The Shadow Witch Part 1

The Shadow Witch.

by Gertrude Crownfield.

PROLOGUE

Come, sit with me beside the broad hearthstone and gaze into the depths of the fire when it burns low, for not among the leaping flames alone are there to be seen marvelous things.

Deep hidden from your eyes at first, but plainly visible as you look closer, are countless forms of brightness and of beauty. You will find them among the s.h.i.+ning coals that glimmer in scarlet and gold before you when the embers lie clear and warm upon the hearth. You will behold them among the shadows that flit across the embers with delicate grace and changeful hues.

Here, spread wide open, is a part of the magical Land of Fire, the wonderland of the good and peaceful Ember Fairies. A golden gate gives entrance to it. s.h.i.+ning pathways lead through its bright gardens. Its skies are warm and glowing. Here, decked with flaming banners, stands the home of the good Prince Ember-his fairy Palace of Good Cheer. Here moves the beautiful Shadow Princess, in trailing garments of rose and amethyst. Here she may be seen in her dance of joy and ecstasy followed by her faithful band of Shadows.

Long ago, in the Land of Shadows, lived the Shadow Witch, the one beautiful and loving creature in all that dim and darksome land that lies away from the Land of Fire, and between it and the Chimney Back.

Close to her domain is the great Plain of Ash, where the giant, Curling Smoke, rises, where the crafty Ash Goblin lurks, where the boisterous Wind in the Chimney swoops down from out the Chimney Mouth. Near by, also, in his Cave of Darkness, her brother the Wizard works his enchantments.

If you will but hearken, I will tell you how the Shadow Witch came to leave that grim land with its evil fairies, and why it is that she now dances with happiness amid the good fairies of the Fire, in the Land of Glowing Embers. You shall hear, also, of the n.o.ble Prince Ember, and of the quest upon which he once set out. What speed he had in his high adventure, and whether or no he brought it to a happy and fortunate close, this tale will make known to you.

CHAPTER I

One morning at early dawn, the Shadow Witch stole down her palace steps and out into her Garden of Shadows, to walk there alone.

Not many days before, a stranger prince, seeking to deliver a beautiful flame princess whom he loved, had pa.s.sed through the Land of the Evil Fairies that lies far away from the heart of the Fire. The Shadow Witch had seen him, and at first, half in mischief, and half because she was lonely, had tried, by her magic, to lure him away from his quest into her own land. But soon, moved by his courage and goodness, yet most of all by his faithful love to his princess, she had given him aid in his undertaking, and had saved him from destruction by her brother, the Wizard of the Cave of Darkness.

No such bright visitant had ever before come into the strange country where she dwelt, and when he departed, her dim palace, her misty woods and gardens, even her own magic, no longer gave her pleasure as they once had done.

Far from her dominions lay that lovely land from whence the prince had come, the land of the good and happy Fire Fairies. Of the bright spells, the n.o.ble magic, the joyous life of these fairies she knew nothing.

Through her dusky land she moved, attended by her servants, the Shadows, working with them her curious, and sometimes mischievous, spells. Her brother, the Wizard, gave her no cheer, spent no love upon her, taught her nothing good, and she, for her own part, seldom sought his presence.

As she walked this morning in her garden, her dark eyes were troubled, and she let her grey garments sweep the ground unheeded, while in fancy she followed Prince Radiance, who had come for one brief hour into her dull life. She could not but wonder whether she must be always lonely as she now was, whether she must always wish in vain for such happiness as his land could give. Up and down the alleys of the garden she went, and for a long time no one came to disturb her, but at length a voice broke in upon her musings.

"Mistress of the Shadows," it said, "a messenger from your brother, the Wizard, desires to speak to you."

The Shadow Witch lifted her eyes. Before her stood her most faithful servant, Creeping Shadow.

"What is his message?" the Shadow Witch demanded.

"He declares that it is for your ear alone," the Shadow answered.

Her mistress frowned impatiently. She was in no mood to talk with him.

"He waits at the palace door," continued Creeping Shadow, "and says that he will remain there until you are pleased to receive him."

"Go, then, and bring him hither," was the reluctant answer. "I will hear what he has to say."

Creeping Shadow hastened to obey, and presently returned accompanied by a dwarfed creature, black as the blackest soot and clad in raiment as dusky as himself. It was the Chief Imp, a trusted messenger of the Wizard.

The Shadow Witch especially disliked him. He was at times impertinent when he came on her brother's errands, therefore she held herself haughtily and folded her robes closer about her when he drew near.

But the Chief Imp bore himself humbly today and his disagreeable face wore an air of deep distress. He bowed himself to the earth, and waited permission to speak.

"What says your master?" demanded the Shadow Witch imperiously. "Speak."

"Alas!" groaned the Imp, as if in profound grief, "My master lies in his cavern sick unto death. He begs that you will come to him, and, by your magic, restore him to himself."

The Shadow Witch regarded him unmoved. "Has so great a magician as my brother no magic of his own that will be potent to restore him, that he must ask aid of mine?" she inquired.

"Nay, madam," replied the Chief Imp, rolling up his eyes, "He has tried every means within his power and grows no better. He turns to you, therefore, in his extremity and beseeches you not to refuse him."

Knowing, as she did, the craftiness of her brother, the Shadow Witch heard his message with distrust. She knew that if he had discovered that it was by her help that the prince had escaped him and that evil had been brought upon himself, it would go hard with her once she was in his power. Therefore, she determined, before she yielded to his request, to learn from his servant whether or not he suspected her of what she had done. So she bent a searching gaze upon the Chief Imp and began to question him.

"Tell me," she commanded, "what is this sickness from which your master suffers, and what is its cause?"

The Imp hastened to inform her. "A strange prince penetrated the Cave of Darkness, a short time since. For reasons of his own, the Wizard sought to overpower him with the spell of his Urn of Vapors, but the prince, who had come upon him without warning, suddenly flashed about him a magic weapon, the Sword of Flames, that instantly took from my master all power to protect himself. He cried aloud to us, and at once we hurried him away to an inner chamber, far from its dreadful sway. There he lay for a time insensible, and we feared for his life, but at length, tended by his servants, he became able to move a little, and, at last, even to speak. But that is all."

"What has become of this prince and his magic sword?" demanded the Shadow Witch, watching him yet more closely. "Have you permitted him to escape with it unharmed?"

"Ah, madam," the Chief Imp replied, "When we came to seek him, to wreak vengeance upon him, he had vanished and had left no trace."

"Had this prince no servants, no companions?" insisted she. "None who guided him to my brother's cavern?"

"Nay," he a.s.sured her, "the prince was quite alone."

The Shadow Witch asked him no further questions, but stood silent, pondering deeply whether or no she should grant the Wizard's request.

She herself had seen him overcome by the fairy sword, had seen the prince depart in safety, but that her brother trusted to any magic of her own to restore him, she greatly doubted. Still, she believed that there could be no grave danger to herself in going to him. Never, even in the fulness of his power, had he been able to really injure her. Why should she fear him now, when he was helpless. Besides, from what the Imp had said, it was not known that she had guided and protected the prince. Therefore she had no cause for uneasiness.

She turned to where the Chief Imp waited, regarding her with his crafty eyes. "Go back to your master," she bade him. "Say to him that I will come shortly to render him what aid I can."

Well pleased at the result of his errand, the Chief Imp departed.

As soon as he was out of sight the Shadow Witch beckoned Creeping Shadow to her side and instructed her with lifted finger. "I go alone to visit my brother, the Wizard, who lies ill, and has sent for me. If, however, much time pa.s.ses, and I have not returned, you may be sure that some evil has befallen me. Seek me then, instantly, in the Cave of Darkness, for I shall have need of you."

Creeping Shadow swore to obey what she had been told, and her mistress, gathering her trailing robes over her arm, took her way to the Wizard's Cave.

Gloomy and forbidding was the Cave of Darkness. Its outer walls rose high and cliff-like from the great Plain of Ash, and a yawning opening led off to its dark corridors and many dusky chambers.

The Shadow Witch had no sooner reached the Cave mouth and entered it than the Chief Imp, with a spark lantern in his hand, met her to conduct her to his master. They pa.s.sed swiftly down the narrow pa.s.sage and came presently to that vast black chamber called the Cave Hall, where the Wizard was wont to sit.

The Cave Hall was filled with Imps, some cl.u.s.tered in groups, whispering together; some lolling idly upon the soot cus.h.i.+ons that lay about the floor; some peeping stealthily from behind the heavy curtains of soot with which the walls were hung. But their master was nowhere to be seen.

The Chief Imp went directly to the farther wall and struck upon it with his wand. Instantly it yawned apart, and an inner corridor was revealed.

This part of the cave was strange to the Shadow Witch, but she entered boldly and followed her guide without fear through many winding ways and secret chambers, until at last he paused before a second wall. He struck upon it, as he had upon the other. It opened, in its turn, and she saw before her a room more profoundly dark than any that they had yet pa.s.sed through. Its charcoal walls were set about with faintly glowing lanterns, but so heavy were the soot curtains that surrounded them that their light was almost quenched.