ALL ARE MORTAL. Greg Pius

once I agree with the gravedigger. Think mistress, your house is most certainly being watched by your uncle's spies. Already he would know that this slave girl has visited your house. If she tries to leave alone they will capture her then torture the truth out of her frail body. Mistress do not send her back. We must flee the city at once..Ouch. Stop doing that you daughter of hell."

      Yamin was kicking Azur in the shin. She tried to raise her knee too but he was too tall for her short legs. Struggling violently, she broke free then ran for the door but only made it straight into Lot's waiting arms. In a calming tone Lot said,

      "Wait my beautiful one, your mistress may have changed her mind. Rest here with me for just a few moments. We will hear and obey her will when she speaks."

      Wether, Yamin was assured of the need to wait on her mistress's final decision, or, she found Lot's arm an exciting place to wait was not clear from her body language. Only her hooded eyes seemed to suggest that it was the handsome stranger holding her tight that convinced Yamin to cease struggling. Then Sarai spoke to break the spell of horror all four of them had felt. She talked in an agitated but resigned tone,

      "You are right Azur. I almost got us all killed. Yamin I apologize to you for placing your life in such peril. Please wait with Lot whilst I go with my two other bodyguards. We must secure the other servants. I now only trust the people in this room. Come we will round the rest up, then lock them away in the slave section of my house. Lot, can you take Yamin to my food storage room. We will need food for five people for about four days."

      After they had corralled the other servants, the three of them sought to view the area around the house. It was Azur who detected the first spy. He whispered,

      "There the ugly one pretending to enjoy Karmac's wine. He must be a spy. We all know how bad that wine truly is and how watered down. No one could sit there smiling whilst drinking that swill."

      Abram also spotted another one. He whispered even softer,

      "The one trying to hold that camel over by the lamp stall. If he is really a camel rider I will eat my sandals. If he is not careful that camel will spit him in the eye before it tramples him. He must be a spy."

      Finally Sarai spotted two more. She said in a slightly louder voice,

      "If those two old hags over their are prostitutes as they are pretending to be then I do not know the men of this city. They are twice my age. So that's four spies we can see from this vantage point. You were right to warn me Azur. Lovely Yamin would not have got to the next street let alone the palace."

      Abram now concentrated on their most urgent problem. He asked,

      "Then how do we get out of here without suffering the same fate?"

      Azur now chipped in his thoughts.