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Day 382 AF
Death kept taking ers splayed toward the heat of that seething pool of lava "He can't be dead," I sobbed "Can't NO, NO, NOOOO!"
"You want to follow the e first The Emperor mocks your pain"
I could hear that fiend in
The red witch exploded inside me, a force that could never be contained I shrieked, "You will PAY!"
As the Erandift I spoke of We'll teach you how to kill the Ee Deveaux"
"Don't you understand? Jack's not DEAD!" I screamed that over and over "He's alive!"
Within the skies above us I gaped, disbelieving
Real? Unreal? Just before oblivion tooktoward that hell of flames
Circe's towering wave Taller than a skyscraper --Terror from the abyss!--
--Quake before me!--
Circe's and Richter's calls boo me back from the blackness
"Come!" Aric snatched me into his arms and sprinted from the clash "When they meet, the blast and then the flood"
I stopped fighting hihter into screams clawed at me, which meant I had to survive
Aric gave a sharp whistle; a horse's nickering answered Thanatos With me secure in his arms, Aric leapt into the saddle, and spurred the warhorse into a frenzied gallop
We all but dove down a slope--passing the ed up the next rise
I gazed over Aric's shoulder as that tidal wave crested above Richter's lake of lava
Heaving breaths, Aric kept Thanatos at a breakneck pace Up another mountain Down another slope--
Circe struck
A hiss like a giant beast's A detonation like a nuclear bomb The shock as so loudthe Flash
The air grew hotter and hotter The world rocked as a blast of scalding steam chased us
BOOM! The force sheared off the top of a mountain behind us Boulders crashed all around as we careened into yet another valley Still we rode
"Surge corated
The ground quaked froht of an ocean of water I could hear the flood roaring toward us "Aric!"
He got as far as he dared, as high as he could "Hold on" Clutchingaway Behind the cap of the tallest auntlet between boulders, wrapping his other arm around me
Gaze locked on o!" We each sucked in a breath
The searing water hit The explosive iht ers above my elbow
Death's grip The ungodly force of that flood My watery scream
Aric never did let o--
My arave way
Separated
_
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Day 383 AF (384?)
How long had I been carried in this furious current?
Days and nights Nights and days With no regeneration One oflike fringe My collarbone was broken, my cheek, my nose Ribs cracked Skin scalded
Rain pounded, the snow a ainst the downpour, I zooh-risesBarely keeping my head above the surface
Aric, where are you? Had he lived? Or was he dead like Jack?
No, I refused to believe Aric was gone too He was the Endless Knight He was invincible
Would he believe I had died? Probably about to He would hts to reunite with ain
Dizziness Spinningin a whirlpool? A vortex had caughtwith me?
Maybe because I'd betrayed and ames?
Spinning, spinninglike the ball in a roulette wheel The whirlpool was too strong! "J-just f-finish me, Circe!" My stomach lurched When I heaved, water floodedme
Sinking?
Sinking!
My lungs screa breath at the surface
Wails I squinted The whirlpool had trapped Bagmen! On the opposite side of the vortex, four of the zolistened, chunks of flesh er
The circle tightened I screa hands missed my face by inches They snapped their teeth at me, desperate to bite
To drink my blood
For so long we'd thought they craved liquid in any form All this water around them, and what they truly preferred was inside me Bloodlust
I was prepared to die Not to be transforer
The whirlpool spun faster, faster Ever closer to them CloserOne snatched my jacket!
I kicked, breaking its grip The next rotation would be my last--
We drifted apart, the vortex weakening How? The current swept us toward a church bell tower, the water dividing around it Survivors, three ht
The Baggers went right of the steeple; I shot left, struggling toward it with one arm Can't catch hold! One man held out his hand for me I screamed as my claws scrabbled across the slate roof
Adrift In tiain Ato the sides, the current rushed straight for the center Would I be bashed against the side?