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My stoht They were no match for Hyto Even with Smoky, Vishana, and Shade, Delilah and Iris weren’t equipped to take hiht Get out of the way Now"

"We aren’t leaving you" Iris held firmly to her wand

"This isn’t a question of loyalty It’s a question of self-preservation Move, now And if things go wrong, run as hard as you can and hope to hell you can reach the barrow before Hyto does" Pale as night, I turned away

Delilah took Iris’s hand I could feel her watching me but didn’t turn around "Coht"

Hyto stopped about twenty yards froan to transforon--twice as large as Smoky--rose up before us He looked like Smoky, only his skin was er; the mane on his back whipped back and forth He crouched on all fours, staring at us, and split the air with a violent chuckle

Terror struck ht Son for--he wasn’t nearly the stature of his father

Holy crap This wasn’t going to end well I could feel it in my bones

Vishana turned to me "Back away Now Let us have rooe Shade grabbedme out of the way, but before he could, there was a rustle in the woods behind us I heard Delilah let out a long cry Iris, too

Turning, I saw sonized

Oh, no Please, no Please, don’t let this happen

There, in full battle are, coon He stared up at Hyto, his eyes onder and anger

"You will not pass, serpent! You will not pass! Leave the winsome Lady Camille alone"

"No! Shade, help him" I pushed Shade away from me and si it at Hyto The winds had not worked, but he was on the ground now

Hyto was eyeing St George with the look of a kid eyeing a Popsicle His long neck coiled and--

Lady of the Land, take hian to shake and the snow fell froround A low ruh the valley The ground shifted in tortuous bends, like the waves off the ocean whipped up by a gale

Below us, on the slope, I could hear the roar of an avalanche, and I prayed no one else had been co as niround rocked back and forth

Shade raced forward, grabbing Georgio before he could take on the dragon of his dreams, and practically fleith hi sure that Georgio was safe He seemed to have fainted, which was probably for the best The last thing we needed was his interference

I turned back to find S hands Then an to transform As I scrambled out of the way--I knew better than to be in the way of three angry dragons--they rose up

Vishana was as large as Hyto--even larger But her skin shimmered with silver and her eyes were steely and hard She flattened several trees and bushes as she backed up to get her bearings

Smoky was se point, it seemed incredible that I’d ever been astride his back

Hyto dipped and coiled, his neck winding as he rolled his head back, and then a hailstor the temperature further still The pellets of ice spread out over the area, catching S beyond inice bullets began to lodge intoaway so that they hit against my back The cloak of the Black Beast absorbedhit over and over by thu into the sky, followed by S they were challenging Hyto He gave one long look in my direction, then joined them As I watched, they spiraled in a circle

And then ca Hyto’s side Hyto raised his head and let out a terrible shriek as the blast blackened the skin I could hear S

Hyto whipped around, his tail sla back head over heels through the air I gasped as he fell, through the sky, pluround But shortly before he reached the tops of the tallest firs, he pulled up short and went shooting back toward the pair of circling dragons