Soul Music - Rite

'And that,' said Ridcully, 'is the Rite of AshkEnte. Quite easily done. You have to use a fresh egg, though.'

Susan blinked. There was a circle drawn on the floor. Strange unearthly shapes surrounded it, although when she adjusted her mind set she realized that these were perfectly ordinary students.

'Who are you?' she said. 'What's this place? Let me go this instant!'

She strode across the circle and rebounded from an invisible wall. The students were staring at her in the manner of those who have heard of the species 'female' but have never expected to get this close to one.

'I demand that you let me go!' She glared at Ridcully. 'Aren't you the wizard I saw last night?'

'That's right,' said Ridcully, 'and this is the Rite of AshkEnte. It calls Death into the circle and he - or as it may be, in this case, she - can't leave until we say so. There's a lot of stuff in this book here spelled with funny long esses and it goes on about abjuring and conjuration, but it's all show, really. Once you're in, you're in. I must say your predecessor - hah, bit of a pun there - was a lot more gracious about it.'

Susan glared. The circle played tricks with her ideas of space. It seemed most unfair.

'Why have you summoned me, then?' she said. 'That's better. That's more according to the script,' said Ridcully.

'We are allowed to ask you questions, you see. And you have to answer them. Truthfully.'

***

Soul Music - p167