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But many of the inquisitors liked the old ways best

After a while, Orille, neckelse, the tortoise hooked first one front leg over a bar, then another His back legs waggled for a while, and then he hooked a claw on to the rough stonework

He strained for a ht

He walked off slowly, keeping close to the wall to avoid the feet He had no alternative to walking slowly in any case, but noalking slowly because he was thinking Most gods find it hard to walk and think at the sao to the Place of Lareat freedoms of Omnianism

There were all sorts of ways to petition the Great God, but they depended largely on how ht and proper and exactly how things should be After all, those who had achieved success in the world clearly had done it with the approval of the Great God, because it was ied it with His disapproval In the same way, the Quisition could act without possibility of flaw Suspicion was proof How could it be anything else? The Great God would not have seen fit to put the suspicion in the ht that it should be there Life could be very simple, if you believed in the Great God Om And sometimes quite short, too

But there were always the improvident, the stupid, and those who, because of soht in this life or a past one, were not even able to afford a pinch of incense And the Great God, in His wisdoh His priests, had made provision for them

Prayers and entreaties could be offered up in the Place of Laht even be heeded

Behind the Place, which was a square two hundred meters across, rose the Great Temple itself

There, without a shadow of a doubt, the God listened

Or sorims visited the Place every day

A heel knocked O hie of his carapace and whirled hiainst the bedroll of an old woman who, like many others, reckoned that the efficacy of her petition was increased by the amount of time she spent in the square

The God blinked les It was nearly as bad as the cellarno, perhaps nothing was as bad as the cellar

He caught a feords before another passing foot kicked hie for three yearsa little rain, oh Lord?"

Rotating on the top of his shell, vaguely wondering if the right answerhim, the Great God muttered, "No problem"

Another foot bounced his The world was a blur

He caught an ancient voice, steeped in hopelessness, saying, "Lord, Lord, why ion? Who noill tend the farm? Could you not take some other boy?"

"Don't worry about it," squeaked Oht him under his tail and flicked hi down It was generally believed that staring fixedly at the golden horns on the teave it added potency Where the presence of the tortoise was di on the ankle, it was disposed of by an automatic prod with the other foot

"ht!"

Kick

", e, which is foul with"

"You got it!"

Kick

"every year the locusts come, and"

"I promise, only!"

Kick

"lost upon the seas these fiveht side up, in a brief, clear space

Visible

So nition of pattern, the shapes of hunter and hunted To the casual eye the forest is, well, just forest; to the eye of the dove it is so round to the hahich you did not notice on the branch of a tree To the tiny dot of the hunting buzzard in the heights, the whole panora prey in the grass

Frole leapt into the sky

Fortunately, the same awareness of shapes thathumans made the tortoise's one eye swivel upwards in dread anticipation

Eagles are single-minded creatures Once the idea of lunch is fixed in their mind, it tends to remain there until satisfied

There were two Divine Legionaries outside Vorbis's quarters They looked sideways at Brutha as he knocked ti for a reason to assault hiray priest opened the door and ushered Brutha into a sfully at a stool

Brutha sat down The priest vanished behind a curtain Brutha took one glance around the rooulfed him Before he could move, and Brutha's reflexes were not well coordinated at the best of times, a voice by his ear said, "Now, brother, do not panic I order you not to panic"

There was cloth in front of Brutha's face

"Just nod, boy"

Brutha nodded They put a hood over your face All the novices knew that Stories were told in the dormitories They put a cloth over your face so the inquisitors didn't knoho they orking on

"Good Noe are going into the next roouided hih the mists of incomprehension he felt the brush of the curtain, and then was jolted down some steps and into a sandy?floored room The hands spun him a few times, fir a passageway There was the swish of another curtain, and then the indefinable sense of a larger space

Afterward, long afterward, Brutha realized: there was no terror A hood had been slipped over his head in the room of the head of the Quisition, and it never occurred to him to be terrified Because he had faith

"There is a stool behind you Be seated"

Brutha sat

"You may remove the hood"

Brutha removed the hood

He blinked