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So he would look at this little feht she could be accepted by the kindred, he would ask the Lady to look at her, too The Lady would know if this was a proper friend for his kitten

Suddenly, the wind shifted so that it was coe, still a mile away

Kaelas froze Blood and death scented the air

Della! KaeAskavi lunged forward

With one swipe, Kaelas bowled the kitten over

When blood and death are in the air, you do not run toward it, Kaelas said sternly

Della’s village!

Using Craft, Kaelas probed the area around the had already cos--and deep snow

Make a den Stay hidden, Kaelas ordered

KaeAskavi snarled, but immediately rolled to a subht, KaeAskavi said defiantly

You will hide until I call you Kaelas waited a moment What does the kitten’s den look like?

Froe of a sround, and then a thick stand of trees where KaeAskavi had waited for his friend

Stay here, Kaelas said Make the den

Kaelas didn’t wait to see if KaeAskavi would obey hi so that he left no prints in the snow, he headed for the village, his full, ground-eating stride covering the distance within e smelled of fear and desperation as well as blood and death His sharp ears picked up the sounds of fighting, the clash of hue and bared his fangs in a silent snarl as he detected a Green-Jeweled Warlord Prince So a spot in the trees that looked directly on the back of the she-kitten’s den, he heard a female screa human female climbed out theand juain, la toward the spot where the she-kitten lay at the same time an Eyrien Warlord ca the she-kitten, the Eyrien raised his bloody weapon and er until eight hundred pounds of hatred slammed into him

Kaelas bit off the arm that held the weapon while his claws tore open the belly One blast of psychic power burned out the hu the kill

He paused to bite so about this human that tasted like bad irl, as staring at the dead rowled

She pushed herself up and looked around desperately "KaeAskavi?"

Kaelas, he said With the saentleness he used with his own kitten, he seized her by thefor the shelter of the trees

She le He approved of her courage And now she was an orphan, as he had once been

Choosing a spot where the snow had drifted deep, he set the girl down on air, quickly dug a sirl inside it, then covered up most of the entrance Stay, he ordered

She curled up in a s ball

He loped back to the huirl had cos

The door leading into the rest of the den was open He could see a bloody feo over and sniff her to be sure

He wished Ladvarian was there with hi hu did The dog would have knohat the little feht for aCraft, he opened the drawers and wardrobe, and vanished everything inside the around the roo that smelled of feathers The kitten could be wrapped in that and kept warent need to leave this place pushed at hiht for a s, but

He saw it, lying next to the bed At first, he felt blind hatred, but when he went over to sniff the white toy cat, he realized it had been made froht It sly of the she-kitten--and, fainter, the she-cat’s smell was there, too And there was a psychic sh Lord had called it love

Vanishing the toy, he moved cautiously toward the open door The dead feht a stronger ainst the hunters so that he could escape

He thought, looking at her, that if she could know her kitten was safe and protected, she wouldn’tthe Arcerian cats now

Passing through the back wall of the house, he stopped near the dead Eyrien h the first few inches of snow, then pushed theore, but he didn’t think anyone would be looking for this one right away And until they dug up the body, they wouldn’t know that the hu back to the trees, Kaelas su thein the puffy bedcovering, he laid it on the snow, using two spells he had learned fro spell on the inside and a spell to keep the covering dry on the outside Lifting out the she-kitten, he aardly wrapped her in the covering