'There's plenty of other stuff to take!' she said.

'No, too heavy. But he must have put his real jewels somewhere. The next room!'

But there were no other rooms.

'Don't you believe it,' Smhee said. He tore down the tapestries and began tapping on the walls, which were of a dense-grained purplish wood erected over the stone. Presently, he said, 'Ah!' and he moved his hands swiftly over the area. 'Here's a hole in the wood just big enough to admit my little finger. I put my finger in thus, and I pull thus, and thus...!'

A section of the wood swung out. Masha got a burning lamp and thrust it into the room beyond. The light fell on ten open chests and twenty open coffers. Jewels sparkled.

They entered.

'Take two handsful,' Smhee said. 'That's all. We aren't out of here yet.'

Masha untied the little bag attached to her belt, hesitated, then scooped out enough to fill the bag. It almost tore her heart apart to leave the rest, but she knew that Smhee's advice was wisdom. Perhaps, some day, she could come back for more. No. That would be stupid. She had farmore than enough.

On the way out, Smhee stopped. He opened the mage's robe and revealed a smooth shaven chest on which was tattooed a representation of a fearful six-armed four legged being with a glaring long-tusked face. He cut around this and peeled the skin off and put it rolled and folded into a small jar of ointment. Replacing the jar in his bag, he rose, saying, 'The goddess knows that I would not lie about his death. But this will be the proof if any is demanded.'

'Maybe we should look for the mage's secret exit,' she said. 'That way, we won't run into the Raggah.'

'No. At any moment someone may see that the guard is missing. Besides, the mage will have put traps in his escape route, and we might not elude those.'

They made their way back to the corridor of the lift shaft without being observed. But two men stood in front of the entrance to the lift. They were talking excitedly and looking down the shaft. Then one ran down the corridor, away from the corner behind which the two intruders watched.

'Going to get help before they venture down to find out why the two feeders haven't come back,' Smhee muttered.

The man who'd stayed was looking down the shaft. Masha and Smhee took him from behind, one cutting the throat, the other stabbing him in the back. They let themselves down on the ropes and then cut them before going down through the open trap door. But as they left the cage, a spear shot through the trap door and thudded point-first into the floor. Men shouted above.

'They'll bring ropes and come down on those,' Smhee said. 'And they'll send others outside to catch us when we come out of the pool. Run, but remember the traps'.'

And the spiders, she thought. And the crabs. I hope the bears are dead. They were. The spiders, all real now that the mage was dead, were alive. These were driven back by the torches the two had paused to light, and they got to the skin-boat. They pushed this out and began paddling with desperation. The craft went through the first arch and then through the second. To their right now were some ledges on which were masses of pale-white things with stalked eyes and clacking pincers. The crabs. The two directed their boat away from these, but the writhing masses suddenly became individual figures leaping outwards and splashing into the dark water. Very quickly, the ledges were bare. There was no sign of the monsters, but the two knew that these were swimming towards them.

They paddled even faster, though it had not seemed possible until then. And then the prow of the boat bumped into the wall. 'Swim for it!' Smhee bellowed, his voice rebounding from the far walls and high ceilings of the cave.

Masha feared entering the water; she expected to be seized by those huge claws. But she went over, the boat tipping, and dived.

Something did touch her leg as she went under the stone down-cropping. Then her head was above the surface of the pool and Smhee's was beside her.

They scrambled out onto the hard stone. Behind them came the clacking, but none of the crabs tried to leave the pool.

The sky was black; thunder bellowed in the north; lightning traced white veins. A wind blew, chilling them in their wet clothes.

They ran towards the dugout but not in a straight line since they had to avoid the bushes with the poisonous thorns. Before they reached it, rain fell. They dragged the craft into the river and got aboard. Above them lightning cracked across the sky. Another bolt struck shortly thereafter, revealing two bears and a number of men behind them.

'They can't catch us now!' Smhee yelled. 'But they'll be going back to put their horses on rafts. They'll go all the way into Sanctuary itself to get us!'

Save your breath, Masha thought. I know all that.

The wind-struck river was rough now, but they got through the waves to the opposite shore. They climbed panting up the ridge and found their horses, whinnying from fear of the lightning. When they got to the bottom of the ridge, they sped away, their passage fitfully lit by the dreadful whiteness that seemed to smash all around them. They kept their horses at a gallop for a mile, then eased them up.

'There's no way they can catch us!' Smhee shouted through the thunder. 'We've got too much of a head-start!'

Dawn came. The rain stopped. The clouds cleared away; the hot winter sun of the desert rose. They stopped at the hut where they had slept, and the horses rested, and they ate bread and cheese.

'Three more hours will bring us within sight of Sanctuary,' the fat man said. 'We'll get your family aboard the Sailfish, and the Raggah can search for us in vain.'

He paused, then said, 'What do you intend to do about Eevroen?'

'Nothing,' she said. 'If he gets in my way I'll brain him again.'

He laughed so much he choked on his bread. When he'd cleared his throat, he said, 'You are some woman! Brave as the goddess makes them! And supple in mind, too! If I were not vowed to chastity, I would woo you! I may be forty-five and fat, but...'

He stopped to stare down at his hand. His face froze into an expression of horror.

Masha became equally paralysed.

A small purple spider was on Smhee's hand.

'Move slowly,' he said softly through rigid lips. 'I dare not move. Slap it when you've got your hand within a few inches of it.'

She got up and took a step towards him. Where had the creature come from? There were no webs in the hut. Had it come from outside and crawled upon him?

She took another step, leaned over, and brought her hand slowly down at an angle towards the thing. Its eyes were black and motionless, seemingly unaware of her presence.

Maybe it's not poisonous, she thought.

Suddenly, Smhee screamed, and he crushed the spider with his other hand. He leaped up then, brushing off the tiny body.

'It bit me! It bit me!'

The dark swelling had started.

'It's not one of the mage's creatures,' she said. 'Its venom may not be deadly.'

'It's the mage's,' he said. His face was white under the heavy pigment.

'It must have crawled into my bag. It couldn't have done it when we were on the way to the mage's rooms. It must have got in when I opened the bag to skin off the tattoo.'

He howled. 'The mage has got his revenge!'

'You don't know that,' she said, but she was certain that it was as Smhee had said. She removed her small belt-bag and carefully poured out the jewels. But that was all it contained.

'It's beginning to hurt,' Smhee said. 'I can make it back to the city. Benna did, and he was bitten many times. But I know these spiders. I will die as surely as he did, though I will take longer.