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Oliver sat up straight on his horse and raised both hands to quiet them

Whether they hailed hi of voices filled the square, now

"In a few eon," Oliver said, raising his voice so that they could all hear him Lorenzo translated as he spoke "I don’t plan to let them do that The sorcerer, Ty’Lis, has promised to torture and murder the woman I love"

All eyes shifted to Julianna She did not shy from them

"My name is Oliver Bascombe My father was an ordinary end, a Borderkind naasp of the croas audible It had been one thing for the entirely for hi hinored theend-Born or not, that is up to you," he told thee of Palenque, though lish perfectly well "I can’t and won’t tell you what to believe, because most of the time, I don’t know myself So I won’t try to explain what I believe Instead, I’ll tell you the things I know

"The High Council of Atlantis wants to seal the Veil forever On their orders, Ty’Lis sent Myth Hunters out across torlds to track and murder the Borderkind, and sent the Falconer to murder my sister and end-Born, and that we threaten their plans With help frohter continued You see, the High Council had a brilliant plan If they could kill all of the Borderkind, and us, they could seal the Doors and close off the hu at Julianna again and then surveying the crowd They were listening But what could he say? In truth, the king had died by his hand, but it had been the sorcerer’s ic moment

"I carried the Sword of Hunyadi with the blessing of the King of Euphrasia," Oliver called across the square "But Hunyadi did not sendis on Ty’Lis’s hands, not doms torn apart by war so they can come in like vultures and pick at your re on a wall in the palace, and Yucatazcans are killing and dying at the whims of Atlantis!"

Shouts rose New voices More people had flooded the square Solanced up to see the strangest creature, a thing that looked as though it were part dog and partclaw at the end of its tail Balconies filled In the crowd, other legends began to appear--bizarre creatures with the heads of alligators or with s slithered over cobblestones A s at the entrance to a side alley

"Give us proof!" a voice cried in English

Before Oliver could say anything, Julianna stood up in her stirrups

"Proof? What more proof could you want than this?" she deh clean, her hair still looked wild and her exquisite beauty and the edge of her fury made her seem like Eve, freshly evicted from the Garden

"Oliver could have left Palenque in the ht here, in front of you Unafraid Could any of you say you would’ve done the saiven yourself over to your accusers?"

There’s the lawyer coht And he realized that he had been doing the sa with eyes like a spider’s all over its body tried to reach Oliver Men and women--Lost Ones--intercepted the creature and drove it back It began to screech, shouting at hiue

"The Lost Ones want the Veil destroyed," Lorenzo said, edging his horse closer to Oliver’s "But ends do not"

"Is it true?" a voice cried, cutting through the noise

Oliver glanced up and saw an aging, beardedout of the hot sun in the shade of a bookshop His clothes made Oliver think that this -ago ancestor who’d coht not have been here many years at all

"Can you really tear it down?" the man called, desperation in his voice and his eyes

Quiet fell upon the square Oliver had felt this scrutiny from juries and from theater audiences many times, but it had never mattered this much Some of what he’d said thus far had been a performance, even a sive the but honesty

"I don’t know," he said, quietly at first, and then he repeated it louder "I don’t know I haven’t tried to touch the Veil My sister and I…there is ic brought her and ether But whether it works that way, I don’t know I’ll tell you thisthe Veil down, there’s no way in hell we’re going to do it with this war going on No way"

An arrow sang through the air and took Lorenzo in the throat

Julianna screaht up a hand, eyes ith surprise, and touched the feathers on the arrow’s shaft even as blood leaked around it With agonizing slowness, he tumbled from the saddle and fell to the cobblestones People backed away and he hit the street with a thump

Oliver spun in his saddle and saw the soldiers The King’s Guard had been alerted To his mind, it was a miracle that he’d had the few minutes he did Perhaps the size of the crowd had slowed them Soldiers shouted and shoved people out of their way No doubt they were telling everyone that he had to be arrested on the orders of the king

Most of the crowd began to back away But some pushed forward and attacked the soldiers

Oliver glanced at Julianna Her expression was griazed numbly down at the corpse of the professor Not that they could have ridden away now There were too many people crowded around, and Oliver counted fifteen or twenty soldiers co up the street Half a dozen more appeared from a side alley

"Shit"

Julianna shot hiot anything better?"

"Hell, yeah" Again she stood in her stirrups Cupping her hands to her s For a moment, all of the commotion stopped as everyone turned to look at her Even the soldiers paused

Julianna pointed at the larger group of soldiers "Who gave the co, now? Is it Ty’Lis? Is an Atlantean the king of Yucatazca, now? Or is it Prince Tzajin? Because if Tzajin’s the king, then where is he? His father is murdered and he doesn’t even show up to bury him? He doesn’t come back to Palenque to see to his people and to be crowned king? Bullshit! Tzajin isn’t here because he’s in Atlantis, and they won’t let hi orders fro orders from now? Atlantis?"

Seconds of silence followed

Then a massive serpent rose up from the crorapped around one of the soldiers, and crushed him Two men fell upon a second and tore off his helreenish-white skin that was almost translucent The soldier was Atlantean