Demons of the Dancing Gods (32 page)

staked out a convenient tree near the other gate. In midaftemoon

they met to compare notes.

"Well, let's see, not counting the dozen or so witches on

broomsticks flying in and out from the top of the tower, we

have a half-dozen Bentar, two ogres, five humans, and four

fairies of unknown but various types," Marge summed up.

"Where does that get us?"

"In, perhaps," Tiana said. "I do wish we knew the exact

time of sundown, though. It would be a great help." She looked

at the sky. "Perhaps three more hours. The moon is already

full, so the transformation- will be directly at sundown, which

is a help. Marge—more work, I fear. We must pray that the

good spirits remain with us and that a target of opportunity

presents itself."

They fell back about a quarter of a mile from the tower and

waited while Marge continued to scout the area. She returned

as sundown was almost upon them and they had just about

given up being able to put the plan into operation that night.

"Rider coming. Bentar on a big black horse. I think it's one

of those that left earlier today."

Tiana nodded. "It will have to do. Joe, get into position.

I'm going to lure it your way if possible."

Joe drew his sword and got behind a tree just inside the

forest. Tiana and he had gone over this many times, but he

was still uncertain about it and still apprehensive about all that

could go wrong. The sun was almost gone, and it would be

cutting things very close indeed, even if all went well.

The Bentar came along the road, dressed in full armor, a

huge, muscular, man-shaped bird with nasty eyes. It was looking

pretty well straight ahead, but Tiana made enough of a

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commotion to attract it by the simple expedient of seeming to

trip over a vine and cursing.

The Bentar officer glanced quickly in her direction and did

not hesitate. Dismounting and drawing its sword at the same

time, it proceeded cautiously into the woods, being as quiet as

a creature as large as it was could be.

Tiana had gotten up and taken cover behind a tree, but she

was careful to leave just a part of leg exposed to view. The

Bentar, after checking the area, suddenly spotted it; while the

great birdlike head remained expressionless as always, a tiny

forked tongue ran out of its mouth and along its beak in anticipation.

Slowly, carefully, the Bentar soldier crept toward

the tree that almost concealed her, passing several other trees

at the same time. After it passed one particularly large specimen,

Joe, still unseen, brought down the flat of his sword on

top of the Bentar's bronze helmet, and the creature toppled

over, groaned once, then lay still.

Tiana quickly rushed over to the fallen soldier, checked,

and nodded to Joe. "Hurry," she told him.

"I'd still rather be the Bentar," he muttered, but he went

out to the road all the same. They had gone over and over this,

and the way they were doing it was the safest and surest way

to do what had to be done.

Marge held and pacified the large horse, but backed off

when Joe approached. He looked around nervously, not quite

knowing what to expect, or even whether this wasn't something

rather stupid. It certainly looked dark enough to him, if this

curse thing were really true. He just stood there, petting the

horse, and hoped that all would go well.

There was a sudden, odd blurring of vision and the fleeting

feeling that he was on fire; then it was over. Marge rushed out,

looking very happy, and she and Tiana hurriedly removed the

saddle, pack, and bridle from the Bentar's horse—and put them

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on Joe, who was now that horse's twin.

Only his prior experience as a bull, when he'd had an encounter

with a Circean, kept him calm and cool. In point offact,

being a horse felt, well, right somehow.

The two women barely got the original horse out of sight

before there was a great stamping and cursing in an inhuman

language issuing from the brush. Joe turned his horse's head

and saw the Bentar, dizzy and rubbing its head, manage to

make its way out to the road. It headed for what it believed

was its horse. Just before mounting, it turned unexpectedly and

shouted, in the universal language, back at the forest, "All

right—you have had your little victory! Enjoy it! None of you

shall leave Witchwood alive, and your fate will be most un-

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pleasant!" With that the Bentar mounted the horse and urged

it slowly forward.

Joe had been uneasy that he wouldn't know how to react,

but he found that his duplicate horse's body felt like and reacted

just like the original. They approached the gate nearest the

ambush spot, and the Bentar reined him in and called out,

"Guards! Open the gate! I have important news!" This was

followed by several under-the-breath curses in the odd-sounding

Bentar tongue, but Joe didn't think he needed a translation.

Despite the sorcerous protections, the place was as well

guarded as any fort, and two sentries appeared atop the wall

with crossbows aimed at the outsider, while a small peephole

in the gate itself slid back to reveal a pair of eyes, then slid

shut again. There were muffled commands given, dogs barked

furiously, and the double gate of bronze and wood opened

inward. The Bentar rode into the castle at this, and Joe was

relieved to find no barrier to his own passage. He had been

worried about what constituted an invitation and had feared

that he would be stopped at the entrance while the Bentar sailed

through.

They entered a courtyard that was larger than Joe had expected

by what could be seen from the forest. Two female

grooms ran to take the bridle and halter as the Bentar dismounted.

The soldier then went immediately to a nearby tower

entrance and stalked inside, while the grooms led Joe to a stable

had been prepared. He was mildly annoyed that he'd found

that the wipe and brush felt really good, and he started in on

the hay without thinking about it. In fact, it wasn't until he'd

eaten his fill and relieved himself in true horse fashion that he

bothered to think much at all. He tried the welcome invitation,

but found that only a contented neighing issued forth; that

brought a curious groom, who petted his head and fed him a

lump of sugar, but nothing else. There seemed little to do but

try to catch some sleep and hope both that he awakened before

dawn and that the Bentar didn't want to go back out that night

on him.

In point of fact, he expected a hue and cry and a full-force

patrol to be dispatched and didn't know whether to be relieved

or apprehensive that neither occurred. He vaguely guessed,

since the Bentar talked to and used birds, that the message was

being conveyed by swifter means and that the avenues of escape

would soon be closed off in the immediate area, with perhaps

a bird search for the strangers in the forest. He hoped that Tiana

and Marge could withstand the search until dawn.

Joe awoke and looked nervously around. He was human

again, and that was definitely sunlight coming in through the

wood slats of the stable. He was stark naked and unarmed, of

course—there had been no way to take or transform his sword

or breechclout—but definitely in control. Except for stepping

in a little horse excrement and reflecting embarrassingly on

where it probably came from, he was in fine shape. First business

first, he decided, reaching up to his left ear. The device,

somewhat to his surprise, had been transformed with him and

was now still there. Keeping his voice low to avoid attracting

a groom, he took hold of the earring, rubbed it, and said,

"Throckmorton P. Ruddygore and any in your service, you are

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free to enter the Dark Tower of Witchwood and invited to do

so."

There was no apparent change, and he only hoped that the

message had been heard and that the wording had been sufficient.

If so, then Marge could reach him if need be by flying,

and whatever the system was of getting word to Ruddygore

would go into immediate action. If not, then he was in for a

pile of trouble.

He wondered how late it was. The cool dampness he felt

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told him that it was still quite early, perhaps just beyond sunrise,

which was fine with him.

He heard someone enter and ducked down, then crept to

the front of the stall, crouching in expectation of an attack.

"Joe?" came a familiar whisper.

He stood up, cautiously looked out, smiled and nodded,

then reached over and undid the latch. "Good to see you,

Marge," he said, keeping his voice low. "And thanks."

She dropped a bundle at his feet and looked greatly relieved.

"That's heavy, damn it, and that sword hates me. I hope you

appreciate what I did for you just now! / carried iron!"

He nodded and quickly re-formed the breechclout and put

it on, followed by sword and belt. Marge had taken a great

risk carrying Irving, and not just from the terrible weight, even

though Tiana had another simple spell to help her for the short

haul here. The glorified loincloth, tied around the hilt and

scabbard of the sword, was all that had been protecting her

from the deadly iron blade. Only the ornate gold and bronze

hilt, which covered the true iron base of the sword, had made

it possible at all.

He hugged her. "Now I think we better get out of here.

Those grooms or Bird-face and his friends will be here any

time."

She nodded gravely. "But where? There are sentries on the

wall that I really had a time avoiding to get in here—that sword

dragged me down a lot—and every place else is their barracks,

the kennels, and the tower."

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"The tower, then. We might as well take risks here. If the

old boy doesn't come through, I'm done for, and probably

Tiana, too." He paused a moment. "She's okay, isn't she?"

"When 1 left her, anyway. She's dug in within sight of the

gate, figuring that's the last place they'll look for her. There

were owls everywhere last night, and at dawn a huge flock of

ravens lifted off from the top of the tower and fanned out in

all directions. I thought I even saw some eagles up there,

believe it or not. The hunt's really on, so her best bet is to stay

still."

They made their way back to the stable door, and Joe peered

nervously out. The sentries were visible on the wall, but they

seemed to be looking either out or straight ahead, and the

courtyard itself appeared clear.

At that moment there was a wild, maniacal cackling sound

from the direction of the tower's upper levels, and the sentries

turned and looked up. There was a sudden roar, and then all

eyes followed a black figure on a broomstick riding out over

the wall to the west.

"I wonder why they always cackle like that?" Marge mused.

"Probably in the Books of Rules," Joe grumbled. "Let's

move before this one turns around for another launch."

They made the barely twenty feet to the tower door with

no trouble, and Joe was relieved to find that it opened when

he tried it. Quickly, both were inside and they shut the door

quietly behind them.

Clearly the tower was a complex place, and they had entered

on the ground floor. Stairways led around the whole outside,

both up and down, and vanished in both directions through

cavities in the floor and ceiling. This level in general looked

barren. There was, however, illumination from torches around

the hall, and a stone altar in the center.

"I don't think we better stop here," Marge said nervously.

"That altar's stone, but it has a reddish look. Before long, this

might be Grand Central Station."

Joe nodded. "Up or down, though?"

"Well, down's probably either the dungeons or Esmerada's

workshop, neither of which I particularly want to visit. I'd say

up. If we hit some novice witch, I might be able to deflect

some of what she has, although my power's not much against

women."

"Up it is," he agreed, and they cautiously crept up the stairs.

The next level was a warren of rooms, but they had no desire

to find out whose. There were definite snores coming from the

darkened level, lots of snores, and some of them sounded

decidedly nonhuman.

They went up through several more levels. These contained

everything from rooms full of various sorcerous paraphernalia

and wardrobes to an entire level in which young women were

preparing meals. That one was not as hard to get through as

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