Part 16 (1/2)

'He'll break that sword; sure as a gun,' grunted Windward. No one else said anything.

The hail was rattling down like grapeshot, but n.o.body heeded it; all their attention was focused on those two straining hands. Suddenly there came a sharp crack! like the sound of a sail flapping in a high wind; and a V-shaped crevice appeared in the centre of the rock barrier, as its two halves gradually tilted sideways away from each other.

Mr Holystone stepped back, slowly withdrawing the sword from the widening crack. He was gasping; his chest heaved with effort. But otherwise it was hard to believe that this was the man who, day after day, had lain unconscious without speech or movement. He glanced at his companions; his eye lit on Dido.

'You are small; you can climb in through that gap,' he said curtly. Without a word, Dido did as she was directed, ignoring Windward's peevish interjection of, 'Wait a moment, now, how do we know what's in there?'

Dido levered herself cautiously through the narrow aperture.

'Anybody at home?' she inquired.

It was pitch-dark inside, but she was heartened and encouraged by the feeling of the cat, vigorously rubbing against her leg. The air was terribly scanty, stale and bad; she found it only just possible to breathe.

'Hey!' she gulped, putting her head back through the crack, 'Fetch up some o' those rumirumi flowers, can you?'

'Aye, aye,' answered Multiple, and she heard his feet thudding off down the gully. Then came a loud cry of amazement or fright.

Dido ignored that. Her eyes were becoming accustomed to the dim light, and she could see a small figure huddled in a corner of the cave.

'Hilloo?' she said softly. 'Who's that? Can you speak? Are you Elen?'

'Yes Elen -' came the faint answer. 'Air please, air!'

'Don't you fret. Air's just a-coming. Rest easy!'

Groping her way across the cave, Dido felt about and found a thin hand, which she clasped comfortingly; it seemed very small, not even as large as her own.

In five minutes or less, Mr Multiple was back with an armful of rumirumi lilies which he thrust through the gap; outside, beyond the rock, Dido could hear him excitedly telling the others some piece of news which evoked gasps of amazement and disbelief from Windward and Noah. 'Go look for yourselves!' said Mr Multiple.

Dido meanwhile held the bundle of flowers close to the prisoner's face.

'There!' she whispered. 'Breathe deep now. That'll set you right in a brace o' shakes!'

The prisoner breathed, gulped, and coughed. Cough, thought Dido; a convulsion of the lungs; she felt around on the floor of the cave and discovered a small, thick book, which felt as if it were bound in leather.

'Guess you won't need to tear out any more pages now, hey? Feeling stronger, are you? Think you can manage to climb out? Or shall I ask them outside to pa.s.s in a bit of bread and a hardboiled egg?'

'No no I am better now, thank you. I think I can climb out.'

'That's the dandy. Wait till I help you up. Slowly does it.'

a.s.sisted by Dido the prisoner scrambled slowly through the narrow crack. ”Willing hands were waiting to receive her on the far side.

When Dido emerged herself, holding the book, she discovered that the hail had changed to freezing, driving snow. Lieutenant Windward, Mr Holystone, Noah and the rescued prisoner were already making their difficult way down the gully. Mr Multiple had waited to help Dido.

'Well done, young 'un!' he congratulated her. 'Reckon she'd never a got out if it weren't for you! But come on now don't dally it's cold enough to freeze a bra.s.s baboon.'

'You take this book and the flowers, then I'll carry the cat ' for it had jumped back through the gap with Dido. 'What was all that yelling about?' she asked, as they slipped and stumbled down the rocky hillside in the blizzard.

'I'll show you. Just look here!' Mr Multiple paused by a big rock. Something purple and silver gleamed beyond it. With total astonishment, Dido, coming up beside him, saw the body of a woman sprawled among the black boulders. Already snow was veining the folds of her satin dress and whitening her dishevelled hair. She had been wearing a loo-mask, but the string had broken, and it lay beside her face. Dido recognised her.

'It's Mrs Vavasour the dressmaker. How the blazes did she get here? Is she dead?'

'As a doornail.'

'But where did she come from?'

'You remember the big owl? The one that lit on your head, and Holystone spiked it with his sword? Well, that's her! I saw the owl fly to that rock, and then it toppled off dead. And there she lies. She was the owl!'

'Mussy save us,' whispered Dido. She was really stunned by this discovery.

'I used to hear tell, when I was in the West Indies Station,' said Mr Multiple, as they went on slithering down the hill, 'of witches who could turn themselves into hares or foxes or birds; but I never believed it above half.'

'There were two owls,' s.h.i.+vered Dido. 'I wonder where the other went?'

She thought of the two women who had abducted her; of the two who had accompanied Lady Ettarde. Were they the same? Where was Mrs Morgan now?

'It better not come near me,' said Mr Multiple cheerfully, 'or I'll give it neighbour's fare. I'll settle its hash like that one.'

'Maybe you need Mr Holystone's sword,' said Dido.

By the time they reached the burros, the rest of the party were mounted and waiting for them impatiently. There was no time for talk or congratulation; the weather had become too wild.

'Come on!' called Mr Windward. 'I reckon the Guardian's stable that Dylan told us of can't be too far off. If we don't get to it soon we'll all freeze in our tracks!'

The rescued prisoner had been laid in the litter, wrapped in sheepskins, and Mr Holystone had mounted one of the baggage burros. They set off at a rapid pace. Snow slashed their faces like cutla.s.s-blades, and the donkeys slipped and staggered as the stones became coated with ice; it was horrible riding. Fortunately in less than twenty minutes they reached the end of the lake; by then their faces, clothes, and all exposed surfaces were cased in a layer of ice. Not a moment too soon they came to a low building, solidly built of clay and thatched with ichu gra.s.s; the door, though closed, was not fastened, and they all bundled inside, pell-mell, riders and beasts together.

'Anybody about? May we come in?' shouted Windward, but there was no reply; the place was empty, save for a few mules and a couple of llamas, who stared placidly at the intruders.

Noah and Mr Multiple instantly began to kindle a fire, having discovered a clay hearth and a pile of thorn and llama droppings apparently intended as fuel.

A wide clay shelf along the side of the building was evidently meant to serve both as a table, chairs and bed, for any travellers making use of the place. Lieutenant Windward heaped some ruanas on a section of this near the fire, and then a.s.sisted the rescued captive to lie down.

'How are you feeling now, Miss?' he inquired very politely.

The fire blazed up. Dido could see now that the prisoner was a girl perhaps four years older than herself. Elen wore a very plain grey dress with a white tucker, and a brown pinafore over it, reaching to her ankles. She had blue stockings, buckled shoes, and a blue cap that fitted her head closely and had four square corners. She was desperately thin and frail. Despite that she was the most beautiful person that Dido had ever seen. Her face had a kind of transparent clearness like the mountains at sun-up, Dido thought, or one o' them waterfalls. Her eyes were large and grey, her nose straight, her mouth wide and smiling. Silky brown curtains of hair fell on either side of her forehead.

'I am alive!' she said, in answer to Windward's question. Thanks to you all! And to Tildrum here.' The cat had jumped up beside her and she was fondling its head.

'How did you ever get behind that rock?' demanded the lieutenant.

'Are you King Mabon's daughter?' said Dido.

The girl smiled at her and held out a hand.

'Yes, I am Elen. And I have to thank you, especially, for climbing through that cranny, and thinking to get me the rumirumi flowers!'

You have to thank me for a deal more than that, Dido thought, taking the small thin hand for the second time and smiling back at the princess of Lyonesse.

'How many o' them cats did you have to start?' she asked.