If he interfered now, he really would change history. There was no question of that, for this was personal, his immediate knowledge. He would fashion a paradox, the forbidden type of magic-and by the devious logic of the situation, Murphy would win. The curse had at last forced Dor to nullify himself by changing too much.
Yet if he turned down Vadne's terms, King Roogna would lose anyway, as the Zombie Master turned against him. Either way, Magician Murphy prevailed.
What was he, Dor, to do? Since either choice meant disaster, he might as well do what he believed to be right, however much it hurt.
"No," Dor said, knowing he was forcing Millie to undergo the full throes of ghosthood. Eight centuries long-and what reward awaited her there? Nursemaid to a little boy! Association with a zombie! "She goes to her betrothed-or to no one."
"But I am her betrothed!" the Zombie Master cried. "I love her-and because I love her, I yield her to you! I would do anything rather than permit her to suffer!"
"True love," King Roogna said. "It becomes you, sir."
"I'm sorry," Dor said. He understood now that his love for Millie was less, because he chose to let her suffer. He was knowingly inflicting terrible grief upon them all. Yet the alternative was the sacrifice of what they had all fought to save, deviously but certainly. He had no choice. "What's right is right, and what's wrong is wrong. I-" He spread his hands, unable to formulate his thought.
The Zombie Master gazed somberly at him. "I believe I understand." Then, surprisingly, he offered his hand.
Dor accepted it. Suddenly he felt like a man.
"If you will not restore her," the King said angrily to Vadne, "you shall be passed through the hoop."
"You're bluffing," Vadne said. "You won't throw away your Kingdom just to get at me."
But the King was not bluffing. He gave her one more chance, then had the hoop brought.
"I'll change it back to its original size," she threatened. "Then you won't be able to use it."
"You are very likely to go through it anyway," the King said, and there was something in his expression that cowed her. She stepped through the hoop and was gone.
The King turned to the Zombie Master. "It is a matter of principle," he explained. "I cannot allow any subject to commit such a crime with impunity. We shall ransack this Castle to locate Millie in whatever form she may be, and shall search out every avenue of magic that might restore her. Perhaps periodically we can recall Vadne from storage to see if she is ready to restore the maid. In time-"
"Time " the Zombie Master repeated brokenly. They all knew the project could take a lifetime.
"Meanwhile, I apologize to you most abjectly for what has occurred, and will facilitate your return to your castle in whatever manner I can. I hope some year we will meet again in better circumstances."
"No, we shall not meet again."
Dor did not like the sound of that, but kept quiet
"I understand," King Roogna said, "Again, I apologize. I would not have asked you to bring your zombies here, had I known what form the curse would take. I am sorry to see them go."
"They are not going," the Zombie Master said.
Dor felt gathering dread. What was the Zombie Master about to do, in his betrayal and grief? He could destroy everything, and there was no way to stop him except by killing him. Dor held his arms rigid, refusing to touch his sword.
"But nothing holds you here now," King Roogna said.
"I did not buy Millie with my aid, I did not bargain for her hand!" the Zombie Master cried. "I came here because I realized it would please her, and I would not wish to displease her even in death by changing that. My zombies will remain here as long as they are needed, to see Castle Roogna through this crisis and any others that arise. They are yours for eternity, if you want them."
Dor's mouth dropped open.
"Oh, I want them!" the King agreed. "I will set aside a fine graveyard for them, to rest in comfort between crises. I will name them the honored guardians of Castle Roogna. Yet-"
"Enough," the Zombie Master said, and turned to Dor. But he did not speak. He gave Dor one enigmatic glance, then walked slowly out of the room.
"Then I have lost," Murphy said. "My curse worked, but has been overwhelmed by the Zombie Master's loyalty. I cannot overcome the zombies." He, too, walked away.
That left Dor, Jumper, and the King. "This is a sad victory," Roogna said.
Dor could only agree. "We'll stay to help you clean up the premises, Your Majesty. Then Jumper and I must return to our own land,"
They made their desolate way to the dining room, but no one cared to finish breakfast. They went to work on the cleanup chore, burying unzombied bodies outside, removing refuse from inside, putting away fallen books in the library. The main palace had not yet been built, but the library stood as it would be eight hundred years hence, apart from details of decor. One large tome had somehow strayed to the dumbwaiter; Dor held the volume for a moment, struck by a nagging emotion, then filed it on the shelf in the library.
In the afternoon they found the Zombie Master hanging from a rafter. He had committed suicide. Somehow Dor had known-or should have known-that it could come to this. The man's love had been too sudden, his loss too unfair. The Zombie Master had known Millie would die, known what he would do. This was what he had meant when he told the King they would not meet again.
Yet when they cut him down, the most amazing and macabre aspect of this disaster manifested: the Zombie Master was not precisely dead. He had somehow converted himself into a zombie.
The zombie shuffled aimlessly out of the Castle, and was seen no more. Yet Dor was sure it was suffering-and would suffer eternally, for zombies never died. What awful punishment the Zombie Master had wreaked upon himself in his bereavement!
"In a way, it is fitting," King Roogna murmured. "He has become one of his own."
The lesser personnel of the Castle, whom the King had sent away for the crisis, were now returning. The maids and the cooks, the steeds and dragons. Activity resumed, yet to Dor the halls seemed empty. What a victory they had won! A victory of grief and regret and hopelessness.
Finally Dor and Jumper prepared to depart, knowing the spell that placed them here in the tapestry world would soon bring them home. They wanted to be away from Castle Roogna when it happened. "Rule well, King Roogna," Dor said as he shook the monarch's hand for the last time.
"I shall do my best, Magician Dor," Roogna replied. "I wish you every success and happiness in your own land, and I know that when your time comes to rule-"
Dor made a deprecating gesture. He had learned a lot, here-more than he cared to. He didn't want to think about being King.
"I have a present for you," Jumper said, presenting the King with a box. "It is the puzzle-tapestry the Zombie Master gave to me. I am not able to take it with me. I ask you to assemble it at your leisure and hang it from the wall of whatever room you deem fit. It should provide you with many hours of pleasure."
"It shall have a place of honor, always," the King said, accepting it.
Then Dor thought of something. "I, too, have an important object I can't take with me. But I can recover it, after eight hundred years, if you will be so kind as to spell it into the tapestry."