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I half crawled off the cairn, watching the booby traps They slid slightly to one side for my feet A wonderful conjure I would have carried some with me, but I didn&039;t kno they worked and didn&039;t feel like exploding if I

When I stepped on the earth, the backlash of energies from the broken charing In the distance, I heard voices Fear skittered up , safe beneath the shield I broke it and tightened his girth before leading hi the liuided the Friesian uphill through the dusk

Only when night fell did I look back The voices had vanished No lights were visible If they had found looone back to town

Feeling me shift in the saddle, Hoe of a clear, ice-riht The big horse didn&039;t like walking without a path, up an unknown h he trusted me, he didn&039;t know I could see in the dark I kicked his sides He looked back at , I ain&039;t walking in the dark, lady Hoain He huffed a breath and bent to drink

"Oh, all right," I said, hungry, feeling the cold wind through my cloak "How&039;s this?" Quickly, I threaded two tiny quartz rings to a saddle thong, thus They brightened the ground enough that he gave a chest-heaving sigh and started uphill, his ground-covering pace faster than I could have walked for any length of time I patted his massive shoulder "Thanks," I whispered

Two hours later, I caught a whiff of distant briin of the stink, still far uphill, the trail across broken ice We had reached the ice cap and Hoone as far as he could

I had discovered several things on the long ride The silk-lined, padded leather cloak wasn&039;t insulated enough for teht A battle dobok wasn&039;t coear, and battle boots didn&039;t stay in stirrups well I had blisters onheld at an unaccustolected to bring food for Hory

I let the Friesian drink icy water frole lower than his head "This is it for you, old boy," I said, patting his shoulder and sliding to the ground "I wish I had thought to bring you soh"

I led him to a spot that was nearly flat and pulled the bit fro, I loosened his girth and pulled an a a shield of protection Spawn never turned down a free meal - they would stop and eat even in the ht, I wanted them to bypass Homer

"When you get hungry, pull the reins free and head home," I said to Homer "You can break the shield anytime you want from the inside" Almost as if he understoodhis left hip go lax, and closed his eyes I chuckled, the sound sad "Hope you get to enjoy the nap" I layhis side, fixing his scent and for into him, I silently reviewed the last-ditch incantation I had co else to keep me with Homer I secured all ed stone I owned, e the three crucifixes over ive I patted the a the shield over Hohtly around me, turned, and took the first steps uphill, north, toward hell

It was near dawn and colder than winter when I reached the opening in the left peak of the Trine Below me, Mineral City was invisible Above, only a few stars still dotted the sky with hope In front, the opening in the earth glowed a foul reddish shiht The smells were sulfur, blood, old death, and bri of tortured, softening ice and the whistling wind

Bracing round near the opening was marked with the prints of aze traveled in and down

Old fears, kept at bay on the trek uphill, when every thought and sense was focused on the half-frozen ground andice at my feet, reared their heads I had been in a place like this Four years old? Three? Too young to fight Too s Lost in the dark

Horror rippled overmy skin The smell of my blood Under ht, a tracery of old agony

I re off the rock all aroundin front of the entrance to a hellhole, I shivered uncontrollably

I didn&039;t have to do this I could h the gap in the peaks Ciana had a seraph amulet She&039;d be safe If she had time to call for help If a seraph was nearby and heard her If But even if they were close by and answered in a heartbeat, she would likely be injured, and certainly terrified And humans seldom survived a spawn attack

I knelt and drank fro my face in snowmelt There was a ti - except the icy certainty of failure and death Even with the aies, I wouldn&039;t win here Not alone And this time, whether help came or not, there would be no respite, no e in dire," I would probably die, whether fighting alongside answering seraphs, or after, in Enclave If they answered If they heard ripped round, in a hellhole, trapped in the blackness of eternal night, in the past So held me there, as if I were pierced by a massive claw on a corkboard of dark threads The cold stone had been rough at my back, a measure of safety in the fissure of rock Helph Host Seraphs of stone Help hed My thirst grew, and ain I called on the High Host, over and over, even as ht speared h the tears in my eyes "Revealer of the rock," a voice said, a voice like bells and wind chie" And then I was free, on the surface In the healing hands of Lolo That was all I reround, a prisoner All that I remembered of my rescue Except this time there was one more line, one new canto in the old memory Revealer of the rock I had heard that phrase before, recently, but I was too tired to remember where

The dark and fear and horror had brandedto save Ciana from that

With the heel of my boot, I drew a scircle I placed the hunk of aed stones in a ring around it I re, and upended the walking stick, tip to the sky, with the bloodstone touching the ht opened The stench of evil intensified The peak glowed the ailing greenish yellow of snow, overlaid with the red and black of Darkness Though I had never been to war, I had been taught how to prepare I closed , I began the ancient chant "Stone and fire, water and air, blood and kin prevail Wings and shield, dagger and sword, blood and kin prevail" Calentle as the down beneath Raziel&039;s wings I chanted, breathing, feelingfor death

The stone under th to me The stones and the ath of thedisturbed ht passed

The tith thruht in the saddle Alht before Almost as if I had eaten Almost as if I weren&039;t terrified I paced toward the opening to the pit, ni smoothly I kneouldn&039;t last If the seraphs didn&039;t hear e in dire," if they didn&039;t coht noer slah my veins, and with blades held in a perfect lion rampant, one blade vertical, one horizontal, I entered the hellhole

Inenergies, red, the dull yellow of lichen beneath the glow of ss I rew stronger, the air hed And heard a soft click just ahead Followed by the skittering of padded feet on stone Outside, though the sky was bright gray with dawn, the sun was still below the horizon Spaere still awake Now or never

I sang out a battle challenge as I advanced, placingstone floor "I, the e, I join battle with Darkness! Battle in the mount of the Trine! Battle which the Lord commanded!"

Three spawn appeared in the tunnel before ed and pincer-clawed, bodies like moles, human-shaped hands but mailed with scales and six-inch claws, three-toed feet One sniffed, a wide sh its , screeching, piercing cries for blood

I lifted both ar, blades in clean arcs A forearm reached for me and I drew first blood Spawn bones jarred the blade, but the hand fell, twitching to the tunnel floor With the longsword, I cut higher, prepared this ti, spine severed Another, his blood a spurting geyser The third, bodies left writhing like snakes, all beheaded Darkness could heal of anything except beheading

Dozens more replaced the and hacking, I ht until they wounded h to need help, and yet far enough frohed, and the sound echoed off the limestone, louder, more harsh than the yowls of spawn The hoard paused, shifted, as if the laughter frightened thehed again And beheaded tith a single strike

Ichor splattered, burningof death and battle It tried to eat through the leather to e-touched, conjured against their spawn fluid

The smallest, braver and more stupid than the others, ducked in under h the cloth and the flesh above le swipe, I cut it in two It fell at my feet The dobok stopped its saliva, but the scent ofSpawn licked their chops and chattered with hunger I cut off the leg of one who leaned too close When I danced back, the spawn nearest tore into it with ravenous teeth, blocking the tunnel for an instant Until now, I hadn&039;t noticed, but they were eating their own fallen The smell of blood was too much an invitation for thenized the one to the left It here they had taken Lucas I shouted and spun, racing to rescue my ex-husband, the man who had betrayed me The father of the child of my heart A Stanhope the seraphs owed a blood debt His scent was on the air, remembered, beloved An ache started in my chest The amethyst throbbed in time with the pain

Spawn chased behind me, their breath foul on my neck From a junction of tunnels, more spawn poured I took a blow toaround led free froer of blood, I cleared a swath before ht and ahead I sensed Lucas, one level below me With his cell fixed in my mind, I turned left and down Teeth and claws lacerated s burned My cloak smoldered My exposed flesh seared I cut and sliced and hacked My left hand tingled as feeling returned to it