23. The Red Rogue of Dawna

The Enchanted Island of Yew

by L. Frank Baum

One morning, while they were all standing in the courtyard
waiting for their horses, as they were about to go for a ride, a
courier came galloping swiftly up to the palace and cried:

"Does any one know where Prince Marvel can be found?"

"I am Prince Marvel," replied the young knight, stepping out
from among the others.

"Then have I reached my journey's end!" said the courier, whose
horse was nearly exhausted from long and hard riding. "The Lady
Seseley is in great danger, and sends for you to come and rescue her.
The great Baron Merd, her father, has been killed and his castle
destroyed, and all his people are either captives or have been slain
outright."

"And who has done this evil thing?" asked Prince Marvel, looking
very stern and grave.

"The Red Rogue of Dawna," answered the messenger. "He quarreled
with the Baron Merd and sent his savage hordes to tear down his
castle and slay him. I myself barely escaped with my life, and the
Lady Seseley had but time to say, before she was carried off, that if
I could find Prince Marvel he would surely rescue her."

"And so I will!" declared the prince, "if she be still
alive."

"Who is this Lady Seseley?" asked Nerle, who had come to his
master's side.

"She is my first friend, to whom I owe my very existence. It is
her image, together with those of her two friends, which is graven on
my shield," answered Prince Marvel, thoughtfully.

"And what will you do?" inquired the esquire.

"I must go to her at once."

When they heard of his mission all the party insisted on
accompanying him. Even the dainty High Ki could not be deterred by
any thoughts of dangers they might encounter; and after some
discussion Prince Marvel allowed them to join him.

So Wul-Takim sharpened his big broadsword, and Nerle carefully
prepared his master's horse, so that before an hour had passed they
were galloping toward the province of the Red Rogue of Dawna.

Prince Marvel knew little concerning this personage, but Nerle
had much to tell of him. The Red Rogue had once been page to a wise
scholar and magician, who lived in a fine old castle in Dawna and
ruled over a large territory. The boy was very small and
weak--smaller even than the average dwarf--and his master did not
think it worth while to watch him. But one evening, while the
magician was standing upon the top of the highest tower of his
castle, the boy gave him a push from behind, and he met death on the
sharp rocks below. Then the boy took his master's book of magic and
found a recipe to make one grow. He made the mixture and swallowed
it, and straightway began to grow big and tall. This greatly
delighted him, until he found he was getting much bigger than the
average man and rapidly becoming a giant. So he sought for a way to
arrest the action of the magical draft; but before he could find it
he had grown to enormous proportions, and was bigger than the biggest
giant. There was nothing in the book of magic to make one grow
smaller, so he was obliged to remain as he was--the largest man in
the Enchanted Island.

All this had happened in a single night. The morning after his
master's murder the page announced himself lord of the castle; and,
seeing his enormous size, none dared deny his right to rule. On
account of his bushy hair, which was fiery red in color, and the
bushy red beard that covered his face when he became older, people
came to call him the Red One. And after his evil deeds and
quarrelsome temper had made him infamous throughout the island,
people began to call him the Red Rogue of Dawna.

He had gathered around him a number of savage barbarians, as
wicked and quarrelsome as himself, and so none dared to interfere
with him, or even to meet him, if it were possible to avoid it.

This same Red Rogue it was who had drawn the good Baron Merd
into a quarrel and afterward slain the old knight and his followers,
destroyed his castle, and carried his little daughter Seseley and her
girl friends, Berna and Helda, into captivity, shutting them up in
his own gloomy castle.

The Red Rogue thought he had done a very clever thing, and had
no fear of the consequences until one of his men came running up to
the castle to announce that Prince Marvel and his companions were
approaching to rescue the Lady Seseley.

"How many of them are there?" demanded the Red Rogue.

"There are eight, altogether," answered the man, "but two of
them are girls."

"And they expect to force me to give up my captives?" asked the
Red One, laughing with a noise like the roar of a waterfall. "Why, I
shall make prisoners of every one of them!"

The man looked at his master fearfully, and replied:

"This Prince Marvel is very famous, and all people speak of his
bravery and power. It was he who conquered King Terribus of Spor,
and that mighty ruler is now his friend, and is one of the eight who
approach."

The Red Rogue stopped laughing, for the fame of Spor's terrible
king had long ago reached him. And he reflected that any one who
could conquer the army of giants and dwarfs and Gray Men that served
Terribus must surely be one to be regarded seriously. Moreover--and
this was a secret--the Red Rogue had never been able to gain the
strength to correspond with his gigantic size, but had ever remained
as weak as when he was a puny boy. So he was accustomed to rely on
his cunning and on the terror his very presence usually excited to
triumph over his enemies. And he began to be afraid of this
prince.

"You say two of the party are girls?" he asked.

"Yes," said the man, "but also among them are King Terribus
himself, and the renowned Wul-Takim, formerly king of thieves, who
was conquered by the prince, although accounted a hard fighter, and
is now his devoted servant. And there are two old men who are just
alike and have a very fierce look about them. They are said to come
from the hidden Kingdom of Twi."

By this time the Red Rogue was thoroughly frightened, but he did
not yet despair of defeating his enemies. He knew better than to
attempt to oppose Prince Marvel by force, but he still hoped to
conquer him by trickery and deceit.

Among the wonderful things that the Red Rogue's former master,
the wise scholar and magician, had made were two large enchanted
mirrors, which were set on each side of the great hallway of the
castle. Heavy curtains were drawn over the surfaces of these
mirrors, because they both possessed a dreadful magical power. For
whenever any one looked into one of them his reflection was instantly
caught and imprisoned in the mirror, and his body at the same time
became invisible to all earthly eyes, only the mirror retaining his
form.

While considering a way to prevent the prince from freeing the
Lady Seseley, the Red Rogue happened to think of these mirrors, which
had never yet been used. So he went stealthily into the great hall
and drew aside the covering from one of the mirrors. He did not dare
look into the mirror himself, but hurried away to another room, and
then sent a page up a back stairway to summon the Lady Seseley and
her two maids into his presence.

The girls at once obeyed, for they greatly feared the Red Rogue;
and of course they descended the front stairway and walked through
the great hall. At once the large mirror that had been exposed to
view caught the eye of Seseley, and she paused to regard her
reflection in the glass. Her two companions did likewise, and
instantly all three girls became invisible, while the mirror held
their reflections fast in its magic surface.

The Red Rogue was watching them through a crack in the door, and
seeing the girls disappear he gave a joyful laugh and exclaimed:

"Now let Prince Marvel find them if he can!"

The three girls began to wander aimlessly through the castle;
for not only were they invisible to others, but also to themselves
and to one another, and they knew not what to do nor which way to
turn.