“Huh,” Gene said thoughtfully.
They came to a large chamber with corbeled walls and plentiful alcoves. In one corner, however, an open door led out to bright daylight.
Gene said, “That doesn’t look like a portal.”
They filed through and came out onto a high terrace with crenellated battlements. Gene looked over the edge. The drop looked to be about eighty stories. Turning and looking up, he saw that there weren’t many more stories above. He turned back and took in the view.
“Not as high as the World Trade Center, but just as heart-stopping.”
“I don’t like heights,” Linda said nervously.
“Neither do I, but look at this place. It’s so complex, it’s hard to take in all at once. Look at all those concentric walls and towers and things.”
Jacoby said, “Magnificent, isn’t it?”
“Twas wizardry built this,” Kwip said under his breath.
“I think those are people moving around down there,” Gene said. “At the foot of this main building here, the one we’re in.”
“Aye, the keep.” Kwip shaded his eyes and looked. “An army. The besiegers.”
They spent a good ten minutes sightseeing, then went back inside.
“Well, at least I have a sense of the boundaries of this place,” Gene said. “It isn’t endless.” He sat on a stone bench. “What we have to do is head
“We’ve tried that before,” Snowclaw said.
“Yeah, I know. But we have to try again.”
“Okay,” Linda said. “Say we make it down all that way. Say we find an elevator. We find the front door, we get out. What do we do then?”
Gene shrugged. “At least we’ll be out of this madhouse.”
“But what’s out there? A strange world we couldn’t possibly live in.”
“Exactly,” Jacoby said from the leather armchair in which he’d ensconced himself. “My boy, you’ve a lot to learn. You must rid yourself of any notion that your being in this castle is a predicament that needs getting out of. The task at hand, inasmuch as we don’t know what our position will be vis-a-vis the besiegers, is to try to maintain what we have here.”
Gene looked at him sourly. “You’re saying that I don’t know how good I have it.”
“Precisely.”
“So we all stay in this Gothic funhouse until we either get eaten by slime creatures from another dimension or go bananas. Is that it?”
“Hardly. One simply makes the best of one’s situation.”
“I still say we should try to find an exit. If there’s a way in, there’s a way out.”
“Not necessarily.”
Kwip was pacing slowly in a circle behind Jacoby’s chair. Until he saw the sweeping view from the terrace, he had thought the castle a human artifact, albeit an enchanted one. Now he was convinced otherwise. Its sheer bulk alone argued for a supernatural origin. And its lord could not possibly be anything less than the Prince of Demons.
“Anything wrong, Kwip?” Linda asked.
“Eh? No, nothing.”
Gene stood. “One thing for sure — we’re not going to find anything hanging around here.”
“You’re right about that, Gene, old buddy,” Snowclaw said. “I don’t know about you people, but it’s too damn warm in this place for me. I got to find me some snow and ice or I’ll go ‘bananas’ too … whatever they are.”
“You want me to conjure a snowbank for you?” Linda said.
“Thanks, Linda. No, not right now, but if I get desperate, I’ll let you know.”
“Let’s look for a way down,” Gene said.
Linda said, “I don’t want to leave the castle, Gene. Not for that wasteland outside.”
“Neither do I, now that you mention it. I was just thinking that we should try to find a way downstairs. If the portal to our world is still open, it’d be down there somewhere. That’s where we came in, I think. Looked like the basement, anyway. Right, Snowy?”
Snowclaw shrugged his massive, furry shoulders. “Hard to tell.”
“Yeah, I know. But let’s give it a try anyway.”
“Sure.”
Jacoby was laughing silently.
“You don’t have to come with us,” Gene said sardonically.
“Sorry,” Jacoby said, “but your stubbornness is rather amusing. Quite admirable in a way, though.”
“Thanks. Linda, are you coming?”
She looked at Jacoby, then at Gene. “Sure,” she said.
“Oh, I’m game for anything,” Jacoby said, rising. “Shall we look for a lift, then?”
Linda said, “Don’t be silly, Mr. Jacoby.”
“Hey,” Gene said, “maybe he has something.”
“Only joking, my boy. As far as I know, there aren’t —”
“No, what I mean is, Linda can conjure one up!”
“Huh?” Linda said, wide-eyed. “Conjure an elevator?”
“Why not?”
Linda thought about it, then threw her arms wide. “Well, by golly, why not?” She stood and stared at the near wall, putting a finger to her chin. Her brow wrinkled. “Hmm,” she mused.
Kwip looked confused. “Pardon —”
“What is it, Kwip?” Gene said.
“At times your speech is passing strange. Pray tell, what is an ‘elevator’?”
“Just watch.”
Before Gene had finished speaking the words, a soft chime sounded. Gene turned his head and saw elevator doors opening in the near wall. Above them an inset light shaped like an arrow glowed red; the arrow pointed downwards.
“Going down?” Gene called.
“Do you think it really works?” Linda said with some concern. “I don’t know anything about mechanical things.”
Gene walked into the small metal cubical and looked it over. “It’s pretty convincing.”
“It could all be an illusion.” Linda entered and stood beside him.
“The food you whipped up certainly was no illusion. I even got heartburn from the bearnaise sauce.” Gene examined the controls. “This looks like your average automatic job, only no floor buttons. Just Up and Down, and, let’s see, what this … Open Door, Close Door, and Emergency Stop. Standard.”
“But why doesn’t it have floor buttons?”
“I don’t know. It’s your elevator. Why doesn’t it?”
Linda brushed a wisp of blond hair from her forehead. “I wish I knew how I do what I do.”
“Yeah, that voodoo that you do so well. Maybe you should give it some thought. C’mon, gang, all aboard.”
They all piled in. With Snowclaw it was a little crowded. Gene checked for toes sticking out, then hit the Close Door switch. Outside and inside doors hissed shut.
The car remained motionless.
“Well,” Gene said. “Here goes.” He hit the Down button.
The floor dropped out from under them. Jacoby shrieked, Linda screamed. Gene yelled, and the car was suddenly a crawl with floating bodies. The elevator plummeted. Gene frantically tried to swim back to the control panel, but Snowclaw’s hairy white bulk was in the way.
They fell for a short eternity. Gene grabbed handfuls of white fur and shook.
“Snowy! The red button!”
“Huh?”
