The Lake of Souls by Darren Shan Read Free Book Online Page B

filled with the nonstop sounds of insects and other nocturnal creatures, but at the roar all noise ceased. There was total silence — once the echoes of the roar subsided — for at least five minutes.
    Harkat slept through the roar. He was normally a light sleeper, but the air here agreed with him and he’d been dozing more deeply. I told him about it in the morning.
    “You think it was … our panther?” he asked.
    “It was definitely a big cat,” I said. “It might have been a lion or tiger, but my money’s on the black panther.”
    “Panthers are usually very quiet,” Harkat said. “But I guess they could be … different here. If this is his territory, he should come by … this way soon. Panthers are on constant patrol. We must prepare.” During his time in Vampire Mountain, when he’d been working for Seba Nile, Harkat had spoken with several vampires who’d hunted or fought with lions and leopards, so he knew quite a lot about them. “We must dig a pit to … lure it into, catch and truss a deer, and also find some … porcupines.”
    “Porcupines?” I asked.
    “Their quills can stick in the panther’s … paws, snout and mouth. They might slow it down or … distract it.”
    “We’re going to need more than porcupine quills to kill a panther,” I noted.
    “With luck, we’ll startle it when … it comes to feed on the deer. We can jump out and frighten it into … the pit. Hopefully it will die there.”
    “And if it doesn’t?” I asked.
    Harkat grinned edgily. “We’re in trouble. Black panthers are really leopards, and leopards are … the worst of the big cats. They’re fast, strong, savage and … great climbers. We won’t be able to outrun it or … climb higher than it.”
    “So if plan A fails, there’s no plan B?”
    “No.” Harkat chuckled dryly. “It’ll be straight to plan P —
Panic!
”
    We found a clearing with a thick bush at one end where we’d be able to hide. We spent the morning digging a deep pit with our hands and the rough tools we’d fashioned from branches and bones. When the pit was done, we harvested a couple dozen thick branches and sharpened the tips, creating stakes that we were going to place in the base of the pit.
    As we were climbing into the pit to plant the stakes, I stopped at the edge and started to tremble — remembering another pit that had been filled with stakes, and the friend I’d lost there.
    “What’s wrong?” Harkat asked. Before I could answer, he read it in my eyes. “Oh,” he sighed. “Mr. Crepsley.”
    “Isn’t there any other way to kill it?” I groaned.
    “Not without proper equipment.” Harkat took my stakes from me and smiled encouragingly. “Go hunt for porcupines. I’ll handle this … end of the operation.”
    Nodding gratefully, I left Harkat to plant the stakes and went looking for porcupines or anything else to use against the panther. I hadn’t thought much about Mr. Crepsley lately — this harsh world had demanded my full attention — but the pit brought it all crashing back. Again I saw him drop and heard his screams as he died. I wanted to leave the pit and panther, but that wasn’t an option. We had to kill the predator to learn where to go next. So I quashed thoughts of Mr. Crepsley as best I could and immersed myself in work.
    I picked some of the sturdier cacti to use as missiles against the black panther, and made mud-balls using leaves and fresh mud from a nearby stream — I hoped the mud might temporarily blind the panther. I searched hard for porcupines, but if any were in the area, they were keeping an ultra low profile. I had to report back quill-less to Harkat in the afternoon.
    “Never mind,” he said, sitting by the edge of the completed pit. “Let’s create a cover for this and … catch a deer. After that we’re in the lap … of the gods.”
    We built a thin cover for the pit out of long twigs and leaves, laid it over the hole, and went hunting. The deer here were shorter than