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Ranon!

The dog sounded panicked Khollie? What’s wrong? By the time Ranon turned away from the counter and took the first step, Lizzie had passed through the door and charged down the street

Ranon!

More than panic now All he heard was terror

Ranon burst out of Heartbeat and headed down the street, not quite running as he shaped a tight, double layer of Opal shields around hi field

Not quite running toward the co around hier that created a psychic buzz so thick and harsh it was al the children who had coht flock that could be defended Aware of Vae, Darcy, and Lizzie snapping and snarling as they circled around so to move away from Elders’ Park and all the people

Ranon? Archerr called What in the na on?

I don’t know Ranon slowed down as he scanned the street The Scelties are all acting strange Maybe a piglet or chicken got loose and they’reit But he’d see or hear an anis And that didn’t explain Wynne and Kharr’s behavior—or why he couldn’t spot Khollie

Then Vae charged the e with a blast of Purple Dusk power

A sight shield broke, revealing an unknown Warlord

Ranon froze for just a moment as he remembered the day the Scelties arrived in Eyota and how one of them had located Archerr by scent, despite the Warlord Prince being sight shielded

They had known he was there He’d slipped past us, but they had

That hen he saw the rest, and a cold rage burned through him as he strode down the street

The bastard had a hand around Khollie’s neck, holding the dog off the ground that way Not by the scruff,by the neck

The Scelties looked at hi the defensive shields the stranger threw around himself

At first Ranon wondered why Vae and the others were throwing theer’s shields That tactic was draining the Scelties’ power as well as the Warlord’s, and Ranon thought it a waste of their strength until he realized the brilliance of their fight The dule, unable to run away—and too harried to notice the enraged Warlord Princes closing in on him

As he ht, Ranon’s eyes flicked from one side of the street to the other Kharr and Wynne had the children and elders well shielded Shaddo and Archerr were co up the street to flank the bastard Vae, Darcy, and Lizzie continued their relentless attack, wearing down the Warlord’s power and shields

And Khollie

Khollie hung lirasp

Ranon called in his fighting knife and used Craft to create a flash of light on the blade, deliberately forcing the Warlord’s attention on himself now

“Let hio,” Ranon snarled

The Warlord shifted his arot plenty of the desperate “We only want one We’ll take this one He’s already daed”