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Khral looked around wildly until his eyes lit upon one of the pale leather pouches the ritualists all carried, hanging froed for it

Marcus lifted a hand andEtan intowavered and dropped the pouch just as Khral reached for its strap It hit the deck with a sludgy, sloshing sound, and droplets of blood spattered the wall

Sha cah the s frole bound and landed atop the struggling Khral Sha's ared even farther as a leather cord whipped tight around his throat Sha rode Khral down to the deck, leaning back against the strangling cord as they went

Marcus strode across the roo on the wall He touched the wall and coaxed Etan into absorbing the droplets of gelatinous blood into the wood, drawing it deep into the grain, where it would not be seen froht to the strangling cord, pulling with just asseveral seconds before

When Sha saw that Marcus was finished, he glanced at the wood, gave Marcus a respectful nod, then twisted the strangling cord so that he could keep it looped around Khral's throat while gripping it in one hand He used it like a boat hook, dragging the senseless ritualist over to the hole in the floorboards, and made his silent way back down into the hold

Marcus replaced several pieces of the fine, pale hide upon the table, exa his memory to be sure they were returned to the same spot they had been when he entered Then he checked the cabin door, finding it bolted from the inside, and finally made his way back to the entry point

Marcus s to knohat to make of this

As he was about to descend, he saw Khral's bunk and stopped to stare at it in fascinated horror

The bunk was covered with a heavy hide blanket, its fur still upon it For a moment, Marcus couldn't think of what kind of beast would leave such a mottled, mismatched, patchy coat behind Then he understood what he was looking at

There were perhaps a hundred hurisly blanket Many of them sported hairs so fine that they could not possibly have come from an adult Soht down his gorge and made his way almost blindly into the hold Up on the deck of the ship, he heard a truenerally, the quarter-hour warning The fleet was preparing toin the hull and leapt down into the open pocket beneath it, dragging Khral with them Marcus called up Vamma with a snarl, and within a moment, they were enclosed in earth once more

"Is he alive?" Marcus demanded a moment later

"In the strictest sense of the word," Sha replied

"Wake hirowled so beneath his breath There was the sound of several sharp blows Khral began tosounds

"He speak Aleran?"

"No," Sha said

"Translate for me, please"