Luara awoke with the uncomfortable feeling that her own body had fought a war during the night, even though her few hours of rest had been too deep for her to remember any dreams. Her head felt heavy, as if someone had pressed on her temples all night long, and the first movement to get up brought back the immediate memory of the injury: her shoulder throbbed with an irregular, hot, deep pulse, as if the flesh were being pulled from the inside out. She breathed in slowly, trying to avoid the ...