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Ptraci let herself slide back down to the chilly stones of the floor Coe that Humans would need to open it first

She crouched in the furthest corner of the cell, staring at the s ht she heard a tiny noise, like a gasp

A little later there was subtle clink of

More time wound on to the spool of eternity and then the silence beyond the cell, which had been the silence caused by absence of sound, very slowly beca no noise

She thought: It's right outside the door

There was a pause in which Teppic oiled all the bolts and hinges so that, when he ripping noiselessness

'I say?' said a voice in the darkness

Ptraci pressed herself still further into the corner

'Look, I've come to rescue you'

Now she could ht It stepped forith rather more uncertainty than she would have expected fro or not?' it said 'I've only knocked out the guards, it's not their fault, but we haven't got a lot of time'

'I',' whispered Ptraci 'The king himself decreed it'

'He probably made a mistake'

Ptraci's eyes widened in horrified disbelief

'The Soul Eater will take me!' she said

'Do you want it to?'

Ptraci hesitated

'Well, then,' said the figure, and took her unresisting hand He led her out of the cell, where she nearly tripped over the prone body of a guard

'Who is in the other cells?' he said, pointing to the line of doors along the passage

'I don't know,' said Ptraci

'Let's find out, shall we?'

The figure touched a can to the bolts and hinges of the next door and pushed it open The flare froed ed on the floor

'I'm here to rescue you,' said the demon The man peered up at him

'Rescue?' he said

'Yes Why are you here?'

The '

'How did you do that?'

'I dropped a rock on ue is to be torn out'

The dark figure nodded sympathetically

'A priest heard you, did he?' he said

'No I told a priest Such words should not go unpunished,' said the ood at it, Teppic thought Mere anie to act like this You need to be a huht to talk about this outside,' he said 'Why not colared at him

'You want ood idea, wouldn't you say?'

Thesilently Then he appeared to reach a decision

'Guards!' he screa palace His would-be rescuer stared at him in disbelief

'Mad,' Teppic said 'You're all rabbed Ptraci's hand, and hurried along the shadowy passages Behind theue while he still had it and used it to screa me?' said Ptraci, as they marched smartly around a corner and into a pillar-barred courtyard

Teppic hesitated He hadn't thought much beyond this point

'Why do they bother to bolt the doors?' he de the pillars 'That's what I want to know I'm surprised you didn't wander back to your cell while I was in there'

'I - I don't want to die,' she said quietly

'Don't bla not to want to die!' Teppic glanced up at the roof around the courtyard and unslung his grapnel

'I think I ought to go back toanyeven to think of disobeying the king'

'Oh? What happens to you, then?'

'Souely

'Youyour soul taken by the Soul Eater?' said Teppic, and caught the grapnel fire on the flat roof

'That's an interesting point,' said Ptraci, winning the Teppic Award for clear thinking

'Worth considering, isn't it?' Teppic tested his weight on the cord

'What you're saying is, if the worst is going to happen to you anyway, you ht as well not bother any et you whatever you do, you ht as well avoid the crocodiles, is that it?'

'You go up first,' said Teppic, 'I think so'