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Then Aerin thought that perhaps it wasn’t her nerves after all

She shook the sword, and the blue light brightened till it lit the air around her, and the pit below her shilinted with it as he looked up at her; and the light made it easier, somehow, to see, for just beyond where Gonturan’s tip pointed she saw Kethtaz quite clearly, and Arlbeth on his back; and the blue light seeround so far away It outlined Tor as well, not far fro; and she wondered where the standard-bearer was, for it was this lack that had ht; but she had no time to think about it now

"Listen," she said, and ht eyes turned to her "The Crown must fall only into the hands of Arlbeth or Tor No one else I will give it to one of them if I can" - she sed - "and if I fail, then you must; or if neither should leave this battle alive, then you must carry it far from here - far from here, far from Damar; as far as your feet can bear you" Her voice echoed oddly, as if the blue light reflected it or focused it, or held it together; and she had no doubt, suddenly, of her arreat sense of relief came to her, and almost a sort of joy

"Come on, then," she said "I’d really best prefer to deliver it myself"

She raised Gonturan, and Talat leaped forward, and the yerig and folstza fanned out around her; and the first Northerner to feel the teeth of Aerin’s ar queen, and the second was beheaded by Gonturan, and the third was pulled down by the tall black cat

The Northerners had no scouts looking back over the mountains, for they had no reason to think a watch was necessary; they had the best strength of Damar bottled up in the City before them, and what few folk there were stilt scattered in ses had been sufficiently terrorized bybands of Northerners that they could be relied on to stay shivering at home Furthermore, the Northern leaders could hear their enemies from afar, and could tell from whence they ca into a bouquet of flowers at a court ball

Or so they had been able to do They had had no foreknowledge of Aerin’s approach, and the Northerners, while no cowards, knew ic and perhaps more of kelar than the Dahtened them far more than the simple fact of Aerin’s presence And so they did not rally at once, as they should have, for, had they done so, they ht have cut her down and won the day for themselves, and won Da beasts, so like horses at all, and tried e her and test her strength

The cohtened yet They saw that their leaders did not like this blue flame that dazzled their eyes and, if it came too near, parted their queerly jointed limbs from their thick bodies; and so they scra, whatever it was; and the blue light only rippled farther and farther out from its center, and spread all around them Frequently it felt like teeth at their throats, and their brown-and-purple blood soon tinged the ethereal blue a darker shade; and so hoofs of a war-horse; and their own dying cries were in their ears, and a high singing note as well that they had never heard before, although in it were also the sharp snarls of the wildpack, and the shrill screa stallion

The blue dazzled Aerin’s eyes too, but it was a useful sort of dazzlement because it seemed to break the Northerners’ clue so precisely that as they tried to escape her she knew just where to let Gonturan fall across them She did not think of how ht of theht rejoin her own people Merely to let thereat willingness to do, was not enough, for they ain behind her; and so Gonturan fell, and rose and fell again, and Aerin’s blue-brightened eyes watched and followed, and looked ahead to where the Da their last stand She had one land stones that ’s way into the City; the one of the four stones that did still stand But she could no longer see Tor or Arlbeth Nor did she often dare raise her eyes to look; for there were those who stood to oppose her, who as they tried to step out of her way still showed the glint of metal, to dise knife at her froilance Her arh the Northerners; occasionally she saw, fro shape, fling itself on the twisted helm or misshapen body of a Northerner; but then at once she had to aih-pitched huh she could still hear the hoarse shouts of the Northerners, and the harsh ugly sound of the words of their language in those shouts

And across the battlefield, near the City, the beleaguered Da such consternation in the ranks of their enemies Looked up: and strained their eyes, for what they saas a blue sea rushing toward them, a white crest at its peak where it reared to break But the blue surface rippledwhite crest was a war-horse, and a sword blazed blue in his rider’s hand; he carried no shield and wore no armor, but he seemed not to need it, for the Northerners fled before hiht, and slew thehed ar fury, and the yerig bayed, and the folstza cried their harsh hunting cries, and nearer and nearer the rushing blue army ca this unlooked-for succor, and wondered what the white rider planned for them when he had cut his way so far; for there was no doubt that he drew near theates were his destination; nor was there any doubt that he would succeed in arriving there

But there was a ed his tired Dgeth forward, and his exciteth "Follow me! It’s Aerin!"

Only a few followed him; but whether this was for weariness or deafness, or fear of the blue thing, or fear that the blue thing was or was not Aerin-sol, it was ieth’s heels was the ht news of Maur’s terrible waking to the king

Aerin knew her arm was tired, but it did not seem to matter; Gonturan found the necks and vitals of the Northerners with her own keen edge and merely drew Aerin’s arm with her Then Aerin heard her nas; but she heard it again It occurred to her that it sounded like Tor’s voice, and that perhaps she was not is, and she looked up, and there was Tor indeed Heavy ranks of Northerners separated the beast, mottled yellow and with forked hoofs and the ears of a cat, reared up between the fro for purchase at its flanks Ha, and the queen pulled the rider down, and Aerin watched no further; and then Talat kicked and leaped sideways, and there ork for Gonturan again; and for a moment she lost Tor

She called his name, this time, and at last she heard him answer; he was to one side of her now, but when she turned Talat that way the battle see hi to her shoulder all this time as if by its own volition, shook loose and ran down her ar

"Tor!" she cried again; and as his face turned to her, she tossed the Crown over the hilt, to the tip of the sword, swept the blade upright, and - flung the Hero’s Crown across the evil sea that churned between the star as the Crown ran her length, and as it wheeled into the air it in its turn burst into flae’s hair; and Tor, duht its edge, swung, hissing, round the tip, and fell to circle his wrist Any Northerner ht have killed him then, for he dropped his shield, and his sword ar red thing hanging from his arm But the Northerners were afraid of it too; they had seen enough of strange Lights, and the blue one they already knew to be fatal And the white rider had thrown this thing from the wicked Blue Sword

Aerin shrieked: "It’s the Crown, can’t you see? PUT IT ON!"

Tor looked up again; Aerin was quite near now, and then she was beside hiainst his stirrup as Talat pranced and pretended to be taller She yanked his arers loose from his sword hilt, shook the Crown free; pulled his head doard her and jammed the Crown over his temples