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They stepped from the cell and continued down the dark hallway Sanders was asleep at his desk in the outer room, his face turned sideways over neatly folded ar on the floor

"They won’t awaken for a while," Amy explained, "and when they do, they’ll have no one"

Lucius reached down to withdraw Sanders’s pistol fro him with a look of caution

"Just remember," she warned "Carter’s one of us"

Lucius chaun into his waistband "Understood"

Outside, they walked withto the shadows At the portal, three do in an ash can, warentlemen," said Amy

They melted to their knees, looks of mild surprise stamped on their faces Lucius and Around

"That’s some trick," said Lucius "You’ll have to teach me sometime"

On the far side of the tunnel, a pair of saddled horses waited Lucius gave A the reins loosely in his hand

"One thing I need to ask," he said "Why ht a moment "Each of us has one, Lucius"

"And Carter? Who does he have?"

An inscrutable look ca her far away "He is different from the rest He carries his familiar inside him"

"The woman in the water"

As have a way of co"

"Yes, they do He loved her more than life but could not save her She is the heart of him"

"And the dopeys?"

"They are his Many, his viral line They kill only because they oes hard with them As he thinks, they think As he drea the dust It was just past ht, a moonless sky the only witness to their departure

"As I of you," said Lucius Greer "As I of you"

They rode into the darkness

Chapter 35

Brothers, brothers

And away, into the night Julio Martinez, Tenth of Twelve, his legions discarded, cast to the wind Julio Martinez, answering the call of Zero

It is ti has coain; you will become the true masters of the earth, commanders not only of death but of life You are the seasons You are the turning earth You are the circle within the circle within the circle You are time itself, my brothers in blood