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Will Childers pushed past Mick "Jack They’re co Hundreds of theate"

Jack had yanked on his boots and was on his feet before Will finished speaking

"They’re ready for you, Commander," Mick said

"Where’s Stephenson?"

"She’s out there in the ?" Jack snatched up his baldric and strapped it in place He pushed his way out of the tent and loped toward the gate, leaving Mick and Will to catch up as they ht

The plan was, there’d be no heroic sorties outside the wall, where their se Instead, they’d line the top of the Weirwall and rain destruction down on any ah to approach it

Ellen was the strategist What was she thinking?

They aiting for hihost warriors They’d trained for months for this moment Soainst hordes of wizards pouring into the gap Why would she leave the relative safety of the sanctuary and wade into an unwinnable battle?

"They’re already hard at it, sir," Brooks said, scraping his hair into a ratty-looking queue and tying it off with a strip of leather "It’s a melee"

Outside the Weirwall, Jack could hear the thud of bodies colliding and the cries of the wounded It seeiven the fact that Ellen was involved

"Why’d she go out there?" Jack deround "Have you ever tried to stop Captain Stephenson fro off the wall and she seen somethin’ out there, and went out after it The others followed" He paused "We need to go after her, I reckon She wouldn’t go out there ’athout good reason"

It hat Jack wanted to hear He tried to close hishis warriors in danger in order to save Ellen’s life

"All right, I’ out after Captain Stephenson If anyone wants to come with me, they’re welcome, but it looks like a bloodbath out there"

His warriors crowded forward All of them

"Well" Jack tried to sn the lump in his throat "Um, at least half of you need to stay here and hold the walls"

In the end, he had to force them to count off Brooks was selected to stay behind, but he called in a gao" Jack and his fifty passed through the long tunnel of the gate, under Mercedes’s murder holes, and waded into chaos

Visually, it was a sea of bodies--so a blade, let alone tell friend from foe Other twoso about them, as if they were all alone on the practice field Wizard on wizard, warrior on wizard--but no warriors on warriors since none were fighting for the other side Flaround like a seriously hters were clearly marked with e their best to kill one another

Which was a blessing, because otherwise it would already be over

All around, Jack heard the ainst flesh, the explosion of air as blows hit home, the polyphonic roars of his felloarriors Then he was engulfed by the fighting and gave hi Shadowslayer to create a path ahead He was still looking for Ellen

He heard a distinctive yodeling war cry and turned to see Brooks standing alone atop a s from a number of wounds, armed with shield and his trademark tomahawk, under attack by four wizards Bodies were scattered all around his feet, and Jack wondered how th He parried the wizards’ assaults clu fro blood No doubt he would have been down already, but they wanted to take him alive

Jack was still a hundred yards ahen a bolt of wizard fla hied, and Brooks raised his ax with both hands, spewing eighteenth-century oaths and insults, probably hoping he could goad the across his chest and ca froht do Desperately, he sidear down on Brooks

It scissored into their

Jack parried several blasts of fla his blade fro the wizards back Hot blood spattered his face and hands Someone stepped, hard, on his foot, and actually le" style="display:block" data-ad-client="ca-pub-7451196230453695" data-ad-slot="9930101810" data-ad-format="auto" data-full-width-responsive="true"></ins>