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Keep him safe I shot to Faraway as he rode proudly on

I will take care of him I promise

Syrani caate, she reached forward and gripped my arm

"I’ve never been so scared inlike the arena" She gently led o to the here we could try and watch the armies meet

"I knohat you mean There is no safe zone We can and will die in battle" I gave her a reassuring squeeze "But I think you e here There’s a whole lot of earth, and you’re very strong" I encouraged

"I aest Denai ever born in earth," she said confidently Syrani’s blonde hair was braided and tucked under her cloak A stray wisp kept getting blown about by the wind She tucked it behind her ear again

I could feel her anxiety

"But I’ as you I felt it, in the arena, your power When you were under the earth, I could feel you start to give up But then I felt a sudden surge of power burst forth out of you, and you counter-attacked Are there more like you? Out there?" She nodded with her chin to the approaching army

"Oh, stars, I hope not I don’t think I’h to face others like , you’re stronger," she argued

"There’s a barrier here" I snapped back, suddenly irritated "It ifts Unlike you"

Syrani spun to face er and a heated spark flashed in her eyes "The only barrier is in your mind"

Noise belo my attention to the courtyard Troops ran back and forth, calling each other to arate I followed the ar high in the sky across the field as theyariant surrounded by his own retinue ofhorses and a division of riders wearing a color that I wished I could rid round soldiers, dressed in browns and red, arlinted toward the front of the arain There! A lone rider covered in a robe wore a silver hook-nosed est black raven I’ve ever seen

My body ran cold and my hands started to shake, but only for a er We had a score to settle, and I was determined to watch him die Preferably byfor him to be killed by his own creation

The Raven and his ar Tieren, dressed for war, rode out to er ar Tieren was in his rightclose to the King, keeping him protected and flanked Both armies pulled up to face each other and stood fir Tieren and Gideon spurred their horses forward, and the Septori parted so that the Raven could coed and King Tieren pointed his hand back the way the Raven had coe

The silver ain as the Raven tossed his head back and laughed Desperately, I wanted to be able to hear what they were saying It didn’t see in Tieren’s favor as I saw him raise his sword to attack the Raven

"Please," I whispered Wishing, hoping for the sword to strike true--wishing that the Raven would be no more But it was Tieren whose sword stopped asped as Gideon’s sword flashed out and sliced through Tieren’s

Red flowed from Tieren’s side and I could see his body tilt toward Gideon, a shocked expression on his face He fell forward to the ground and stopped hastly scene