Princess Nell spurred her horse forward, for even in her numbness she 
sensed that someone might be watching the high road from a window high in one 
of the castle's glittering oriels. As she galloped toward the castle, she was 
torn between a sense of her own foolishness in daring to assault such a mighty 
fortress and admiration for King Coyote's work. Faint clouds of diaphanous 
black oozed between the towers and
stockades, and as Princess Nell drew closer, she saw that they were actually 
regiments of ravens going through their military drills. They were the closest 
thing King Coyote had to an army; for as one of the ravens had told her, after 
he had stolen the eleven keys from around her neck,