Page 37 (1/2)

In population terdo to do on Saturday nights

Until now

Now it thronged:

Teppic watched frorey and brown, and here and there soreenish, ars had been des of them had turned their attention to the lesser tombs, and now the necropolis really did have its tradesmen, its nobles and even its artisans Not that there was, by and large, any way of telling the difference

They were, to a corpse, heading for the Great Pyramid It loos And they all seehtly on to the wide flat roof of a ap on to an ornamental sphinx - not without a h - and frorapnel to one of the lower storeys of a step pyraht of the contentious sun lanced across the spent landscape as he leapt fro army

Behind hi it a little, and then withered and died

This, said his blood as it tingled around his body, is what you trained for Even Mericet couldn'tin the shadows above a silent city, running like a cat, finding handholds that would have perplexed a gecko - and, at the destination, a victim

True, it was a billion tons of pyraest client of an inhumation had been Patricio, the 23-stone Despot of Quir in bas-relief the achieveo, and which would have been o eroded his name, provided a handy ladder which needed only an expertly thrown grapnel frootten entle arc on to the roof of a to, hastily ha crampons in the memorials of the dead, Teppic went forth

Pinpoints of firelight a arh the enmity was between the two empires, they both abided by the ancient tradition that warfare wasn't undertaken at night, during harvest or et It was i at it ha to a farce

In the twilight on both sides of the line caress

It's said that generals are always ready to fight the last War over again It had been thousands of years since the last war between Tsort and Ephebe, but generals have long memories and this time they were ready for it

On both sides of the line, wooden horses were taking shape

'It's gone,' said Ptaclusp IIb, slithering back down the pile of rubble

'About time, too,' said his father 'Help me fold up your brother You're sure it won't hurt him?'

'Well, if we do it carefully he can't move in Time, that is, width to us So if no ti can hurt hiht of the old days, when pyra one block on another and all you needed to remember was that you put less on top as you went up And now itto put a crease in one of your sons

'Right,' he said doubtfully 'Let's be off, then' He inched his way up the debris and poked his head over the top just as the vanguard of the dead came round the corner of the nearest ht was: this is it, they're co to complain He'd done his best It wasn't always easy to build to a budget Maybe not every lintel was exactly as per drawings, perhaps the quality of the internal plasterasn't always up to snuff, but

They can't all be co Not this side him Hisfrom?' he said

'You're the expert You tell me

'Are they dead?'

Ptaclusp scrutinised so marchers

'If they're not, some of them are awfully ill,' he said

'Let's make a run for it!'

'Where to? Up the pyramid?'

The Great Pyra the air Ptaclusp stared at it

'What's going to happen tonight?' he said

'What?'

'Well, is it going to - do whatever it did - again?'

IIb stared at him 'Dunno'

'Can you find out?'

'Only by waiting I' to like it?'

'I shouldn't think so, dad Oh, dear'

'What's up now?'

'Look over there'

Heading towards thebehind Koomi like a tail behind a comet, were the priests

It was hot and dark inside the horse It was also very crowded

They waited, sweating

Young Autocue stuttered: 'What'll happen now, sergeant?'

The sergeant moved a foot tentatively The atmosphere would have induced claustrophobia in a sardine

'Well, lad They'll find us, see, and be so i us all the way back to their city, and then when it's dark we'll leap out and put them to the sword Or put the sword to them One or the other And then we'll sack the city, buround with salt You remember, lad, I showed you on Friday'

'Oh'

Moisture dripped fro to co styli across wax that was close to eant?'

'Why, lad, then we'll go home heroes'

'Oh'

The older soldiers sat stolidly looking at the wooden walls Autocue shifted uneasily, still worried about so

'My eant,' he said

'Jolly good, lad That's the spirit'

'We will be all right, though Won't we, sergeant?'