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Chapter One
Blood leaves no stain on a Warden's grey cloak I didn't know that until the day I watched Morgan, second in command of the White Council's Wardens, lift his sword over the kneeling foric The boy, sixteen years old at the most, screamed and ranted in Korean underneath his black hood, his e, convinced by his youth and power of his own immortality He never knehen the blade came down
Which I guess was a small mercy Microscopic, really
His blood flew in a scarlet arc I wasn't ten feet away I felt hot droplets strike one cheek, and more blood covered the left side of the cloak in blotches of angry red The head fell to the ground, and I saw the cloth over itimprecations
The body fell onto its side One calf muscle twitched spasmodically and then stopped After maybe five seconds, the head did too
Morgan stood over the still forht silver sword of the White Council of Wizards' justice in his hands Besides him and me, there were a dozen Wardens present, and two members of the Senior Council-the Merlin and my one-time mentor, Ebenezar McCoy
The covered head stopped its feeble lanced up at the Merlin and nodded once The Merlin returned the nod "May he find peace"
"Peace," the Wardens all replied together
Except me I turned my back on them, and made it two steps away before I threw up on the warehouse floor
I stood there shaking for a htened slowly I felt a presence draw nearthere
He was an old man, bald but for wisps of white hair, short, stocky, his face half covered in a ferocious-looking grey beard His nose and cheeks and bald scalp were all ruddy, except for a recent, purplish scar on his pate Though he was centuries old he carried hiy, and his eyes were alert and pensive behind gold-ri of the Council, along with the deep purple stole of a member of the Senior Council
"Harry," he said quietly "You all right?"
"After that?" I snarled, loudly enough to make sure everyone there heard ht"
I felt a sudden tension in the air behind me
"No they shouldn't," Ebenezar said I saw hi stubbornly