bloodshed by raising the white flag.'
'Never,' thundered Festil pounding his fist on the table. 'This stronghold has never fallen and it shall not fall now. Or if indeed we cannot hold, we will defend the walls to the last man for the honor of our fair lady.'
'I think, my lord,' Periac said, 'that our fair lady's honor is better preserved by subterfuge than by singing sword. If we surrender, you men-at-arms will become captives, yes. But we lowly tradesmen might be allowed to go our way after performing for our captors some of the same services we have done for you. The queen can slip out with us and then return to Ambrosia unharmed.'
'And do you not think that every cart that leaves this place will be searched from axle to highpost once the fair lady is found missing in the keep?' Festil said. 'And how could anyone miss her beauty, no matter what maid's dress you cast her in? Her doom would be sealed on the spot, once such a scheme was exposed.'
'Her beauty is renowned, yes,' Periac said, rubbing his hands together with deliberate slowness. 'But with my craft we could alter that. A small simulation, a wax head, and then in an instant it would be over. A bulbous nose, thrusting chin, slanting brow, and pox on the cheeks. No one would choose to look at her. And then once safely away, we can restore her countenance to what it was before.'
'You mean to apply a disguise,' Vendora said, 'as if I were an actress playing the part of an old crone?'
'I do not speak of makeup, my fair lady,' Periac said. 'The face I would give you would be as real as the one you have now. The sores would ooze real pus and no putty or paint would stick to a searcher's hand. They could not detect it.'
'Then how surely can you undo what you have done, master Periac?' Vendora said with the softness missing from her voice.
Periac rubbed his hands together more forcefully. 'I am a skilled practitioner, my fair lady. My eye is still good, my hand firm and my memory sharp. I doubt that anyone would notice a significant difference when we were done.'
All eyes turned to the queen to await her response. She touched her hand to her cheek and then back to smooth her hair. Alodar held his breath trying to imagine the same gold dusted to dirty brown atop a pock-marked and misshapen face, painful to see. He thought of his resolve of the night before and how strong it might be if Periac's transformation were indeed so.
Suddenly, before the answer could form on Vendora's lips, another page burst into the room, blood streaming from his nose and ears. 'The south wall,' he gasped. 'Scaling ladders, too many of them. We could not hold. Flee, my fair lady. Flee as best you can.'
'Quickly, my fair lady, this way.' Festil bolted from the table and motioned to the rear exit from the chamber. 'The rest of you, to the bailey floor. Secure the keep from the intruders.'
The assemblage exploded for the doorways like pieces of shattered glass. The advisors scrambled by Alodar, and he hesitated as he watched Festil usher Vendora and Aeriel out the other way. In an instant he made his decision. As the curtains swished shut, he rushed after the departing queen.
He sprang into the passageway beyond the conference room and saw the three descending a long spiral staircase like the one he had climbed in the morning, but narrower and with no windows to the outside. As they disappeared from view, Alodar plunged down the stairs. Down and down he sped, just able to catch sight of Vendora's flowing gown around the curve. He glanced over his shoulder and saw Periac about the same distance behind, racing after.
More openings whizzed by on the inside, but the outside curve remained featureless and unbroken. Only an occasional torch on the wall prevented total darkness. Around and around the stairs wound, until Alodar completely lost his sense of direction.
Finally the staircase ended and joined a level walkway that continued to curve about the keep. Alodar increased his speed and closed on those in the lead. He raced around nearly half the circumference and then saw a flash of copper from the top of Aeriel's head as she disappeared into a square-cut hole in the stone floor. He ran to the opening and peered inside, motioning Periac to hurry and catch up. A second staircase spiraled into a room below, where Festil was busily straining at a large lever hinged on the wall, while Aeriel and Vendora descended.
'Why, it's the first chamber,' Alodar exclaimed. 'The one with the iron slab on the floor.'
Festil looked up, unable to budge the giant lever from where he found it. 'Quickly, man,' he said. 'Help me here so that we can seal them out.'
Periac caught up with Alodar and together they descended into the room. All three tugged at the lever, and slowly it began to move. Alodar glanced back up at the opening through which they had come and saw a giant stone slab, held against the ceiling on metal tracks, sliding in response. It rumbled across the opening and thudded into place, sealing off the entrance from above.
Festil and Periac collapsed to the ground, holding their sides and panting from the exertion. The two women leaned against the walls, chests heaving, unable to speak. Alodar glanced about the chamber he had visited two nights before and saw no change. A square-cut slab of iron, rusted red from the dampness, sat in the center of a featureless floor. The circle of round walls had no structure except for indentations for the lighting oil and the four archways that radiated to the castle's corner towers. Only the lever which closed the exit to the keep seemed to serve any purpose.
Alodar moved about the room, glancing into the long dark tunnels radiating from it. Three were pitch black, giving no clue as to what lay beyond. But as he looked into the fourth, he saw a procession of many torches and heard the jingle of mail. Even in the distance, he could recognize Feston's bright surcoat reflecting the torchlight.
Soon Feston and the group he brought with him were in the chamber and fanning out to explore the entrances to the other passageways. 'My fair lady,' he said, 'thank the amulets that you are safe and not in Bandor's grasp. We may yet win praise for the sagas on this day.'
Vendora pushed herself from the wall and straightened to a free standing position, brushing down the disarray of her gown and readjusting the aquamarine to its proper position.
'How stand our forces now, lord Feston?' she gasped, still gulping air between her words.
'Not well, my fair lady,' Feston replied, 'but not so badly that there is not hope still. The battle rages fiercely on the bailey above, and I think in the end it will be to no avail. But we have secured the lower levels under each tower, just as you have done with the keep, and we find no sign of Bandor's forces here to peril us. The bulk of our defenders are left above, alas, to fend as best they can, and we could not prevent some craftsmen coming down into these fortifications along with men-at-arms. But we have secured most of the food and I think, judging from these walls, lack not for water. It will be a long while before Bandor can begin to hope of reaching us.'
'With the queen so neatly bundled up,' Aeriel interrupted, 'why should he even care? Do you propose no more than to await our fate just as we have done for the last forty-three days? I am not trained in matters of war as you are, my lords,' she said, 'but it seems to me that these chambers and passageways serve a better purpose than to pass the time. I think aloud and without deliberation, but do not these walls and interconnectings at least give us an element of surprise? When Bandor eventually takes full command of the castle above, he will find the five entrances to us, and probably can do no more than station guards at all positions to await what we would do next. He must split his forces into fifths, and we can concentrate ours to strike at one?and at a time of our own choosing.'
'Necessity imparts sharpness to your thoughts, lady Aeriel,' Festil said while rising slowly to stand besides his son. 'Quite surely I believe you have hit upon the intent of the castle's original design. If the walls were to fall, the towers would still have to be taken; then with underground communication, each could aid the others so that all might stand. But on balance, my son's plan seems a good one. We have not the towers, but only the chambers underneath them. In addition, the blood of Bandor's vassals now runs hot with victory and lust for rape and plunder. Our salvation may be a surprise thrust, as you say, but I think it wise to sit until our captor's zeal cools in the careless boredom of guard duty before we try.'
'Well enough, lord Festil,' Vendora said softly. 'We need time to assess our situation. Lord Feston, continue to conduct yourself as you have. I appoint you commander of whatever forces remain. See that order is established and the entrances to these dungeons well guarded.'
As she spoke, the queen looked around the high and windowless walls of the chamber and reached behind her for a cloak that was not there.
'Here, my fair lady,' Feston said dramatically, releasing the clasp of the cape of the man who stood near and
