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Helen tried to remind herself that this was all j ust practice An illusionlike a char

Drake’s hand covered her mouth "Let it happen"

As if she had any choice

The sgath didn’t charge this tiht of the Theronai The kaj s

Angus pushed himself to his feet and pulled Gilda up with hi circle using the giant carved boulder to protect one flank Gilda aying on her feet, but the look on her face was one of deterhter and tears of fire spilled down her sath and readied his blade to kill it while Gilda faced the two burning kajath was faster and Angus sliced at it, reen in triumph as it went for Gilda’s unprotected flank

As if reading Angus’sthe black claws of the sgath It slashed three razor-sharp gashes in her long skirt

Gilda ducked Angus’s blade sliced through where her neck would have been and eath

The kajh to reach out with oily black tentacles One shot out for Angus, and Gilda let out a shout of fury and blasted it with a handful of fire

Angus ripped his sword free froath and lifted Gilda onto the carved boulder with one arm His hand locked around her bare ankle and Helen could feel the connection between they reverberated in the air with the power of the ic that flowed between the there with her dark hair and pale skirt flowing out behind her, her eyes gloith fire and a victorious s before in her life

Gilda lifted both hands toward the kajmelas and released another fountain of fla and seething as if it were alive The kaj screams, but she did not relent Her body shook with effort, but the fire continued, shrinking the kajreasy puddles remained

In the center of one of those puddles was the sword

The fire tapered off and Gilda collapsed froht her easily and held her close to his chest

The circle of flaround disappeared and the illusion of roaning, but none of the or burned They pushed to their feet and went to Gilda’s side

Drake took Helen’s hand and led her across the clearing

Angus sat on the ground at the base of the boulder and settled Gilda in his lap She was unconscious and pale His left hand encircled her throat and his expression was one of deep concentration

"What’s he doing?" asked Helen

"Reviving her She used tooas well as protecting the gle at how ic had to take Helen hadn’t even ed toover How ht

"Angus is pulling h her luceria"

Whatever he was doing orking Already, Gilda was stirring, opening her eyes They were a little bloodshot, but black again, which was a huge relief to Helen She didn’t think she could look the woman in the eye if all that fire was in there

Gilda struggled to sit up and Angus helped her "I aathered there

"Yes, my lady," came the mass reply This time, Drake didn’t join in He stayed and held Helen by his side

It seeuys would take orders from one little woman Of course, that one little woman could probably roast any of their asses even on her worst day, but it still seemed odd

When the men had cleared, Gilda looked at Helen expectantly

"That was arunted He didn’t look pleased In fact, he was giving Gilda a look that promised she’d hear just how displeased he was later "It would have been a lotSynestryn every night, keeping them at bay so our men could find Kevin’s sword You were too tired to have done this tonight" He had a rough voice to go with his rough face Deep lines were carved around his eyes andabout him was hard except the color of his eyes They were a soft sky blue that seemed so out of place she couldn’t help but stare at theus on the knee "It had to be done, Angus I’m fine" She turned to Helen "Do you see nohat is expected of you?"

"There’s no way I’ll ever be able to do what you did Even if I wasn’t scared to death of fire, I still wouldn’t have been able to wield so much power"

"Perhaps not yet, but one day you will The question is whether or not you should try Going into battle without fire would be like one of our warriors going in without his sword You could do it, but it would be foolish and dangerous to everyone around you"

Helen’s vision flashed in herfla Drake’sher--blistering her skin They were real and they hurt like hell