Then he wondered whether the castle was really safe.
That was silly, he told himself; if the dragon had been unable to smash this little cottage to the ground, what could it do against a fortress like Dwomor Keep?
He sat down in a convenient straight-back chair and stared at the tapestry, his stomach growling. He did not feel up to hauling the heavy thing any farther before nightfall, and this cottage seemed comfortable enough; he decided to stay until morning.
As he was leaning back, wondering what sort of spells he should trade the tapestry for, he heard a noise outside, as of something large moving about. He sat up.
Could that be dragon hunters, he asked himself, or perhaps the cottage’s owners coming back? He peered out a window.
It was neither; the dragon itself was perched on the top of a nearby hill, gazing out across the surrounding countryside. Tobas stepped back quickly.
He hadn’t expected that. The beast had not seen him, he was certain, but it was now quite definite that he would not be leaving this cottage for at least a few hours. If the dragon noticed him, he might never leave it alive at all. Worried and distracted, he started back for his chair and tripped over the rolled-up tapestry.
He caught himself before he fell, then turned and looked at his prize. Was there, he asked himself, a chance that he could carry out the task he had originally signed up for and somehow kill the dragon? Might there be some way he could use the tapestry’s magic, if it had any?
Well, he told himself, he obviously wouldn’t be doing anything else for a while, so he might as well look the thing over. He glanced up at the cottage wall and found a likely spot.
The place had not been designed for tapestries, of course; but with a little effort, he managed to wedge the tapestry rod diagonally across one corner, supported on one end by a step-back in the chimney and on the other by a gap betwixt a rafter and the wooden plate that topped the stone wall and anchored the tie beams.
Once he was satisfied that it was securely in place, he began unfurling the tapestry; the rod was wedged too tightly to turn freely, so instead he was forced to drag the fabric up over the top time after time and let it drop back behind.
Finally it hung down freely, brightly lit by the rays of the setting sun pouring in through one of the western windows, and Tobas looked at it with renewed interest — the scene it depicted was so very weird! That ghastly lighting, the strange rocks, the empty areas beyond the castle, whoever had designed it had quite an imagination, Tobas thought, even without considering the castle itself, with its bizarre architecture and hideous carvings.
He reached out to brush the cloth smooth. To his astonishment, he saw his hand go right through, into the picture. The baleful red-purple seemed to leap up around him.
The magic was obviously working; he knew that instantly. This was no oracle or conjuring device, but a magical portal.
He pulled his hand back, shaken, but then realized with a shock that red-purple light still colored his fingertips.
A hot wind blew across his face from somewhere, hot and dry and like nothing that he had felt in the hills of Dwomor; when he raised his eyes to the castle, he saw an indisputably solid and three-dimensional castle, not a mere picture.
He knew then that, without meaning to, he had stepped through the tapestry.
But by all the gods, to where!
He had not realized when he reached out his hand that he might be doing something dangerous, but he cursed himself now for not seeing the obvious perils of touching the picture; he had had no idea what lay beyond. Perhaps the wizard had created the tapestry as somewhere to send his enemies or somewhere to keep demons and monsters.
Well, maybe even now it was not too late. He had not taken a single step inside, but only put his hand through; surely that couldn’t hurt. He could simply turn around and step back out. The moment he saw that he was, beyond question, inside the scene in the tapestry, actually standing on that barren stony pathway, he lost his nerve. He gave up any thought he might have had of exploring further and stepped back, expecting to find himself again in the abandoned cottage.
Nothing happened; he was still standing on the narrow path across the rocks. He turned around, looking for the little cottage in the hills of Dwomor, but it was gone. All that he could see behind him was empty space.
He turned in a full circle, slowly, taking in his surroundings.
The only things in sight were the castle, the luridly colored void, and the path on which he stood; the path started out of nothing just a few feet from where he had entered and led nowhere but up to the castle. The rocks that supported both path and castle ended a yard or so out in every direction.
He got down on his belly and crawled to the nearest edge; leaning out cautiously he peered over, expecting to see something, a valley of some sort, far below.
He saw nothing at all, nothing but infinite empty space lit an eerie red. The rocks supporting the path were themselves hanging unsupported in midair. As far as he could discern, they extended down about six feet and across about eight feet in all.
Looking over toward that ornate and frightening castle, he saw more of the same; the rocks on which it stood were not parts of a mountaintop, but of a boulder, perhaps fifty or sixty yards in diameter, hanging in nothingness. Nor were they simply flying; below them were no distant fields or forests or even clouds, not even stars, but only endless emptiness. A wave of vertigo overcame him, and he closed his eyes.
Hot, dry wind, curiously odorless, ruffled his hair as he lay there, his eyes held tightly shut.
This place, he realized as he lay motionless, was not a part of the World he knew at all; that much was quite obvious. He inched himself back onto the path and got slowly to his feet, trying to suppress his trembling.
Quite plainly, he had only one place to go, and there could be no point in putting off going there. He walked slowly and cautiously toward the castle, taking it one small step at a time.
The rope bridge across the chasm, the chasm that was actually ten feet of nothing at all, was the worst part, but he managed it and stood at last on the lower lip of that fanged, grinning mouth that served the castle as a gate.
He was utterly terrified.
He peered in; torches blazed on either side of the gateway, which led to a huge pair of iron-bound wooden doors. He forced himself to step forward.
The doors were closed; he reached for the huge iron rings that would haul them open, then drew his hands back. He was trembling too hard to grip anything. He gritted his teeth and put his hands down at his sides, forcing them to stop shaking.
When he was as calm as he thought he was going to get, he reached out again and tugged at the iron rings.
Nothing happened; the doors were locked from inside. At first a wave of relief swept over him, but that was quickly followed by renewed terror; whatever might lurk within this grotesque structure, it could not possibly be worse than being trapped outside it forever, with nowhere to go, no food, no water, nothing but a few feet of bare rock. He dropped the rings with a loud double clunk and began hammering on the doors with his fists.
When his initial panic had spent itself, his hands dropped, and he turned around, looking out at the void and trying to think what he could do next.
A voice came from inside the castle, an uncertain female voice asking, in a very strange and old-fashioned accent, “Derry? Is that you? Where have you been?”
Tobas froze for a minute; he had not really expected an answer, certainly not an ordinary human voice mistaking him for someone else.