"I know that part," Liya said critically. "So much burned that it blocked the sun an' started a famine. Sounds pretty dumb," she added.

"Oh, yeah," Vlad answered airily. "But it did technically work. It killed all the tree folk, and our topsoil's still full of fertile ash."

Yoshi, who had been looking around thoughtfully in silence, suddenly spoke up. "Er, Vlad?" he asked. "No one uses these tunnels anymore, right? How do you know about the entrance."

"Ah." Vlad paused, and then spun to face them, the light casting deep shadows on his face and flashing off his not-quite-a-grin. "I can trust you two to keep a secret, right?"

Yoshi and Liya looked at each other, suddenly intrigued. "Yes!" they responded to Vlad, at the same time.

"Good," Vlad said. With the brush of a hand the wall behind him opened, and a deep red light poured out. What was visible was a small room, lit by a red ball of light contained in a glass jug which sat on a low bureau. The wall opposite them was hung with coathooks--some of them holding scarves, and others holding dark cloaks and simple white masks with long faces. Someone was speaking from beyond the room.

"Of course they tried to put him off it, at first," they were saying, "wanted to talk about the Leigh incident instead--"