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The world was dark, a clouded, cold, elen,in a chill wind,with power My blades, the longsword and the kris, were crossed before ured with a tracery of glohite, stark, yet beautiful

"Help e" a voice belled But the sound fell away Holy Aain by the heart of the mountain that trapped her

Malashe-el stood before , older, darker than it - he? - had seemed once Its hair whipped back in an unseen wind, free of its braid, flying and tangled and lustrous

"You survived You will be called," Malashe-el said, its voice a lower tone, abrasive and coarse "You are desired You will not refuse I have your blood" Turning, it raced away toward the night

I have your blood

In the vision, feathers and down brushed along s A hand cupped h his wings and smiled at me And I have your heart

Three days later, I woke I eased up on my elbows and looked around No cell No hot pincers My loft was as neat as a pin, clean, s sparkling Outside, a snowstors whispered and fans circulated warlass votives

I had been bathed, shae, hollow ache though rowled its displeasure, I felt pretty good nearly ducky

I had survived On a ht, in a battle with the AAS and Darkness And wheels A river But the river seemed to slide away, hard to hold on to, ier

I inspected ertips and a thuauze dressing I flexed the hand It hurt, but not like I expected My fingershere, coe-conjure Like the links of a chain Mole Man&039;s chain And the Mistress, injured, in pain, still trapped below-ground I tried to hold on to theain

Above the scent of candles I caught a whiff of soar and just a hit of ginger Kylen My belly did a little dip and curl The susurration of cloth on cloth drew my eyes to the rocker Thadd sat slouched in it, his hands draped over the carved lion-claw arhtly open He breathed slowly and steadily, the sound not quite a snore A bruise colored his cheek, and both eyes were black fading to green His knuckles were scabbed over I wanted to reach out and touch him, but he looked so tired I droppeda soft clink

Aroundthem each time I woke On the steel chain were new talisle A half-old crucifix, a burned wooden cross, a second cross so disfigured I didn&039;t recognize it

An additional a theof water and studied it "Seraph stones," I whispered It was a sigil, a carved and shaped article of intent On its surface were runes and characters that flamed like torches and ran like water The fla three nuel of punishment had ordered me to wait for him

Almost afraid to look, I lifted old bracelet, one too s hand It too was inscribed with 106 ADONAI

Glory and infamy

106 ADONAI, carved into a stone of proils and GPS locator device of a licensed witchy-woiven one year