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"The house itself is wood, glass, and stone," Rainier said "It’s not trying to do anything But based on the clue and the witch in the glass, it does see to kill us Hurt us at the very least That same someone hired a Black Widow to create illusion spells--and probably other things--that we’ll assume will try to harm us while we look for a way out"
More than one Black Widow,Surreal thought That was soer After all, she could be wrong
Sweet Darkness, please let her be wrong
"We’ve got two laht," Rainier said
"And one weapon," Surreal said as Rainier handed her the poker "I didn’t put ht when I "
Rainier picked up a small box that had been next to one of the lahtfully at the contents
"Those arehis eyes "You scratch one on the rough side of the box to get a little fire to light the la"
"I knohatthe box into his coat pocket Then he looked at Surreal "Do we shield?"
If they didn’t, they were vulnerable If they did…
"Just us or the children?" she asked The landens wouldn’t have any control over the shield or be able to replenish the power in it, but she and Rainier could place one around each child to protect them from the first few attacks Except…
"If we shield everyone, that’s ninethe times we’ve already used Craft, that would eliminate more than half the possible exits fro exactly what she had been thinking
"And most likely, the easier exits to find are the ones that will close first" Like the front door And thethere in the sitting roo a lot of attention, but the house looked like it was a good size without beingthat big A dozen rooms in all?"
Rainier nodded "Plus attic and cellar"
Was there another exit in that room?
"If the intention is for us to face the traps, there won’t be more than one or two exits in the front rooms," Rainier said "And if thisis based on a mystery story, we’ve already seen the clue and been shown a saered if we find an exit and try to use it"
Unfortunately, she agreed with hione to this much trouble to create this place and then risk the possibility of their finding an exit quickly
Surreal studied the rooht be useful--and seeing nothing that would work to their advantage
She had dressed casually in trousers, shirt, and jacket, and earing the boots Lucivar had given her at Winsol Too bad she hadn’t called in her stiletto and the palned with sheaths for both knives She would have felt more comfortable if she had a couple of honed blades within reach Well, they were still within reach, since she could call them in, but she wouldn’t be the only one penalized if she used Craft, so she would have to wait until she needed a blade
"You knoe’d better get out of this place in one piece," Rainier said
"For other than the obvious reason that I don’t want to get stuck living here if I end up de slowly as she studied the room
"Doyou want to explain to Lucivar that you didn’t shield before walking into a strange house?"
Ah, shit Maybe getting stuck in the house wouldn’t be so bad after all
"Do we gamble and not create shields?" Rainier asked
"For now Let’s gather up our flock of idiot sheep and herd them over to the room across the hall"
"They’re not idiot sheep; they’re children"
"That’s what I said" Her study of the rooht her back to the portrait over the fireplace
So with the whole face as the illusion spell started The portrait’s head shifted to look down at her The mouth curved in a leer as the man said in a harsh whisper, "I knohat you are"
Sootten bruised when Falonar’s interest had waned in response to her wanting to hone her fighting skills No Not her fighting skills Her killing skills There was a difference, even to an Eyrien warrior She had never been a warrior, but she had been a da a blade fro Deadly Her
"I knohat you are," the portrait said again
"No," she told it "You don’t"