gain your help for the King. The end does not justify the mean.' He had heard King Trent say that, in his own time, but had not appreciated its full meaning until now. End and mean-or was it ends and means? 'You have been generous to me and Jumper, because you understood our needs and respected them. How could you respect Millie if-'
For the first time, they saw Millie angry. 'I wasn't trying to use him! He's a nice man! It's just that I made a promise to the King, and I can't just go off and do something else and let the whole Kingdom fall!'
Dor was chagrined. He had not really understood her innocence. 'I'm sorry, Millie. I thought-'
'You think too much!' she flared.
'Yet your thought does you credit,' the Zombie Master said to Dor. 'And your naivete' does you credit, too,' he said to Millie. 'I was aware of the ramifications. I am accustomed to trading for favors. This is not an evil, when the conditions of exchange are openly negotiated. I am simply prepared to compromise, in this circumstance. If it is necessary to save the Kingdom to make the lady happy, then I am prepared to save the Kingdom. Quid pro quo. I am pleased that the damsel keeps her word to the King so stringently; I can reasonably suppose that she would similarly keep her word to you, Dor. Or to me, were she to give it.'
'I haven't given it!' Millie protested. 'Not to anyone! Not that way.' But she seemed subtly nattered.
'The matter may be academic,' Jumper chittered. 'We are under siege here, and lack the means to do more than defend ourselves within this castle, with the aid of the loyal zombies. We cannot help the King anyway.'
'And even if there were no siege,' the Magician said, 'I have suffered attrition of zombies. They are immortal, but when physically destroyed, with the pieces lost, they become useless. I could only bring a token force to the aid of the King. Not enough to overwhelm the curse on Castle Roogna.'
'You could make more zombies,' Dor said. 'If you had more dead bodies.'
'Oh, yes, without limit. But I need intact bodies, and fresh ones are best.'
'Could we but overcome the Mundanes,' Jumper chittered, 'we could use their bodies to fashion a mighty army.'
'If we had a mighty army, we could use it to vanquish the Mundanes,' Dor pointed out. 'Closed circle.'
'I do not wish to interfere with human concerns,' Jumper chittered. 'But I believe I see a course through the impasse. There is some risk entailed-'
'There is risk entailed in remaining under siege,' the Zombie Master said. 'Present your notion; we can consider its merit jointly.' He placed another piece of puzzle, uttering the mergeance spell under his breath. 'It is an arrangement, a series of agreements utilizing all our efforts,' Jumper chittered. 'The Zombie Master and Millie must defend this castle for a time alone, while I convey Dor outside by night. I can swing him along a line to a near tree so that no one will notice. The Mundanes can not see as well as I can in darkness. Then Dor must use his talent to locate some of the real monsters of the wilderness-the dragons and such-and enlist their aid.'
'Dragons will not help men!' Dor protested. 'They would not be helping men,' Jumper chittered. 'They would be fighting men.'
'But-' Then Dor caught on. 'Mundanes!'
'But we are people too,' Millie said. Jumper angled his head to cock eyes of three different sizes at her. He was obviously not human. 'Well, still-' she faltered.
'I will be with Dor,' Jumper chittered. 'They will know me for a monster, and him for a Magician. Inside the castle will be another Magician and a woman, and many zombie animals. No normal human men. We will convey this promise: any monsters who die in the battle to lift the siege will be restored as zombies. But mainly, they will have the thrill of killing men with impunity. The King will not condemn them for what they do, since it is to assist him.'
'It just might work!' Dor exclaimed. 'Let's go!'
'Not until dark,' Jumper chittered.
'And not until you've eaten,' Millie added. She bounced off to the kitchen.
Jumper placed a final puzzle-piece and retired to an upstairs rafter to rest. That left Dor and the Zombie Master with the puzzle, which was coming along nicely. They had largely completed the center, with the scene of Castle Roogna, and were working toward the Zombie Master's castle. Dor was increasingly curious to know how it would turn out. Would they be able to see themselves in it, under Mundane siege? How much of reality did these magic pictures reflect?
'Are you really going to help the King?' Dor asked. 'I mean, if we break the siege here?'
'Yes. To please the lady. And to please you.'
Still Dor was troubled. 'There is something else I must tell you.'
'You are about to risk your life in the defense of my castle. Speak without inhibition.'
'The lady?is doomed to die young. I know this from history.'
The Zombie Master's hand froze, with a translucent piece of puzzle held between gaunt ringers. The piece changed from warm red light to cold blue ice. 'I know that you would not deliberately deceive me.'
Maybe he had spoken too uninhibitedly 'I would be deceiving you if I failed to warn you. She-maybe death is not the right word. But she will be a ghost for centuries. So you will not be able to-' Dor found himself overcome by remorse at what he could not prevent. 'I think someone will murder her, or try to. At age seventeen.'
'What age is she now?'
'Seventeen.'
The Magician rested his head against his band. The puzzle-piece turned white. 'I suppose I could
