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It tapped, vanished She scraear After breathing a s fire into the end of the rope, she followed it into the labyrinth

The creature moved at a brisk pace She often had to lope to keep up; there cah, but after they mounted the nearest set of stairs they soon looped into places she had no memory of, not that these corridors didn’t all look more or less alike No landmarks measured her journey Bewilder her back to the cavern at the Heart-of-the-World’s-Beginning, where she would becoain, Feather Cloak’s prisoner, a sacrifice for the Ashioi priests?

They will not touch round, untouched Probably she was the only huoing?" she asked it, but it did not answer

"What is your name?" she asked it, but it did not answer

Twice she tried to get its attention by rapping on the walls, but it did not answer

They cli, slow inclines that at intervals cut back upon theles or twisted in half circles, but by the aching in her legs she knew that they et its attention, to let it know she needed to rest, but it kept cli, but she dared not fall behind

They cae intersection, a narrow cleft It squeezed through, and she after it, careful of her pouched tunic and coiled rope They caed with spears of stone fallen froerous place, h with a tight s earth andthe debris or kicking it aside, and took the left turning where the narrow tunnel branched into two routes Away down the other branch, water dripped

The way grew steep She toiled Only iht like the kiss of gray Ahead lay daylight Between one of her breaths and the next, the creature turned right around, brushed past her, and trundled away into the depths, soon lost to sight although for

Soof those books, lost to her no had they captured aether in a form that could be contained in a pool? What manner of sorcery did they harness?

What did they know?

So much on and under and above Earth re lowered until she could no longer stand upright Crawling the last length, shethe dusty, slippery scree of rock that lined the tunnel’s floor

So , relieved, weary, and triurass and scra on a steep hillside The ledge was no wider than the length of her leg froer than the span of her arly bush shrouded half of it Grass hanging fro her eyes, and for a while had to cover her face with a hand as she adjusted to the strange, bright light She knehat it was; it sprawled over her, and she basked, leaning back with grass crackling as the sparse vegetation was crushed between her body and the rocky hillside Light Warmth Fire

Sun

After a bit she could see without her eyes tearing or black spots dancing in her vision Ai, Lady, that sun felt so good! She ed that it was late afternoon here, wherever she was The sun was setting over distant, pale hills North lay wasteland, cut off frolinted with chalk white Blinking, she stared

She knew this place

She braced herself on the ledge and twisted to look up the steep hillside--it was at its steepest here where the cave mouth opened--to see what lay above her

After all, this was not a place she knew A tower rose along the crest of the hill, neatly fitted, freshlyinto pine forest There was no telling how far such a wall extended, only that it seemed to mark the border of someone’s land

Yet the sense of dislocation lasted only a ainst a sharp rock Her left foot jarass tickled her nose, and she sneezed, and everything transformed

"Ai, Lady!" she said, and sat back on her heels, not knohether to laugh or cry