An idea occurred to him-- if he could raise her, slightly, the rest of him would probably slide by. It was a dreadful impertinence to touch her, but s...arcely worse than the alternative, which was to be stuck with her all the way to Schmertzylvania. What the hell, he thought, and he grabbed her under each armpit and tried to hoist her upward.She shrieked in horror, and seemed ready to faint, but at the same time the practical side of her seemed to sense that he had hit upon the only solution,. He looked like a piece of cotton candy from the forehead up.I couldn't believe my luck. Actually, I couldn't believe my enchanted neon sign (which read "Fang Alley Bar") worked so well. This poor thing will wish he never stepped out of his door tonight."What am I doing here?" he asked himself. Why, indeed? I stepped from the shadows and began to spin my mind numbing power around him. He looked at me like he couldn't understand what he was seeing. I pulled apart my cloak. The moonlight bounced. This allowed easy egress while remaining unseen..The real problem was there was a Tarrent Outpost about fifty feet from the cave entrance. Leaf whispered,”I count thirtyfour including the guard on the other side of these bushes.”Wil chuckled, “ I almost missed him too, I think he was in the bushes taking a Pee, when we came out.”“I have my sling ready, I can take him out with out a sound.”“Hold off Leaf, we need to avoid that until we are sure we can get past the rest of the outpost;”They edged. “NowJoseph,” she projected. She turned to Joe and bent down to condescend tohim, “I may call you Joseph, yes?”Joe nodded. The crowd laughed. “Now Joseph,” repeated Penny, “I’ll needyou to speak loudly when you answer me so the crowd can hear you. Okay?”Joe nodded. “Speak up, Joseph. The people in the back can’t hear you.”“Okay,” said Joe.“Louder Joseph. Didn’t your mother ever tell you not to mumble?” Morelaughter.“Okay,” said Joe louder.“Can everyone hear him?” shouted Penny to the crowd..