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the rest,” Glandyth said fiercely, tugging again on the wretch’s hair. “Tell him what you learned relating to us Mabden!”
    “I was told that now Lord Arkyn has returned he will attempt to regain all the power he once had over the world. But he needs mortals as his agents and of these agents Corum is the most important—but it is certain that most of the folk of Lywm-an-Esh will serve Arkyn, too, for they learned the ways of the—the Shefanhow—long since…”
    “So all our suspicions were correct,” King Lyr said in quiet triumph. “We do well to ready for war against Lywm-an-Esh. We fight against that soft degeneration misnamed as Law!”
    “And you would agree that it is my duty to destroy this Corum?” Glandyth asked.
    The king frowned. Then he raised his head and looked directly at Glandyth. “Aye.” He waved his hand. “Now take that stinking Shefanhow from this hall. It is time to summon the Dog and the Bear!”
    * * *
    High on the central roof beam the little cat felt its fur stiffen. It was inclined to leave the hall there and then, but made itself stay. It was loyal to its master and Jhary-a-Conel had told it to witness all that passed during Lyr’s gathering.
    Now the warriors had packed themselves around the walls. The women had been dismissed. Lyr himself left his throne and the whole centre of the hall was now barren of men.
    A silence fell.
    Lyr clapped his hands from where he stood, still surrounded by his Grim Guard.
    The doors of the hall opened and prisoners were brought in. There were young children and women and some men of the peasant class. All were comely and all were terrified. They were wheeled into the hall in a great wicker cage and some of the children were wailing. The imprisoned adults made no attempt to comfort the children any longer, but clutched at the wicker bars and stared hopelessly out into the hall.
    “Aha!” King Lyr cried. “Here is the food of the Dog and the Bear. Tender food! Tasty food!” He relished their misery. He stepped forward and the Grim Guard stepped forward too. He licked his lips as he inspected the prisoners. “Let the food be cooked,” he commanded, “so that the smell will reach into Yffarn and whet the appetites of the gods and draw them to us.”
    One of the women began to scream and some of them fainted. Two of the young men bowed their heads and wept and the children looked out of their cage uncomprehendingly, merely frightened by the fact of their imprisonment, not of the fate which was to come.
    Ropes were passed through loops at the top of the cage and men hauled on the ropes so that the entire contraption was raised towards the roof beams.
    The little cat shifted its position, but continued to observe.
    A huge brazier was wheeled in next and placed directly below the cage. The cage rocked and swayed as the prisoners struggled. The eyes of the watching warriors glowed in anticipation. The brazier was full of white-hot coals and now servants came with jars of oil and flung it upon the coals so that flames suddenly roared high into the air and licked around the wicker cage. A horrid ululation came from the cage then—a dreadful, incoherent noise which filled the hall.
    And King Lyr-a-Brode began to laugh.
    Glandyth-a-Krae began to laugh.
    The earls and the counts and the dukes and the captains of his Court all began to laugh.
    And soon the screams subsided and were replaced by the crackling of the fire, the smell of roasting human flesh.
    Then the laughter died and silence came again to the hall as the warriors waited tensely to see what would happen next.
    Somewhere beyond the walls of Castle Kalenwyr—somewhere out beyond the town—beyond the darkness of the night—there came a howling.
    The little cat drew itself further back along the beam, close to the opening which led into the passage beyond the hall.
    The howling grew louder and the flames of the great brazier seemed to be chilled by it and went out.
    Now there was pitch