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He took a step toward the Coach

"Warlord!" Krelis’s Craft-enhanced voice thundered "Your tily at the Coach before retreating into the tavern He took a deep breath, let it out slowly Took another Following Thera’s terse, final instructions, he began to fill the psychic ith his Red strength Slow and steady No pulses of power that could overwhelm the non-Jeweled Blood in the web Slow and steady

Randolf Blaed Talon

He used them as touchstones because they had been the last three added to the web and he could still recognize theh the web let hied

They were as ready as they could be

Any Hayllians co place would have to pass the Coaches, would have to pass by him

Jared bared his teeth "Coht

Hearing Lord Krelis’s voice thunder over the village, one of the Hayllian guards atching the east end of the village rubbed his hands in anticipation

Now Hayll would teach another of these inferior races what ithih Priestess’s-- notice

Maybe he’d even have a chance to show one or two of these Shalador bitches what it was like to be lanced over his shoulder at the slope that led down into that dirt circle His grin faded He shuddered

What had they used that circle for? Some kind of witches’ celebration? Soht of exploring that circle,a squat to defile it But when he’d reached the top of the slope, he’d hit a wall of cold air that h it would end up with shriveled balls and a permanently li for the signal towould have to wait The commanders had been very firm about that Full psychic shields to protect themselves and controlled strikes to wear down the Jeweled Blood and drive thee

However, once the little bitch-Queen was caught

So passed by him, a few yards to his left, and headed up the slope

Im

The answer that ca there

Uncertain, he sharpened his probe If any of the villagersthis privy hole, it wasn’t going to be nearhi, touched so fiercely violent and powerful

A cold fist settled against his lower back

Then:Nothing there

Shaking his head, he turned back to face the village

When the order finally ca his, hear odd things

Because, for just a moment, he could have sworn he heard drums

Chapter Thirty-nine

Jared clenched his teeth, squeezed his eyes shut, and concentrated on feeding his Red strength to the web

Daht when he felt Randolf take a hard strikeTap the strength that’s offered Use it

They wouldn’t use it He’d realized that after the first couple of minutes The males who had decided to be thetotheir oels to strike at the Hayllians and keep the bastards fro in too quickly

With his inner vision, he could see the web, its spidersilk threads now colored a strong red from his Jewel He could see the Jewel stars flare with each strike They were all winking, constantly flaring and di continued

Another strike

Another

Talon’s Sapphire Jewel star flared wildly for acould they hold out? What were Thera and Lia waiting for?

He wanted to be out there, fighting with his friends, his people

The Silver Ring kept hiust of wind rushed over his skin, the kind of wind thatleaves sound like rattles The kind that was always a prelude to a violent autumn storm

Jared opened his eyes

He was inside the tavern He shouldn’t be able to feel the wind He was dressed He certainly shouldn’t be able to feel it on his skin

Then he heard the drued his blood and froze it at the sa thethe witches to war

And they answered

Through the web, he felt the tee Merciless

He looked out the , trying to focus on the point where the Hayllians at the landing place--and Krelis-- would enter the village

But he didn’t see any of those things As the wind swept over his skin again, as his blood pounded to the rhythht beads He saw a dark circle surrounding it, slowly constricting as the Hayllians advanced

He saw another circle appear beyond the dark one Light, dark Silver, gold It was all those things--and it held all the answers if he could just stay quiet enough to hear the shout broke his concentration and the vision disappeared

Jared tensed when he saw Randolf retreating up the road The Warlord didn’t even glance at the Coaches Jared silently applauded that self-control If they could draw the Hayllians far enough into the village, Lia still et away

Moments later, several Hayllians appeared One of thee of a Master of the Guard