The guards had no such problems, however. Using a lightweight, silken cord that Mika knew would be nearly impossible to break, the guards took special care binding the nomad, Hornsbuck, then Lotus Blossom. Prodding the underdwellers to their feet with none- too-gentle jabs, they started them walking along the trail that would take them to the surface… and to certain death.
CHAPTER 24
If the weasel-faced man had thought to benefit by his betrayal, he was wrong. From their cells they heard him screaming and begging for mercy. But his life ended at daybreak with one terrified shriek, followed by others that were equally horrible and mind- chilling.
'It's like this every day,' said Margraf, who had been thrown into the cell with Mika. 'The screams are the worst,' he whimpered, hiding his face in his hands. 'I don't want to die,' he said in a tiny voice. 'I'm scared to die. They rip your heart out with their hands. I'm scared, Mika.'
Mika was scared, too. The thought of having his heart ripped out was absolutely the worst thing he could think of. There were probably other worse things but, at the moment, having his heart ripped out was at the top of the list.
He supposed that he should try and comfort Margraf, but he frankly wished that there were someone to comfort him.
Margraf stopped crying, and Mika looked over and saw the princess licking the boy's face. Margraf threw his skinny, little arms around the wolfs neck and hugged her tight. She looked pained but made no attempt to free herself from his grasp.
Mika was startled beyond speech, for it was far from the normal behavior he had come to expect from the princess. The princess glanced at Mika briefly, as though feeling his thoughts, and then her eyes fell away. Mika grinned at her embarrassment, pleased that she was consoling the boy, and pleased as well that she had not been hurt by the guard.
Mika had been surprised when the guards threw all three wolves in the cell with him. It was a lapse in their judgment that he intended to capitalize on. Perhaps with the boy's help they could free him from the bonds which were so tight he could no longer feel his fingers.
'Boy, do you think you can help me get out of these ropes?' asked Mika. 'We would stand a better chance of escape if I could use my hands.'
Margraf wiped his eyes and his runny nose with the back of his arm and hand, then hurried to Mika's side. He plucked at the ropes, pulling and yanking, but nothing worked.
'Tam can do it,' said Mika. 'Tam, come here.'
Tam nosed the ropes and then nibbled on them with his sharp canines. Strangely, the ropes resisted even those efforts; Tam sat back and whined in frustration.
Mika looked down at the ropes and saw that they were totally unaffected by Tarn's teeth. Mika realized with a sinking heart that the ropes had to be enchanted. There was no way to remove them unless the enchanter released the spell or Mika used a spdl ю counter it.
He could feel the gemstone rubbing against his chest. His captors had searched him roughly for weapons, but they had not noticed the gemstone. Maybe there was hope yet, much as he did not want to use the blasted stone. But even a curse was better than having your heart ripped out.
Mika tried to remember his spells; whatever he did, he would have to do it from memory. He still had the pouch that contained his spell book-he never took it off anymore, not even when he slept-but he could not get to it because of the ropes.
Mika closed his eyes and concentrated. He thought he remembered the spell, a fairly low-level one he had learned early on but never used. Actually, he had used it just once; he'd been five years old when he tied Celia to a tree and made her eat the 'magic' potion he'd whipped up out of berries and bugs, grass, and dirt. He smiled at the memory.
Looking down at the ropes, he began to speak the words softly under his breath. It was working! He could actually see the ropes writhing, starting to move. Soon they would start to loosen, to fall away from his body. There! Now they were moving! Were they pulling tighter? Yes, tighter! And still tighter! Damn! He'd gotten the spell backward!
'Mika! What's the matter? Your face is all red, and you look funny!' Margraf cried in alarm.
'Wsshfxx! Blrgle!' Mika spluttered as he tried to say the words, to get them out as the rope pulled itself tighter around his chest, squeezing his lungs, cutting off his air and making it virtually impossible to speak.
Somehow with his very last breath he whispered the combination of words that would reverse the spell. As he toppled to the ground he felt the ropes unwind and fall from his body.
Mika lay there for a moment with everyone clustered around him; Tam, RedTail, the princess, and Margraf. The princess even licked his face, which, while he appreciated the sentiment, he could have done without.
Finally he crawled to his feet, one hand pressed against his aching chest, and sat down on the hard stone bench that was part of the wall of the cell.
'I didn't know you were a magician,' said Margraf, wonder and awe apparent in his voice. 'Can you do other tricks like that?'
'That wasn't a trick, boy,' Mika said, his chest still aching. 'I wasn't trying to amuse you.'
'I mean, if you can do that, you can do something that will get us all out of here, can't you? You'll save my dad and the others, won't you?'
Mika looked down at Margraf, saw the frailty and the pallor of his skin, his eyes bright with hope, believing in him. Mika looked away, not having the courage to tell the boy that although he was a magic- user, he wasn't a very good one and that the odds were more in favor of him getting a spell wrong than right. He was an unlikely choice for a savior, but it seemed as though he was the only hope they had.
'I'll do my best, boy, I'll do my best,' he said with a sigh. Margraf beamed up at him as though he had promised him the world.
Shaking his head, wondering how they had gotten into this mess, Mika looked around and tried to wxk out some sort of plan.
It had been dark out when they'd been dragged out of the underground passages. Mika did not have enough knowledge of the city to know in which direction they had been taken. They had traveled through much of the city, through narrow streets and open squares, ending at the foot of the tall pyramid they had seen while still far out on the plains.
Every city block contained a single tall tower silhouetted against the starlit sky, one that was twice as high as the buildings surrounding it. Mika had been perplexed at their purpose, but with the first light of dawn voices rang out in sing-song chants that were vaguely melodic and utterly compelling.
'It is the priests calling the faithful to prayer,' Margraf had explained.
'Who goes?' asked Mika.
'Everyone,' Margraf had replied, 'but they don't go anywhere, they just kneel wherever they are and pray.' Margraf had further explained that the call to prayer occurred four times a day and was always obeyed.
Now, a germ of an idea began to form in Mika's mind.
The prison at the foot of the pyramid was small and square and built of the same red ochre adobe as the rest of the city.
It seemed that the mountain blocked the rainfall. What litde there was fell on the higher elevations to the east and never reached the city. Water was a scarce and precious commodity found only by means of deep wells. Water was rationed out by the priests- and may the gods help anyone who offended a priest.
Margraf and Mika had been placed in one cell along with the wolves. Hornsbuck and several others, including Lufa, had been put in a cell somewhere along the hall that divided the low, one-story building. The windows and door were heavily barred with thick metal rods. Mika examined them carefully and knew that he would never be able to break them or even bend them enough for Margraf to squeeze through.
Once they'd locked the prisoners in their cells, the guards had left the building, confident that there was no way for them to escape. Just before dawn broke, the priests had come and taken Weasel-face and several others
