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Clara aimed shakily. Then, extinguishing the flame, she swivelled and lashed out at Zak. The impact sent him teetering to the edge of a set of stone steps where he toppled towards Traitor’s Gate. At the bottom, he slumped and his expression cleared.
‘What’s happening?’ he groaned.
‘That.’ Clara raised a silencing finger and Toby heard carol singing. Dozens of voices.
‘Hark, the Herald angels sing, glory to the new-born king!’
Clara hauled Toby to his feet. He felt the hairs on the back of his neck prickle as they often did when he heard carols. There was magic in the words.
‘The humans,’ she said. ‘They’ve regrouped.’
To the west, voices rumbled from Tower Green. More emanated from the north, outside Waterloo Barracks. The White Tower loomed to the east, a beacon in the woods, dr
