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people began to get dizzy. And weak. And then they fell down wherever they were, and just. ..
went to sleep. I couldn't wake them up." Tears poured down his face. "I kept trying and trying,
but it was like they were dead. They couldn't hear me.
"Where is your queen?" Colivar demanded.
"She went up onto the roof after all the others. She never came down. The flying thing left
soon after that, heading out over the sea. I thought that everyone might wake up then, but they
didn't. So I ... I went to hide. In case it came back. I didn't want it to get me, too."
"How long ago was that?" Ramirus asked.
"I don't know," the boy said miserably. "I'm sorry. I've been in the cellar. It seemed like the
safest place."
"You're safe now," Colivar told him. Even if the rest of the world isn't.
On the roof they found some of the missing people. Most were comatose. A few were dead.
One looked as if large chunks of flesh had been gouged from his body. Flies were thick about
the meat, but no maggots had appeared yet. So all this had happened fairly recently, Colivar
thought. He gathered his sorcery about him to narrow down the time frame, but he could not
bring himself to release it. Not when the whole place smelled of her.
"She was readying herself for a long flight," he said. Trying to keep his voice steady.
"Possibly to a place where food would be scarce. I doubt she will come back."
"She?" Lazaroth asked sharply.
"A female Souleater," he said. "The most dangerous of her kind."
But not for any reason you would understand.
Had Colivar thought he could escape them forever? That the Wrath would protect him from
ever needing to confront his memories? From having to define his loyalties? If so, that
illusion was shattered now.
He had never expected a queen to appear in the south.
You will take up the sword again soon, he told himself. But on which side will you fight?
Celia Friedman has been a voracious reader from her earliest days and began writing at the
age of thirteen. At university, she studied maths, then theatre, before following her love of
costume design to study and pursue a career in that field. She taught Costume Design at a
northern Virginian university and has designed period dress patterns for a historical supply
company. She now writes full-time and teaches a creative writing course at a local high
school.
To find out more about Celia Friedman and other Orbit authors you can register for the free
monthly newsletter at www.orbitbooks.net
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