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Cal’s ainst house, Silver against Silver Only Reds will stand united And in because of it Norta will fall, and ill rise, Red as the dawn" A simple, costly, lethal plan on both sides But a step we o I a what must be done "You can collect the Notch children after we land in Tuck But I need the Colonel, and I need his resources to get this in motion Do you understand that?"
He barely nods
"And after, well, I will go north, to the Choke, to the ones I’ve so willingly abandoned You can do as you like, Your Highness"
"Mare" He grazesthe wall
"Don’t touchdoor I suppose they are
Tuck is quiet and disgustingly bright No clouds, no wind, just brisk autuht Shade shouldn’t have died on such a beautiful day, but he did Too o plane, with two covered stretchers close behind Kilorn and Farley hover by one, each of the a hand on Shade But the other stretcher is what I care about now Theher up seem afraid of her body, just like I was The last few hours of quiet reflection, staring at Elara’s cold corpse, have been a strange co to wake up Just like Cal will never speak towe said to each other I don’t knohere he is in the line, or if he’s even co about him is a waste
I have to shield my eyes to see the Colonel’s blockade across the runway He perches atop a medical transport, surrounded by nurses in white shifts Ada must have radioed ahead to tell him ould sorely need help Her Blackrun is already here, the only dark shadow in sight When the first of the prisoners hit the runway behind me, the familiar black raet out, following Ada She begins the brisk march toward the wall of armed Lakelanders, stoic Guardsmen, and curious onlookers Quietly, I curseto see their children, but they’ll find only one of us
You don’t care about your faet theh, Miss Barrow," the Colonel barks, holding up a hand I do as he asks, halting five yards away Frouns pointed at us, but more important, the e They have no kill orders, not yet "Have you co us both at ease "I coift, Colonel"
The corner of his mouth lifts "Is that what you call these"--he searches for the right word to describe the ragged folk following , at a secret facility called Corros Jailed by the co Maven, left to be experilance behindto see broken hearts and irl, the one who almost fell off the catwalk, looks close to tears, but her tiny fists clench at her sides She won’t cry "They are newbloods like er with too-pale skin and orange hair stands like her guard "And Silvers too, Colonel"
He reacts as I expect hiht Silvers here?!" he shouts, panicking "Ready guns!"
The line of Lakelanders, two deep, and probably about twenty wide, does as he co bullets into cha back But no one begs They are done begging