He was almost fifty feet away from where he assumed Leda to be, but it took only a brief time for Gord to slip out of his hiding place and sidestep over and down to the spot where Leda waited. As Gord descended onto the ledge, the dark elf appeared, in the act of coming forth from the niche in which she stood. 'Could you see what transpired?' Gord asked her.
'No, the slaves blocked my line of sight. What happened?'
'The chief of the group made some sort of sign-talk with the captain of the guards, and then they spoke together. I don't know what was said, but the whole band marched in while they talked. What are we to do now?'
'Can you scale the wall beside the guard towers and remain unseen?' Leda asked.
'That, dear girl, is a good question. The wall is nothing, but I am not sure about how alert those little white bastards are. If they are on their guard, I doubt they could fail but to notice my activity.'
'But if there was a distraction?'
'Then it should be no problem. I can be up and on the other side the moment that the sentries are occupied elsewhere.'
Leda smiled at him. 'That's what I hoped you'd say. I can move very quietly myself, Gord, and with the ring I can remain unseen, too. I will sneak up to the guards. When I am near or inside the gateway, I'll find something to do to cause a commotion, and that will be your cue. Watch the guards, and when they look elsewhere, or go away, make your move. Get away from the wall quickly, and I'll wait a bowshot along the path for you.'
Gord helped Leda down to the floor of the tunnel, whereupon she became invisible again and went off to do her work. He crept up along the side of the tunnel until reaching the juncture where wall met cavern side. The matter was almost laughable, for the stones that were piled up to ward the passage were so badly fitted that a child could have scaled the twenty feet to the top without danger of falling. There was an ample number of sentries in the area, though, and most of them bore small arbalests of odd design. Recalling what happened to the former owner of the invisibility ring when he was struck by one of the envenomed bolts these crossbows shot, the young man was especially glad that the attention of the guards would be elsewhere when he topped their barrier.
Without making his presence known, Gord kept careful watch on the sentries. Several minutes went by, and still the guards seemed undistracted. Then the one nearest Gord, some thirty feet away on top of the wall, started to gesture violently, evidently replying to some fellow of his located closer to the towers. The first albino then let his weapon drop to his side and jogged toward the towers himself.
Now that there was no one within at least forty or fifty feet, Gord took the opportunity to climb up and over the barrier, which he accomplished in a matter of a few heartbeats. Once atop the parapet, the young thief simply crept across to the far edge, hung from the dropoff by his fingertips, and lightly dropped the fifteen feet to the rock floor beyond, collapsing into a ball and rolling away from the wall as he landed.
The passage on this side of the wall was much the same as on the other side. Why then, Gord wondered, the outpost and guards? But then he noticed the slant of the corridor. It climbed fairly steeply, rising about one foot for every forty or fifty of its length. He assumed that the higher they got, the greater their chances of encountering some sort of actual civilization. From that reasoning, something certainly lay close ahead.
'Pssst! Gord!'
Leda blinked into view at his side as she said that, and despite himself Gord jumped. He had a vague feeling that she was nearby even before she took off the ring, but her sudden materialization disconcerted the young man still. 'Don't do that!' he said reflexively.
'Do what?' she responded coyly.
'Never mind… How did you manage to distract the guards?'
'Simple, really. I stole up close to the opening between the towers and started tossing small rocks up in the air so that they would hit on top of the structures. No one could see where they were coming from, of course, so the guards all assumed that a small landslide or cave-in was taking place. As the word went down the line, they all ran for safety inside the towers. They probably cower there still, waiting for a rain of rocks that will not come. As for me, I simply strolled through the opening while they were all babbling at each other, and here I am,' she finished with a smug smile.
Gord was silently amused at the mental picture she had given him, but still piqued at the way she had startled him, so he maintained a businesslike air. 'Did the guards say anything useful? Do you have any idea where we are?' he asked.
'No,' Leda replied. 'But from the appearance of things, we must be near the City Out of Mind — or whatever these little runts call it nowadays. That, and the fact that we have to be really careful now, is about the sum of my knowledge.'
Gord grunted noncommittally. He pointed up the passage. 'Let's get going and see what we can see. I do take heed of your cautionary words, though, girl. Be prepared to act swiftly.*
'I have the ring, love, but what will you do?'
'Whatever the situation demands. I can be rather resourceful myself, you know,' he replied with a grin as they set forth at a brisk pace.
No more than a quarter of a mile farther on, they discovered the reason for the guard post. They reached a place where the already large riverbed-tunnel they were in abruptly widened and gave onto an enormous chamber. They looked up and out at a sight that was truly amazing. If this was not the City Out of Mind, thought Gord, then there must be a second place beneath the dust that was even more deeply hidden — because this certainly was a city.
The broad way on the lowest level directly ahead of them was spotted with foot traffic — albino pygmies in small groups, some of them herding even smaller groups of human slaves. On either side of the roadway, stairs and ramps led off and headed up to another level containing an even busier thoroughfare fifty feet above their heads. On the topmost level, Gord could see low buildings of strange, ancient design, their upper storeys serving to support a solid roof of stone that spanned the whole complex as far as he could see.
The whole place was. practically devoid of the sort of illumination that Gord considered natural. A sprinkling of oval globes gave off a dim, unwavering, luminescent red light. These bulbous shapes were spaced at great distances, each held several feet above floor level by a stone receptacle. Their glow did not affect Gord's night- vision; despite the illumination they provided, he could use his special eyesight to see a considerable distance into the near-darkness that pervaded virtually every corner within this odd, subterranean city.
'I believe that the roof overhead is domed,' Leda said as she took in the sight of the place. That would be the way we drow would handle things, were we setting about preserving a city from something raining down from above.'
Gord observed the space above where they stood at the moment. The ceiling of stone slabs was at least a hundred feet above their heads. 'Do you think they created a dome of rock over the whole city?' he asked her.
Leda shook her head. 'No, not over the whole place. My guess is that there is a hemisphere which encompasses the heart of the place only, and that we have arrived by a seldom-used side passage at a place near the perimeter of that dome.'
A distinct problem faced the two. They had to get around, but the City Out of Mind was a place where only the albino pygmies could come and go freely. Humans were there, but they were slaves and were overseen by their pale little masters at all times. Activity seemed to be slowing, however, and the number of folk on the streets was thinning.
Gord made a suggestion, and Leda was quick to agree. The thief slipped into the deepest shadows at the place where the riverbed splayed out into the chamber; then he moved ahead with Leda following him invisibly.
Gord crept along slowly, allowing time for the cessation of activity on the level above them to match that which had taken place in the lower thoroughfare. Selecting a narrow stair, Gord ascended deliberately, his boots making no sound. The dark elf followed just as noiselessly.
There were a few of the little men still abroad when Gord and Leda reached the next higher level, but they were moving purposefully toward various places. Within another couple of minutes, they had all entered one building or another, and none of the pygmies were coming out. Then Leda became visible and whispered, 'I hear a faint, high-pitched note. I think it calls those small ones in.'
'I can hear naught,' Gord replied, 'but whatever the cause, we must take advantage of the situation while it lasts.' He looked around hastily, noted what appeared to be a disused structure, and then pointed toward the
