Pontaine's thieves guilds, which she had clearly adopted as her working gear. Kind of appropriate, really.
Still, it had a certain something. What Kali thought was: I have to get me one of those. What she said was: 'Okay outfit, shame about the ass.'
She looked at Munch. He had clearly been playing games from the start, probably even knew fully what the Spiral and the key were.
'If you knew — ?'
'Why didn't I kill you?' Munch answered. He inclined his head to the Spiral. 'Frankly, because I do not know what hazards I face here, and I have lost too many people in recent months to waste an extra resource.' He sighed lengthily. 'The question, therefore, is which one of you goes first?'
'Konstantin!' Orlana Dawn objected.
Another sigh. 'It's simple, Orlana. The two of you obviously share a passion for this kind of thing, but I have no idea which of you is the most competent at handling it. If I send you first, and you die, I send her in with the knowledge gained of what killed you. Or, I send her first and — '
'I get the picture,' Orlana said. She looked suspicious of him, suddenly. 'If she goes first — and succeeds — do I still get paid?'
Munch shrugged. 'Sadly, the funds allocated to me are limited.'
'Farking poxes from the pits! You're a bastard, Munch, you know that?'
'This I have been told before,' Munch rumbled, unconcerned.
Their exchange faded in Kali's ears as her gaze flicked from the tower to the dome, the dome to the tower and back again, already ahead of them and working out what she needed to know. Then it struck her. The Spiral of Kos was no museum, no memorial and no vault, it was a greenhouse — a greenhouse specifically designed around its centrepiece, not the tower but the plants. In reaching that conclusion, however, she was still left puzzled. Because in the middle of the Sardenne Forest, what possible need could there be for more plants?
Unless…
'I'll go first,' she said, suddenly, and what she hoped was decisively. She had no interest in the money but, as much as she disapproved of Orlana Dawn's motives for doing what she did, if her theory was right, she couldn't let her take the risk.
'Go to hells!' Orlana Dawn hissed at her. 'She's a greenhorn, Munch.'
'Hey, who are you calling a greenhorn?' Kali objected, despite herself. 'The Maze of Moans,' she cited, pointing proudly at her chest. 'Me.'
Orlana Dawn stared at her, momentarily nonplussed.
'Oh, really. How about the Lost Plateau of Thurst?' she retorted, with a snort.
Kali piffed. 'Couldn't have been that lost. The Booming Room. The Booming Room, eh?'
'Quinking's Depths.'
'Quinking's Depths.'
'I already said that.'
'Third level.'
'Impossible. Look, this is my job, you interfering bitch. Konstantin, this is nothing I can't handle — '
'Miss Dawn goes first,' Munch declared, putting an end to it. 'The real one, that is.' He gestured two of his people towards Kali. 'In case she is tempted to help, hold the other one.'
Kali was grabbed by both arms and struggled as Orlana Dawn sighed with satisfaction. 'Munch, this is a mistake,' she protested. 'Orlana, don't — '
Munch hushed her. 'Bring me that key, Miss Dawn,' he ordered.
Orlana nodded, and Kali watched helplessly as her rival took one, two, then three tentative steps up the first turn of the Spiral. Even Dawn couldn't fail to notice that the plants had filled out somewhat now beneath the strengthening rays of the sun, but other than giving them a cautionary frown she continued slowly upwards, too inexperienced, too stubborn or simply too greedy to back down. As she did, one or two of the pods that Kali could now see formed the hearts of the various sets of tendrils belched something foul-smelling into the air, and Dawn stared down at them, curling her mouth in distaste. She was now past the fifth turn of the Spiral, and halfway round the sixth, and as she concentrated on putting her foot on the next step she failed to notice that some of the tendrils were, with a sound of sucking mud, slithering slowly onto those beneath her.
Kali pulled against her captors, but even if she had been able to break free, knew now that there was nothing she could do. What had become increasingly obvious to her — that the plants weren't dead but long dormant, untended since the demise of the Old Race and deprived of light as nature had reclaimed the dome — was, in truth, academic. What mattered was, reinvigorated, these things had a purpose, a purpose that answered the question of why the Old Race had needed more plants in the Sardenne. Because they weren't plants at all — not just plants. They had been grown here as guardians. Guardians of the key.
The Spiral of Kos hadn't been designed as a greenhouse — it had been designed to be a deathtrap.
'Orlana!' she shouted. 'Get down off there — now!'
But it was too late — had been too late the moment Orlana Dawn had taken her first step onto the Spiral. Too late the moment the sun had begun to rise. And now, as it became fully bathed in light, the plants that covered it thrashed suddenly, shedding the accumulated dust of ages to reveal a horrible glistening green beneath — and the Spiral of Kos exploded into flailing, carnivorous life. Munch stepped back, raising an eyebrow, and motioned to one of his men, who pulled a crossbow from beneath his cloak and began to fire off bolts. Kallow the shadowmage, meanwhile, quickly rewove his threads to produce not light but thrumming balls of flame, pummelling the plants with a barrage of fire. Unfortunately, neither type of missile seemed to have any effect at all.
Orlana Dawn had no chance. Her way down the Spiral was now completely blocked, her way up — and it was still a long way up — filled with countless more of the plants that had manoeuvred themselves insidiously beneath her. While those above her snapped downwards like some deadly curtain, lashing themselves tightly about parts of the metalwork before whipping off in search of meatier prey, those below writhed graspingly upwards, slapping, probing and feeling their way around the Spiral like the tentacles of some inverted giant squid. There was nothing Dawn could do, and though she pulled a knife from her bodysuit to defend herself, spinning around and around in panicked circles, it was clearly going to be useless against the thick feelers that surrounded her, seeking out the intruder in their midst. Suddenly one of the tendrils darted at her neck, and though she dodged it, yelling, another darted from behind her to wrap itself quickly and tightly around her waist. Dawn doubled over, not only because she was struggling against its grip but because of the needles that even those below could see spring from it, puncturing both her bodysuit and her flesh. Dawn's mouth opened in surprise, some unknown toxin flooding her body, and as it did the second tendril struck at her neck once more, wrapping itself about her gulping throat as constrictingly as a slave's collar. Dawn jolted, her eyes widening in alarm as needles pierced again. Held in place by the two tendrils, others within reach sought her, found her and gripped by her ankles and wrists as well, and the struggling Dawn was lifted from the Spiral steps like a helpless marionette, tugged in every direction as each tendril sought to claim her for its own. She didn't scream, because she couldn't, whatever toxin had entered her system tainting her veins a pulsing shade of green, sending her into spasm as they poisoned every drop of her blood. It was, in a way, a mercy, because a second later other tendrils whipped in at her, their needles no longer piercing but tearing, ripping away first her bodysuit and, when that was gone, her flesh. Unable to move, unable to utter anything but the merest whimper, only Dawn's eyes reflected the agony of her paralysed and corrupted form as it was taken apart shred by shred. Her body jerked for a while longer but her eyes stared blindly now from a cadaverous skull, and soon after that she was nothing but a bloody skeleton, and then not even that. The pods opened, and, piece by piece, deposited inside by their tendrils, the skeleton, everything that had been Orlana Dawn, was gone.
The plants calmed, and then they were still once again.
A second passed, the remainder of the party staring up at the Spiral in shocked silence. Then Munch coughed and wiped a lump of cheek from his cheek, leaving a bright red smear.
'Well,' he said, 'that was a new one.'
'Orlana was right, you are a bastard,' Kali said without emotion. 'You knew there was something, threw her life away — '
'There is always something,' Munch said, wearily. 'You just have to find out what. Which is why I am glad of your company today, because it enabled me to send the stupid one first. It seems that you are now in the employ of the Final Faith, Miss — ?'
