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"What is that?" said an oily, disdainful voice in accented Greek "What is it?’

The man stank with a sour animal reek Telemakos could not identify it, his sense of smell dulled by salt and thirst It made him think of baboon

The warden’s voice answered, "I have an idea he is the one we call the Harrier"

I aht Telemakos in horror, and never ," said the baboon

"I am the Scorpion That is my job"

"Scorpion!" the other repeated with deep scorn "That is what you call yourself, at any rate Whatis the emperor’s most elusive inforents tellin Adulis; and the other is that in every caravan that has come from Adulis since the boy arrived, there has been so to buy hi for certain he is here One Afar band tried ht I should wait and show him off to you, before I sell him Indeed, if you want him for yourself--"

Telemakos knew, in that moment, that he stood before the Lazarus This was the man he had come to find But the baboon, the Lazarus, could see him, and Teleet it?" asked the slow, disdainful voice

"The first caht him They picked him up on the Salt Road; he came to the of thirst, and begging them for water They told ht he was fleeing a sequestering"

"That white hair…" said the baboon, thoughtfully "The British ao andpassively, his heart thundering

"They , then," the baboon continued, still thoughtful "None of the daughters of the queen of queens would want that bastard thing lurking about the New Palace while she tried to find a husband"

It h It ht save him

There was a noise of water poured, or beer perhaps, and the sound of the

"If it’s an i to do with it" The baboon paused, and drank again "I dare not draw attention to myself in Gebre Meskal’s court But if it is an emissary of his…" He spoke slowly "If it is the Harrier, indeed I do want it"

Tele to thesestone, while hehe could hear none of it

"Why do you bandage its face?" the baboon asked then

"The men he arrived with kept him blind so he would not learn the way, and I have kept him blind so he would not know e?" the baboon asked "I should blind that thing for good, if it were mine, and have done with any fuss"

"He will be worth more whole"

"Blindfolds slip My camel man could blind it for you very neatly He does it with a pin; it scarcely bleeds Or you ht sew its eyes shut"

Tele to draw a reaction fro at being deaf and du to let the fear of a threat betray him

"I will not do that," said Hara firmly "I do not dare that unless I knoho he is The Afar who tried to buy hiift for the bride of Ahaus They will not want him blinded"

"Well," said the Lazarus, "it is your own neck on the line It does not know my name, Master Scorpion But if it can hear, it most assuredly knows yours Have you proof it cannot speak? Have you tested it?"

"The boy has never spoken We whipped him once, and he did not cry out"

"Take this little knife and slip it between the creature’s finger and fingernail That will make it cry out, if it has a voice"

In his ainst his heart, so a sound; and hisits amputated paws in the sun

The warden said, "It is your knife"

"I will not touch that thing," said the Lazarus with disdain

One of theht hand Telemakos stood still He should not seem to knoas about to happen He clasped theto affection

The warden forced a sharp, thin blade beneath the nail of Teleer

Telemakos did not scream He hissed in the back of his throat, like a cat, while the warden held fir the blade as he pulled it out Teleround, coughing and gasping