A strange voice answered him. 'Aye, lad, that's the way we're goin' too. Let's all go together!'
Ligran Razan and five of his followers strolled out from behind the rock that the friends had
been trapped against.
Ben was stunned. He shot Ned a swift thought. 'Don't move, mate, they're too well armed.
Don't try anything!'
The black Labrador speedily replied, 'Watch out for me, Ben, I'll be around!' He streaked off
down the mountain.
One of Ligran's men unslung a rifle and grabbed a powder flask from his belt.
Ligran stuck out a foot and tripped him. 'D'you want to start another avalanche, idiot? Let the
dog go, it ain't important. Well, now, what've we got here? Two handsome boys an' a pretty
girl.' He drew his sword and placed the point against Ben's chest. 'What are ye doin' this high
up in our mountains, lad?'
Ben tried to look simple and friendly at the same time. 'We're travellers, crossing over into
Spain, sir.'
Ligran's sword flashed in the sunlight. Ben felt the sharp sting as the flat of the blade slapped
him across the cheek.
The Razan leader snarled viciously at him. 'Liar! Travellers go through the pass, south of here
in Andorra. Now tell me the truth or I'll slice the nose off you!'
Karay stepped boldly in front of Ben. She faced Ligran. 'He told you, we're going to Spain.
Now I'm telling you. Go on, cut my nose off, you coward. I'm not armed like you!'
Ligran raised the sword and struck. It sheared off a dark ringlet of the girl's hair. Karay did
not flinch. Ligran let his sword fall and laughed. 'I like a maid who has spirit. We'll see how
much you have left when Maguda's finished questioning you. You've heard of Maguda Razan
—she's my sister.'
Karay laughed in Ligran's face. 'If all her brothers are as ugly as you, I feel sorry for her!'
The blade quivered a moment in Ligran's grip; his eyes narrowed savagely. Then he turned
away and rapped out orders. 'Take their rope an' tie them together, hands an' necks! If we
hurry we'll arrive back just after the two I sent ahead with the bear. Use your clubs an' beat
them if they try to lag behind!'
Tied together with Arnela's rope looping their hands to their necks, the three friends shuffled
forward. Ben spoke out of the side of his mouth to Dominic, who was behind him. 'Well, at
least we won't get lost on our way to the Razan hideout.'
A cudgel cracked sharply against his shin. A lanky, scar-faced villain waggled the weapon in
Ben's face. 'Shut your mouth, boy, or I'll break your leg. That goes for you other two. You're
prisoners now, so march!'
23
HUDDLED forlornly on the floor of the big cave, the bear uttered a piteous moan. Razan men
and women formed a circle around the animal, watching it curiously. The two who had been
sent ahead with it held the neck chains slackly, averting their eyes when Maguda spoke. The
matriarch of all the Razan leaned forward slightly. Her huge hypnotic eyes pinpointing on the
wretched animal, she croaked venomously, 'Ye'll dance before I'm through with ye. Guards,
take this thing out of my sight. Away to the dungeons with it!'
Men hauled on the chains, forcing the bear into an upright position. It made a mournful noise
as the spikes inside its iron collar dug into its neck fur. They were dragging the bear away,
when Rawth, the eldest of Maguda's brothers, entered the cavern and approached his sister.
The hypnotic eyes swivelled in his direction. 'Thou hast come to tell me that our brother
Ligran approaches, this I already know.'
Rawth shrugged uneasily. 'He brings captives, two boys and a girl, but no black dog is with
them.'
Maguda hissed like an angry snake. 'Ssssstupid men! Would that I had the strength in my
limbs that mine eyes possess. It is I who would have captured all four. Bad omens portend
misfortune if the dog is not in my grasp. Bring the prisoners straight here to me when they
arrive. Go now, help thy brother!'
Ben stumbled in deep snow, and a guard poked him in the back with the butt of Arnela's ice
axe. The boy straightened and struggled on uphill, his mind worried by lack of communication
with Ned.
Dominic whispered furtively, as if privileged to his friend's thoughts. 'Wonder where Ned is.
Not like him to run off.'
Karay overheard him and replied shortly, 'If I was as fast as a dog, I'd have made a run for it,
too. What was he supposed to do—wait around to be captured, or shot?'
One of the guards pushed the girl roughly. 'Shut your mouth!'
Ben spoke aloud to distract the robber's attention from her. 'Ned's more use to us running
free. He'll help us—mark my word, he's no ordinary dog.'
Ligran Razan turned and pointed his sword at Ben. 'One more word from you, lad, an' I'll
chop your tongue off!'
Ben decided it was wiser to keep silent from then on. The Razan leader looked like a villain
who would take delight in carrying out his threats. Cruelty and a volatile temper were stamped
all over Ligran's coarse features. So Ben held his silence, even as the mouth of the cave came
in view. He wanted to shout out to his companions about the red and black figures he could
see, scrawled in primitive fashion on the wall outside the cave entrance: men hunting boar,
just as Edouard had seen before passing out after his accident. Edouard had said that he would
know where the Razan stronghold was if he could find the place where the men were hunting
wild boar. Ben was puzzled, but he noted the position of the ancient artwork as he was shoved
into the passages branching into the caves.
Lanterns guttered feebly in the dank rock tunnels, which seemed to twist and turn endlessly.
Sometimes they would pass side chambers—Razan clan members stared out at them across
fires that had blackened and sooted the walls of these miserable hovels where they lived like
animals. Water seeped down the rocks of the passages, and a foul odour of communal living,
damp, and leftover garbage hung on the still air. Karay noted that nowhere was there sight or
presence of children. Then they were in a longer passage, more straight and broad than the
ones they had travelled. It even had rush mats and animal skins laid on its smooth floor.
Without warning they were thrust into the lair of Maguda Razan. The friends were startled by
the horrific sight: a vast natural cavern with a ceiling so high that it was lost amidst the thick
clouds of noxious smoke that snaked upwards in spiralling columns of all hues, from
sulphurous yellow and oily green to muddy crimson and acrid blue, mingling in a turgid
browny-black mass overall. The smoke columns issued from fires at the bases of monolithic
figures, some freestanding but most carved into the living rock of the cavern walls—strange
monsters and forgotten deities frightening to look upon, some animal, some human; many half
animal and half human with extra limbs. Monstrous forms with horns, fangs and evil leering
faces. And there, seated on her throne at the top of a circular-stepped rostrum, was the spider
at the centre of this web of unholiness. Maguda Razan!
Her eyes swept over them briefly, then settled on Ligran. Ben saw his throat bob nervously as
he swallowed.
Maguda spat out a single word at him. 'Fool!'
Ligran stared at his feet, not daring to look her in the eyes. He tried to sound commanding yet
respectful. 'A harsh word, sister. I lost four good men taking these prisoners for you. The dog
was just an ordinary dog that ran off like a frightened rabbit. We couldn't risk a shot at it, for
fear of starting an avalanche, so we just . . . brought these three ...' His voice trailed off into
silence.
