Prophecy's Burden: Chapter One

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Melligia took Merrus by the hand and led him to the water’s edge, the moonlight reflecting off the still pool. She had her face turned away from him, but he could just see the smile she kept on it, a smile that broadened as she dipped her toes into the water and he hung back, reluctant to get any closer to the pond.

“Come,” she said gently, a laugh barely hidden behind her lips. She pulled at his arm.

“I don’t like water,” he said, taking a step back. Now she was completely in the pond, the water lapping at her knees, and their arms, hands still linked together, were stretched across the border separating wet and dry.

“Just this once,” Melligia pleaded.

Merrus shifted nervously as he gave in to her whims and put one foot into the water.

“It only goes knee-deep, see?” she said, walking out further into the pond. The pool was really too small to be called even a pond, a tiny body of water that only existed in the spring when the snow melted and water came down from the mountains.

“I don’t like water,” he repeated, taking another reluctant step. The pool was now past his ankles, and he didn’t want to go any further.

“All right,” said Melligia, smiling. She stepped closer to him, dropping his hand and running her fingers up and down his bare arms. “I at least got you in this far.”

The water was ice-cold and the night chilly, but as Melligia wrapped her arms around him and traced her fingers along his back, he felt a shiver that had nothing to do with the temperature. She nuzzled the side of his neck, and he drew his hands down her shoulders and around to her back, touching the strip of green hair that ran all the way down her spine. She buried her face in his shoulder and giggled a little. They were both naked, and she pressed hard against him as his hands moved down the length of her back and beyond.

“Not here,” he whispered, drawing back his hands while he could still stop himself.

She looked at him, pouting. “Why not?”

“The water’s cold,” he said. “And we’re in the open, with a full moon.”

“Who’s going to see?” she asked, taking his hands and replacing them where they had been.

“Darmon,” said Merrus, pulling his hands away again, and if any word would suit to dowse the feeling of fire inside him, it was that one.

“He’s sleeping all the way back at the dwelling,” said Melligia, looking disappointed. “There’s no reason he would be out here.”

“But what if he wakes up and finds us gone? I’m afraid of what he’ll do.”

“He’s not going to do anything,” said Melligia, smiling up at him. He stood at least a head taller than she. “He’s an oblivious old male who probably doesn’t even remember the touch of a female.” She gently ran her fingers up and down his stomach. “You don’t want to be like that, do you?”

Merrus closed his eyes. Something was wrong here. “I’m surprised you can talk about Darmon like that, considering you worship everything else out of his mouth.”

His words were harsh, and he expected Melligia to pull back from him. But instead she just took his hand again and pointed. “We’ll go under that tree.” She led him out of the water, and he sighed in relief as they left behind its icy grip. The tree she led him to was in blossom; it would have been resplendent in the sunshine. Now, at night, its blossoms were closed against the darkness, but it still held an otherworldly beauty as the full moon turned its branches silver. But there was something wrong about that, too. Merrus couldn’t think what it was.

Melligia pushed him down to a seating position on the ground, then sat in his lap, touching his face gingerly, running her thumbs over his cheekbones.

Oh, how he wanted that. But he turned his head away, taking her hands and forcing them away from his body. “I don’t think this is a good idea.”

“Merrus,” Melligia sighed.

“I just . . . it’s cold, and . . .”

Her hands returned to his body, and it took all his effort to shift so that she slid off his lap. “No, Melligia.” Now he definitely knew something was wrong.

She pouted again, her lower lip pushed out almost in a parody of itself. “Don’t you miss me, Merrus? Don’t you wish you had stayed?”

“Stayed?” said Merrus. “What are you talking about? I’m right here. I didn’t go anywhere.”

Then he remembered.

Then he woke up.

It was still night, but the moon wasn’t full. It was nowhere near full. There was no pool, and no chill of springtime at night. It was full summer and still warm even with the suns down, and Merrus lay against a pine tree whose needle-laden branches hung all the way to the ground, forming a dry, sheltered area all around the trunk and obscuring him from outside view.

For a moment he panicked; it had been full daylight when he had stopped to rest, intending only to eat and then take a short nap. His leather bag lay next to him, its top flap still closed, so it looked like he hadn’t even gotten as far as the food. He sat up, yawning and stretching. He hadn’t realized he was so tired. He was also irritated that he’d had another dream about Elligia. He didn’t even particularly like the female, but his sleeping mind insisted on bringing her to him every night when he would have preferred that she stay far away. This most recent dream was even more troubling, because it had been more real than the others, a scene that had never happened but so plausibly could. Merrus knew Darmon had the ability to dreamwalk, to project himself into the sleeping minds of those he knew intimately, and Merrus wondered if Elligia had the same ability. He had never asked. And if she did, she would be able to find him easily, because he had been more intimate with her than with anyone else.

The very real possibility that she had taken to stalking him in his dreams made him cranky, and he grabbed his bag and found his way out from under the tree, not caring about the shower of needles that rained down upon him as he roughly shoved branches out of the way. It was night, and he was in the mountains, but that thought didn’t scare him anymore. All he could think about was Elligia in his head, invading his dreams and the unconscious, secret thoughts he had no control over. What mattered now was getting as far away as possible, because the farther he was from Darmon’s dwelling the more difficult it would be for Elligia to find him.

He stalked through the woods, his anger growing, but before he could ruminate anymore on Elligia’s invasion of his privacy, he heard a twig snap.

Merrus instantly threw himself against the trunk of the nearest tree, weaving a spell that would keep him hidden in the shadows, then unweaving it as he realized that there might be ekalaps in the area. The scent of his essence would draw them right to him.

But he knew how ekalaps moved in the forest, and they wouldn’t have made a sound.

Except, do they have a reason to keep quiet? Merrus couldn’t decide what to do. It could be humans, in which case he was in no danger, but he didn’t think he was near any roads, and it might not be. He kept as still as he could, as close to the trunk as he could get, and hoped whatever passed by wouldn’t notice him.

It was stupid, he knew, because it was unlikely even a few fully-trained ekalaps would be a match for him, but as far as he knew he was deep in ekalap territory, and he wouldn’t be able to fight off a whole group of warriors.

He relaxed as he suddenly heard voices, distinctly human and speaking the native language of Okkand, rising up from somewhere not far to the north. He could also now hear what sounded like wagon wheels on a dirt road, so apparently he was closer to a human trade route than he had realized. He had meant to keep deep to the forest, but it was a relief that there was nothing to worry about. He stepped away from the tree.

And plastered himself right back against it as the smell hit him full on.

As the scent of too-ripe fruit invaded his nostrils, he fought to keep his breathing even and steady. Humans, yes, but there were also ekalaps very close by, ekalaps that were using their abilities. He couldn’t tell how many because the essence-scents were all mingled together, sliding through his senses like a roiling mass he couldn’t separate into its component parts. There were at least three, maybe more, and the muddled similarity of their essences told him they were probably related. What were they doing? Did they know he was here? Were they hunting the humans? He closed his eyes, focusing on his breathing, finding the center of his own essence the way Darmon had taught him, in case he was discovered and needed to defend himself.

But he had his answer as suddenly the human voices erupted into screams.

Before he knew what he was doing, Merrus launched himself from the tree and sprinted through the forest, nimbly twisting around tree trunks and low-hanging branches, his bare feet pounding against the needle-covered ground, which echoed with a dull, dry thump with every footfall. He was making too much noise and he knew it, but now he wanted to gain the ekalaps’ attention, because he was far more equipped to deal with them than any human would be.

He burst out of the tree line and on to a narrow rutted dirt path that couldn’t even be described as a road. A wagon was ahead of him, and beyond that he could see at least three more. A caravan. One of the wagons was covered with a brightly-colored cloth. That was all Merrus had time to register before he focused on the ekalaps.

There were five of them, two females and three males, and here the smell of their essences was nearly overwhelming. He nearly gagged with the force of it, but recovered himself. The ekalaps outnumbered the small group of four humans, who had huddled together with their backs to each other, all brandishing swords. But the ekalaps were grinning and advancing upon the group, and Merrus’s suspicions were confirmed when one of the humans swung his sword at an ekalap’s neck and it bounced off without leaving a mark. The ekalaps had all put up ethestras shields, and there was no way human weapons would be able to penetrate them before the ekalaps slaughtered them all.

Despite the amount of noise Merrus had made the ekalaps hadn’t noticed him, too intent they were on their human prey. So Merrus shouted at them, causing them all to turn as one toward him in confusion. It would have been a comical sight, if they hadn’t been ekalaps who were now entirely focused on Merrus.

“Salkiy,” growled one, and with a nod three of the ekalaps advanced upon him.

Apparently I’m a bigger threat than four humans, thought Merrus. Isn’t that nice. But he had no more time to think as essence blasts came toward him and he was forced to put up his own shield.

He could feel one of the ekalaps trying to block his abilities. This ekalap was naturally strong but seemed mostly untrained, so that Merrus was able to bat aside his attempts and turn the spell back on its user. The other two advanced and Merrus, directing a sharp essence blast at one, was able to burrow through her shield before the ekalap realized what was happening. Merrus tried pulling moisture out of the air to make water, but the late summer night air was too dry, and his thwarted attempt cost him as the ekalap repelled his spell and closed her shield.

He vaguely heard the sounds of the humans fighting the other two ekalaps, and screams that were probably not coming from the ekalaps, but he couldn’t focus on what was happening to them now. All three ekalaps were approaching him again, the one whose abilities had been blocked pulling a long dagger with a serrated edge from somewhere. Merrus focused on the other two but was unable to get anything past their shields. He no longer had the element of surprise and they were ready for his attacks. The female waved her hand and the ground in front of him seemed to rise up in a swirl of dust and pine needles. His own shield protected him from the flying debris, but the small maelstrom in front of him obscured his vision long enough for one of the ekalaps to get their own essence bolt past his shield, and suddenly Merrus found himself flung to the ground hard enough that he heard something snap.

He cursed in loud human words as pain traveled up his calf and the wind that ekalap had called died down to reveal two of them advancing on him again. His very un-salkiy like shouts seemed to confuse them for a moment, though, and Merrus shut his eyes. He had the ability, the strength of essence to defeat them. He was not going to die out here, killed with filthy ekalap Gifts. He visualized his essence pool, the depths of which even he hadn’t realized yet, and reached deep.

A nasty jolt yanked his eyes open as a painful reverberation rang through his essence. The ekalap with the dagger was physically attacking his shield, hacking away at Merrus’s control. One of the humans screamed from what seemed like very far away, and then let out a gurgle that Merrus immediately knew meant the human had died. Almost desperate now, Merrus reached as deep as he could and waited, gritting his teeth against the dagger’s blows, until all three ekalaps loomed over him. Then he threw his hands out, releasing a spell that shoved them, shields and all, into the air and off the road. He pushed them as far as his strength would allow, only remembering to breathe once he heard all three bodies slam into tree trunks with three resounding cracks.

Merrus gasped shakily and sat up, but his relief was short-lived. The other two ekalaps had noticed their dispatched colleagues and were now approaching him themselves, nasty scowls on their faces. From what Merrus could see, two of the humans were still alive, though one was on the ground cradling the body of a third. The other stood stupidly by the wagon with the colorful cloth, looking shocked and unsure what to do. A sword dangled from his hand, its point nearly touching the ground.

A quick probe told Merrus that these ekalaps weren’t as strong as the first three, so maybe there was hope. “You!” he screamed, trying to get the human’s attention.

The male looked up, his face dazed.

“Hit him!” said Merrus, indicating the ekalap nearest the human. He mimed swinging a sword.

The human stared at him, then down at the sword as if he had no idea what it was. Merrus grunted in frustration and mimed sword movements again, but then all thought left him as his shield, already weakened from the dagger, took another painful blow as both ekalaps released essence bolts. His shield held, but it was a near thing, and Merrus could tell from the looks on the ekalaps’ faces that they knew it. His ankle screamed at him. He wouldn’t be able to run away. He called Fire, letting it encase the ekalaps’ shields. It wouldn’t break them down, but it might blind them long enough for Merrus to think of something else.

Then the human was suddenly there, crouching down by Merrus’s side, his eyes wary but respectful. “What do I do?” he asked in passable salkiy.

“Hit him!” said Merrus, indicating the ekalap on the right, whom he could tell had less control over his Gifts than the remaining female. “With your sword. He’ll lose his shield and you can run him through, if you’re quick.”

“But the fire,” said the human, hesitating.

“It won’t hurt you,” said Merrus. “But you have to be quick!”

And the human moved, fast and with the agile grace of a trained fighter that reminded Merrus so much of Atro that it hurt, and he flung his sword down on the ekalap’s shield again and again, dancing around and away from the flames, while the ekalaps both screamed in rage and fought to dowse the fire.

Merrus leaned back, all his strength flowing away from him. He had to end this fight. He put out the fire around the male ekalap’s shield, hoping that the human would get lucky, and concentrated all his concentration on the female. He increased the Fire’s strength, battering away at her shield.

He wasn’t going to make it. He gasped, and suddenly his Fire was through, it had caught the end of her long hair and then that was it. She screamed as the Fire, hotter than any normal fire, consumed her completely, until there was nothing left on the road except a pile of ashes.

The remaining ekalap had turned toward the female as she started screaming, then fixed furious eyes on Merrus. At that moment the male’s concentration broke, and both he and the human started in surprise as the human’s sword, instead of bouncing off the shield, instead imbedded itself into the ekalap’s neck. The human watched, shocked, as the ekalap fell and moved no more. He pulled his sword from the creature’s neck and stared at it as if it was something magic.

Silence descended upon the road once more.

Merrus groaned and lay down, flat on his back in the middle of the road. The pain in his ankle screamed at him as the heat and fear from the battle ebbed, and Merrus closed his eyes against it, trying not to whimper.

“You’re hurt,” said a voice from somewhere above, and Merrus opened his eyes to see the human, a tall red-haired male, standing directly over him. Merrus was not at all comfortable with that, and he sat up, anger taking hold of him again, but this time for a different reason.

“You stupid, stupid human!” he yelled. The male stepped back in surprise, and Merrus switched to the Okkandian tongue, which this human probably understood better. “It’s night! In ekalap territory! What in the names of your gods did you think you were doing?” Finally, he switched to Common, just to make his point clear that he was willing and able to curse the male out in any language he desired. “I should have just left you all to die!”

The male took a step back, and all he said was, “You speak Okkandian?”

“That is not the point!” Merrus yelled, trying to get to his feet and ignoring the human’s proffered hand. He stumbled and cried out as he fell against his ankle.

“I’ll have a look at that,” said the human, crouching down and gingerly shifting the ankle so that he could see it better in the scant light of the quarter moon. “Rellis!” he called, not looking behind him. “Fetch a torch.”

“He’s dead,” replied a shaky voice. Merrus had forgotten about the other surviving human; he stood there now by the caravan, a young man barely out of boyhood with the slender build of a salkiy. His face was very pale and his narrow shoulders shook with fear inside his expensive-looking blue tunic. Merrus wondered if he had any salkiy blood in him. It wasn’t uncommon in Okkand, despite general taboos on both sides against coupling with the other.

The human male crouched over Merrus made a grimace, but he said, “Then you bring me a torch, please,” in a mannered voice.

“But he’s dead,” the young male insisted, even though he was already at the older male’s side with a lit torch.

“That may be,” said the elder, “but this salkiy just saved your life and he’s not dead, and I’d like to see what I can do for him.”

Merrus gasped as the male probed his ankle once more. “Are you a healer?” he forced out.

The male shook his head. “Not like a physician, if that’s what you mean. But I got basic medical training when I was in the army, same as everyone else.” He examined Merrus’s ankle. “I think it’s broken. Do you want me to set it?”

Merrus gritted his teeth and sighed. “Do it.” He thought. “Please.”

The male sent the younger one to look for some sturdy sticks, and walked back to the caravan himself for some water. He passed by one of the dead human bodies, the one the younger male had been cradling, and sighed, looking down at it.

“Rellis, you poor bastard,” he said softly, speaking only to a person who no longer had ears to hear him. “I know you didn’t want to go this way.”

He brought back the water, and the younger male brought back some sticks, and the older cleaned Merrus’s ankle and started to fashion a split with a scrap of cloth torn he’d also retrieved from one of the wagons. The younger male retreated a good distance away and watched, his dark eyes wide and still frightened.

“You’re right,” grunted the male after several moments had passed.

“I’m sorry?” said Merrus.

The human didn’t look up, focusing entirely on Merrus’s ankle. “It was right stupid to travel at night. Rellis wanted to cut some time off our journey. I’d like to say I argued against it, but the truth is I was as ready to get back home as anyone.” He shook his head and looked at Merrus, his eyes bright and moist. “‘Course he’s not ever going home now. Hold still, please, this is going to hurt.”

Merrus couldn’t keep himself from screaming as the male snapped his bones back into place and quickly started wrapping the splint around the salkiy’s foot.

“All over now,” said the male, sitting back. “Well, not really. You need a proper mediciner to take a look at that.” He looked Merrus up and down. “Where were you headed? There a salkiy village somewhere around here?”

“What are you doing, Chel?” the younger male suddenly wailed. “We can’t trust him!”

Once again Chel didn’t bother to look at the younger one before speaking. “I’ll say it again, and you hear me well. If not for this man you and me would be lying on the ground with Rellis and Evers right now.”

“Is he even a salkiy?” the younger male whispered, his voice full of fear. “Or is he another one of those monsters?”

“I’m a salkiy, I assure you,” said Merrus. He didn’t like the way the younger male was looking at him. “Just a salkiy, passing by.”

“How can you tell?” said the male.

Chel appraised Merrus again. “I can’t tell,” he admitted. “Though he doesn’t have nearly the mean look to him those others did. And he did save your life, as I think I’ve already mentioned once or twice.” The warning in his voice was clear, and the younger male fell silent.

“Excuse him,” Chel, now addressing Merrus. “It’s really his first time this far from home, and it’s been an unlucky trip that’s just gotten worse.”

“It’s an attitude I’ve encountered before,” said Merrus dryly.

Chel nodded, tied off the end of the cloth, and sat back to admire his handiwork. “You never answered me. Where are you going?”

Merrus shrugged and made a show of examining the splint himself. It was good work, according to his untrained eye anyway. “Truthfully, I don’t really have a destination.” It wasn’t completely true. He’d been tending westward ever since leaving Darmon, with a vague intent to travel to Kandel. He’d just wanted to get far away from Darmon’s dwelling and his frightening talk of prophecies and Circles and Araithun.

“What, you’re just wandering around out here by yourself?” said Chel, sounding incredulous. “A lone salkiy in ekalap territory? Don’t get me wrong, you held your own against those ones just now well enough. But why would you want to stay around here for?”

Merrus shivered, even though the night was warm. “I don’t,” he admitted. “I really have nowhere to go, but I wasn’t planning on staying in the mountains any longer than I had to.”

“A sensible choice,” said Chel. An owl cried in the night somewhere and he looked around, clearly startled for a moment. “They ought to wall off these bloody mountains,” he muttered. “Ekalaps, and I’ve heard tell of barbarians, too, further west of here. Leave ‘em to each other, I say, and let civilized people alone.”

Merrus didn’t say anything. He’d had experience with both the ekalaps and the Cottock barbarians in the Savage Lands, and he didn’t disagree with Chel’s words.

“Still,” the male sighed, “one has to travel, and you can’t reach Seena by sea. Next time I’ll know to take the long way round, though.”

“I thank you for your help,” said Merrus. He wanted the humans to leave so that he could figure out what to do. Walking with his foot would be difficult, if possible at all, and he wasn’t sure he dared try to set up a more permanent shelter in this place and wait for his bones to heal.

“I don’t think so,” said Chel, as if he’d read Merrus’s mind. “Come on, I’ll help you up in the wagon. You can come with us.”

“Chel!” the younger man suddenly reprimanded. “We’re not taking him with us, even if he does mean well.”

“Any why not?” asked Chel, helping Merrus to his feet. The salkiy grimaced and stood on one leg, taking the weight off his injured foot and leaning against Chel for support. He hated being reliant on anyone, but he had to admit that Chel’s offer sounded good. He didn’t know where they were going and he didn’t care; as long as it wasn’t back to Darmon’s dwelling he was willing to go anywhere. Except Ceenta Vowei, of course, since he’d been banished and all. He considered letting his new companions know that, in case that was where they were headed.

“This is entirely inappropriate,” muttered the young male.

Merrus stopped, nearly falling over when Chel didn’t notice and kept going. “Hold on,” he said. “Who are you and where are you going? I need to know that before I just agree to go with you.” He hadn’t survived an ekalap attack just to be kidnapped by humans.

“Relax,” said Chel softly, holding out his hands. “I’ll explain. I’m Chel, former sergeant of the Okkandian Royal Ground Army.” He pointed to the younger male. “That there is Bediwyth, youngest son of King Havers of Okkand.”

“Oh,” said Merrus, momentarily at a loss for words. “What is a . . . “ he tried to remember the right word, “. . . prince? What is a prince doing out here in the mountains without a retinue?”

“Technically he had a retinue,” said Chel, scratching the back of his neck. “As you can see, I’m the only one left.”

“A retinue of three men?” said Merrus.

“Three good men,” replied Chel. “Three of the best, if I do say so myself. It was a sad loss here tonight.” He turned his face away from Merrus for a moment before continuing. “Look at it this way.” He held up one finger. “You’re injured, and we have a wagon.” He held up another finger. “You’re looking for a way out of the mountains, and here I’ve just handed it to you.” He held up a third finger. “You said yourself, you have nowhere else to go. We’ll take you as far as we’re going, and by then you’ll be healed and free to go where you please.”

Merrus chewed his bottom lip, thinking. He knew it wasn’t a good idea to completely trust these humans, but he didn’t have to completely trust them, did he? They were offering him a way out of the mountains, and that was all. He’d be sure to be on his guard, ready to run the instant things even started to look hostile. Chel seemed open and honest-sounding, and there didn’t seem to be a reason to think he was luring Merrus into a trap. The deciding factor, of course, was that Merrus’s ankle was broken and he was in the middle of ekalap territory.

“Well?” said Chel.

“Where are you going?” asked Merrus. That was the only remaining issue, because there were places Merrus just couldn’t go.

Chel grinned. “Byret,” he replied. “About a month’s travel south from here, not far from the Arkijt border.”

That was very far away from Darmon’s dwelling indeed. And a month would give his ankle time to heal. Merrus, decision made, nodded. “All right.”

Chel bowed low. “We’re honored.”

“We’re seriously taking him with us?” the prince said, wrinkling his nose.

“We are,” said Chel in a tone of voice that made Merrus wonder exactly what the relationship between these two were. Chel seemed more than just the prince’s bodyguard, and Merrus didn’t think a mere guard, highly ranked or not, could have gotten away with speaking to a Ceenta Voweiian prince the way this human spoke to Bediwyth. Perhaps Okkand did things differently, or perhaps there was something more behind it.

The moon had set, and the eastern skies were just beginning to be tinged with gray. “We should go,” said Merrus.

“Yes,” agreed Chel. “We have lingered too long here. We’ll have to abandon two of these wagons. I’ll load Rellis and Evers on to this one and drive it, and you and the prince can have the other one.” He pointed to the brightly colored wagon.

“We’re taking the bodies?” said Merrus before he could stop himself.

Chel fixed him with a look. “They must be given a proper funeral.”

“I could burn them,” said Merrus. He couldn’t imagine carting dead bodies for a month. Surely Chel wasn’t planning on taking them along for the whole journey? But Merrus didn’t know what a proper funeral was to the Okkandians. Ceenta Voweiians burned their dead on pyres. “It’ll be quick and clean, and we won’t have to worry about carrying them around.”

Chel looked horrified at the very thought. “Absolutely not,” he said. “These men were soldiers who died fighting. You’re a salkiy and maybe you don’t understand our ways, so I forgive you. But these men must have nothing less than a soldier’s funeral.”

“All right,” said Merrus, holding up his hands. “I’m sorry.” He wondered what they would do when the bodies began to smell. Even traveling out in the open air wouldn’t help with that much.

Chel gave him a tight smile and set to work moving the bodies on to the front most wagon.

“I think they’re all mad, soldiers,” said a voice at Merrus’s ear. He turned to see Bediwyth. “Especially the old ones who only remember fighting wars.” He climbed up on his wagon and took the reins of the single dapple-gray horse that pulled it, indicating with a nod of his head where Merrus should sit. He helped the salkiy up into the seat next to him.

“You drive your own wagon?” Merrus asked.

“Of course,” said Bediwyth, as if Merrus was stupid.

Merrus shrugged. Definitely different from Ceenta Vowei, then, and perhaps a little closer to the way salkiys did things, or at least as close as human royalty could get. But Okkand was the backwoods country, still half wild and full of mysteries not seen anywhere else on the continent. For the first time since he had left Darmon’s dwelling, Merrus found himself looking forward to the new day.

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