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out.
Which meant hiding in the bathroom to change. She had already grown weary of
the fishbowl in which she had to live her life when in Oria.  Come on, Jake,
she said.  We have to brush teeth and get our clothes on, and then we ll go
get something to eat.
By the time the two of them emerged from the bathroom, someone had made the
bed, opened the door, and spread a small feast on the table in the outer room.
 Breakfast! Jake shouted, and grabbed her hand and started dragging her. Not
the most dignified way to enter a room in which a prince and a god waited, but
if you wanted dignity, she thought, avoiding motherhood would be an essential
first step.
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ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
 Good morning, she said to Seolar. She studied the stranger, who looked like
a veyâr at first glance, but was not.  I m Lauren, she said.  And you are& ?
 Impressed. I did not expect to get to meet you. He bowed.  My name is
Qawar. Seolar sat in the rocking chair. Qawar stood against one wall.
 You were right, Seolar said, skipping any sort of greeting.  We cannot give
up. So while you slept I talked with Qawar. He used his magic to divine what
happened to Molly. He determined that the rrôn who entered this place was
Baanraak 
 Molly mentioned him, Lauren said.
 He s wicked, Qawar told her.  The worst of the dark gods by far.
 Figures, Lauren muttered.
Seolar said,  Qawar believes he divined the direction that Baanraak took, as
well.
 I believe Baanraak dropped downworld, but farther than just one world. I can
find a magic trail well enough, but I cannot create the gates to follow it. I
do believe he still had the Vodi necklace in his possession when he left,
however.
Seolar said,  Tell her what you found.
 He went to great pains to hide whatever he took with him. I could only tell
that he had something he did not wish anyone else to know about or trace.
Qawar frowned, and finally took a seat on the couch.
Lauren sat opposite him and let Jake get himself a pastry. Everyone else got
something to eat, as well.
Qawar continued,  Baanraak had a contract with the Night Watch to kill Molly
and turn over the necklace, but he seems to have left without collecting his
money for the kill and the dark gods are unhappy because he did not present
them with the Vodi necklace so they could destroy it.
Lauren nodded, trying to put these pieces together. They didn t fit.  Why
would he take the necklace and go downworld with it? Is there something he
could do with it?
Qawar shrugged.  She will come back, he said after a moment. He took a bite
of the pastry and chewed it thoughtfully.  Perhaps her first death did not
satisfy him. Perhaps he wants to kill her a few more times before he finally
destroys her for good.
Lauren definitely did not like Qawar.
 But there s no reason why he couldn t have destroyed it here and made
the& Night Watch?& happy with him, if he had been so inclined?
 That seems the most reasonable course of action, Seolar said.
 If he s doing unreasonable things, she said,  that s not necessarily bad for
us. Anything that keeps him from destroying the necklace works in our favor.
If nothing else, it buys us time. She closed her eyes. She d been able to
feel Molly s presence when both of them were on the same planet. Even after
Molly s death and resurrection, Lauren still felt the connection. Lauren
wondered if she opened a series of gates downworld, one world at a time, would
she be able to feel Molly s presence on the correct world?
That seemed to her an option worth trying.
After at least a few bites of breakfast. She discovered that she was famished
and thirstier than she d ever been in her life, and she realized abruptly that
she hadn t eaten anything since she left for the afterlife.
 How long was I gone? she asked Seolar suddenly.
 Two full days.
That explained a lot.
CHAPTER 16
Through Niiadaa to Dalchi
BAANRAAK MADE a neat escape, managing to avoid any confrontation at all with
Rr garn or his cronies. He felt quite pleased with this achievement; the
pleasure he got from it, however, struck him as odd. Fherghass had burned
emotion out of Baanraak when he began training Baanraak to be his heir. At
least that had been the theory that repeated deaths and resurrections would [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]