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patiently waiting for escape so it could enact its revenge on the world. It was just another step down a road that led to darkness, and it was far too late to worry about it now. Now, I had only to survive.
     
    Keep quiet now, Simon. Come.
     
    Simon went stone-still, rigid, his crisp all-black Warrior’s uniform straightening like a soldier’s. Then he moved stiffly and jerkily, like a puppet on strings, toward me.
     
    Good, good. Retrieve Bethany from the Queen’s office and meet us outside. Go! Without question, without resistance Simon went off to complete his task. A bit of sweet satisfaction went through me, like butterfly kisses in my belly. I commanded Queen Camillia onward, and we began making our trek to the doors that led outside, some twenty feet ahead.
     
    After what seemed like an eternity the two of us burst out of the doors of the Council building into the warm, moist air of the night. I heard Queen Camillia gasp. Her thoughts and feelings were a constant stream in my head. Then Simon joined us, Bethany lying limply in his arms, and he sucked in air sharply, mimicking the Queen’s reaction to a sight that I had never not known. I stroked their souls carefully, helping them take in all that my power was allowing them to see. Their souls bloomed and swelled and brightened at the new sight I’d offered. It was quite a gift. They knew this. They were awed and grateful and devoted. To me. Another sweet slurp of satisfaction swam through me.
     
    Everything that held life for miles and miles was visible to us. The green, sweet and innocent breath of the trees, the grass, the earth. The bright, simple existence of all the woodland creatures stalking the night or sleeping in their homes. The slight, distant energy from the heavens, radiating toward us in its soft and erratic waves. And the people. All the people. So much light. So much dark.
     
    I can’t leave them here, I thought, and was answered silently by the Queen. She didn’t have to ask who I was talking about, neither did Simon. They didn’t have to ask anything .
     
    We can’t take them all, my Lady, she told me. I tilted my head at that title, decided instantly that I liked it.
     
    There is a Caravan hidden in the woods that we can use to escape if we can make it past the walls, but it will only seat ten, eleven, at most. We will come back for the people. We will save them, if that is your will, but we must go now.
     
    I felt warm tears spill from my eyes, and didn’t have to look to know that Simon and the Queen were crying as well. We could taste the fear – like rusted metal in our mouths– that sat over the city. We could feel the heartache of the villagers in the distance, could touch their pain.
     
    I could take seven more people with me, wherever it was that I was going. This fact hurt my heart. But I would come back for the rest. I would come back. There was no doubt of that now. And my people would follow.
     
    We were heading toward the east wall now, the three of us jogging, Bethany bouncing like a life-size doll in Simon’s strong arms, Queen Camillia and I clutching each other fiercely. I needed her support more than she needed mine.
     
    I wasn’t sure if I could do what I was going to try next, my reach was already stretching thin, and the King was still fighting me for consciousness back in the Council building, but I had to try. When King William woke up and found us gone, he would take his wrath out on his people. I knew this, as I knew all else. Seven more. It was better than nothing.
     
    I took a deep breath, I knew who to call to first.
     
    Closing my eyes, I focused only on what I my soul could see, and was struck at first by something far, far away from me, a frequency that was so powerful that it outshined the rest of the souls even from its greater distance, a buzz of life so beautiful, so alluring, that all I wanted to do was follow it. My companions wanted to follow it, too, because they wanted to follow me