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Aaroen pointed a finger of scorn

'Trial by Stones,' he hurled out the challenge

'Trial by Stones,' the priests echoed

They dashed around and cleared a space within the circle of standing stones Tom watched as the two round and wooden boards were placed on their chests He had a strong sense of déjà vu It was the trial he had experienced in his dream, back in his former realm, before he and Alison made their fateful journey

The contestants were told the rules Each was to ask the other a riddle A wrong ansould result in a stone being placed on their board A correct ansould cause a stone to be removed

The trial started with a riddle froan to trickle from a hole in its lid The riddle was about rabbits and hares It didn't make sense to Tom and Aaroen seemed equally baffled

The sand ran out Grimwald supplied an answer and a stone was placed on Aaroen's chest The answerto wonder if Aaroen had fallen into a trap when the man's deep voice boomed out a question of his own

This was about ducks and drakes Grimwald failed to answer and a stone was added to his chest The little man squirmed uncomfortably and asked his next question, which was about a mouse

Aaroen failed to answer the mouse riddle and another stone was added to his pile He countered with one about a hedgehog and a donkey Grimwald didn't reply and received another stone

To a correct answer The piles of stones seerow until one of them was crushed to death Then he realised that bothnonsense riddles with nonsense answers

It wasn't a trial of intellect; it was a trial of strengthso as a frail oldpart in such an unequal contest?

Two her It was incredible that flesh and blood could stand such a crushing weight

Why hadn't Griical reason why such a frail fra heap of rocks Aaroen was close to collapse The Grand Master either had supernatural powers or so on Tom bent down and squinted beneath his board

'Hey Take a look at that'

He grabbed one of the tribes out from the base of the board that covered Grimwald's chest