Ruggedo, on his part, decided that he could, by careful watching and
listening, surprise the boy's secret, and when he had learned the
magic word he would transform Kiki Aru into a bundle of faggots and
burn him up and so be rid of him.

This is always the way with wicked people. They cannot be trusted
even by one another. Ruggedo thought he was fooling Kiki, and Kiki
thought he was fooling Ruggedo; so both were pleased.

"It's a long way across the Desert," remarked the boy, "and the
sands are hot and send up poisonous vapors. Let us wait until evening
and then fly across in the night when it will be cooler."

The former Nome King agreed to this, and the two spent the rest of
that day in talking over their plans. When evening came they paid the
inn-keeper and walked out to a little grove of trees that stood near by.

"Remain here for a few minutes and I'll soon be back," said Kiki,
and walking swiftly away, he left the Nome standing in the grove.
Ruggedo wondered where he had gone, but stood quietly in his place
until, all of a sudden, his form changed to that of a great eagle, and
he uttered a piercing cry of astonishment and flapped his wings in a
sort of panic. At once his eagle cry was answered from beyond the
grove, and another eagle, even larger and more powerful than the
transformed Ruggedo, came sailing through the trees and alighted
beside him.

"Now we are ready for the start," said the voice of Kiki, coming
from the eagle.