31
Ritual Sacrifice
The words Loran used were in a tongue Melanie had never heard before. They were guttural, brutal, and harsh, the kinds of words that could never be sung but only screamed in fury. But Loran spoke them smoothly, in a perfectly controlled tone of voice that never raised or lowered, but continued as though he were speaking to a friend in a quiet sitting room.
But in spite of that, Loran's words cut through the dark of the night, and the deeper, unnatural blackness of the Out-Dweller and its minions, with apparent ease. His voice echoed around the area, and with each syllable, it seemed the blackness around he and Melanie retreated a bit.
He was doing it!
Hope slowly grew in Melanie's breast as the ring of blackness moved slowly but steadily away from them, and the cir
