Page 27 (2/2)

"Pettibwa?" ca th than she had shown inhere, and his eyes widened in panic Pettibas dying, illingly leaving him and all this horrid world! His first instinct was to screa her back to him, to plead with her not to leave hiht himself in time to realize how selfish such a course would be Pettibas ready to go, and so she should, for surely the next life would be a better place than this

"Go to hi voice, tears strea him, and tell him that I love him, too"

He went quiet then, all the world seemed to hush, soof the wo cell "Grady," she h, and then

Silence

Sobs shook the old ainst his chains with all his strength until one of his wrists popped out of joint and waves of pain ht one hand in close to wipe the tears and snot froth that he didn&039;t believe he still possessed, Graevis stood straight and tall This would be his last act of defiance, he understood

Concentrating, conjuring ied with all his nored the pain, pulling the hand tight into the shackle, and then on some more He didn&039;t even hear the crack of bone, but just pulled on, like a wild ani his hand into the shackle

Finally, after s eak beneath hiht and turning for the reth of chain In one movement Graevis leaped up over his extended hand, twisted and turned and threw that shackled arm up over his head so that when he came back down, the chain was looped about his neck He was up on his tiptoes and could relieve the choking pressure

But not for long, he knew as his legs began to weaken and his body sluht about his throat

He wanted to find that tunnel, wanted to see Pettibwa and Grady beckoning to him

"I told you he was evil!" Father Abbot Markwart roared at Brother Francis when they ca man "But even I did not understand the depth of it, apparently To take his own life! What cowardice!"

Brother Francis wanted to agree wholeheartedly, but a nagging part of his conscience would not let him dismiss it that easily They had found the wo cell, dead, and not by her own hand Francis could only assume that Graevis knew she had died, and that had been the final burden, the one that pushed the battered old man past all sanity

"It does notsomewhat now that the shock of it all had worn off a bit Hadn&039;t he and Francis just discussed this very probability? "As I explained to you upstairs, neither of the valuable left to tell us"

"How can you be certain?" Francis dared to ask

"Because they eak," Markwart snapped at hiainst thewall " - only proves Weak, and if they had anything else to tell us, they would have broken under the strain of our questioning long ago"

"And now they are dead, all three, the family the woman Pony once knew," Brother Francis said so as she does not know they are dead, they remain useful to us," the Father Abbot said callously "You will tell no one of their demise"

"No one?" Francis echoed skeptically "Am I to bury them alone? As I did with Grady on the road?"

"Grady Chilichunk was your responsibility by your own ac-tions," Markwart snapped at hi for a reply but finding none

"Leave them where they are," Markwart added, after he believed that the younger h "The worround"

Francis started to argue, tentatively this time, to point out the problem of the stench, but he stopped short as he considered his surroundings In these untended dungeons the s corpses would hardly be noticeable, and would certainly not change the nasty aura of the place Still, to leave these two un-buried without proper cere to facilitate her death, struck Francis hard

But he, too, was no longer on that holy pedestal, Francis re-minded himself His hands were not clean, and so, like all the other inconsistencies that assaulted the e, Brother Francis shrugged it away, put it coain

Markwart e of the movement They had come to the Chilichunks first, and had yet to establish whether or not Bradwarden, who by Markwart&039;s estimation was the more important prisoner, was still alive Francis hustled out of the cell and down the s with his keys as he led the way to Bradwarden&039;s cell

"Be gone, ye dog! I got nothing to tell ye!" came the defiant call from inside as Francis, a very relieved Francis, put the key in the lock

"We shall see, centaur," Markwart muttered quietly, wickedly Then of Francis he asked, "Did you bring the armband?"

Francis started to pull the item from his pocket, then hesitated

But too late, for Markwart saw the o to our duty," the Father Abbot said, seehthearted tone sent a shudder along the spine of Brother Francis, for he knew that with the enchanted band secured about his ar and terrible episode