Hugh Cook - The Witchlord and the Weaponmaster

"There is a Door in these ruins," said Sken-Pitilkin. "If we are to be denied Drum, then I have it in mind to open this Door."

"But why?" said Guest.

"To see where it goes," said Sken-Pitilkin.

And flew onwards.

Quite apart from any other consideration (such as sheer curiosity) Sken-Pitilkin had in mind the possibility that Shabble might have spotted them already, and might shortly pursue them, in which case a Door in the Old City would give them (possibly) the means of escape.

So Sken-Pitilkin dared himself to the Old City in Penvash.

Much the wizard knew of this Old City. Before his exile to Tameran and his embroilment in the affairs of the Yarglat barbarians, the wizard of Skatzabratzumon had dwelt for generations on the island of Drum, and had come to know the surrounding geography in detail.

In particular, he had learnt much of Penvash from the questing heroes of Sung, a mean and provincial place in the Ravlish Lands, not far from Drum. The Melski – a breed of pacific but formidable green-skinned creatures which live in Penvash – had once defeated the people of Sung in a great war. Ever since then, the Old City of Penvash had possessed a peculiar fascination for the more warlike of Sung's inhabitants. For it was known that the Melski shunned that city, which led the optimistic to presume that something potent against the Melski could conceivably be recovered from that city.

Consequently, down through the generations, a great many questing heroes of Sung had ventured to Penvash, with all of them having the Old City as their goal; and, though few had returned to tell of their venturing, most of the survivors had at one time or another discussed their experiences with Sken-Pitilkin. In the course of his debriefings, Sken-Pitilkin had made great heaps of maps, charts and diagrams, and so had recorded the existence of a Door in the Old City long before he ever knew what a Door might be good for.

Being in possession of a star-globe capable of opening such a Door, Sken-Pitilkin therefore headed for the Old City, a heap of ruins in the Penvash Peninsular, well north of Lake Armansis.

In Sken-Pitilkin's stickbird the heroes hustled across the horizons, making for the continent of Argan, for the Penvash Peninsular, and for the dangers of the Old City.

They had actually caught sight of the ruins of the Old City when Guest spied a flash of fire in the sky in front of them. He cried out in alarm.

"What is it?" said Sken-Pitilkin.

"Shabble!" said Guest.

"Where?" said Sken-Pitilkin, looking back. "Where?"

"Not behind us!" said Guest. "In front of us! Look!"

"He's right!" said Levant. "It's either Shabble – or a dragon!"Sken-Pitilkin looked, and, on squinting, did indeed see something which might well be Shabble, spitting out volleys of fire in non-stop spasms of incontinent anger.

For once, Sken-Pitilkin was hard put to believe the evidence of his own eyes. For Drum was by now more than an eyeshot distant.

They had flown over the ocean, had crossed the coast, and were now almost ready to spit upon the Old City. How then could Shabble be in front of them?

The wizard of Skatzabratzumon deduced that Shabble must have been flying in a great circle of scrutiny designed to accommodate the visual inspection of the vastest possible area of land, sea and sky. He marveled at Shabble's speed, and realized that he had previously underestimated the bubble's capacities.

"Don't just stand there gawking!" said Guest. "Put us down!

Put us down!"

Realizing that the Weaponmaster had reason, Sken-Pitilkin sent his stickbird into a downward spiral.

"It's stopped," said Levant, clutching tight to the rail of the stickbird.

"What's stopped?" said Sken-Pitilkin.

"The flame-spitting," said Levant. "Shabble's stopped flamespitting, I can't see the thing. So that means – "

"Ten to one it means that Shabble's seen us!" said Guest.

At that, Sken-Pitilkin began to make his final approach, for he had spied the Door of the Old City. It was set in a muddy clearing, in which Sken-Pitilkin shortly made his landing in a shower of filth and spray.

On landing, the stickbird spun thrice in a sickening fashion, exhausting the last of its momentum in a flurry of flying mud.

Then it ceased to spin. It rocked twice or thrice, then was still.

They had landed.

"Out! Out!" said Sken-Pitilkin. Guest jumped to the mud. Thayer Levant snatched the star- globe from Sken-Pitilkin and followed.

"Hey!" said Sken-Pitilkin. "The globe!"

"Tell Shabble you lost it," said Levant, holding the thing close. "Try for the sky. Try fly the horizon, we'll hide in the trees. When Shabble catches you, then bluff like crazy."

"It's a plan," said Guest. "It's not much, but something."Guest was right.

It was not much of a plan.

But Sken-Pitilkin could think of nothing better. Sken-Pitilkin took to the skies in his stickbird, while Guest and Levant ran for the nearest trees. They sprinted through the mud toward the shelter of the foliage – but before they reached it, that foliage erupted into fire.

"Halt!" yelled a voice from the sky. "Halt right where you are! Or you'll be incinerated!"Guest and Levant looked up.

There was Shabble, hovering high above them.

"I will not be captured," said Guest. "Not by that thing. I have it in mind to run."

"Where?" said Levant.

"The Door!" said Guest, snatching the star-globe from Levant.

"Where it goes I don't know, but I'll chance it."

Then Guest sprinted for the plinth on which stood the Door of the Old City. He slammed the star-globe into the niche in the marble base of that plinth. A screen of living silver hummed to life, filling the metal arch which rose from that plinth. Guest leapt onto the marble plinth, and positively rolled through the silver screen, disappearing through sight.

"How dare you!" roared Shabble, furious to see this quarry escaping.

And Shabble swooped down from the skies, and flashed through that silver screen, following Guest Gulkan.

Upon which, Thayer Levant did a quick calculation. Sken-Pitilkin had fled to the skies, and Shabble had pursued Guest Gulkan through the Door. So if Levant were to close that Door, why then, he would be in undisputed possession of the star-globe.

So thinking, Levant ran to the marble plinth, snatched the star-globe from its base, and thus closed the Door. At which a voice challenged him from the sky.

"Hoy! Shabble!"Thayer Levant looked upwards, and saw Sken-Pitilkin's stickbird go scudding overhead at speed. Sken-Pitilkin, realizing that Shabble had not chosen to chase him, had returned, and was trying to tempt the bubble into pursuit.

Of course, Shabble was in no position to pursue, for the bubble had vanished through the Door to some place Elsewhere, some place doubtless far over the horizon. But if Sken-Pitilkin was not going to flee, then soon he would land. So, if Levant wanted to keep the star-globe for himself, he would have to persuade the sagacious wizard of Skatzabratzumon that it had been lost.

What then went through Levant's head?

Did this disgruntled servant think he could persuade Sken-Pitilkin that the star-globe had been carried off by a large magpie, say, or eaten by a hungry porcupine?

We cannot tell.

But what is certain is that Levant swiftly buried the star- globe at the base of the marble plinth, and, having concealed this buried treasure, he hastened himself toward the treeline, doubtless working to contrive an excuse to explain the loss of the precious globe.

Meantime, Sken-Pitilkin swooped back and forth across the clearing, endeavoring to tempt Shabble to pursuit. On his second swoop, Sken-Pitilkin saw Levant running for the treeline. And on his third swoop, Sken-Pitilkin saw Levant thrashing in the jaws of a gigantic scorpion.