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clothes, she couldn't. A naked soldier of whatever race, particularly with a
ring in his nose, wouldn't be much of an improvement over now.
It had seemed so simple a few hours earlier. A lot had somehow seemed so
simple a few hours earlier.
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What around here could she become that would both allow her to escape this
place and also be of some use? She had to find it fast, if it was here at all.
The sun was setting, and the moon would surely follow. Not even a Sugasto
could change that.
Joe and Marge both knew they'd have to allow some time after moonrise for Mia
to make her escape, if, in fact, she had been successful.
Joe, once more a Kauri, waited with Marge for something, anything to appear.
"If she pulled it off, great," Joe said worriedly. "But, right now, I'd just
settle for her getting back here as anything." He went over and stared out the
window into the darkness.
Suddenly this huge face descended as if on a lift until it covered the entire
window. Leathery nostrils flared, and two mean black eyes peered out from a
skull that seemed made of molten rock.
Having no place to flee, Joe stepped back suddenly and did what he probably
would have done even as Joe. He screamed.
Marge, literally on the back wall of the room, got hold of herself and looked
at the monstrous face of the nazga.
"Hold it, Joe!'' she shouted. "That damned thing's got a tiny little ring
between the nostrils!"
CHAPTER 10
THE ROAD TO HYPBOREYA
When great quests slow and threaten to bore, something will always come along
to speed it up. This is not to guarantee a successful or even more rapid end,
but certainly a more interesting journey.
The Books of Rules, XV, 251(d)
THE EERILY LIT LANDSCAPE SPED BY BELOW WITH STEADY AND impressive speed and
power; huge, leathery wings beat in slow, steady rhythm like the drums of an
oarsman. On the back of the creature, two small reddish figures reclined
facing each other.
"Well, you've got to admit, there's plenty of room for our gear and us with no
weight problems," Joe noted. "It hardly feels as if we're even moving."
"I feel like I'm riding bottom-side up on the Titanic" Marge responded. "And I
hope that's the only analogy we have to that ship tonight."
"I'm just debating whether or not I even want to ask for the explanation of
this," Joe said, getting to his feet. He walked forward, then looked down in
front of the wing. "We're making incredible speed, though," he noted. "I
thought you said these suckers were slow."
"Oh, they do all right once they get up to speed, and they have enormous
endurance," Marge replied. "It's just that they take an hour to get up to
speed, and a fair amount of time to slow down, too, unless they hit something.
But we can outfly and outsprint them any day of the week."
Joe stared at the landscape. "I wonder where we are? It would be a real joke
if
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ods%204%20-%20Songs%20of%20the%20Dancing%20.txt we were headed south, wouldn't
it? Wind up in the morning down in the
City-States or over in the deserts of Leander?"
Marge looked around. "No, we've been making north northwest pretty steadily.
You can see the river down there still if you look closely, snaking through
the highlands and gorges. Figure we started about eight o'clock, giving us
eight or nine hours of darkness, then some margin to slow and land. Add an
hour to gain this altitude and get up to speed, a fair tail wind, and, I'd say
we'll make seven to eight hundred miles tonight. That's not bad."
"You were totally against this idea," he reminded her.
She shrugged. "Call it feminine pragmatism."
"How's that?"
"If it had gone wrong, I would have been morally right and would have been the
voice of reason over stupidity. Since it's worked, I'll take the eight hundred
miles.''
"If we've got slowing and landing times, we'd better keep a lookout for any
early signs of dawn," he said worriedly, ignoring the comment. "I'd hate
suddenly to become Joe, riding on Mia's back, at this altitude and with this
dead weight."
"Well, that's your worry, not mine," the Kauri reminded him.
"Thanks a lot," he said glumly. "See if you can find the map in my saddlebags
without having the rest of the stuff blown all over creation. It might be an
idea if we tried to figure out where we were before we had to land."
Marge fumbled with the straps as she struggled to get the map out without
freeing the whole mess. Finally she managed it, unfolded the thing, and they
tried using her figures and some landmarks to get their bearings. It wasn't as
easy as it seemed, and for several minutes they couldn't find anything that
matched, but, as Mia continued to fly pretty much up the river, had it been
straight, they were finally able to come up with some points they thought
might coincide.
"If that range over there is the Kossims," Joe said, pointing to a ragged line
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