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Show obliquely without touching the door and Dr'Anya and Janni followed suit. They were in the atrium. Saints be blessed, thought Dr'Anya, that was easy indeed! But Nell held her arm out and stopped, and Janni and Dr'Anya looked around. In the BauerWorlde moonless night, the trees, flower beds, and benches were scarce discernible in the gloom. Facing them was the wall enclosing the roofed atrium, its wide gate opening into the slightly lighter rectangle of the tilting yard. The heavy gates were still fastened back, for they could see the checkered grillwork of the portcullis against the gray of the yard. Like the wall, it was very; very high. Through the closed portcullis, Dr'Anya could see an acorn-shaped shadow-was it the aircar? Then saw they clearly why Nell had been holding them back-two wights appeared in the tilting yard, walking through the lists in front of the stables. They were laughing softly together, and sounded like festival minstrels with their lightly tinkling bells. The three in the atrium could hear the faint plink, also, of a lute. Nell and her charges stood in. a little clump outside the double door until the two moved out of sight, then Nell glided down the center atrium walk to the portcullis and stopped in front of it, turning around expectantly to Janni and Dr'Anya behind her. Mother and daughter looked from Nell to the portcullis, bending their heads back to measure the distance all the way up to the top of it-at least seven meters above them. Then they looked back at Nell, ii ? ii Nell took Dr'Anya's right hand and laid it on one of the bars of the portcullis and made to help her up. 126 |