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"Sono rings?" Axel asked, as if their conversation had never lagged

Koldo picked up where he’d left off, as well "One day ht be today" He walked until he reached the location Nicola had described There! Tracks He pounded forward and crouched in front of a pair of footprints The soles of the boots had been spiked with serp venoed It was a pattern he kneell His father or one of his men had stood in this very spot and--

He sniffed And infected the bark of the tree, as well Frowning, Koldo studied the trunk Several areas had been scraped and left jagged by sharpened claws The sulfur-scented black smoke the Nefas projected covered the wood There appeared to be hundreds of tiny bugs crawling fro death The leaves ithering The grass around it had yellowed Several dead birds lay in its shade A nearby dog had atte around next to its owner and whie?" Axel asked, stepping up beside him

"Have you ever been exposed to Nefas smoke?"

"Well, yeah Who hasn’t?"

Alht Axel knehat to expect if he allowed hiainst the stuff "Check all the other trees Any bearing the taint will have to be uprooted, the entire area cleansed"

"So you plan to be the boss in our little partnership?" Axel asked casually

Koldo ignored the question "Do you have a cloud?"

"Is this silly-question day? Of course I have a cloud"

"Summon it"

Axel nodded, and a split second later, white mist enveloped them

"Let the humans see the park," Axel told the cloud, "but don’t allow the translucent to the eye and so a bubble around them, Koldo jumped into the necessary work The venom and smoke wouldn’t kill him, but it would weaken hi all of his strength, ripped the roots fro into an air pocket to be burned later He also scooped up every grain of dirt bearing the sharp, telltale aroma of the smoke He picked up every fallen leaf, even the dead birds

"There were five others," Axel said, returning to his side

They spent the next few hours on cleanup, Koldo leaving pieces of the cloud around each of the sites, preventing any huht, when the people were tucked safely in their beds, Axel could re and assume what they would about this "travesty"

"What do you know about the Nefas?" he asked Axel as they picked up the last of the infected leaves

"They like to attack humans, Sent Ones, or anyone, for that enerosity are stupid Oh, yeah, and they’re as bad as des at first, to see how their opponent will react, as well as to elicit as much fear as possible, since fear confuses, weakens and s you wouldn’t nors, but I’ll take your heart and feed it to the dogs," his father said The silver glint of a blade he held waved in the light "Do you want me to take your heart, boy?"

Why not? You’ve already broken it "I want you to die" He sat in the far corner of his cage, dirty and blood-caked froh booiven you five days to do what I commanded you to do Now, you have five seconds to do it Kill the human or else One"

"Someday I’ll make you suffer for this"

"Three"

"Soe he could not flash in and out of was thrown open

Koldo ju human that had been shoved into the cell and struck

In the present, he ground his fists into his eyes to disrupt the sickening crio back He so wanted to go back