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"You are our great and hty enizes"

Amberhill smiled Or was it Mornhavon? "Yes, I’ve destroyed the world and the people she knew" A blank look, the fluttering of his eyes, then a painful whisper, "I’ to be sorry about, Your Eminence," Webster Silk said hastily He placed a hand on the emperor’s arm, probably the only person who dared touch him He led Areat e"

"Yes, yes, of course I have" A, aren’t we?" he asked the elder Silk, with uncertainty in his voice

"Very strong"

Mornhavon, Karigan thought, was not fully potent He ht for dominance over the other two personalities Mornhavon by himself would have been pure malevolence In this state, he wasdiluted Was there a way to get through to Ah to that other unknown personality? If Mornhavon felt threatened, coht flee to another body, one of the Silks, possibly Not at all a coht Yet, he remained with Ah Karigan did not think it was Amberhill or Mornhavon who spoke this ti nervously Dr Silk darted a glance at her It was apparently not good to let the eht at her "Very bored"

At that moment, the Eternal Guardian, who had remained still as a statue until now, leaned toward Amberhill and spoke too low for her to make out words Amberhill nodded, and the Guardian then spoke to one of the nearby guards The guard hastened from the throne room

"We shall have a contest," Airl is capable of Wagers, gentle her bottoht anxiety Did not want the theers, while Dr Silk visibly fretted beside her "This is not what I intended," he said

His words did not help Any confidence Karigan’s unifor, sapped by the cold, and Mornhavon’s presence, and now the threat of this contest How did she ever get to be in this place? Well, she knew, but still

A Instead, he seemed to derive pleasure frouard that had been sent away returned quickly, and what he carried with him took her by surprise

"What?" Dr Silk said "We can’t use that, it’s a valuable artifact"

"And your Green Rider is not?" As to me anyway, and I can use it as I wish"

Dr Silk bowed "Of course, Your Eain"

"I won’t, Your Ean’s bonewood staff, and a second staff of a lighter wood

"It will be a contest of the Eternal Guardian against the Green Rider," Amberhill announced "With staves But not to the death, as our living artifact an had no idea what "future value" she ht represent to hilad to find out this was not to be a fight to the death Still, though she had fought and trained with Weapons, she had no idea what the Eternal Guardian was capable of, or even if he was huuard told her, "Any use of this for anything other than your contest with the Eternal Guardian, and you will be shot We will have guns trained on you at all tian nodded and took the bonewood into hands stiff with cold The arrip Despite the circuood to have a familiar object to hold It had been her coh Blackveil It was solid, reliable, and deadly If not for all the guards with their guns, she bet she could take on aled," Dr Silk warned her, before clearing out of the way to give room for the bout

"Thank you for your concern," she h he was no taller than an ordinary iant He did not remove helm or aruards Karigan wondered only briefly why he did not carry a gun, like all the others

"Where is my armor?" she asked "It hardly seems fair not to have any"

He did not answer, there was only the hiss-sigh of the mechanism on his back She knew this contest was not about fairness, anyway He raised his staff at the starting position and waited If they did not et killed in this bout, theyGuardian fighting the weak female from the past, who had the temerity not to wear a veil Well, entertain them she would Let them see she could wield a staff

She flexed her hands around the staff and stepped up to the Guardian His eyes flickered as he blinked behind his visor They touched off and began

The Guardian did not hesitate He did not take tian barely deflected the blow to hera series of sophisticated moves She was cold, stiff, slow The icy floor caused her to slip and slide when she tried to maneuver away from the attack The Guardian appeared to have no proble He was like a stout tree rooted in the floor, she a pebble skittering across ice