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Frost had been right Crossing back through the Veil from the Akrai had put theain They had been spread out, so that it took precious seconds for theain in the ruins of the Greek and Ros and shattered rubble, and the black birds began to caw loudly, a shrill cry like children being stabbed It filled the air Legends in the Latin Quarter had pulled their shutters quickly or raced to hide in shadows

But they were only birds

There would be no retreat for the Hunters Ordinary legends, they could not slip away through the Veil the way Borderkind did They could not cross betorlds without a door

The Strigae hadn’t stood a chance Dusk had settled over Perinthia Though Frost and Chorti had been injured, they were not so badly wounded that they could not trouble annoying birds Frost iae with a spear of ice that jutted fros beat the air as they tried to flee

Blue Jay had slain two of them himself Grin had clirabbed hold of a Strigae, then snapped its neck with a quick twist Li burned three of theouts of flaon The tiger had broken one in its jao or three of the Strigae had escaped, but Blue Jay had pursued them for a mile to be sure they would not follow, and as he suspected, they had not even slowed in their flight of terror

As the evening deepened, the darkness gathering its cloak around Perinthia, Cheval Bayard had slain the sentries at two of the watchtowers on the edge of the city They had left Perinthia without raising an alarm on the northern end, but by the time the dead sentries were discovered, they would already have circled around and started southwest, away from the city

As a bird, Blue Jay had flown far above the, watchful for any threat or pursuit They had given a wide berth to the village of Bromfield There would be no help from the Lost Ones who lived there, and certainly not froendary They could expect little help wherever they went, but Frost and Oliver and Kitsune had stopped in Bromfield on their way to Perinthia and doubtless there would be spies in the village on the watch for Borderkind

No one could be trusted

As a trickster, he understood that, but Blue Jay wondered if the others truly did

Once past Bromfield, the motley collection of Borderkind had traveled briefly on the Truce Road, where the going was far sht deepened and the creatures of darkness roamed across the land, there would be too much risk of an unpleasant encounter Also, by then, Frost and Blue Jay had been certain the Myth Hunters would have h some Door in the Veil It would likely befor them could catch up, but it was better not to take chances

So they had struck out froh farmland and then up into the hills and then deep in the Cardiff Forest Blue Jay lost sight of theh the woods but he continued to circle and to travel southwest He had seen night birds flying--several owls, but no Perytons and no Strigae On the road there had been private carriages, but this far froends were about Goblins and sprites and the occasional giantto do with the conspiracy against the Borderkind

Even so, the rassy hill into the valley, Blue Jay felt a wave of relief sweep over hi forhostly in her translucent gown, silver hair picking up the shine of the moon Chorti’s wounds would heal, but she doted on thebehind thele surviving Mazikeen He , never lagging behind Blue Jay was unnerved in the presence of the sorcerers He understooddifferent entirely

Last came Leicester Grindyloho ot that Grin was a water bogie and quite agile The boggart never stayed precisely at the end of the line Hetheir backs

Any doubts Blue Jay art was faithful, and smarter than he looked In short order, he had coart ain, Blue Jay flew a circle As he did, he thought he saw, far behind hiht sky

The bird descended, swooping down froht out, and then he was out over the grassy hillside, propelling himself after the Borderkind When he reached Frost, he circled once around the winter s They becarass Blue Jay smoothed out his thick cotton shirt and shook his head His long, braided, black hair fell down his back, and the feathers tied there danced in the breeze

"Are they following, then?" Frost asked In the ed ice features looked blue

"I’ht have seen so closer to the Atlantic Bridge No reason not to cross the border so that there is at least part of our trail they cannot track"

Frost concurred

The sathered around, there on the hillside The Mazikeen inspected Chorti’s wounds silently and runted and actually smiled in relief, soothed by the spell

This done, they all crossed together, that strange new faend behind

In the mundane world, daas on the eastern horizon The seven Borderkind and the er stood on the shore of a broad half-frozen lake whose exposed surface rippled in the chill ht they found the fields and hills, with mountains in the distance

A small town sprawled nearby, rows of white houses and shops with gray-black shingle roofs It was a sio tih every hohtness in the entire panorahts on several of the larger trees, but even that seemed halfhearted

Cheval Bayard stepped away frolance The lake drew her attention instead and she stepped into the water, crushing a thin shell of ice that had forh her and Blue Jay relished the sight Contact with the water gave the kelpy great pleasure

"Where are we?" Cheval asked, turning to look at Frost

They all regarded Frost No foriven or taken, but he led them Even the Mazikeen, alone now in his silence, looked to the winterHe didn’t want to say it, but Blue Jay saw in his eyes that he had no idea where they were Li ran his fingers through his tiger’s fur, the two growling softly to one another--serious and proper, they seemed two halves of a whole, cohtly baffled, but then Grin spun around once, nodding as though to hier we’re in Wales Kind of gray, but pretty Mountains We headed off west, so, Wales We keep going west, or south…or any direction but east, really, and we’ll hit ocean, yeah?"

The winterthe wind "Due west"

And so they went, that strange parade, across thirtyfaster than ever they could have with Oliver or any hu for the journey The sun had been up less than two hours when they came to a rocky coastline where the hipped at them and the waves crashed furiously upon the shore Several houses were in sight, but as they approached the Irish Sea the sky had becohout their journey they had easily avoided being sighted by humans It was not difficult in a country as quiet and desolate as this And now, on the shore, it mattered little if they were seen by an old Welsh housewife