CHAPTER XI.
_THE MAGICIAN'S TOWER._
"I trow there was no magic in it at all--or no magician," cried Joanna,with suppressed excitement of manner; "I believe it is nothing but somedevilry and trickery of Tito's and Roger's. The more I think of it, themore certain do I become. They are an evil pair, and are capable ofanything."
Joanna was standing in the midst of an eager and interested group. Thewhisper had gone out in certain quarters that a strange thing hadhappened, and that news might be had of the missing Hugh. Amalric deMontfort had heard as much, and had begged of Leofric to take him to seethe maiden who could tell what had befallen. Gilbert and Jack were alsogathered together to hear the tale. The Fair of St. Frideswyde had justconcluded; the city was resuming its normal condition; lectures for theday were just ended, and Gilbert had conducted his friends to thecitizen household, that they might hear from Joanna's own lips the storyof the mysterious visit which had resulted in the unexpected apparitionof the face of Hugh le Barbier in the magician's mirror.
It was an age of superstition, and the belief in magic was deeplyimplanted in the minds of men of all classes. Nevertheless, in thisparticular case, a sceptic doubt had arisen, and when Joanna boldlyspoke out her opinions, a murmur as of assent passed round the ring.
"Devilry without doubt," said Amalric, with an emphatic gesture. "Theonly question to my mind is, Whose is the devilry? and what chance havewe of catching the perpetrators thereof, and wresting the truth fromthem?"
"If it be a real magician from foreign parts, he may already have leftthe city," said Jack; "folks are flocking away, now that the fair isover, as fast as they were flocking in a week ago."
"If I be right in my conjecture," said Joanna significantly, "themysterious magician and his associate will not quit Oxford. Neither willthey altogether cease their dark practices; they find them pay toowell."
Hal Seaton, the brother of Joanna, who was also in this secret, lookedout to be certain no one was listening, and then locked the door,signing to the company to be seated.
"Now, sister," he said, "tell to these our friends all that thou didsttell to me upon the night after we had carried to her home the swooningLinda. For if thou be right in what thou dost surmise, Hugh le Barbieris yet alive, and in sore need of help from without, which we must givehim without delay. Wherefore speak, and speak freely, for we are allfriends here."
Joanna told them of what had befallen her and Linda when they sought tolearn more of the fate of Hugh--how they had been taken blindfold intothe presence of the magician, and how the wan and wasted face of Hughhad appeared before them in the magic mirror.
"Linda at that moment did faint away," said Joanna, "but in the darknessthe magician seemed not to know it. He made some strange passes with hishands, and then the lips of the mirrored face moved, and a voice whichsounded far away spoke in urgent accents, bidding Linda forget him, anddo all that was desired of her, as thus and only thus could she save himfrom a fate that was worse than death. Linda did not hear one word ofthis; but I heard all, and methought I knew whose was the voice thatspake these things."
"Whose was it?" was the eager question.
"Tito Balzani's," was the reply. "We all know the power Tito possessesto throw his voice here, there, and wherever he chooses, and to imitatethe voices of others. We also know well that he has some knowledge ofmagic and the black arts. His mother was accounted a witch, as I haveoften heard, and she bequeathed to him certain books and properties theuse of which he has been studying of late more than some folks thinkwise. There be always those who would seek to pry into forbidden things,and Tito is one of such. He could play magician well, methinks, an hehad the mind; and I verily believe it was he and none other who soastonished and awed our townfolk during the week of the fair."
"That might explain much," cried Jack, "for all men were aghast at thethings the magician told them about themselves, which smacked mightilyof mystery if it were a stranger who thus spoke, but would easily beexplained if he were their own townsman. But leaving that matter, howcould he have deceived your eyes by the trick of the magic mirror? Howcould he have gotten the face of Hugh reflected there?"
"What I believe," answered Joanna, gravely and earnestly, as she glancedround the faces bent upon her, "is that Tito Balzani and Roger de Hornhave made a prisoner these two months of Hugh le Barbier, and arepractising some of their devilries upon him--Roger from jealous rage andhatred, because Linda scorns his suit and has given her heart to Hugh;Tito because he desires that his friend should wed his sister, andbecause a living subject can ofttimes be of such great use to one who ispractising the black arts of magic and mystery. Thou knowest, brother,that the traveller who once chanced this way and told us of many strangethings he had seen in far-off lands, said that human blood was needfulto many of those experiments which sorcerers delight in. If that facewere truly Hugh's which we did see in the mirror, truly methinks he hasbeen bled within an inch of his life."
Amalric started up in great excitement.
"If that be so, we must fly to his rescue ere they do him to death withtheir foul spells."
"It is to talk of that that we are here together to-day," answeredGilbert, whose face was stern and resolute. "But first we must find outwhere they have hidden him; for albeit many of our townfolk did go forthbeyond the gates to inquire further of the magician, all were fastblind-folded both in coming and going, so that none can say where theplace stands which hides his guilty secrets."
Amalric turned eagerly upon Joanna once again.
"Canst thou tell us aught of this? And when didst thou first believethat it was trickery and not magic that was being practised upon thee?Hadst thou suspected aught ere thou wentest forth?"
"The doubt had just crossed my mind," answered Joanna. "I knew well thatRoger was bent upon obtaining Linda's hand in marriage, and I believedthat he had slain Hugh the better to obtain his object. Then when Lindaspoke of her doubt as to Hugh's death, I could not but wonder how farRoger and Tito were concerned in his disappearance. But it was not tillI was within the magician's cave--for such it appeared to be--and heardthat voice urging upon the unconscious Linda to do the will of those twoevil men, that conviction came home to me. Then like a flash I seemed tosee it all--how they had not dared to kill Hugh, lest inquiry anddiscovery should follow, but had made a prisoner of him, and were nowseeking through the medium of pretended magic to break Linda's resolve,and hurry her into lifelong misery as the bride of Roger. For if shecould be convinced that her lover's life and liberty depended upon thesacrifice, she might be willing to make it, when no other considerationin the world would drive her to the step. This, then, was the meaningof all this pretence of magic and occult power. Linda was to beterrified into a rash promise, the magician working upon her andforetelling life to her lover if she did but comply. And I verilybelieve they would have succeeded but for that timely fainting fit,which rendered her helpless and speechless, and angered them into wordswhich betrayed the plot to me."
"What did they say?"
"I can scarce repeat the words. All was darkness and confusion and hastewhen they saw Linda lying like one dead before them. But I heard somemuttered oaths, only too like what I hear from Tito Balzani in momentsof anger; whilst the strength exhibited by the other man in lifting andcarrying Linda away was little like that of the bowed and aged man whichhe had appeared to be, and I was wellnigh certain that it was Roger. Iwas more than half afraid he would spirit her away next; but I kept fasthold of her dress, even after my eyes were bandaged, and the other manwalked beside me guiding my steps. Just at the South Gate they set downLinda, and vanished in the darkness. I pulled off the bandage, and foundmyself alone with her, leaning up against the wall. The sentry at thegate heard my call, and came and helped to carry her home. He said thatseveral half-swooning maidens had been left there during these last daysafter dark. For his part he should be glad when the fair was ended andthe magicians had gone their way. He did not hold with honest citizensbeing scar
ed out of their senses. And having carried Linda home, hedeparted."
"Would he know where the magician had his place of resort?" askedAmalric eagerly. "Didst thou ask him?"
"Yes; but he could tell nothing. He said the less he meddled in suchmatters the better. Methinks the magicians had scared him somewhat. Hewas right glad to think they were going. I have asked of many if theycould tell; but none can say. Those who went forth were led blindfold,and all they can say is that the way seemed long and tortuous, and thatthe place was like a cave, albeit none can remember going down steps.Yet it is true that there was a damp, cave-like scent in the air, andone seemed to pass beneath an arch as one entered."
"It could not be any of those buildings which pertain to the BlackFriars; the danger would be too great," said Hal, "for the friars are nofriends to magic. There are many mills along Trill Mill Stream, but onecan scarce see how the mock magician could weave his spells there. Byday they are used, and men work early and late. Besides, how could theykeep a prisoner there--if so be that Joanna is right, and Hugh has beenkept in durance vile during these many weeks? It is hard of credence;and yet how else could his face appear in the mirror?"
Here Leofric, who had listened to every word spoken, and had beenthinking deeply, looked up to say,--
"There is the tower--Friar Bacon's tower--close to the Grandpont, beyondthe South Gate, beyond the mills and the buildings of the Black Friars.That tower hath an evil report. Men fear it even by day; by night allgive it wide berth. I have heard men say of late that strange soundshave been heard issuing forth, and that it is a place unholy and to beavoided. Can it be possible that these evil men have broken in, and usedit for the practice of their wicked arts? It might suit them well, sincethey can study the stars from thence, cast horoscopes, and practise manyforbidden arts safely within its walls. And if they had a mind to keep aprisoner there--"
Amalric had started to his feet in great excitement.
"The Magician's Tower--that is what I have heard it called! Verily, goodLeofric, methinks thou hast gotten the key of the mystery this time!What place could better suit these evil creatures wherein to practisedeeds of darkness? As we know, men shun the spot even by day; but atnight none will pass by who can avoid it. Doubtless Friar Bacon leftbehind him some things which might be useful to the pretended magician;and he may have implements of his own for practising his black arts.Where better could he carry on his practices? Where more secure couldsome hapless prisoner be kept? And the sounds which men have heardproceeding thence! Why did we not think of it before? Surely it must bethe voice of Hugh, seeking to call for aid from those without! Let usfly to his rescue without delay! We will take a sevenfold vengeance uponhis persecutors if we find matters as we believe!"
"We must have a care," said Hal, looking round with an air of caution;"we have two clever and unscrupulous rogues to deal with. If we are tocatch them as well as their victim, we had better lie low till night hasfallen, and then sally forth and see if we cannot take them red-handedin some of their villany. If we breathe a word of this abroad, we shallfind that they have escaped--and perchance have made away with theirvictim, or hidden him elsewhere--and we shall be foiled in our purpose."
"And we do but suspect the hiding-place," said Leofric. "If we arewrong, and have given them warning, we shall lose them utterly. We shallhave much ado, methinks, to catch them as it is. If we make any stir andlet them hear so much as a whisper, they will be off, and we shall seethem no more."
"True," said Amalric, whose first impulse had been to speak to theConstable of the Castle and ask for a guard to go and search the tower;"we might defeat our own ends by publicity. And then if our surmise wereto be wrong, they would have time to remove their prisoner and betakethemselves elsewhere before we discovered our error. We will bandtogether, all of us, and to-night we will meet here once more, and setforth on our errand. Meantime let us not breathe outside these walls oneword of what has been resolved upon. Let us spend our day as we are wontto spend it; but let each man revolve in his mind some course of action,and come provided with that which he judges to be most needful to thesuccess of the enterprise. Arms, of course, each must carry, andanything else that may seem well. To-night at curfew--or perchance anhour later--we will meet, and then make for the tower with all speed andsecrecy."
They rose with one accord as if to go.
"Then," said Hal, "let our meeting-place be just without the South Gate,under shelter of the wall hard by St. Michael's. There in the shadownone will note our gathering; and the sentry knows us all, and will letus pass without comment."
"So be it," said Amalric, who from his rank naturally took the lead inthis matter. The young men saluted Joanna, Amalric thanked her for herinformation and praised her for her courage, and then they went forthone by one, to note that Tito Balzani, lounging in the door of the inn alittle higher up the street, watched their exit with lowering brows anda sullen mien.
Leofric and Jack passed him by as they walked towards their ownquarters. He looked at them with suspicion.
"Whither away so fast?" he asked, with an air of would-be goodfellowship; "come and have a drink, and tell the news. What has takenthee to Master Seaton's house to-day? The city is as dull as a stagnantpool after the fair."
"How goes it with Mistress Linda?" asked Leofric, ignoring the question;"we heard from Joanna but now that she was sick of some fever of thebrain."
"It is naught but a maid's folly and fantasy," answered Tito, with anugly scowl; "marriage with an honest fellow who would keep her from herwhimsies and puling would be the best cure for her. So I tell my father,who has promised to think of it."
Leofric passed on, seeing that Jack's face had flushed all over, andthat he only restrained himself with difficulty from betraying his realfeelings towards the Italian youth.
"He is a young scamp himself!" cried the farmer's son, as they hastenedtowards their lodging. "If we can but catch him to-night, I would gladlywring his neck for him! But I fear he will be as slippery as an eel.Nevertheless, let me but get a good grip of him, and it will go hardthat I shake not the breath out of his body!"
"Gently, good Jack," said Leofric; "we must not take life without goodcause. But if things be as we suppose, I trust we shall bring both himand his accomplice to the punishment their evil deeds deserve."
To the impatient Jack the time seemed long before night came and theycould start forth on their quest. But the darkness fell early at thatseason, and at the appointed hour the pair sallied forth, avoiding theHigh Street, where Tito might possibly be on the watch (if he were notalready at the Magician's Tower), and skirting along the wall till theSouth Gate was reached and passed. The walls of St. Michael's rose upimmediately before them, and here had already gathered the eager party,all armed, and all resolute and full of courage.
"Tito and Roger passed through the gate together an hour ago," said HalSeaton; "I have been watching and dogging them ever since our meetingbroke up. Fain would I have followed them farther; but they were full ofsuspicion, and I feared to be seen, and so spoil everything. Theyscuttled along like hunted foxes, sly and cunning and crafty. So far asI could judge, they went straight down as if towards Grandpont. I trulybelieve that the tower is their place of resort."
Amalric took the lead. Bidding his followers walk very softly--which itwas easy to do in the thick mud of the low-lying road--he made his wayrapidly yet cautiously in the direction of the tower, and before longthey could see the lonely building standing out against the sky just atthe head of the bridge.
All was dark and silent as they approached; but Jack had made a littledetour, and had found his way down to the very edge of the river. Now hecame flying back to say that from that side a glimmer of light could bedetected in an upper window, visible only from the river, and lookingblue and ghostlike as a corpse candle. Nor had they actually reached thewall before a sudden cry, wild and strange, rang through the silence ofthe night. The whole party started, and Amalric ground his teeth; butthey could well un
derstand how the ordinary passer-by, hearing such asound, would hurry past in terrible fright, believing it the wail of alost spirit, or a demoniac yell.
"Here is the door!" spoke Gilbert, in smothered tones, "but it is fastlocked and bolted. They will take good care of that."
A long-drawn sobbing wail seemed to come from within, and Amalric's facegrew hard and stern.
"Break it in, then--a truce to secrecy!--there is no time to lose!" hecried; and the next moment the silence of the night was rent by thesound of blows against the solid door, which soon sent it crashinginwards.
"A light!" cried Amalric; and Hal flashed a concealed lantern within theopening forced. In a moment the five youths had vaulted in, drawingtheir daggers as they did so. They found themselves in a dark, vaultedchamber, hung round with black cloth; and for some moments they couldsee no way of getting into the upper part of the tower. The magic mirrorhung upon the wall, and various curious-looking implements lay upon thetable, doubtless used by Tito when practising upon the credulity ofthose who sought him.
"This way!" cried Jack suddenly. He had discovered in the wall a narrowspiral stairway. Recklessly dashing upwards, stumbling in the darkness,but closely followed by his comrades, and holding his dagger fast in hishand, he suddenly found himself brought up short by a locked door, andbehind that door he could hear whispering voices.
"Stand back a moment!" he yelled to those behind; and they fell back,not knowing what was to happen next. Jack had armed himself beforehandwith a mighty club, which in old days he had often wielded with goodeffect, and which since his arrival in Oxford had been his favouriteweapon in those matches of skill and strength in which the hearts of thestudents delighted.
Raising this formidable weapon, and bringing it crashing against thelock of this door, he forced it open before him. A stream of light burstforth for a single second, almost dazzling their eyes. The next instantthey were enveloped in black darkness, whilst a sound of scuffling stepsand of angry words in the room beyond them told that they had surprisedthe evil-doers in their work.
Hal sprang forward with his lantern, and Jack exclaimed,--
"Catch them! catch them! they are getting out by the windows!"
Springing forward, he caught at the legs of one, but received such aviolent kick upon the cheek that he let go his hold for a second. Theother fugitive was grappled by Gilbert, but he was more than half-wayout before he was seized, and he wriggled so dexterously and fiercelythat he too drew away, and the next moment both figures had vanished.
"After them down the stairs!" cried Hal; and he, Gilbert, and Jackdashed down through the darkness, leaving the light for any one whodesired it.
Amalric caught it up, flashed it round the room, and then uttered ashort, sharp exclamation. Leofric had seen a ghastly figure stretchedupon a pallet in a corner. The next moment both he and Amalric werebending over the prostrate form of Hugh le Barbier.
Hugh indeed it was, though worn almost to a skeleton, and looking likedeath. One arm was extended, and blood was oozing from a vein that hadevidently been recently opened. A number of other scars plainly showedhow frequently this operation had been repeated. His eyes, though halfopen, seemed to take in no impression from without. He was cold andalmost pulseless. Amalric, bending over him and feeling his heart, saidbetween his clenched teeth,--
"We are only just in time!"
They stanched the wound. They forced strong spirit down his throat. Theychafed his cold limbs, and finding warm garments, left behind by thefugitives in their hasty flight, they wrapped him in them, and set lightto the fire upon the hearth, and laid him down in front of it to get thefull heat of the blaze.
In moving him, they found that he had been chained by one ankle to thewall, and they had to file through the fetter before they could freehim, their hearts meantime swelling with indignation and fury.
"If we can but lay hands on those miscreants!" muttered Amalric betweenhis teeth.
All this while Hugh lay lifeless and unconscious, although his pulsesstill beat faintly. When he had for the third time swallowed the cordialforced upon him by Leofric, he slowly opened his eyes, at first withshrinking and horror in them, which changed gradually to great wonderand joy.
"Amalric!" he said faintly, as though speaking in a dream--"Leofric!Heaven send this be not another dream!"
And having so said he put out his hand, as if to assure himself by touchof the presence of friends; and after having so done he once more lostconsciousness, the very shock of joy being too much for his weakenedframe.