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Aria fell to one knee, gasping for breath The little wounds frothed with poison, and the streah, below the he from her belt Another pierced her boot Seconds later, the wasps had simply pounded her balance froh-pitched an to thrash like A helplessly on the sheathed sword in her hand Though she had so with such a weapon, she was in no way fit to compare herself to violent professionals such as Amara and Lady Aria - and even if she had been, neither of theed to defend herself Her eyes flicked to the pool of water, but it was simply too far away She would never be able to use as in it in time

The vord Queen's dark eyes focused on Isana

She lifted her hand - and then her black eyes widened in surprise

A gleaently took the late Invidia's weapon fro clear of the croach like a rain And yet, it was not Araris, as she had last seen hileaone, and Isana realized with a start that the master metalcrafter had, somehow, incorporated it into his very flesh

He took two steps forward, each one falling withof flesh and blood should have possessed He flipped the sword through several calht and balance Then Araris Valerian squared off against the vord Queen, and said, quietly, his voice strangely roughened, burred, "You will not touch her"

The Queen bared her teeth and flung her hand toward Araris, hissing A sudden storh the air in three distinct streams They hammered into Araris, hundreds of the its own sharply distinct pinging sound - and each and every one of the on the floor aers thrashing

The streams of wasps died down and stopped, and Isana could clearly hear her oift breathing in the silence that followed The impotent wasps were littered into a pile halfway up Araris's thighs

Moving very slowly, very calhtly touched the hilt of his sword, settling the grip one finger at a tiht," he said in a soft, quiet voice "My turn"

And suddenly one of the deadliest swords him from the vord Queen, his weapon still sheathed

The Queen let out a shriek of challenge and darted forward to meet him In the very last instant, before the two reached each other, both of their swords leapt out, little ht on steel, and a thunderstor sound of steel on steel from within the continual cloud of sparks sounded like twenty swords, not two It lasted for two seconds, three, four, then the sparks washed away over the floor, revealing a tableau: Araris stood facing the vord Queen, his sword before hi him, sword arm extended down and to the side Her pale cheek was reen-brown blood

Her eyes were slightly wide, and they flicked down to the cut on her face in disbelief Her lip lifted in a snarl, and sheher sword at him

Instantly, two of the blade-beasts bounded forward,him with their weapon-li Blades descended toward the man Isana loved, and her heart flew up into her throat

But Araris Valerian was theirat hireen sparks Another blade struck his chest and rebounded in another shower of sparks, even as he caught a fourth in a literal steely grip and calh the lih the vord and into the bedrock below, trapping one blade-beast in place with the piercing li the trapped beast - and then he spun and drove his left fist forward, through the second beast's guard and into its head His h the blade-beast's skull like a warhammer, until he had sunk his arm halfway to the elbow in the creature's skull He withdrew his arm with a calm, smooth motion, and the blade-beast collapsed