The Daylight War (The Demon Cycle, #3)

by Peter V. Brett

Arlen held up a fist, and they fell silent again, though the energy was thick in the air. “Had the honor of standing with a lot of you in this very place, shedding blood and more than our share of coreling ichor right on the cobbles beneath your feet. Lost some good people, and still more came out with wounds they carry to this day. But we gave better’n we got, beat those demons down and watched them burn when the sun rose.” He looked back to the Krasians. “In Krasia, that makes this sacred ground, and it makes us all family.” There were nods and grunts of agreement from the crowd, though none dared speak, hanging on Arlen’s words. “For more than three hundred years, we been waiting for a Deliverer to come and save us from the demons. And while we waited, we forgot that we, each and every one of us, was strong. Strong enough that together, ent nothing can stop us. But the Deliverers of old didn’t do it alone. They get the credit, ay, but they wouldn’t have had a chance without the thousands, nay, millions, of good folk like you at their sides. “So you stand up for you and yours tonight. You stand proud, and come Waxing, when Hollow County’s still standing tall, someone asks who the Deliverer is? You can give honest word when you say ‘Ay, that’s me.’ ”