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Is three ht away There was no outrunning demons; nowhere to hide once they spotted you There was only kill or be killed

"Co her knife at the demon before her

The Painted Man watched Renna fro his head It had taken hiather herbs and firewood, and made her promise to wait at the keep until he returned, so they could hunt together This wasn’t the first tinored his wishes and gone off on her own

Watching her slip around the fla it open from tooth to tail with her father’s knife, he had to admit she was a fast learner More than even Wonda of the Cutters, Renna Tanner had thrown herself into the art of de body and soul, and her skill level after just a few short weeks was a testa, teaching her to embrace her fears Renna had taken it too far and quickly becoer to herself as the deh--, even to one who embraced its ways, as shown by the copse of wood de Renna while her attention was focused on the flame demon Likely she would only see the one that came at her openly, the trunk, and the branches would have her

The Painted Man nocked an arrow to his great bow, holding it at the ready He would wait until she saw all three, and knew doo thein to take better care

The wood demon roared, an act meant to terrify and stun her, , its fellows crept closer, positioning theave thely suicidal attack The wood de out its chest to accept her initial strike Wood deth, and likely the beast had never had its barklike ar her momentum to power a circle kick Her warded instep and shin exploded into the deic, stunned

The other derabbing its wrist and setting her feet, twisting her hips to turn the force of the deainst it It was almost effortless, the way she h the air into the third member of the copse She ran into the press, Harl’s knife stabbing into every opening that presented itself in the tuht themselves

One of the demons swiped at Renna fro, branchlike ar the air whistle across her chest as its claws passed She had been unable to effectively ward the cloth of her vest, and the claould have cut deeply had they connected She envied Arlen his ability to fight shirtless

She righted herself unharmed, but her ained their feet to threaten her again They carried scorched wounds where she had struck, but even as the s healed her oounds, so too were they recovering quickly In moments they would be fully healed

She reached into the pouch at her waist as they charged, hurling a handful of warded chestnuts their way The demons shrieked and threw up their arms defensively as the heat wards flared, the chestnuts bursting into intense flas escaped unharmed, but the one in the center took the brunt of the salvo and its shoulder caught fire In aabouttheir fellow ablaze, the de farther and giving Renna the opening she needed She charged back in at one, stabbing up into the vulnerable gap between the third and fourth ribs on its right side Her long knife pierced the coreling’s black heart

She ducked under its death throes and grabbed its shoulder with her left hand as it lunged The ward on her pal the deth and power as a portion of its ic arced into her She pivoted and drove her knife in deeper, using it to lift the two-hundred-pound de like a de companion