nearly died as a result. He turned to face Jak. The little man was staring into the darkness behind them, alert. Cale snapped his fingers to get his attention, and signaled in hand cant, Ready yourself.
Jak turned toward the door and moved in close behind Cale. When he felt ready, he gave Cale a nod.
Cale slowly turned the handle, dick. He shared a glance with Jak then jerked the door opea and jumped back, enchanted blade before him.
There was nothing there. Only the upper landing of the stairs.
He didn't allow himself the luxury of a relieved sigh. He knew that from this point onward, there would be no rest. Yrsillar must know that they were in the guildhouse. Since the demon hadn't set up an ambush here, Cale figured he had marshaled his forces in the basement.
'Get's ug|y from now on,' he said to Jak.
'It's been ugly since the day we met,' Jak joked, and gave him a friendly shove in the shoulder. 'Why change now?'
Cale couldn't bring himself to smile. 'The first flight descends ten feet or so, leads to a second landing, then to a second flight of stairs.' He paused, then added, 'Those go down about another fifteen feet and open into the basement.'
Jak's face remained emotionless. 'You lead.'
Placing his right hand on the iron banister, Cale started down the narrow stone stairway. The smell of rancid meat and rotting corpses wafted up from the depths of the guildhouse as though from the bowels of the Abyss. Cale steeled himself and walked on, prodding each stair with his blade before putting his full weight upon it. He rounded the first curve in the stairway and stopped cold.
Before him, the stairs shimmered in the light of the glow wand like shallow water in moonlight. Each dull pulse of the gates sent a distortion wave rippling along them. Below, the entire landing had been transformed into a gate, a hole that led to nothingness. Leaping over it would be impossible,
'I›ammit,' Gate muttered.
'Dark,' Jak echoed.
He turned around to face Jak. 'We can turn around, go out of the guildhouse, and try to come back in through the sewers.' He paused for a moment, then added, 'Or we can climb around it.'
At that, the little man's expression fell-Jak had apparently had enough of climbing around gates-but he rallied himself quickly. 'We climb,' he said. 'WeVe come too far to turn back now. Besides, the sewer entrance could be blocked too.'
He turned away from Gale and tapped along the wall with his short sword. 'Wall seems unaffected this time, if not the floor. It's a good tiling too, because I don't have another spell to help me get across. Seems the Lady is still with us.'
Gale nodded absently and studied the walls for himself. Like everything in the guildhouse, they had been built sturdy and sound, but without regard for cosmetics. Their rough, unfinished, and unwarped surface provided plenty of handholds. The real problem, however, wasnt the absence or presence of handholds, it was that he and Jak would have to elide not just sideways along the wall, but sideways and down, a difficult maneuver under the best of circumstances. Thankfully, the ceiling provided plenty of clearance. They wouldn't have to climb with the gate mere inches below their feet.
We can do this, he thought, and believed it.
Jak had already sheathed his blades. Gale did the same.
'Same side or different?' asked the little man.
Gale considered. Even if they did follow each other along the same side of the wall, they wouldn't be able to help one another if either ran into difficulty. 'Different,' he said. 'If only one side proves impassable, we don't both want to have to double back. This way, when
'Itp oae of us gets across safely, he can throw a rope to the other to help him across.'
Jak gave a nod, turned, and started to feel the wall for handholds. Gale stuck the glow wand in his belt and did the same. He quickly found a likely route.
With a soft grunt, he began to climb. Behind him across the stairwell, he could hear Jak's breathing as he struggled to move his hands and feet over the stone. Gale ascended five or six feet vertically.
'You all right?' he asked Jak. He had to contort his neck so that he could turn far enough around to see the little man.
Jak had climbed to about the same height as Gale. His short arms and legs stuck out at all angles as he gripped the available protrusions. I'm all right,' he said. 'You?'
'Fine,' Gale replied. Bracing himself with his feet and left hand, he reached out sidewise for a grip. After finding one, he shifted his weight and probed the wall with his right foot for another step. He found one and slid a foot or two sidewise.. We can do this, he mentally reiterated.. Gale was breathing hard now. Sweat poured down his back, trickled down his brow and pooled in his eyebrows. Behind him, Jak's breathing had also grown loud and raspy. With his short limbs and fingers, Jak would find the climb even more difficult than Gale.
But hell make it, Gale affirmed hopefully. He called over his shotdder, 'How's it going?'
'It'd be going better if you'd stop distracting me,' Jak retorted. Gale could hear the smile in the little man's voice.
Gale smiled and continued the slow sidewise climb. For the next few minutes, he focused only on the wall, his weight, and his next movement. Reach, feel for a protrusion, grip, extend his leg, plant his toe, delicately shift his weight. He made steady progress.
From the sounds of his breathing, Cale could tell that Jak lagged a bit behind him. Shorter % half, the little man could not move as quickly as Cale across the wall. Nevertheless, Jak made steady progress.
Hallway across, Cale spared a glance dawn between his feet at the gate. Emptiness opened beneath him. He seemed not to be climbing a wall only four feet above the surface of the stairs, but instead clinging to acliff face that overlooked a fall into infinity.
Dizsdness sent his head reeling. Gasping, he snapped his head up, clenched his eyes closed, pressed his cheek into the cool stone of the wall, and held on to let the dizziness pass. Jak must have heard his distress.
'You all right, Cale?' the Uttfe man asked, concern in his voice. 'Gale?'
I'm all right,' he managed at last, eyes still closed. 'Just a little dizzy.' He felt like the wall he hung on was spinning. 'Just don't look down.'
Jak chuckled, a laugh that gave way to a grunt as he climbed another step. 'Dark, Cale, that's the first ru-'
The hairs on Gale's neck rose and a wave of cold like an icy wind sent shudders through his body. An otherworldly moan of hate rose from within the gate to fill the stairwell. Though he could not turn to see it, he knew the shadow demon had burst from the void like a black arrow shot. He could feel its evil presence behind him, could feel its unearthly cold radiating into his flesh, could feel its malice-filled, yellow eyes burning holes into his back. He and Jak were helpless on the wall. They were dead men.
'Cale!' Jak shouted, 'Watch out!' Cale could hear the terror in the little man's voice. Theshhk of a drawn blade sounded. Jak had somehow drawn a weapon.
Cale struggled to fight off the dizziness. Hang on, Jak, he thought urgently. Hang on.
'Cale Dark, Cale!'
Despite the dizziness, the fear in Jak's voice pulled his head around. Careful not to look down, he opened his eyes and looked over his shoulder. The cold from the demon hit his face like a gust of Hammer wind. The creature hovered gracefully over the center of the gate, facing Jak. Its great wings-which beat only rarely-stuck out behind it and hung in the air so close to Cale that he could almost reach out and touch them. Though it seemed composed of nothingness, the nothingness somehow had substance. Cale could see the sleek muscles that rippled beneath its skin, vicious claws at the end of its long, graceful arms. Streamers of darkness, empty ribbons of shadow, floated about its being like a black mist.
The little man had drawn his short sword and hung precariously by his feet and one hand. Looking over his shoulder with wide green eyes, he tried to wave the blade defensively to keep the demon at bay. The pathetic effort did nothing to deter the dark horror. It flitted back and forth around the little man, outside the reach of the blade. Playfully, it threatened again and again with its claws. Cale could sense its hunger building as it whetted its appetite on Jak's fear.
Cale could not dear his damn head!
