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consciousness.
"Sgäilsheilleache, hold off!"
It was Brot'an's voice, but Magiere only saw moving blurs around her. She
felt and smelled moss against her face.
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She began panting hard.
"She is unnatural," Sgäile snapped. "Undead& in our forest!"
"No," Brot'an barked. "She is something else. Now do as I say!"
Magiere took three rapid breaths before her thoughts cleared in realization.
Brot'an had never told the others about what he had seen of her in
Dar-mouth's crypt. He had kept her secret.
It didn't matter anymore. She'd lost all control, and they'd all seen her.
Magiere's sight cleared slowly. She lay on her side, one hand limp upon the
moss before her face. There was blood on her fingernails.
But her hand was not long-boned and tan as it had been in the dream& the
vision& whatever she should call the sights and sounds that had taken her. She
saw only her own pale hand, not that of the elven man she had
become& Sorhkafâré .
Why? She hadn't touched the remains of any victim, trying to see through the
eyes of its undead killer at the moment of death.
Magiere flopped onto her back, trying to find the faces of those around her.
She looked at the birch that she'd backed into and touched before the world
turned black. She began to tremble.
The tree's trunk bore the mark of her hands. Where she'd touched it, the bark
had darkened and dried dead. Brittle pieces had already fallen away.
"Leesil!" she cried out.
"Here& I'm here!" he answered; and then, "Get out of my way!"
A wet nose grazed her neck, and Chap's head pressed into her face.
She dug her fingers in his fur and hung on. Leesil dropped to his knees
beside her.
Magiere latched on to him, thrashing around to bury her face in the chest of
his hauberk and hide from all eyes.
"It's all right," he whispered.
She still felt the lingering shock in her body and saw in her mind the marks
of her hands upon the birch. Nothing was all right anymore.
Magiere closed her fingers on Leesil's hauberk until its leather creaked in
her hands and its rings bit into her palms. The name she'd been called still
echoed in her head. Her& his allies came in the dark with colorless eyes and
teeth stained with the blood of their own.
Sorhkafâré.
"I said keep back!" Leesil growled, and pulled Magiere closer. "It's over."
He knew better than to touch Magiere until she recognized him. But when she
fell and cried out for him, he knew her dhampir nature had already retreated.
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Brot'an stepped around to wave Sgäile off. Osha finally released Wynn.
Én'nish was on her feet but still hunkered from Brot'an's strike. Her one
remaining companion aided the other that Magiere had thrown into the trees.
They both emerged, but the latter man was limping badly and the front of his
tunic was shredded.
Nein'a glared at Leesil in shock. Any hint of fearful and angry denials she'd
cast at him were gone. There was only wary revulsion as her gaze drifted from
him down to Magiere hiding in his arms.
"It is not over," Fréth said coldly, and the white majay-hì shifted silently
in her way. "You have brought an undead into our midst. I do not understand
how this is possible, but this thing you coddle will not remain."
Leesil's anger rose again, but he couldn't leave Magiere.
"Chap," he said quietly, "kill anyone who takes a step."
Chap didn't answer in any fashion. He simply paced around Leesil to stand
before Magiere and glanced once at the white majay-hì blocking Fréth.
"Enough," Brot'an insisted. "If she were undead, the forest never would have
allowed her to enter. There is nothing Léshil could have done to change that."
Leesil wasn't certain about the shift in authority taking place. Both Sgäile
and Fréth were reluctant, but it seemed Brot'an took charge. For the moment,
it served to protect Magiere from the others but still, Leesil didn't like it.
Brot'an's pale scars stood out like white slashes on his lined face. "We are
all fatigued from a night of running with no food. We will rest part of the
day in the outer forest."
He gestured toward the fern-curtained passage.
"Fréthfâre, please report to Most Aged Father. Tell him all is settled, that
we have found the human woman and will return soon. Sgailsheilleache, you and
Osha find food, and Én'nish& "
Brot'an spun toward her, and now Leesil couldn't see his expression.
"You and those serving your purpose will keep well apart from Sgäile and his
charges. Or you will have more to answer for upon our return."
Én'nish picked up her fallen blade as she hobbled past Brot'an. Her face dark
with malice, she joined her two companions and headed out through the woods'
passage.
Leesil tried to get Magiere on her feet. When Brot'an approached, Chap
lunged, and his teeth clacked shut on air as Brot'an leaped away.
"No more," Sgäile said quickly to the dog. "No more fighting& let him pass."
Brot'an betrayed subtle surprise at Sgäile's words. "It seems there are some
things you have not told me."
Sgäile sighed but didn't answer.
"It's all right, Chap," Magiere said.
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Leesil's uncertainty grew. Brot'an might have pacified further conflict for
the moment. But it was still Brot'an, the one who'd used him. Leesil would
never sink to a hint of gratitude, but he let Magiere step forward to follow
Brot'an.
Leesil looked back into the glade. Nein'a watched him, but he no longer saw
anything recognizable in her cold eyes.
An abomination in his land.
Most Aged Father who had once been Sorhkafâré quaked in his bower.
This pallid woman with blood-stained hair had fooled even Fréthfâre.
In that long night, running beside Snähacróe and the others, he had heard the
cries behind him. Each dawn that followed, fewer remained in his company.
There had been humans and dwarves as well as his own kind. The dwarves had
been the first to fall. Unable to keep the pace with their short legs and
heavy bodies, fewer and fewer of those stout people were present at dawn when
his meager forces fell prostrate upon the ground. They foraged for water and
food by day, slept what little they could in shifts, and before dusk each
night they fled inland toward Aonnis Lhoin'n.
Not long past each dusk, they heard the shouts and running feet of
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