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Coll did not ask for another affirmation of his friend’s resolve He knew Murillio too well for that Aye, it’s naught but coin, isn’t it? No e to ease an old wo One way or the other For at least ill have cared -- even if she never again awakens and thus knows nothing of e do Indeed, it is perhaps better that way Cleaner Simpler

The howl echoed as if from a vast cavern Echoed, folded in on itself until thecall became a chorus Bestial voices in countless numbers, voices that stripped away the sense of tile now

The voices of winter

Yet they cao no further; where the trees were no longer ankle-high, hut rose, still ragged, wind-tom and spindly, over her head, so that she could pass unseen -- no longer towering above the landscape

Kin answered that howl The pursuing beasts, still on her trail, yet losing her now, as she slipped arily at her bare feet, the black’ stained water swirling thick and turgid as she waded chill pools Huge mosquitoes swarmed her, each easily twice the size of those she knew on the Rhivi Plain Blackflies crawled in her hair, bit her scalp Round leeches like black spots covered her liht she had stumbled into a spatulate antler, jae a tine had ht cheek still trickled blood

It is th I draw from that final moment, and now they cannot catch me

They cannot catch me

The cavern lay directly ahead She could not yet see it, and there was nothing in the landscape to suggest a geology natural to caves, but the echoing hoas closer

The beast calls to th It is my siren call-

Darkness dren around her, and she knew she had arrived The cavern was a shaping of a soul, a soul lost within itself

The air was damp and cool No insects buzzed or lit on her skin The stone under the soles of her feet was dry

She could see nothing, and the howl had fallen silent

When she stepped forward she kneas herout, seeking that chained beast