This is the bit where Darren's just failed the Blooded Boars trial and Kurda gets him to run away.

Seeth and Kurda knew that the Princes would demand Darren's death after he failed the trial. They didn't want to, but there was no way that they'd ignore their precious rules for the sake of one boy. Seeth had a feeling that they'd tear down the world before they relented any vampire tradition. Something she hated about the vampires and the vampaneze alike.

After Kurda had said his piece, he fell onto the bench beside her, his face anguished and sweat at his brow. Larten and Seba were putting forward their view and across from them sat Gavna Purl. He'd put his neck on the line for Darren's sake. A pity it wasn't going to come to anything.

"He's just a child," Kurda moaned miserably, putting his head in his hands. Seeth watched the Princes, sitting up straight. Paris's blue eyes were sad, because he'd already made up his mind. Arrow and Mika silently contemplated everything their fellow vampires said. Yes, Darren would make a fine vampire. Yes, he was young. But he had failed the trials. Personally Seeth agreed with Kurda: Darren should never have been submitted to the Trials in the first place. But even she couldn't change time.

"Seeth," Kurda whispered. She turned. "I can't stand by and watch this happen. I have to do something." She stared blankly at him.

"He'll be hunted down," she muttered.

"Not if he can get far enough away."

"Where will you go?"

"The tunnels."

She nodded. "Just make sure you don't get caught."

She tried to make Kurda's exit as inconspicuous as possible, averting the vampires' gaze so they didn't notice. It was the least she could do to help out.

A few minutes later, while the discussions still raged, Seeth made her way down into the lower part of the mountain, sending out mental feelers for Kurda. She sensed him down in the Hall of Final Voyage, which made her think that something must have gone wrong; they should be much further away by now.

Her footsteps rang off the walls against the roar of the river as she entered the Hall. Kurda stood at the edge of the river, facing her. He looked anxious. He was breathing heavily and he looked at her with guilt in his eyes. She stopped in her tracks.

"What happened?" she asked softly. Kurda shook his head.

"He...well...he fell into the stream," he said. His voice was unsteady. She narrowed her eyes.

"Just like that? What's going on Kurda?" she demanded. He looked back at the river, its roaring water giving nothing away. Seeth's insides fluttered with fear. A hundred ideas flew through her mind, but still she didn't probe Kurda. She wanted to hear this from him willingly.

"Seeth, I have something to tell you," he said sorrowfully. She crossed her arms. For some reason, she was angry. She hated lies and she had a horrible feeling that Kurda reeked of them.

"Go ahead," she said regretfully.

Kurda took a deep breath and looked around the hall. "Not here," he said.

"Yes," she replied defiantly. "Here."

He sighed and nodded slightly.

"Very well. I've been planning to take over the Hall of Princes," he said, spreading his hands.

"How?" she asked dangerously. He swallowed.

"By storming the hall with a group of vampaneze I persuaded to come here. You see I..."

As Kurda proceeded to tell her the rest of his sordid story, Seeth fell deeper and deeper into a great black torment. During some moments she wanted to lash out at Kurda, but at others she understood why he did what he did. She looked at her hands, the long soft fingers. Power buzzed at the tips, which Seeth could use at will. She might be able to change it-all of it. She could send the vampaneze out of the mountain, even if Kurda didn't want her to. She could make Kurda confess (never), or find Darren-she knew secretly he wasn't dead- and fix this whole thing. No one would die; no one would have to destroy anyone else. But she couldn't and as she looked at Kurda she saw that he had already destroyed himself. He had known from the beginning that one way or the other he would die. As this thought struck her she felt hot tears run down her cheeks, saw Kurda walk towards her as she began to cry in earnest.

"Seeth, it'll be alright in the end. Darren's dead so he can't-"

"No!" she screeched at him. "Get away from me!" she growled, swiping her arm away, throwing a stinging spell at him. He recoiled, gasping. "You're a liar! You lied to me and even now you haven't told me everything! What about Gavna, Kurda? What about him? I can't trust anything you say."

Kurda dropped his arms and watched stonily as she ran out of the hall, a dark cloud crackling in her wake.

In her panicked state, Seeth mentally pushed anyone in her path out of the way. She locked herself in her room and took a few deep breaths.

"I can't do anything," she whispered. "I'll just have to wait."