* * * * *
Down the stone steps to the entrance. Stella's quick breathing in
the hot darkness, the rhythmic clink of the bosses on Marah's kilt.
Campbell saw the eyes of the Callistan harper, glowing red and angry.
He realized he was sweating. He had forgotten his burns.
Stella opened the heavy steel-sheathed door. Quietly, slowly. The
Baraki whispered, "Put me down."
Marah set him gently on the stone floor. He folded in upon himself,
tentacles around white, rubbery flesh. His single eye burned with a
cold phosphorescence.