Part 9 (1/2)
”There has been no place where we could have turned aside,” she a.s.sured him. ”Nowhere has there appeared any other way open to us.”
”And yet we have gone astray,” the Prince insisted. ”There can be no doubt of it. All that I see now, I have never seen before.”
”You are sure of it?” asked his companion.
”I am sure of it.”
The eyes of the Shadow Witch flashed with sudden understanding. ”It is the enchantment of my brother,” she declared. ”Lest, perhaps, I should escape him, he has closed the true way, and left this open as a trap for me. Be sure that it leads not to the Cave Hall, except through dangers into which he believes that I will not dare to venture.”
”Be these dangers what they may,” replied Prince Ember, ”I will, by my good magic, overcome them all. And now, since there is no way but this, let us go upon it without tarrying.”
”Indeed, we cannot choose but take it,” agreed the Shadow Witch.
They resumed their journey, therefore, and now, though the way behind them had been gloomy, that which stretched before them grew more and more so; yet the darker it became about them, the brighter was the glow that streamed from Prince Ember, and the more surely was the Shadow Witch sustained and cheered thereby.
After a while, they saw that they were approaching an open s.p.a.ce, which was wrapped in thick darkness. Beyond it their eyes could not penetrate, but in its midst they beheld shapes like wreaths of vapor arising from below.
The Shadow Witch turned pale, and caught Prince Ember by the arm to draw him back. ”Go no farther!” she cried in warning. ”Go no farther, I beg of you! Yonder is certain destruction for us both! It is the Pit of Fumes! Those dread and yellow mists carry poison in their breath!”
”Though that be so, yet I must conquer them, for behind us lies your prison,” the Prince replied to her. ”To it we must not return.”
”Never shall you risk such danger for my sake,” the Shadow Witch answered firmly. ”Better an endless prison for me than such dreadful peril for you. I speak of what I know-none but my brother has ever dared to enter yonder place. You shall not go.”
”And when this place is pa.s.sed,” demanded the Prince, ”what lies beyond?”
”What matters it what lies beyond, when destruction lies between?” she murmured sadly. ”Were the way ever so open when the Pit is pa.s.sed, it is closed to us who stand upon this side.”
”What lies beyond?” demanded he again. ”Answer me truly, for I must know.”
Then the Shadow Witch knew that she must tell him. She covered her face with her hands, and her tears fell fast. For a moment she could not speak.
Prince Ember dried her tears with a tender hand. ”What lies beyond?” he insisted gently.
The Shadow Witch clung to him desperately. ”The way to the Cave Hall,”
she admitted. ”But, oh, I cannot let you venture where the Pit lies. No, no! Many times have I heard my brother boast to his neighbors that none but himself can draw nigh to it.”
”Listen, dear Shadow Witch,” said the Prince consolingly, ”yonder is a place of terror, in very truth, yet we shall pa.s.s it safely, in spite of that. There is good magic which can put to naught even this evil Pit of your brother's. Look-I will show you.”
He thrust his hand into his breast, and took out a small round box which was hidden there. ”This is the gift of him who is oldest and wisest in all the Kingdom of the Fire,” he told her. ”When he gave it, he a.s.sured me that when the dangers of the way were greatest, when the way itself seemed closed beyond all hope, that this which my box contains will conquer the danger and make the road to safety plain.”
Opening the box he took out the piece of charcoal that lay within.
”Stay you here,” he bade her, ”until I have prepared the way.”
But she was not willing that he should go without her. ”Whatever comes, we meet it side by side,” she declared.
Nothing that he could say would persuade her to do otherwise, and so at last he consented, but as they drew nearer to the Pit, the noisome odor of its fumes swept toward her and overcame her. Her face grew pale, and she began to sink to the ground.
The Prince knew, that in spite of her courage, she could endure no more. He led her back a little way, and forced her gently to rest upon a jutting of the wall. There he left her, weak and trembling, to await his return.
Stronger arose the breath of the Pit, and yet more deadly grew its fumes as the Prince drew near it, but he was undismayed. Straight toward the yellow mists he went, and in his hand was the gift of the Wise One.