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‘I know’

‘I didn’t see it I should have seen it’

He shook his head ‘It is very stealthy, Kettle And fast All it needed was a le moment, no more In any case, I’veanyone’

‘Nothing’s working, Uncle Bugg I need the one below I need to get hi him, do you know?’

She shook her head, the ot swords now Uncle Brys brought them I pushed them into the barrow’

‘Brys Beddict? Lass, you are finding worthy allies Has the Ceda visited?’

‘I don’t know any Ceda’

‘I am surprised by that He should come soon, once he finds out about you’

‘Me?’

‘Well, more specifically, your heart’

She cocked her head ‘I hear thumps In my chest Is that ?’

‘Maybe eight a day Now Before,pain, lass?’

‘Not so ’s wrong withran a hand through his thinning hair He looked up, studied the night sky Cloud-covered, but the clouds were high, flat and un-wrinkled, a worn blanket through which stars could be seen here and there He sighed ‘All right, lass, shohere you buried the swords’

He followed her to a barrow closer to the tower

‘He’s in this one’

But the aze was drawn to an identical barrow beside the one she indicated ‘Noho does that one belong to, I wonder’

‘She’s always pro all the others won’t go near her Sory, but not at me, she says Those bitches , she says, and that tells , because she only says that when she’s sleeping When she’s awake, she whispers nice things to‘It sounds absurd,’ he said, mostly to himself ‘Absurd and mundane’

‘What does, Uncle?’