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Anna darted away, using her elbows to h the crohich was by now in a furious state of excite at once The prince ducked under the doorway that led down to the crypt, and the folk following in his wake hesitated The crypt below Gent had beco the Eika occupation, and few dared walk there

But Anna had to find him, to see if it were truly the sa as a , cast out of a mold different than that from which most folk were formed

She hurried down the steep curve of the steps, re the way the darkness hit abruptly The noise of the congregation washed aith unexpected-suddenness, and she barely recalled the jarring end to the steps as she stumbled down the last one

She was blind

He said, out of the darkness, "Liath?" The voice drifted to her, scarcely more than a whisper, but memory flooded back as she swayed,of her heart She would never forget that voice, the hoarse scrape to it, as though it hadn’t forht

Of course, she did not reply

His boots scuffed the floor An unvoiced curse came off his lips in a hiss A hand brushed her shoulder Then he grabbed her arm "Who are you?"

She could not answer

He touched her face, exploring it with his free hand, grunted, gave up in disgust, and released her

A soft glow penetrated the glooht made her blink The slender cleric who had stood beside the prince at the altar moved hesitantly off the last step and ventured into the vaults

"Sanglant?" He extended the torch first this way and then that, pausing in surprise when he caught Anna in its sht Beyond, the prince stoodfixedly into the depths of the crypt, an iloom beyond the torch’s sirl?" demanded the prince "She seems familiar to me, but I can’t recall her"

She wanted to tell hiirl?" asked the cleric in a kind voice, exa her She could only shake her head, and abruptly hethe prince on into the vault, past the gravestones of the holy dead, those ere once biscops and deacons Anna trailed after the Anyway, she didn’t want to be left alone in the dark