Beside the large island lay a little one, barren and brown like the naked back of a sea monster. Here the eagles gathered together for a council of war. After many impatient and fierce proposals from his followers, Chief of All the Eagles in the Sky spoke:
‘We have come, O Eagles, to save the sister of our friend and to war against our enemy, the Sorcerer. But harken. We pit our strength and cunning against a powerful foe who has magic at his command about which we know little. Our brother,’—the eagle motioned toward Raphael—‘is of another people, a people more accustomed than we to such machines as this Sorcerer is lord over. Therefore it seems advisable to me that he go forth and bring us news.’
The eagle ceased to speak. The bird-warriors turned and stared at the boy, who, proud and self-conscious, bowed his head in assent. His first test had come.
Calling upon Gæa, as Empyrean had instructed him, Raphael claimed the powers of a water spider, and turned toward the water that separated the little island from the larger one. He was to try the powers granted him by the Queen Mother. Would the sea hold him? He stepped nervously onto a wave that broke in a carpet of white foam at his feet, and took a hasty step forward, then another. It was partly like walking over an uneven floor, partly like climbing a moving sandhill.
Far below on the bottom of the ocean he could hear clams chanting a hymn of triumph in which he distinctly caught the echo of his own name.
In a few moments Raphael stood on the shore of the main island underneath the walls of the Sorcerer’s castle. The tall blocks of stone which seemed to pierce the reeling sky were cold to his touch. There was no life, no movement on the whole island. Even the palms which fringed the shore were motionless. Only a large steel sign that read, Keep Out! This Means You! hinted at human occupation. To the castle itself he could find neither door nor window. That’s very queer, thought the boy.
Calling upon Gæa for the powers of a bird, Raphael raised his hands above his head and stood upon his toes. Then, using his arms as wings, he jumped upward. It was like beating a very soft feather pillow. Slowly the boy left the ground, kicking awkwardly with his legs; and lit, out of breath and sprawling, in the saucer-like basin where he had last seen the aeroplane of the Sorcerer. The roof was deserted and bleak. Only the thin outline of a large trapdoor showed where the Sorcerer had entered his stronghold.
Raphael walked about nervously, expecting to be attacked at any moment. He could see no sign of life, and yet he felt that invisible eyes watched him.
There must be, he thought, another door to this castle under the sea.
Raphael leapt from the roof to fly back to the eagles. He dropped earthward, and only by beating the air wildly with his outstretched arms could he regain his balance. With a sense of relief he landed fluttering like a wounded bird on the little island.