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it. The pink, yellow fluid began to pool around us. |
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Suddenly the dirge began anew. |
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The drum beat was incessant. |
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Bert and Angie both bowed their heads again and, like the eight sentinels at the base of the altar, began to chant. This time the beasts did not join in with their mournful wail. |
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A clear, pure voice raised above all the rest, and I looked up, stunned. Polly was gliding toward the sepulcher; in her robed lap was a sterling silver tray. It was only then that the final piece of the puzzle tumbled into place. Polly was the Emissary. |
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At the base of the altar, she rose up out of her wheelchair and walked up the steps with her offering, placing it carefully on the lid of the coffin. |
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As Jake would have said, it had to end somewhereand somewhere was here and now. |
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I boltednot straight, but a zigzag pattern. I hadn't come all this way only to be denied one brief glance at the Ancient of Ancients. If anybody was ever going to live to say they had actually witnessed the disciple of evil, I had the best shot at it. |
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With one of the containers still spewing its high octane contents, I raced up the steps of the sepulcher. When I saw the suddenly alert Bert Johnson raise his gun, I heaved the leaking container straight at him. It |
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