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on a great raft.
Hunnar and the squires took the beds placed farthest from the firepit. Elfa
insisted on doing likewise, as did old Eer--Meesach. That was fine with Ethan.
He had no desire to play. the Stoic
Terran. A. place near the dying blaze was worth any moral oversight.
He drifted almost immediately into a deep, dreamless sleep.
It seemed minutes later when he awoke, but it wasn't. He sat up in near total
darkness to an uncomfortably familiar scream. The fire was gone, but there was
enough light from the star-filled windows and the failing coals to make out
shapes.
The room was filled with straggling, swearing, darting forms. The first scream
wasn't repeated, but there were plenty of yells and bellows of outrage. He
could recognize Hunnar's and September's among them.
The half of the room nearest the doorway was full of white-robed, bearded
silhouettes. A pair of muscular paws grabbed at him as he sat in the bed and
pulled him bodily out of it. He fought in the tight grasp and got to his
knees.
Leaning backward, he pulled hard. Iris proportionately greater body weight
obviously startled his attacker. The clutching paws went limp in surprise as
their owner was suddenly tugged off balance.
Something struck him on the right shoulder and he turned and swung blindly. He
felt a bearded face under his knuckles.
Still frantically trying to blink the sleep from his eyes, he was knocked
roughly sideways into a huge figure. He pulled at it.
"It's one, young feller-me-lad, it's me!" September pressed a still-warm log
into Ethan's hands and turned to swing at a dim shape.
They were shoved backwards by the sheer press of bodies pouring into the room.
The Brothers also
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to kill anyone. However, that did not necessarily hint of compassion to carne.
It did make things a bit snore difficult for them, since no such compunction
existed ors the part of those they were fighting. But the tightly-packed crowd
made it hard just to swing a club.
"This way!" came a cry frown the back of the room. Ethan whirled, spotted
Budjir leaning from the sill of one of the high east-side windows. He parried
another blow, swung down-ward and felt the wood meet bone with a satisfying
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crunch.
Then he turned and ran. Hunnar was there to give him a boost up. The powerful
arms of the big squire went under his. Another moment and he was through the
window, standing underneath the impartial stars on a chill, pebble-topped
roof.
Fortunately there was little wind. Dark, monolithic forms loomed to the west,
the spires and steeples of the highest monastery. Elfa and Suaxus were already
on the roof.
Another second arid he was helping Eer-Meesach through.
Ethan braced himself against the wall and the old wizard came up easily. His
breathing was ragged.
Aged eyes blinked in the darkness.
The sounds of fighting below seemed far away, surreal. Hunnar himself fairly
shot through the opening. September followed close behind. One of the Brothers
was wrapped around the big man's left leg. It took several kicks from its
poweful twin to dislodge the persistent scholar. Ethan was still in too much
of a daze to ask questions. He glanced around and saw that their company was
far from complete.
"Hey, where ... where are the others? Milliken and ... "'
"Our pacific hosts got 'em," September growled back. "I don't think for the
purposes of advancing the frontiers of beneficent research, either. They
nearly got us all. Would have, if Hunnar hadn't gotten up to put some new wood
on the damned fire. So he was awake when the first of them came sneaking in."
"I don't understand it," mused the knight, as stunned as Ethan. "There is no
reason for this. They seemed so really decent and-
"-schizoid," finished September. "We'll chat about their unfortunate
aberrations later." He knelt and stuck his head a little ways into the room.
"They've gone. I expect they'll be out on the rooftops after us in a minute.
Deity knows they're more familiar with them than us. Now, there's only one way
down from this rockpile. And while our knowledgeable friends don't appear to
be militarily inclined ... witness their performance in that room ... sooner
or later some bright boy among them's going tee realize that by blocking off
the stairway they'll have us trapped up here."
The next minutes were a slow-motion dream-scheme of running, hurtling
parapets, darting across rooftops, and drop-ping one level at a time. Hunnar
and September assumed'. the lead. They all had to mote fast and carefully. One
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