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'What, you er?' said IIa

The architect gave his brother a look of faint admiration It was an unusual remark for an accountant Then his face returned to its previous look of faint terror

'No, not that,' he said

'Well, the sound of the very air itself being subjected to horrible tortures?'

'Not that, either,' said IIb, vaguely annoyed 'Inoise'

Three h the roiling clouds overhead and poured into the blacklike that,' said IIa

'I think it's co froainst it if you like, but I' swayed in the storm as they eased their way up another ladder, the heavy capstone rocking between them

'I said we shouldn't do it,' ently on to his toes 'We shouldn't have built this'

'Just shut up and lift your end, will you?'

And so, one rocking ladder after another, the brothers Ptaclusp eased their bickering way up the flanks of the Great Pyra the Djel fired one after another, and the sky strea tireatestin cosy flatulence in his stall below the palace, stopped chewing the cud and realised that so to nu its nose at Teppic Its expression made it clear that of all the riders in all the world it would least like to ride it, he was right at the top of the list However, camels look like that at everyone Camels have a very democratic approach to the hu any distinctions for rank or creed

This one appeared to be chewing soap

Teppic looked distractedly down the shadowy length of the royal stables, which had once contained a hundred caiven the world for a horse, and a moderately-sized continent for a pony But the stables now held only a handful of rotting war chariots, relics of past glories, an elderly elephant whose presence was a bit of a mystery, and this ca threadbare at the knees

'Well, this is it,' he said to Ptraci 'I don't dare try the river during the night I could try and get you over the border'

'Is that saddle on right?' said Ptraci 'It looks awfully funny'

'It's on an awfully odd creature,' said Teppic 'Hoe climb on to it?'

'I've seen the camel drivers at work,' she replied 'I think they just hit the stick'

The ca look

Teppic shrugged, pulled open the doors to the outside world, and stared into the faces of five guards

He backed away They advanced Three of the the heavy Djel bohich could propel an arrow through a door or turn a charging hippo into three tons of uards had never had to fire theh they were prepared to entertain the idea

The guard captain tapped one of the h priest'

He glared at Teppic

'Thron all your weapons,' he said

'What, all of theht take some time,' said Teppic cautiously

'And keep your hands where I can see theainst a real iuard to another He knew a variety of methods of unarmed co about to fire an arrow straight through you as soon as you moved But he could probably dive sideways, and once he had the cover of the camel stalls he could bide his time

And that would leave Ptraci exposed Besides, he could hardly go around fighting his own guards That wasn't acceptable behaviour, even for a king

There was a uards and Dios drifted into view, as silent and inevitable as an eclipse of the hlights on his bald head

'Ah,' he said 'The miscreants are captured Well done' He nodded to the captain 'Throw them to the crocodiles'

'Dios?' said Teppic, as two of the guards lowered their bows and bore down on him

'Did you speak?'

'You knoho I ah priest raised the torch

'You have the advantage of '

'This is not funny,' said Teppic 'I order you to tell them who I am'

'As you wish This assassin,' said Dios, and the voice had the cut and sear of a ther, damn it,' said Teppic 'How could I kill myself?'

'We are not stupid,' said Dios 'These ht, or consort with condemned criminals All that remains for us to find out is how you disposed of the body'

His eyes fixed on Teppic's face, and Teppic realised that the high priest was, indeed, trulyyourself for so long that habits of sanity have etched themselves into the brain I wonder how old he really is? he thought

'These assassins are cunning creatures,' said Dios 'Have a care of him'

There was a crash beside the priest Ptraci had tried to throw a camel prod, and missed

When everyone looked back Teppic had vanished The guards beside hi

Dios smiled