[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
his room."
"Should there be any need," Dafydd asked, "to use magic at all?"
"Maybe," answered Jim. "I'll try to use it to make the jailer think they have
to be taken to the King and Ecotti. I'll make them invisible too. Then we'll
Page 114
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
all go up together, invisibly, into the King's presence I'll fix things so
Giles and Brian can see us. Then we'll have the four of us together; and,
hopefully, the King and perhaps even Ecotti to ourselves."
He stopped and thought a moment.
"No," he said. "I'll have to do it all by hypnosis. If we show up with the
other two with any kind of magic about us, and Ecotti's there, he'll smell it
and know immediately what's going on."
"Why can he smell magic and you can't?" asked Secoh interestedly.
"Well," said Jim, "it's because I'm not a very good magician, yet. I haven't
learned enough so that I can smell the presence of magic. But of course he "
He broke off, suddenly thoughtful.
"Wait a minute," he said. "Carolinus said that the sorcerer's magic couldn't
compare to that of a magician's. But I'm sure that he was thinking of a
magician of his level or at least fairly near it."
He paused, still thinking hard.
"But maybe," he said, "it could be looked at the other way& "
He stopped and smiled at Secoh.
"Secoh," he said, "you just may have given me an idea. Damn this brain of
mine that misses what's most obvious!"
Chapter Twenty
The other two were staring at him. He grinned.
"M'Lord," said Dafydd and his use of the formal address for Jim was a signal
that the matter had suddenly become very important "what idea is this, now?"
His grin widened.
"You know, Dafydd, Secoh," he said, "in some ways I'm an idiot."
The other two protested at once that he wasn't.
"Oh, yes," said Jim. "I never thought of turning the thing around and looking
at it from the other side. I'm not much of a magician; but maybe that's not
the point. Maybe the point is how much of a sorcerer is Ecotti? Now, with any
magician I would have expected him to come awake the minute we were outside
his door; even before the servant opened it and we were able to look in and
see him sleeping. He should have woken immediately and taken action magical
action against us. But he's not a magician."
"But you just said he worked magic " Secoh said puzzledly.
"That alone doesn't make him a magician," Jim answered. "He's a sorcerer, as
Carolinus says. It could be that sorcerers are nowhere near as good at sensing
the presence of magic around them as magicians. Or maybe just Ecotti himself
isn't very good at that. Now, if that's the case "
"Perhaps we can walk right up to him and he'll never even see us," said Secoh
brightly.
Page 115
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
Dafydd frowned at the dragon in human shape, and Secoh looked crestfallen.
"Sorry," he said in a small voice. "I know I shouldn't talk, just listen. But
I get carried away."
"That's all right, Secoh," said Jim. "It just might be, if I'm right, that we
can do exactly what you just said. The point is, though, it'd be a gamble. It
could be that once awake he can sense magic as well as any well, at least as
well as a low-level magician like me. Or it could be that while he can't sense
magic well when it's right under his nose, so to speak, he'll sense it. But at
least we've got a good chance of having the four of us, armed, alone with the
King of France and Ecotti himself."
"Ah!" said Secoh, all but rubbing his hands together in anticipation.
"If," Jim went on, "I can somehow use magic to tie Ecotti's hands, then we've
got a couple of valuable prisoners that can tell us things, instead of them
making Brian and Giles tell them things."
"We might," put in Dafydd thoughtfully, "even have hostages, James, who could
help us get out of this city."
Jim thought for a moment.
"Maybe," he said, "but come to think of it, we don't want to attract that
much attention to ourselves. It would be better all around if we can simply
have the King and Ecotti forget all about seeing us; and then get away as
quietly and invisibly as we can, taking whatever we've learned toEngland and
Sir John Chandos "
He broke off.
"Here comes a servant now," he hissed, dropping his voice to a whisper.
He waved the other two back into the window niche, and himself, still
invisible, stepped out to stand directly in the way of the incoming servant.
True to what he had expected, the fact that the man was essentially under
hypnosis rather than under a magic spell alone, caused him to unconsciously be
aware that Jim was in his way, even if his mind refused to credit the fact,
and he tried to go around Jim.
Jim abruptly made himself visible, by hiding the twig with his hand.
"Stop," said Jim, meeting the servant's eye, as he hastily wrote on his
forehead:
YOU ARE ? HYPNOTIZED
The man stopped.
"Now listen to me," said Jim. "You can't see me or hear me, but you will obey
what I tell you. The King has charged me with a new order for you, that is
more important than whatever else you were told to do. You are to show me the
way down to the dungeons. Do you know where they are? Nod your head, if you
do."
This servant also nodded his head.
"All right, then," said Jim. He made himself invisible again. "Turn around,
Page 116
ABC Amber Palm Converter, http://www.processtext.com/abcpalm.html
and lead off. We'll be right behind you."
He glanced back to see if Secoh and Dafydd were with him, as he began to
follow the servant back down the hall up which he'd come. They were right
behind him.
He led them for some little distance back down the corridor, up another
corridor, down a third and so by various ways to a door, which he opened on a
flight of stairs going down. He led the way down, and the smell that came up
to them told them that they were headed in the right direction.
Still invisible, Jim spoke in the servant's ear.
"Before you can be seen by anyone down there, stop, and give me a chance to
look ahead of you. Do you understand? Nod if you do."
The man nodded.
The stair steps were planks of rough wood, without paint or carpeting, and
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]