The Eyes of the Dragon

First, Peyna asks Dennis if anything happened to Thomas. Dennis says yes, but not in the way Peyna imagines. Dennis is shaking from the cold. Arlen fetches him blankets and the last tea left in the house.

When the tea arrives, Dennis drinks it quickly even though it is too hot. He is freezing because he walked all the way from the castle to the farmhouse. His mother is pretending he is still in bed in the castle recovering from the grippe. Dennis is afraid to go back to the castle because he is afraid Flagg knows something, and Peyna urges Dennis not to say Flagg’s name out loud. Once Dennis calms down, he tells Peyna the story of Thomas sleepwalking.

Dennis’s story not only confirms for Peyna that Flagg murdered Roland. It also means Thomas witnessed it. Peyna asks follow-up questions, including what happened next. Dennis explains that they both fell asleep in the passageway for a little while, and then Dennis followed Thomas as he slept walk back to the rooms. Thomas remembered nothing of the event afterward.

Peyna asks Dennis if he returned to the passageway later. Dennis says that he did. He went back and looked through the two panels and discovered that they were the eyes of the dragon Niner looking down into Roland’s sitting room. Peyna tells Dennis that he did well and to sleep at the farmhouse that night. Dennis apologizes for burdening Peyna with this knowledge, but Peyna thinks nothing of the danger because he has much to atone for.

Peyna tells Arlen to pour them the rest of the wine because the next day they will leave the farmhouse for good and head north. They will pretend they are leaving the area to avoid the grippe, but Peyna plans to join the rebels in the northern forest.

Peyna cannot sleep that night because he hears laughter in his head. He reflects that he spent his whole life defending the law and now he finds himself on the side of rebellion. To avoid revolt, he must “use the machinery of rebellion to help a prisoner break out of the Needle” (258). He then tells Arlen that he needs to find out why Peter asked for napkins and the dollhouse before leaving for the north.

The next day, Peyna asks Dennis to return to the castle. Dennis is afraid of Flagg, but he has an idea of how to sneak back into the castle unseen. Peyna knows he is asking Dennis to risk his life to find out whether Peter has an escape plan, but Dennis assures Peyna he is committed.

Peyna gives Dennis keys to the farmhouse and says that he will also give keys to Ben Staad when he sees him in the northern forests. Peyna assumes that the Staads joined the rebellion. Acting on intuition, Peyna says he will send Ben to meet Dennis. Peyna then asks Dennis an important question about the napkins and gives him instructions, which are not revealed to the reader yet.

The next day, they say their goodbyes. Dennis kisses Peyna’s Judge-General ring, which Peyna has kept. Then, Peyna goes to Charles Reechul, a farmer who raises Anduan huskies as sled dogs and is sympathetic to the rebellion. Charles’s daughter Naomi drives Peyna and Arlen north on a sled pulled by 12 huskies. When Peyna asks Naomi how long the trip will take, she says it depends on the weather whether they make it at all. They reach the camp four days later, and Ben Staad greets them. Peyna has a feeling they are running out of time.

Peter also has a feeling they are running out of time. The rope is still 30 feet too short, but Peter feels he cannot spare the last four months it will take to finish. He has been having a recurring dream in which Flagg looks into his crystal and says Peter’s name in anger. Peter can tell by looking at the sky that it will snow soon. He decides he will make his escape that night (Sunday) with the snow as cover. He has no plan for after, but he trusts his luck. He remembers his father telling him that some kings have a king’s luck, but something happens that supper that changes Peter’s mind.

Near the castle Dennis finds a farmhouse abandoned due to Thomas’s terrible farm tax. Dennis spends a few days in the farmhouse living off rotting potatoes and turnips.

While at the farmhouse, Dennis writes a letter with paper and pencil that Peyna provided. He is not a good writer, so it takes him many tries to get it right, but by Saturday he finishes the letter and folds it to the size of a medicine tablet. He sees the gathering storm clouds and knows that snow is coming. That night, though he is afraid, Dennis leaves for the castle. Although he is unaware that Peter is planning to escape the following night, Dennis feels like he needs to hurry. He walks across the fields in snowshoes and his mind drifts to Flagg; suddenly he freezes in fear because he feels like Flagg can sense him.

Dennis’s thought causes Flagg to suddenly wake up. Flagg sits up in his room and wonders who is thinking about him, but after a moment, he dismisses the thought, thinking it was only a dream.

Dennis walks through the King’s Preserves and then, after a long time waiting in fear, crosses the large open space between the forest and the guarded castle walls. He enters the castle through the sewers, barely making it across the icy moat. There are surprisingly no rats in the sewers, and the narrator reveals that this is because of the Dragon Sand Flagg disposed of down the grate after he poisoned Roland and set up the evidence in Peter’s room.

Dennis makes his way from the east wing to the west wing of the castle, where the napkins are kept. He is almost spotted by one of the guards, but the guard is drunk and not paying attention. Finally, Dennis makes it to the napkin storeroom.

The narrator reveals what Peyna had asked Dennis: Does he know when the napkins are delivered to the Needle? Dennis does know. Every Saturday night the napkins are set out on a cart by a maid, and every Sunday morning (two hours from now) a servant boy takes the cart to the Needle. Dennis finds the cart of napkins already prepared and hides the note in the napkin for Sunday dinner. The narrator points out that things would end up different depending on which napkin Dennis leaves the note inside. Then, Dennis finds a place deep in the storeroom and falls asleep on a pile of napkins.

On Saturday, Ben and Naomi camp 30 miles north of what used to be Peyna’s farm. They eat deer meat and smoke cigars by the fire while the huskies sleep, except for Frisky, Naomi’s favorite. Naomi tells Frisky to sleep too, and the husky does. Ben and Naomi agree that snow is coming, and they both discover that they have been having the same dreams lately; it is the same dream of Flagg that Peter has been having. They believe it means Peter is in trouble. Ben wants to get to the castle as soon as possible because he thinks everything will happen soon, and he has an idea where Dennis might be hiding.

Peter begins his Sunday with prayer and exercise. He watches the coming storm and eats his breakfast with a napkin.

By Sunday afternoon, the coming storm looks like it will be severe. Yosef stables the horses, and all the farmers who are still around put their animals in barns to prepare. The animals are skittish, and the people of Delain are nervous. Shops and taverns close as the Kingdom waits for the storm.

Ben and Naomi reach Peyna’s farmhouse at around lunchtime on Sunday. Naomi dances with Frisky to celebrate how fast they traveled, but Ben does not feel as celebratory because he does not know what to do next. They investigate the farmhouse and hatch a plan to have Frisky track Dennis by scent. It seems to be an almost unworkable plan because it is snowing and the track is old, but Ben does not want to sit around waiting, so Naomi tells the rest of the dogs to stay in the house and they show Frisky where Dennis slept.

The narrator leaps into Frisky’s point of view. Frisky calls Naomi “THE GIRL” and Ben “THE TALL-BOY” (290). Frisky finds Dennis’s smell, which is described as “the electric blue of a summer lightning stroke” (290). The three of them strike out toward the castle, following Dennis’s scent as evening approaches.

At dinnertime Sunday, the snow had not yet fallen. Dennis waits in the shadows on one side of the Plaza of the Needle, watching Peter’s window. Peter receives his dinner and, as he unfolds the napkin, feels the prick of a pin. First, he worries that he has been poisoned, but then he sees the note. He finishes the meal so as not to arouse suspicion. He thinks about the coincidence that a note should arrive today of all days during his planned final meal. After eating, he reads the note and sees it is from Dennis and begins “My King” (293).

In the letter, Dennis informs Peter that he (and Thomas) knows Flagg killed his father. He explains that Peyna thinks Peter has an escape plan but does not know what it is, so he offers to help Peter to escape in any way that he can. He asks Peter to stand by the window and wave to confirm he has a plan and then to throw down a note to instruct him and Ben, who is coming in a day or two, how to help.