him as though it might explode at any instant. With a shake of her head, Escalla turned invisible and rose to scout her way along the unknown corridor.
They came to a junction in the passage with a tunnel turning away from the mother route. Escalla peered both ways, shrugged, and continued along the main passageway. She gave a piercing whistle to summon her companions and flew erratically onward down a corridor that was still knee-deep in mire.
“Hey, guys, this way feels good, don’t you think? I mean,none of it looks lived in, but maybe that’s the idea.”
“Escalla!” Jus waded forward, holding his sword on guard.
“But maybe we should be more scientific? Maybe the wizard iswith the weapons? We could have tried to use magic to find the trident and stuff.” The girl’s voice echoed eerily in the gloom. “Should I have memorised alocate object spell? I mean, I learned fireball, stinking cloud, and lightning bolt. I did web and a couple of magic missiles…. Does that make me soundtoo combat-heavy to you?”
She approached a door that sealed the corridor. After carefully inspecting for signs of insects, tentacles, explosive runes, and poisoned needles, Escalla pressed one tall pointy ear against the wood.
“Eww! Mildew!” The girl jerked back and scrubbed at herbesmirched little face. “Anyway, it’s empty, not a soul stirring, all that kindof stuff. Face it: We’ve been smart enough to let someone else pioneer theroute. Anything dangerous, the archer and his pals will already have solved!”The girl motioned to the door. “J-man, do the boot thing.”
The Justicar could have tried to kick the old door down. Instead, he turned the door handle and shoved.
“The door’s ajar, dimwit.”
Escalla sniffed, the very image of offended dignity.
Jus poised his sword, then with a rush he threw open the door and stood ready to fight. Miffed at having made a little blunder, the faerie took one look into the deserted room and flew right on in.
“Come on, Polk! Time’s wasting!”
Behind her, the teamster began fussing about in his backpack, finally finding a few iron spikes at the bottom. The man knelt down in the water and began splashing away with a hammer, trying to jam a spike home underneath the door.
Escalla flew to perch atop the door.
“Um, Polk? Guy, we may be working to a slight time limithere. We don’t want the others to sneak past us with all the treasure andstuff.” Polk ignored her, and Escalla leaned closer. “Just how many spikes didyou bring with you anyhow?”
“This is the last one!”
“Really?” The faerie cleared her throat politely. “Um, Polk?What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m
The faerie gave a malicious little smile and hovered close to Polk’s ear. “Hey Polk, why do we want the doors pegged open?”
“So they’re not in the way if we have to…” Suddenlycatching onto the appalling implications, Polk stood up and quickly abandoned the whole idea. “Right! No more spikes for you two! Not now, not ever!”
Escalla ushered Polk into the room with a sigh. In a universe of idiots, she was the only pure and shining star. The faerie tugged her bodice straight, flicked back her hair, and then flew stylishly into her very first dungeon room.
The door instantly slammed shut behind her, locking itself with magical bolts of force.
They were trapped in a room without exits. The faerie looked at the door, then at Polk. Not deigning to say a word, she went across the room to find the Justicar.
17
Unamused, Jus glared at the locked door. Magical forceshimmered across the portal, sealing it shut. Only a golden keyhole remained uncovered, twinkling and glittering in invitation.
“Great.”
There were no other possible exits from the room. The chamber was broad and square and strangely decorated. Nine evenly spaced globes hung from the ceiling by wires. Huge and silvery, they dangled just above the ranger’s head.
Jus grumbled, looking as though he wanted to cleave something with his sword.
“Cinders, can you smell anything?”
“We’re working on it.” Jus tried an experimental shoveagainst the door and found his hand repelled from the portal. “Any of you findany secret doors?”
“No.” Escalla gave a shrug. “What’s a secret door look like,anyhow?”
“If I knew that, it wouldn’t be secret.” Jus hammered on thewalls with the hilt of his sword, tapping carefully, high and low. He moved with an absolute thoroughness until he noticed that Polk and Escalla were merely content to watch.
Annoyed, the ranger slitted up his eyes and said, “You
Shrugging, Escalla fluttered over to one of the silver globes. “Sure!” She rapped the sphere with her fingertips. “Hey these things areglass! Want me to break one?”
“Don’t touch it!”
The justicar held up his hand to halt the girl. He waved everyone away from the globes.
“They’re obvious, so we don’t mess with them. Remember thiswhole place is set up as a test.” The Justicar went back to his careful searchof the walls and floor. “Look for other solutions first-ones the designer didn’tthink of. Escalla, take a careful look at the lock and see what you think.”
“I’m on it!”
The girl whirred busily away. Interested scholarly noises followed as she took a thorough appraisal of the lock, and then the faerie came back to the Justicar’s side. He had his gauntlets off and was kneeling in themuck probing the floor.
Jus looked up at Escalla, raised his brows, and said, “So didyou look at it?”
“Yep!”
“Can you open it?”
“Nope!” Shrugging, the girl seemed to wonder why Jus lookedso hurt. “Hey, I’m a sorceress not a cat burglar! What did you expect?”
The only other option seemed to be the globes. Polk walked underneath one and inspected it, his face reflected into silly shapes in the silver glass.
“Son, these here are a cryptic puzzle. That’s a classicelement of dungeon design.”
“They’re a trap.” Jus shook his head and approached onesphere. “Any bets? One should have the exit key, and the others will probablyexplode or contain a shower of rot grubs.”
“You miss the point, son!” The teamster slapped Jus on hisarmored shoulder, trying to cheer him up. “Come on. A dungeon is a foe, achallenge!”
With a dire glance at Polk, the Justicar carefully touched a globe. It weighed about as much as bowl of gruel and didn’t rattle when shaken.A light held behind the globe did not shine through. Each of the globes seemed to be exactly the same. There was no way to tell what was inside without shattering one.
Escalla met her friend’s eye and gave a helpless littleshrug.
“What the hell? Pick one and bust the thing!” The girlpointed out one sphere hanging in a corner. “Try this one!”
