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So simple! Why hadn’t he, Dor, thought of that?

Irene shifted gears, in the manner of her sex, becoming instantly practical. “Who is in the cell closest to the wall?”

“The Queen.” The golem frowned. “You know, I think she’s the only one the magic aisle can reach. The wall’s pretty thick in that region.”

“So my father probably can’t transform anyone,” Irene said.

Trouble! Dor considered, trying to come up with an alternate suggestion. “The Queen does have powerful magic. It should be possible for her to free them by means of illusion. She can make them see the cells as empty, or containing dead prisoners, so that the guards open the gates. Then she can generate a monster to scare them away.”

“There are problems,” Amolde said. “The aisle, as you know, is narrow. The illusion will not operate outside it. Since two cells are beyond-“

“The Queen’s illusion will have very limited play,” Dor concluded.

“We had better warn her about that. She should be able to manage, if she has time to prepare.”

“I’m on my way,” Grundy said. “I don’t know how this expedition would function without me!”

“There isn’t one of us we can do without,” Dor said. “We’ve already seen that. When we get separated, we’re all in trouble.”

As the night closed, they moved to the castle, trying to reach the spot nearest the Queen’s cell as described by the golem. Again there was no moat, just a glacis, so that they had to mount a kind of stone hill leading up to the wall. Dor could appreciate how thick that wall might be, set on a base this massive.

Castle Ocna was alert, fearing the invasion of the Khazars; torches flickered in the turrets and along the walls. But Dor’s party was not using the established paths and remained unobserved. People who lived in castles tended to be insulated from events outside, and to forget the potential importance of the exterior environment. It occurred to Dor that this also applied to the whole land of Xanth; few of its inhabitants knew anything about Mundania, or cared to learn.

Trade between the realms, hitherto a matter of erratic chance, should be established, if only to facilitate a more cosmopolitan awareness.

King Oary was evidently not much interested in trade, to the detriment of his Kingdom; he regarded the Xanth visitors as a threat to his throne. As indeed they were-since he was a usurper.

“Now we can’t plan exactly how this will work,” Dor said in a final review. “I hope the Queen will be able to make an illusion that will cause the guards to release her, and then she can free the others.”

“She’d love to vamp a guard,” Irene said. “She’ll make herself look like the winsomest wench in all Mundania. Then when he comes close, she’ll turn into a dragon and scare him to death. Serve lift right.”

Dor chuckled. “I think I know how that works.”

She whirled on him in mock anger. “You haven’t begun to see how it works!” But she couldn’t hold her frown. She kissed him instead.

“The lady appears to have given fair wanting,” Amolde remarked. “You won’t see the dragon until you are securely married.”