forth in such furious
rage that his Imps, hearing, shrank back close to the wall of the
cavern, trembling with fright. "Miserable creature," he shouted. "Is it
not enough that you have brought suffering upon me, that you should go
to the Land of Fire, carrying with you the secrets of all who dwell in
this land? Traitor! Until now I had meant to punish you but for a time;
but now I know that to release you is to prepare misfortune and
betrayal for every one of us. It shall never, never be. You have warned
me in time. You have sealed your own doom. Never, while I have power to
keep you within these walls, shall you escape to carry out your
purpose."

"You may well say while you have power to keep me," retorted the Shadow
Witch. "Do what you may, I shall yet be freed. Then I shall go where I
will."

Still more enraged by her unshaken defiance, the Wizard sprang upon her
and grasped her wrists. He towered above her dark and forbidding. He
gave a sharp command to the Imps, and in an instant they had departed
with the lanterns. In the thick darkness that followed, the Shadow Witch
heard him say nothing more, but she felt that same strange magic stream
from his hands that she had felt on the day that she had first entered
her prison, and she became as weak and helpless as she did before.

When he had gone and the wall had closed behind him, she fell to weeping
wildly; not for Prince Radiance, whom she should see no more, but for
that noble brightness that he had once brought to her eyes, and with the
dread in her heart that it would never be hers.

Yet, even as she wept, ever nearer and nearer to the Cave of Darkness
came Prince Ember, hasting from the Land of Fire upon the glorious
adventure of her deliverance.

[Illustration]

CHAPTER VI

In one thing the Wizard had spoken truly: Black Shadow was a faithless
servant. As yet she had not dared to attempt to rule over her
fellow-servants, but she longed for such power and was always hoping
that some day she might obtain it. In her heart she rebelled against her
mistress; she would rebel outwardly when it was safe to do so. After a
long time had passed and still the Shadow Witch had not returned, she
began to believe that some evil had overtaken her, and if she could have
been certain of it, it would have pleased her well.

Her companions, becoming alarmed at the prolonged absence of their
mistress, had