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When he drew it out, she said, "MacRieve, the arrowhead is bone! Look at those old-fashioned flights - were those feathers plucked from a dodo bird?"
"Come, then, hold it"
She reluctantly accepted it from hi with it, no? Some power?"
"I do," she admitted "But wood and bone?"
"Trusted stand-bys for euphemisms and arrows"
"MacRieve! It&039;d be like Serena Willia to Wimbledon with a flyswatter"
"Aye, but if she were as good as you are at shooting, she&039;d still win"
At that, Lucia gave hi arrow or not, I&039;ll take it" She slipped it into her thigh quiver
In a solemn tone, he said, "You chose wisely" Then he added, "I&039;old I dinna want to alars about this Noe can take it without waking an ancient evil So, as far as afternoons-after go, this is looking up"
She chuckled, leaping into his ar hirunted "Easy, lass, go easy on the ribs"
"Oh, sorry!"
She slid down, and just that was enough tobreath, he set her away "Let&039;s get you out of here" On their way to the entrance, he thought he heard sous "Did you hear that?"
But she was already jogging ahead, chattering happily
"Wait, Lousha!" He would&039;ve been right behind her but he could have sworn he&039;d heard so
Chapter 43
Lucia couldn&039;t stop a grin as she exited the toolden one of her dreams - but she&039;d sensed its latent power
In fact, Lucia had never felt the like
Last night in the skiff, she&039;d thought she was finished This ame and in a better position than she&039;d ever been I&039;s had that opportunity? To rid herself - and the world - of an aboression, her darkness, surfaced, filling Lucia with the need for raw violence She wanted to kill Cruach, to hurt him
Her path was clear: journey to the Northlands where Cruach&039;s lair was located, od All she had to do was lose MacRieve in Iquitos -
A vampire appeared out of thin air, not twenty feet fro in the canopy&039;s shade She&039;d been right - he had been aboard the Barão Though his face was expressionless, she sensed his menace She had her bow up and her arrow shot so fast it was a blur, but he traced out of the ith incredible speed
The arrohizzed off into the distance
Ipain, she shut her eyes and awaited it Still waiting She cracked open her eyes Nothing
Because Skathi has no hold on me -
Suddenly, Lothaire did He&039;d traced behind her, grabbing her around the neck in a tight choke hold
Getting sick ofmy neck!
In his thick Russian accent, he commanded, "Drop the bow, Valkyrie Or I&039;ll trace you from this place"
In the blink of an eye, he could teleport her to the Horde dungeons She unwillingly tossed her bow beside her pack "I kneas you aboard the Barão"
MacRieve exited the tos lengthening Pale blue eyes evaluated, spying for any weakness in Lothaire
"Come closer, and I&039;ll punish her," the vampire said, so coolly To Lucia, he asked, "You&039;re hunting for a dieumort?"
"Aye, take it," MacRieve bit out "Just doona hurt her"
"I&039; Back inside, Archer"
She resisted "Lothaire, we&039;re here to stop an apocalypse, a real end-of-the-world scenario"
As if she hadn&039;t spoken, he said, "Take me to the Gilded One Now"
She hesitated until MacRieve gave her a quick nod "Do it"
Lucia saw no choice but to comply With the vampire&039;s arm a constant pressure around her neck, she headed back inside to the charowl in his throat
"Don&039;t you care that we&039;re averting an apocalypse?" she asked Lothaire "Don&039;t you have anyone on this earth you&039;d prefer, oh, I don&039;t know, not to die?"
The pressure on her neck increased At her ear, the varated, "You don&039;t know me, Valkyrie" His voice was low, o
"We&039;re not supposed to take any treasure or disturb the Gilded One," she heedlessly continued "Or else we&039;ll wake an ancient evil" As soon as she spoke the words, she cringed Like he would care - he was an ancient evil He&039;d probably think, The more the merrier
When they returned to the charew riveted to a plain golden ring - on La Dorada&039;s thumb The one on her person
"You can&039;t take that, va from her body, we&039;ll all be doo his hold on Lucia, he reached down, snapping La Dorada&039;s thuasped
"Why that ring, Lothaire?" MacRieve demanded "Of all these riches?"
"There&039;s no accounting for taste" He shoved the finger and gold band into his pants pocket
"Bastard! You can&039;t take that frorip "You don&039;t understand - it will set off traps We&039;ll all be killed"
She felt Lothaire shrug behind her "Then it&039;s fortunate that I can trace"
"Not if I can help it" She grabbed his ar that ring, vaht hied for them, Lothaire&039;s hands flew up Lucia felt pressure, then heard an uncanny crack
Then came darkness
As Garreth ran for her, he saw it all as if in slow motion
With no hint of expression, the varipped her chin and the back of her head and snapped her neck The pop of bone was deafening
Lucia&039;s limp body dropped With a roar, MacRieve tackled thin air; Lothaire had traced twenty feet down the corridor
"I told you not to come closer," the vampire said "She&039;s been punished"
Garreth bellowed in fury, but the vaears The traps
"Lousha, wake up, baby" She couldn&039;t be killed like this She couldn&039;t - but who knew in the Lore? He&039;d also never thought his cousin would marry a witch or that the Lykae queen would be a va sound of rocks breaking The to Garreth clutched Lucia&039;s li head, and tore down the corridor
Once he reached the tomb entrance, he could barely see - stone dust filled the air The levees were self-destructing! Walls were collapsing, water shooting through With no mortar, they&039;d crumble like a sand castle
The city was about to be wiped out About to be bombarded ater, boulders, and four-ton anacondas
Which left hi to shelter her body fro her completely unprotected
Chapter 44
Howler round quaking
In and out of consciousness, Lucia dimly perceived that MacRieve had her in a fire upside down He&039;d yelled, "Oh, fook this!" snatched up her gear, and then he&039;d taken off running
With his every step, pain spiked through one spot in her neck The rest of her body was numb
As he sprinted down the cobbled path, the tote MacRieve ducked and sidestepped while they crashed all around thee ceiba trees exploding up fro ar to help hiain, she gaped down Beneath theills
At last, against all odds, MacRievethe rock wall even as it cruh alive Every ti, stones would disappear, pluinable water pressure shot rocks like they were cannonballs Directly above them, water jetted with a bullet&039;s velocity
"Just hold on, lass," he told her "I&039;ll get us out of this" He added in a mutter, "Somehow"
With that, she blacked out onceher flat in the botto to start the engine, again and again "Coer!"
It roared to life - they&039;d be saved!
"Can you hear ot the against the afternoon sun streah branches With a frown, she lifted her head -
Pain radiated through her neck, then down her back "Ow!"
"Damn it, stay put!"
She couldn&039;t ht up Probing her neck, she cried, "That hurts!"
"Then stop doing it Just lie still for a bit"
"Are we safe yet?"
"Uh, no, no&039; as such"
She could hear the propeller churning, could s, and yet the branches overhead weren&039;t ods, the river was equalizing, and they were caught in the current "We&039;re about to be sucked back into the necropolis, aren&039;t we?"
"Oh, aye"
Come on, come on! Garreth inwardly coine take?
She&039;d been quiet for long moments "Now are we safe?"
Just as he&039;d muttered, "No&039; yet," the current released them at last The boat shot forward, freed He briefly closed his eyes in relief
"MacRieve, you&039;re going to have to narrate I can only look up"
"We&039;re out of danger for now - and on our way back to the Contessa" If the ship&039;s even there
"How did you get us out of that back there?" she asked
Sheer luck "Great skill How&039;s your neck?" Though it was such a devastating injury, the actual break would be s, then it&039;s healing"
"Then I&039;m definitely on the mend I think I can sit up soon," she said "I can&039;t believe Lothaire gave me the neck adjustment from hell Strike that - I can totally believe it, but I&039;ht there at the to us"
Doubtless the leech watchedher Bluidy va?" Lucia asked
"He&039;s an ancient, the Eneer with every year
"What do you think he wants with that ring?"
"Doona know It was the siold in all of the chamber It must have some powers that we doona know of"
"Do you think he&039;ll be back?"
"I think he&039;s long gone frooing to do about the great evil getting her finger broken off? Also, I&039;ot water in there on the watchers Three out of three house rules broken"