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With a sudden heave, Loial threw the Trolloc aside, so hard that the thing cartwheeled against the side of a building It struck, headfirst, with a loud crack, and slid down the wall to lie with its neck twisted at an i

Rand looked out of the emptiness for a moment before he realized what had happened As soon as he did, though, he let void and tainted light go, and hurried to Loial’s side

"I neverkilled before, Rand" Loial drew a shuddering breath

"It would have killed you if you hadn’t," Rand told him Anxiously, he looked at the alleys and shuttered s and barred doors Where there were two Trollocs, there had to be more "I’m sorry you had to do it, Loial, but it would have killed both of us, or worse"

"I know But I cannot like it Even a Trolloc" Pointing toward the setting sun, the Ogier seized Rand’s arainst the sun, Rand could not roup oftoward Loial and him Except that now he knehat to look for, the "puppet" s too naturally, and the snouted head rose to sniff the air without anyone lifting a pole He did not think the Trolloc and Darkfriends could see hi shadows, or what lay in the street around him; they , and co closer

"Fain knows I a his blade on a dead Trolloc’s coat "He’s set theh, or he wouldn’t have theuised If we can reach a street where there are people, we’ll be safe We have to get back to Hurin If Fain finds hi to the next corner and turned toward the nearest sounds of laughter and roup of men appeared ahead of them in the otherwise empty street with a puppet that was no puppet Rand and Loial took the next turning It led east

Every tihter, there was a Trolloc in the way, often sniffing the air for a scent Some Trollocs hunted by scent Sometimes, here where there were no eyes to see, a Trolloc stalked alone More than once he was sure it was one he had seen before They were closing in, andsure he and Loial did not leave the deserted streets with their shuttered s Slowly the two of them were forced east, away fro narrow, slowly darkening streets that ran in all directions, uphill and down Rand eyed the houses they passed, the tall buildings closed up tight for the night, with ret Even if he pounded on a door until someone opened it, even if they took Loial and him in, none of the doors he saould stop a Trolloc All that would do would be to offer up more victims with Loial and himself

"Rand," Loial said finally, "there is nowhere else to go"

They had reached the eastern edge of the Foregate; the tall buildings to either side of thehts in s on the upper stories ht Ahead lay the hills, cloaked in first twilight and bare of so h He could just er hills, perhaps a s inside

"Once they push us out there," Loial said, "they won’t have to worry who sees theestured to the walls around the hill "Those should stop a Trolloc It must be a lord’s ier, and an outland lord? This coat has to be good for so sooner or later " He looked back down the street No Trollocs in sight yet, but he drew Loial around the side of the building anyway

"I think that is the Illuuard their secrets tightly I don’t think they would let Galldrian hiotten yourself into now?" said a familiar woman’s voice There was suddenly a spicy perfume in the air