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about his person, the bow over his shoulder and the quiver full of arrows at
his hip.
"Now," he said, "come outside with me. Secoh, have you got weapons, chain
shirts and helms for both Giles and Brian?"
Secoh nodded, a large cloth-wrapped bundle in his arms.
Jim led them out into the corridor and closed the door behind him. Using the
same warding spell he had used around the broken sapling and red cloth that
had been a signal to Aargh, earlier, he set up a ward around the room. Then on
second thought he thought of an addition of his own to this. He mentally wrote
on the inside of his forehead:
REINFORCE WARD WITH EVER-INCREASING ? FEAR
Since he had been doing all this in his head, his companions had been staring
at him, wondering what he was about. He stopped now to explain to them.
"I've put a ward that is, I've set a protection about this room, so no one
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can get into it," he told them. "Also, I added a little extra flourish. I've
got it fixed now so anyone trying to get in is going to be very frightened."
"Frightened?" said Dafydd curiously. "May I try?"
"Certainly," said Jim. "Go ahead. You'll find the door will open and let you
in a little ways. But I don't think you'll go any farther."
Dafydd took hold of the latch of the door and pushed it inward until it was
only partly open and then attempted to put a foot through the entrance. He
backed away hurriedly, closing the door behind him.
When he turned to Jim, his face was pale and there was a faint sheen of sweat
on his forehead.
"I'm not a man prey to many fears, look you," he said, "but what you have
there is something I believe no one could face."
Secoh opened his mouth, as if he would offer to try himself; but at a frown
from Jim closed it again. They went back down the stairs. At the bottom, the
common-room looked as usual. There were no more than three customers. Whatever
preparations were being made for storming the room belonging to Jim and the
others had to be going on behind closed doors, someplace else.
The customers in the common-room looked right through them, so clearly the
invisibility element was working well enough. They got out into the street.
"Hold on a second," said Jim, catching Dafydd by the arm, so that the other
turned to face him. "We don't even know where the court is."
"I know," said Dafydd. "It was one of the things I felt we would need, so I
got from the 'prentice as much as he knew of the court and where Giles and
Brian might be. I can lead us to the chateau which holds the court itself; but
I am less sure that I can easily find the entrance within to where the
dungeons would be. But since we're invisible, we should be able to search and
find them for ourselves. Think you not so, James?"
"Yes. Absolutely," said Jim.
The Royal Chateau, it turned out, was some distance away. It was a somewhat
long hike, consequently, clear acrossBrest to its east side and away from the
harbor near which the inn was set. Also, this was now an embarkation port; the
streets swarmed with horses and men, knights, crossbowmen, men-at-arms and
servants all of whom could not see them and whom they had to avoid. But they
came at last to the chateau. The main entrance had guards; but it was a simple
matter to wait until these stood aside for someone recognized to enter, and
follow closely behind him. Once inside they spoke in whispers.
Jim had thought, but too late, of also making their voices unhearable. Now,
he did not want to take the chance of making fresh magic in the building
holding the court, itself. It was reasonable that his magic would not be
likely to trigger off whatever warnings Ecotti had set up. But this close, the
danger was too great.
Accordingly, he waited until they were in the building and could find a
corner where they could stand invisibly without being walked into by the
inhabitants. Once there, he pulled Secoh and Dafydd close to him; and they
discussed in whispers which direction in the building they should take next.
It was in fact, a long, rambling structure, but stoutly built, like a
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one-storied castle with an occasional tower or section of second story
interrupting it. Plainly it had not been built to any plan, but more or less
grown, as successive owners had added what they wanted to its architecture.
"The 'prentice seemed to think," whispered Dafydd, "that the quarters of King
Jean and his immediate attendants were at the very end of the west wing."
"All right," said Jim, "we'll try there first. Dungeons should be close, but
underground. Keep your eyes open, though, for any stairs that lead down.
Dafydd, since you know more about the place than either Secoh or myself, why
don't you lead?"
"I will that," whispered Dafydd.
He glided off. Aside from his invisibility, his skill as a woodsman to move
silently made him an excellent leader here. His gaze was alert for anything
which might be an intersection, or a place where they might be confronted by a
gathering of people it would be difficult to go either around or through.
It was probably an illusion, thought Jim; but the distances within the
building seemed almost as long to him as their walk through the streets to get
here. But at last they reached an area where the furnishings became more
luxurious and Dafydd drew them aside into the niche of a window alcove. Bright
sunlight lanced through the glass beside them, for all the windows here had
been paned.
"From here," said Dafydd, "the corridor splits to two corridors. From this
point I've no more idea of which way we might take than anyone else. James,
what do you think?"
Jim considered the situation.
"The right corridor," he said at last slowly, "has windows. The left corridor
doesn't. I'd bet the left-hand corridor leads more directly to King Jean's
apartments; since his rooms would have windows looking out the other side of
the building."
He thought a moment.
"So, let's try the left corridor. We might even do better than just trying
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