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A second later, her iain To the fee changed again To the fee The feht On and on she ht of the supposedly human females he’d taken

He sed a o?"

"I didn’t I followed you" She flicked her hair over her shoulder "But you didn’t know, did you, and didn’t have any idea That’s not very soldierly of you, now, is it?"

Stealthily he reached behind hiers closed around the hilt of a dagger

"You took me back to my people, and they forcedafter the ceremony and used the cash I’d stashed away to have my slave bands removed There are people who specialize in that, you know"

"Your husband will coh "Want to know another well-guarded secret of the Phoenix? When we aren’t slaves, we can enslave Every time you slept with me these past few days, your need for ed rage She wanted him addicted to her body He’d been a prisoner before, and he’d vowed never to endure such a hell again Had vowed to destroy anyone who even tried

He always kept his vows

He didn’t give himself time to think about his actions and hoas about to sink--or the punishirl Threats obviously wouldn’t ith her

"I’m no one’s slave," he said

And he struck

In seconds, the tip of his dagger was embedded in her chest Her eyes widened withnot confusion and pain, as he’d expected, but with glee

"Thank you," she gasped out "That was easier than I thought"

Her knees gave out, and she collapsed to the ground She lay there, panting for breath, red blood spilling fro her, pu the life from her body

"I’ll catch fire, turn to ash and re-forerand you’ll be forever rowled No He wouldn’t believe it

A laugh sounded in the distance

He swung around, fighting another wave of dizziness and watching as a shadow slunk fro next to hilowed from the center of the darkness Another shadow followed, and then another Then shadows began to slink fro

Demons

So ht on his own, but he relished the challenge To leave was to invite them to hurt the hu for me, I hear," an evil voice proclai to slay his precious king"

A chorus of chuckles echoed

Thane stepped into the spirit real a crackling yellow-and-blue light far hotter than the ones found in hell, for it was pure The creatures looked like ealed They were blobs--and they were dangerous

"I’ll kill you," he vowed through clenched teeth The dizziness hadon his feet Fallingfallingno, catching hi

"Let’s find out," the evil voice cackled "Last one standing wins"

Each shadow slithered fro for Thane

He twirled his sword to his left, his right, and arced through the center, slicing several creatures through the stomach The shadows sizzled and hissed, but none fell froer with his other hand, but thethe creatures to laugh more heartily

A breeze blew behind hi to sneak up on hi several shadoay fro over the creatures that had thought to take hi what constituted heads Rather than fall, however, they vanished

Thane kneould be better to reet a lock on hi, then to the other side, then to the ground, then to the roof, sword constantly swinging They followed him Three tied to bounce back up

Suddenly Bjorn flew into view, followed by Xerxes Bothhily dropped to his knees

"You don’t call, you don’t write," Bjorn said, leaping into

"Tried," he gritted "Couldn’t get through"

"After e had to give up to get here, after e had to do to find you, you owe us," Xerxes said, swiping at the shadoith short swords

"I’ll gladly pay the toll"