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The pale girl stood shaking The Witch’s creatures terrified her--yet they seearht shine ly, but the red eyes of the weaselhounds frightened her ht, she realized, would hold the her defiance, the pin bit down viciously until she gasped--but she refused to return the jewel to its hiding place Gritting her teeth, the upperlander held up the pearl Circling, watching her every an to yip and howl They cowered before the pearl’s diht Maruha stabbed tith her poisoned dirk before they slunk snarling into the nearest of the tunnels Colluh the pain intensified with every step, the girl forced herself to follow the weaselhounds, herding the, the Witch’s brood retreated farther down the hall Drawing his pick, Collu onto the pile of rubble that lay to one side of the tunnel’s collapsing arch Barely short of the entryway, the pale girl halted, panting with the effort of defying the pin and gazing after the snapping hounds that ht Colluirl!" Brandl cried, rushing forward

Above them, the arch collapsed with a roar The upperlander clutched the pearl to her as Brandl shoved her clear She lay on the hard ground aache

Choking, the young duarough held his sleeve over his nose Collu into the air, and in a moment, the dust abruptly settled Froirl heard the weaselhounds gargling and digging Bruised and shaken, she straightened Brandl picked hiht, that jewel she carries?"

Maruha shook her head Collu a wound on her wrist The sleeve was bloody, torn "It’s nothing," she told him and pulled away Then, to Brandl, "I know not But it can be nothing Witch-made, that I vow, since her creatures shun it"

She knelt, rekindling fingerla Brandl his harp and Collum his pack

"Do you still say she must be one of the Witch’s?" she deh flushed

"I know not what she is," he answered at last "But I know she has saved us this day"

Brandl put up his shortsword and stowed the harp He glanced uneasily at the new-ainst their claws"

Shaking, the upperlander put away the pearl The pain in her head did not subside Angrily, she stood She was tired of this blankness ofterrorized and controlled! Who was she? How had she conored the pain and surveyed the scene around her

The concussion of the tu arch had shaken loose other stones as well The blank wall against which Collum and Brandl had made their stand was cracked noith a spiderweb of fissures Near the ceiling, a slab of plaster had sheared away to reveal a great starburst carved into the stone It occurred to the pale girl that ht be plaster, not stone at all

"But which path?" Maruha was saying "If weaselhounds are afoot, you can be sure all the paths hereabouts are overrun with theirl moved nearer, drawn to the starburst The pin throbbed ever nal to retreat As she lifted one finger to touch the starburst, the fissure below it deepened, and a cru a hole in the wall Darkness and emptiness lay beyond, and the scent of stale air Collu it, he and Maruha bent over it The pale girl grimaced as the pin twisted down Defiantly, she pulled another brick from the wall

"This way leads on to other paths, as do these," the duarough woman murrowing deter The pain was nearly blinding now, but she kept on Despite the heavy cost, she found that thwarting the pin brought her an ih it could still torture her, the Witch’s weapon no longer possessed her will

The wall’s opening was noide enough to adh, she felt a sudden peace washing over her, better than food or drink or rest She halted, stunned as the pain behind her ear abruptly ceased Before her, the pearl’s light revealed a very broad, straight corridor stretching away into the distance The walls were carved with figures of duaroughs and machines

"Whatever path we take, let us take it quickly," Brandl, behind her, was urging

Carefully, the pale girl glanced around If she re, she knew, the pain of the pin would return His back to her, Brandl eyed the shifting rubble of the rockfall nervously The growling of weaselhounds and the sound of their digging on the other side grewthe wick Neither of theirl

"No path is safe," Maruha told the her wounded aro"