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"I’ll be da theso she could stick her head out and look down "Underwater bridges"

"Submersible bastions," Michael corrected

"Very nice," Alex said, pulling her head back inside, "but wouldn’t it be easier to build the place on dry land?"

"Probably, but water has es over land," Michael said "Byrne and I share coarded lakes and rivers as sacred places Often they would hurl into the water the gold and treasures they had taken in battle, as offerings to the gods to ensure their next victory"

That made about as much sense as the moat approach to domestic security "Your ancestors were dues toward four towers joined together around the ateway soared up at least five stories into the night, illu in enore man dressed in leather and chain mail and armed with a spear, a sword, and a black shield Each stoodout over the horizon but watching the progress of the car as they passed over the second drawbridge

"This would reat credit-card commercial," Alex muttered "Or a fortress of darkness"

Phillipe braked just before the gated passage through the four towers that led into the corate in front of theate also lifted

"Just what is this guy preparing for?" she asked Michael "A nuclear attack?"

"A castle was a hold in our ti"

"Yeah, but two gates? One wasn’t enough?"

"In our tiht and trapped between two portcullises" As Phillipe drove in, he pointed to openings in the walls and ceiling "The castle’s archers would use these " Alex silently thanked God once es "I suppose they poured vats of boiling oil through them, too"

"Not at all," Michael told her "Cauldrons of oil were heated and du to rauys" She shuddered

"It did not alork," he said "If they were protected under abodies of dead livestock and--"

"That’s okay," Alex told hi to siege a castle anytiots"

Michael nipped her palh four e ended in a cobblestone area that Michael called the outer bailey In front of the castle stood a giant in a hooded dark cloak and a boy in a white shirt and black trousers Behind them, three rows of warriors with enormous spears stood in formation

"Oh, look, honey," Alex said sweetly "Conan and his barbarian army are here" She checked her watch "How about we head home? If Phil floors it, we could hed "There is nothing to fear fro respect"

"To you, maybe Me, he doesn’t know" She looked up toward the battle dead cows"

Phillipe parked the car and opened the back door for them Michael helped her out, put his arm around her waist, and bent down to murmur, "Relax, chérie You will like hiiant "I’ to make hi Kyn, the suzerain pulled back his hood and stepped forward to et a better look at Byrne, who had to be one of the largest men, human or Kyn, whom she’d ever encountered The Scotsman stood half a head taller than Cyprien, as no shrimp, and had at least seventy pounds on Phillipe, as built like a tank

The top of her own head, Alex gauged, almost cleared the top of his belt Almost

She’d never seen red hair quite the color of Byrne’s, or so much of it on a arnet, turning blood red wherever the torchlight flickered over it It echoed the bold red in the clan tartan and kilt he wore, which should have made hier The crowning touch, his barbaric-looking facial tattoos,ees