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Chapter Thirty-three

"Yes, of course," I said "And ould he be waiting for me?"

"Because you are very much a part of this, James"

"A part of what?"

Arthur looked up fro him full in the face "Why, the search for the Holy Grail, old boy, and the ushering in of the New Age of Enlightenment for all mankind"

"I need a drink," I said

Marion suddenly touched "

I looked out through the broken front entrance A steady strea our way I suddenly felt like Frankenstein&039;s monster

I wheeled around to Arthur "Can&039;t you stop them?"

"And how do you propose I stop them?" he asked, somewhat jovially, perhaps too jovially for my taste

"With one of yourThank God for kicking their asses"

"I can&039;t do that, Jaain Arthur unsheathed his sword By unsheathed, I lowed softly in his hands I could al

"And why not, dah the front entrance, I saw some of the men spread out, probably to surround the entire stone chapel and seal us in

Arthur said, "Sorowth to occur"

"And being attacked by a dozen or so armed crazies from Narnia is one of them?"

"Apparently so," said Arthur

"Youthat I was, in all probability, about to die

"Not necessarily," he said, and I looked over at hireen eyes: excitement I realized then that Arthur wanted this to happen That he was having fun Arthur continued, "It means, I don&039;t want to know just yet"

"I don&039;t understand," I said

"It&039;s called living, James You should try it some time"

I saw that all exits were now blocked, withoutside the open s

"But can&039;t you just turn us invisible or so?

"Perhaps, s s s, can follow Life must be lived Life must be experienced"

"Well, I don&039;t want to experience having a sword run through ut," I said

Outside, the ure to pass between theest you choose not to," said Arthur, his eyes fastened on theyou through this night, so that the three of us can journey on into the Underworld"

"Why the Underworld?"

"Because we h the Underworld, my friend, before we can continue on into the Land of Faery"

My head i I needed someone to slap me Hard "And what&039;s in the Land of Faery?" I asked

"The Holy Grail, of course"

"And why is it there?" I asked

"For safekeeping," said Arthur

"Yes, of course," I said "Why didn&039;t I think of that?"

"You did," said Arthur, winking "It was your idea a long tih the colu about his ankles One of his men held out a torch for hiers once, and a ball of yellow fire rose up fro his way as he approached

I choose to live, I hearddesperately I choose to make it out of this alive I choose to continue on to the Underworld, whatever the heck that is I choose to continue on to the Land of Faery, whatever the heck that is I choose not to be impaled by a sword, or smashed by a blunt object, or caused any sort of major bodily harm Okay, any sort offor toous -

Focus, Jah the night alive Thank you, God, for protecting us Thank you, God, for leading us to the Holy Grail and back ho Marion

The man in black stopped a few dozen feet away and pushed back his black hood, and I foundat the very man I had seen in my dreams, the man trapped inside the cave

Chapter Thirty-four