It was all a confusion of impressions to me. I made a dash at Rhana; decided against it; turned and ran the other way. There seemed perhaps twenty people in the room. Every instant I expected to be hit by that stabbing flash. The main doorway was still open, and men were coming in. I rushed at them and they scattered. There was another flash, which stung my shoulder. A woman was leaping at me, swishing a chain; the shot caught her and she went down. There was no more firing after that. In the doorway I was engulfed by half a dozen men who rushed me at Rhana’s vehement command. I went through them; waded, kicking, twisting, heaving them off, flinging them bodily away. I found myself in the entry room. The people in it scattered before me. There were several flashes, but I was untouched. I went through the room with a rush to find myself in a dark corridor. There was pursuit behind me; I could hear the shouts. I ducked into a long, empty, dim room, and went down its length at a full run. All its windows were barred. One of the gratings slid up as I got there. Rhana was back at her table, I knew, barring every exit of the castle. I ran on, through doorways, always dark corridors--an endless maze. I was wholly lost. Occasionally I encountered a Gian, but none could stop me. I found myself going down an incline; over a bridge up near a vaulted ceiling. It was familiar. I stopped; panting for breath I stood in the blackness clinging to the rail. An abyss was below me. I had shaken off my followers. I was alone here. In the silence I heard what seemed murmuring water far under me. Familiar. I had crossed this interior bridge, or one very like it, on the way up from Arturo’s cell. I thought I could find my way back there now. With recovered breath I started. Cautiously--now that I had escaped pursuit, I wanted to avoid any one again finding me. Get down to Arturo; if I could open his door from the corridor side, together we would find some way out of this place. I moved along. Over the bridge. It was darker here now than when I had been brought up. I felt my way along the stone passage. I rounded a corner. There was a small dim light. The passage was empty; but I ran squarely into something solid--something invisible. It gripped me. CHAPTER XV. THE FIRE CALDRON. Tad stood in the garden of the castle, with Nereid and her father. Rhana was on the parapet, talking to the Middge crowd. Tad did not miss Arturo and me; he assumed we were close behind him. His attention was on Rhana. He knew her perhaps better than did any of us. When first he had been brought here, with a vague memory that the freighter on which he had been traveling was sinking, Rhana had taken him to the castle. He had lived there for a time, and had taught her much that she knew of our language. He listened now to her, but of her language he still understood only occasional phrases. Entt joined him.