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The boy comes at once and stands quietly beside me. I am learning how to prompt him and his visions have been getting more informative, more specific.

“What do you see in the Citadel at the moment?”

Robbie closes his eyes.

Then he says, “Fire, unrest. People dying, afraid, hiding. The clouds are red and filled with flames. Darkness is coming.”

I tell him to leave and pace in my tower room, thinking.

Then I tell Layrr to send me two royal guards, to keep the castle under strict guard.

“Where are you going?” He asks me and I hear the concern in his voice.

“There is someone I have to see,” I say.

He does not look happy.

“We don’t have much time,” I say.

I have the reinforced car brought round and give my orders to the driver.

It is time I to head for the Swamps.

I have to see the fifth councilor, Eleanor Harris, called Mrs. Harris by everyone.

Mrs. Harris is a matriarch, in charge of a large family of working class people in a part of the country that is called the Swamp Lands. It is an unpleasant area, in my opinion, hot and humid, covered in soupy, mosquito-infested waters where gators and all sort of nasty creatures lurk. People here are often overlooked and under-appreciated, much to their own disadvantage.

I arrive in the Swamp Lands in the late afternoon, head straight to the main residence, which is not much more than a collection of shack buildings on a jetty overlooking a big swamp.

I send a royal guard to announce my arrival and keep my eyes open. I am not entirely sure how I will be received. The guard comes back and informs me I should go in, alone.

The old lady comes out to greet me.

She is half my size, dressed like a kind of peasant, her hair, grey and frizzy, stands out like a halo around her head. The eyes are wary and wise, though.

I greet her, “Mrs. Harris, thank you for receiving me.”

“We don’t get a lot of vampires around here,” she says carefully.

I nod.

The history of the Swamp Lands most famously centers around the final days of the Great War. A vampire general with some of his fighters attacked the area, thinking they would feed on the people here, win over the territory in a quick strike that would strengthen the position of the older vampires who were not aligned with our lot.

They were very much mistaken. As they swooped in over the Swamp Lands, the story goes, the waters of the marshes rose and rose. Giant gators leaped into the air, grabbing vampires from the air, snapping them in half, dragging them into the water. It was all over within seconds.

The news had stunned the old guard.

When peace negotiations came, the resistance mounted by the Swamp Lands was noted and it was unanimously decided to offer the region a seat on the Council. Mrs. Harris has held it ever since. She must be ninety years old, but she looks as spry and strong as she did back then.

Understandably, she and her people, are not fans of the vampires.

“I suppose I cannot offer you some refreshment?” she says with a dry smile.

“Oh, I can have a drop of your firewater,” I say.

We walk out onto the deck, where a man starts as soon as he sees me. I would guess he is one of the sons.

“What’s this filth doin’ here!”