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"I think so, too. By Saint Cuthbert I swear it!" said Sir Giles
enthusiastically; and the others chimed in with assurances weighed down with
the names of their own favorite saints.
"Humans!" snarled Aragh disgustedly. "Like dogs. No male wolf will force his
attentions on a female one unless she is willing."
"Here's an impertinent wolf!" said the Prince angrily.
Aragh rolled a wicked yellow eye at the young man.
"Remember, I am of a different kingdom," he said. "I am not your subject,
young Prince and I say what I please. I have, and always will. But, unlike
others, you can believe whatever I say because I do not lie."
"It is true you're not anEnglishman," said the Prince, suddenly thoughtful,
"nor yet one of whom a gentleman's manner should be expected. As to your
truth, that is a great thing, if indeed it is so. I have had many about me,
even in my few years, and almost none I could trust to say as much and not be
lying."
"Your Highness, the rest of you," said Jim, "remember, I mentioned time was
slipping away from us. Let's move quickly."
Move quickly they did; and it was not more than fifteen minutes later when
they came at last to a point where the passage proper ended in a solid stone
wall. A flight of stain led off to their left alongside that wall to continue
their route if they wished to go that way.
"Could this be another magic trap?" asked the Prince, looking at the steps
distressfully. It was dark down where the stairs led; and a smell like that of
damp earth came up from it.
"It is not, Highness," said Jim, with some certainty, for the stairway was
nothing but plain stone in color. There was no sign of red anywhere. He went
on.
"I think we've come to the outer wall of the castle," Jim said. "These steps
may well lead down alongside it to the foundations; and then possibly
underneath to some sort of escape passage or tunnel; or I miss my guess.
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Certainly, Malvinne would not want to be without some way of escape in
emergencies."
"In that you are right, James," said Brian. "I know of no castle whose holder
has not madehimself some sort of secret way out, in case of necessity."
"Here we go, then," said Jim.
He created by magic a bundle of twigs, which Brian lit with flint and steel
from his purse. They went down. This was no descent like that into the wild
spiraling chute that had shot them downwards into the realm of the King and
Queen of the Dead. It was more like going down into someone's long-unused
cellar. They came out at last in a tunnel leading off at rightangles, that
soon ran beyond the walls. It was braced with timbers against both of its
sidewalls and paved with stones. For all that, there was plenty of dirt about
them, and their way smelled earthy.
They hurried along its dark length, the flames from the torch bent backward
in their passage, and the shadows cast by those flames flickering amongst the
timbers and on the stony floor. It seemed they went a considerable distance;
and even Jim was beginning to wonder whether they might be heading into some
trap, after all; when they came at last to a solid wooden door that ended the
passage.
The door was secured by a heavy bar which rested in two L-shaped metal
supports. The bar did not look difficult to lift, but Jim, still in the lead,
hesitated. There was no color of red about the door, but he was still
suspicious.
He turned to Aragh, behind him.
"Aragh," he said, "do you smell anything we ought to be careful about, either
with this door or whatever may be beyond it?"
Aragh pushed forward to the door and sniffed it over thoroughly, snuffling
particularly at the side and bottom cracks of it.
"There's nothing beyond, but dirt and growing things," he said at last.
"All right then," said Jim, "let's go through."
He took hold of the bar to lift it. It was not unusually heavy, but had been
in its sockets long enough to become somewhat fixed there. Brian moved forward
to help him; and together they took it out of its holding place. The moment it
was removed, the door swung inward of its own weight.
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