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doing anything toward the castle, but are just sitting around by themselves.
What do they say to each other and what do they talk about?
 Oh, all sorts of things, said Hob.  Ships and fish and things to eat and
just about everything. Of course, at night like this they talk a lot about
demons. It s very scary. I ve been very careful when I go out at night, but I
haven t seen any demons so far.
 I don t think you will, said Jim.  Anyway, you re dark and almost invisible
at night, and riding on some smoke you wouldn t attract attention anyway.
 That s good, said Hob.  The kind of demons they talk the most about are
called Djinni-you know, like that dog that was pretending to be one?
 Why do you say pretending? asked Jim.
 Well, you remember, said Hob,  when you asked him to prove he was a Djinni,
he just turned into a sort of fat man.
 That fat man was a Djinni, said Jim.
Hob was suddenly on Jim s shoulder clutching him tightly around the neck.
 I didn t know, he whispered in Jim s ear.  I thought he was just a dog and
lying. He s here, you know.
 Here? In the castle? asked Jim.
 No, not in the castle-not since he tried to come in and they chased him all
over the place and he couldn t find anywhere to hide, said Hob.  He was being
a dog then, you know. But is he really a Djinni? Oh, dear!
 Don t be frightened, said Jim.  He won t hurt you. He wouldn t want to hurt
you for fear of offending me.
 Is that true? Hob s grip on Jim s neck relaxed.  I feel much better, then.
Anyway, as I say, he s not in the castle. He s around someplace, probably in
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the village or near it or something. But those men down there don t seem to
know. A demon, right there amongst them. And I never knew it, either.
 He s not a demon, said Jim.  He s a Natural. Like you.
Hob bounced from Jim s shoulder back onto a waft of smoke that appeared
unexpectedly about two feet in front of Jim s face.
 He s not like me! said Hob, staring at him.
 Well, I mean, he s a Natural, as you are. Like you only in that sense, Jim
said,  just like trolls, and naiads and sea devils, and all sorts of others
are Naturals-as opposed to people like Angie, Brian and me.
 But demons are full of bad magic, the men down there say; and- now that I
remember-the dog-Djinni not only changed himself into a fat man, he made that
chest with all the colored stones in it appear. The chest you didn t want.
 He has some powers that are like magic, said Jim.  Lots of Naturals do.
They ll have a special power or two, or even more, but they don t have a lot
of control over them. They can only do certain things-sort of turn them on and
off-like the way you ride the smoke. That would seem like magic to anyone who
had never heard of hobgoblins.
 Is that magic? said Hob.  I never thought it was anything special. You mean
I could be a demon?
 No, said Jim.  As I just pointed out, you re a Natural. Naturals aren t
demons, and demons aren t Naturals. Demons belong to a different kingdom than
Naturals.
 Oh, that s good, said Hob with a deep sigh.  For a terrible moment there I
thought I d have to be afraid of myself.
 Well, there s no need, said Jim.  But this is valuable information, what
you tell me about these attackers being afraid of demons. Are they
particularly afraid of demons just because they re here?
 Maybe, said Hob doubtfully.  I know they know there s a great magician in
the castle-that s you, m lord. I don t know how they know, but they do; and
they think maybe magicians and demons go together.
 I can assure you, said Jim,  they don t. Different kingdoms, absolutely.
But now I think, for the first time, you ve given me the beginnings of an idea
for doing something about this situation here. Tell me one more thing, Hob. Is
there some way you could move smoke from the castle s chimneys into the far
end of each of the two boats touching the shore in front of the castle here?
I d like it to look as if there was a fire going on back there in both boats.
 Move smoke? said Hob.  Oh, certainly. I d just do the same thing I do when
I move the smoke to carry me along.
 Bingo! said Jim.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
 Bingo? echoed Hob, staring at him.
 Never mind, said Jim hastily.  That s just a word that means I m pleased.
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Hob s small round face with its tiny sharp-pointed chin broke into a wide
smile.
 I m happy you re happy, he said.  I ll be glad to move the smoke for you,
m lord. When? Now?
 You can do it in the daytime? asked Jim.
 Oh, yes, said Hob.  I ll just bundle the smoke up small, then ride a waft
of it high up, so people won t see me take it far out over the water. Then I
can come down very low some distance away out to sea and ride the smoke back
just above the waves. Then I ll slip into the boats when nobody s looking,
bundle the smoke in with me and tell it to rise up the way I want it to. The
way you want it to, m lord.
 Thank you. Hob, said Jim.  Now, there s something else to be done first.
Will you be where I can get you quickly if I call for you in a fireplace? I ve
got to go and talk to a couple of people. Then we ll come back here to talk;
and you can listen.
 I ll always be right where you can get me, m lord, said Hob.
Jim left the room and headed for the top of the stairs. He had two others to
convince, and the first one was Brian. That should be relatively easy; but the
second one was Sir Mortimor. The tall knight should see the advantage of what
Jim had in mind, but might have some reason against it that Jim could not now
imagine. But that, Jim would have to argue down when he came up against it.
Brian was the easier, and the sensible thing would be to talk to Brian first.
Brian did, indeed, turn out to be the easier. He liked Jim s idea, which was
in essence a sally by the full force of fighting men under Sir Mortimor s
command, just at daylight, when presumably the enemy would still be either [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]