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Show Dr'Anya drew in her breath sharply. The knight and squire were both grinning widely at them, the knight displaying a missing eyetooth. "Now then, my ladies," rumbled the knight. "We go back down to Bod's Rift." "What! " cried Janni. "Sayest thou back down!" Yet another fourteen hours in the saddle? she thought wildly. Her buttocks cried out in protest. The girl whirled around and dashed back into the cave. The knight roared and plunged in after her; the squire grabbing for Dr'Anya. The woman was both taller and heavier than the boy but allowed her arms to be pinioned while she strained her ears for movement inside the cave. But after the initial noise of the scramble, there fell an absolute silence. Dr'Anya made a tentative stab toward Janni on the Other Level. To be sure, she thought, using the Skill now will be weakening to herself, untrained as she was and her Skill so unruly. A wight knows not what harm will transpire both to herself and to other folk, she thought. Then she was nearly staggered by the blast that came back to her from the child, and the young squire momentarily lost his grip on Dr'Anya's arms. Holding on the tighter, he looked at her warily, the whites of his eyes visible all the way around. Strangely enough, his lank blond hair was standing up on end all over his head. Dr'Anya looked at this phenomenon in astonishment. Marry, and that was an effect she hadn't seen before! Another blast from Janni assured Dr'Anya that the girl was in the same chamber in which they'd spent the night, and that she was armed with a rock sufficient to dent a red-plumed helmet straight through to the skull beneath it. After this second blast, the squire dropped Dr'Anya's arms and stared at her bug-eyed. His hair subsided, slowly. Dr'Anya reached out 183 |