“I . . . yes. I must deliver my kingdom.”
“This is the Mother’s answer. I have no other to give you.” Her smile did not shift. The candle flickered and made it seem a snarl. “Find your ring, mortal. Find your ring, and your dream will be realized.”
She blew out the candle.
The horror of being in the dark with that crone was too much. Lionheart backed out on his hands and knees, finally turning around and crawling as fast as he could. Much to his surprise, within moments he hit his head, and the little door swung open. He fell out into the passage beyond.
“Close your eyes!” cried the voice of the young emperor. Lionheart obeyed immediately. There was something about that boyish voice that compelled obedience despite his tender years. Lionheart lay in a pile on the temple floor, his eyes tightly shut. Small hands untied the knot of the blindfold behind his neck, then retied it across his eyes.
The Imperial Glory helped Lionheart to his feet. “Did you receive what you sought?” he asked as he led him back down the twisted, silent passages.
Lionheart did not know what to answer. At last he said, “I must make my way to Oriana Palace in Parumvir.”
“Across the world?”
“Yes.” Lionheart sighed. “Across the world.”
6
THE NETHERWORLD
THE MOMENT ROSE RED was through the door, she heard the Black Dogs howling.
It was too late to turn back. When she whirled around to put her hand on the latch, the lantern light showed her only a solid rock face. Frantically, she felt among the sharp stones. Surely the door could not have vanished! But it had.
The circle of lantern light was her whole world, and empty space extended forever all around her. There was no half-light in this place; here the blackness was almost solid. And somewhere out there the Black Dogs bellowed, hunters pursuing their prey with never-slackened bloodlust.
They pursued her now; she knew it. And those whom the Black Dogs chased, they always caught in the end, bearing that luckless soul away to Death. Unlike the Wolf Lord and the Dragonwitch, they were very much alive.
Rose Red began to tremble, her back pressed against the rocks of the cliff that stabbed like daggers. But her lantern still glowed, and the dogs were some way off.
“Move your feet, fool girl,” she growled. “Move them!”
Slowly, she obeyed herself. Then faster. Not a run. No, she would not be chased. She would walk with purpose, keeping the light steady, and find what she found, whatever it may be.
The dogs bayed as one, and the voice was darkness.
Rose Red’s hand shook, but the lantern yet glowed.
She heard a new sound: The gentle lap of water against a shore, rising and falling. Had she come to an ocean? The sound grew, so she knew she must be drawing near to it. Perhaps not an ocean, but certainly a large body of water. How was she supposed to cross? The Path led this way, she was certain, but it led to nowhere.
The Black Dogs cried again. Then they were upon her.
Fear was almost enough in and of itself to kill her when Rose Red saw their enormous bodies before her, blocking her path. They were too big to be measured. Sometimes she thought they were bigger than mountains, sometimes only the size of horses. Their baying deafened her so that she could not hear her own scream. She wanted to cover her ears, to curl up into a ball. She wanted them to swallow her and be done with it so that she would not have to endure this terror a moment longer.
But the lantern continued to shine, and the Black Dogs drew no closer.
Why didn’t they finish her off? They skirted the lantern light, refusing to let its glow touch their shadowy bodies. When it even glinted in their red eyes, they turned away with hideous snarls.
Maybe she wasn’t going to die. At this realization, Rose Red felt her heart slowly calm. It seemed like years, but at last she was breathing again and able to stand, shivering only slightly, and consider with a rational mind the problem before her.
They stood between her and her path. And though they did not like the lantern, they would not let her pass.
Walk forward, the thrush’s silver voice sang in the deeper places of her mind. They’ll not harm you.
When she stepped forward, they lunged.
They’ll not harm you. Not while you hold the light.
In spite of this assurance, Rose Red could not help but stagger back.
Trust me, child. Trust me and walk before me.
“I . . . I cain’t,” she breathed. They would drive her out. Maybe she would rather let them herd her from this dark realm where the living did not belong? She did not have to come here. It was what the Dragon wanted, wasn’t it? Better to not give him his way.
Walk before me, child.
“I don’t know you!” she growled. “Not anymore!” She took another step back.
Then the Dragon spoke.
“Throw them your glove.”