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before you answer, for I never make an offer twice.”
    Têtu’s small legs had started to shudder as if caught in a trap. Yann heard the scrabble of Balthazar’s claws up the spiral staircase and there was the dog staring at them with his yellow eyes, his mouth snarled back, his fangs shining bright with saliva. Balthazar growled.
    “Bring them to me,” commanded the count.
    Têtu’s legs twitched all the more as the dog’s shadow was thrown large against the bookshelves. Yann stood up. Holding his hands out in front of his body, he pointed his fingers directly at the dog’s eyes and spoke softly in a language that Balthazar seemed to understand. The beast dropped on all fours as if the firm hand of a giant had suddenly crushed him.
    Yann did not blink or break his stare. Defeated, Balthazar, his tail between his legs, went back down the stairs whimpering to his master.
    “What have you done to him, Têtu? What Gypsy sorcery is this?” demanded Count Kalliovski angrily.
    Yann said nothing but moved silently toward the banister rail. To his despair he saw Milkeye enter the room. The count spoke to him. Yann couldn’t hear the words, but knew what he was saying. Quickly, he moved back to the darkness of the bookshelves and tried again to push with all his strength upon the concealed door. He could hear the count below as he walked with Balthazar toward the library doors. The dog’s clicking claws told him they were leaving.
    “I want the dwarf and I want that boy,” said the count. “Don’t let them get away.”
    “Yes, master.” Milkeye was already at the bottom of the staircase.
    For the last time Yann tried the door, feeling it desperately with his hands for hidden locks or latches. He could hear Milkeye getting closer. He was near the top of the staircase and still the door wouldn’t give. Yann could almost see the top of his head. It was no use. He would have to stand and fight—that was all that was left to him.
    Suddenly the door opened. Standing in the darkness of the passageway he could see the girl.
    “Help me,” he whispered, and together they pulled Têtu through.
    By the time Milkeye had taken the last few steps to the top of the gantry, there was nobody there.

chapter six
    It wasn’t easy to drag Têtu along the narrow passageways. He was heavy, as if his bones had turned to stone. Only when they were in Sido’s chamber with the screen moved to block off the peephole did Yann finally feel safe, safe enough to say, “We must lie him down.”
    “Of course,” said Sido, pulling back the bedcovers.
    “He’ll be better once he’s slept,” said Yann.
    It took all his strength to get Têtu’s heavy body up on the bed. He was an alarming sight, with all the color drained from his face. Hastily he covered the dwarf with a quilt, his anger subsiding a touch when he saw Sido standing there anxiously watching. By some twist of fate she had become unwittingly involved in what was happening. The only hope he had of escaping lay with her. If she lost her nerve, he and Têtu wouldn’t stand a chance of getting out alive.
    “Who is he?” she asked.
    “His name is Têtu. He’s looked after me since I was born. We work together, with Topolain.”
    “Will he be all right?”
    “Yes, but he should stay hidden. If anyone comes in, it just looks as if the bed has been turned down.”
    “What about the magician?” asked Sido. “Is he dead?”
    “His heart gave out,” said Yann.
    “I don’t believe that.” She said it so bluntly that he knew she couldn’t be fooled.
    “No, it isn’t true, but there’s no time to explain. We have to get out of here. I need your help.”
    “But what can I do?”
    “Be brave.”
    “I don’t think I am brave.”
    He smiled at her. “I know you are. Will you stay here with Têtu while I search for a way out?”
    The thought of being alone in the room with the sleeping dwarf terrified Sido. With a sickening feeling in her stomach she nodded, hoping that