Chapter 2

"Darren Shan, are you sure you won't to pursue to do the Trials of Initiation?"

I stood in the Hall of Princes in front of Mika and Rossan, which felt strange, knowing that my usual place was next to them. Soon, I would have to pull my first Trial. In order to control whether I knew what I was doing, the two Princes in front of me first had to ask some questions. "I am sure that I want to take them," I said, sounding more sure about it than I actually felt. It was drawing closer now, which made me nervous.

"You know what will happen if you fail?"

"I will be guided to the Hall of Death where I will be executed."

"Indeed. You still want to pursue?"

"I still want to go on with this."

"Then take a step forward." I did as he said, leaving only inches between us. He had a bag in his hand. I knew there were stones in it with numbers on it. Those numbers were related to a task. The number on the stone I pulled, would be task I had to fulfil. The stones were checked, to make sure none were missing and put back in the bag.

"Pull a stone," Mika said. I reached forward, put my hand in the bag and pulled the stone out my hand touched first.

I gave it to Mika. "Number 53, The Wall of Death."

I nodded. I had went through the Trials with Vanez, so I knew what the Wall of Death was. I turned round and walked to Vanez who was sitting on the first row of the crowded Hall of Princes. I would take the Trial immediately. I was prepared for it, more preparation time wouldn't help me. The Wall of Death was a frozen waterfall somewhere deep inside Vampire Mountain. The Trial was to climb it without any help of climbing devices and others, which seemed easy on first sight, but the name of the trial wasn't called Wall of Death without a reason. The official name was 'the Frozen Falls', but since of all vampires who had taken the Trial only two had succeeded, the name had informally been changed to 'Wall of Death'. So it wasn't a very promising start.

"You can prepare for the task for a couple of minutes," Mika said. "When you're ready, we'll go to the place where the Trial will be taken." Vanez and I took off.

"Are you worried," Vanez asked.

"Yes and no. It is a fact that not many have succeeded, but then it's up to me to prove that it is possible to fulfil this task."

Vanez smiled. "That's the spirit, Darren." I smiled, making me look more confident then I felt. The one time we had practised this task, I had fallen down after I had climbed a couple of feet. The waterfall was extremely crumbly, because the ice wasn't very thick, just a couple of inches. Of course our nails were strong enough to pierce through the ice to climb, but the ice could crumble very easily, so you had to be very careful.

"Are you ready, Darren?" Vanez asked.

I sighed heavily once and nodded. "I am."

"Then lets go. There's no use in postponing it, it'll only make you more nervous, which is deadly in this trial."

"Could you please not use any word relating to 'death'," I said half serious half joking. "It reminds me of the stakes in the Hall of Death which isn't very encouraging."

Vanez laughed out loud. "Sorry," he choked, still laughing.

"What's so funny about that."

"Nothing, it's just an inside joke of mine."

"Thanks for sharing," I mumbled, making sure Vanez couldn't here it. We then walked on in silence which I liked since I was trying to concentrate. We didn't pass any vampires on our way to the waterfall. They probably were all there already, gathering in the huge hall where the waterfall was located. They would all want to see how I got through this Trial, if I got through it. When I entered the Hall every single one of them made the Death's Touch Sign. Even though the Hall was situated somewhere in the middle of Vampire Mountain it was extremely light in here. The walls were covered with the fluorescent moss that was hanging on most of the walls of Vampire Mountain, making torches unnecessary. The walls were very rough, not alike the walls in most of the Halls which were smooth. This Hall was more of an extremely large cave, without stalactites and stalagmites.

Mika was standing in front of the waterfall, which looked huge to me. A quick glimpse at it, and I immediately felt as if the Trial just was impossible to do. I walked towards him, Vanez only a few paces behind me.

"Welcome, Master Shan," Mika welcomed me.

I nodded, not feeling up to talking, but glad that it wasn't Rossan standing there. He'd probably stayed in the Hall of Princes.

"You know what's expected from you?"

"I have to climb the waterfall, up to the top. The moment my feet leave the ground, I can't touch the ground with any part of my body anymore until I have reached the top and fulfilled the Trial."

"That's a good summary indeed," Mika smiled reassuringly. "Then there's nothing left for me to do but wish you good luck and watch."

I nodded, while he walked away to give me some space. I looked up. The falls stretched out above me, I barely could see the top, making me realize how high it actually was. The ice was smooth as can be. I dug the fingernails of my right hand in it, to test how thick it was. I had bad luck, the ice was less thick than usually, making it more probable to crumble. I hoped it would be able to carry might weight. I would have to be very careful and test my every movement carefully before going any higher.

I shuffled a little bit to the right, so I could start at a clear point. I inhaled deeply once and then dug my fingernails in the ice. When I was sure that the ice would hold, I did the same with the nails of my other hand. I carefully started to climb higher and higher, testing each of my movements carefully before leaning my entire weight on my hands or feet, in order not to make the ice crumble.

The only noise I could hear, was the digging of my nails into the ice, and the sounds of my climbing. Beneath me, every vampire was watching me with held breath, waiting for me to reach the top… or to fall down. I tried not to think about the last possibility, in order not to tempt fate.

As I climbed higher I tried not to look down. Vanez had warned me for that. Looking down was a mistake that had led to the failure of many vampires. We didn't fear heights, after all they didn't kill us, but the Wall of Death was high enough to make you swallow at the least, hesitate. The vampires who had taken this Trial before me who had hesitated, had all died because they had stuck to the same patch of ice for just that little bit too long. The ice wasn't strong enough to carry their weight for that long. It had crumbled, they'd fallen and over was the Trial. There was another thing Vanez had warned for. He'd repeated it time after time. It was this that went wrong most often. In fact, Vanez's exact warning had been: "Don't do this to yourself. It has led to the failure and death of every single vampire that perished at this Trial ad who hadn't let himself been caught by looking down."1And I now started to understand why it had led this many vampires to their grave. At first, I'd thought it was a stupid warning… who would let himself be caught by something stupid like this. But I realised now that his warning had been a good one. This was something that just happened, it went automatic. I also felt the urge to do it and I would have if Vanez hadn't warned me for it, if I hadn't been paying attention not to do it. The higher I climbed and the closer the top of the falls came near, the more I had the urge to climb faster to reach the top sooner. I wanted this to be over and exactly that was the dangerous thing to do. Climbing faster would mean climbing less careful, not testing the patches of ice you were planning on supporting on well enough. Not controlling my every movement with the greatest care, just to see whether the ice could carry my weight, would mean that through my own stupidity the ice would crumble and cause me to fall… and die.

So, I focused on keeping it slow, not to make this mistake. If I had to die here, it would be after I'd tried everything to reach the top without doing anything stupid.

I looked up to see how far up the falls I was. To my own surprise I had covered about three quarters of the distance already. I was higher up the falls than most vampires had been before they failed. But I didn't start hoping yet, I wasn't there yet, not at all. There was still a long way to go, anything could still go wrong.

It was as if the Vampire Gods had caught this last thought of mine, because at once, without any warning, the ice around my right hand crumbled, even though I'd tested it carefully. I caught the shock and could hold myself in place. But before I managed to dig my fingernails back into the ice, the ice around my right foot crumbled too, caused by the shock my almost-fall had given. I was out of luck and this time I couldn't hold myself anymore and I started sliding down. The vampires far down gasped. For a split second I let my thoughts slip. It was over. I would survive the fall, but I would be led to the Hall of Death immediately. I had done the best I could, but the task hadn't gotten it's name for no reason. I was stupid to have thought that I could fulfil this task. But then I pulled myself back together. It wasn't over yet, not as long no part of my body had touched the ground. I could still succeed. With all the force I had I dug my nails into the ice. At first, I slipped down with the same speed, leaving deep trails in the ice, causing more ice to fall down. But then I slowed down until eventually I hung completely still. I waited, expecting the ice to crumble again. Minutes passed without me making any movement. I could feel the tension in the Hall and I knew every single vampire was watching with held breath. At last I hesitatingly moved my right hand a couple of inches higher up, testing the ice even more careful then I had been doing before. But… it wasn't over yet. I could still become the third vampire ever to succeed in this Trial. So, I started to climb again as if nothing had happened, but alert for any weak point in the ice. It was strange to realise that I hadn't even dropped down that much. It gave me new hope. Thanks to my superfast vampire reactions, I didn't have to climb too far anymore, even not after falling down. I shifted some feet to the right, so I wouldn't cross the same weak point in the ice again, that had caused my fall. Feeling even less comfortable than before, I climbed on. After a while, I looked up again and I realized I was almost there. Yet, I kept my two feet on the ground, figuratively speaking at least, I wasn't there yet. But, there was hope and I knew that the vampires that were watching me from far beneath me, felt this hope too. It was almost as if it was throbbing off the walls of the cave and it gave me extra energy to go on. I was glad that the task was almost over. I might be a vampire, but even my energy had a limit and I was about to reach it. The task was really hard, mentally as well as physically, even for a vampire. I realized that this was another reason why so few vampires had fulfilled this task. Now I was almost there, I felt I started to become a bit more reckless. I knew it was stupid, it would be so dumb to still fail while I was this close to bringing the task to a good end, but I just couldn't help it. My body longed for rest, so I gave in to its will, not thinking about the possible consequences anymore. And it seemed that the luck of the Vampire Gods was with me at this very moment, for minutes later I dug my fingernails into the stone ceiling of the cave and let my feet slip from the waterfall, to show that I was really there. I immediately realized how lucky I had been in those last minutes. Without testing the ice even the slightest bit, I had managed to find the strongest patches of ice. It could just as well have become my death, if I hadn't been this lucky. Beneath me, all the vampires in the cave had started applauding and cheering. I smiled. I had done it. I had tamed the Wall of Death. Mika stood up and silenced the crowd of mad vampires. He looked up and without even having to raise his voice the slightest to make me able to understand him, he spoke: "Master Shan, you can come back down now. You've fulfilled the task." I nodded and pulled myself loose from the ceiling. I dropped down, landing safely on my feet, like a cat did, right in front of Mika. "Congratulations," he spoke.

I nodded again. "Thank you."

"One down, four to go."

"Indeed," I smiled. "So, I'd better go rest now, so I can face the next task full of energy."

"Yes," Mika said. "We expect you in the Hall of Princes in exactly 24 hours for your next task."

"I will be there," I said and walked to the exit of the cave where Vanez was waiting to congratulate me.

"Well done Darren," he said. "Good save there when you dropped, but you did became a bit reckless by the end, didn't you."

"Yes, I know. It was stupid and I know what could've happened, but there's no use in thinking about that now. It went well. I did lose myself for a second there, when I fell though."

"As all would have. But the difference between you and the others is that you still recovered and didn't give up in the end. I couldn't have done it any better myself."

"I'm not sure if that's a compliment," I joked with a big smile on my face. Vanez threw me a suspicious glance, then saw that I was joking. "About time you go to bed if you start with this kind of jokes, annoying brat of a Vampire Prince." I punched him on his arm, laughing out loud. All the tension that I'd felt during the task and the relief that I had fulfilled it, showed now. I couldn't stop laughing.

Vanez walked all the way to my room. "You get some rest now," he said. "You'll need it. It's the best preparation you can have for the next task. I'll come wake you up when it's time to pull your next task."

"Okay," I spoke, then entered the room, half fell into my hammock and fell asleep immediately.

Note: It might take a while for the next part to come. During the month November I'll be taking part in a writing competition which lasts the entire month. I will put all my time in that competition and this story will have to wait. But I will try to have it ready after the competition as soon as I can.