The Angel's Command

his front legs. Give him a bit to hold on to with his teeth, then swing him out.'

Dominic complied with the orders. Ned went swinging out into space, still mentally

beseeching the angel, 'Oooooh! Listen, good angel, do the same for me as you did for Ben,

and I promise to make a better boy of him. Just don't let Dominic's hands slip, dear sweet nice

angel!'

A moment later, Ben and Karay had hauled Ned up into the crack. Dominic's shout reached

them, loud and urgent. 'Throw the rope back, quick, they're here!'

The mastiff's ugly head poked around the bend of the ledge, followed by a white-faced

Domba, then the triumphant Rouge, who snarled at his companion. 'Hand that chain to me!

I'll watch Gurz, you get past the dog an' grab the lad. The others'll climb back here when they

see what I do to him. Go on, move yourself, slowcoach!'

Flattening himself against the ledge wall, Domba inched past the mastiff. Dominic reached out

to the swinging rope and missed it. He caught it on the second swing, at the same moment that

Domba grabbed his shoulder with one hand. Seizing the rope with both hands and his teeth,

Dominic swung out with Domba clinging to him. Ben and Karay, with the help of Ned's jaws,

leaned back and took the strain of both bodies. The cloak made a ragged, tearing sound as

Dominic spun. Domba was still clinging behind him as they hit the rock face. His head

cracked against it and he let go.

'Yeeeeeaaaaarrrrr!'

Dominic tried not to look at the robber's body sailing through empty space. As he felt the

cloak rope ripping, he babbled out a stream of entreaties. 'Pull me up, Ben, pull me up pull

me up don't let me fall, Ben, please please please!'

Next thing he knew, Dominic was clutching both of Ben's hands as Karay and Ned clung

grimly to the shredding rope. 'It's alright, Dom, I've got you, safe and sound. Up ye come!'

Rouge looked across to where the four escapees perched in the crack on the mountain face. He

wagged a finger at them, as if reproving naughty children. 'Done it now, ain't ye. Gone an'

killed my poor friend Domba!'

Karay shouted back at the robber. 'Rubbish, it was his own stupid fault, you'll get the same if

you try anything!'

Rouge shook his head and laughed. 'Hoho, brave words, little maid. But I ain't tryin'

anything. You an' your pals are stuck there with no place to go.... Come on, climb back over

here, I won't hurt ye!'

Ben had seen the robber's type before—quite a few times. He threw back his head and

laughed at Rouge. 'Haha, who d'you think you're trying to fool? We know you're a Razan.

We'll stay right here, thankee!'

Rouge wound the mastiff's chain around his hand as he replied. 'Right then, you stay there.

As for me, I'll go back to camp an' get some others. We'll be back, carryin' muskets!'

He noted the stunned silence and the anxious looks the young people exchanged. 'Ain't so

cheeky now, are ye?'

Ben caught Ned's thoughts in the pause which followed. 'Dear angel, remember those

promises I made to you? Well, er, I'm sorry, but I'm going to have to break them a bit. But it's

all in a good cause, to save my friends' lives. So forgive me!'

Ned teetered on the edge of the crack, tail straight out, hackles rising and teeth bared. The

black Labrador began barking, growling and snarling thunderously at Gurz. Ben took hold of

his dog's collar. 'Ned, what's wrong, boy?'

But Ned ignored him, rearing up on his hind legs, straining against the hand holding his collar.

Foam flecked from the Labrador's mouth as he howled like a wild animal at the mastiff.

Gurz howled back and set up a series of short angry barks.

Rouge tugged on the dog's chain. 'Quit that row, ye great idiot!'

Ned barked in return, roaring furiously. The rock face resounded with the noise of both dogs,

then without warning Gurz took off, dragging Rouge with him. The robber's feet skidded on

the ice as the huge mastiff pulled him forward. Gurz made a massive leap out into space, as

though he were trying to reach the crack with a mighty bound. But he never made it. Both

man and mastiff plummeted into the valley, howling the last sounds they would make on this

earth. It was a long way down—they looked like two black spots crumpled on the rocky

foothills.

Dominic could only shake his head in bewilderment. 'What happened there?'

Ned explained mentally to Ben. 'I made some nasty remarks about his parents, his mother the

donkey and his father the pig. Then I challenged him to a fight, but I said that he could never

jump this far, like I had!'

Ben stroked his dog's head, staring into the liquid brown eyes. 'But we swung you on the rope

from the ledge to here.'

Ned managed a doggy look of innocence. 'Aye, but he hadn't arrived to see that part. Mastiffs

aren't too bright, y'know. I'm sorry I had to do it, but that redheaded rogue didn't leave us too

much choice. 'Twas either that or get shot.'

Ben ruffled his friend's ears. 'I'm sure the angel will forgive you. I certainly do, it was a very

clever idea!'

Bright morning sun began driving away the clouds and warming the air. Dominic flexed his

stiff legs. 'Well, friends, where to now?'

As if in answer to the question, there was a piteous call. 'Maaaahaaah!'

Ben pointed back to the narrow ledge. 'Goats!' Two of the creatures stood staring at them

across the void, shaggy-coated, cloven-hoofed and with expressions of curiosity in their odd

eyes. By the difference in their sizes, they looked like a nanny goat and her little kid. The

mother nuzzled her little one as it stood bleating, 'Maaah maaaaahaaah!'

A voice from around the bend called to them. 'Sissy, Paris, what've I told you about running

off like that? If I've told you once, I've told you a hundred times!'

A large, strong-looking woman clad in man's attire came around the bend. Over the rough

cloak she wore was a coil of rope with an ice axe tucked into its loops. She tended to the

goats, shooing them back off along the ledge, before turning her homely, weather-beaten face

to the four friends. 'What are ye doing out there, children? You don't look like Razan, but

who can tell these days?'

Instinctively Ben knew she was friendly. He smiled at her. 'No, marm, we're not Razan, we

were just trying to escape from them. But we're stuck out here, I'm afraid.'

The goatherd lady returned Ben's smile. She peered over the ledge at the three tiny figures

crumpled below on the rocks. 'The only good Razan's a dead 'un, you did away with them

well.'

Karay retorted, a little indignantly, 'No, we didn't, it was their own fault. And anyway, they'd

have killed us if they could have!'

The woman shrugged the rope from her shoulders. 'No matter. If you stay there much longer,

you'll freeze. Let's get you back to safety. Huh, you're worse than some of my goats for

getting y'selves stuck in awkward places!'

She tied one end of the rope to her axe handle and began whirling the device expertly.

Hurling it high over their heads, she landed the axe in a rock fissure above them. Tugging to

make sure the rope would not drop, she threw it to Ben. 'Tie the dog on. Give him a good

hard push, away from me. I'll catch him on the backswing.'

Ben heard Ned thinking as he was hurled off across the rock face. 'Whoooooo! Hope the good

lady has strong hands!'

He had no need to worry. The big woman caught him lightly and set him on the ledge. He sent

Ben a relieved thought. 'Hahaha, she's twice as strong as Anaconda!'