Katelina took a few steps back and stopped. The enemy didn't care that Neil was dead and so the assault continued. His head lay a few feet from her in a pool of steaming scarlet, his eyes still narrowed in determination, his death too fast for him to even register surprise. Near him lay the crushed body of one of Malick's unnamed minions, his chest a gaping, gory hole and his war axe still clutched in his dead hand.

She closed her eyes and Neil's words came back to her, "It's ...