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is I went looking for him less than an hour ago and he was nowhere to be
found."
The Prince understood important news when he heard it because he wasn't the
greatest hunter in the world for nothing and, even more, because if there was
one thing you could say about the albino it was that he was always to be
found. "My God, you don't suppose there a plot, do you? It's a perfect time;
the country celebrates; if Guilder were is about to be five hundred years old,
I know I'd attack them."
"I will rush to the gate and fight, to the death if necessary," Yellin said.
"Good man," the Prince called after him. If there was an attack, it would come
at the busiest time, during the wedding, so he would have to move that up.
State affairs went slowly, but, still, he had authority. Six o'clock was out.
He would be married no later than half past five or know the reason why.
At five o'clock, Max and Valerie were in the basement sipping coffee. "You
better get right to bed," Valerie said; "you look all troubled. You can't stay
up all night as if you were a pup."
"I'm not tired," Max said. "But you're right about the other."
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"Tell Mama." Valerie crossed to him, stroked where his hair had been.
"It's just I been remembering, about the pill."
"It was a beautiful pill, honey. Feel proud."
"I think I messed up the amounts, though. Didn't they want an hour? When I
doubled the recipe, I didn't do enough. I don't think it'll work over forty
minutes."
Valerie moved into his lap. "Let's be honest with each other; sure, you're a
genius, but even a genius gets rusty. You were three years out of practice.
Forty minutes'll be plenty."
"I suppose you're right. Anyway, what can we do about it? Down is down."
"The pressures you been under, if it works at all, it'll be a miracle."
Max had to agree with her. "A fantasmagoria." He nodded.
The man in black was nearly stiff when Fezzik reached the wall. It was almost
five o'clock and Fezzik had been carrying the corpse the whole way from
Miracle Max's, back street to back street, alleyway to alleyway, and it was
one of the hardest things he had ever done. Not taxing. He wasn't even winded.
But if the pill was just what it looked like, a chocolate lump, then he,
Fezzik, was going to have a lifetime of bad dreams of bodies growing stiff
between his fingers.
When he at last was in the wall shadow, he said to Inigo, "What now?"
"We've got to see if it's still safe. There might be a trap waiting." It was
the same part of the wall that led, shortly, to the Zoo, in the farthest
corner of the castle grounds. But if the albino's body had been discovered,
then who knew what was waiting for them?
"Should I go up then?" Fezzik asked.
"We'll both do it," Inigo replied. "Lean him against the wall and help me."
Fezzik tilted the man in black so he was in no danger of falling and waited
while Inigo jumped onto his shoulders. Then Fezzik did the climbing. Any crack
in the wall was enough for his fingers; the least imperfection was all he
needed. He climbed quickly, familiar with it now, and after a moment, Inigo
was able to grab hold of the top and say, "All right; go on back down," so
Fezzik returned to the man in black and waited.
Inigo crept along the wall top in dead silence. Far across he could see the
castle entrance and the armed soldiers flanking it. And closer at hand was the
Zoo. And off in the deepest brush in the farthest corner of the wall, he could
make out the still body of the albino.
Nothing had changed at all. They were, at least so far, safe. He gestured down
to Fezzik, who scissored the man in black between his legs, began the arm
climb noiselessly.
When they were all together on the wall top, Inigo stretched out the dead man
and then hurried along until he could get a better view of the main gate. The
walk from the outer wall to the main castle gate was slanted slightly down,
not much of an incline, but a steady one.
There must be Inigo did a quick count at least a hundred men standing at the
ready. And the time must be he estimated closely five after five now, perhaps
close to ten. Fifty minutes till the wedding. Inigo turned then and hurried
back to Fezzik. "I think we should give him the pill," he said. "It must be
around forty-five minutes till the ceremony."
"That means he's only got fifteen minutes to escape with," Fezzik said. "I
think we should wait until at least five-thirty. Half before, half after."
"No," Inigo said. "We're going to stop the wedding before it happens that's
the best way, at least to my mind. Before they're all set. In the hustle and
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