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"Where’s Sorrel?" asked Firedrake, looking around for her

"In bed," replied Guinevere "Full of breakfast and snoring"

"You astonish rinned "And what has our friend the rat to report?"

"Not a sign of Nettlebrand," replied Ben, looking at the ht

"Well, that’s a relief" Barnabas Greenbloohter "Don’t you think so, Guinevere?"

Guinevere frowned "I don’t know"

"Oh, cohter and Ben by their aron rider can see about solving the puzzle the djinn gave hies I wonder what sort of creature will appear when Ben breaks that stone?"

40 Work for Gravelbeard

But Lola Graytail rong Nettlebrand was lurking on the bed of the river Indus, sunk deep in the s fell on the water The river ran so deep there that not the faintest reflection of Nettlebrand’s golden scales could reach the surface He lay waiting patiently for his armor-cleaner to return

Before Nettlebrand had dived deep into the river, Gravelbeard had jurass And when, after a long day and half a night, Firedrake ca out of the mountains to land behind the white walls of the h fields and past huts, until at last he reached the mountain with the monastery on its slope

Then Gravelbeard clih, but Gravelbeard was a old The solid rock of the ers as if it had been waiting for him, and him alone, all this time It told him tales of vast caverns with coluold ore, and caves where strange creatures lived Gravelbeard chuckled with delight as he scaled the rocky slope He could have climbed forever, but by the ti hi the monastery Cautiously he peered down into the courtyard

Gravelbeard had arrived just in time to see Firedrake and his friends disappear into the Dhu-Khang The dwarf even followed them up the steps, but the heavy door of the hall was already closed before he reached the top, and hard as he tried to open it just a crack with his short, strong fingers, it wouldn’t budge

"Too bad,"around, "but they’ll have to coain so place where he could keep watch on the steps and the courtyard unobserved It wasn’t difficult to find a suitable gap in the old walls

"Just the place," whispered Gravelbeard as he pushed in a the stones "Could have beenplace well Admittedly, when Firedrake and the others caain, Gravelbeard couldn’t see much apart from the feet of countless monks in their orn sandals But when all the , Ben and Guinevere came and sat down on the wall only a stone’s throay fro rat had been out looking for his master but had failed to find him; and he discovered that the boy really did believe Nettlebrand had been buried in the desert sand The dwarf saw the stone in the lama’s hand and heard about the djinn’s riddle He saw Ben take the stone, and when Firedrake and his dragon riders ith thethe riddle, Gravelbeard stole after theuests to the other side of theand the Lha-Khang stood, one the Tery Gods and the other the Te from wall to wall Gravelbeard, Nettlebrand’s spy, ca the red temple, the lama stopped Vita Greenbloo what the lary Gods, who are said to keep all evil froe"

"What sort of evil?" asked Sorrel, looking around uneasily

"Evil spirits," replied the lama, "and snowstorms, avalanches, rockfalls, disease --"