Perceiving that he had been deceived once more, Prince Radiance cried aloud in his grief, “Alas! This also is nothing! I have followed a false flame!”
Overcome with pain and discouragement, he dropped the Veil unheeded to the ground, and buried his face in his hands.
A long grey shadow crept toward him from the gloom, and once more a faint laugh broke the stillness. It was so near that it startled the Prince, plunged though he was in distress. He took his hands quickly from his eyes, and saw the creeping shadow, saw that with long arms outstretched it sought to reach and steal the mystic Veil that lay unprotected at his feet. Swiftly he bent, and snatched the Veil to himself. He restored it to the golden box, and fastened the box safely beneath his cloak.
“Ah!” breathed a voice from the shadow, “you were too quick for me. I so much longed to see closely this wonderful Veil that Flying Soot tells of.”
Prince Radiance, looking, saw the creeping shadow rise up and up until it became a tall woman, young and beautiful, dressed in long grey robes that swept in trailing webs from her arms and shoulders to her feet. Her black hair fell straight to her knees; her eyes were very dark, and looked as though they never smiled, although even now, the Prince heard that strange laughter floating from her lips that had echoed in his ears as he had pursued the flame that he had believed to be his Princess.
He turned indignant eyes upon her. “Who are you that mock me thus?” he demanded, wondering as he spoke whether this could be the Earth Fairy in disguise.
The woman did not answer, but looked at him intently.
“Speak,” commanded the Prince. “Are you the wicked Earth Fairy, that you laugh so heartlessly?”
“No Earth Fairy am I,” replied the grey woman. “I am the Shadow Witch, and with me are all my servants.” She waved her arms, and out of the gloom, as she herself had done, sprang a host of pale grey figures who stood behind her murmuring, “Yes, we are her servants--her servants the Shadows, who come and go at her behest.”
“And you it is, then, who have so cruelly deceived me, and lured me by your false flame from following my Princess,” cried Prince Radiance to the Shadow Witch.
“True enough,” she declared, “and why should I not?” She tossed her black hair from her face, and continued. “I grow so weary in this Land of Shadows, with none but my creeping servants about me, naught but my own grey magic to fill my hours. Seldom does a stranger cross through my land; more seldom have I a chance to look upon the magic of others. All the tricks of my brother, the Wizard of the Cave, I know by heart. I am tired of watching him play them day after day. Why should I not lure you from your path if it gives me an hour of pleasure?”