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‘It’s a bit makeshift but it’s the best we’ve got.’
It was quarter to eleven. The traditional time that the changing of the guard began. It’d be eleven-thirty by the time it was over, and half the day would be gone. I felt as if an egg-timer was in front of me, my friends would be killed when the sand was all in the bottom chamber. Most of it was there already. Just a tiny residue was still in the top chamber.
Forcing the image out of my head, I said, ‘We just have to be patient.’
‘But it doesn’t feel right. It feels like we ought to be doing something.’
‘Nothing we can do until they’ve changed the guard, except get ourselves killed by going off too soon. So just relax and enjoy it.’
‘As if.’
The guards went through their elaborate rituals. Kabir couldn’t help but watch for a whi
