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Lazlo’s right eye twitched, and he brushed droplets from his broith the back of his arm “Good catch, old chap I didn’t see it”

“Maybe I should take point froested Nobody objected, so hedirectly in front of theht all around the rock edge, checking for more traps, and then turned to his companions “There are a bunch of crates in there covered with dust and rot We need to be careful, though, because any of the crates ,” he warned “And watch the floor There ht be more trip wires”

“Brilliant,” Lazlo murmured

“Let me do a quick recon while you stay out here,” Sa, took several steps into the cave toward the crates, his flashlight bea over every inch of floor

When he’d satisfied hiap and so see what all the fuss is about”

Remi nodded and joined him, trailed by Lazlo and Leonid

A pile of at least fifty wooden crates, three feet by two feet by tere piled in the center of the srotto Lazlo kneeled in front of the nearest and brushed away a layer of mold, then turned to Sam and Remi “It’s kanji Identifies the crates as property of the emperor Bit cheeky, that”

“How can we open some of these safely?” Leonid asked

“Good question,” Sam said “If we’re careful and on the lookout for pressure plates, spring-loads, and the like, we should be okay We can work on a couple of thehts in here, as well as soood news is, I can’t think of many booby traps that would still be operational years after the fact But still, don’t touch anything, just in case they used a contact poison on the surfaces or the contents Anything’s possible—I just don’t know enough about as in use during the war to be certain”

Ree of the pile “Let’s try this one”

Sa the crate, he handed Re and set it on the ground next to his machete

“How are you going to do this??

? Remi asked

“I’ I core a hole in the top rather than try to pry the lid off Prying would be the obvious way of opening it, so that’s the way I’ll avoid”

He went to ith thethe harder inner area until there was a fist-sized hole in the top of the crate He sat back, put the ht back frolance, and then he leaned over the hole and bleood dust and chips Reh the opening