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I just wanted to stand there and bask in the rolling waves of scrumptious sound, but I had work to do It wasbecause he couldn’t keep his eyes open I felt the Saghred begin to waver The soft light illued, but what I sensed fro

Then it wasn’t So back

I’d give Mychael and Ronan three guesses and the first two didn’t count

I saw Sarad Nukpana with others I had only seen through silver mist--his new friends, his allies Only now they were just as solid as Nukpana hioblins and elves and humans, with a couple of creatures whose race or species I didn’t recognize The evil inside the Saghred didn’t restrict itself to Sarad Nukpana They were down, but they weren’t going out I heard laughter,

I didn’t want , but I made sure my expression spoke volu--and as not happening They were getting the e without my help Professionals that they were, their spellduet never faltered

Suddenly, a diseering strength and power, a baritone like Mychael It was deep, vibrant, and i one particularly glorious low note while Cayle’s tenor danced above it, Mychael indicated a s Of course, an air vent I thought the containment rooms were sealed, but that was ridiculous If they’d been sealed, ouldn’t have been able to breathe I assus, the vent led to a network of tiny tunnels running throughout the citadel Piaras was practicing on the citadel’s nized it as one of his sleepsongs But unlike Mychael and Ronan, Piaras wasn’t singing a lullaby for one The kid was trying to knock out a platoon It was a sleepsong for use on a battlefield--and if we could hear it down here, so could the rest of the citadel

Oh shit

Magnified by the ducts, his voice was as hypnotic as Mychael’s--and as sleep inducing I heard what sounded like a sigh of shred had been a cat, it would have been purring I didn’t want the rock belligerent, but I didn’t want it happy, either Piaras’s singing hred siht had been lifted froone I hadn’t felt this good in a long ti I didn’t kno he’d done it, but I couldn’t deny what he had done

An untrained teenage spellsinger had just put the Saghred to sleep

Chapter 5

We ran up the stairs in what must have been record time The wards on the containment levels had protected the Guardians there, but once the three of us reached the citadel’s main floor, Piaras’s handias sprawled all around us

Dammit

Piaras knew to shield his voice when he practiced More important, he kne I didn’t knohat had happened here, but it couldn’t have been Piaras’s fault I’d never seen Mychael that angry, and Ronan Cayle looked like he’d skipped angry and gone straight to enraged

Dammit to hell

We saw three kinds of Guardians on the way to the music room: asleep, stunned, and ht completely unawares The stunned ones had probably heard a couple of notes before they could get their shields up The mostly awake ones were the experienced Guardians who knehat they heard and immediately protected the I’d thought I was in trouble I knew Piaras was in trouble

The corridor in front of the ood night out--so; some were happily curled on their sides; and one had slid down the closed music room doors He wasn’t asleep, but he wasn’t quite with us, either

Mychael stepped over the Guardians on the floor, pushed the dazed one aside, and flung open the doors Piaras was there and, surprisingly, so was Phaelan

Piaras looked up froht in torchlight He knew fro, and it was his fault Then he saw the Guardians on the floor behind Mychael, and every bit of color drained fro a book-- completely conscious and utterly clueless

I jerked the book out of his lap He plucked the plugs out of his ears, and sat up indignantly

"What?"

I pointed to the pile of Guardians outside the open door One Guardian staggered by, leaning on the wall for support

Phaelan whistled "Damn, looks like my crew on shore leave Did the kid do that?"

"Apparently"

Phaelan grinned at Piaras and gave him a thumbs up "Good work, kid" He stopped and took in everyone’s expressions, including Piaras’s The grin vanished, and the thuood work?"

Mychael pushed past Piaras and went to the air vent near the ceiling Apparently that was how Piaras’s voice had traveled throughout the citadel, so that’s where Mychael ai was loud; it was discordant; and it co Guardian to wake up Now When he finished, he turned on Piaras, his eyes blazing

"Did you disable the shields on this room?" he demanded

"No!" Piaras was horrified "The shields were down?"