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Page 53<br />
Noel cried out as if struck.<br />
All around the court, Noel’s warriors cried out as they began to shrink and twist, their<br />
armor falling away from them.<br />
In the Royal Stables, the Horse Master backed away in fear as the war stallions all<br />
bucked and screamed, their own armor dropping from their shifting forms as they rose into<br />
the air, kicking and straining. Antlers erupted from their heads as they became something<br />
entirely other.<br />
Black Peter seemed to catch the worst of it, staggering as a scream was pulled from<br />
some place deep within. He looked at the polished wall of the court and saw his beautiful<br />
face erupt with scars and boils, sagging and aging beyond his control. The sight was too<br />
much for him to bear, and he fell away, wailing. Even as he did, the shine on the walls dulled,<br />
the perfect finish sinking back into the black rock from which this place was originally<br />
hewn.<br />
“Your world shall be as your heart, King. Hard and frozen.”<br />
All around the court, Noel’s former servants and warriors rose from their torment,<br />
changed into Shadows of their former selves. Tiny grey men with black marble eyes now, all<br />
the joy pressed from them. The castle was no longer a monument, instead little more than a<br />
ragged cave carved into the rock. Once the transformation came to a close, an awful silence<br />
dropped over the cavern chamber where Noel and Greta stood, still unchanged.<br />
Noel seemed puzzled. “You haven’t changed us at all. Only the innocents around us.”<br />
“Those around you have been changed so that each time you look upon them, when all<br />
you see is misery unending and horrible, you will know that you did this. Your greed. Your<br />
desires.”<br />
Noel looked around and saw his own brother, his ruined face so horrible that Noel<br />
drew back from him. “You hear that, King?” Black Peter snarled at him, furious and hurt.<br />
“You see what you’ve done to me? To this world of ours? DAMN YOU!”<br />
Black Peter reached for his sword, lying on the ground amidst the rest of his fallen<br />
armament, and the Agent of Order stopped him, one hand on his shoulder. “No more<br />
violence tonight. Your temper needs as much taming as your brother’s fear. Come with me<br />
now, There are things I must show you both. Rules you must be taught.”
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