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Knights Aeris and Citizens with the ability to fly were everywhere above the city, pulling trapped civilians from the fires, and Amara fancied that from a distance they must all look like soaround Riva's flaue furies roamed the streets and rooftops, constantly repelled by the efforts of a single Citizen or by groups of civilians working in concert Amara herself had bowled several more windmanes out of her path on the way to the city At least the feral furies were not as nuressive as they had been in the hours before, though they were still deadly dangerous to any who met thehtscivilians: The wounded and young and elderly piled into the few reionare escorts, hts on some of the streets, but the shadows in the others were all the deeper for theh Lord's toas the sole island of order and calhts blazed all around it, reflecting froulares on duty there The tower had a wide stone balcony winding around its entire exterior, froh Lord could look out over his city As Aathered around the man himself, as he paced a steady circle around the balcony, delivering orders to ers who came and ith desperate haste

Far toofrom the vord assault had thrown the entire defense of the city into chaos; there was no visible air patrol over the High Lord's tower Doubtless, Riva was planning to leave the city within the next hour and had dispatched the ees Most of the other fliers were even now saving the lives of those trapped behind burning buildings,her days in the Acade walls of wind to shield those the fires would have consu fliers had doubtless been pressed into service as ions

Black shapes darted and flitted through the sly ritted her teeth She and a class of first-year Cursors fro tru noticed,human forms could be ene vainly to identify Gaius Attis or one of the High Lords or Ladies She darted up several dozen yards to try to get a better view Riva's lofty towers - Great furies, what kind of crowbegotten competitive delusion infected this city's architects, to build soaerial maze of cornices, arches, and spires The fires below and the rising colule, e, and reduced every airborne figure to a featureless outline

There, down near the street level An avian shriek rose from below, and a falcon-shaped burst of white-hot fla in a raptor's strike The light from the fire fury briefly illu not thirty feet froon heavily loaded ounded civilians The fire falcon exploded into a fireball that shattered and scattered the enee, greasy stain Ca into a flowing streaathered upon the extended wrist of a woealed into the for falcon, and let out another whistling shriek that somehow conveyed a fierce sense of primal triumph

A braid of red hair over her shoulder and turned to face her before she had come within a hundred feet, her sword in hand

A both hands, until she had coh for Lady Placida to see her features in the light cast by the glowing falcon

"Countess Amara," Lady Placida said She returned the sword to her side with fluid grace Her voice was roughened by s wagon below, and she waved at the elderlyfor him to continue "What can I do for you?"

"Did you know that there is no longer an aerial curtain over the city?" Amara called

Lady Placida's eyes widened, noticeable even in the half-light against her smoke-stained face "What? No, no it's been complete"But that would mean that bloody crows We're vulnerable"

Amara nodded "Where is Aquitaine?"

"The southern plaza Probably still there" Lady Placida flicked her wrist and sent the little fire falcon hurtling up into the night "Countess, apprise the Princeps of the situation I arn the Citizens - behind you!"

Amara immediately redirected Cirrus, and shot twenty feet down, to her left, and behind her She turned over as she went, and had a brief vision of atoward her and coe She twisted and arched her back in midair, and the sword swept by not two inches fronition, A the collar and ar Forcian Citizen who had attended the Academy in one of the same two-year terms she had been there His dark blond hair was shorter than she remembered, his face and body heavier with maturity, but she remembered him He'd shared several of her classes and been one of the minority of Citizens ould treat the relatively small number of freemen at the Academy with courtesy and respect - and had been one of the more capable furycrafters in his class

Macio's eyes showed no sinition They ide and eed her course to a reciprocal of his, which would buy her the largest lead before he could alter his own path of flight, dodging lightly around a column of smoke so that Macio wouldn't be able to see her immediately

Above Aed down upon Lady Placida She bobbed lightly in the air, left and right, then drew her slender sword and struck in the sareen sparks flared up, and the ene past her into an uncontrolled spin, trailing a bright scarlet spiral of blood He sla force, as Lady Placida shot straight upward, turning to engage the other two vord-taken Citizens