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Источник: http://www.merwolf.com/docs.html (ищем «Shadows of the Soul»). 45 страница



“Yeah?” The queen met her eyes steadily.

“You think we’ll be okay?”

Xena was silent for several heartbeats, wanting very much to lie and finding she simply didn’t have it in her to do it. “I don’t know.” She finally said, turning her head and looking off over the battlefield. “I hope so.” She added, after taking a breath. “I really want everything to be okay.”

It occurred to her at that moment, just how true that was. Xena swallowed, wondering just when it was that she’d stopped caring about living. Was it after she’d gained her last goal? Her own kingdom?

So much had stopped mattering after that. After she’d gotten what she wanted, and lost Lyceus in gaining it. She could look back now, and see that – with the knowledge that things had changed, and living was something she very much wanted to continue doing.

“Me, too.” Gabrielle whispered, hearing a seriousness in Xena’s voice she’d never experienced before. “The men are behind you all the way.”

“I know.” Xena looked down at her hands, resting on the saddle. “I’m not worried about them.” Her eyes shifted back to Gabrielle’s face. “I’ll be leading that charge.” Something nameless inside her prompted the admission, one she’d never imagined herself making to anyone much less this scrappy little bedmate of hers.

Why?

Instinctively, Gabrielle put a hand out and touched the queen’s leg. “Are you feeling okay?”

Why, indeed? A soft, wry laugh. “Gabrielle, I can barely stay upright in this damn saddle and my eyesight keeps blurring. Sure. I’m fine. You?”

Gabrielle’s eyes widened in alarm. “Then you should stay here.” She said. “You can tell them what to do.”

“I can’t.” Xena lifted a hand and rubbed her eyes.

“But Xena…”

“But nothing.” The queen gathered herself up and slid off the back of her horse, holding onto the saddle and letting her body stretch out. Her stomach rebelled, and she let her head rest against Tiger’s shoulder until the queasiness subsided, hoping the small thuds and grunts she heard would result in at least a hug of comfort.

Then she felt ashamed of herself for wanting that.

Then Gabrielle’s arms slipped around her and the shame evaporated, leaving her mostly just confused. “I have to go out there.” She said. “I’m their focus. The one thing they think they have that’ll tip the balance in our favor.”

Gabrielle rubbed her back. “But… if you’re sick, if you can’t… Xena, they know how badly you were hurt. They wouldn’t want you to risk getting hurt worse, I’m sure of it.”

The queen let her hand drop to her thigh, exhaling in utter frustration. “I’m so damn pissed off at myself I could scream.” She uttered. “Damn it, damn it, damn it.” Her hand smacked her leg again. “Damn me.”

Gabrielle had no idea what to do or say, so she just gave Xena another hug.

For a few minutes they both just stood there, as the rest of the troops deployed around them, settling down to wait for the impending attack to begin. Xena rested her cheek against the top of Gabrielle’s head and watched them over Tiger’s back, seeing faces quiet with confidence and set with determination.

She had told them they would win, and so, they believed it. They might doubt themselves, but foolish or no, they would not doubt her. Xena sighed. And of course, this was the one time they damn well should doubt.

She was tired, she was sick, and both the pain and the dizziness were getting worse. She knew the upcoming battle would be hard, and painful and she knew she wasn’t truly up to it. In that moment, she hated Bregos more than just about anything else in her life, and she wished vainly that she’d ignored her kinder instincts and gutted him like a pig when she’d had the chance.

“How can I help?” Gabrielle asked, in a small voice. “Let me do something.”

Xena took in a breath of cold air, full of the scent of the forest and the woman pressing against her. She could hear the fear in Gabrielle’s tone, and knowing she’d put it there steadied her in an odd way. “It’s okay.” She scratched the back of her lover’s neck gently. “I’m gonna be fine, if you do what I’m gonna tell you and stay here, behind this damn tree, out of the way.”



“But…”

“No buts, Gabrielle.” Xena took her chin and forced her head up, making eye contact. “I need to know you’re safe. Understand me?”

“Mistress.” Brendan’s voice barely carried. “They’re moving.”

“Understand me?” The queen repeated, her eyes never leaving Gabrielle’s. “Stay here.”

Gabrielle reached up and touched her face, laying her hand flat against her cheek.

Xena’s lips twitched. “Please?”

“Only…” Gabrielle paused, and swallowed. “Only if you promise you’ll come back here and get me.”

The look in Xena’s eyes was almost gentle. “Boy, do we gotta work on that ‘I’m the queen’ thing”. She inclined her head and gave Gabrielle a light kiss. Then she paused as she started to pull back, with her lips right next to Gabrielle’s ear. “I promise.” She whispered “But don’t you tell anyone, or I’ll strip ya naked and make you sing in public.”

“Okay.” Gabrielle sounded relieved, and she stepped back as Xena straightened and turned towards Tiger. She watched the queen put her hands on the saddle, then saw her gather herself before she pulled herself up and slung her leg over the stallion’s back, gathering his reins in one hand as she reached back over her shoulder to check her sword. “Be careful.”

Xena somehow heard her over the sound of rising battle in front of them. She turned, squaring her shoulders and settling her boots more firmly into the stirrups. “Keep your head down.” She said. “I’ll be as careful as you are.” With a single pointed finger, the queen turned her horse and nudged him towards the front of their lines, peering intently over the animals head.

With a sigh, Gabrielle returned to Patches side. She had her walking stick, returned to her by Xena, strapped to his side, and now she put her hand on the end of it and felt the solid wood against her skin. “I guess we can make sure everyone here’s okay, right Patches?”

The pony lifted his head, a stalk of forest grass hanging from his lips and peered at her.

“We can guard everyone, until Xena says it’s okay to come out.” Gabrielle put her arms around the pony’s neck and kept her eyes on Xena’s tall form. “But you know what, Patches? I’d rather be out there with her. I don’t care how dangerous it is.”

Patches snorted, and went back to cropping the grass.

Curious, Gabrielle edged a little closer to the trees, watching what was going on. The men attacking the stronghold had finished the tall wooden things, and now they were pushing them towards the gates, hiding behind them as they walked.

A horn blew.

One of the attackers cupped his hands and yelled, the wind ripping the words away before she could catch them.

A yell came back from the walls. Squinting, Gabrielle thought she recognized the Duke up there, and as if to prove their defiance, a volley of arrows came flying over, nailing the wooden things with solid clunks.

Now all the attackers grabbed torches, and lines of them started forward behind the wooden things. More attackers stayed behind their hiding places, and started shooting arrows at the walls, taking little bits of stone out of them and making the people on top duck.

One of the arrows hit, one of the men was too slow, and she watched in horror as he pitched over the top of the wall and fell to the ground, to cheers from the attackers.

Gabrielle winced, turning to watch Xena instead. The queen sat tall on her horse, her sword drawn in her hand, restlessly moving it around as she waited.

All the attackers started to move forward, just like Xena thought they would. Gabrielle sensed movement behind her, and she turned her head to see the rest of the servants moving up to circle her. One of the older men gave Patches a pat on the back and exhaled, but remained silent.

A horn blew again, and the attack began.

Then a yell went up, triumphant, and Gabrielle’s eyes widened as she realized the stronghold gates were swinging open.

Her yell, and Xena’s could have come from the same throat.

Then it became nothing but death and chaos.

**

Part 21

Hack, hack hack. Xena methodically kept her arm moving, getting into a rhythm of mayhem as she cut and sliced her way towards the gates. She was a target, and she knew it. Her body rose up higher on her tall horse than anyone else around, and she found herself ducking arrows and dodging spear thrusts more often than almost could handle.

But there was no option, and she knew that, too. “Die, ya stinking bastards!” She released her reins and grabbed her sword two handed, smashing her hilts down onto the head of a man clutching her leg, splitting his skull and sending blood and brains down the leg of her horse.

He didn’t like it. Given the man’s stink, Xena didn’t blame him. “Eeyah!” She kneed the big stallion and he hopped to one side, kicking out with his hind legs and thrusting aside the dead man’s body.

Brego’s men were swarming over hers, their much greater number making the battle seem more like a massacre, except that her men weren’t dying easily.

Xena spotted four enemy soldiers attacking Brendan. She whirled away from two men attacking her, and spurred Tiger into a gallop, knocking down men in her way and cutting the heads off those stupid enough to try to jump her.

She reached the four just in time to kick one, gut another, and stab a third with her hastily drawn dagger.

Brendan killed the fourth. Xena tapped him on the head with her sword flat, and whirled Tiger on his haunches, sending him back towards the front lines at a gallop.

“Bless ye, Mistress!” Brendan yelled after her. “Fo’ard, lads! Together now!”

They all came after her now. Someone had given them the idea that she was the key to the battle somehow. Xena found herself quickly surrounded by determined men, as a quick glance towards the gates showed a scuffle and chaos there as a crowd of servants were preventing the stronghold’s defenders from coming out.

They’d driven two wagons into the opening, and were throwing things at the soldiers, boxes and supplies, in a whirlwind of yelling, frantic bodies.

A cold anger gripped her. “Those little bastards.” She uttered, understanding the betrayal. But there wasn’t time to think about it as a dozen men closed around her and she was in danger of being pulled off her horse.

**

Gabrielle gripped Patches mane and stared, as she watched the fight, her eyes never leaving the tall figure astride the big black horse. Xena’s hair was wild and loose, her sword moving like lightning flashes as she fought fiercely with the men besieging the stronghold.

She gasped, seeing Brendan in trouble, then was able to breathe again as she saw Xena galloping to his rescue. But a group of the enemy had gathered, and she saw them heading for the queen as she turned.

It was hard to stay put. She tangled her fingers into the reins, and told herself all she’d get if she went into the fight was killed, and Xena being horribly angry with her. She didn’t want that.

She didn’t want Xena to get hurt, either. It was like being pulled in two different directions by two very strong forces.

Then one of the servants next to her gasped and pointed, and Gabrielle looked, standing up a little in her stirrups to see what the woman was looking at. In the opening, the soldiers inside were trying to get out, and they were being stopped by…

By the stronghold’s servants. “Oh no!” Gabrielle groaned. “We’ve got to stop them!”

“Stop them.. the soldiers?” The woman turned to her. “We’ll be killed!”

“No!” Gabrielle pointed. “The others! We’ve got to stop them… let the other soldiers out! If these guys win, we’ll die anyway!”

A moment’s indecision. Then… “She’s right.” One of them men said. “Let’s go! No matter what, I’m with the queen.”

“Aye.” The woman agreed quietly. “Though I’d never have thought to say it.”

Gabrielle released the reins, and urged Patches ahead, leading the servants out from the cover they’d been hiding in. She picked a path around the battle and slapped the pony on his rear, hoping everyone would follow her.

**

Kick, damn you. Xena felt herself tiring, as she tried again to give Tiger the right signal. This time he got it, and she clamped her knees down as he lashed out backwards, knocking back several of the men attacking her.

Stallions had their good points. They were a pain in the ass to train, and the gods help you if there was a mare around in heat, but when your neck was on the line and you needed an animal to fight for you, they were there.

Most of the time, anyway. When their rider was in their right mind and not about to fall off their backs. “Eeyhah!” Xena found herself some fighting room, but motion in her peripheral vision made her head snap around as she spotted the servants racing around the edge of the battlefield heading for the gates.

“Son of a b..” Xena started to pull Tiger around, then she paused, her eyes following the line of where the servants were heading.

Towards the other servants. The ones who were blocking her men. Xena swung a backhanded blow with her sword, cutting the arm off a man about to plunge a spear into her side. Would they join them, or..? Xena was unable to keep her eyes from finding Gabrielle’s mounted form in the melee, the blond woman’s face set and determined as she guided her pony into danger.

“Xena, worry about keeping yourself alive.” The queen muttered, as she was thrown sideways by two soldiers leaping halfway up her horse, their hands grabbing at her sword arm and a sliver of bloodied steel heading it’s way towards her heart.

“T’the left, lads!” Brendan’s voice came to her from behind. “Get em! Get t’bastards!”

Yeah, yeah. Xena desperately batted away the knife, unable to maneuver well because the two men were pinning her right leg to her horse.

Instinct warned her just in time, and she leaned back as a man flew at her from the back of a wagon and landed across Tiger’s shoulders, his mace slamming down and fortuitously smashing the head of the soldier pinning her leg.

“Thanks!” Xena ripped the mace from his hands and tossed him over the other side of her horse. She lifted the mace and smashed it into the second man’s face, sending bits of gore all over everything. Tiger shifted and kicked out, surprising her as he crab hopped sideways, clearing space for both of them.

She looped the mace onto her saddle horn and shifted her sword, looking around quickly.

Her men were doing their best. Brego’s men outnumbered them five to one, at least, but they were focusing on trying to kill her, and that left them open to attacks by her forces, working in teams just like she’d taught them.

But her men were dying. Xena felt an unreasoning rush of rage and pain, and she gathered herself up, spotting a bunch of Bregos lousy bastards and spurring Tiger towards them. She let out a wild yell and attacked them viciously, letting her hatred and anger fuel her sword arm.

Two, then four fell to her attack. More ran to help them, and finally she had to jump off Tiger’s back so they wouldn’t pull him to the ground. She met them at their own level now, and they quickly found out they’d have been better off leaving her up there.

On the ground, she was a nightmare. Xena ducked and whirled, showing her true mastery of her weapon as she met their blades as they surrounded her and deflected them all, twisting her boots to gain some leverage as she locked her arms and drove all the way around, cutting through men’s bodies and removing at least one hand before she pulled her sword into her body and changed her attack, closing with the nearest man and ramming the tip of her blade up through his armor into his ribcage.

“Ahhh!” His voice ended on a gurgle as she twisted her hands and yanked up, then kicked the man away from her.

“C’mon, you gutless nothings! Die!” Xena yelled. “I’ll kill you all!”

She smashed her hilts, her fists wrapped around them, across another man’s face and felt the bone crunch under the blow.

Two of them gathered the guts to jump her, and she felt hits connect, rocking her body before she could twisted around and slam her elbow into one of them.

Her knees buckled unexpectedly as the second smacked her across the back of her head. Xena started to go down, the world graying out around her, but then forced herself back upright by sheer will. She found her dagger in her hand and she drove it around as the second man sensed his advantage and grabbed her, and the blade slid home with the grating sensation of steel hitting bone.

A yell behind her made her whirl, and she felt her heart skip as she saw the soldiers from the stronghold pouring out of a break in the blockade, half of one of the wagons dragged out of the way as the servants she brought with her tussled with the ones holding the door.

Yeah. Xena found herself smiling as she tasted victory, the fresh troops riding down Bregos men, who couldn’t regroup in time to stop them. The two remaining men facing her turned and ran, and Xena twirled her sword in her hand, letting out a hiss of satisfaction.

Yeah.

**

“Stop!” Gabrielle was the first to reach the gates. “Stop! Get back! Let them out!”

One of the servants turned and spat at her. “Get out of her, whore!” He threw a bag at her. “Beat it! Go back to your bitch!”

Gabrielle caught the bag with a grunt and threw it back. “You’re making a big mistake!” She searched the faces, seeing no sympathy there. “She’s not your enemy!”

“Shut up!” A familiar voice interjected. Gabrielle looked up to see Toris among the blockaders, leading them against the soldiers pounding against the wagons. “You little whore… get out of here!”

The rest of the servants arrived, and started pulling at the ones blocking the gates. Gabrielle was the only one mounted, and she could see the troops behind the wagons, hacking desperately at them. But Toris had planned well, and the wagons were filled to bursting with heavy crates, stuck in the opening and effectively stopping it completely.

She looked behind her, seeing only carnage, and Xena in the middle of it fighting for her life. “I’m not leaving!” She yelled, scrambling off Patches back and leading him towards the wagon. A man tried to grab her, but she ducked and rammed him with her shoulder.

Ow. That hurt. But it knocked him aside and she was able to dart between him and another man, and grab hold of the thick leather harness hanging from the wagon.

So many things here confused her. So many things were outside her experience, and beyond her very meager knowledge.

But this… this she knew. “Keep them away from me!” She yelled to three of Xena’s servants. “I’ll pull the wagons!”

“Go!” The man nearest her yelled. “I’ve got your back!”

Gabrielle dragged Patches closer, desperately trying to turn him so she could throw the traces over his back. “C’mon, Patches… you gotta help me out here!” She got the leather straps over the pony’s shoulders and tightened them with experienced hands. “I know this isn’t your thing, but you know… this whole thing isn’t my thing but I’ve learned.”

Patches nickered at her.

“Gabrielle! Go!”

That was from inside the stronghold. Gabrielle recognized the Duke’s voice, and knew she’d been spotted. With shaking fingers, she fastened the last buckle, the one at the shoulder that would take the brunt of the weight of the wagon.

“Hurry!”

She ran to Patches head and grabbed his bridle, leading him forward as debris started to rain down on top of her. “C’mon, boy!” Her pony was smaller by far than the brute who would usually pull the wagon, but he threw himself forward gamely, tugging against the heavy load. “C’mon… I’ll help!”

It was crazy, and she knew it. She could no more pull the wagon than she could jump over the stronghold. But she dug her boots in and tightened her fingers on the leather, leaning her weight forward and pulling with all the strength in her body.

The leather creaked, but it felt like she was pulling against the stronghold itself. “C’mon!” She pleaded with Patches. The pony snorted, and lunged forward, his hooves digging out chunks of mud.

Gabrielle could hear wild chaos behind her, and screams. She just kept pulling, and after an endless moment, she felt her momentum start to go forward. “Yeah! YEAH!” She yanked frantically, her boots slipping in the soft ground, then gaining purchase and moving ahead.

There was a cracking sound behind her, then she felt something hit her in the back, then she heard a triumphant yell go up. Abruptly, the wagon moved faster, and she turned, to see a black opening in the gates, full of fighters now pouring through.

Axes rose and fell, chopping down the servants, who now turned and ran screaming as the warriors boiled out and attacked Bregos men.

Her wagon caught it’s wheels on debris and stopped moving, but it had done what she needed it to. Gabrielle stopped Patches and turned, searching for Xena with anxious eyes.

Then she was grabbed by the back of the neck and swung against the wagon with sickening force. Rough hands turned her, and she blinked the stars from her eyes as she saw Toris in front of her, his hands clenched in her tunic.

“We’ll all die. But you’ll die first.” He backhanded her across the face, and she stumbled and fell to the ground, stunned by the force. He stood over her and raised an ax in his arms, his face a mask of hatred as he swung at her.

**

Xena shoved two of her men forward, directing the battle now as the fresh soldiers from the stronghold joined them on the field. A ring of her own men surrounded her, and she picked out the rebel pockets, sending men to exterminate them with ruthless efficiency.

Something grabbed her.

Not physically, but regardless she felt herself pulled towards the gates, and her eyes swept over the area in startled confusion.

The battlefield stood still. She saw Gabrielle grabbed, and thrown, and hit.

She saw the ax.

She never remembered leaving the battle. She never remembered running across the bloody, churned ground.

She only knew in the seconds before she threw her body between that ax and that slight figure that it looked like the damn oracle had been right after all.

But it was all right.

She leaped the last bodylengths, her legs sending her out and sprawling over Gabrielle’s body a split second before the ax came down. Just a split second for her to meet the shocked green eyes, and grin.

The impact hit her back with stunning force, but…

But she was still moving, and by the god’s fickle grace the blade caught on the plate of armor across her back and turned just enough to stop it from plunging into her body.

Xena went with the motion, turning over as the ax thudded into the ground next to her. One leg lashed out and kicked the boots apart of the man standing over her, and the other uncoiled and nailed him right in the crotch.

He dropped to the earth. Xena drew her dagger and leaped on top of him, straddling his body and lifting her weapon.

His eyes lifted to hers. Xena smiled with absolutely no humor. “Hello, Toris.”

Gabrielle scrambled over to her and clutched Xena’s armor, breathing hard. “Xe..”

“Ah ah.” The queen shushed her. “Never interrupt me in the middle of a good execution, Gabrielle.” She lowered the knife to his throat, and pushed, it’s tip breaking skin and drawing blood. “Not when it’s this enjoyable for me.”

“Xena, wait.”

The queen turned her head. “Gabrielle.” Her voice dipped much lower.

“Don’t… I think it would be… “ Gabrielle could hardly catch her breath, and her head was ringing from the blow Toris had given her. “Everyone should see. He’s been against you all the time.”

To her surprise, Xena laughed. “He’s been against me since I was born.” She turned and regarded her prisoner. Then her hand lifted and descended, flickering fast, accompanied by a sharp crack.

Toris slumped, and went completely still.

Xena wiped her hands on her thighs and seated her dagger in it’s sheath, deliberately spitting on the man she was crouching over. “But you’re right, my friend. It should be in public. I’ll disembowel him right in the grand ballroom.”

Gabrielle exhaled. “He knows you.” She whispered, exhausted.

“Unfortunately.” Xena heaved herself off Toris’ now still body and sat down in the mud next to Gabrielle. “He’s my brother.”

Gabrielle blinked. Then she let her head rest against Xena’s shoulder and tried not to be sick. “Thank you.”

“For what?” Xena looked around the battlefield, seeing her men pursuing the remainder of Bregos troops away from the stronghold. “Kill them all!” She yelled at the top of her voice. “They all die!”

Gabrielle closed her eyes. “For saving me.”

“Least I could do after you disobeyed me yet again and were doing a great job of getting yourself killed.” The queen’s voice was mild, however. “Nice move with the wagon.”

“Can we go inside?”

“Not yet.” Xena flexed one hand. “I’m not sure I can stand up.”

Gabrielle opened her eyes and looked up in alarm. The queen’s profile was etched in exhaustion. “Me either.” She admitted softly. “But maybe we could help each other?”

Xena held a hand out. “Best offer I’ve had all day.”

They stood up slowly together, using Patches’ harness to pull themselves upright. All around them the battle was winding down, and the ground was covered in the dead, dying, and wounded.

But the gates were open, leading the way home.

**

“Move it out!” One of the stronghold’s drovers led the team now hitched to the remaining wagon, dragging it clear of the gates so they could be closed. The wagon rolled over ruts and bits of battering ram, and more than one body as it trundled past where Xena, Brendan, and Gabrielle were standing.

A pit was being dug. Xena’s men were dragging dead men over to it and throwing them in, while more soldiers were stripping the dead and dying of their armor and weapons, tossing them into the back of the wagon Gabrielle and Patches had so thoughtfully pulled out into the road for them.

“How fare ye, Mistress?” Brendan asked, looking up at his tall queen. “Was an unexpected battle, this.”

Xena nodded. She was standing with one arm resting on Patches back, and her other draped over Gabrielle’s shoulders. “I’m all right.” She answered. “We didn’t get Bregos.”

“Mistress, we don’t know the bastard was here.” Brendan said. “Given his hurts, I doubt it.”

The queen nodded again. “Find him.” She turned and looked directly at her captain. “I should have killed him on the field. I didn’t. My bad. Now I want his head on the carpet in front of my throne.”

“Has no army now.” The old soldier pointed out.

“Long as he’s alive, he’s a focus.” Xena stated. “I can’t afford that. We lost too many men.”

Brendan looked around, and his shoulders dropped a little. “Aye.”

“Who was leading them?”

Brendan hesitated, and then gave his head a half shake. “Didn’t see, Mistress. Thought t’heard orders coming from that hillock, but…” He pointed to piece of high ground, now empty.

“Ungh.” Xena pushed back from Patches warm side. “All right. Maybe he was stupid enough to announce himself to the guys inside. C’mon, Pony princess.” She gave Gabrielle’s blond hair a tug. “We conquered. Let’s go pillage.”

Gabrielle had long unfastened Patches’ harness, and now she took hold of his bridle to lead him back to the stronghold. The pony followed her agreeably, his hooves making little pocking noises as they pulled themselves free of the mud.

It was hard to believe it was over. The battle had happened so fast, life and death had resolved itself so quickly the details almost seemed like a dream. Gabrielle took a deep breath, and reached up to touch the side of her head. Except that Toris had hurt her, and the evidence of that was painfully apparent.

His hatred had stunned her. It had hurt more than the physical blow and to know now that he was Xena’s brother?

Too much. Gabrielle concentrated on keeping her boots out of the worst of the mud instead, until approaching squelches made her look up to see one of the stronghold’s grooms headed her way. Behind him, she spotted Xena’s stallion being led past, and she surrendered her pony’s halter to the boy as she gave him a tired smile. “He’s kind of dirty.”

“Aye, m’lady.” The boy patted the pony’s nose. “I’ll fix him up for ye.” Then, hesitantly, his eyes slid up to Xena’s face as the queen stood by waiting. “Majesty, t’locked us up in the stable. We wouldna have no part of it.”

Xena studied him, then she smiled. “Didn’t think you would.” She commented. “Everyone knows I treat my stable hands better than my courtiers. Scram.” She watched him lead Patches off, and then continued trudging towards the gates.

**

Xena walked into the main hall of the stronghold and paused, getting a strange flash as she remembered vividly the first time she’d walked from the battlefield into this space all those years ago.


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