In a short time they saw a dark-winged figure coming towards them, whose crown of pale flame threw furtive shadows on the tree-trunks. The Enchantress went to meet him, and for some time the two friends walked up and down at a little distance from the King. He looked above and around for some chance of escape. Once he thought of springing into the owl chariot, but the Enchantress had taken her whip of plaited twigs with her, and he feared that without it the owls might refuse to fly. He felt under his doublet for a dagger which he had managed to lay hands on after his sword had been taken, and which he had kept carefully hidden ever since. Then a sound made him glance upwards, and he saw that the boughs of the trees were a mass of gigantic figures, winged and carrying long nets; they jibbered and laughed, making as though they would throw them over him. It was plain that there was no hope of escape, and that his only chance would be on the homeward way, when he might stab the Enchantress, and with her plaited switch force the owls downwards to earth. But he shuddered at the thought of killing a woman, even though she were a fiend. He turned over these things in his mind till he heard her calling. “Come!” she was saying. “It may please you to see some of your own kind. His Majesty has got two prisoners he is keeping in the forest, and I am going to look at them. You need not think we shall leave you. I hear that the woman is beautiful, so you can tell me if you think her as beautiful as I am.” They followed the Bat-King for some distance. The thickness of the forest was surprising; twisted roots were woven together in the most wonderful manner, and starry blossoms swayed to and fro in the night wind. The Bat-creatures came crowding behind, close on their footsteps. At last they reached a place where some trees stood round a grassy circle; in the centre of it were two figures. “See,” said the Bat-King, “here are my prisoners. In the night, when my people are awake, they are watched on all sides, and in the day, while we sleep, one touch of my spear raises such a wall of bush and brier that they may try for ever to get through it in vain.” His eyes gleamed with malice. “Stand, woman!” he cried, “stand up and let the Enchantress see you!” A lady rose and stood before them, and, as she looked up at her tormentor, her eyes met those of the King. For a moment he remained dumb with horror, then, with a shout, he sprang upon the Bat-King, hurling him to the ground and battering his head against the earth. The Enchantress shrieked and the Bat-people came round in dozens. They overpowered the King, dragging his enemy from under him, and in another moment he also found himself a prisoner. The Bat-King, who was now on his feet, rushed at him with his spear, but the Enchantress threw herself between them. “No, no!” she cried, “you shall not kill him! He is mine! No one shall harm him. I love him and he loves me!”