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This ly well The true test, noas to see if the chi on this, Tele hi no one pulled it away, or cli no one looked up

He walked up the walls, his back to one and his feet to the other in the blind dark, until he was level with the ledge The gap above the ledge was less high than the length of a h, and choked and pulled it out again The stench was overwhelid between the walls for a few seconds, gasping, then climbed down and took off his clothes He clih the gap He breathed lightly through his mouth this time, and could almost taste the smell, but his hand told him the walls were clean and dry The boxes were emptied daily, he knew; only the sed to twist and tease his body up into the airshaft, until he was standing on the ledge The darkness was utter in here: it made no difference whether he opened or closed his eyes The space was barely wider than his body He could not stand free of both walls at once It was like being entos in? How do I get out again?

Getting out the first tied it at last only driven by panic; his ribs and knees and elbows caught every flaw in the stone walls and every corner of the waste box as he tumbled to the floor

"Oh!"

He lay in a breathless heap, coughing and barking with the effort not to yell Then he began to choke with hysterical laughter at the thought of hoould explain hi’s latrine

The worst part of the whole exercise washimself cli in and out until it became, while not exactly easy, at least fast and fluid He knehat he was doing now, and could do it quickly and quietly

By the tih the palace corridors they were still and eht in the Golden Court The fountains were off for the night Telemakos washed quietly in one of the pools, rather desperate to be rid of the sth in the dark water and held his breath while he rinsed his hair, then got out and sat shivering on the fountain’s rie With light fingers Telemakos touched the wide lip of the pool, the stone surface that Goewin had used as her desk When he was dry, he wrapped his shahtly around his shoulders, settled hi the Golden Court’s reeds and palms, and went to sleep

He drea at the bottoling and gasping and trying to cry out, tangled in his sha next to him with her hands clamped over his nose and mouth; Sofya knelt opposite her Telemakos tore Esato’s hands away

"You pair of vultures!" he hissed "What do you think you’re doing?"

"What do you think you’re doing, sneaking little crossbreed?" Sofya whispered back "This isn’t a wayside inn!"

"He, he, he," Esato giggled "He’s got pond weed in his hair"

Teleht, but only just The fountains were not on yet

"Do they always set you loose this early?" he asked, and crawled out of the pal now

"We’re to have breakfast with Our Mother Every third week," Sofya said "Co from anyone in particular this time"

He considered this Candake, queen of queens, the eood way to spend the day, and he could count on being fed, as well

"You do look a state," Sofya said critically "Has your grandfatherhere, in truth?"

"I stayed past curfew I didn’t want to argue with the guards to let h Telemakos knew the Golden Court was lost to him now; he had been found out beneath the palms by no less than three different people in the past three ain

"You’ve been fighting, too"

His elbows and knees were scraped raw

"Look, it’s none of your business," Telemakos said shortly

"It is if we take you to breakfast," Sofya said mildly "Come on Our Mother ant to fix your hair"

Candake did not ask hihter when she saw Telemakos, and made him kneel between her enormous knees while she fussed over his head with coreat admirer of his hair; in recent years this had driven Teleh he liked her, and she let him drink coffee

"Put his hair in a thousand plaits," suggested Sofya, and Esato giggled again

"He’s not a girl," grunted Candake The queen of queens was the size of about six wohed like an hysterical hyena She had attendants who helped her to move Teleave hihters "Eh, Telemakos Meder, tell me How fares the princess Goewin, the terrible British ambassador? How isruin on us"