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As though she would have done anything else
For now, though, she let herherto Christ
The Perytons swept down fro Jezi-Baba floated down the steps of the pyra on the wind, but the Manticore was faster It raced down those high stone stairs practically sliding on its belly, hissing death through rows of needle teeth
The open plain around the pyra field
Cheval Bayard stood, paralyzed with uncertainty The giant treelike e of the woods but did not come any further The bloodred birds that had soared in circles around the top of the pyra, she glanced over to see Chorti lunashed his metal teeth and bared iron claws It steeled her resolve, having hiainst marauders and mercenaries--killers all--first to protect their lives and avenge her husband, and then to safeguard Chorti’s family home Always they had prevailed Scarred and bloody, they had stood at each other’s side
"Fight!" he growled
She shifted, her bones cracking and stretching as she cast off her hus unfolding beneath her
At the pyramid, the Manticore leaped the last half-dozen steps and tore across the clearing toward thean to sway even as the blue-skinned hag floated in the air…then she shihtened into a battle circle, all of them with their backs to the center She heard Frost and Blue Jay shout, and a blast of fire shot into the air Li, the Guardian of Fire, had begun the war
A green blur dashed from the sky The Grindylow tried to bat it away, but the Peryton sank its claws into hi carried hiround below The Grindyloore loudly, roared in pain, and beat at the Hunter, but then Cheval lost sight of the of the Perytons
Leicester Grindyloas gone
Another Peryton dipped frolanced off of its body with a crack of bone, but the Peryton kept flying, baring its long black talons Its antlers hung heavily upon its head and the sharp prongs lowered
Chorti thundered across the ground and leaped, barreling into the Hunter as it fleard her The Peryton and the wild rass and dirt The Atlantean beat hie hiht as he struck out, razors scoring antlers and flesh One of the Hunter’s antlers snapped off and the taut skin of its head tore, gashed to the bone
Then it shook Chorti off and leaped upward, wings carrying it skyward again
The defensive circle had shattered All around Cheval the Borderkind were at war, the Perytons screa out the sun
As one, Cheval and Chorti ether, eyes turned to the sky
"Well done, lance at hi those shining s Proud of himself, pleased by her praise
The Manticore struck fro him down The impact drew a cry of pain from the wild man One of his arms lay trapped beneath hie the weight of the Manticore But the thing’s ferocious speed was toohim down, the Manticore opened its ed Its jaws snapped open, impossibly wide, and it thrust doard Rows of razor teeth closed upon the back of Chorti’s head like a sprung trap, and the Manticore bit off the rear of his skull, wrenching away skin, bone, and brain The beast threw its head back and gulped it all down
Cheval could only stare as it took a second taste, nesting its nawing at the viscera there
All the will and strength went out of her This simply could not be
Then it turned on her
Her flesh seeain, taking on the human form that so captivated men and women alike The river was so close She could s her If only she ht reach it she knew that she would be safe, and soht distract the Manticore with this change
It did hesitate and sniff the air
Cheval quivered in terror, about to bolt
The Manticore sht, grief closed in around her, oppressive and terrible In so the loss of her husband as keenly as she would have otherwise Trusting hi faith in hione
Cowards run, she thought Chorti would not have run
With a harpy’s shriek she ran at the Manticore, about to change once again In herout with her hooves, knocking the beast back and tra it until its bones were powder
A shadow blotted out the sun above thereen feathers plus, did not swoop in for the kill It struck the ground with a sickening, wet thuure hich it had been struggling, the hugely s and ridden it down from the sky
Leicester Grindylow rose from the Peryton’s corpse