who I am?" The woman asked.

"No I do not know who you are" I replied.

"My name is Arra Sails" Arra said to me with a fierce look in her eyes.

"I know who you are now. I have heard many tales about you Arra" I said smiling.

"Why are you here with Larten?" Arra asked me in an even fiercer voice. I could tell that she was not happy.

"Larten is my mate Arra. We love each other" I replied simply.

"Don't make me laugh. Larten would not go near a half blood like you when he can have me" Arra replied.

"Larten is the one who blooded me and brought me here. He saved my life and I am full blood not half-blood" I replied.

"Don't lie to me Sarah. I will ask him myself when I see him and if you have lied to me you will be sorry" Arra growled through gritted teeth.

"Oh there you are my love. I have been looking for you" Larten said as he appeared in the Halls of Sport.

"It has been a long time Larten. You have not changed at all but I have" Arra replied.

"Well it has been sixty years Arra. I am only six years older though physically. I can see that you and Sarah have met" Larten said as he looked up at Arra.

"About that Larten Sarah says she is your mate and that you have brought her here. Is it true?" Arra asked Larten.

"Of course it is true Arra. Sarah is indeed my new mate and I expect you to treat her with respect" Larten said sternly.

"So you were not lying then Sarah? I have not got time for this. Seeing you again Larten is hard enough after what you did to me but coming here with your new mate is unforgivable" Arra said.

"I came into the Halls of Sport to have some fun. I want to duel on the Bars Larten" I said.

"Absolutely not Sarah, there is no way that you would survive a duel upon the Bars" Larten said.

"Well you can train me and prepare me first Larten so that it makes the fight a fair one" I asked.

"You seriously want to duel on the Bars?" Arra asked me.

"Yes I do Arra" I retorted in a determined voice with the same determination showing on my face.

"It is Miss Sails to you and for the record you will talk to me with respect" Arra said angrily.

"Let us go back to the matter in hand over who I should duel" I replied. At this point Arra got a glint in her eyes.

"I hereby challenge you Sarah to a duel upon the Bars. Do you accept my challenge?" Arra called down from the Bars.

"You cannot be serious Arra you would kill Sarah for sure" Larten piped up.

"Once a challenge has been made it cannot be recanted Larten you know that" Arra replied.

"OK Arra I accept your challenge. If I win you will show me the necessary respect that I will earn by beating you and if you win which is likely I will give up my mateship. Then you can reinstate your mateship with Larten without any objection" I said.

"No Sarah I cannot let you risk your life like this" Larten said in response.

"The challenge has been accepted and your terms are acceptable Sarah. Sarah and I will duel but to be fair I will permit you to spend some time training first to make it more interesting for me. There would after all be no challenge in facing you now as it would be too easy for me and I love a challenge" Arra replied.

"Very well Miss Sails. Thank you for this and I am looking forward to it" I said.

"How can you look forward to being beaten to a pulp and having your skull cracked in half?" Arra asked laughing sarcastically.

"I am looking forward to wiping that smile off your face when I defeat you and earn your respect and it will be your skull that is cracked in half Arra" I replied with determination in my voice.

"We will see about that. Anyway I must go and inform my mate of this even though our term is nearly over I still have to show him the respect that he is due" Arra replied as she left the Halls of Sport with her head held high in a very snobbish manner.

"It was nice to meet you Miss Sails" I called out before Arra left.

"Sarah I meant to tell you about Arra. Arra is very snobbish and she looks down upon everybody because she still thinks of herself as a vampiress with high status. I will indeed prepare you for your duel against her but it will not be easy and you could be killed so this for you is an almighty challenge" Larten said.

"Well with you training me I will be OK. If I defeat Arra it will knock her down off of her high horse and I will earn her respect and if I lose then I will lose you if I do not lose my life first" then I continued "How arrogant and cocky can you be?"

"Arra is angry because I nearly became a Vampire Prince but I gave it all up and Arra has never forgiven me for ripping her of her high status as a Prince's mate or so she would have been if I had of stayed in the mountain. When I left Arra to join the Cirque Du Freak I offered her the chance to come with me but she refused so we split up. Although we still kept in contact and Arra visited me once but it did not go the way that she had hoped that it would. I was with someone else at the time and as a result of Arra catching me in a compromising position she returned to the mountain and we have not spoken until just now. That was a long time ago and Arra has never forgiven me for hurting her but had I known that she was coming to visit me I never would have gotten with someone else. That is all it is" Larten explained.

"So Arra still sees herself as having high status?" I asked.

"Yes and she has never stopped thinking like that and Arra hates me for what I did to her which is understandable but she has moved on and so have I. I was young and stupid and I paid the price for it but that is neither here nor there. We have work to do and after we have eaten I will begin to train you"

Larten replied.

"Ok Larten. Thank you for explaining the situation to me" I replied then we left the Halls of Sport to go and eat our pot full of rabbit stew and dumplings.

After we had eaten Larten began to train me on the Bars just as he said he would. Larten picked out a suitable staff for me and he taught me the rules before he let me go upon the Bars and practice.

I got the hang of it but it was not as easy as it looked. I learnt how to block a strike first of all and how to give one back but as for balancing and hopping from bar to bar that took a bit of time.

Eventually Larten and I had a sparring match so that I could see how to put it all together and duel. A sparring match is like a practice or a rehearsal before the real thing where little tweaks can be made in time.

I met Larten in the centre of the Bars and we knocked our staves together in salute and then it started. I hopped backwards and dodged a blow before I returned one which hit the target but that was about all I could manage. The combinations were too fast to watch and although Larten did not knock me off he showed me a thing or two in order to prepare me for my big duel against the undefeated champion Arra Sails.

My big night had arrived. I could not eat because I was that nervous about my duel but I had the support of Larten and all of his friends with the exception of Arra's mate Darryl who was on her side for obvious reasons. I was scared but I did not let it show. I had a new custom made staff which was light to hold and easy to use. It had been a gift from Seba who thought that the actual staves in the Halls of Sport were not that good so he went out of his way and he made me my very own staff with my name carved into it and everything which I was very impressed with. I believed that Larten had done me a favour by asking Seba to make it but I did not ask.

I entered the Halls of Sport and the whole clan were in there waiting for me. Arra had not yet arrived so that gave me a little bit of time to compose myself. I was wearing traditional duellists' clothes which had armour secretly stitched into the trousers and on the shirt so that I would have some protection because Arra hit hard and my bones were not so strong after the bear had attacked me.

It was not against the rules to use armour but it was not encouraged so I did not tell anybody about it. I had stitched in a couple of metal plates and a bit of flexible leather to act as extra padding on my ribs and on my back where my bones were weakest.

I sat down at a table and I had a drink whilst I waited for Arra to arrive. After a while Arra walked into the room followed by some kind of entourage of clan members who had been waiting out in the corridor for her to arrive. Arra wasted no time. She hopped up onto the Bars straight away and I had to join her up there. I was nervous but Larten was right there in the front watching me.

Some of the clan had made support banners. One of mine said "Crack her skull in Sarah" and one of Arra's said "Give 'er Hell up there!" I walked to the middle of the Bars and then as we knocked our staves together the referee shouted

"Begin" and that was it. I jumped back to a slightly higher bar and Arra came at me so fast I got a big side swipe but I retaliated with a combo of my own making. Then I leapt forward and over the top of Arra who was bent over slightly and as I leapt over her I swung my staff around in a wicked way that landed on her head. I had made a direct hit. Arra was dazed but she came at me again with no mercy hitting me with all of her might. I blocked and ducked before I really got stuck in. I was using the techniques that I had been shown but Arra kept on coming. After forty minutes we were still fighting hard, neither of us wished to surrender and neither of us would surrender.

Eventually I had an idea. It was going to be hard to do but if it worked I would win. I had to snap Arra's staff by jumping on it as the rules state that if your staff breaks the other player wins. I had to draw Arra close to me and I had to make her perform a move which would make her put her staff out so that I could jump onto it and snap it. It was a risky strategy but it had to be done because I was not going to win otherwise.

I tried everything to get Arra to put her staff in the right place but I think that she must have figured out what I was trying to do, she was after all a champion.

After another forty minutes of duelling (although to me it felt a lot longer than that!) Arra did something that was totally unexpected. Arra held her staff in the air and she called out the words;

"This match is a draw"

Upon hearing these words I was stunned as Arra had never called a draw before but she obviously saw that there was no shame in calling a draw after such a long fight.

"What happens now Arra? Do I have your respect?" I asked bravely.

"I called the draw because I can see your determination and you clearly have talent to stay upon the Bars this long. You have earned my respect Sarah and I will not renew my mateship with Larten because I love Darryl too much to hurt him" Arra explained.

"Ok that is fair enough. Now I am shattered so I am going to have a drink do you want to join me?" I asked.

"No I have duties to attend to but I will see you around" Arra said as she left the Halls of Sport.

Calling a draw traditionally meant that we had to schedule a rematch but that was fine by me. It also meant that I had learned a lot and that winning a duel on the Bars was not as easy as Arra had made it look in the past.

The crowd were entertained and the prospect of a rematch got them talking. Nobody knew what to expect from the rematch but it was going to be great!

I was shattered after my duel but it had loosened my muscles up and I had learned a few moves, however I did not believe that Arra had intended to teach me what she had taught me. I bumped into her a few nights later in one of the halls where food was served and as I was alone Arra came and sat with me which I thought was nice of her.

"Evening Sarah I hope you enjoyed our duel. I am surprised that you stood your ground against me. You did extremely well. I was quite impressed and there is no shame in calling a draw after such a fight" Arra said.

"Well thank you; I was only doing what I had been taught to do. I surprised myself actually and now we have our rematch to look forward to" I replied.

"Yes that's true. Is Larten being a good mate?" Arra asked.

"I have no complaints Miss Sails. Larten is an absolute star" We met on the street when Larten was handing out flyers for the Cirque Du Freak" I explained.

"Oh right. Did you watch the Cirque Du Freak?" Arra asked.

"Yes and I saw Madam Octa up close, she is such a beautiful spider Arra" I replied.

"I know she is. I have held her and she has spun a web over my mouth before" Arra said.

"Oh right, that must have been nice" I said.

"It was but I will not tell you what happened next" Arra smiled.

"I think that I can work it out anyway thank you Miss Sails" I replied.

"As you have my respect you can call me Arra if you wish" Arra said.

"That would be cool. Anyway as I was saying when I joined the Clan Larten helped me to fake my death and we lived in a hayloft before we came here for the Council. I have had such a great time here so far" I said.

"That is good. I am happy that you like it here as vampirism is forever and there is no going back now" Arra said.

"I know that. I could not leave Larten even if I wanted to. I love him too much Arra" I explained.

"What do you like most about Larten?" Arra asked me.

"It was his eyes that did it for me. I love Larten's blue eyes Arra and when he kissed me for the first time I fell for him at that moment" I explained.

"Where is your crest Sarah?" Arra asked me.

"Oh my necklace and brooch were sold for ransom when I was abducted by vampaneze and as a result I was in the sewers for weeks at the mercy of a vampaneze named Damien. Do you know anything about Damien Arra?" I asked.

"I have heard the name. I had a run in with Damien once before and a vicious fight took place between Damien and Larten. Larten should have killed him but he showed mercy instead so as not to spark a war because of the agreement between the Vampire Clan and the vampaneze" Arra explained.

"Oh right. Do you have any crests or mateship jewellery Arra?" I asked hoping to see it.

"I have two crests, the one that Larten gave me and Darryl's one. I have a mateship bracelet and a ring on my wedding finger which shows that I am in a mateship. You may borrow one of my pieces of jewellery if you wish until Larten can get you a replacement for the stuff that you sold for your ransom and since I have Darryl's bracelet I have no need of this" Arra explained.

"Thank you so much Arra" I replied as Arra passed me her bracelet that she had on her left wrist. I looked expensive.

"What is the story with this bracelet then Arra?" I asked.

"Larten gave it to me as a gift. It has his name engraved into it and as I am no longer his mate I think that you should wear it instead of me but I will want it back at some point. You can call it a long term loan" Arra explained.

"Again I say thank you so much Arra. You did not have to do this for me" I said.

"I know but you have to have something as it is tradition. I have to go now because it is my group's turn to hunt but I will see you soon no doubt" Arra said as she left.

The bracelet fit my wrist almost perfectly which was great and as a result of wearing it I felt a lot better because I had something with Larten's name engraved into it around my wrist.

I rushed off to tell Larten because I was very excited. I found him in the storage room looking for some new shoes.

"Hey honey, how are you?" Larten asked me.

"I am fine thank you my love and look what Arra gave me" I said as I flashed my borrowed bracelet.

"Arra let me borrow it until you can get me a replacement for the one you sold for my ransom" I explained.

"Did she now? Well I am most pleased and you can tell her from me that I owe her a favour for her kind act" Larten replied as he found what he was looking for.

"I will see you later then my love" I said as I left Larten to go exploring.

As a result of my explorations around the mountain I found myself in a hall where I joined Vancha and Seba in a game of chess.

I went to bed late that day. I had not been tired so I had stayed up to watch the chess match until it finished. When I did return to my quarters I curled up in my hammock and I slept under Larten's cloak as I always did. I had a bed and a coffin also but the hammock was my favourite thing as it swung and it was really cool sleeping whilst hanging in the air practically.

Larten of course joined me when he returned from his business and then we curled up together for the first time in a long time for Larten had been doing a lot of business recently which meant that he had not been coming to bed with me so it was nice to be next to him once more. I had missed Larten's touch and I had missed being enclosed in his arms whilst I slept. I dreamed of war and of blood like most vampires. I also dreamed about my friends and how much older they would be now as it had been a long time since I had been human but I had not aged at all. I think that I must have been on the road for a year or so but I had been in the hayloft for a lot longer than that.

I had no watch or clock so keeping track of time was hard. I had learned to read the stars to know what time of year it was as the mountains seemed to be season less. Days and nights all ran together and there was no specific time schedule for anyone.

We knew when the council meetings were because we were told but other than that we had to keep track of time by ourselves. I did not even know how long I had been on the road for as Larten and I had travelled for miles.

The hotel clock had helped me and so had the hotel calendar but it was hard to remember things like that as I was too preoccupied with my mountain duties and Larten's lessons.

With each new evening I found new things to do and enjoy. I organised the store rooms and I looked after the animals that we had. I also helped out any clan member who needed my assistance. I had to take care of Madam Octa also, I liked her a lot and I trained her a bit but my main task was to feed her and to keep her healthy. Looking after a spider was not that hard but Madam Octa's bite was lethal to anybody so I had to be careful about where and when I let her out of her wooden cage for some exercise. I am sure that she liked me but she was Larten's so I had to remember that.

I met Arra in one of the corridors and she was carrying a stag that she had brought back with her from her hunt.

"Hey Arra do you need help?" I asked.

"No I am fine thanks. This stag is light but it is awkward to balance on my shoulders that is all" Arra replied.

"By the way Larten told me to tell you that he owes you a favour for lending me your bracelet" I said.

"You can tell him that he can make it up to me later on tonight" Arra said.

"Alright I will pass the message on" I said.

Arra was covered in blood from the stag and her hair was a mess but other than that she looked like she had enjoyed her hunt. I was looking forward to going hunting when it was my turn but I doubted that I could bring down a stag like Arra had done.

One evening I went down into the storage rooms in the mountain to find some clean sheets for my bed but instead of finding sheets I found a whole hoard of vampaneze who had been hiding in there...