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Scarseth, his eyes glowing silver

She had one arrow left and yanked it roughly froers started to tre seehts whispering in herof you!

She pulled the arrow back It felt like pulling a bucket rope full of stones His shirt was open, revealing the glea kystrel The reddish brown uise the whorl of black tattoes on his chest that snaked up to his throat and across his shoulders A sign that he was fully in its thrall

You are strong enough, girl! I can help you!

She hesitated, wanting to let the arrow fly Then she experienced the full force of the Mediuutted out of her She was tired, exhausted, wasted The bow string was so heavy, so very heavy She could not let the shaft loose Her fingers would not obey her

Pain

The crossbow bolt stuck into the side of her leg, deep into the flesh, into the bone Every thought turned into fire and she cried out in agony and cruh the expanse of oaks and then she saw hiarbed inas he reined in his ht and vindication

"Caught you at last!" he crowed, swinging off the saddle, sword in hand Three knights had crossbows trained on her The fourth was reloading a bolt

On her knee, her leg throbbing with agony, she stared at Dieyre with hatred She brought up her last arrow and aimed for his throat She saw the crossbow back, she let the arrow loose and then twisted her shoulders and collapsed on her back, hoping some of the bolts wouldand shattered the arroith his sword Gracefully, his sword arrin defiant One of the bolts struck her hand, iony than the first and she screamed in pain On her back, she dropped her bow

The pain made tears swim in her eyes She could hardly see Dieyre as he approached Shoving with her legs, despite the pain, she pushed herself closer to the Leering The entire face of it was burning If she could only get close enough to touch it Close enough to touch it with her blood A maston’s blood screamed when they died She could hear the sound of her own in her eance, for justice The cry of one about to be"You should have joined irl It was quite a chase, but I am persistent It would ahts kicked Lia savagely in the ribs "Can I kill her now, my lord?" he demanded

"Not yet," Dieyre answered curtly "Let her watch Muirwood burn before she dies Fire the Leerings"

"When I first saw the child, that babe in a Pry-rian shawl, I knew that she would be row, steal, tease, and laugh, that knowledge has whispered to irl, so full of life and affection, would bring about the fall of Muirwood Abbey Yet even knowing this, despite how it painedthe request her father had made me vow"

- Gideon Pen

Lia couldn’t breathe through the pain She tasted blood in her th, she pulled her dagger free with her uncrippled hand and jaht who had kicked her As he wailed with agony, she struggled on her elboards the Leering It was so close, but not close enough In her uttered out

Scarseth swung around violently, staring at her His eyes were still glowing

"Summon the fire!" Dieyre ordered

The trestled for control of the Leering Lia shoved his thoughts as hard as she could, willing the flames to die If she could only touch it, she could summon the defenses A boot struck her in the s pain Her concentration snapped and the fire bloohts, could not collect the to die Another kick would do it, another crushing blow She was so tired, so weary The Leering was too far

"My lord, a reedy voice Then louder, "So you do care for the girl! A truewill end quickly I will not let them play with her first But you have just wasted her sacrifice Not that you could have hid for long with all the tunnels blocked"