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Vegard looked, saw Banan, and spat an obscenity that described hiard knew Banan, too

I could see into the collective htshades Their intentions were as clear as if they had yelled thee They weren’t ainitaries seated on it; they were going for the supports under the stage The stage was a good dozen feet above the street The Guardians posted around the base of the stage would be crushed under the co wood and people The fall frohtshades were there to ensure their two ets didn’t survive

Justinius Valerian and Mychael Eiliesor

"Target?" Riston was suddenly at htshades are collapsing the stage," I said

And a lot of people were going to die when they did

Vegard saw Banan’s peopledown the stairs "I’m on it!" he yelled back

I di below had melted into slow motion Banan’sAr out of the citadel, but they wouldn’t get there in time The spells of Banan’s people weren’t silent, but there were too many of theh to do what they’d planned

Kill the archus and the paladin, and take a lot of innocent people with them when they did it

I didn’t think; I just reacted I couldThat hat I could do before the Saghred Frohtshades were just s I didn’t have to break them, just their concentration I struck, and the ones who hadn’t bothered toNone of theainst buildings None of those got back up That hed and applauded in theacross froe was collapsing on itself My hand instinctively shot out to stop it Four stories upanything bigger than e wasn’t a small object The screa in and out ofI’d be able to keep the stage fro What I was doing was et past how heavy that hred, justJustinius Valerian off the stage I had no idea how Mychaelplatform, but he was paladin for a reason Out of the corner of my eye, I saw a crossbow bolt fly toward the at it and the bolt reversed direction and hit the sniper in the chest, sending hie was co dohether I wanted it to or not Gravity would only be defied for so long My hand shook violently as I let as left of the stage co that everyone around the peried and I heard gasps and whinized as ard say His voice was tight with awe and maybe fear

Phaelan looked a little wild-eyed "Shit"

Yeah I felt the same way

I leaned over and rested et my wind back I could barely lift e I looked out the

Banan Ryce was on the street and in a big hurry to get somewhere, and it looked like that somewhere ay froard and Phaelan out of the way and stues of my vision and I felt woozy I pushed that out of the way, too

"Stop!" Vegard yelled

I didn’t stop, but I didn’t get away froe; he hadn’t

He stopped me with a hand on my arrip

"I’e had never left ard hesitated, clearly torn between duty and getting his hands on Banan Ryce

"Go" His voice was ot your back"

I didn’t stop to ask who besides Vegard had my back I assumed it was Riston and Phaelan Truth was, I didn’t care I’d have gone after Banan Ryce alone It wouldn’t have been sry to worry about sht now

The square was chaos Wading through a crowd of panicked people was bad enough, but ic users They were scared, they were angry, and they were looking to protect theical distortion fro I could do It didn’t Banan Ryce’s ical scent rode the air Tiood a seeker I was, neers or not

I tracked Banan to a side street that was littleto run I didn’t bla around for kudos

"Wait," Vegard told me He scanned the crowd overGuardian pushed his way through the crowd to us His eyes were borderline panicked "Sir Vegard, what happened? Who--"

"Later," Vegard yelled over the screa around us

The kid had a crossbow He didn’t look old enough to use it I was, and better yet, I had a target I didn’t need ic to take out Banan Ryce