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For an instant, Fidelias felt ahe'd rarely found useful in his lifeti the old Cursor the truth Whatever happened, afterward, at least the uncertainty would be gone

His mouth opened Fidelias noted, with a bemused sort of detachment, that he hadn't actually decided to speak But some part of him - the Marcus in him, likely - had proceeded without his approval

He said, "Magnus, we should talk," then the vord exploded out of the gathering shadows

There were three of the beasts, six legs on lean, sinuous bodies, with slender, lashing tails stretched out behind the and glossy, reflecting the bloody light of the failing sun Fidelias had an instant to observe that they reat lizards of the southern swaladius would be all but useless So he reached out through Va power from the adamant bones of the old mountain beneath him He seized a thick, heavy wooden pole, laid ready to be planted in the earth as part of the palisade

Fidelias whirled on the nearest vord and swung the heavy pole up and down in a vertical arc, like a hty pounds, but he swung it as lightly as a child would a walking stick and struck the leading vord with grisly, shattering power Green-brown blood sprayed out everywhere, spattering Fidelias and Magnus alike

The pole snapped in half, one end suddenly a mass of shards and splinters Fidelias turned to the next vord and drove that end forward like a spear tip The shock of ih his arms and shoulders, and even with Vamma's influence to buttress him, Fidelias was knocked back from his feet as the pole shattered beneath the strain He hit the ground hard The stricken vord thrashed wildly, dying, with several shards of wood too large and wickedly pointed to be properly called "splinters" protruding from the back of its skull

Then the third vord was on hi force He heard his leg break, but such was the power of the thing's jaws that sensation vanished coled, his fury-enhanced strength letting hirip on hi itself firs It had incredible physical power If it was able to plant its feet, it would si, slender tail suddenly whipped around his thigh, and Fidelias saw, in an instant of frozen horror, that hundreds of sharp, tiny ridges, like the teeth of a serrated knife, had suddenly extended along its length The vord would sih fro the ladius down Though the old man's arms were lean, they were backed by the power of his own earthcrafting, and the faions severed the vord's tail at its base

The vord released Fidelias and whirled on Magnus with unnerving speed and precision, and the old Cursor went down under its weight

Fidelias pushed hi the vord's jaay fro an earthcrafter as Fidelias was He was unable to dislodge the vord, and the thing had led to clanus's face

For an instant, Magnus's eyes ic in hisas cal a theoretical exercise

The situation was ideal The vord was already badly wounded The nearest legionares were already taking up their weapons and charging forward - but they would never arrive in tinus Fidelias hi hi it, but he knew that even with the attentions of a Legion healer, he'd be off his feet for a few days