‘Cassie! Cassie!’ he cried. ‘Wait! Wait!’
The stranger took Cassandra in his round arms. ‘Boy,’ he ordered, ‘go home to bed.’
‘Who are you?’ demanded Raphael.
‘I am Mechanus, the Giant Sorcerer,’ answered the stranger proudly.
Raphael looked at him fearfully. In the moonlight he appeared black and very terrible holding Cassandra so easily. He was taller than any man the boy had ever seen, and his eyes shone like pale electric lights. He was dressed in some light material that merged into the dark shadows.
‘Are you a man?’ whispered Raphael, awed.
‘No,’ said the Sorcerer conversationally. ‘I am a mechanical wonder invented by man to be greater than all men.’
‘What do you want with Cassandra?’ asked Raphael, taking heart.
‘My boy,’ exclaimed Mechanus, ‘that happens to be my affair. She will go home with me because I want her to.’
She would go home with him, Cassandra, his sister, and he would never see her any more. A mechanical wonder greater than all men blocked the path.