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A breeze fro at, no, positively roaring suggestions of salt, shellfish and sun-soaked tidelines A few rather puzzled seabirds wheeled over the necropolis, where the wind scurried a the fallen s, and the birds said ed to say

The wind had a cool, not unpleasant edge to it The people out repairing the dae to turn their faces towards it, as fish in a pond turn towards an influx of clear, fresh water

No-one worked in the necropolis Most of the pyra gently like recently-extinct volcanoes Here and there slabs of black marble littered the landscape One of them had nearly decapitated a fine statue of Hat, the Vulture-Headed God

The ancestors had vanished No-one was volunteering to go and look for them

Around midday a ship came up the Djel under full sail It was a deceptive ship It seemed tolike a fat and unprotected hippo, and it was only after watching it for so reress It dropped anchor outside the palace

After a while, it let down a dinghy

Teppic sat on the throne and watched the life of the kingdoether again and reflects the saht in new and unexpected ways

No-one was quite sure on what basis he was on the throne, but no-one else was at all keen on occupying it and it was a relief to hear instructions issued in a clear, confident voice It is a what people will obey, if a clear and confident voice is used, and the kingdom ell used to a clear, confident voice

Besides, giving orders stopped his Like, for exaone back to not existing again, which rass didn't see under his feet any ain, he thought But then what can I do with it? If only we could find Dios He always knehat to do, that was the uard pushed his way through theof priests and nobles

'Excuse me, your sire,' he said 'There's a ent'

'Not now, man There's representatives of the Tsortean and Ephebian arreat deal that's got to be done first I can't go around seeing any sales, anyway?'

'Carpets, your sire'

'Carpets?'

It was Chidder, grinning like half a watermelon, followed by several of the crew He walked up the hall staring around at the frescoes and hangings Because it was Chidder, he was probably costing the a double line under the total

'Nice place,' he said, wrapping up thousands of years of architectural accuuess what happened, we just happened to be sailing along the coast and suddenly there was this river One , I thought I bet old Teppic's up there somewhere'

'Where's Ptraci?'

'I knew you were coht you this carpet'

'I said, where's Ptraci?'

The crew s around the carpet and shake it out

It uncurled swiftly across the floor in a flurry of dust balls anduntil her head hit Teppic's boot

He helped her to her feet and tried to pick bits of fluff out of her hair as she swayed backwards and forwards She ignored him and turned to Chidder, red with breathlessness and fury

'I could have died in there!' she shouted 'Lots of other things have, by the smell! And the heat!'

'You said it worked for Queen wossname, Ram-Jam-Hurrah, or whoever,' said Chidder 'Don't bla'

'I bet she had a decent carpet,' snapped Ptraci 'Not so stuck in a bloody hold for six months'

'You're lucky we had one at all,' said Chidder mildly 'It was your idea'

'Huh,' said Ptraci She turned to Teppic 'Hallo,' she said 'This was inal surprise'

'It worked,' said Teppic fervently 'It really worked'

Chidder lay on a daybed on the palace's veranda, while three handrapes for hirinning amiably

On a blanket nearby Alfonz lay on his sto extremely aard The Mistress of the Women had found out that, in addition to the tattoos on his forearms, his back was a veritable illustrated history of exotic practices, and had brought the girls out to be educated He winced occasionally as her pointer stabbed at iteers firles

At the far end of the veranda, given privacy by unspoken agree well

'Everything changed,' he said 'I',' she said 'You can't change things'

'I can I can abdicate It's very sio whenever I please If I a's word is final and I can abdicate If we can change sex by decree, we can certainly change station They can find a relative to do the job I must have dozens'

'The job? Anyway, you said there was only your auntie'

Teppic frowned Aunt Cleph-ptah-re was not, on reflection, the kind ofto make a fresh start She had a number of stoutly-held views on a variety of subjects, butalive of people she disapproved of This e of thirty-five, to start with

'Well, someone else, then,' he said 'It shouldn't be difficult, we've always seemed to have more nobles than really necessary We'll just have to find one who has the dream about the cows'

'Oh, the one where there's fat cows and thin cows?' said Ptraci

'Yes It's sort of ancestral'

'It's a nuisance, I know thata wimblehorn'

'It looks like a trombone to me,' said Teppic

'It's a ceremonial wimblehorn, if you look closely,' she said