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"It is not" She would have grabbed him to shake him, but she could see any touch would overset his tenuous balance "I am no weather worker Are you all such fools to let a h of Austra walk as your ally?"

"She was"

The body lying at his feet was blackened and distorted, the feathered cloak reduced to wisps of bright green and goldinto the sodden earth Her throat burned, and her stoainst her sto Anna bawled

"Where ishas taken her"

The rain lashed them She sucked in air, but it tasted of ash and roasted flesh She spat, but the flavor coated her tongue She tried to catch rain in her mouth, but that only made the taste run down her throat, and she could not bear to s the ashes of the dead There were at least a dozen dead and twice as ,with no sound she could hear, and one screa in pain like a wounded rabbit, but the sound existed a hundred leagues frohastly

It was strange to discover that nothing could surprise her, not after that bolt called fro, lie While she walked the spheres, many years had passed on Earth; he had possessed Bernard’s book, and other resources besides He had studied with Anne and the Seven Sleepers The laws of inheritance and custonant and noble Yet it wasn’t true he had no power He had reached for, and grasped, the only power available to him

She touched the astrolabe tied to her belt It was protected by a leather cover, slick beneath her fingers Even clouds--even daylight--would not stop hi the crown

"Hai!" She turned her back on Zuangua Buzzard Mask was vo his ed and shuddered She shouted "Sharp Edge! All of you! We’ve been outmaneuvered We’ll run for the crown and catch hiua called

She turned back "Speak quickly"

His niece’s twisted corpse held his gaze "So briefly she came into her power Now it is stripped from her and she returns to the earth which births us Who alk as Feather Cloak?" His sht One?"

"Don’t mock me! Go to Secha, who led your people in exile She is not a fool"