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It was just that, at thedirectly at him, it did not seem to Ehren like a sound approach to warfare He also suddenly thought that it would have been a fine idea to have accepted the set of lorica he had been offered yesterday Thirty or forty pounds of steel over his fragile flesh (which had seemed impossibly culorified rapid-er boy, a few hours before) suddenly sounded splendid

A fourth vord appeared at the top of the wall, and Ehren realized that it was too late for the Aleran counterstroke to save them, even if it happened at that instant They had to retake the wall, and right now, or the vord would kill the men all around him - and quite likely Ehren himself Worse, they would kill Gram, one of only a few firecrafters with the capability to craft a flah for the counterstroke His death was unacceptable

A block of legionares followed the Knight Terra in an attack on the first two vord to reach the top, but the third swept a legionare from the wall and into the sea of scythes below it The man's screams were sed as abruptly as if he had fallen into water The vord's glittering eyes locked onto Ehren, and the

One of the deadly weapons plunged down at Ehren, who hopped back out of reach, and shouted, "Gram, watch out!" He put a shoulder into Gra warrior

The movement cost him precious instants and inches He did not quite evade thescythe plowed a bloody furron one shoulder blade, skipped a bit where his body arched in instinctive pain and reaction, then bit into hiered and went to one knee, knowing instinctively that he could not possibly remain there and sure that he could not escape the reach of the er as he had been to close the breach, but they were an endless second away

Ehren flung hi his body into a roll as he went He felt the scythe flash down at hi into the stone of the wall

Ehren stopped underneath the body of the vord, which began dancing about, trying to thrust its scythes beneath it, but unable to reach hiionare's spear, which lay nearby His woodcrafting was nothing to write home about, but it was more than sufficient to bend the haft of the spear a little, and when he released it, to allow its elastic spring to send it clattering into the reach of his hand

He seized the spear, rolled to one side very quickly, and barely dodged the scythe that plunged down at hi the wall beside his opponent Scuttling like a li the spear and once , until he had bent its shaft into a quivering bow that would have enclosed most of a circle Then he took a second to decide where to strike and how to aiainst the stone of the wall, and released the woodcrafting

The spear straightened again, with vicious energy The sharp tip of the weapon skittered along the vord's armored underbelly - but then the tip bit into the joint between two plates of chitin and plunged into the vord with such force that it lifted its forequarters off the ground Dirty green-brown blood geysered from the wound, and the vord fell off on the Aleran side of the wall, thrashing in its death throes

Ehren let out a whoop - but it turned into a screa that felt red-hot sla sound, and his body jerked, and a ht shoulder blade went into a sudden, vicious craround It ravity He felt very heavy

He looked over his shoulder, itself an agonizing motion, and saw that the next vord up the wall had leapt onto hiround He couldn't see the scythes or where they had pierced hi about it, he decided, he really didn't want to The pain was bad enough He didn't need a visual io with it

He couldn't breathe He just wanted to take a good, deep breath But he couldn't inhale at all That didn't seeht light, and so warm passed over him, and a vord shrieked

"Healer!" bellowed Gram