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Show MidWinter Eve. A chair crashed and a string of Provincial curses bounced off the walls, for the assailant's arms had become entangled in the chair's net seat. Phrapp reached up behind him at random for some sort of weapon and came in contact with a fanfold of hardcopy- He flung it in front of him mightily and the room was filled with ribbons of white paper. The Provincial screamed in terror and went down clawing at the crackling stuff. Once more, Phrapp lunged for the door; slipped on a wad of hardcopy: and fell on top of the Provincial. The two of them rolled for several sweaty minutes, wrapping themselves more and more inextricably in yards and yards of paper. Then Phrapp hit his head on the stand holding the console and fell backwards. The Provincial, cursing in a blue heat, ripped himself free, crawled around the floor widly until he found his knife, and dragged the insensible Phrapp to the door. He put his head through the opening cautiously and peered down the hall. Then he reached back, hauled Phrapp onto his shoulder, closed the door behind him, and made his way to Chu's sanctum. He and Chu collided in the darkness of her vestibule, where she'd been waiting impatiently for him to return from his errand of sabotage. "What...?" she cried, staring goggle-eyed at his burden which was twice as large as he was. "Aye, and allow me to tell thee what!" he spat and dumped Phrapp down on the floor of her sanctum. The telling took about as long as it took for Phrapp to regain 166 |
