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Some died, spraying blood from slashed throats, oth-ers lost hands, others
bled and ignored it, turning through their own spirals of death with knives of
their own and bludgeons and other weapons improvised from whatever came to
hand.
Kazim, they chanted. Kazim, kazim, kazim.
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Adlayr kicked and shoved, moving through them, clearing a way for
the others. Zasya jerked
K vestmilly again and again away from the blind sweep of death. It wasn t
difficult, keeping clear, it only took alertness and speed. There was no focus
to the blows; the danc-ers struck at random, bruising air as much as they
bruised flesh.
When they reached the Bridge, it was almost empty as if the nixies swarming
below, agitated and
noisy, had provided a sort of insulation from the mad-dening throb.
Calanda was quieter, probably because there were fewer people there; many of
the men had gone south with the army, at least double what Dander had sent if
one didn t count the Marn s Guard.
Dusty and disregarded, K vestmilly followed meie and gyes south along the
River Road, leaving the worst of the hostile throb behind her, only weariness
left and a grief that lumped inside her like a bad meal that wouldn t go away.
Camnor Heslin stepped from under restless trees and stood at the edge of the
shadow waiting for them.
Honeydew fluttered to meet them, settling on Ad-layr s shoulder, chattering
into his ear, rubbing her tiny hand against his whiskery cheek.
Heslin unwrapped the straps from K vestmilly s wrists, pulled down the strip
wound loosely across her face. He wiped away tears and dust. Honeydew told me
about your father. If I d known ....
She leaned against him, needing that familiar solid-ity to give her back
some of the warmth, the connect-edness, that she d lost.
He held her for a few breaths, moving a hand gently up and down her back, then
he moved her away. We d best be going, they ll be looking for you soon, if
they aren t already.
As she settled the Mask over her face, she felt her mother comforting her as
Ansila Vos never had when she was alive and she had a sense of eons, the power
of blood and history. She tore the covering from her hair, combed her fingers
through it until it stood out from her head, then she kneed the macai into its
travel lope and headed south, the others following silently behind her.
>>
At the feral grove, Heslin used his corn to call He-divy to them. While they
waited, the greenish purple aura throbbing over the trees grew darker and
stronger than before. Out in the river the nixies were agitated, noisy,
rushing at the east bank, merging once again with the thick yellow-brown water
that gave the Yellow Dan its name.
The wind tore at them, erratic gusts that surged and fell with no
discernible rhythm. The land ba-boomed with a steady beat heard in the
bones rather than the ears. The sky grew dark and ominous, lightning walked
all around them, though it couldn t seem to reach them, deflected by the trees
and the nixies that crowded thickly about the landing. The trees began to
writhe and thrash about, the smallest on the outside of the grove bending
almost to the ground. The landing groaned and shifted under the
pressure of wind and water, threatening to tear from its posts and slide away
downstream.
Hedivy stepped onto the landing. Marn. He blinked as the wind blew rain in
his face, but stood stolid and immovable, braced against the shoving of the
storm gusts.
Hedivy Starab. K vestmilly raised her voice, almost shouting so he could
hear her over the storm.
He looked past her at the others. Oram?
Dead. Nov had him killed.
Ahhhh.
K vestmilly smiled behind the Mask when the light-ning showed her the flat
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chill look in his eyes, then she shook her head. There s nothing for you in
Dander, Hedivy Starab. You wouldn t get near him. It s bad there. Half the
Nerodin are killing the other half, I don t know why. The Pevranamist is
swarming with whar-fliks. And Nov s no doubt rooting through Oram s files and
planning what to do with the agents he finds listed there. How close is
Vedouce to finishing off the gritz?
Attack came when I was leaving. He squinted against the grit the wind was
blowing into his face.
If Vedouce pulls off the plan he has worked out, this time he ll break them.
If not, might take another week.
I see. She took off the Mask, looked at it, slipped it into the front of her
blouse. Come south with us. I ask it, I don t order you.
He thought about that a moment, then he nodded. Boat, he said.
In that?
You need someone to tell fin you coming.
Yes, you re right. Her voice was hoarse with the strain of struggling to be
heard. Zas, go with him.
Tell Vedouce what you know and when we ll get there. She coughed, wiped her
mouth. If he has questions, have Ildas pass them to Honeydew. More private
that way. Adlayr, bring my mac and give me a hand up, let s get started.
> >
Spider two to Base.
Base here. Go.
The gritz barges are coming round the bend, I can see a bunch of Harozh on
deck the first one.
They should be tying up before the hour s done. Vych! Bunch of gritz coming
out of the Planting, they re scattered, no more than two or three together,
and they re going fast and going light. There s more of
em. Choo eee. Looks like, they not going to stop till they hit the Horn. You
want me to keep watching or what? Go.
General said to tell you watch another hour, then come in. Go.
We got em that good? Go.
Yeh. Enough blood in that field to drown a herd of orsks. Out.
>>
Serroi walked along the cots, her bare feet cool on the shadowed
earth; they d arranged the wounded the way she wanted, the worst at the
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