her rancid-smelling garments enveloped his face whilst she inspected the cords that bound his
hands behind his back.
Satisfied, the blind woman stood up. 'There be no marks or blood upon Maguda, yet she lies
dead. This boy could not have slain her by mortal means—he is bound tight and could not
have undone or retied the cord.'
Ligran struck his fist against a powder keg. 'But how—?'
Gizal silenced him by holding up a hand. 'Hearken to me. Only in two ways could yon lad
have taken Maguda's life: with his mouth or with his eyes. Either he could have spat poison at
her or uttered some powerful spell, though I think not. Rawth, do ye recall when this one and
his friends were first brought in front of thy sister? She had thee knock him down, saying she
did not want him looking at her, eh?'
Rawth stroked his beard. 'Aye, that was as you say!'
Gizal placed a hand upon Rawth's arm. 'Bind his eyes. Ye can gag him, too, for safety's sake.
Have him taken back to the cells.'
Before Ben could protest, his mouth and eyes were bound with filthy strips of rag; then the
henchmen picked him up and carried him off, leaving Gizal alone with the two Razan
brothers.
Ligran, the more hot tempered of the pair, paced the cave, shaking his head angrily. 'That
lad's a danger to us all, Gizal. You should've let Rawth slay him. Here, I'll go and do the job
myself!'
The blind woman's staff blocked Ligran's way as she lowered her voice, warning him, 'Don't
let anger rule thy thinking, Ligran. If the lad did kill Maguda with his eyes, he must be even
more powerful than she was. Thy sister ruled through fear. Without one as strong as she, our
people would soon leave here and go their own ways, am I not right, Rawth?'
The elder Razan nodded. 'True, old one, but if the lad is as powerful as you think, how can
we bend him to our service?'
Ligran began warming to the idea. He smiled wickedly. 'Through his two young friends—
they are as close as brothers and sister. The boy would not wish them hurt, would he?'
Gizal's staff touched Ligran's shoulder. 'Now thou art showing good sense. Leave me to think
now. First we will have a great ceremony to impress our people. Maguda must be installed in
a suitable tomb before our new leader is made known to the Razan. That will be after the
spirit of Maguda appears to us three and names the boy as her successor.'
Rawth was puzzled for a moment. 'Will she?'
Ligran grinned. 'She already has. Brother, did you hear her?'
Rawth caught on then and laughed. 'Oh, aye, I heard her. Pity all the Razan couldn't, eh?'
Gizal squeezed Rawth's arm reassuringly. 'Fear not, they will! At the right time. There be
plenty of hidden places, and the great cavern carries lots of echoes. Leave it to old Gizal!'
Having hatched their plan, the three departed from the armoury cave, leaving behind them the
rigid corpse of the once all-powerful Maguda Razan. What Gizal, Ligran and Rawth had
missed was the lesson their former leader had learned at the cost of her life: a surety that
Good will triumph over Evil, always!
26
IT WAS LATE AFTERNOON OF THE FOLLOWING day. Arnela and Ned crouched behind
a jumble of ice-sheened rocks. The ground in front of them was solidified soil, shale and
patches of snow in a small escarpment, backed by the pristine white mountain peak.
Arnela pointed, whispering to the dog, 'See there, Ned, that's the one and only entrance to the
Razan caves. Just inside the rift, straight ahead.' The black Labrador focussed his gaze on the
shadowed hole in the solid rock face, listening to the big goatherd woman. 'Those red marks
by the entrance, they look like old bloodstains from this distance. But they're ancient pictures
of cave dwellers hunting wild boar. I saw them once, some years ago, when I tracked some
Razan villains here. Our friends will be imprisoned somewhere inside. Where, I'm not sure. I'll
wager there are many caves and passages inside. We'll worry about that when we come to it.
Our first job is to get inside. I'm sure there must be guards at the entrance. Let's hide here and
watch until we get a chance. Right?'
Ned snuggled down, nodding his head to show he understood.
After Ben was bundled roughly back into the cell, he lay still, listening to the henchmen
locking the barred door and pacing off down the passage. Then he went to work. Still bound,
his eyes taped, the boy rolled about until he bumped the rough, rocky wall. Backing onto it,
he wriggled along until his tightly bound hands encountered a small ridge. Then he began
sawing at the cord, rubbing it back and forth along the stone protuberance. It was slow,
painful work, and his hands were cold, swollen and numb from the tightly lashed cord.
'Ben, are you there, mate? It's me, Ned! I'm with Arnela, watching the main entrance. As soon
as we can sneak in we'll try to rescue you. How are Karay and Dominic? Are they with you?'
Relief flooded through Ben as he replied, 'Good old Ned. I knew you'd come. And you've
brought help, too! Great! Listen, pal, I'm a bit tied up at the moment, so I'll make it brief. I'm
locked in a cell, somewhere below the big main cavern. I think our friends might be here, if
those Razan returned me to the same cell. I know that sounds a bit odd, but I'm bound, gagged
and blindfolded. I'm working on getting free. As soon as I know where I am for sure, I'll keep
contacting you. So you and Arnela be extra careful, you'll be no use to us if you get captured.
These Razan are no fools—they know the inside of this mountain very well. I'll speak to you
later, take care now, d'you hear me?'
Ned's answer came through to Ben. 'I hear you, mate. Let's hope we can get to you before too
long!'
Ben had been sawing continuously whilst sending thoughts to the dog. Finally, he pulled, and
the frayed cord snapped in two pieces. Using both thumbs, Ben pushed the gag up beneath his
nose and levered the blindfold up until he could see a little. Then, with his teeth, the boy tore
off the pieces of cord that were knotted tight about both his wrists. His numbed hands were
useless for several minutes. He squeezed back tears, gasping as the blood flowed agonisingly
back into his fingers. Finally, reaching behind his head, he untied both the gag and the
blindfold.
Dominic and Karay were there, sitting, leaning askew at opposite angles, their eyes wide
open. Ben saw their twitching limbs and ashen faces. He knew they were still trapped within
the realm of nightmare. Drugged! Ben decided to use Ned's methods of getting through to
them, combined with a little addition of his own. Both the porridge and the water were still
there outside the cell's bars. He filled the ladle with water, splashed it straight into Dominic's
face and began slapping the boy's cheeks hard, shouting in his ear, 'Come on, lazybones, rise
and shine! Up you come!'
Grabbing his friend beneath both armpits, Ben hauled him upright and gave his shin a smart
kick.
The facemaker winced sharply, his hands scrabbling at Ben's face as he whimpered,
'Yeeeegh! Get these snakes off me, I can't stand sn— Ben?'
Hugging his friend close, Ben whispered soothingly. 'There there now, hush, Dom. It was all a
bad dream, the snakes are gone. Keep your mind on good and happy things. They won't bother
you anymore then.'
Dominic blinked tears from his eyes and rubbed his leg. 'One of them bit me, Ben, a green
cobra, right here by my knee. I think I'm going to die—it stings and pains. Oooohhhh!'
Ben wiped the tears from Dominic's eyes. 'That wasn't a snake, Dom, 'twas me. I gave you a
good kick to wake you. Sorry about that, mate. We'd better get Karay back into the land of the
living. Come on, lend a hand!'
