glaring at him with an expression of hatred locked in solid stone, stood an imposing statue of a gargoyle. Though startled enough to draw his sword at first sight of the creature, Kaerion’sheart settled as his eyes registered that one of the monster’s four gruesomelymuscled arms lay on the floor at its clawed feet.
“Careful, Kaerion,” Gerwyth said as Kaerion slowly approachedthe statue. “Give a shout if it starts to move.”
The fighter grunted his affirmative as he stalked silently over to the gargoyle, sword drawn and held ready for a sudden attack. The elf was right to warn caution. Both of them had seen enough animated statues in their time to be forever wary about stone constructions.
Vaxor’s light grew brighter as he and the other members ofthe expedition drew closer to the statue. Satisfied that the looming block of worked stone before him was simply a statue and nothing more, Kaerion bent and picked up the gargoyle’s splintered arm. Like each of the other three arms, thestone appendage possessed a round indentation in the center of the palm; its flint-gray claws curled slightly around it. As Kaerion called the others over to examine this new discovery, one of the guards shouted out her own find-a narrowtunnel that sloped away from the room at an angle.
“Landra,” he heard the cleric of Heironeous say, “take threeguards and set them to watch the tunnel’s mouth. I don’t want any surprises.”
“A fearsome beast,” Gerwyth remarked as the guard captainsignaled her compliance. “I’m just glad that we don’t have to face the tearingclaws of this thing in battle.”
The elf was right, of course, Kaerion thought as he traced the gargoyle’s palm indentation with a calloused finger. The statue itself wasover eight feet tall, and each of the beast’s teeth looked sharp enough to cutthrough the thickest armor. He’d settle for poking around an old statue any day.
“This depression looks deep enough to hold a large stone,” hesaid to the others, each of whom were poking and prodding the statue.
“A stone,” replied Majandra, whose hands, Kaerion could see,were sliding expertly across the ridged lines of the statue, “or a large gem.”
The half-elf rummaged through the leather pouches hanging from her belt until she produced several red- hued stones, each with many crystalline facets. The gems gleamed in the surrounding light. “Perhaps youshould all step back,” the bard said as she reached out and gently placed one ofthe gems in the gargoyles upturned hand.
Kaerion fell back quickly, his long sword in guard position. Briefly, he wondered where the bard had come across such large gemstones. Full of surprises, that one, he thought, a brief smile flickering across his face-replaced quickly by a frown as he remembered where they were. There wouldbe time for such idle speculation later.
Nothing happened.
Kaerion let out a breath he hadn’t known he was holding andsaw the others do the same. Poised for flight before the statue, Majandra relaxed and held out a second gemstone. Again, she placed it in one of the gargoyle’s hands.
Again nothing happened.
Kaerion saw her cast Phathas a rueful grin as the wizard leaned on his staff, staring with interest at the stone monster. The half-elf placed a third gem into the creature’s hand, and Kaerion let out a cry ofwarning as he saw the gargoyle’s fingers twitch slightly. A moment later, thebeast’s claws closed sharply about the stones. Running toward Majandra, Kaerionheard a loud grinding sound, and a spray of glistening red powder erupted from the statue’s hands.
Pulling the half-elf away from the gargoyle, he was surprised at the string of invective that issued forth from the bard’s mouth. Kaerion wascertain he caught fragments of at least four different languages he was familiar with in the torrent of curses that poured out of her mouth, and at least as many languages that he had never heard before.
Stunned silence filled the room as Majandra finally brought herself under control. Several of the guards shifted from foot to foot, obviously amused in the wake of the half-elf’s blistering anger, but toorespectful to comment on it.
“My dear child,” Phathas said at last, breaking the silence,“you do understand that our goal here is to collect treasure from this dreadfultomb and bring it back with us to Rel Mord, and not the other way around?”
Even in the pale light, Kaerion could see the tips of the half-elf’s ears turning red. Companionable laughter broke the tension and sooneven the normally dour Heironean cleric chuckled at Majandra’s discomfort.Kaerion turned away from the embarrassed half-elf, who had finally given up on trying to maintain any semblance of dignity and now wiped tears of laughter from her own eyes, to check on Adrys, who had remained silent through this entire exchange.
The boy was not there.
All levity leeched from Kaerion’s body as he scanned theroom, hoping that the merchant’s son was merely lost in the press of bodies. Hishope was crushed, as swiftly and as surely as the gemstones that they had so recently placed in the hands of the gargoyle.
“Has anyone seen Adrys?” he asked, his voice cutting throughthe surrounding laughter.
“He was just here a moment ago,” one of the guards responded.
“Come on,” Kaerion shouted to his companions, “we have tofind him!”
He bolted from the room, lighting a torch and pushing past the guards who stood sentry at the mouth of the tunnel. If anything happened to the lad, the boy’s blood would be on Kaerion’s hands-hands that were alreadysoaked in the blood of innocents.
The tunnel ran at an angle briefly and then straightened. Kaerion cursed as the area quickly narrowed and he was forced to crawl. The tunnel soon opened into a room of similar length and construction as the hall from which they had entered the tomb. Bright paintings covered the smooth walls of the room. Wild colors swirled and ran together with all the energy of a pulsing rainbow. Though different from the paintings that covered the entrance hall, the pictures depicted by the mad brush of the long-dead artist contained the familiar animal/human hybrids that were the subject of so much of the tomb’sartistry. Some of these creatures, however, held globes of bright color between their hands.
Much to his relief, Kaerion found Adrys standing in the middle of the room, a torch held high in one hand. Running over to the lad, Kaerion checked to see that no harm had come to him. Satisfied, he knelt before the boy and cupped his thick hand beneath the boy’s chin.
“Adrys, why did you wander away from us?” Kaerion said,trying to keep the anger out of his voice. Now that he had found the boy safe and unharmed, his relief was giving way to irritation at the boy’s disregard forhis own safety.
Adrys’ face twisted into a worried frown, and Kaerion couldsee tears welling up in his eyes. The boy stared at him, lower lip quavering. “I’m sorry. I thought I heard someone calling my name,” he said simply. “Itsounded like my father.”
A wave of tenderness crept over Kaerion, cooling his growing anger. The lad had been through a great deal and had lost much. It was possible that the cursed power of the tomb had reached out to capitalize on the boy’sgrief and loss. He had no right to be angry with Adrys. He was simply a child and had not meant any mischief.
“It’s all right,” he said gently. “It’s all right, but I wantyou to promise that you won’t go wandering off again. If you hear someonecalling your name, tell me. We’ll get to the bottom of it together. All right?”
The boy nodded once and gave Kaerion a brief smile, wiping at his eyes. “I promise. If anything happens again I’ll come to you.”
Satisfied with the boy’s contrition, Kaerion turned to facethe rest of his companions, who had burst into the room with startled exclamations. Each of them stared in wonder at the bright, familiar paintings. They were about to spread out and search the room when Vaxor’s voice boomed,“Hold! Remember the hidden pits. Before anyone moves, we should sweep the room.”
It was solid advice, and Kaerion was disappointed that he had rushed in without thought. In his incautious haste to find the boy, he could have put them both in deadly jeopardy. It took quite a while for the guards to finish their check, sweeping and prodding the stone with the ten-foot poles, but at last they proclaimed the floor pit free. Unfortunately, their search had also turned up only a single entrance from the room-another mist-covered archway inthe center of the room’s southernmost wall.
