The amphitheater falls still. “Your ears do not deceive you,” the queen says to her spellbound audience. “It was one of us who invited the witch. One of us who orchestrated the deaths of our tribespeople, and that traitor is here, right now.” Only through an enormous feat of self-control does Niko remain silent. The rangers in the Circle shift restlessly on their feet, however, each group eyeing the others suspiciously. Across the amphitheater, VaSiningwe rises to his imposing height, made greater by his spike-maned leopard headdress.
