I said, scarcely trusting myself to believe it: “This is not a joke?”
“News came this morning while you were in the stocks. Your brother is married to a Christian, as you know. The man they say was a god was born, they also say, on this day more than twenty-two centuries ago. Perhaps she asked it of your brother; the Christians’ ways are strange.”
I thought of the Christians putting themselves between me and the mob. I wondered if they were still in the stocks, and still chanting.
I said: “It is really true? When do I leave?”
“You are eager to be rid of us,” Murphy said. “We return to the Sanctuary tomorrow and you will leave a few days after that.”
I believed it now and forgot my anger and my bruises. I forgot even the filth with which I was smeared. It was Murphy who reminded me of it. Sniffing, he said:
“A more urgent need is that you have a bath and change into clean linen. Our somber black for a while still. But because of your disgrace you will not appear at any ceremonies, nor sit solemn at the banquet. That is another good thing you get from today’s misfortunes.”
JOHN CHRISTOPHER is a pseudonym of Samuel Youd, who was born in Lancashire, England, in 1922. He is the author of more than fifty novels and novellas, as well as numerous short stories. His most famous books include The Death of Grass, the Tripods series, The Lotus Caves, and The Guardians.
ALADDIN
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Also by John Christopher From Aladdin
THE TRIPODS SERIES
The White Mountains
The City of Gold and Lead
The Pool of Fire
When the Tripods Came
The Lotus Caves
A Dusk of Demons
The Guardians
THE SWORD OF THE SPIRITS TRILOGY
The Prince in Waiting
The Sword of the Spirits
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This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real places are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and events are products of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or places or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
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This Aladdin paperback edition February 2015
Text copyright © 1970 by John Christopher
Cover illustration copyright © 2015 by Anton Petrov
Also available in an Aladdin hardcover edition.
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Cover designed by Karin Paprocki
Jacket designed by Karin Paprocki
Jacket illustration copyright © 2015 by Anton Petrov
Interior designed by Hilary Zarycky
The text of this book was set in Venetian 301.
Library of Congress Control Number 2014953351
ISBN 978-1-4814-1992-5 (hc)
ISBN 978-1-4814-1991-8 (pbk)
ISBN 978-1-4814-1993-2 (eBook)