"I am Sir James Eckert, a neighbor of yours, now in Malencontri."

Sir Geoffrey stopped in his attempt to fumble his way back into his disguise, and turned to look at Jim.

"Malencontri?" he said.

"Yes," said Jim. "I took it from that same ill-knight who marked your daughter's face. I'm a close friend of Sir Brian and Geronde, both; as is Lady Angela, my wife, who is standing with Geronde now. I suggest you wait a moment before considering there is no possibility of your escaping whatever you feel has you entrapped here. I am known in England as the Dragon Knight, because I can also take on the form of a dragon. In fact, I'm a magician, an apprentice of S. Carolinus, who you ought to know as well as I do."

"A magician?" Sir Geoffrey stared at him.

"Right," said Jim. "I don't use magic lightly; but I'm in a position, by knowing it, to sometimes see more than those who aren't magicians. Perhaps, if you told us more about what holds you here I might see something I could do-something you'd never imagine was possible yourself-to free you, after all."

Sir Geoffrey stared at him a moment longer, then slowly shook his head, with a sad smile.

"Not even a magician can help me in this," he said.

"You show small courage for a knight," said Brian grimly.

"It is not a matter of courage, Brian," said Sir Geoffrey to him. "There are some things against which it is hopeless to attempt to fight. You cannot fight the tempest, nor the cold in winter that may kill you before morning if you are lost in the woods. No man, no knight, no magician can change such things."

"No," said Jim, "but an open human mind possibly can."

For the first time he was beginning to get a little warm-tempered himself.

"An open mind, for example," he went on, "could show you a way to build a shelter to survive overnight in those woods. It might also show you a place to hide from, or ride out the tempest-if you were on the sea when it blew. You've only got one mind, Sir Geoffrey, and it sees no way out. But that does not mean that another mind, like mine, or Sir Brian's, or Geronde's, or my wife's-or all of them put together-might not find a way you have never thought of. Think. What will it cost you to tell us what holds you?"

"Too much," said Sir Geoffrey. "The one price I can not pay."

He looked once more appealingly in Geronde's direction; and Jim, following his gaze, saw that both Geronde and Angie were moving toward the entrance into the other room. A moment later they had pa.s.sed through it and were gone.

Sir Geoffrey turned back to face those left, and took a couple of steps toward them. There was a sudden new light in his eyes. He lowered his voice and spoke.

"Renel, go you into the other room also. This is for the ears of Sir Brian and Sir James alone."

"I am a man again, not a slave," said Sir Renel. "I am at no one's orders, not even yours. I no longer hope for freedom, but only to die as a man should. I will stay."

"Then you will run the same risk these two will run," said Sir Geoffrey. "I would rather speak for their ears alone. If I ask you to go-not as what you know me to be, but as a fellow knight, an old companion-would you do me the favor of going?"

"It is true," said Sir Renel, turning to Brian and Jim. "Once he and I were companions in a foolish adventure to raise a last crusade and wade knee-deep in infidel gold and gems. In those days we looked much alike, so that people took us for twin brothers, although we had fallen together merely by chance and were no real kin. But we went different ways; and the next time he saw me, I was in the slave market here in Palmyra. He had become Murad of the white beard and Heavy Purse. How he did that I do not know; but he rescued me from a worse slavery by buying me himself and bringing me back here."

He stopped and looked at Sir Geoffrey.

"For that I still thank you," he said. "Though I think you had other reasons for it, even then."

Sir Renel turned back to Jim and Brian.

"He secretly favored me when none of the other servants were around, and finally proposed that I should go back to England as him, and take over lordship of Malvern and the name of Sir Geoffrey de Chaney. He would help me escape. Indeed, we had this planned; and then for some reason he could not tell me it became difficult and had to be put off. While the months went by and I still hoped, there suddenly came you people upon us. Now you know everything that I know. How he became Murad I do not know. What magic he uses to look like Murad, I now know. As you see, not even the beard is his own. We could change places right now; and if he went back between the walls, the other servants would take him for me. With all that between us, why should I leave?"

"I don't think you should," said Jim. He looked at Sir Geoffrey. "What do you say, Sir Geoffrey?"

Sir Geoffrey raised his hands in a helpless gesture.

"Perhaps it will make no difference," he said. "Stay, then, Renel."

"I will stay; and insomuch as I can still fight I will fight for you and what you need as things may turn out.

I pledge you that"

"And I pledge you equal succor," said Sir Geoffrey. "Renel, you are a friend I do not deserve."

"Neither of us deserves much," said Renel with a tight smile. "Enough of that. Let us listen to what you have to say."

"Very well, then," said Sir Geoffrey, lowering his voice even more, so that Jim and Brian and Renel all had to move close to him to hear. Out of the corner of his eye Jim saw the two hobgoblins on their smoke also edging closer. He looked at them.

"No," said Jim.

"Beg pardon, m'lord," said Hob as both wafts of smoke backed up hastily. "Should we leave the room?"

"No," said Jim. "Just stay far enough away so that you don't hear and we have privacy."

The two little Naturals backed off even farther, nearly the width of the room. Jim turned back to Sir Geoffrey and the others.

"I am under a curse," said Sir Geoffrey, quietly and simply. "The curse will fall upon me if I cease to do the bidding of him who is my master-and that is Hasan ad-Dimri, Grandmaster of the a.s.sa.s.sins. It happens-I do not know how, it is undoubtedly magic-that as I move around through the pa.s.sages in the walls of this house of mine, I can find myself coming out, not here in Palmyra, but in the White Palace up in the mountains where Hasan rules. I will know then that he has called me for some reason. I know my way around there, also, as I know my way around my own house here. I will go where I know I would find him; and when I find him he will tell me what he wants, and I will obey."

"Why?" asked Brian bluntly. "If he has no weapon but the curse, he can only use it once and-"

"Not so. It was a curse on him," said Sir Geoffrey, "that I agreed to take from him, in exchange for all this-"

He waved his hand in a wide, level sweep about him.

"How-?" began Brian.

"Let me go on," he said. "Also, when he wishes, Hasan comes here. The servants see him but do not know who he is. He takes what he wants and does what he wants here. The hareem is his, not mine. I have not been near a woman, slave or free, ever since I came to dwell here. It is part of the curse Hasan gave over to me. Also, I can go to rooms where there is tremendous wealth, silver coins heaped high and gold as well, and other precious things. But I can no more touch them than I can touch a woman. They are Hasan's."

"How did you come to be under such evil influence?" asked Brian.

"That which makes me look like Murad," answered Geoffrey, "was something I had once learned to construct from a man in Italy who made masks, devil costumes and other such things for religious festivals. He was very clever. But I learned quickly; and when I left him, I knew enough to be able to make myself appear as various different people. It happened that I fell upon evil times-it was after we had parted, following the battle in the mountains, Renel-"

He had turned to his friend for a moment; but then he turned back to concentrate on Jim and Brian.

"After that, I went back to England for a while, then was other places- no need to tell all that-then came this last trip here; when it happened I found that in spite of my armor and weapons I was in danger. I had to sleep sometime; and it was only a matter of days before I would wake to find my throat being cut and all I had taken-and that would be the end of me."

He paused, glanced around him and lowered his voice even a little more.

"It was necessary for me to pa.s.s as a Muslim. Not only that, but as one whom other Muslims would not only accept but see benefit in dealing with, rather than killing. I still had some silver and gems with me from a recent battle and our sacking of-a place. I went into the first place that could sell me what I needed, and took this off into the desert. There, where I was alone and safe, I made up a Kurd disguise I had perfected. It turned me into one with the appearance of the Murad you have seen; and I used what wealth I had left in the manner of one who is a rich but parsimonious Kurd merchant. I was traveling down toward Tripoli, where I hoped to find at least one friend left; so that I could lay aside my disguise and borrow the extra money I needed to start me homeward to England. But before I got there, the group with which I was traveling was waylaid by Hasan's a.s.sa.s.sins; and I was taken with the others to his White Palace."

He stopped speaking.

"Then what?" asked Jim.

"Then Hasan offered me all this that you see around you, the wealth I told you of, the hareem, the power, the position-provided I would accept his curse," said Sir Geoffrey. "I was in his power. He could do anything with me he liked; and I thought it most likely he would have me killed if I did not agree. Also, at that time I foolishly thought I could find some way of getting free of the curse. I was wrong."

"And what is this curse?" demanded Brian. "What happens when it strikes you?"

"That," said Sir Geoffrey, "is the one thing I will not tell you. I will only tell you this. It is a curse that no sensible man would wish to dare- let alone pa.s.s it on; for it was that if I managed to escape him after accepting it, the curse would follow me to the ends of the earth to still fall on me, and then it would also fall on my descendants unto the seventh generation."

"Hmm," said Jim. "Where would a human get the power to lay on a curse like that-and come to think of it, what about Kelb?" asked Jim.

"Kelb?"

"A Djinni," said Jim. "Don't try to tell me you don't know about him. He came out and sat by you when we were all gathered talking in that large room a little while ago."

"The brown dog is a Djinni?" Sir Geoffrey stared at him. "I knew only it was a dog; and that it had been set to watch over me at certain times. I suspected it was Hasan's messenger, or spy, or what you will.

But I did not think of it as being a Djinni."

"That's interesting, too," said Jim.

"May I ask why?" asked Sir Geoffrey.

"Because a Djinni is a Natural," said Jim. "And a Natural doesn't have the power to curse, either."

Sir Geoffrey stared at him.

"Tell me something," went on Jim. "Do you know the place is in this house of yours that takes you instantly to the White Palace? And can you take me there?"

Geoffrey hesitated.

"In fact, I do," he said at last. "It is one of two places, first one, then the other, taking turns to put me in the stronghold of Hasan. Do you mean you would wish to go to the White Palace?"

"Yes," said Jim.

His words dropped into a pool of silence. All the rest of them were staring at him.

"James," said Brian. "Is this wise? We are not even armed. If somehow we could get swords-"

"I don't think this is going to be a matter of swords, or weapons of any sort," said Jim, "and I was only talking of me and Sir Geoffrey going."

"What, put your head into the lion's den without me at your side, James?" Brian said emphatically.

"Never!"

"Well," said Jim doubtfully, "then, if you come, Brian-and it's a foolishly risky thing for you to do-you'll have to simply trust what I do in this instance. I won't be able to explain things to you as I go along, and give you reasons."

"Of course, I need no reasons," said Brian. He added wistfully, "But, I would I had a sword."

"We can pick up a sword for each of you on the way I will show you," said Sir Geoffrey.

"Fine," said Jim. "Give me just a minute."

He left them, walked over to the entrance and stepped through it into the other room.

"Angela," he said, "Brian, Sir Geoffrey and I are just going to leave you for a little while. We want to look into something down in the pa.s.sages."

"Oh, no, you don't," said Angie. "If you're going someplace, I'm going with you."

"So am I," said Geronde.

"That's going to make us too much of a crowd," Jim said. His original idea of going with Sir Geoffrey alone had suddenly developed into something more like an expedition. "Besides, if you come, we'll have to make it our main duty to take care of you; and I don't want to take you where we're going, anyway."

"The two hobs can carry us away from any danger," said Angie. "It's settled, Jim!"

She pointed a little to the side and past Jim. He turned and saw the inquisitive faces of a couple of hobgoblins on their smoke right behind him, having evidently followed him into the present room. Jim gave up.

"Hobgoblins," he said, "we're going to the a.s.sa.s.sins' fortress."

"You understand?" Angie asked them.

"No," said Hob of Malvern. It was the first actual word Jim had heard from him.

"I'll tell you as we go," said Hob-Jim and Angie's Hob. "You'll like it. It's exciting."

The Malvern Hob gulped and nodded.

Jim gave up. It was something he was used to doing, and he no longer wasted extra energy fighting with the inevitable.

"Come along, then," he said, heading back into the next room.

Sir Renel was waiting for him there.

"Surely, Sir James," he said, "you were not thinking of leaving me, alone, behind?"

Jim sighed internally.

"I guess not," he said.

"d.a.m.ned caravan," muttered Brian.

"Equally surely," said Geronde, "you had never been thinking of leaving me behind here, had you, Brian?"

"No. Of course not," scowled Brian. "d.a.m.ned caravan..." he muttered again under his breath, but in such a low voice that Jim, who was closest to him, was probably the only one to hear it.

Some fifteen minutes later, besworded-including the women-they were going down one more of a number of almost lightless, narrow pa.s.sageways, between the walls they had traversed; and the voice of Geoffrey, in the lead, came back to say they were not far from their goal.

"I wish I had my boar-spear," Geronde said wistfully in the gloom. Geronde's boar-spear was her favorite weapon, light enough for easy use and very effective.

"No boar-spears here," said her father.

There was silence after that until they came to one of the things Jim was beginning to get used to encountering in these between-the-wall pa.s.sages, simply a blank wall that ended a corridor.