Little chance of that one running again. Here, my good friend, take this as a reward, and this
also."
The blind woman felt the five gold coins Maguda pressed into her hand. She also felt the little
glass phial.
"My thanks to thee, mistress. Gold is respected by all, no matter whose hand it comes from.
But what is this bottle?"
Maguda whispered confidentially. "I require thy services. I need thee to act as warden to the
captives. They need to know the meaning of fear. Use the potion sparingly."
Gizal cocked her head quizzically. "Even on the boy thy brother struck down?"
Maguda's eyes widened. "Especially on him!"
Gizal nodded knowingly. "Ye fear him, mistress?"
Maguda's nails sank into the blind crone's arm as she hissed. "I fear no living thing! Cease thy
foolish talk! As queen of the Razan, I have to be cautious. The omens have warned me
against yon lad. But even he cannot resist my potions. Now go!"
The dungeons were little more than side caves deep down in the mountain's lower tunnels,
each one with an iron barred door fitted across its entrance. Karay and Dominic assisted Ben
as the guards shoved them inside and locked the door. They lay on the floor until the sound of
their captors' footsteps faded. Dominic helped Ben to his feet, watching anxiously as his friend
massaged the back of his neck. "Ben, are you alright?"
Smiling ruefully, Ben continued rubbing. "Oh, I think I'll live, mate. That ruffian had a very
heavy hand, though."
Karay stood gripping the bars, peering back along the way they had been brought. "Did you
see the poor old bear? I caught a glimpse of him as they marched us along here. They've got
him locked up a couple of cells back, three I think."
Dominic placed a sympathetic hand on the girl's shoulder. "I'm sorry for the bear, too, but
wouldn't it be wiser to look at our own situation first? We're hardly in a position to help
ourselves at the moment."
Karay sat down on the floor and sighed. "You're right, Dom. So, what do we do now?"
Ben found himself a dark corner and snuggled down into his cloak. "Right now all I want is a
bit of sleep. That was a cold, hard march up the mountain."
Within a few minutes the other two had joined him, both of them wrapped tightly in their own
cloaks and huddling together for warmth in the dank underground cave.
Ben immediately shut his eyes and concentrated on making contact with Ned. No matter how
hard he tried, however, there was not a single trace of the black Labrador's thoughts drifting
anywhere in his mind. Ben hid his disappointment by reassuring himself that the dog would
reach him when the moment was right. He drifted into a dreamless sleep.
Arnela watched the black Labrador as he wandered into her cave, limping and looking weary.
Surrounded by her goats, the big woman had been dozing by the fire. At first she thought it
was a dream, until one of the nanny goats bleated at the sight of the dog. Arnela came fully
awake then. She began pushing goats out of her way. "Ned, is that you? What's happened?"
The dog replied mentally, knowing she could not hear him. "I wish I could tell you, my dear
lady, but first I must get this paw seen to. Look!"
Whining softly, Ned offered Arnela the sore paw. She inspected it gently. "You've sliced that
on some sharp rock, poor boy—there's a flap of skin hanging from the pad. Let me fix it."
Ned bumped a big goat aside. "It's my paw she's fixing, not yours. Anyhow, you've got little
hooves, bet they never get cut on the rocks. Listen, mate, if I give you a message, could you
communicate it to Arnela?"
The goat's jaws were working furiously around a mouthful of dried grass. It bleated dumbly at
the dog: "Maaaahahaaa!"
Ned sniffed disdainfully. "If that's the best you can do, then don't bother. Oh, and mind your
manners, keep your mouth closed when you're eating, disgusting beast!"
Arnela cleaned grit out of the wound with warm water, talking in a comforting voice to Ned
as she worked. "Don't worry, boy, I won't hurt ye. Stand still now. There, it's nice and ' clean
now. I'll put some balm on it. This is good stuff for healing wounds. I make it myself with
herbs and white ashes from the pinewood I've burned. Feels good and soothing, doesn't it?"
The goatherd did not expect an answer, though Ned replied thoughtfully, "It feels wonderful,
you kind, clever lady!"
Arnela caught hold of a young billy goat with long, silken hair as he tried to skip by her.
"Hold still a moment, Narcissus, I need to borrow a tuft or two from your coat."
With a small pair of shears she clipped a portion from where the goat hair grew longest.
Narcissus bleated pitifully. The goatherd sent him on his way with a pat. "Go on, you great
baby. That didn't hurt you a bit, stop whinging!"
As Ned watched her separating the hair, he thought, "What are you going to do with that, my
friend?"
Arnela continued talking as she ministered to him. "Hair from a young billy is better than any
bandage. I wind it around your paw like this, and it protects the wound nicely. By the time
your paw's better, it'll have dropped off!"
Ned gazed trustingly at the goatherd. "It feels very good, thank you, marm. I'll trust your word
as to its dropping off eventually. I mean, it'd look a bit foolish, wouldn't it—a black dog with
a white goat-hair paw? Pretty odd, I'd say."
Arnela fed him a bowl of soup and one of fresh goat milk. Ned took them gratefully. She
watched until he was finished, then took his front paws in her lap. "Now, where are the
children?"
Ned could only gaze at her beseechingly.
She continued, "Have they found Adamo?"
A sudden brain wave struck the dog. He shook his head slowly.
Arnela was astonished. "You shook your head! Does that mean you can understand me, Ned?"
The dog nodded solemnly.
Arnela's eyes lit up with wonderment. "You can! You can understand me. Oh, you clever
dog!"
Ned licked her hand, thinking to himself, "I could listen to your compliments all night, my
friend, but there isn't time. Go on, ask me another question!"
Arnela stared deep into Ned's eyes. "So, what's happened to our friends? Sorry, let me put it
another way. Did you get lost from them? Are they still searching?"
Ned shook his head emphatically.
Arnela looked anxious. "Are they lying injured someplace? I heard the avalanche."
Ned shook his head, waiting on her next words.
"Have they been taken by the Razan?"
The dog nodded vigorously several times.
"They're prisoners—do you know where they are?"
Ned held his head still a moment, then nodded twice.
Arnela shooed away an inquisitive goat before she spoke. "Ned, can you lead me to them?"
Again he nodded in the affirmative.
Arnela arose, put on her heavy cloak and picked up her rope and ice axe. Then, from a hiding
place among the goat fodder, she drew out a pistol that she had captured from the robber clan.
It was loaded and primed. Thrusting it into her belt, she patted the dog's head. "Come on then,
Ned!"
The big woman halted at the cave entrance. She spoke to her goats as though they were
children. "Now there's no need for you lot to go wandering willy-nilly around the mountains.
; There's food in here, 'tis nice and dry, and water up to our very doorstep. I shouldn't be too
long away. Pantyro, I'm leaving you in charge, be firm with them, but no bullying. Clovis,
you'd better keep an eye on Pantyro. You're all on your best behaviour, so don't let me down!"
Ned cast an eye over the goats as he and Arnela left the cave. They gazed dumbly at him as
he left them with the thought, "I'd hate to be you lot if the place isn't neat and tidy when your
mistress gets back!"
A little billy goat bleated at the dog: "Maaaah!"
Ned eyed him frostily. "Don't argue with your elders and betters, young fellow!"
With the black Labrador leading the way, Arnela began the long uphill trudge.
Now that he had set his rescue mission under way, Ned concentrated his thoughts upon Ben,
sending out messages of hope and comfort. "Ben, can you hear me, mate? It's your old pal
Ned. I've got Arnela with me, we're coming to help you, wherever you are. Speak to me, Ben,
let me know you're alright!"
As they pressed onward and upward, the faithful dog began to feel anxious and worried. Ben
was not responding.
24
A TAPPING NOISE WAKENED KARAY. SHE LAY quite still, watching the barred
entrance through half-closed eyes. It was Gizal, the blind crone. Behind her came a man
carrying a pail and a cauldron with a ladle protruding from it. He placed them where Gizal
indicated with her stick, close to the bars. The hag held a finger to her lips, cautioning the
man to be quiet. After a moment they both crept silently off. Steam was emanating from the
cauldron, a not unpleasant aroma.
The movement of Karay rising woke Ben and Dominic. Dominic yawned cavernously. "Can't
you keep still, Karay? I was in a nice sleep there."
Ben sniffed the air. "Smells like food, who brought it?" The girl reached through the bars and
dipped a ladleful. "It's porridge of some sort. The old blind woman and a guard left it here not
a moment ago. Hmmm, I'm starving!"
Ben leapt upright. "Don't touch it, Karay! There may be something wrong with the stuff!"
However, Karay was hungry and tasted some on her fingertip. "It is porridge—oatmeal with
milk and honey in it. Tastes pretty good to me. If they wanted to poison us, they could have
done that long since. We're prisoners, aren't we? Even prisoners have to be fed. There's fresh
water in the pail, too!"
Ben hesitated, then consulted the facemaker. "What d'you think, Dom, is it safe?"
Dominic smiled mischievously. "Well, let Karay eat some. If she doesn't scream and keel
over, it should be alright."
His remark did not seem to disconcert the girl. Blowing on the porridge to cool it, she ate with
relish, wrinkling her nose at the two watchers. "It's delicious. I'll finish the pot if you two are
afraid of porridge. Mmm, great stuff!"
Dominic hurried to her side. "You little hog, give me some!"
Forgetting his earlier doubts, Ben joined him. "Steady on there, mates, I'm famished too!"
It was good food, hot and sweet. Between them they devoured three ladles each. Licking the
ladle clean, Karay rinsed it in the pail. The friends drank some water to quench their thirst.
All three felt much better with food and drink inside them. They seated themselves against the
rock walls, staring at the glow of the lanterns outside.
Ben thrust his hands inside his cloak to keep them warm. "What d'you suppose they're
planning to do with us?"
Karay giggled. "Send us some more nice porridge when we get hungry, I suppose."
Ben did not know why he suddenly started laughing. "Hahaha, tell 'em to bring three pans
next time, one each!"
Dominic smiled foolishly. "Aye, and we'd like a table, too, with some nice napkins, like the
ones the comte has in his big house. Hahaha, lots of napkins, hoho ... Oh, hahahaaaar!" The
three of them held their sides and laughed uproariously, not knowing or caring about the cause
of such merriment. After a while their laughter subsided into amused chuckles. Then they fell
silent, eyelids drooping. Ben yawned and stretched flat out on the floor, Karay and Dominic
listed crazily toward each other as they sat with their backs against the rock. In an incredibly
short time they were sleeping deeply. Then the effects of Maguda's potion really took over
their minds.
Karay felt she was once again chained to the wheel of Cut-purse's wagon, unable to move her
wrists. The fat clown-thief crouched in front of her, grinning maliciously. She was helpless in
his presence. At his side he had the steaming porridge cauldron. Cutpurse tipped it gently,
allowing her to view the contents. It was not porridge, it was spiders! The one thing in life of
which Karay had an unreasoning terror—spiders! Big ones, small ones, hairy ones, smooth
ones, some red, others golden, but most of them an iridescent purply black. Scrambling and
wriggling over one another, the mass of arachnids strove to get out of the pail. Karay was
overcome with frozen horror, her mouth forming an anguished scream that stuck in her throat.
Cutpurse dipped the ladle into the pail, and spiders began crawling into it. He lifted the ladle
clear, and some of the spiders clinging to the sides of the handle fell to the floor. Sniggering
one, spiders. Lots of spiders, and all for you!"
Dominic could not even abide the thought of snakes. Loathsome slippery reptiles, cold and
slimy, with questing forked tongues and fangs that dripped poison. He had once seen a rabbit
that had been bitten by an adder. It lay quivering, eyes glazed, but still alive as the snake
coiled about its legs, the blunt nose questing at its victim's neck as its scales slithered over the
victim's warm body. Dominic looked up and from his distorted angle of view saw Maguda
Razan.
She was standing just outside the cell bars, glaring hatefully at him. Slowly her clawed hands
reached for the opening of the voluminous cloak that enveloped her, and she croaked at him,
"Am I so hideous that you would not make a picture of my face?" Then she opened the cloak
a fraction, and snakes began sliding sinuously out onto the floor. Lots of snakes! One with a
dirty grey body and barred yellow markings on its underside wrapped itself around the bars. A
hooded cobra with spectacle signs reared up and hissed viciously. Pythons, pit vipers and
banded coral snakes coiled and uncoiled around Maguda's feet, swaying, hissing, baring their
fangs and constantly being joined by others tumbling out from the cloak. Dominic stared in
dread fascination at the jumble of writhing bodies, which had begun moving toward him. He
could not close his eyes to block out the awful sight. He sat there leaning askew against the
rock, aware of every beady set of eyes centred on him, too petrified to make a single move or
sound.
The snakes were coming for him!
Ben's breath caught in his throat suddenly. The entire crew of the Flying Dutchman, both the
living and the dead, came shuffling up to the bars and stared through them at him. Pale,
bloated faces of those who had drowned mingled with the fierce scarred and coarse-whiskered
features of those whom he had known and detested for their greed and cruelty. They leered
and grinned knowingly at the former crew la
d. Suddenly they were wrenched aside, and he
found himself looking into the face of Captain Vanderdecken, leader of them all.
His face was as white as parchment, the thin lips blue from the cold, bared over yellowed
teeth like crooked gravestones. His salt-bleached hair, crusted with ice, stood out from his
head like an unholy halo. From under their black-pouched lids, Vanderdecken's wild eyes
shone insanely, boring into the boy's very heart.
The Dutchman poked a frostbitten, black-nailed finger at Ben. "So this is where ye've been
hiding, wretch! I'll always find ye, no matter where you hide! I'll soon have ye back aboard
my ship, and we'll spend eternity together, lad. Eternity!"
A litter drew up in front of the cell, borne by six burly Razan robbers, who stood stoically
with it on their shoulders. Maguda sat on the litter, watching the faces of the three drugged
captives. She took satisfaction at the sight. Each one's eyes were wide open, but unconscious
to anybody outside of their potion-induced nightmares. They stared straight ahead, seeing
everything that was locked into their personal fears and loathings.
Gizal came hobbling along, her stick tap-tapping the rock walls. She halted by the litter. "Is
thy magic working, O mother of spells and charms?"
Maguda nodded. "Aye, 'tis indeed, they are like butterflies pinned on thorns, seeing nought
else but that which they cannot stand. Methinks a few weeks of keeping them thus will bend
them to my will. They will sing, dance, sketch and plead to please me, 'tis always so."
Gizal bowed. "Truly thou art the greatest of all the Razan!"
Maguda tapped the litter with her foot. "Take me back to my throne, then go, tell others what
thou hast seen here today. Let it serve as a warning to all who would oppose me!"
The party moved off, with Gizal shuffling behind.
Arnela muttered to herself as she gazed up at what seemed to be a sheer wall of snow rearing
overhead. "Avalanche must've done this, 'tis not as I remember it. But never mind, Ned, I
know we're on the right track. That high crag near the peak is my marker—the Razan's lair is
up there. We'll have to go carefully, there might be hidden pitfalls in this sort of snow.
Avalanches can do that, y'know."
But the black Labrador was not listening. He was sprawled flat with both front paws covering