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There was little ti word of power that resounded behind her drowned out all other noise There was the crack of thunder as a jagged bolt of electricity split the air to pierce the longface, reaching through her breastplate, through her breast, and leaping out of her back
She landed, a s with involuntarily convulsions, teeth forever locked in a sudden rigor They both turned to regard the scrawny boy lurching forwards, Asper with shock, Gariath with ire Dreadaeleon seemed rather unconcerned with either them or the woman he had just struck frorowled, ‘was ht you were capable of killing her in a tiladly have let you trade blows until one of you wet yourselves’ The boy blew on his sh’
Asper noted the tre in one of his legs Heor the sudden bags that hung like purple fruits under his eyes
‘You should probably sit back for a while,’ she suggested ‘Youdon’t look so good’
‘How about that,’ Dreadaeleon ic drainsonly ood’
‘There’s no need to get all s The little runt could pull a gerbil out of his pants and he’d soe to end up in a co the boy in the chest ‘I’ve got a knife in s for doing things right’
‘What do I get for killing that last longface?’
‘Punched in your ugly face’
‘The fact that you’re decidedly unbothered about a knife in your back and the troubling questions it raises does not concern e ‘Where is the heretic?’
‘The what?’
‘The renegade,’ Dreadaeleon hissed ‘The defiler of law The male Where is he?’
Answer calowing orange hell A vast circle for around its centre The face, however, seemed to pay these no mind as he turned the plu sacs infesting the hall
With methodical patience, he reduced them to ash With conteainst the stones
‘Ah,’ the dragonman replied, ‘there he is’
‘Incredible’
Thetorched one cluster of the fleshy sacs, strode across the water upon stepping stones of ice, smen to make a path for himself towards the next
‘Si his eyes
‘How so?’ Asper asked ‘You can do the sa, can’t you?’
‘Not like that,’ the boy muttered ‘I made a boat out of ice and aler ‘He’s channelling three schools ofwhat he did to the O’
‘Sohe’s better than you’
‘It’s simply not possible!’ His protest caard! There are laws! There must be pause, therethe expression of a scolded puppy upon Asper ‘Wait, you think he’s better than me?’
‘WellIdifferent That doesn’t make him better than me’
‘I’m sure you’re very talented in other respects, but’ She scowled suddenly ‘Does it really matter now?’
‘No,’ Dreadaeleonsquint, his lip crawling further up his face with every spell cast ‘If his nitive suddenness, he sla’
‘Cheating’ Asper raised a brow
‘Well, he is!’ Dreadaeleon staic is a controlled burn It strains the body, but not his He’s not even breathing hard He’sI don’t knowusing sorowled
With a low snarl, he reached behind him His body jerked, spasmed, then relaxed at the sound of particularly thick paper being torn Asper cringed as dark rivers poured down his back, then fought violently against the rising bile as he thoughtfully flicked a glistening frags
‘For now,’ the dragonrunted, ‘there’s plenty to kill If you’re smart, you’ll sit back and wait for a real warrior to finish it’ He looked over the pair conteh--’
‘Naturally’ Dreadaeleon’s fingers tensed, beads of cri at their tips ‘I don’t care who kills him The laws of the Venariued, the dragonrimly towards the melee, ready to rend, to freeze, to bite and to burn The battle raged with a yet-unseen fury, tides of pink and purple flesh colliding as the Abysh to leisurely pluck opponents up and dismember theht
The dragonood in his back He would not be walking away froht, he knew All that re was left to kill
‘Wait!’
His eyelid twitched at the shrill protest He scowled at Asper over his shoulder,befuddlement with abject annoyance
‘What about the others? Lenk, Kataria, Denaos--’
‘Dead, dead, dead quickly,’ he replied ‘Honour them Give them company in the afterlife’
‘But I’ she whiht’
‘So die’
‘I left my staff behind’ Her excuse was as meek and sheepish as her smile ‘I’m not h You are bleeding quite badly and I--’
‘Moron!’ he roared, turning on her ‘There will be nothing for you to tend to here Nothing will survive if I can help it’ He stoore ‘You cried about wanting to fight’ He thrust the jagged blade into her hands, staining her robes red ‘Now prove if you’re worthy of life’
‘Ino, it’s not that’ She tried to return the blade, her grasp tre ‘I don’t want toI mean, I can’t My arm, you see, it--’
‘I don’t care,’ he snarled in reply ‘No one will ever care what you did while you’re still alive’ He snorted, spraying a cloud of red into her face ‘Your life will be nowhere near as great as your death, if you ht’
Her eyes were those of an ani But she held on to the blade, he thought, andFor the ed to do so hile in the time she still breathed, it would be a pleasant surprise
She disappeared froht as he turned his back to her, stalking towards the throng He ignored her cries of protest, ignored the boy who had already disappeared into the battle, ignored the thought of the other dead huh at the rest of them with his last breath
The wound in his back felt good, the chill that filled hiround was aaway fro his ancestors before the day was done
And he would not be going alone, he resolved
When the first of the longfaces looked up at hi a war cry, it was not death that he smelled, nor sea, nor salt, nor fear There was only the scent of rivers as she charged him
Rivers and rocks
Twenty-Seven
TO SEE WITH EARS
‘ Kat?’
That was her name, wasn’t it? No shict had ever called her that, of course; shicts had full, proud na, Kat was not a name, Kat was not a word
‘Kat!’
Kat was her name, she remembered Not her true name, not her shict nairl had called her No, she remembered, he had been a man A human
‘Kataria!’