lace where they trod was bright about them, made so by the ruddy glow
which streamed from the figure of Prince Ember. In the warmth and cheer
of it the Shadow Witch glided happily, and as they left her prison
farther and farther behind, she became more and more her former self,
and again felt stirring to life within her that old-time power of magic
of which she had been so long deprived.

They came at length to the wall which the Wizard had set to mislead his
sister. Seeing nothing to arouse their suspicions, they went straight
on. After traveling for some distance, however, Prince Ember all at once
became aware that it was not the way over which he had gone with the
Wizard and his servants. He stopped, and began to look sharply about
him. On every hand it was unfamiliar to him.

The Shadow Witch saw that he was troubled, but she could not guess the
reason. "What is it?" she asked anxiously.

"When we left the prison," he answered, "we took the way by which I had
come to you. There was no other. But now it is not the same."

"There has been no place where we could have turned aside," she assured
him. "Nowhere has there appeared any other way open to us."

"And yet we have gone astray," the Prince insisted. "There can be no
doubt of it. All that I see now, I have never seen before."

"You are sure of it?" asked his companion.

"I am sure of it."

The eyes of the Shadow Witch flashed with sudden understanding. "It is
the enchantment of my brother," she declared. "Lest, perhaps, I should
escape him, he has closed the true way, and left this open as a trap for
me. Be sure that it leads not to the Cave Hall, except through dangers
into which he believes that I will not dare to venture."

"Be these dangers what they may," replied Prince Ember, "I will, by my
good magic, overcome them all. And now, since there is no way but this,
let us go upon it without tarrying."

"Indeed, we cannot choose but take it," agreed the Shadow Witch.

They resumed their journey, therefore, and now, though the way behind
them had been gloomy, that which stretched before them grew more and
more so; yet the darker it became about them, the brighter was the glow
that streamed from Prince Ember, and the more surely was the Shadow
Witch sustained and cheered thereby.

After a while, they saw that they were approaching an open space, which
was wrapped in thick darkness. Beyond it their eyes could not penetrate,
but in its midst they beheld