One morning, while they were all standing in the courtyard waiting for
their horses, as they were about to go for a ride, a courier came
galloping swiftly up to the palace and cried:
"Does any one know where Prince Marvel can be found?"
"I am Prince Marvel," replied the young knight, stepping out from among
the others.
"Then have I reached my journey's end!" said the courier, whose horse
was nearly exhausted from long and hard riding. "The Lady Seseley is
in great danger, and sends for you to come and rescue her. The great
Baron Merd, her father, has been killed and his castle destroyed, and
all his people are either captives or have been slain outright."
"And who has done this evil thing?" asked Prince Marvel, looking very
stern and grave.
"The Red Rogue of Dawna," answered the messenger. "He quarreled with
the Baron Merd and sent his savage hordes to tear down his castle and
slay him. I myself barely escaped with my life, and the Lady Seseley
had but time to say, before she was carried off, that if I could find
Prince Marvel he would surely rescue her."
"And so I will!" declared the prince, "if she be still alive."
"Who is this Lady Seseley?" asked Nerle, who had come to his master's
side.
"She is my first friend, to whom I owe my very existence. It is her
image, together with those of her two friends, which is graven on my
shield," answered Prince Marvel, thoughtfully.
"And what will you do?" inquired the esquire.
"I must go to her at once."
When they heard of his mission all the party insisted on accompanying
him. Even the dainty High Ki could not be deterred by any thoughts of
dangers they might encounter; and after some discussion Prince Marvel
allowed them to join him.
So Wul-Takim sharpened his big broadsword, and Nerle carefully prepared
his master's horse, so that before an hour had passed they were
galloping toward the province of the Red Rogue of Dawna.
Prince Marvel knew little concerning this personage, but Nerle had much
to tell of him. The Red Rogue had once been page to a wise scholar and
magician, who lived in a fine old castle in Dawna and ruled over a
large territory. The boy was very small and weak--smaller even than
the average dwarf--and his master did not think it worth while to watch
him. But one evening, while the magician was standing upon the top of
the highest tower of his castle, the boy gave him a push from behind,
and he met death on the sharp rocks below. Then the boy took his
master's book of magic and found a recipe to make one grow. He made
the mixture and swallowed it, and straightway began to grow big and
tall. This greatly delighted him, until he found he was getting much
bigger than the average man and rapidly becoming a giant. So he sought
for a way to arrest the action of the magical draft; but before he
could find it he had grown to enormous proportions, and was bigger than
the biggest giant. There was nothing in the book of magic to make one
grow smaller, so he was obliged to remain as he was--the largest man in
the Enchanted Island.
All this had happened in a single night. The morning after his
master's murder the page announced himself lord of the castle; and,
seeing his enormous size, none dared deny his right to rule. On
account of his bushy hair, which was fiery red in color, and the bushy
red beard that covered his face when he became older, people came to
call him the Red One. And after his evil deeds and quarrelsome temper
had made him infamous throughout the island, people began to call him
the Red Rogue of Dawna.
He had gathered around him a number of savage barbarians, as wicked and
quarrelsome as himself, and so none dared to interfere with him, or
even to meet him, if it were possible to avoid it.
This same Red Rogue it was who had drawn the good Baron Merd into a
quarrel and afterward slain the old knight and his followers, destroyed
his castle, and carried his little daughter Seseley and her girl
friends, Berna and Helda, into captivity, shutting them up in his own
gloomy castle.
The Red Rogue thought he had done a very clever thing, and had no fear
of the consequences until one of his men came running up to the castle
to announce that Prince Marvel and his companions were approaching to
rescue the Lady Seseley.
"How many of them are there?" demanded the Red Rogue.
"There are eight, altogether," answered the man, "but two of them are
girls."
"And they expect to force me to give up my captives?" asked the Red
One, laughing with a noise like the roar of a waterfall. "Why, I shall
make prisoners of every one of them!"
The man looked at his master fearfully, and replied:
"This Prince Marvel is very famous, and all people speak of his bravery
and power. It was he who conquered King Terribus of Spor, and that
mighty ruler is now his friend, and is one of the eight who approach."
The Red Rogue stopped laughing, for the fame of Spor's terrible king
had long ago reached him. And he reflected that any one who could
conquer the army of giants and dwarfs and Gray Men that served Terribus
must surely be one to be regarded seriously. Moreover--and this was a
secret--the Red Rogue had never been able to gain the strength to
correspond with his gigantic size, but had ever remained as weak as
when he was a puny boy. So he was accustomed to rely on his cunning
and on the terror his very presence usually excited to triumph over his
enemies. And he began to be afraid of this prince.
"You say two of the party are girls?" he asked.
"Yes," said the man, "but also among them are King Terribus himself,
and the renowned Wul-Takim, formerly king of thieves, who was conquered
by the prince, although accounted a hard fighter, and is now his
devoted servant. And there are two old men who are just alike and have
a very fierce look about them. They are said to come from the hidden
Kingdom of Twi."
By this time the Red Rogue was thoroughly frightened, but he did not
yet despair of defeating his enemies. He knew better than to attempt
to oppose Prince Marvel by force, but he still hoped to conquer him by
trickery and deceit.
Among the wonderful things that the Red Rogue's former master, the wise
scholar and magician, had made were two large enchanted mirrors, which
were set on each side of the great hallway of the castle. Heavy
curtains were drawn over the surfaces of these mirrors, because they
both possessed a dreadful magical power. For whenever any one looked
into one of them his reflection was instantly caught and imprisoned in
the mirror, and his body at the same time became invisible to all
earthly eyes, only the mirror retaining his form.
While considering a way to prevent the prince from freeing the Lady
Seseley, the Red Rogue happened to think of these mirrors, which had
never yet been used. So he went stealthily into the great hall and
drew aside the covering from one of the mirrors. He did not dare look
into the mirror himself, but hurried away to another room, and then
sent a page up a back stairway to summon the Lady Seseley and her two
maids into his presence.
The girls at once obeyed, for they greatly feared the Red Rogue; and of
course they descended the front stairway and walked through the great
hall. At once the large mirror that had been exposed to view caught
the eye of Seseley, and she paused to regard her reflection in the
glass. Her two companions did likewise, and instantly all three girls
became invisible, while the mirror held their reflections fast in its
magic surface.
The Red Rogue was watching them through a crack in the door, and seeing
the girls disappear he gave a joyful laugh and exclaimed:
"Now let Prince Marvel find them if he can!"
The three girls began to wander aimlessly through the castle; for not
only were they invisible to others, but also to themselves and to one
another, and they knew not what to do nor which way to turn.