could be heard as frost and mistcame billowing down the metal corridor. Whooping, the unseen girl blasted at her enemies.
“Oh, you want some of this? Yeah? You want some more?”
Frosty vapors drifted into the copper passageway, and Jus lunged forward to the tunnel mouth.
“Hey, I’m fine!” The faerie could be seen framed against thelight as she waved her new magic wand above her head. “Oh, man, this thing iswild!”
“What happened?”
“Dunno. Some kind of ghouls or something. I froze them intocorpsicles!” The faerie turned a cartwheel in the air. “Come on down! Thewater’s fine!”
It was easier said than done. The Justicar carefully held a coin out into the corridor, dropping it when it suddenly became hot enough to scorch him through his leather glove. The coin hissed steam as it hit the water and disappeared from view.
Simply tying the arms and armor into a bundle and towing it through the corridor would be useless. The metal would heat itself enough to burn through the ropes. Jus removed his helmet, scratched at his head stubble and then settled his ideas. After long moments, inspiration came, and he settled into the details of a proper plan.
“Escalla, come back! Olthwaite, watch the rear.”
The faerie drifted into view, waving her wand over her head.
“Don’t get too fond of it. None of them have hit you yet.”The man lifted his arm to provide Escalla with a perch. “What’s down thecorridor?”
“Icicles and ghouls! There’s a dead priestess in the room,all eaten up.” Escalla waved a potion over her head. “She was carrying this,though. Pretty useful, huh?”
“Good.” Jus took the potion and tossed it to Polk. “Did youfigure out the wand?”
“Oh, it’s a frost thingie! It shoots out a cone of cold.” Thefaerie pointed at three different runes upon the side. “Red means kill, this onemakes a great big ice wall, but I dunno what the last one means. The blue line fades as its charges wear out.” The wand looked to be about two-thirds empty.“Pretty hoopy, huh?”
“You need it. It gives you a sting.” The Justicar looked downat the paladin’s pile of armor. “We can use it, too.”
The room at the far end of the tunnel seemed no more dangerous than half a dozen traps already passed and gone. Jus faced the passageway and folded his arms in thought.
“Paladin, why didn’t you go farther?” The man narrowed hiseyes as he glared into the dark. “The wights were dead, the priestess hadtraversed the copper tunnel…”
“I had no allies.” Sir Olthwaite tugged at his wet, filthyundersuit. “Dungeons are dangerous. I felt it best to find some companionsbefore proceeding farther. I searched-and I found you.”
“Go down the tunnel, then. It’s safe.” Jus held out his handfor the man’s sword. “Leave your sword and we’ll tow it through.”
“How? A rope will burn through within sixty feet!”
“The wand.” Jus took a blanket from Polk’s backpack andsoaked it in the water. “We wrap the weapons and freeze them inside a block ofice. We wrap the block with groundsheets and tow it through the water, moving at a run.”
“Ah!” The paladin stroked his moustache. “Then I shall helpyou. By all means bundle the weapons and metal.”
“Scout the passage.” Dark and forbidding, the Justicarrefused to look at the man. “Make sure there’re no obstacles in the water. Polkand I will do the carrying. It’s going to be dirty work.”
Sir Olthwaite took a torch and began to walk down the tunnel. Happily playing with her wand, Escalla encased armor, weapons, and sundry bits of treasure inside a block of ice. Polk seemed to approve of the whole idea and began wrapping the mass in cloaks and blankets.
Jus wore leather armor, but his belt had a metal buckle. After removing the belt, he tied his trousers up with string. As he did so, he moved quietly closer to the faerie.
“Follow Sir Olthwaite.”
“You got it!” The faerie worked the slide on her wand with aharsh
The faerie sped away. Jus and Polk lifted the big block of ice between them on a cradle of blankets. They looked at one another, drew a deep breath, and then ran like hell through the corridor.
Water foamed about their shins as they blundered through the mire. Steam rose from the ungainly ice block as the metal inside began to overheat. Halfway down the passageway, the ice gave a
Carefully inspecting his much-cherished sword, the Justicar slowly relaxed. The blade seemed unharmed. Rubbing the pommel with ice until it cooled, Jus slid the weapon back into the leather scabbard at his belt. The silky
The chamber at the end of the copper passage was square. Issuing from a still-open secret panel were a group of fanged, skeletal humanoids all frozen in ice. Frost starred the walls and had frozen the floors into a sheet of ice. Escalla hovered self-importantly above the frozen ghouls, hoping that someone would choose to comment upon her handiwork.
The one man who saw fit to make a fuss was Polk. Overjoyed, the teamster licked the end of his wax marker as he circled the ghouls.
“Eight! She got eight! Now this girl has the right stuff!”Polk began scribbling notes into his chronicles. “Beauty and brains, son! Takeheed!” The man shot a glance up at Escalla. “Can I write ‘mistress of mayhem’?”
“As long as you don’t mention my leather duds in the sameparagraph, sure!” The faerie polished her knuckles on one breast. “Did I mentionthe fact that I took ’em all in one shot?”
“I’ll put it in big letters.” Polk suddenly seemed farhappier with his day. “Now see? There’s no reason not to fight fair. No slimesneeded. You’re a combat kitten now!”
With her head swollen, the faerie drifted down to watch her companions rescuing their gear. The paladin had not yet bothered to climb back into his armor. Escalla kept her eye casually upon Sir Olthwaite’s back as shecame closer to the ground. “So, Jus, nothing broken?”
“Doesn’t look like it.” The Justicar tossed Sir Olthwaite hissilver sword. “Here.”
The paladin caught the weapon with a deft left-handed catch, then used the implement to point at a set of steps leading up out of the muck. The top of the steps had been sealed off with a door made out of something akin to solid ivory. Runes had been inscribed about a central indentation, and the whole portal had been fixed deep into the living stone. The door seemed massive, solid, and unbreakable.
Looking over at the new discovery, Cinders gave a sniff and then a sudden sneeze.
There seemed to be no explosive runes. Jus walked up to the white door and wiped it with a fingertip. The surface was free of algae, and the edges of the runes still showed stone dust that had drifted from above.
“This is new construction. The rest of the dungeon is old,but this has only been here a few days.”
Escalla flew over and pushed at the door, then twisted at a ring-latch set below the runes and said, “I can’t turn it.”
“It’ll be a mystic clue.” Polk looked immenselyself-important. “One of us should talk to it and see what it wants!”
No one seemed keen to speak to the dungeon fittings just yet. Watched intently by Sir Olthwaite, the Justicar held up his light and carefully traced the patterns cut into the door.
Someone had already unsuccessfully tried to break the door down. Mud marks showed where a foot had kicked at the ivory. Jus touched the still-wet mud then returned to the runes.
