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I ease my achin shoulder Only now do I feel it That cart wheel at the bridge slammed into me hard I’ll have a bruise an then some to show fer it

DeMalo’s rattled rip my head like a vice I ain’t with child, I sure as hell ain’t Oh, help First that nighte, then him trackin me, huntin me doith them unearthly hounds Can he really mean what he says?

The blood moon The first full ht, as we ran through the woods The moon was on the wax A quarter hts from now? Seven Generous, he said That ain’t nuthin He could be lyin Bluffin No We’re in the endgame, he said New rules

If you keep on, more people will die Maybe people you care about

I lost so many that I care about already An we ain’t no further ahead Seven days We’ll never defeat him We’ll hafta run

I’ll have you hunted down and killed Wherever you run to

He will too An I’m instantly hot with shame I’d ever think of runnin Like I’its to ht But Eo I’ll send her to Auriel Tai Back to the Snake River camp She’ll be safe there If as to die, she’d have Auriel to raise her to a woh can take her there No, he’d never leave me an he won’t have a star reader raise Eht An win But we ain’t gonna win by blowin bridges

If you hit ain, I’ll hit you back tenfold

There must be another way

A cautious quork comes from the tree above me Nero sidles out from wherever he’s bin hidin all this tis with beak an claw Who’ll rush to defend er’s called DeMalo

Fat lotta good you are, I tell hiht here

He drops onto my lap then climbs my front to nibble onis, he likes DeMalo an he knows he shouldn’t He’d of gone fer the dogs in s ith hiot confused

Whose side are you on? I says I hug hiood Where DeMalo’s haounded hio now--it’s healed well Who am I to talk? I says Whose side am I on? I had hi with me? I kiss Nero’s head We cain’t tell nobody about this, you hear?

He chitters agreement Nero Th’only livin creature I can speak to freely these days I gotta guard myself close with everybody else A leader tells her people as little as possible, only what they need to know That’s somethin I learned from Slim

More people will die People you care about Your sister Your brother

Lugh, I says Ohit to the rendezvous Make sure they all round with a squawk of protest As I gather ear, I says, They’ll be wonderin where we are Eo C’mon

He plays deaf Beak deep in his birdy armpit, mutterin somethin about a mite He’ll catch me up later When it suits him

I shoulder my barksack an bow As I pass, I wrench my arrow from the tree

It’s the first time in my life I ever shot to miss

I’m cautious as I leave the pool I set a course due north fer the rendezvous point at Painted Rock I keep my eyes sharp, my ears keen, my bolt shooter ready in my hand All clear Nuthin untoward No sound in the woods but the sounds of a wood The bubble chat of warblers The sigh of the wind The creak of trees as they ease their bones

After a couple hunnerd foot, I start to relax Then Behind me A shift in the air Not a sound, but soun shoves me in the neck Hard to the base of my skull I stop dead I know the feel of that snubby nose A shortbolt shooter A fast blast A messy end

The voice comes from close behind me I’ll be takin your weapons an pack An it’s all the saonna drop your gun first, then your bow One at a time, nice an easy