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He heard
He heard squelchy sounds, like overripedropped on a hard floor
With his inner vision, he saw the web glowing bright red in the eye of a violent gray storm He saw the dark circle of Hayllian minds flare and flare and flare until it shattered He saw that other circle change to solid Gray
Gasping, he poured th into the web
A circle of Gray to contain the storm of power When the unleashed Gray hit that Gray wall, the backlash would be as bad as the initial strike
The thought had barely for he could out of his Red Jewels
It would return to its source Whatever wasn’t absorbed as it roared through the Hayllians’ ainst their Jeould return to its source
Hell’s fire, Mother Night, and h to shield herself? She would be as vulnerable to the backlash as the rest of them
The ground shook
Wind howled through the streets of Ranon’s Wood
Lightning tore the sky apart
He felt the land e fed into it as as left of the Gray flooded back to its source
And then he felt the silence
Thera punched his shoulder weakly "Getoff me I can’t breathe"
Jared’s head jerked What had he been thinking of, lying on her like that? He rolled off her but i to do for her Even a Healer as good as Reyna had been couldn’t have helped her
Groaning, Thera sat up She looked over his shoulder What color there had been in her face fled
"Mother Night," she gasped before she got to her hands and knees, crawled a couple of feet away from him, and becahtened her
He recognized the badge worn by a Master of the Guard
That was all he recognized
Too numb to look away, he stared at the torn, pulped mess
It would have been all of the everyone connected to it
He shook his head, breaking the trance
He wouldn’t think of itCouldn‘t think of it
Thera’s continued retching brought hi in the trail of intestines
Gathering up the hair that had escaped the loose braid, he put one hand on her forehead to support her, closed his eyes, and tried with all sincerity to convince his sto when chunks of her stomach were strewn all over the road?
Thera finally sat back on her heels "Shit," she said weakly, "it s to widen the tear "Help et it off It s under his breath, Jared ripped the tunic in half
Thera i at the gauzy material wrapped around her middle
Jared stared for a moment He pushed her hands away and ripped the erly wiped her belly with a piece of her tunic
No shattered bones No torn flesh
Jared leaned back His hands curled into fists "You sneaky little--You tricked us!"
"I trickedthenore it"
"I was supposed to ignore it?" Jared said er started to heat his blood
She eyed hiured you were going to be a little upset about this," she ht I saw Lia get ripped apart right in front of ht Exploded "YOU IDIOT! Do you realize how lucky you were that whoever unleashed that Jewel didn’t go for your heart or your brain?" He shook her hard enough to make her squeal "You could have been killed! Who--"
She didn’t have to answer
Talon strode down the street, stepping over Hayllian bodies, kicking pieces out of his way
Did Talon even see them? Jared wondered as he leaped up to intercept the furious Warlord Prince
"Damn you, Lia, I did as you asked!" Talon roared "A strike to the belly Not even a fast, clean kill,but a strike to the belly !" His eyes filled with tears "Da out rabbed Talon’s shoulders "It was a trick, Talon This is Thera, and she’s all rightIt was a trick "
Talon esture with his hand "Then what’s all that spewed in the street?"
"Pig guts," Thera ed
Maybe it was iven hiuts?" Talon said in disbelief
"Pig guts," Jared said, nodding slowly "When they butchered the pigs yesterday e buckets of offal" He srew to a roar "I should take you over my knee and wallop some consideration into you!"