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‘Listening to you,’ Asper sneered, ‘you’d think everything unexplained desired raucous, violent coitus’

‘I have yet to be proven wrong’ The rogue’s eyebrow raised appreciatively at the siren ‘Or have I?’

‘The young lorekeeper refers to the na my kind,’ the ht ofa name, however I aed to warden her waters and protect her children’

‘Fine job you’re doing of that,’ Gariath growled, ‘ith the giant de to his feet; buttocks were tensed immediately, but re this conversation? If you weren’t all so stupid, you’d see what she is’ He levelled a claw accusingly at the crest atop her head and snarled, ‘She’s one of them’

Lenk supposed the reseht to have occurred to him earlier, as did ers were drawn, claere bared, and even Kataria seeh to nock an arrow Asper glanced to Lenk, wide-eyed and baffled, but even she seemed to stiffen at the declaration

Before he could make a move to join or restrain his companions, however, Dreadaeleon acted first

‘Sheisnot!’

With barely ers, he was on his feet, propelled by a burst of unseen energy beneath hi hiallant, stepped to intervene between the woonman Quite unlike the vision his stand conjured up, however, the finger he levelled at Gariath, crackling with blue electricity, delivered a e

‘And don’t think I won’t fry you where you stand if you take oneI don’t think is that there’ll be enough of your treacherous little corpse left to paint the beach with after I’m done with you,’ Gariath snorted, apparently unimpressed

‘You tried to kill ry azure ‘That didn’t pan out so well, did it?’

‘If I had tried to kill you, you’d be dead’

‘Gentlehed, exasperated ‘Can we not do this in front of the siren?’ Met with only a snarl and the crackle of lightning brewing, she turned an incredulous gaze to Lenk ‘Aren’t you going to do soood idea; however much Gariath would like to believe differently, Dreadaeleon’s er than a dragonman to puddles

Lenk’s attention, however, was less on the boy’s finger and more on the rest of him: on the way he stood so confident and poised, on the way his eyes were clear enough to reflect the blue sparks dancing across his hand

‘You’re using ain,’ he said, more for his own benefit than the wizard’s

‘At least sorowled

‘You could barely walk after the crash’ Lenk leaned forwards, intent on his companion ‘What happened?’

At the question, the boy seeer,man With all the propriety of an actor, he stepped aside and gestured to the siren, who merely blinked and s’

Lenk felt his heart quicken a beat ‘You can heal,’ he whispered, ‘with your song?’

‘It is within my power to soothe’ She nodded

His hts strea in The siren could healno, not heal, soothe She could soothe Dreadaeleon’s headache, an affliction that no known medicine could cure She could soothe the ht, the voices within it

‘Sit down’ He waved a hand at Gariath

‘What?’ The dragonrowled ‘Why?’

‘I want to hear what she has to say,’ he replied ‘Not that I’, but if Dreadaeleon believes in her, we should give her a chance’

‘The little runt ca us,’ Gariath snorted, ‘and the last thing she said made the shict deaf’

Lenk tensed himself at the ht yell again, but for the fact that he suddenly felt her gaze upon hi from the corner of his eye, for he did notat him for any number of reasons: explanation, iht and, deaf as she was, those giant ears could still hear his thoughts

‘If I held atteroup,’ he said calon done He’s entitled to at least one attempt on your life for all the tionlower shifted about the circle, fro man to the boy, then once more around the others assembled Finally, he settled a scowl upon Lenk

‘You couldn’t stop runted

‘Probably not’ Lenk shrugged

‘Good So long as we all understand that’ He snorted, took a step backwards, settled upon his haunches and scowled at the siren ‘Talk’

The feards to’

‘Start with your name?’ Asper offered ‘I believe that’s where we left off before we decided to act like raving psychotics’

‘II do not have a name, I am afraid,’ she replied meekly ‘I have never had a use for one’

‘Everyone needs a name,’ Dreadaeleon quickly retorted ‘What else would we call you?’

‘Screechy’ Denaos nodded ‘Screechy MacEarbleed’

‘Don’t be stupid,’ Asper chastised ‘She needs soantlike from a play’

‘Lashenka!’ Dreadaeleon piped up, enthused ‘You re She looks like the young heiress, Lashenka’

‘Sounds too close to Lenk’ The priestess tapped her chin ‘Were there any other players in it? I never saw it on stage For that ood?’

‘It wasdecent Nothing too thrilling, but worth the silver spent’

‘Silver? When did theatre become worth that kind of money?’

‘Well, this particular one had the Merry Murderers, the troupe froh’ Gariath was on his feet again, sto a claw at the siren ‘Your name is Greenhair Get on with it’

‘Greenhair?’ Asper scratched her head ‘It has a certain charm to it, but I’m not sure that--’

‘Tell ht with your tongue torn out and shoved in your ear?’

‘I don’t--’

‘Do you want to find out?’ With a decisive snort, he glowered at the siren ‘Her name is Greenhair Get on with it’

‘It’s a fine nah, our names are--’

‘There is no need’ The siren held up a hand while casting a smile at Dreadaeleon ‘I have been informed, Silverhair, of much of who you are and what you do in the Sea Mother’s domain’ Her smile broadened ‘And I expect it is by Her hand that I h praise,’ Lenk muttered ‘But you said you needed our help’

‘And I thank you for it’

‘Save your thanks,’ he replied ‘I didn’t say we’d give any’

A smile played across her features Lenk felt his hand unconsciously resting on his sword; so Absently, his thoughts drifted back to the Abys expressed ascould not in a cacophony of shrieks

‘Yourcallings are not unknown to me’ She did not so much as flinch at his bluntness ‘You areadventurers, yes? And adventurers seek compensation for their trials Such is the way of the sea What is given must be earned, what is earned is not easily lost’

‘If that’s a lot of fancy talk for gold, then I’m interested’ Denaos eyed the wispy silk she wore ‘I dare suggest I’d beh’

‘I have no riches for you, Longleg’ She shook her hair ‘What I offer, however, is so you have lost’

Lenk leaned forwards again He could sense the word resting on her tongue as a hedonist sensed a tongue resting on so else

‘I am informed,’ she said, so slowly as to drive hihtened collectively

Not a single face reht with various stages of greed, hope and anticipation Even Kataria’s eyes seest her coine what his own face ht to twist it into stony caution nonetheless The last time someone had mentioned a tohtered

He had since come to treat the arily