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!
Ben's breath caught in his throat suddenly. The entire crew of the
living and the dead, came shuffling up to the bars and stared through them at him. Pale,
bloated faces of those who had drowned mingled with the fierce scarred and coarse-whiskered
features of those whom he had known and detested for their greed and cruelty. They leered
and grinned knowingly at the former crew lad. Suddenly they were wrenched aside, and he
found himself looking into the face of Captain Vanderdecken, leader of them all.
His face was as white as parchment, the thin lips blue from the cold, bared over yellowed
teeth like crooked gravestones. His salt-bleached hair, crusted with ice, stood out from his
head like an unholy halo. From under their black-pouched lids, Vanderdecken's wild eyes
shone insanely, boring into the boy's very heart.
The Dutchman poked a frostbitten, black-nailed finger at Ben. 'So this is where ye've been
hiding, wretch! I'll always find ye, no matter where you hide! I'll soon have ye back aboard
my ship, and we'll spend eternity together, lad. Eternity!'
A litter drew up in front of the cell, borne by six burly Razan robbers, who stood stoically
with it on their shoulders. Maguda sat on the litter, watching the faces of the three drugged
captives. She took satisfaction at the sight. Each one's eyes were wide open, but unconscious
to anybody outside of their potion-induced nightmares. They stared straight ahead, seeing
everything that was locked into their personal fears and loathings.
Gizal came hobbling along, her stick tap-tapping the rock walls. She halted by the litter. 'Is
thy magic working, O mother of spells and charms?'
Maguda nodded. 'Aye, 'tis indeed, they are like butterflies pinned on thorns, seeing nought
else but that which they cannot stand. Methinks a few weeks of keeping them thus will bend
them to my will. They will sing, dance, sketch and plead to please me, 'tis always so.'
Gizal bowed. 'Truly thou art the greatest of all the Razan!'
Maguda tapped the litter with her foot. 'Take me back to my throne, then go, tell others what
thou hast seen here today. Let it serve as a warning to all who would oppose me!'
The party moved off, with Gizal shuffling behind.
Arnela muttered to herself as she gazed up at what seemed to be a sheer wall of snow rearing
overhead. 'Avalanche must've done this, 'tis not as I remember it. But never mind, Ned, I
know we're on the right track. That high crag near the peak is my marker—the Razan's lair is
up there. We'll have to go carefully, there might be hidden pitfalls in this sort of snow.
Avalanches can do that, y'know.'
But the black Labrador was not listening. He was sprawled flat with both front paws covering
his eyes. A piteous whimper emanated from his trembling body, building up suddenly into a
mournful howl.
The big goatherd woman fell on her knees beside the dog, shaking him gently. 'Ned, what is
it, boy? What's the matter with ye?'
Her words fell on deaf ears. Ben had somehow transmitted the anguish of his tortured mind to
the dog. All the horror and fear of the boy's nightmare were so powerful that Ned became a
