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come on in or run back down?
 It s okay, there s nobody here now. Come on in.
The otters and Cautious were fascinated by the plethora of unfamiliar objects
that filled the old house. The kitchen in particular was a treasure house of
alien delights, not the least of which took the form of half a dozen cans of
Chicken of the Sea tuna. After Jon-Tom instructed him in the use of a can
opener Mudge went a little berserk.
An hour later he was patting his bulging belly.  One thing about your world,
mate:  tis fillin . He held up a small oblong can. Wot s in  ere?
Jon-Tom had the lights on in the kitchen. It was getting pitch dark outside.
 Sardines. Slow down. We don t want to eat everything at once and I don t know
how I m going to pay the owner for what we ve eaten.
 We ll leave  im an IOU.
 You leave an IOU? That d be a first. He sipped slowly from a cold bottle of
RC. Pure luxury sloshed down his throat.  It s funny. All the spells
Clothahump and I have tried over the past year, all the arcane tomes we ve
consulted, and here we stumble across a permanent link between our worlds
because we re running for our lives from a bunch of two-bit pirates.
 If it is permanent and doesn t close down on us while we re sitting here
stuffing our faces, Weegee said darkly.
Jon-Tom lowered the bottle from his lips.  I think that gate s been there as
long as the cave itself. The terminated cable running through the passage
shows that it s been open between worlds for a number of years, anyway. Think
of it! We can travel back and forth between my world and yours at will.
Columbus was a piker compared to us. He chuckled at the thought.  I can t
wait to see the reaction when you and Mudge and Cautious appear on the
Six O Clock News.
 Now wot might that be?
Jon-Tom dropped the skillet. Sizzling bacon and runny eggs splashed over his
boots.
Kamaulk stood framed in the lower half of the doorway, holding a small
crossbow in his wings. Behind him Sasheem held a throwing knife in each paw.
 Crap! Mudge glanced at his friend.  Guess you re right, mate. I expect the
passage between our worlds is permanent enough. Would  ave to be. Proof of it
is that sewage flows both ways.
Kamaulk hopped into the kitchen, his eyes flicking over the strange sights and
familiar former acquaintances with equal alacrity.  Demonic contrivances.
There s money in demonic contrivances. There s much here that can be turned to
profit.
Jon-Tom forbore from pointing out that the household goods the parrot was
eyeing enviously didn t belong to him. Somehow he didn t think appealing to
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the pirate s sense of fair play would garner them much credit. Mudge was
trying to sneak his paw down to the longbow lying near his feet when a
stiletto slammed into the table two inches from his belly.
 Don t try that again. Sasheem stepped into the room.  I ve no patience left
where any of you are concerned. Try me one more time and no matter what the
captain says I ll put the next one between your eyes. Or hers. He favored
Weegee with a cursory nod.
 Nice to see you again, lass. The voice was colder than the ice cubes in the
refrigerator s freezer compartment. It came from the beaver who slipped into
the room beneath
Sasheem s arm. A thick bandage was wrapped around his head. It was the guard
who d been assigned to watch them last night. His expression was not pleasant.
 I ve pleaded with the Cap n to let me take charge of you special. I ve a few
kicks you lent me I d like to
explain this world to me. We will take the others back with us as hostage to
your good intentions. We marked the path with care. Tracking you through that
cave was not easy.
 How did you track us?
Mudge snorted.  Ain t you lived long enough in our world to figure that by
now, mate?
He tapped his glistening black nose.
Jon-Tom had forgotten. In the pristine atmosphere of the cave their scents
must have lingered in the air like road markers. Even so it had taken guts for
Kamaulk and his crew to follow them through that black underworld, up the
obviously alien concrete stairway. How many of them had that kind of courage?
He tried to see past Sasheem into the den. How badly were they outnumbered?
Surely the whole crew hadn t agreed to follow their captain into darkness.
Of one thing he was certain: If Kamaulk was able to march Mudge, Weegee and
Cautious back to their world he d have a permanent hold on Jon-Tom. He d have
to do exactly as the pirate directed in order to keep his friends alive. [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]