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dark hilltop. "Mo says human beings invented the devil," she said.

"Well, maybe." Dustfinger's mysterious smile was hovering around his mouth again. "But you

wanted to know about the stories. They say no bullet can kill the men who live in that village,

they can walk through walls, that they kidnap three boys every month when the moon is new,

and Capricorn teaches them to commit theft, arson, and murder."

"Good heavens, who thought all that up? The folk of these parts or this man Capricorn himself?"

Elinor was leaning right over the steering wheel. The road was full of potholes, and she had to

drive very slowly so as not to get stuck.

"Both." Dustfinger leaned back and let Gwin nibble his fingers. "Capricorn rewards people who

think up new stories. The one man who never joins in that game is Basta. He's so superstitious

himself he even goes out of his way to avoid black cats."

Basta. Meggie remembered the name, but before she could ask any more questions Dustfinger

was speaking again. He seemed to enjoy telling these tales. "Oh yes, I almost forgot! Of course

everyone living in the village of the damned has the evil eye, even the women."

"The evil eye?" Meggie looked at him.

"That's right. One glance and you fall mortally ill. Three days after that, at the latest, and you're

dead as a doornail."

"Who'd believe a thing like that?" murmured Meggie, turning to look ahead of her again.

"Idiots would." Elinor stamped on the brake again. The car skidded over gravel on the road. The

bridge Dustfinger had mentioned lay ahead, its gray stone pale in the headlights.

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"Go on, go on!" said Dustfinger impatiently. "It'll hold, though you might not think so."

"It looks as if the ancient Romans built it," muttered Elinor. "But for donkeys, not cars."

All the same, Elinor drove on. Meggie squeezed her eyes shut tight, and didn't open them until

she could hear the gravel under the car tires once more.

"Capricorn likes this bridge a lot," said Dustfinger quietly. "A single well-armed man is enough to

make it impassable. But luckily he doesn't post a guard here every night."

"Dustfinger." Meggie turned hesitantly to look at him as Elinor's car labored up the last hill.

"What are we going to say when they ask us how we found the village? I mean, it's not going to

be a good idea for Capricorn to know that you showed us the way, is it?"

"No, you're right," muttered Dustfinger, avoiding Meggie's eyes. "Although, we are bringing him

the book." He picked up Gwin who was clambering around the backseat, held him so that he

couldn't snap, and then lured him into the backpack with a piece of bread. The marten had been

restless ever since darkness fell. He wanted to go hunting.

They had reached the top of the hill. The world around them had disappeared from view,

swallowed up by the night, but not far away a few pale rectangles glowed in the dark. Lighted

windows.

"There it is," said Dustfinger. "Capricorn's village. Or the devil's village, if you prefer." He laughed

softly.

Elinor turned to him crossly. "For heaven's sake, will you stop that!" she snapped at him. "You

really seem to like these stories. Who knows, perhaps they're all your own invention, and this

Capricorn is just a rather eccentric book collector!"

Dustfinger made no reply, but only looked out of the window with the strange smile that Meggie

sometimes wanted to wipe off his face. Yet again, it seemed to be saying: How stupid you two

are!

Elinor had switched off the engine. The silence surrounding them was so absolute that Meggie

hardly dared to breathe. She looked down at the lighted windows. Usually, she thought brightly

lit windows were an inviting sight in the dark, but these seemed far more menacing than the

darkness all around.

"Does this village have any normal inhabitants?" asked Elinor. "Harmless old grannies, children,

people who don't have anything to do with Capricorn?"

"No. Nobody lives here but Capricorn and his men," whispered Dustfinger, "and the women who

cook and clean and so on for them."

"'And so on' . . . oh, wonderful!" Elinor snorted with distaste. "I like the sound of this Capricorn

less and less! OK, let's get this over and done with, I want to go home to my books, real electric

light, and a nice cup of coffee."

"Really? I thought you were longing for a little adventure."

If Gwin could speak, thought Meggie, he'd do it in Dustfinger's voice.

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"I prefer adventures in the sunlight," replied Elinor curtly. "Heavens, how I hate this darkness!

Still, if we sit around here until dawn my books will be mildewed before Mortimer can do

anything about them. Meggie, go around to the back of the car and get that bag. You know the

one."

Meggie nodded and was just about to open the passenger door when a glaring light blinded her.

Someone whose face she couldn't make out was standing beside the driver's door, shining a

flashlight into the car. He tapped it commandingly against the pane.

Elinor jumped in such alarm she hit her knee on the steering wheel, but she quickly pulled

herself together. Cursing, she rubbed her hurt leg and opened the window.

"What's the idea?" she snapped at the stranger. "Do you have to frighten us to death? A person

could easily get run over, skulking around in the dark like that."

By way of answer the stranger pushed the barrel of a shotgun through the open window. "This is

private property!" he said. Meggie thought she recognized the rasping cat's-tongue voice from

Elinor's library. "And a person can very easily get shot trespassing on private property at night."

"I can explain." Dustfinger leaned over Elinor's shoulder.

"Well, well, who have we here? If it isn't Dustfinger!" The man withdrew the barrel of his gun.

"Do you have to turn up in the middle of the night?"

Elinor turned and cast Dustfinger a glance that was more than suspicious. "I'd no idea you were

on such friendly terms with these people!" she commented. "You called them devils!"

But Dustfinger was already out of the car. And Meggie didn't like the familiar way the two men

were talking. She remembered exactly what Dustfinger had said to her about Capricorn's men.

How could he talk to one of them like this? However hard Meggie strained her ears, she couldn't

make out what the pair was saying. She caught only one thing. Dustfinger called the stranger

Basta.

"I don't like this!" whispered Elinor. "Look at the pair of them- They're talking to each other as if

our matchstick-eating friend can come and go here as he likes!"

"He probably knows they won't hurt him because we're bringing them the book!" Meggie

whispered back, never taking her eyes off the two men. The stranger had a couple of dogs with

him. German shepherds. They were sniffing Dustfinger's hands and nuzzling him in the ribs,

wagging their tails.

"See that?" hissed Elinor. "Even those dogs treat him like an old friend. Suppose —"

But before she could say any more Basta opened the driver's door. "Get out, both of you," he

ordered.

Reluctantly, Elinor swung her legs out of the car. Meggie got out, too, and stood beside her. Her

heart was thudding. She had never seen a man with a gun before. Well, on TV she had, but not in

real life.

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"Look, I don't like your tone!" Elinor informed Basta. "We've had a strenuous drive, and we only

came to this godforsaken spot to bring your boss or whatever you call him something he's been

wanting for a long time. So let's have a little more civility."

Basta cast her such a scornful glance that Elinor drew in a sharp breath, and Meggie

involuntarily squeezed her hand.

"Where did you pick her up?" inquired Basta, turning back to Dustfinger, who was standing

there looking as unmoved as if none of this had anything at all to do with him.

She owns that house — you know the one I mean."

Dustfinger had lowered his voice, but Meggie heard him all the same. "I didn't want to bring her,

but she insisted."

"I can imagine that." Basta scrutinized Elinor once again, then turned to Meggie. "So, this is

Silvertongue's little daughter? Doesn't look much like him."

"Where's my father?" asked Meggie. "How is he?" These were the first words she had managed

to utter. Her voice was hoarse, as if she hadn't used it for a long time.

"Oh, he's fine," replied Basta, glancing at Dustfinger. "Although he's saying so little at the

moment that Leaden-tongue would be more like it."

Meggie bit her lip. "We've come for him," she said. Now her voice was high and thin, although

she was trying as hard as she could to sound grown-up. "We have the book, but we won't give it

to Capricorn unless he lets my father go."

Basta turned to Dustfinger again. "Something about her does remind me of her father after all.

See her lips tighten? And that look! Oh yes, anyone can see they're related." His voice sounded as

if he were joking, but there was nothing funny about his face when he looked at Meggie again. It

was thin, sharply angular, with close-set eyes. He narrowed them slightly as if he could see

better that way. Basta was not a tall man, and his shoulders were almost as narrow as a boy's,

but Meggie held her breath when he took a step toward her. She was afraid of him. She had

never been so afraid of anyone before, and it wasn't because of the shotgun in his hand. He had

an aura of fury about him, of something keen and biting —

"Meggie, get the bag out of the trunk." As Basta was about to grab Meggie, Elinor pushed herself

between them. "There's nothing dangerous in it," she said crossly. "Just what we came here to

hand over."

By way of answer, Basta pulled the dogs aside, yanking on their leashes so harshly that they

yelped out loud.

"Meggie listen to me!" whispered Elinor as they left the car and followed Basta down a steep

pathway leading to the lighted windows. "Don't hand over the book until they let us see your

father, understand?"

Meggie nodded, clutching the plastic bag firmly to her chest. How stupid did Elinor think she

was? On the other hand, how was she going to hang on to the book if Basta decided to take it

away from her? She preferred not to follow this line of thinking through to its conclusion.

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It was a hot, sultry night. The sky above the black hills was sprinkled with stars. The path down

which Basta was leading them was stony and so dark that Meggie could hardly see her own feet,

but whenever she stumbled there was a hand to catch her. The hand belonged either to Elinor,

walking beside her, or to Dustfinger, who was following as silently as if he were her shadow.

Gwin was still in his backpack, and Basta's dogs kept raising their noses and sniffing, as if they

had picked up the sharp scent of the marten.

Slowly, they came closer to the lighted windows. Meggie saw old houses of gray, rough-hewn

stone, with a pale church tower rising above the rooftops. Many of the houses looked empty as

they passed, going down alleys so narrow that Meggie felt they could close in on her. Some of the

houses had no roofs, others were little more than a couple of walls partly fallen in. It was dark in

Capricorn's village. Only a few lamps were on in the streets, hanging from masonry arches above

the alleyways. At last they reached a small square. The church with the tower they had seen

from a distance stood on one side of the square, and not far away, divided from it by a narrow

hallway, there was a large two-story house, which did not look at all derelict. This square was

better lit than the rest of the village, with four lanterns casting menacing shadows on the paving

stones. Basta led them straight to the big house, where more light showed behind three

windows on the upper floor. Was Mo in there? Meggie listened to herself as if she could find the

answer there, but all her heart would tell her was a tale of fear. Fear and grief.

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Chapter 14 – A Mission Accomplished

"The reason there's no use looking," said Mr. Beaver, "is that we know already where he's

gone!" Everyone stared in amazement.

"Don't you understand?" said Mr. Beaver. "He's gone to her, to the White Witch. He has

betrayed us all."

– C. S. Lewis, The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe

Hundreds of times since Dustfinger had first told her about him, Meggie had tried to picture

Capricorn's face. She'd thought about it on the way to Elinor's house when Mo was sitting beside

her in the van, and in the huge bed there, and finally on the drive here. Hundreds of times? No,