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She hurried along the palace corridors, weaving a the shadows Fortunately all was still very quiet She halted when she neared Lorine’s door and hid behind a coluuards She s the door to prevent her escape, not her re-entry

As she stood there in indecision, she sensed another walking down the corridor To her surprise, it was the forbidding red-aruard of Amberhill’s who had struck her so hard the previous day In her grayed vision, the red of his armor looked like dried blood She licked her lips and remained as still as possible

He stopped He caan held her breath He did notas it settled around hih Hiss-sigh Even the two guards at the door watched him apprehensively

What had Dr Silk called this man? The Eternal Guardian? Did that et a sense of anything about thehis face Was he even a man? What else could he be? A mechanical?

His head slowly rotated in her direction, then stopped short of looking straight at her He reh Hiss-sigh

With a suddenness that alan felt as if released from a spell, and took another deep breath, then watched with surprise as he halted in front of the guards, who looked ready to melt into their boots If the Eternal Guardian spoke, she could not hear hiuards replied, "Yes, sir," in unison To her happy disbelief, they followed the Eternal Guardian and left the door unguarded

Karigan did not pause to analyze her good fortune She was not going to ask questions Instead, she hurried across the corridor and, ensuring no one was around to observe her, she opened the door and entered Once on the other side, she leaned her back against the door and released the fading

Lorine had left a single lalow If there atchers, she hoped they had not observed her co If so, she was sure to find out about it She made her way to the sofa and lay down It was not the most co before she slept

• • •

"What is she doing here?"

The child’s voice blared at Karigan like a truroaned Hadn’t she just closed her eyes? She covered her face with her hands, sotten s, there was surprising silence froh bleary eyes, she saw Arhys pointing at the manacles

"Arhys," Lorine said sharply "Corave"

Arhys looked more curious than petulant, and when she turned to obey Lorine, she asked, "But why is she here?"