“Even as you have deceived me,” retorted the Wizard, bending a look of malice upon her. “But you have been clever once too often, my sister. Did you think that I could not guess that it was you who made it possible for the stranger prince to steal upon me unawares with his Sword of Flames? Do I not know your trick of the moving curtain of shadow? It was that which screened him from my eyes until it was too late for me to destroy him. It was yourself who told him when to unsheath his sword. It was you, then, who made me suffer. But now my time has come to repay you—to make you feel the wrath of the Wizard of the Cave.”
The Shadow Witch laughed scornfully. “I fear you not,” she cried. “Have I not magic of my own, ay, as great even as yours, that will serve to protect me against your enchantments. I defy you, then, magician though you are. You cannot harm me.”
Her words were bold, but fear clutched at her heart in spite of them. Here in this deepest part of the Wizard’s Cave, surrounded by his servants, and distant from her own, what would become of her if her magic failed before his? She knew that it would be folly to stay and test it. She determined to escape while there was yet time.
With a rush she attempted to dart past him, but in vain. He stretched his long arms and caught her to him, and though she struggled desperately against him, he held her fast.
“Away with the lights,” shouted the Wizard hoarsely.
Obediently the Imps snatched the lanterns from the walls and vanished with them in haste, leaving the Shadow Witch alone with her brother, wrapped in deepest darkness. By what means he wrought upon her there she could not tell, for she could neither see his face, nor hear his words. She only knew that suddenly all her magic powers departed from her, leaving her completely helpless.
In her ears the harsh voice of the Wizard sounded triumphing over her. “Thus you are repaid in part, my sister, for giving aid to my enemies. It will be long before you trick me again, for, lest you should try to give me some fresh proof of your cleverness, I have prepared for you the darkness of this prison chamber. In it no Shadow can have power, can work magic. Here you shall remain, until I choose to set you free.”
He released her hands, and she sank weakly down to the floor of the cavern. She heard his footsteps departing through the darkness and presently she knew that she was quite alone.
Lying where she had fallen, she waited until a little strength came back to her. Then she crept from side to side of her prison, groping her way with her hands, for she could see nothing. She felt the heavy soot curtains sway beneath her fingers; she felt the walls of charcoal, hard and unyielding, behind them. It was as if the room were sealed. Thus she learned that there was no faintest hope for her of escape—that she was, as the Wizard had said, completely in his power.
Yet she did not give way to despair, for she knew that her servants were many and faithful. “I will wait patiently,” she whispered to herself. “It cannot be long, for Creeping Shadow will not forget what I told her—will not fail to come to my help.”