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15 - The Door Through Space - Marion Zimmer Bradley · Daily Classic Sci Fi Books

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  Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen. He hadn't changed much in six years. His
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  Speaker 1: face was worse than mine. He hadn't had the plastic
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  Speaker 1: surgeons of Terran Intelligence doing their best for him. His mouth,
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  Speaker 1: I thought fleetingly, must hurt like hall when he drew
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  Speaker 1: it up into the kind of grin he was grinning now.
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  Speaker 1: His eyebrows, thick and fierce with gray in them, went
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  Speaker 1: up as he saw Miellyn, but he backed away to
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  Speaker 1: let us enter and shut the door behind us. The
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  Speaker 1: room was bare, and I didn't look as if it
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  Speaker 1: had been lived in much. The floor was stone, rough laid,
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  Speaker 1: a single fur rug laid before a brazier. A little
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  Speaker 1: girl was sitting on the rug, drinking from a big,
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  Speaker 1: double handled mug, but she scrambled to her feet as
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  Speaker 1: we came in and backed against the wall, looking at
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  Speaker 1: us with wide eyes. She had pale red hair like Julie's,
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  Speaker 1: cut straight in a fringe across her forehead, and she
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  Speaker 1: was dressed in a smock of dye read fur that
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  Speaker 1: almost matched her hair. A little smear of milk like
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  Speaker 1: a white mustache clung to her upper lip, where she
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  Speaker 1: had forgotten to wipe her mouth. She was about five
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  Speaker 1: years old with deep set, dark eyes like Julie's that
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  Speaker 1: watched me gravely, without surprise or fear. She evidently knew
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  Speaker 1: who I was, Rindy, Rakhal said, quietly, not taking his
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  Speaker 1: eyes from me. Go into the other room. Rindy didn't move,
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  Speaker 1: still staring at me. Then she moved towards Miellyn, looking
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  Speaker 1: up intently, not at the woman, but at the pattern
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  Speaker 1: of embroideries across her dress. It was very quiet until
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  Speaker 1: Rakhal added, in a gentle and curiously moderate voice, do
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  Speaker 1: you still carry a skeen race? And I shook my
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  Speaker 1: head as an ancient proverb on terror about blood being
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  Speaker 1: thicker than water. Rakhal, that's Julie's daughter. I'm not going
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  Speaker 1: to kill her father right before her eyes. My rage
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  Speaker 1: spilled over then, and I bellowed, to hell with your
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  Speaker 1: damn dry town feuds and your filthy toad god and
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  Speaker 1: all the rest of it, Rakhal said harshly. Rindy, I
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  Speaker 1: told you to get out. She needn't go. I took
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  Speaker 1: a step towards the little girl, a wary eye on Rakhal.
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  Speaker 1: I don't know quite what you're up to, but it's
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  Speaker 1: nothing for a child to be mixed up in do
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  Speaker 1: what you. Damn please, I can settle with you any time.
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  Speaker 1: The first thing is to get Grindy out of here.
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  Speaker 1: She belongs with Julie, and damn it, that's where she's going.
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  Speaker 1: I held up my arms to the little girl and said,
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  Speaker 1: it's over, Rindy. Whatever he's done to you, your mother
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  Speaker 1: sent me to find you. Don't you want to go
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  Speaker 1: to your mother? Rakhal made a menacing gesture and warned
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  Speaker 1: I wouldn't. Miellyn darted swiftly between us and caught up
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  Speaker 1: the child in her arms. Rindy began to struggle noiselessly,
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  Speaker 1: kicking and whimpering, but Miellyn took two quick steps and
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  Speaker 1: flung an inner door open. Rakhal took a stride towards her.
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  Speaker 1: She whirled on him, fighting to control the furious little girl,
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  Speaker 1: and gasped, settle it between you without the baby. Watching
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  Speaker 1: through the open door, I briefly saw a bed a
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  Speaker 1: child's small dresses hanging on a hook, before Miellyn kicked
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  Speaker 1: the door shut, and I heard a latch being fastened
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  Speaker 1: behind the closed door. Rindy broke into angry screams, but
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  Speaker 1: I put my back against the door. She's right, we'll
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  Speaker 1: settle it between the two of us. What have you
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  Speaker 1: done to the child? If you thought? Rakhal stopped himself
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  Speaker 1: in mid sentence and stood watching me without moving for
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  Speaker 1: a minute. Then he laughed, you're as stupid as ever, Race,
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  Speaker 1: Are you fool? I knew Julie would run straight to
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  Speaker 1: you if she was scared enough. I knew it would
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  Speaker 1: bring you out of hiding. Why you damn fool? He
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  Speaker 1: stood mocking me, but there was a strained fury, almost
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  Speaker 1: a frenzy of contempt behind the laughter. You filthy coward, Race,
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  Speaker 1: six years hiding in the Terenzo, six years, and I
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  Speaker 1: gave you six months. If you'd had the guts to
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  Speaker 1: walk out after me. After I rigged that final deal
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  Speaker 1: to give you the chance, we could have gone after
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  Speaker 1: the biggest thing on wolf, and we could have brought
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  Speaker 1: it off together. Inspead of spending years spying and dodging
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  Speaker 1: and hunting, and now when I finally get you out
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  Speaker 1: of hiding, all you want to do is run back
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  Speaker 1: where you'll be safe. I thought you had more guts,
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  Speaker 1: not for Evarin's dirty work, Grakhal swore hideously. Evarin, do
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  Speaker 1: you really believe I might have known he'd get to
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  Speaker 1: you too, that girl, and you managed to recall I
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  Speaker 1: did there too. Suddenly, so swiftly my eyes could hardly follow.
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  Speaker 1: He whipped out his skin and came at me. Get
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  Speaker 1: away from that door. Now stood my ground. Could have
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  Speaker 1: to kill me first, and I won't fight you, Rakhal.
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  Speaker 1: We'll settle this, but we'll do it my way for once,
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  Speaker 1: like Earthmin, son of the Ape, get your skein out,
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  Speaker 1: your stinking coward, I won't do it, Rakhal. I stood
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  Speaker 1: and him. I had outmaneuvered dright howners in a sugary bet.
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  Speaker 1: I knew Rakhal, and I knew he would not knife
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  Speaker 1: an unarmed man. We fought once with the kiffer, and
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  Speaker 1: it didn't settle anything. This time, we'll do it my way.
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  Speaker 1: I threw my skin away before I came here. I
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  Speaker 1: won't fight. He thrust at me. Even I could see
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  Speaker 1: that the blow was a faint, and I had a
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  Speaker 1: flashing instantaneous memory of Dallisa's threat to drive the knife
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  Speaker 1: through my palms. But even while I commanded myself to
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  Speaker 1: stand steady, sheer reflex threw me forward, grabbing at his
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  Speaker 1: wrist and the knife between my grappling hand. He twisted,
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  Speaker 1: and I felt the skin drive home, rip through my
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  Speaker 1: jacket with a tearing sound, felt the thin fine line
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  Speaker 1: of touch, not pain yet as it sliced flesh. The
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  Speaker 1: pain burned through my ribs, and I felt hot blood,
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  Speaker 1: and I wanted to kill Rakhal, wanted to get my
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  Speaker 1: hands round his throat and kill him with them. At
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  Speaker 1: the same time, I was raging because I didn't want
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  Speaker 1: to fight the crazy fool. I wasn't even mad at him.
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  Speaker 1: Miellyn flung the door open, shrieking, and suddenly the toy
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  Speaker 1: released was darting a small, whirring, droning horror, straight at
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  Speaker 1: Rakhal's eyes. I yelled, but there was no time to
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  Speaker 1: warn him. I bent and butted him in the stomach.
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  Speaker 1: He grunted, doubled up in agony, and fell out of
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  Speaker 1: the path of the diving toy. It whirred in frustration, hovered.
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  Speaker 1: He writhed in agony, drawing up his knees, clawing at
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  Speaker 1: his shirt, while I turned on Miellyn in immense fury
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  Speaker 1: and stopped hers had been a move of desperation, an
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  Speaker 1: instinctive act to restore the balance between a weaponless man
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  Speaker 1: and one who had a knife. Rakhal gasped in a
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  Speaker 1: hoarse voice, with all the breath gone from it, did
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  Speaker 1: want to use rather fight clean. Then he opened his
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  Speaker 1: closed fist, and suddenly there were two of the little whirring,
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  Speaker 1: droning horrors in the room, and this one was diving
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  Speaker 1: at me. And as I threw myself headlong to the floor,
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  Speaker 1: the last puzzle piece fell into place. Varin had made
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  Speaker 1: the same bargain with Rakhal as with me. I rolled over,
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  Speaker 1: dodging behind me. In the room there was a child's
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  Speaker 1: shrill scream, Daddy, Daddy, And abruptly the birds collapsed in
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  Speaker 1: mid air and went limp. They fell to the floor
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  Speaker 1: like dropping stones, and lay there quivering. Brindy dashed across
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  Speaker 1: the room, her small skirts flying, and grabbed up one
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  Speaker 1: of the terrible vicious things in either hand. Brindy, I
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  Speaker 1: bellowed no. She stood, shaking, tears pouring down her round cheeks,
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  Speaker 1: a toy squeezed tight in either hand. Dark veins stood
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  Speaker 1: out almost black on her fair temples. Break them, daddy,
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  Speaker 1: she implored, in a little thread of her voice, break
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  Speaker 1: them quick. I can't hang on. Rakhal staggered to his
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  Speaker 1: feet like a drunken man. And snatched one of the toys,
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  Speaker 1: grinding it under his heel. He made a grab at
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  Speaker 1: the second, reeled and drew in an anguished breath. He
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  Speaker 1: crumpled up, clutching at his belly where I'd butted him.
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  Speaker 1: The birds screamed like a living thing. Breaking the paralysis
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  Speaker 1: of horror, I leapt up ran across the room, heedless
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  Speaker 1: of the searing pain along my side. I snatched the
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  Speaker 1: bird from Rindy as it screamed and shrilled and died
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  Speaker 1: as my foot crunched the tiny feathers. I stamped the
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  Speaker 1: still moving thing into an amorphous mess, and kept on
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  Speaker 1: stamping and smashing until it was only a heap of powder.
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  Speaker 1: Rakhal I finally managed to haul himself upright again. His
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  Speaker 1: face was so pale that the scars stood out like
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  Speaker 1: fresh burns. That was a foul blow, Race, But I
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  Speaker 1: I know why you did it. He stopped and breathed
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  Speaker 1: for a minute. Then he muttered, you saved my life,
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  Speaker 1: you know? Did you know you were doing it when
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  Speaker 1: you did it? Still breathing hard, I nodded done knowingly.
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  Speaker 1: It bent an end of blood feud, however, we had
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  Speaker 1: wronged each other. Whatever the pledge is. I spoke the
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  Speaker 1: words that confirmed it and ended it. Finally and forever,
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  Speaker 1: there is a life between us. Let it stand for
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  Speaker 1: a death. Miellyn was standing in the doorway, her hands
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  Speaker 1: pressed to her mouth, her eyes wide. She said, shakily,
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  Speaker 1: you're walking round with a knife in your ribs. You
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  Speaker 1: full Rakhal whirled with a quick jerk, he pulled the
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  Speaker 1: skin loose. It had simply been caught in my shirt cloak,
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  Speaker 1: in a fold of the rough cloth. He pulled it away,
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  Speaker 1: glanced at the red tip, then relaxed, not more than
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  Speaker 1: an inch deep, he said, then angrily, defending himself. You
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  Speaker 1: did it yourself, you ape. I was trying to get
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  Speaker 1: rid of the knife when you jumped me. But I
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  Speaker 1: knew that, and he knew I knew it. He turned
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  Speaker 1: and scooped up Rindy, who was sobbing noisily. She dug
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  Speaker 1: her head into his shoulder, and I made out her
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  Speaker 1: strangled words, the other toys hurt you when I was
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  Speaker 1: mad at you, She sobbed, rubbing her fists against smeared cheeks.
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  Speaker 1: I I was, isn't that mad at you? I wasn't
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  Speaker 1: that mad at anybody, not even him. Grakhal pressed his
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  Speaker 1: hand against his daughter's fleecy hair, and said, looking at
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  Speaker 1: me over her head, the toys activate a child's subconscious
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  Speaker 1: resentments against his parents. I have found out that much.
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  Speaker 1: That also means a child can control them for a
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  Speaker 1: few seconds. No adult can. A stranger would have seen
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  Speaker 1: no change in his expression, but I knew him and
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  Speaker 1: saw Julie said you threatened Rindy. He chuckled and set
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  Speaker 1: the child on her feet. What else could I say?
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  Speaker 1: They would have scared Julie enough to send her running
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  Speaker 1: to you, Julie as proud, almost as proud as you are,
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  Speaker 1: your stiff next son of the ape. The insult did
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  Speaker 1: not sting me. Now, come on, sit down and let's
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  Speaker 1: decide what to do now we've finished up the old business.
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  Speaker 1: He looked remotely at Miellyn and said, you must be
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  Speaker 1: Dallisa's sister. I don't suppose your talents include knowing how
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  Speaker 1: to make coffee. They didn't, but with Rindy's help, Miellyn managed,
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  Speaker 1: and while they were out of the room, Rakhal explained briefly,
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  Speaker 1: Rindy has rudimentary e s P. I've never had it myself,
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  Speaker 1: but I could teach her something nor much about how
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  Speaker 1: to use it. I've been on Evarin's track ever since
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  Speaker 1: that business of the lists. I'd have got it sooner
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  Speaker 1: if you were still working with me. But I couldn't
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  Speaker 1: do anything as a Terran agent, and I had to
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  Speaker 1: be kicked out so thoroughly that the others wouldn't be afraid.
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  Speaker 1: I was still working secretly for Terror for a long time.
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  Speaker 1: I was just chasing rumors. But when Rindy got big
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  Speaker 1: enough to look in the crystals of Nebrun, I started
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  Speaker 1: making some progress. I was afraid to tell Julie. Her
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  Speaker 1: best safety was the fact that she didn't know anything.
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  Speaker 1: She's always been a stranger in the dry towns. He paused,
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  Speaker 1: and then said, with honest self evaluation, since I left
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  Speaker 1: the Secret Service, I've been a stranger there myself. I asked,
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  Speaker 1: what about Dalisa. Twins have some e s p to
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  Speaker 1: each other. I knew Miellyn had gone to the toy maker.
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  Speaker 1: I tried to get Dallisa to find out where Miellyn
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  Speaker 1: had gone learn more about it. Dallisa wouldn't risk it,
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  Speaker 1: but Kiral saw me with Dallisa and thought it was
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  Speaker 1: Miellyn that put him on my tale too, and I
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  Speaker 1: had to leave Shainsar. I was afraid of Kurral, he added, soberly,
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  Speaker 1: afraid of what he'd do. I couldn't do anything without Rindy,
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  Speaker 1: and I knew if I told Julie what I was doing,
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  Speaker 1: she'd take Rindy away into the Terran zone and I
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: be as good as dead. As he talked, I began
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  Speaker 1: to realize how vast a web Evarin and the underground
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  Speaker 1: organization of Nebron had spread for us. Evarrin was here
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  Speaker 1: to day, what for, Rakhal laughed erthlessly. He's been trying
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: to get us to kill each other off. That would
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  Speaker 1: get rid of us both. He wants to turn over
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  Speaker 1: Wolf to the non humans entirely. I think he's sincere enough,
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  Speaker 1: but he spread his hands helplessly. I can't sit by
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  Speaker 1: and see it, I asked, point blank. Are you working
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  Speaker 1: for Terror or for the Dry Towns or any of
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  Speaker 1: the anti Terran movements. I'm working for me, he said
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  Speaker 1: with a shrug. I don't think much of the Terran Empire,
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  Speaker 1: but one planet can't fight a galaxy race. I want
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  Speaker 1: just one thing. I want the Dry Towns and the
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  Speaker 1: rest of Wolf to have a voice in their own government.
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  Speaker 1: Any planet which makes a substantial contribution to galactic science,
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  Speaker 1: by the laws of the Terran Empire, is automatically given
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  Speaker 1: the status of an independent commonwealth. If a man from
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  Speaker 1: the dry towns discovers something like a matter transmitter, Wolf
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  Speaker 1: gets dominion status. But Evarin and his gang want to
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  Speaker 1: keep it secret, keep it away from Terror, keep it
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  Speaker 1: locked up in places like Canasa. Somebody has to get
• 14:12
  Speaker 1: it away from them, and if I do it, I
• 14:15
  Speaker 1: get a nice fat bonus and an official position. I
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  Speaker 1: believed that where I would have suspected too much protestation
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  Speaker 1: of altruism, Grakhal tossed it aside. You've got Miellyn to
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  Speaker 1: take you through the transmitters. Go back to the master
• 14:31
  Speaker 1: shrine and tell Everin that Raced Cargill is dead in
• 14:35
  Speaker 1: the trade city. They think I'm Cargill and I can
• 14:37
  Speaker 1: get in and out as I choose. Sorry if it
• 14:40
  Speaker 1: cauts you trouble, but it was the safest thing I
• 14:42
  Speaker 1: could think of. And Alva's magnuson have him send soldiers
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  Speaker 1: to guard the street shrines. Evarin might try to escape
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  Speaker 1: through one of them. I shook my head. Terror hasn't
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  Speaker 1: enough men on all Wolf to cover the street shrines
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  Speaker 1: in Charin alone, and I can't go back with Miellyn,
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  Speaker 1: I explain. Rakhal pursed his lips and whistled when I
• 15:03
  Speaker 1: described the fight in the transmitter. You have all the luck, Carkill.
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  Speaker 1: I've never been near enough even to be sure how
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  Speaker 1: they work, and I'll bet you didn't begin to understand.
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  Speaker 1: We'll have to do it the hard way. Then it
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  Speaker 1: won't be the first time we've bulled our way through
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  Speaker 1: a tight place. We'll face Evarin in his own hide out.
• 15:20
  Speaker 1: If Rindy's with us, we needn't worry. I was willing
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  Speaker 1: to let him assume command, but I protested, you'd take
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  Speaker 1: a child into that that what else can we do?
• 15:30
  Speaker 1: Rindy can control the toys, and neither you nor I
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  Speaker 1: can do that. If Evarin should decide to throw his
• 15:35
  Speaker 1: whole arsenal at us, he called Rindy and spoke softly
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  Speaker 1: to her. She looked from her father to me, and
• 15:43
  Speaker 1: back again to her father, then smiled and stretched out
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  Speaker 1: her hand to me. Before we ventured into the street,
• 15:51
  Speaker 1: Rakhal scowled at the sprawled embroideries on Miellyn's robe. He said,
• 15:56
  Speaker 1: in those things you show up like a snowfall in Chansaire.
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  Speaker 1: If you go out in them, you could be mobbed.
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  Speaker 1: Hadn't you better get rid of them? Now I can't,
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  Speaker 1: she protested, they're the keys to the transmitter. Rakhle looked
• 16:09
  Speaker 1: at the conventionalized idols with curiosity, but said, only calf
• 16:13
  Speaker 1: them up in the street. Then Rindy find us something
• 16:16
  Speaker 1: to put over her dress. When we reached the street, shine,
• 16:20
  Speaker 1: Miellyn admonished, stand close together on the stones. I'm not
• 16:24
  Speaker 1: sure we can all make the jump at once, but
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  Speaker 1: we'll have to try. Rakhal picked up Rindy and hoisted
• 16:30
  Speaker 1: her to his shoulder. Miellyn dropped the cloak she had
• 16:33
  Speaker 1: draped over the pattern of the neighboring embroideries, and we
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  Speaker 1: crowded close together. The street swayed and vanished, and I
• 16:41
  Speaker 1: felt the now familiar dip and swirl of blackness before
• 16:44
  Speaker 1: the world straightened out again. Rindy was whimpering, dabbing smeary
• 16:49
  Speaker 1: fists at her face. Daddy, my nose is bleeding. Miellyn
• 16:53
  Speaker 1: hastily bent and wipes the blood from the snubby nose.
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  Speaker 1: Rakhal gestured, impatiently, the worker wreck everything you see Brindy.
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  Speaker 1: If anything starts to come at us, you stop it,
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  Speaker 1: Stop it quick. And he bent and took the little
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  Speaker 1: face between his hands. Geea, remember they're not toys, no
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  Speaker 1: matter how pretty they are. Her grave gray eyes blinked
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  Speaker 1: and she nodded. Rakhal flung open the door of the
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  Speaker 1: elves workshop with a shout. The ringing of the anvils
• 17:24
  Speaker 1: shattered into a thousand dissonances. As I kicked over a
• 17:26
  Speaker 1: work bench and had half finished toys crashed in confusion
• 17:30
  Speaker 1: on the floor. The dwarfs scattered like rabbits before our
• 17:34
  Speaker 1: assault of destruction. I smashed tools, filigree jewels, stamping everything
• 17:39
  Speaker 1: with my heavy boots. I shattered glass, caught up a hammer,
• 17:42
  Speaker 1: and smashed crystals. There was a wild exhilaration to it.
• 17:47
  Speaker 1: A tiny doll, proportioned like a woman, dashed towards me,
• 17:50
  Speaker 1: shrilling in her supersonic shriek. I put my foot on
• 17:53
  Speaker 1: her and ground the life out of her, and she
• 17:55
  Speaker 1: screamed like a living woman. As she came apart, her
• 17:58
  Speaker 1: blue eyes rolled from her head and lay on the
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  Speaker 1: law watching me. I crushed the blue jewels under my heel.
• 18:04
  Speaker 1: Rakhal swung a tiny hound by the tail, its head
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  Speaker 1: shattered into debris of almost invisible gears and wheels. I
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  Speaker 1: caught up a chair and wrecked glass cabinet of parts
• 18:14
  Speaker 1: with it swinging furiously. A berserk madness of smashing and
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  Speaker 1: breaking had laid hold of me. I was drunk with
• 18:22
  Speaker 1: crushing and shattering and ruining when I heard Miellyn's scream
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  Speaker 1: a warning, and turned to see Evarin standing in the doorway.
• 18:28
  Speaker 1: His green cat eyes blazed with rage. Then he raised
• 18:32
  Speaker 1: both hands in a sudden sardonic gesture, and with a loping,
• 18:35
  Speaker 1: inhuman glide, raced for the transmitter. Rindy Rakhal panted, Can
• 18:40
  Speaker 1: he block the transmitter instead? Rindy shrieked, We've got to
• 18:44
  Speaker 1: get out. The roof is falling down. The house is
• 18:48
  Speaker 1: going to fall down on us the roof. Look at
• 18:50
  Speaker 1: the roof. I looked up, transfixed by horror. I saw
• 18:54
  Speaker 1: a wide rift open, saw the skylight shatter and break,
• 18:58
  Speaker 1: and daylight pouring through the cracking walls. Rakhal snatched Rindy up,
• 19:02
  Speaker 1: protecting her from the falling dabris with his head and shoulders.
• 19:05
  Speaker 1: I grabbed Miellyn round the waist and we ran for
• 19:07
  Speaker 1: the rift in the buckling wall. We shoved through just
• 19:11
  Speaker 1: before the roof caved in and the walls collapsed, and
• 19:14
  Speaker 1: we found ourselves standing on a bare, grassy hillside, looking
• 19:18
  Speaker 1: down in shock and horror as below us, section after
• 19:21
  Speaker 1: section of what had been apparently bare hill and rock
• 19:24
  Speaker 1: caved in and collapsed into dusty rubble. Miellyn screamed hoarsely, Run, run, hurry.
• 19:32
  Speaker 1: I didn't understand, but I ran. I ran my sides,
• 19:35
  Speaker 1: aching blood streaming from the forgotten flesh wound in my side.
• 19:40
  Speaker 1: Miellyn raced beside me, and Rakhal stumbled along, carrying Rindy.
• 19:44
  Speaker 1: Then the shock of a great explosion rocked to the ground,
• 19:47
  Speaker 1: hurling me down full length, Miellyn falling on top of me.
• 19:51
  Speaker 1: Rakhal went down on his knees. Rindy was crying loudly.
• 19:55
  Speaker 1: When I could see straight again, I looked down at
• 19:58
  Speaker 1: the hillside. Was nothing left of Evarin's hideaway or the
• 20:02
  Speaker 1: masters Shrine of Nebrun except a great gaping hole, still
• 20:07
  Speaker 1: oozing smoke and thick black dust. Miellyn said aloud, dazed,
• 20:12
  Speaker 1: So that's what he was going to do. It fitted
• 20:16
  Speaker 1: the peculiar non human logic of the toy maker he'd
• 20:19
  Speaker 1: covered the traces destroyed. Rakhal raged all destroyed, the work crumbs,
• 20:26
  Speaker 1: the science of the toys, the matter transmitter. The minute
• 20:30
  Speaker 1: we find it, it's destroyed. He beat his fists furiously.
• 20:34
  Speaker 1: Our one chance to learn. We were lucky to get
• 20:37
  Speaker 1: out alive, said Miellyn quietly. Where on the planet are we?
• 20:42
  Speaker 1: I wonder? I looked down the hillside and stared in amazement.
• 20:48
  Speaker 1: Spread Out on the hillside below us lay the rassa,
• 20:51
  Speaker 1: topped by the white skyscraper of the HQ. I'll be damned,
• 20:55
  Speaker 1: I said, right here, we're home, Rakhal. You can go
• 21:00
  Speaker 1: down and make your peace with the Terrans, and Julie
• 21:03
  Speaker 1: and you, Miellyn before the others. I could not say
• 21:06
  Speaker 1: what I was thinking, but I put my hand on
• 21:08
  Speaker 1: her shoulder and kept it there. She smiled shakily, with
• 21:13
  Speaker 1: a hint of her old mischief. I can't go into
• 21:16
  Speaker 1: the Terran zone looking like this. Can I give me
• 21:18
  Speaker 1: that comb again, Rakhal? Give me your shirt, cloak. My
• 21:22
  Speaker 1: robes are torn, you faint, stupid female worrying about a
• 21:26
  Speaker 1: thing like that at a time like this. Rakhal's look
• 21:29
  Speaker 1: was like murder. I put my comb in her hand,
• 21:32
  Speaker 1: then suddenly saw something in the symbols across her breasts.
• 21:36
  Speaker 1: Before this, I had seen only the conventionalized and intricate
• 21:39
  Speaker 1: glyph of the toad God. But now I reached out
• 21:43
  Speaker 1: and ripped the cloth away. Cargill, she protested angrily, crimsoning,
• 21:48
  Speaker 1: covering her bare breasts with both hands. Is this the
• 21:51
  Speaker 1: place before a child too? I hardly heard, Look, I exclaimed, Rakhal.
• 21:57
  Speaker 1: Look at the cymbals embroidered into the gliph of the
• 21:59
  Speaker 1: Guard God. You can read the old non human glyphs.
• 22:03
  Speaker 1: You did it in the city of the List. Mee
• 22:06
  Speaker 1: Lynn said they were the key to the transmitters. I'll
• 22:10
  Speaker 1: bet the formula is written out there for anyone to read.
• 22:14
  Speaker 1: Anyone that is, who can read it. I can't, but
• 22:18
  Speaker 1: I'll bet the formula equations for the transmitters are carved
• 22:20
  Speaker 1: on every toad God glyph on wolf racal. It makes sense.
• 22:26
  Speaker 1: There are two ways of hiding something. Either keep it
• 22:29
  Speaker 1: locked away or hide it right out in plain sight.
• 22:33
  Speaker 1: Whoever bothers even to look at a conventionalized toad god.
• 22:37
  Speaker 1: There are so many billions of them. He bent his
• 22:41
  Speaker 1: head over the embroideries, and when he looked up, his
• 22:44
  Speaker 1: face was flushed. I believe by the chains of Sharer.
• 22:48
  Speaker 1: I believe you have it race. He may take years
• 22:51
  Speaker 1: to work out the glyphs, but I'll do it or
• 22:54
  Speaker 1: die trying. His scarred and hideous face looked almost handsome
• 22:58
  Speaker 1: in exultation, and I grined at him. If Julie leaves
• 23:02
  Speaker 1: enough of you once she finds out how you maneuvered her. Look,
• 23:07
  Speaker 1: Rindy's fallen asleep on the grass there, poor kid. We'd
• 23:11
  Speaker 1: better get it down to her mother, right. Rakhal thrust
• 23:15
  Speaker 1: the precious embroidery into his shirt cloak, then cradled his
• 23:19
  Speaker 1: sleeping daughter in his arms. I watched him with a
• 23:22
  Speaker 1: curious emotion. I could not identify. It seemed to pinpoint
• 23:26
  Speaker 1: some great change, either in Rakhal or myself. It's not
• 23:30
  Speaker 1: difficult to visualize one's sister with children, but there was
• 23:33
  Speaker 1: something some strange incongruity in the sight of Rakhal carrying
• 23:37
  Speaker 1: the little girl, carefully tucking her up in a fold
• 23:40
  Speaker 1: of his cloak to keep the sharp breeze off her face.
• 23:44
  Speaker 1: Miellyn was limping in her thin sandals, and she shivered.
• 23:48
  Speaker 1: I asked, cold, no, but I don't believe Evarin is dead.
• 23:55
  Speaker 1: I'm afraid he got away. For a minute, the thought
• 23:59
  Speaker 1: dim the luster of the morning. Then I shrugged. He
• 24:03
  Speaker 1: is probably buried in that big hole up there, but
• 24:06
  Speaker 1: I knew I would never be sure. We walked abreast,
• 24:11
  Speaker 1: my arm round the weary stumbling woman, and Rakhal said softly,
• 24:14
  Speaker 1: at last, like old times, it wasn't old times. I
• 24:19
  Speaker 1: knew he would know it too, once his exultation sobered,
• 24:24
  Speaker 1: I had outgrown my love for intrigue, and I had
• 24:27
  Speaker 1: the feeling this was Rakhal's last adventure. It was going
• 24:31
  Speaker 1: to take him, as he said, years to work out
• 24:34
  Speaker 1: the equations for the transmitter. And I had a feeling
• 24:38
  Speaker 1: my own solid, ordinary desk was going to look good
• 24:41
  Speaker 1: to me in the morning. But I knew now that
• 24:45
  Speaker 1: I had never run away from wolf again. It was
• 24:48
  Speaker 1: my own beloved sun that was rising. My sister was
• 24:52
  Speaker 1: waiting for me down below, and I was bringing back
• 24:54
  Speaker 1: her child. My best friend was walking at my side.
• 24:58
  Speaker 1: What more could a man want? If the memory of
• 25:03
  Speaker 1: dark poisonberry eyes was to haunt me in nightmares, they
• 25:07
  Speaker 1: did not come into the waking world. I looked at Miellyn,
• 25:11
  Speaker 1: took her slender unmanacled hand in mine, and smiled as
• 25:15
  Speaker 1: we walked through the gates of the city. Now, after
• 25:20
  Speaker 1: all my years on Wolf, I understood the desire to
• 25:24
  Speaker 1: keep their women under lock and key, that was its
• 25:26
  Speaker 1: ancient custom. I vowed to myself as we went that
• 25:30
  Speaker 1: I would waste no time finding a fetter shop, and
• 25:33
  Speaker 1: having forged therein the perfect steel chains that should bind
• 25:36
  Speaker 1: my love's wrists to my key for ever. End of
• 25:42
  Speaker 1: Chapter fifteen.