Part 24
"The Gathering Of A Murder"
"Is the soup almost ready?" Damaris asked, as he finished baking the loaf in his hands, and set up the fruit salad in the large glass bowl.
Anahita waved her hand and a glob of the golden-brown liquid floated upward and landed in her spoon. She sipped daintily. "Mm, that's nice," she sighed. "Don't forget the garnish."
"I've got it," Damaris replied, giving the soup-pot an approving sniff as he ladled it full of the steaming soup. He put the lid on and carried it across the kitchen. "Let's get everything loaded onto the--Yipes!"
The soup tureen jumped out of his hands and soup sloshed into the air--but a swift flick of the wrist from Anahita and it all shifted in reverse, sloshing back into the crock without losing a single drop.
Damaris glared at the broad back blocking his path. "Hey, Bogeyman," he grunted under his breath. "Do you mind moving?"
Trev turned around, grinning as if he was only visiting with dear friends, and not placing himself right in the middle of a dinner rush with people who didn't trust him.
"Don't call him a Bogeyman," Anahita chided her friend, as she offered the speechless half-giant an orange from the fruit basket. The round citrus seemed no bigger than a crabapple in the large hand, and Trev didn't even bother peeling it, instead crunching right into the orange like an apple, and letting the juice dribble down his wrist and chin.
Damaris snorted. "Anybody who is that big and moves that quietly... It's unnatural!"
Anahita rolled her eyes as they started up the stairs to the garden gate. Supper would be outside tonight, under the clear skies--since there was no King and Queen to request their dinner in the dining hall.
"You're unnatural, phoenix-boy," she threw his own comment back at him. "We're all unnatural, thanks to the Gifts."
Damaris maintained his stance, even as Trev edged ahead of them and opened the gate in front of them.
"But Trev is strange and he doesn't have any Gift--if he did, he might have shown it to us by now."
Outside, Javira had literally grown a table and six chairs from roots she coaxed from the ground on the palace lawn. Anahita arranged the bowls and plates and utensils around the table while Damaris laid out the dishes.
"We have to be kind to him, remember? He might not know about his past, but Lizeth did say that she's concerned that torture might have been involved in the loss of his memories."
Damaris wasn't so easily swayed. "Or, that explosion in the lab that was his oldest memory could possibly have been something he caused. After all, it was Nyella with that synthetic Gift reading his mind--who knows how reliable those things are?"
Anahita lifted her chin. For someone who knew these people so much better than she did, Damaris could be remarkably jaded! "But there was the hypnosis trial that revealed he was having dreams of Angels and Shadows--those Abnormals that caused you all so much trouble when Beren returned to reclaim his throne, remember?"
Damaris heard the word Shadow and his mind wafted back to being trapped in Phoenix form, and forced by Troy to attack his friends until Erlis took him down as a dragon. "Until we can be sure about him," he said, "I don't want to trust him."
"Dinner at last!" Javira sighed, approaching the table as Damaris and Anahita finished. "I was beginning to wonder if giving the footmen a night off, and letting them just worry about keeping the castle running was at all a good idea--but you two did well for yourselves!"
Anahita grinned and took a seat. "We did well for all of us--and I'm just glad to take on the task of helping cook, especially since I know the kitchen's going to be clean by the time we finish."
Trev waited until Risyn, Lizeth, and Nyella sat down before he took the last available seat, at the end of the table.
Damaris noticed that Nyella had her hands firmly clasped in front of her, while everyone else dished food onto their plates and started eating.
He nodded to her. "Aren't you hungry?" he asked.
Nyella shrugged and rested her hand on her fist, in an attempt to appear casual without opening her hands. "Oh, I just... I might eat in a bit... Just a little dizzy from the last experiment--"
"What experiment?" Lizeth squinted shrewdly at her assistant. "We spent the last hour trying out--oh!" She gasped and immediately frowned. "Did you take that purple vial when I specifically told you not to?"
Nyella's face twisted into a grimace and she nodded miserably. "I did... I'm sorry! I regret my actions so much now!"
Lizeth cast her eyes to the heavens. "Well, you might as well let it out, so it doesn't do any damage to your system by retaining it too much."
Nyella shook her head furiously. "Oh no! Not here--I don't want to!"
The healer-turned-scientist pursed her lips. "Relax, it's not going to hurt anyone--it's just an Illusionist Gift, like Aurelle's. Her illusions couldn't hurt anyone."
"This one can!" Nyella yelped. "Watch!" She unfurled her fingers and pointed at Anahita--and the coiling black body of a snake erupted from her skin, hissing and sliding toward the girl.
Ana screamed and curled herself behind a shield of solid ice. "How could you?" she shrieked. "I hate snakes!"
"I'm sorry!" Nyella wailed. "This tincture doesn't just produce illusions out of the originator's psyche--it gives me the ability to manifest the animal that the other person fears most. I was looking at myself, and all of a sudden this enormous wolf sprang out of the corner where I was pointing at! That's when I knew I'd done something very wrong..." She began to tremble as tears formed in her eyes. "Oh no..." she whispered. "I can feel it happening again..."
Damaris chuckled. "You're terrified of wolves?" He joked. "Just wait till you meet Velora--" He stopped as the chunk of meat on his spoon shifted and flipped over--and a scorpion hovered just inches from his mouth. He screamed and backed away from the table. Javira had completely unraveled her end of the table when she saw a dozen spiders dangling from invisible webs attached to nothing, right in front of her face, and Risyn stood and began unleashing beams of energy at the owl swooping back and forth over his head. Only two people remained seated through this ordeal: Nyella, fully weeping now as she acknowledged that she was responsible for everyone freaking out and losing their dinner, and Trev, who just held his soup bowl in his hand and munched away.
"Enough!" Lizeth declared, standing in the middle of the table so she could be heard. Everyone froze and the illusions vanished. Lizeth climbed down and pointed to Nyella. "Get up," she said. "Is it finished?"
Nyella squirmed and stood from her seat, still at arm's length from Lizeth. "I can still feel it a little," she said. "I can't look at you till it's over."
At that moment, a precariously-perched plum fell off the mess on the table and rolled to the ground. Unconsciously, Nyella went to grab it--just after a particularly large hand slipped under hers. She was so surprised at the contact that she looked up into the clear, honest eyes of Trev.
Moments later, two black crows landed atop the pile of fruit, squawking loudly.
Trev's eyes darted to the birds, and fear transformed his face. With a wild cry that almost sounded like "CROW!" the half-giant stood up straight, and brought the entire table with him! Roots snapped and cracked as all four legs snapped, and dishes crashed to the ground as Trev threw the table off of him, and took off running toward the battlements that encircled all of the castle grounds.
"We need to catch him before he hurts himself!" Anahita cried, grabbing Damaris by the hand to drag him with her, while Javira and Nyella set about cleaning up the mess from the table. Lizeth just threw up her hands and withdrew back to her tower in the castle.
At the far end of the garden they found Trev, scrambling at the high stone wall, jumping as high as he could and throwing his body against it to get out, get away.
"Trev!" Anahita called, culling water from the grass beneath their feet. "Watch what I can do!"
Damaris stood back and watched as she formed a whirlpool around herself, which thinned and smoothed into a glittering ribbon as she danced, throwing up her hands into sparkling fountains in time with her twists and turns. He hadn't gotten the chance to see her actually water-dance before, but tonight he understood why she was so successful down in the Harbor, regardless of how much money her landlord stole from her in the process. Her steps were measured and accurate, and the swirling water captivated her audience. Once Trev chanced to glance in her direction, he couldn't look away. Anahita slowly led him back to the dinner party, dancing and twirling and tumbling all the way, keeping the water twisting and whirling.
When she had neared Javira, Risyn, and Nyella standing at the repaired table, Anahita stopped and compressed the swirling, flowing water into a series of round blobs, which she tossed lightly like juggling balls. Sometimes they would hang in the air a little longer, like bubbles, but she would call them back to her hand and keep them rolling in swift and complex patterns.
"Catch!" she cried, tossing a ball to Damaris.
He opened his hands out of habit, and the resulting splash drenched his entire face. Anahita laughed--and, in a deep, rumbling stutter, Trev began to laugh too. He opened his hand and beckoned to the water-dancer. Anahita smiled and tossed him a water-ball--but instead of disintegrating on contact, the ball rested gently on his hands, the way it did hers. Trev juggled it back and forth for a while, admiring its smoothness and mimicking her movements, until he tossed it back to her. Anahita caught the ball, but let all of the water sprinkle over the grass at her feet, as she stared at Trev in astonishment.
Nyella gasped and clapped her hands over her mouth. "Did he just--" she stammered. "B-but I thought he..."
Javira frowned at an area of the table that had been severely warped by Trev's actions. "Maybe he's another water-manipulator. That Gift seems pretty common, now that we've seen two people who--unhh!" She broke off as the roots that supported the side of the table nearest her buckled, sending the entire mass sliding toward her.
Two massive hands caught the table just before it crushed her feet, and as they righted the structure, Javira saw more roots crawling and winding out of the ground to offer more support. The twisted portion of the table folded and eased itself back to the correct position. Trev knelt beside her, his eyes fixed on the table as if it had been his influence that set everything back to rights.
Behind the pair, Nyella wrung her hands and muttered, "Two Gifts?" under her breath.
Damaris slicked aside his wet hair and glanced over to the mage, Risyn. "Weren't you the one who said that he showed no signs of ever being Gifted?" he observed. "Maybe he's Gifted after all, and maybe it's some kind of nature-related Gift, that means that he manipulates water and trees--"
"No." Risyn's voice was deep and firm, and his gaze narrow as he stared at the stranger with his arms crossed in front of him. "It is not possible. He is--" He broke off mid-sentence, and Damaris saw him snatch at the air, as if plucking threads on a loom. He inhaled sharply, and turned to the young Phoenix. "We are not safe. Get everyone together."
Damaris frowned. Not safe? What could possibly go wrong with this many Gifted people in one space? "What do you mean?"
"We have a problem!" Lizeth announced from the terrace as she came to the edge of the balustrade above them. "I've just been in touch with Markus, down at the Harbor--"
"Denahlia's cousin who sent the Wyrmling with the tracker?" Damaris recognized the name as she said it.
The others began drawing nearer as Lizeth spoke, Trev's bizarre feats forgotten.
"Yes, him," Lizeth spoke tersely, punctuated by gasps as if she had run all the way there from the Science Tower, and was out of breath. "Anyway, he's tracking the pirates as well, and apparently they've made it all the way to Gybralltyr."
"They actually found it?" Javira squealed. "But then--if Zayra's with them, then all they would need is the location of the Gate, and they'd be all set to do the Crow Queen's bidding!"
Lizeth nodded. "That's the other part of the problem... A massive flock of crows is moving across the Realm, and Azelie just told me that this is a definite sign that the Crow Queen isn't far behind... if she's not here already."
As if to add validity to her words, everyone heard the sound of multiple crows croaking, and five black shapes darted across the sky, flapping noisily over the treetops of the surrounding forest.
Anahita immediately glanced to Nyella, as Trev cowered and threw his hands over his head. "Would you stop that?" she said. "I don't want to have to go chasing him again!"
Nyella shook her head. "It's not me!"
Trev began whimpering and waving his arms, beckoning to everyone at once.
"Everyone come inside the castle for safety!" Risyn announced, coming to the foot of the stairs to join Lizeth, but she was already coming down to join them.
"No, I can still hear some of his thoughts from the synthetic telepathy. He's thinking of the cave system he had down below, where he was staying before we discovered him. Everybody follow Trev--it's a safe place within the castle itself where we can hide, in case anything should happen."
"Commander approaching!" shouted a guard at the edge of the garden, and everyone turned to see Edri round the corner--with an entire unit at her heels.
She saluted to Lizeth. "I'm assuming Jaran left you more or less in charge of these ones?" she asked, refusing to look at either Javira or Risyn.
Lizeth glanced over the assortment of armed soldiers she saw. "What is this about, Commander? Are we under attack?"
Edri nodded. "Very nearly. The outermost perimeter sensors in the forest just started going off, so I'm in the process of creating defense lines around the walls and around the castle itself."
"Which ones went off?" Javira insisted, even though she wasn't intended to have any part in the conversation.
Edri frowned, but she answered anyway. "All of them," she said, her eyes traveling over the astonished group. "All at once. I have no idea who could possibly have such a force to be able to surround the castle so quickly, and we never even saw them arrive at any point on the roads--but they're here now, so you all need to find someplace secure very quickly."
Lizeth nodded to Trev. "We have a place. He'll show us."
Edri acknowledged the presence of the gigantic man for the first time. "Who's this?" she spluttered, tilting her head back to look at his face.
Risyn took the opportunity to detach himself from the group. "Commander, if I may," he said. "Korsan taught me defensive spells and trapping runes. Perhaps I could move about your postings and set up magical defenses to further fortify this space."
Edri nodded. "I think that would work well."
"Keep us safe, and we'll stay hidden for as long as we can," Lizeth promised.
"Will do," Edri responded. "Let's go!"
The four or five crows swooping in the wide sky had increased tenfold, then exponentially more than that. What was left of the golden sunset was all but lost under the mass of flapping, croaking bodies. Trev had his arms around Damaris, Anahita, and Javira, herding them like a mother hen with her chicks toward the mass of twisted vines and roots covering the base of the South Tower. Lizeth and Nyella followed close behind. Such was his desperation that he barely slacked off his pace at all, ripping the roots out of their way to create a hole big enough for everyone to crawl through. When he went, last of all, the opening he left was bigger than any of them.
Lizeth paused at the entrance. She glanced at Nyella.
"Do it," she said with a nod.
Nyella grinned and popped the cork off a vial full of silvery liquid. She downed the tincture in one gulp, and after a few moments, she raised her hands. The ground rumbled only slightly as rocks and stones rolled up to fill the gap, and the very bricks of the tower wall expanded and thickened to seal it over. When she finally released it, there wasn't a hole in the brickwork of the tower at all.
The bulk of the flock overhead had dispersed, but the ones that remained circled menacingly.
"We need to get inside," Lizeth explained to the weary Nyella. "We'll be safe in the Science Tower. This way!" The two women headed for a side door along the eastern portion of the castle, and the hallway led them directly alongside the entrance to the Science Tower.
Lizeth all but pushed Nyella through the door as more crows poured into the windows. She shut the door tightly and engaged all the locks--not just the original bolt, but the newer security technology from Denahlia as well.
"That's a lot of crows!" Nyella gasped as they waited in the darkness and listened to the chaos outside. "How is this lady so dangerous if all she has are a flock of crows?"
Lizeth gestured up the stairs, till they reached the landing just outside a room halfway up the tower. Inside was a bank of screens, courtesy of Denahlia. Lizeth pressed certain buttons in a specified sequence, and each screen flickered to life, showing different views of various rooms around the castle. Nyella perched herself in the chair beside her mentor. "Wait," she cried suddenly, as the feed cruised through the dining hall and the various private parlors. "Where did those soldiers come from?"
The two women watched as among the frenzied crows appeared soldiers in black leather, armed and running through the halls, terrorizing the poor servants who had no warning of their arrival whatsoever. Lizeth turned the view back to the front gates and doors of the castle--but they were all still very much secure, closed. "I don't know how they got in..." she trailed off as a hallway camera outside the library caught the strangest event: one moment, a crow landed on the window sill, then it shook itself, causing all its feathers to stand on end--and in the very next moment, it wasn't a crow but a man--yet another invader in black leather.
Lizeth snapped her fingers. "That's how the army surrounded the castle completely before the sensors ever knew they were coming!" she cried. "The crows are the soldiers! I guess this Crow Queen must have some kind of mystical powers, to transform soldiers into crows, or perhaps vice-versa. They fly in, get into formation, change into soldiers, and presto!" She waved her hand.
"Look at the size of that one!" Nyella cried, pointing to a giant crow the size of a hound that had just slammed through the doors of the Great Hall, with such force that they hung splintered from their hinges.
As they watched the camera footage play, the large crow gave a similar shake, as crows swirled all around it--and somewhere in the midst of all that activity, the huge crow vanished and in its place stood a tall woman with red hair and a flowing black dress.
Lizeth and Nyella stared at one another, and Lizeth broke the silence first.
"The Crow Queen," she said hollowly, "She's here."
>>>>>>>>>>>>
The doors of the throne room swept open ahead of the keen-eyed, regal woman. She glared at the passing servants, who all ducked their heads and darted away down side halls to avoid crossing her path. All around her, feathers flew and crows flapped as the transformation took hold and enlarged their bodies before peeling away the feathery exterior to reveal the armored one underneath. A squadron already flanked her path up to the White Throne. Queen Mallory smirked and settled upon it.
"All Hail The Queen!" Thundered her Captain of the Guard.
"Hail Queen Mallory!" her soldiers chorused in response.
Out in the halls, screams and shouts could be heard as the soldiers badgered the terrified servants into compliance with their wishes. And yet... The whole thing was disturbingly against what Queen Mallory expected. Where were the King and Queen, to witness her takeover? She had heard there were a handful of these Gifted ones living in the Castle--and she'd seen a few of them on Haggard's ship--but where were the rest of them?
She drummed on the throne's arm with her long, curved nails. Peering into the minds of the remaining crows, she summoned them before her. A flurry of croaking and black wings flapping, and six birds landed in front of her, turning into men before standing and bowing before her.
"Well?" She asked. "You were the scouts I sent ahead to ensure that all would be in readiness for my coming. You sent back the report that a handful of persons remained at the castle, and that the King and Queen were preoccupied elsewhere." She gripped the sides of the throne and leaned forward, hissing in a low voice, "So where are they?"
The captain opened his mouth to reply, but all that came out at first were a few squawks and moans. At last, he spoke in a human voice, "We have had the castle surrounded since that time. They must still be inside here somewhere."
Queen Mallory sat back and her eyes flashed. "Then find them! Comb this castle from top to bottom--there must not be any places to hide from me!"
The soldiers dispersed to carry out her order.
Mallory sighed and rubbed her forehead with the tips of her fingers, careful not to let her stylized "talons" scratch her skin.
In the silence, she heard the hissing sound. Dropping her hand and putting on a smile, Queen Mallory greeted her agent. "Ah, Kamau! Tell me some good news."
He glided forward, two glowing purple snakes draped placidly in wide coils around his neck. His chin sank into the feathered ruff around his neck as he bowed low. "I have carried out your mission. I have delivered your message to the one who failed you."
For the first time since arriving at the castle, Queen Mallory looked almost cheerful. "So he's dead?"
Kamau smiled and reached up to stroke the neck of one snake that lifted its head, almost as if the creatures made of ethereal light were real to the touch. "My snakes have done their work. Traitors to the Queen don't last long."
Mallory the Crow Queen chuckled lightly at this. "If only more people remembered that," she mused.
>>>>>>>>>>>
Velora frowned as she neared the Ranger's post at the edge of the forest near Wildhaven.
"One day on the job," she muttered under her breath. "One task entrusted to him... Just had to trust him, didn't I?"
"Something on your mind, Warden?" The kindly voice rumbled.
Velora tilted her head to regard the broad, bearded Knight guarding the gate to Wildhaven. "Hm? No, I just... You didn't happen to see the Ranger that was supposed to keep watch here, did you, Sir--" She trailed off, waiting for him to identify himself.
The old soldier bowed. "Sir Roger, Ma'am," he answered. "And, this Ranger you're looking for... I take it he's a new recruit?"
Velora nodded with a wry expression. "Very new, and I thought he could be trusted--until..." She paused mid-sentence, as her wolfish instincts told her something wasn't quite right. She whipped her head around, all her senses on high alert. Her eyes narrowed as she saw it: the toe of a boot sticking out from the bush.
"Ah-ha!" She cried, leaping toward it. Sir Roger helped her pull the boot and its owner out of the underbrush. "Looks like I found him, after all!"
Velora was ready to shake him awake, and shout at him for abandoning his post--but then she noted the greyish hue of his skin, and the way his head slumped to one side as his eyes seemed unfocused. A cold chill swept down her spine. "What's wrong with him?" She asked in a shaky voice.
Sir Roger frowned. "Looks like there's been trouble. Unfortunately, I can't tell you that I've seen anything, since by the time I came out here to relieve Sir Vann, I saw no Ranger in the area, and nothing amiss has happened on my entire watch."
Velora's lips tightened. "So... Whatever killed him... Did it a long time ago, probably right after I left..." Guilt flooded her, and she felt the lump in her chest.
Sir Roger chuckled. "Killed? No--it looks more like poison, but I think perhaps there might be life in him yet!" The old knight knelt by Raedyn's body, and he placed his hands on the man's chest, pushing hard in a rhythmic motion.
A slight vibration in her pocket distracted Velora from anxiously watching the resuscitation of Raedyn. She slipped her hand into it and grasped the talisman-stone Korsan had given her. Yes? she thought to the person with another stone trying to contact her.
Velora, it's Lizeth. I just wanted to make sure you're safe.
Safe? Velora responded in her thoughts. What do you mean? What's going on? Through the small stone, she could feel the fear radiating from the connection with Lizeth.
Queen Mallory is in the Castle, Lizeth responded. Everyone here has found places to hide, where she and her soldiers can't get to us... But, Velora--she's looking for Raedyn.
Velora heard a loud gasp, and turned to see Raedyn sit up, straight, his usual color returned to his cheeks. Somewhere in the midst of her mental conversation, Sir Roger had vanished, leaving the new guard to take up his post.
How do you know she's looking for Raedyn?
I overheard some of the soldiers talking about trying to find a man fitting his description here in the castle. They're someone else they're trying to find, too--but we're not sure which one of us it might be.
Velora helped the coughing, weakened Raedyn to his feet and asked quickly, "What happened? Why did I find you passed out in the bush over there?"
Raedyn gave several slow, squinting blinks, like a drunk being roused for the first time. "Passed... Bush--snakes?" he slurred. The word seemed to send life back into his limbs, and he stood immediately, grasping at his neck. "Snakes! They were all around me! Choking me to death--"
"Calm down," Velora grabbed him by the elbow. "Nobody's dying. What's this about snakes?"
Raedyn wouldn't look at her until he'd given the immediate area a thorough inspection. "I was standing at my post, just as you told me," he said at last, taking a seat on a nearby stone. "I was watching everything going on, and... These snakes, they came out of nowhere, choking the breath out of me before I could cry out! They wrapped all around me and dragged me into the shadows..." He shuddered.
Velora scented the brush, but she could not smell anything remotely reptilian. "Any clue as to who might have sent these snakes?" she asked.
Raedyn nodded with a hangdog expression. "I know exactly who sent them. She did. Because I failed Her."
He used pronouns, but Velora knew exactly the person he meant to indicate. "If you failed her, why would she be searching for you?"
Raedyn forgot his shame and stared at Velora with terror-wide eyes. "Searching?"
Velora nodded. "As we speak, the Crow Queen is in the White Castle, with all of her soldiers, and I've heard tell that she has her people looking for a man fitting your description, and one other." An idea occurred to her, and she reached into her pocket again to rub her talisman-stone between her fingers, expanding its connection to all the other stones.
What if the person that the Queen is searching for is Risyn? After all, if she's looking for something magical, it stands to reason she'd want a Mage, right?
Edri's voice arose in her mind, terse and breathless. Risyn has been fighting at my side ever since the Queen's forces decided to try and usurp our perimeter, and they don't seem to acknowledge him in any way that would indicate that they are interested in singling him out at all.
Velora felt Azelie's telepathy touch her thoughts--she could be a part of this silent conversation as well, even though she wasn't in the talisman network. Fighting? Oh, I just knew she would try something like this while we were gone! We should have just stayed put! Dagger or no dagger--we ought to be back in that castle!
No! Edri returned urgently. Your Majesty, at all costs do not return to the Castle! The Crow Queen is much more powerful than any of us anticipated. It would be better for you and Jaran to remain in Wildhaven, where you'll be safe among so many Gifted, and also behind the Elvish barrier. Or better yet, she added after a pause, Risyn says to try and leave The Realm altogether, if you can. You're safe as long as you remain out of her reach--we'll hold things together the best we can.
I have even better news for everyone, Azelie announced. We've found the person who might know how to help us find the Guardian of the Knight's Spirit--that enchanted dagger we were supposed to find.
The one that's strong enough to defeat the Queen Mallory's strange magics? Velora recalled hearing bits of the discussion from earlier.
The very same, Azelie confirmed. Her name is Brinley, and she knows where a portal is that could lead us straight to Gybralltyr, and to the Guardian.
Isn't that where the pirates are right now? Lizeth inserted. You're going to leave the perfectly safe haven where you are and go directly to the second-most-dangerous place you could be at this time?
Brinley knows what she's doing, Lizeth, Azelie responded patiently. We'll be able to stay hidden from the pirates as we try to find this Guardian.
Well, Damaris suddenly spoke up for the first time. It's not a great plan--but it's not the worst one any of us has come up with, either. Best of luck to you all!
And to you as well, Azelie replied.
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