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“Cute,” Dervish grunts, then sh I push past and he hurries afterout the cries of the olves and sheltering us frorin of relief, then hurry down the corridor to the safety of the second cellar

A old ring handle Dervish tugs it open and we slip through It’s dark inside

“Givethe door open for illumination “There are candles and I have htest room in the universe in a matter of—”

The door slams shut A olf howls Meera and I are knocked apart by so hard and hairy Dervish cries out in alar noises The olf’s teeth snap Meera is yelling Dervish’s na for the mace which she must have dropped ere knocked apart

I’ic Not exactly like it hen I first walked the Earth, but siers on , I draw in ht

A ball of bright flame bursts into life overhead The olf screeches and covers its face with a hairy ar in the dark But that strength is now its weakness

As Dervish huffs and puffs, trying to wriggle out from beneath the olf, I wave a contemptuous hand at the beast It flies cle

ar of him and crashes into the wall The hines and tries to rise I start to unleash a word of ned to rip it into a hundred pieces Then I recall what I learnt in the hall of portraits Instead of killing it, I send the beast to sleep, drawing the shades of slumber across its eyes as simply as I’d draw curtains across aAs it falls, I flick a wrist at it and the olf slides sideways and out through an open door, the one it h before we arrived

Dervish sits up and looks at the door “We have to shut it,” he groans, staggering to his feet “Block it off before…”

At a gesture from me, the door closes s it shut I do the sarunt “Balor hih those now”

Dervish and Meera gawp at me and I smile self-consciously “Well, I was a priestess”

Dervish starts to chuckle Meera giggles Within seconds we’re laughing like clowns I’ve seen this many ti or laughing hysterically

“I wish I could have seen you go to work on those olves,” Meera crows “We could hear it, but we couldn’t see”

“It’s just a pity you couldn’t do it sohs “Some of my finest bottles were stored back there”

“You can’t be serious!” Meera shouts