‘Please!’ she cried to the spirits in the forest. ‘Someone, help me!’ But there was no one alive to hear her. Even Storm had disappeared, and she couldn’t see the Mother Tree beyond the Protector’s looming shadow. He stood over her now, hatred dripping from his words as he raised his sword. ‘Your end has come, Ortha Starcrest. May your soul and the souls of all the witches die with you.’ Rose flinched as his sword came down. It sluiced through the air and sailed past her left ear. There came the sickening sound of steel tearing through flesh and blood and bone, and then a new voice cried out
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Oh no
