Page 79 (1/2)

Lysandra held her sword steady, kept it pointed at the ilken in defiance and rage

Ready for the death soon to coive it up froht coe into a wyvern’s form, and she’d destroy the ilken But she remained in Aelin’s body Held that sword, her only weapon, upraised

Terrasen was her hoether To keep the lines fro leaked blood onto the snow, and the two ilken sniffed, laughing again They knehat lurked under her skin That it was not the queen they faced

She held her ground Did not yield one inch to the ilken, who advanced another step

For Terrasen, she would do this For Aelin

He took it back He took it all back

Aedion was barely a hundred feet ahen the ilken struck

He screamed as the one on the left sith its claws, the other on the right lunging for her, as if it would tackle her to the snow

Lysandra deflected the blow to the left with her shield, sending the ilken sprawling, and with a roar, slashed upith her sword on the right

Ripping open the lunging ilken froushed, and the ilken shrieked, loud enough to set Aedion’s ears ringing But it stu back as it clutched its opened belly

Aedion ran harder, now thirty feet away, the space between the on the left was not done Lysandra’s eye on the one retreating, it lashed for her legs again

Aedion threw the Sword of Orynth with everything left in hian falling back, shield lifting in her only defense, still too slow to escape those reaching claws

The poison-slick tips brushed her legs just as his sent through the beast’s skull

Lysandra hit the snow, shouting in pain, and Aedion was there, heaving her up, yanking his sword fro it down upon the sinewy neck Once Twice

The ilken’s head tumbled into the snow and mud, the other beast instantly sed by the Morath soldiers who had paused to watch

Who now looked upon the queen and her general and charged

Only to bepast Aedion and Lysandra, battle cries shattering froed the shifter deeper behind the re-forh the soldiers who had rallied to their queen

He had to get the poison out, had to find a healer who could extract it immediately Only a few minutes remained until it reached her heart--

Lysandra stu his shield on his back and hauled her over a shoulder A glireenish sliods had listened Perhaps it was their idea of mercy: that the ilken’s poison had worn off on other victiotten to her

But the blood loss alone … Aedion pressed a hand over the shredded, bloody skin to staunch the flow Lysandra groaned

Aedion scanned the regrouping army for any hint of the healers’ white banners over their helmets None He whirled toward the front lines Perhaps there was a Fae warrior skilled enough at healing, with enough ic left--

Aedion halted Beheld what broke over the horizon

Ironteeth witches

Several dozen mounted on wyverns

But not airborne The wyverns walked on land

Heaving a e tower