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"I’ll show you," she told hiain he shook his head

Jealousy consumed Aeriel How dared the bandit queen? How could Sabr, who had known Irrylath only a few short daymonths, become so close to him? Surely she, Aeriel, had tried every whit as hard to touch him, to lend comfort, to know his heart--only to be repeatedly rebuffed You cannot help ht No one can help me But she did not hear him say so to Sabr now

"Whether you love me or not," she told him, "whether you can lie with me or not, I love you And I only wish that your heart were your own to give as you choose, not soed to pieces between the teeth of the White Witch and a green-eyed sorceress"

"Oh, cousin," Irrylath told her, "if only that were so"

Sick, silently raging, Aeriel stumbled away from camp The red sand’s dry crust broke and crumbled underfoot She met no one--No one hindered her The pavilions fell away behind The night all around stretched dark and still--but she could not escape the hateful words still ringing in her mind, or the memory of what had passed between Irrylath and Sabr

"Thief!" she gasped, shuddering, scarcely able to draw breath "Queen of thieves!" Erin had been right Ducking, Aeriel fought back tears "Irrylath belongs tostirred in the darkness ahead of her Abruptly, Aeriel stuh the pale glilow of the pearl The creature before her cawed and flexed its wings As tall as her forear it stood: completely black Its feathers threw back no sheen at all, depthless as shadow Aeriel froze The black bird cawed again and looked at her In its beak it held a silver pin

"Greetings, little sorceress," it said, taking the pin in one of its claws to speak

Aeriel felt her skin prickle "You are one of the Witch’s rhuks"

"Yes," it laughed

"What do you want ofhow she could have been so blind as to leave the camp alone, unarmed The empty dunes stretched all around

"Our lady has a proposition for you," chuckled the rhuk It played with the silver pin in its toes

"Do not call her my lady," Aeriel spat "Your mistress was never mine"

"My lady wishes to confer with you," the bird replied "There is no need for war Surely this matter can be settled amicably between the two of you, face-to-face"

"I mean to face her," Aeriel returned hotly, "as soon as may be, and with an army at my back"

The black bird hissed "Relinquish Irrylath My mistress has a prior claim" It hopped toward her, one-footed, across the sand, its other claw clutching the pin

"My mistress will reward you with any lover you wish She will kill Sabr, if you wish"

Aeriel fell back before the Witch’s er

"My mistress will make you immortal, like herself, if you so desire," the black bird rasped "She has always longed for a daughter, an heir…"

"She is not iht of the bird: the lorelei s from the feathers of such as these "If she were deathless, she would not fear hed "Do it for Irrylath’s sake," it crooned "Things will go worse for him if you force my lady to take hi in the soft, treacherous sand

"Yield!" the bird exclaimed "Ravenna’s luck has deserted you You don’t even know the last stanza of the rienerous if you will surrender now"

Aeriel felt the ground sloping sharply upward beneath her feet The rhuk had backed her against the steep of a dune For a moment, panic rose in her as she realized she had nowhere left to retreat

"Your mistress is inErin’s words "If the Witch thought she could win, she would have sent her arainst us by now"

"My mistress has let your army come this far because it a at war" The silver pin glearasp "And because you have done her the invaluable service of asse all her enemies in one place"

Aeriel clenched her teeth Her hand at her breast own How dared this creature corner her and issue its dee her to surrender Irrylath and the war?

As she left the dune and strode toward it, the black rhuk fluttered hastily back, raising a fine, dry rain of sand Aeriel quickened her stride