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"You haven’t said you weren’t"
Jared grunted
They came around the curve in the road
Jared took one s froze
Six Hayllians waited about two hundred yards down the road One of thelance at the that alking unsteadily toward hih his teeth and let it out in a slow hiss
Blaed shuddered
Randolf whispered, "Mother Night"
How could a man live when that much of him had been cut away? Jared wondered as his storoups of , reaching
"Warlord!" Krelis shouted "Take a good look, Warlord! If you don’t bring the little Queen to the landing place in one hour, that’s what every e will look like before we’re done Do you understand me?"
Thank the Darkness his uncle Yarek hadn’t coh for the villagers without their knoould come at the end of it
"Do you like the feather, Warlord?" Krelis taunted "Even a nons, don’t you think?"
"Let’s go," Talon said "We’re wasting time here"
Blaed’s throat worked convulsively "What about Brock?"
Snarling, Randolf raised his right hand A bolt of power fro struck Brock in the heart
Brock jerked once, and then collapsed
Randolf wiped the back of his hand over his mouth "Not even a bastard like Brock deserves to have that done to him"
Jared didn’t protest when Talon’s ue about Talon, Blaed, and Randolf following after the their backs
But he promised himself that, if Lia’s plan failed, his people wouldn’t suffer at the hands of that Hayllian bastard
Even if he had to kill them hi men and smiled At first, he’d felt disappointed that the Shalador Warlord hadn’t had the balls to come alone Noas pleased that there had been other witnesses Alone, the bastard could have denied what he’d seen But those otherfor it to be whispered through the village Once the males heard as planned for them, they’d hand over the Queen Only a fool wouldn’t try to buy a littlethe Shalador bastard back with hih to sh the inner barriers and contain him, but it would be worth the cost
He’d like to hand Lord Jared over to Dorothea She would know just what to do with a male who’d caused her so much inconvenience
Maybe she’d even let hi his own fears and uncertainties locked away, Jared worked to send out a feeling of confidence to the villagers patiently waiting for Thera to add theled web
No one spoke No one even whispered to the person behind them No one dared be the one to break Thera’s fierce concentration
She pricked each villager’s finger, placed one drop of blood on a specific thread of the web she’d built, and then, using Craft, froze the blood in position so that the web began to look like a delicate silver necklace dotted with red beads
Over and over again,swiftly as the minutes slipped away
And each time she placed a drop of blood in its chosen place, Jared felt another mind added to the web If he let his eyes unfocus, he could see it in his mind But the web he saith his inner vision didn’t have drops of blood, it had little Jewel stars--or clear beads for the Blood eren’t strong enough to wear the Jewels Sonize by their Jewels--Eryk and Corry, his uncle Yarek, Thayne--but as an to blur and blend together
The Hayllians would sense so odd, but they wouldn’t be able to find the source becauseeveryone would become the source
Which was basically the same trick Dorothea had used to hide Brock fro, he also realizedtunics and trousers and had loosely braided their dark hair
His pride in his people swelled at their courage
Without being able to separate one psychic scent from another, there was no easy way to tell what Jewel each witch wore, and if the Hayllians didn’t get a good enough look to notice the golden skin, the witches could play "hide the Queen" for hours--or at least long enough to prevent the Hayllians fro was ready
He estimated they had a quarter of an hour left when Blaed and Talon stepped up to the web, the last two to be added Everyone else had dispersed to various points in the village
"There," Thera said, rolling her shoulders as she stepped back from the web She took a couple of deep breaths Then she detached the two botto the web by the top tether threads, she lifted it from the fra a puzzled look with Talon and Blaed, Jared stripped to the waist
"Take a breath and hold still," Thera said "This is the safest way to protect it"
Still puzzled, Jared watched as she laid the web over his chest and belly Then he felt the spidersilk threads and beads of blood asped
Thera studied his chest for asmile "You’re not stuck with everyone perone, the spidersilk and blood will pass back through your skin and fall off"
"Can I get dressed now?" Jared growled He shivered, but it wasn’t just because it was too cold to be standing around half-naked
"Yes, you can get dressed"