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Tricks Evangeline knows my abilities better than nores the truth for sorins to himself Like his sister Elane, he is a shadow When he flickers out of being, disappearing in the bright sunlight, Calout his ar a hay up the sand, separating us froly weak The sand will barely burn

I can’t stopto screa at me with that insufferable crooked smirk Not only has he taken awayCal as much as he can

"Bastard," I curse underround with a wave of his hand

Directly across from us, the line of flame separates for a second, followed closely by a bitter screa fire, Stralian fades back into sight, batting flaesture, putting out the fire with a wave of water Then he turns his startling blue eyes on us, on Cal’s wall, and in a singlewave The water hisses and spits, flash-boiling into thick clouds of steah the arena, shrouding us in a ghostly white fog It swirls and spins, enveloping us in a white world where every shadow could be our doo for es out of the steam in a roar of flesh and steel

He hits Cal around the round, but Cal doesn’t stay down long enough for Ptoleround seconds after Cal leaps, his hands on Ptole a scream from the berserker I can only run as Cal tries to cook a man in his own arh the screams of pain Every knife, every shard of metal Ptolemus raises to stab Cal melts away from his intense heat "I don’t want to do this"

Three sparkling blades cut through the stea blurs Too fast to h his shirt beforefocus for a second as three spots of silverblood stain his shirt The knives were too small to cut deep, but they weaken him still Ptolemus takes his chance and in the blink of an eye, his knivesto slice Cal in two, but he dodges in ti a scratch across the belly

Still alive But not for long

Evangeline appears through the stea display Cal dips and dodges her blades, throwing blasts of fire to knock her off course He duels theht off two th and power But blood stains his clothes and neounds appear with every passing second Ptolemus’s weapon shifts, froeline’s jagged stars keep biting They’re wearing hi, I think ate He’s still there, a black presence to haunt ht hi

When adirectly for ainst the sand where I stood seconds ago, but before I have tih the air The sky is raining concrete down on h the sand like a rat, until so stops rip closes onin htening his hand

My ar an elbow into what I suppose are his ribs, but he holds fir to spread, but I keep fighting Through the haze, I can see the Rha, his eyes locked on s, doing his best not to get stabbed I can’t screaes to throw a fireballon his , I digfor a head I cannot see It’s ascrea hio ofSilverblood trails from his eyes like mirrored tears

"You were supposed to beover Cal, her blade raised Ptole through the sand with Evangeline haunting over theround around him "Mine!"