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Perrin went to the bubbling barrel tiurine After the way of drea them all took both a brief second and what seeurines stood on the floor facing hiure was lit with a tiny fire inside, as if waiting to feel the forger’s haed; they’d be cast "What does it mean?" Perrin sat down on a stool

Mean? Hopper opened his h It means there are many little men on the floor, none of which you can eat Your kind is too fond of rocks and what is inside of the Around therowing larger The shattered hands began working, clawing on the ground The shards all beca for hihter in the distance, ringing closer, shaking the building Hopper ju into him And then…

Perrin started awake He was back in his tent, in the field where they’d been camped for a few days now They’d run across a bubble of evil the week before that had caused angry red, oily serpents to wiggle froh camp Several hundred were sick froh to keep most of them alive, but not restore them completely

Faile slept beside Perrin, peaceful Outside, one of his men tapped a post to count off the hour Three taps Still hours until dawn

Perrin’s heart pounded softly, and he raised a hand to his bare chest He half-expected an army of tiny metal hands to crawl out from beneath his bedroll

Eventually, he forced his eyes closed and tried to relax This time, sleep was very elusive

Graendal sipped at her wine, which glistened in a goblet trioblet had been crafted with drops of blood caught in a ring pattern within the crystal Frozen forever, tiny bubbles of brilliant red

"We should be doing so one of Graendal’s pets with a predatory hunger as he passed "I don’t kno you stand it, staying so far from important events, like some scholar holed up in a dusty corner"

Graendal arched an eyebrow A scholar? In some dusty corner? Natrin’s Barroasthe previous Age, but it was hardly a hovel The furnishings were fine, the walls bearing an arching pattern of thick, dark hardwoods, thewith inlaid chips ofto provoke her Graendal put the irritation out of her mind The fire burned low in the hearth, but the pair of doors--leading out onto a fortified ay three stories in the air--was open, letting in a crisp mountain breeze She rarely left aor door open to the outside, but today she liked the contrast: warmth from one side, a cool breeze fro Touches on your skin, both passionate and icy Anything other than the nor to ar asked

"I always listen," Graendal said, setting aside her goblet as she sat on her own chaise She wore a golden, enveloping dress, sheer but buttoned to the neck Whatwhile revealing

"I loathe being so re Pri" The voluptuous, ivory-skinned wo ar all of the excitement"