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Her vision was gone when she felt its teeth sink into her, but she had no voice to screauard and had his spear at the ready when the de down into theiron solid ground It extended a single talon, drawing complex wards in the air as easily as Jardir, who approved hundreds of docun his name
The effect was immediate Jardir had the spear ready to absorb a blast of killing ic, but he was unprepared as the sandstone floor beneath hi sound
Jardir stifled his gasp before he sed a lungful ofto find purchase The tip of his spear scraped stone, telling him it was only a local effect, but his attee failed Like most Krasians, Jardir had never learned to swi above, but Jardir knew the Par’chin’s life, and that of all the Ala, depended on hi on the crown’s forbidding, keeping the des burned as his frantic ave in, sweeping his ar his toe doard until at last he touched botto the spear to Draw s for a desperate leap to freedoh to hts in Krasia seem a summer day The mud around him froze hard, and he, too, was trapped
Arlen started to reach for Jardir as he slipped below the surface of the mud, but knew that was just what the dee to take theh to strike at the deh an illusion The real de wards--but apparently it could cloak itself fro, co in the muck that trapped Jardir Before he could extricate hi the est stone he could reach, throwing it into the air and drawing an impact ward The sandstone exploded, and in the spray he saw the outline of the de its arms to shield itself Arlen threw his warded knife at it as hard as he could, then planted his hands and tore his leg free of the frozen mud Cracks spiderwebbed out from the spot, and they were deepened and multiplied a hting
The de its cloak of distortion It reached to pull the knife frorip the handle, and Arlen smiled He drew the same series of wards the mind had used aatop the round It dissipated and Arlen’s favorite knife fell free, sinking into the mud, lost
With the trap still in place, the o far, and in its ethereal state, it was unable to draards or absorb ic Arlen sketched a quick series of wards to send a shock ofit to solidify
The floor shook again, and the Spear of Kaji broke the surface of the stone Arlen used thethe distance in an instant He caught the de hard as he slaht between its eyes
Arlen felt the ground shake again as Jardir worked to tear himself free of the trap, but he refused to be distracted, ha prince had swollen again, as big as a wood deer by far Arlen had to draw his own defensive wards in close in order to strike, giving the demon the ability to strike back It shoved hard, and they hit the ground, grappling
"Even the creatures of Nie draw breath, Par’chin!" Jardir called Arlen grit his teeth, accepting the claws and spiny ridges that cut at him as he worked his way into a choke hold
There was a sound, and he realized it was his own screams, but still he held on
Renna wanted to lose consciousness, but even as the deive in She pulled at thefor some help, but she could not focus the poards, or use it to create air in her burning bloodstreareat distance, she heard it
The call of the Core
Through the cracks of the shattered stone, deep in the Ala, a song resonated, just as Arlen had described it so long ago Calling to her like a Jongleur to a reel, or her mother’s arms to a warle Nothing but the warlow of the Creator’s power
She reached for it, and the pain fell away The demon’s claws closed on e to touch that infinite power, leaving behind all the pain of the surface No more demons No more people, as apt to hurt as help
No ic she absorbed in the night
Nohis love
She pulled up short How far had she gone? The Core was closer, its song a roaring now, the surface a distant thing She strained her senses along the path behind her, and could stillalongside his greatest ene her father as he bled to death, holding back a de for a war back out of the cracks in the floor She saw theArlen, Jardir, and the mind demon, but even as it kept the mind in, the barrier kept the de for her unprotected back
Renna reached out to stop it, but she had no limbs, her body still insubstantial She willed herself back to solidity, but as Arlen had warned, it was not so easily done She felt the cloud her body had becoether, but it was slow to respond She concentrated, re them back into existence, but kneould not happen in ti, the h the de out the other side in a spray of ichor The de, as the warrior dropped the bow to hang froed in with his spear
"Nie take hter!" Shanjat’s attack was uneven, the blow to his head and loss of blood taking th and balance, but his aim was true The spear sank deep into the deainst it as waves of killing power Just a fraction of that energy flowed up the shaft as feedback, but Renna could see how it restored balance to Shanjat’s aura, bringing hiht once , but Renna, too, was solid again, fully healed and feeling stronger than ever before Her punch cru it across the chamber once more
"Hold the door!" she cried, and then crossed the to it off balance and unable to focus It burst intoArlen’s description of his battle with the led with its essence, latching onto it with her own, and touched its will