The further south their great procession had traveled, the more things had changed. Some of that was purely geographical, of course. They'd left the mountains and the great pine forests long behind them, trading them in for fields and rivers made mighty by the runoff from the mountains that only stopped when the weather turned water to ice. They
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His own grin sharpened to match Morton's, and he actually did let his claws sink into her skin a little, piercing flesh all too easily. A year ago, that fact would have terrified him.
"You really can't say you weren't given warning."
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She looked up at Marva in disgust, curling her lip at the woman's own betrayal. "She is a loathsome creature, I'll give you that. But she won't hurt you any more."
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Karla was fairly certain that Marva hadn't been just clouding Fetya's mind, but actively shredding it. Now to see just how deep that damage went.
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And from there, he was just about to ask Morton what in the world to do with her. Except that was when the door flew open, and the room was full of men with swords.
It was probably obvious by the silence that followed that most of them were actually not quite expecting the scene that was set out before them once they'd entered the room.
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Look, wishful thinking was a wonderful thing.
What probably helped more was the fact that, when half of the men turned to face Karla, to protect their Queen as they'd been instructed, it didn't seem to be Karla that she was shying away from. In fact, judging by the way she was curled up and clinging to the young Queen, they could almost spot a case for things not being as they had been presented to them at all.
It was unfortunate that there were still rats in the army, though. Not all of the men in the room were more loyal to Fetya than to her wicked sister and her promises of power.
For every man that stood confused, there was another moving to turn their swords against Morton, against Warren, and against Karla.
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...Or, more likely, from an aural shield. But it seemed better if it was Karla's presence.
"She lies. Look at her right hand. The ring finger is an illusion. She's Hobart's creature and she's been driving your Queen slowly mad."
This was an excellent pronouncement and all. To bad the people aligned with Marva decided that would be an excellent time to attack.
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There wasn't much of a chance that she'd remain conscious through that. He let go, and she crumpled to the floor in a heap.
Nice of her to leave her knife embedded in his hand. Less great was the effort that it was going to take to rip it out of knitting flesh in order for him to pick up his sticks and fight these men properly. How fortunate for him that he had a pretty okay sort of wingspan, and just flaring them out as he spun to face his attackers was enough of a blow to knock two men off their feet at once.
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*You'd better have your shields up,* he thought furiously to Karla, *or by the Darkness, I will throttle you when this is all over.*
Technically, his place was in front of his Queen, keeping her safe from all comers, and Lady Fetya as well. Over here, however, he would be more use to them all around--so long as Karla remembered to shield and didn't end up with a sword to the throat, anyway.
"In the name of your Queen, stand down!"
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Fetya, who was currently clawing at Karla's skirts, crying and babbling. "See, I told you," she wept. "The rats are here, they're all here, we're going to be devoured..."
"That Black Widow bitch has ensnared her mind!" One of Marva's pets screamed. A few others blinked at him in surprise, considering this wasn't actually all that different from the way the Queen usually behaved, but most of the squad simply accepted it, blood up and adrenaline charging. "For Fetya!" they cried as they swept forward to renew their attack.
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That was how you used a knife, Marva.
"That Black Widow is the Territory's rightful Queen and currently the only one with a chance of keeping your Queen from wandering lost in the Twisted Kingdom," he snarled, making a dive for his sticks, "and you'll treat her with the respect she's due!"
One of the men saw Warren moving for his weapons and threw them out of the way with his Craft. He got a punch to the jaw, with all of Warren's upper-body strength backing it up, for his troubles, and then Warren simply grabbed his sword as he fell like a sack of bricks instead.
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