I don't own anything as per usual.
Larten guided Elena to the Hall of Princes, with a firm hand clasped tightly on her shoulder. She could see the knuckles turning white with his grip. She gently placed her right hand up and laid it on top of his, and she felt his grip loosen slightly. When they entered the Hall of Princes Mika was already at the front, quietly telling Paris and Arrow what had transpired in Darren's trial, Harkat standing beside him, waiting for judgement himself. The benches were already filled with Generals, and more piled in behind Larten and Arra and took their places quickly, whispering to their peers who had not attended the trial.
The Little Person... Larten's boy... Darren... The Half-vampire boy...No, the girl passed...Arra Sails...Disgrace...Interference.
The words rung in Elena's ears as Larten guided her to the very front, passed all of the Generals. She glanced backward at her parents, who seemed unaffected by the whispers of their peers, both of them holding their heads high, the slight clench of their jaws and hands the only indication that something was not right.
When they reached the princes, Paris held a hand up for silence. Looking troubled, he addressed the hall. "There is an important matter we have to discuss. What to do about the failure of Darren's trial. I have heard Mika and Harkat's testimony, the Little Person acted of his own accord, and his interference shall not be held against the half-vampire Darren Crepsley."
A cry of outrage went up at this, "What rubbish," A large vampire said getting to his feet, "There is nothing to discuss, the boy failed his trial regardless of the Little Person's interference. Besides," He added eyes narrowing, "The boy might not have planned anything with the Little Person, but who's to say he didn't have a deal with the girl?"
All eyes turned to Elena. Kurda opened his mouth to protest vehemently, but Seba stopped him. "Let her defend herself." He whispered, "If she needs help we can step in after." Kurda nodded and stayed silent.
Elena glared venomously at the vampire who had spoken, "I didn't," She snarled angrily, whipping her head back to face the princes she addressed the three men directly, calmer than before, "I swear to you Sires, I had nothing to do with Harkat barging in on Darren's trial."
"It is alright Elena, we know you didn't." Mika assured her. Vampires around them again erupted in whispers, accusations flying forth. "That is enough!" Mika shouted at the whispering crowd, "The girl has already proved herself to the clan, she flew through her trials with only a few scars to show for it, something that many of you cannot claim. Elena is a true vampire, I trust her word, and I'll have a score to settle with anybody who says differently."
Elena looked taken aback by the dark prince's compliments, but smiled all the same, "Thank you Sire."
Mika nodded to her, "Now let us return to the matter at hand."
"There is no matter at hand," A General said, "We can't punish Desmond Tiny's Little Person, and we've already determined Elena's innocence. The boy failed his trials," The General grimaced for a moment, "I'm sorry Larten, Arra, but you both know the law as well as anyone. The consequences for failing the trial are absolute, no matter if he is only a boy or one of a kind, or one of two rather." He added, looking at Elena.
Most of the other Generals nodded their agreement. Kurda once again looked absolutely outraged, "It's like I said before," He said, "Darren didn't actually fail the trial, Harkat intervened, and that had nothing to do with Darren, he should be allowed to retake the trial."
"I agree with Kurda," Larten interrupted, "None of us could have known whether or not Darren could have escaped the boar, or turned the odds in his favour. He has shown in previous trials to all of us that he can rise against the odds, and he had proven that to me more times than I could count."
"That's a technicality," Another General complained.
"The situation may call for technicalities." Larten argued, "Has anyone actually intervened in a trial before?"
The hall went silent. "That's a fair point." Arrow commented nodding at Larten, he turned to the eldest prince, "Has it ever happened?"
"Not that I recall." Paris said, stroking his beard. "I believe this is a unique situation, but the laws are clear." He folded his hands on his lap and stayed silent while the Generals erupted in arguments again.
"I'm going to check on Darren," Kurda told Arra, quickly scurrying from the room. A few minutes went by, arguments still flying around the hall, though most were calling for Darren's death.
"I'm going with Kurda," Gavner said, "I've had enough of this lot." He ruffled Elena's hair, gave both Arra and Larten a squeeze on the arm, and left after Kurda.
"We've already heard from the boy's father, what does his mother have to say about all of this?" Someone roared.
Arra looked taken aback for a moment, but then recovered, looking saddened by what she was about to say, "I don't believe in taking it easy on vampires, even children, that's something you all know." Her voice quieted to barely a whisper, "I don't want my son to die," Her voice grew stronger again, "But I won't ask for the rules to be bent for my sake or for his. I don't want that dishonour for either of us."
Her expression remained solemn, while Larten looked enraged at her words, "Arra," He hissed, "Think about what you are saying."
"I have," She replied.
"There!" Someone shouted, "Even his mother agrees that the boy should be executed, so what are we waiting for?"
"That's not what she said," Elena snapped at the General who looked taken aback by being spoken to in such a manner by a child, while Larten groaned. "She said she didn't want to bend any rules to save Darren, not that she didn't want to save them. If there is a loophole in one of the rules then we should still explore it."
"I think we should return to Kurda's idea," Vanez said, "We have no way of knowing if Darren would have failed or passed his trial if Harkat hadn't stepped in." The hall erupted once again in argument.
While Arra and Elena said their piece in the Hall of Princes, Kurda and Gavner were busy leading Darren along the tunnels of the mountain, determined to get him to safety in exile rather than death in the mountain. They were arguing over what tunnel to take, and if Darren didn't know better, he would have said that Kurda was overly eager to lead them the long way around. Gavner won out though, and nearly dislocated Darren's shoulder as the burly General dragged him along. Darren heard Kurda cursing behind them and distantly wondered what the blonde vampire's problem was when Gavner came to a sudden halt.
"Vampaneze," He hissed. Darren peered around his shoulder and sure enough, he could see at least four men, sitting around a cave with dark purple skin and red hair. The trio backed up slowly.
"What do we do now?" Darren asked.
"We can't go back the way we came," Gavner said quietly, "Not unless you'd like to get caught."
Darren shook his head, despite his bravado after the trial, the truth was he was terrified of being sent to the Hall of Death. His only regret in running was the shame and disappointment he would cause his parents and his sister. "Can we slip by unnoticed?" Darren asked.
"I think that's our best chance." Gavner admitted, "But I don't know how many are there, but I'm guessing it's too many for us to fight off on our own. Our main priority right now is to get you out, and then I can tell the Princes about these scum." He lobbed a wad of spit at the ground following his statement.
Kurda looked pained, "We don't know why they're here. It is possible that they are here to talk to me, but now is not the time for discussion if we want to get Darren out."
The trio carefully made their way past the cavern, as silently as possible. To Darren's relief, none of the vampaneze seemed to notice. His relief was brief however, as the group came face to face with about ten vampaneze when they entered the next tunnel. The vampires and vampaneze stared each other down dumbly for a moment or two. "Darren," Kurda said quietly, "The tunnel behind us leads to the Hall of Final Voyage, go now and Gavner and I will hold them off until we can get to you."
"But-"
"Go." Gavner growled, "You don't need to be anywhere near this."
Darren glanced at his face, it had shifted from its normal boyish grin into an impassive glower. Darren nodded and scurried up the tunnel, if the situation was dire enough for Gavner to look like that he figured he should listen for once. He reconsidered his judgement when he was almost halfway through the tunnel. Three were better than two in a fight, plus if he was caught on the way back he'd be dead anyway. Better to go down fighting. He turned around and hurried back to his friends. They didn't need the help though, it was a narrow tunnel, and both Ganver and Kurda could fend off the small number of vampaneze approaching them. Gavner was further in front, grasping two knives, swinging them in deadly arcs around him, cutting down one vampaneze after the other. Kurda came up behind him raising his own blade. In one fell whoosh of his knife his blade found its mark, burying deep into the ribs of...Gavner Purl. Darren stayed silent, while Kurda stepped over Gavner's convulsing body to address the vampaneze.
Darren ran forward as soon as Kurda had cleared the tunnel, not caring that he was perfectly visible to the purple skinned traitors inside of the cavern. "Gavner," Darren sobbed, lifting the General's head into his lap. Gavner's eyes were wide, flicking wildly around in their sockets. Darren leaned over so that the older vampire could focus on his face. "I'm here." He said softly, "You won't die alone, I swear, I won't leave you."
A large hand reached out and stroked his face, "Dar...Dar..." Cough "D-d-d" The General never finished saying his name, the light fading from his eyes and the hand he had reached up falling to the cavern floor next to him with a thud.
Darren's face fell forward onto the dead man's chest, sobbing violently. Gavner had been a close friend, more than that, he had been family. He suddenly became aware of a crowd of vampaneze around him, faced by Gavner's murderer who had his back to the boy.
"You don't mean the boy behind you do you Kurda?" One of the vampaneze said.
Kurda turned eyes wide, "Darren!"
But he was already gone, darting through the tunnel that led to the Hall of Final Voyage. The luck of the vampires must have been with him, normally, a half-vampire would have been overrun in seconds by a hoard of vampaneze, but this tunnel was even narrower than the last and much shorter. Where it hindered the grown men, it was the ideal size for Darren, who was much smaller. He made it to the hall first, but he found there was nowhere else to go other than...the river. The vampaneze and Kurda caught up with him as he leaped across the river and landed on the other bank, right next to the tunnel's opening. He soon found himself facing Kurda Smahlt, and did the only thing he could think of, propelling himself backwards into the river. he latched onto one of the rocks at the entrance.
"Darren!" Kurda yelled, reaching forward hand outstretched, "Take my hand."
"You're a traitor and a murderer," Darren snarled back at him.
"Ah just let the boy drown Kurda, what good is he anyways." Once of the vampaneze scoffed.
"No!" Kurda snapped, "We need open-minded vampires like him Glalda."
The purple man nodded, "Do as you must then."
"Darren if you don't take my hand you'll drown in that river."
"So be it." He said, letting go of the rock and letting the river take him.
He heard Kurda give a yell of surprise as he disappeared down the tunnel. If he knew what was going to happen in the coming days, he would have taken Kurda's hand, if only to slit the throat of the vampaneze named Glalda.