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The field was littered with Synestryn bodies, but more of the monsters slithered out of the trees to the west Some she’d seen before; others she hadn’t Each of theh to un

Andra had been in combat before, but never like this There were so many of them Dozens Maybe hundreds She couldn’t tell with all the thrashing bodies It wasn’t light out yet, and although the security lights helped, there were still too s to hide

Fear slid under her skin,all of this through the glass, trying to absorb it enough to get herselfto die

Along the far side of the field stood a woman ouldn’t have even reached Andra’s shoulder She was dressed in a flowing robe of gray silk with her long dark hair hanging nearly to her hips She had that delicate bone structure thatweak about her Four ht andonly her hand as they charged

The first de backward and collided with a second one behind it They both rolled off toward a thick growth of trees as easily as if they’d been tuet near her hit some invisible wall and bounced off with an audible thud The third used the distraction to sweep around behind the woman and lifted his claws to strike

Andra tried to call out a warning, but her breath was stuck in her chest, so she did the only thing she could do She sprinted out the door and across the training yard, dodging men and monsters in a frantic attempt to reach the unarmed woman before she was slain

She made it only a few yards when the little woman jumped over ten feet in the air and landed on a thick branch of a nearby tree

Theto kill her raked the air where she’d been a second ago, its own round A o stepped out fro from its skull to its pelvis

Andra skidded to a stop and realized she was standing in the rabbed her arm and shoved her aside just as another of those wolves landed where she’d been standing a split second earlier

"What the hell are you doing?" growled Paul He didn’t look at her, but kept her shoved behind him and backed up toward the thick trunk of a nearby tree--the only cover available

"Coet yourself killed"

"Good plan What do I do?"

Sos than Andra could count slithered down out of the tree Paul saw it and sliced its head off It didn’t stopbody away froht She could do that Andra found the poaiting for her, only this ti to be used It leaped to her call and filled her with a glowing kind of pressure Her body vibrated with strength as she chose her first target

One of the an’s flank Andra squeezed a strea it out of her body at the thing A boom shook the earth and a wave of air washed back over theain, all that was left of theslowly to the earth

Paul shot her a quick glance over his shoulder "I meant fire, but that works, too Good job"

His praise et into this whole un

No tih There were monsters to kill

Paul kept the Synestryn away froift for destruction She was laughing as she wielded his power, blowing deus made his way across the field to Paul’s side The Gray Lady, Gilda, wasn’t looking so good In fact, if it weren’t for Angus’s thick arm around her waist, Paul didn’t think she’d be able to stay standing

He set Gilda on the ground behind Paul and Andra, and took up a defensive position behind her

"Gilda can’t do any ed

"More for ath exploded into a cloud of black blood and chunks of fur

"I just saw Logan leave the field," said Paul "The sun will be rising any second now"

As if his words had suht peeked over the wall Thirty feet in front of them, one Synestryn started to smoke A brief second later, it burst into flaus, loud enough to be heard over the sounds of combat "Drive the hard, sweating and shaking, and her eyes were an angry, bloody red "Which way?"

Paul pointed to the east "On the other side of those trees"

Gilda grabbed Andra’s ankle before she could run off "The smoke," she panted "It will hurt the human children"

Andra nodded "I’ll take care of it"

Paul felt her pull on his power, but she eakening She’d used so much already and she was still so new at this

Instinctively, Paul cupped his left hand around the back of her neck, locking the two parts of the luceria together Energy strea his arm and slid into her

A breeze stirred around the Synestryn spiraled up and away from the compound

"Can you keep this up if alk?" he asked

She apparently didn’t hear him Her face was a mask of concentration and she held her botto to the ground to do the same for Gilda "We need to follow the men and help them"

Paul had to break contact with her necklace, but there was no help for it He scooped her up and realized that carrying a wous did it effortlessly, looking like he’d been born to it, but Paul ard His sword bobbed around and he was sure he was going to cut one of them