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
with delight, the fat robber winked ominously at Karay and teased her wickedly. "Look, pretty
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!