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he lashed out with his hand.
His palm cracked against the side of Wynn's face, and her head whipped
sideways. Wynn's vision turned white, and she vaguely heard a metallic
clatter.
She lay facedown in the street, but the white still blurred her vision like a
blizzard enveloping the world. What little she made out looked as flat as a
picture her left eye would not focus at all.
Something thin and biting circled her wrists. A sharp pain in both
Wynn's shoulders cut through the dull ache in her head and eye, as her arms
were pinned back and tied.
"Lucky day, girlie," came a voice she barely heard. "We're supposed to bring
you in one piece."
Wynn's arms jerked upward, her shoulders twisting back as she came off the
ground. She exhaled sharply. Her feet dragged on the stones as she was carried
away.
"You half-wits!" someone shouted. "You were to stay out of sight until they
were on the bridge."
It took all Wynn's strength to turn her head. She looked up with only her
right eye.
Lieutenant Omasta glared down Favor's Row and slowly shook his head. Wynn
tried to focus.
Bodies lay in the street. Soldiers were Wynn's best guess. Magiere and Chap
were gone. They had escaped and she was alone.
Wynn could not feel afraid. She was too tired. She wished the soldier would
just drop her so she could sleep on the cold stone. She remembered Leesil
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holding her as she told him that everything would be fine.
Omasta turned about and looked down at Wynn. "Take her in and wait for me.
The rest of your contingent had better bring that hunter back."
Wynn's head sagged. A salty taste filled her slack mouth, and every few paces
a dark red droplet spattered on the snow-dusted stones of the keep's bridge.
Magiere heard Wynn cry out. She faltered in her flight and stopped to look
back. Chap whirled about as well.
Three soldiers closed behind them. Three more were coming out ahead. Magiere
couldn't see Wynn, and anguish only made her furious that she'd led the young
sage into this trap.
Chap lunged back down the road toward the trailing soldiers.
"No!" Magiere shouted.
The dog skidded to a halt with an angry snarl.
"We can't help her if we're caught," Magiere said.
Chap barked twice in denial, but he turned back, lunging ahead of her toward
the soldiers in their path. Magiere rushed after him.
The soldiers were fully focused on her, and the first was caught by surprise
when Chap grazed his leg in passing. The man stumbled sideways, and Magiere
slashed into his side with the falchion as she passed She didn't look back to
see if he went down. The next two slowed.
Chap swerved right, snapping and snarling as he passed one soldier's flank.
The man spun about at the dog's circling attack, and Magiere charged straight
for his companion.
Every fast breath Magiere took fanned her hunger. She no longer felt the
cold. Her opponent cocked back his shortsword, and Magiere swung downward
while still running. For that instant the soldier seemed to slow in her
vision, yet her own movements retained speed.
The shortsword had barely finished half its swing when Magiere's falchion
collided with it. His force seemed weak, and Magiere's strike broke through
his guard. The falchion's curved end bit through his hauberk's shoulder, and
he crumpled. She turned away before he hit the ground.
Chap's jaws were clamped on the third soldier's ankle. He set all fours and
jerked backward. The soldier slipped and fell, his boot tearing between Chap's
teeth.
The soldier's skullcap helmet clanked on the stone. Magiere kicked his head
as she passed, and his body spun a quarter turn on the cobblestones. He went
still, arms splayed out like a ragdoll's . Chap pulled in beside Magiere as
she ran on, with the trailing soldiers closing from behind.
Chap rushed ahead and swerved down the first side street, and Magiere
followed. The dog turned again into an alley. He wove his way between the
crates and barrels, and Magiere toppled as many as she could in her passing to
slow their pursuers. A few steps ahead she spotted a half-open door in a
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building of weather-bleached planks.
"Here!" she shouted at Chap.
The dog spun around, running back. He leaped through the opening, and she
followed, slamming the door behind. She quickly heaved a pivoting wood bar
into its braces, sealing the door.
"Help!Murder!" someone screamed.
Magiere flattened her back against the door.
A portly woman holding a dripping ladle stood gasping in wide-eyed panic near
a small stone hearth. Brown stew bubbled within a cast-iron pot hanging over
the weak flames, and spatters of" the same color stained the woman's greasy
apron. There were stacks of tin and wood plates and mugs on a squat side
table, and crates of potatoes were piled in the corner under plucked chickens
dangling from wall hooks. Magiere was in a back scullery and kitchen.
"No," she said, lowering the falchion. "Ma'am, be quiet.'
She must look horrifying to a commoner, rushing in armed with a large dog at
her side. Magiere put one finger to her lips. The squat woman stared at her
with wide round eyes.
The door bucked against Magiere's back as something struck it from outside.
The woman screamed again.
Magiere shoved past her, kicking open the far plank door. She ran out and
startled a skinny girl with a haggard face carrying a wooden tray of brimming
tankards. Magiere stood in the common room of a small tavern. Clusters of
townsfolk stared at her in surprise as another squealing scream came from the
kitchen.
"Murder!"
The skinny girl stumbled, and the tray of tankards toppled to the floor with
a splashing clatter. A stocky man in a floppy leather cap stood up in alarm.
Chap lunged out before Magiere, letting out a deep snarl. His muzzle and
teeth were stained with blood.
"Wolf!" cried the stocky man.
Patrons toppled drink and food, chairs and tables, as they scrambled in any
direction away from the dog. This left a clear path to the front door, and
Chap raced for it as Magiere realized what he'd done. She slammed her palm
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