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S HAWN S PEAKMAN<br />
came and went, a light bulb with a short in its electrical wiring.<br />
Now could be a time it went dark.<br />
As if sensing his fears, the giant cat leapt into motion, a dark<br />
blur of rippling fur and terrible promise. Giant paws clawed at the<br />
concrete, its fangs bared. Gimlet eyes bore into Richard as the<br />
hulk of muscle, bone, and fury came on.<br />
Richard took an involuntary step back but then held his ground.<br />
The tunnel with its dead air dropped away. The screams of Al and<br />
Walker—even the cat’s growls—melted into a rush of white noise.<br />
The beast and the feral gleam in its eyes were all that remained.<br />
He reached across the tenuous fabric between the two worlds,<br />
a call of heart that was his right—that had been bestowed upon<br />
him by Merle many years earlier.<br />
Nothing happened.<br />
He barely had time to react. The cat was immediately upon<br />
him, leaping with claws extended. Richard dove to the side, letting<br />
the beast fly past, his scream of fear mixed with defiance inhuman<br />
in his own ears. Searing pain flared to life along his left arm as he<br />
spun like a top from the slashing assault, knocking him backward<br />
and to his knees. He gritted his teeth and in a fluid motion turned<br />
to again confront his foe.<br />
The cait sith bounded through a window in the brick building,<br />
melting into blackness.<br />
Al and Walker cowered fifteen feet away—the former with a<br />
crazed look while the latter continued to weep.<br />
A rumbling laugh filled the underground.<br />
“Weak knight,” his enemy mocked, gone from view. “I was told<br />
you would be. I will drag your corpse back with me through the<br />
portal as a trophy.”<br />
Richard straightened, still on his knees. He would not fail. Not<br />
while his only friends had need. Ribbons of liquid fire ran along his<br />
arm, soaking his shirt, but he barely felt the wound. A white-hot<br />
pressure arose inside, quick and sustaining, coming from the depths<br />
of his chest, mind, and even from without. It blossomed as a tingling<br />
sensation and spread outward into his limbs. The pain dulled; the<br />
shock disappeared. It was not anger or vengeance that came over<br />
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