Walter sweated in the sweltering upper reaches of the lecture hall. He leaned over his desk, squinting to see the stage where Professor Malikai paced. There were twenty rows of desks between them, each one a step lower so that the students in one row could see over the heads of those in the next.…
Lana lay on her side, watching the flat black pool of her blood slowly spread. Young flames danced all around her, burning taller and stronger each moment. She hoped she would be dead before they touched her. Her hand was outstretched toward the withered corpse of Knud, the chieftain, which lay deep in the flames…