Reversing our feeling for each other. Would that not be an excellent defense?'
'Reversing emotion! That would mean the stronger the friendship, the worse the-'
'I am extremely angry with you,' Jumper chittered.
'I am absolutely furious with you.'
'Are we both as angry as it is possible to be? That would indicate a very strong friendship.'
'Yes!' Dor cried, and it was as if a band about his heart had burst. 'This spell-it could set whole armies against each other!' he exclaimed, seeing it. 'The moment anyone jogs the knob, he activates it.' The logic had now penetrated to his core; he had no further doubt they were the victims of a malignant spell. His hate for his friend was dissipating. It simply was not reasonable in the circumstance. Jumper's approach had not really been sneaky; the spider normally moved silently, and Dor's attention had been taken by the knob. Dor had assumed Jumper was his enemy for no good reason-except enchantment.
'May I release you now?' Jumper chittered.
'Yes. I realize what happened. It was a temporary spell, losing power with time.'
'Reason abates much magic,' Jumper agreed. He swung across, and with a few deft motions freed Dor. 'I regret this happened,' he chittered.
'So do I! Oh, I'm sorry, Jumper! I should have realized-'
'I was caught too. Emotion overcame reason-almost.'
'But tell me-why didn't you bite my head off? I thought you were about to.'
'The temptation was great. But one does not ordinarily kill a defenseless enemy unless one is hungry. One stores the meat alive until needed. And I do not like the taste of your type of flesh. So it was counter to logic to slay you, and that bothered me. I prefer to be governed by logic. I try to understand the complete situation, to achieve perspective at all times. To get all eight eyes on it, as we arachnids chitter.'
'I didn't try to think things out,' Dor admitted ruefully. 'I just fought!'
'You are younger than I.'
Therefore immature, and thoughtless, prone to errors of ignorance and emotion. How well he knew it! The spider's maturity had saved them again, providing the time and thought they needed to fight free of the spell. 'Just how old are you, Jumper?'
'I hatched half a year ago, in the spring.'
'Half a year!' Dor exclaimed. 'I hatched-I mean was born-twelve years ago. I'm way older than you!'
'I suspect our cycles differ,' Jumper said diplomatically. 'In another quarter year I shall be dead of old age.'
Dor was shocked. 'But I've hardly had time to know you!'
'It is not how long one lives, but how well one lives that is important,' Jumper chittered. 'This quest with you has been generally excellent living.'
'Except for the goblins and the Mundanes,' Dor said, remembering.
'You ventured in quest of the healing elixir at great peril to yourself to enable me to survive the Mundanes' torture,' Jumper reminded him. 'Perhaps the episode was worthwhile, showing me the extent of your loyalty. Come, let us finish our mission without regret.'
Would he have been so nice about having one of his own legs pulled off, to verify the friendship of the spider? Dor doubted it. It seemed he still had some maturing to do.
They dropped to the ground and set their markers to skirt widely around the enchanting wooden knob. This forest defense seemed unnecessarily devious, but of course an obvious trap could more readily be circumvented.
Dor found himself sobered, and not merely by the hostile magic. Jumper-dead in three months!
Chapter 10
Battle
They arrived at Castle Roogna without further significant event, in the afternoon. The King was highly gratified by their tidings. 'So you persuaded the Zombie Master! How did you do that?'
'Actually, Millie did it,' Dor said, remembering the possible limitations of his own actions. 'She is marrying the Zombie Master.'
'That must have been some effort you people put forth!'
'It was.' Better to omit the details.
'How soon will the zombies arrive?'
'It should be within a day of us, if nothing goes wrong.' Then Dor put his hand to his mouth. 'But we marked the route so that nothing can go wrong!'
'Let's hope so,' the King said dryly. 'We had better establish regular communication. That will be a problem, because the goblin forces control the ground and the harpy forces control the air. I did not summon my troops home because their passage through monster-controlled territory would have been unconscionably hazardous. So I have no military couriers. Let me see.' He pondered briefly, while Dor suffered a bad qualm: no troops to defend Castle Roogna! 'Too bad there's not a river flowing between us. We'll have to use the ground.'
'The dragon-horse!' Dor exclaimed.
'No, I let my dragons go, too, to defend their own homesites, which are more vulnerable than this tall Castle. Let's see what sort of fish we have.'
'Fish?' Dor asked blankly. 'But they can't-'
