“Yup.” Jus carefully looked left and right, scanning for danger. “Unless they’ve already taken each other out.”
“Let’s hope.” The faerie pulled her leggings tight. “Polk? I’m serious, man. There’s monsters down here. Go away!”
“Nope!” The teamster was more stubborn than a mule. “You won’t get fifty feet without me!”
Jus walked to the center of the cave entrance and felt air being drawn into the tunnel. It whipped in past him for half a minute, paused, then came shuddering outward, mixed with steam. The vapor was unpleasant but not scalding. Reeking of the earth, it made clothes stick wetly to the skin and left an oily taste upon the tongue.
Whistling merrily, Escalla rummaged through a little bag hanging from the rear of the backpack. She pulled out bandages, lint, a lucky rabbits foot, and a few assorted pieces of Polk’s trash until finally she unearthed three pebbles wrapped in dirty cloth. Standing at the opening to a dungeon packed with monsters, traps, and hideous engines of death, her three companions watched with growing impatience.
The girl polished the three little rocks, happily preoccupied until she noticed the others glowering at her in silent expectation.
“What?”
Jus simply looked at her. “What are you doing?”
“Permanent light spells!” The faerie proudly held up three glowing rocks made into pendants through an imaginative use of string. “See? Bright light, no heat, and no hands. Perfect for your dungeoneering needs.”
When unwrapped, the magic pendants flooded the whole area with light. Suitably impressed, Jus inspected the girl’s creations.
“You made these?”
“Last night, while all those other guys were off whispering with each other.” Escalla seemed inordinately pleased with her handiwork as she slipped pendants over the necks of Jus and Polk. “One each! That’s all I had time for.” The girl hovered in midair and looked back at the other two as though they had been dawdling and wasting time. “Well, come on! Are we going in?”
The unpleasant gush of steam came again, and Escalla huddled behind Cinders to shelter from the blast. Walking carefully, his sword searching the shadows, the Justicar moved forward. His ears deafened by the gush and roar of the steam, he cautiously led the way into the dark.
The cave pierced only a few dozen feet into the mountainside and then dead-ended. A jagged horizontal crevice near the roof sucked air in a mighty rush, paused, then shuddered as vast clouds of steam shot into the cave. The sulphurous breath gushed out of the tunnel and into the open air, almost blinding the adventurers, who fought to keep their feet amidst the blast.
Slime, dirt, and steam had formed a fine mud all across the floors, but at the center of the floor, the muck had been disturbed. Using a dagger blade, someone had dug down almost two handspan’s deep. Inside the hole, there lay a square trapdoor with an iron ring mounted on one side.
The door would open upward, swinging back toward the cave mouth. The Justicar circled the door with the greatest of care, then held back Escalla when she made to touch the iron ring.
“Careful.”
Cinders growled, confirming Jus’ fears. Hunching down beside the trapdoor, the ranger sheathed his sword carefully.
“Polk, give me the rope.”
Behind him, the teamster instantly cheered up. “You need it. I told you that you would.”
“Yeah. Now, shut up.”
Escalla raised one brow in sly approval as Jus gently slipped an end of the rope through the iron ring, moving carefully so as to never move or jiggle the handle. He passed the rope through until he reached the midsection of the line, then paid the rope out as he backed slowly away down the passageway. After ten paces, he signalled his companions to lie down and used his own broad back for cover.
Steam thundered all about him, rushing out into the open air. As the breath came to its pause, the Justicar held Cinders up in front of him as a fire shield and hauled backward on the rope.
An explosion suddenly blasted through the trapdoor, ripping it from its hinges and slamming the iron plate into the ceiling. A rockfall thundered downward from the roof. Dust and debris were sucked away from the party as the cave’s breath was drawn sharply in.
The silence after the explosion seemed deafening. A last few rocks slammed down from the ceiling as the adventurers slowly rose to their feet.
Below the ruined trapdoor, a circular stair plunged down into the dark. Blinking, Escalla looked down into the rubble-cluttered hole.
“Oooh, not good!”
“A rune trap. Our allies don’t want us following them.” Jus tried to brush free the dust that clung to Cinders’ wet, bedraggled fur. “Cinders? Sorry about the dust.”
’S all right.
The ranger risked one quick look down into the dark space below then jumped down onto the spiral stair. He tossed his magic light down and followed after it in a rush, his black sword out and ready to stab into the shadows. The sheer speed and aggression of the man made Escalla feel like a professional. She dived down after him, hovering behind his shoulder with a spell hanging half-readied in one hand.
The stair descended in a dizzy spiral, around and around. The Justicar slowed his initial rush, stood silently to listen to the sounds of the caverns below, then retrieved his magic light. “Polk?”
“I’m here! ’Course I’m here!”
“Stand still.”
Jus closed his eyes, sheathed the magic light, and let the stairwell plunge into impenetrable darkness. The stairwell seemed to thrum and shudder with the pulsebeat of the volcano’s steam. The air hung thick with a swampy stench that scratched mercilessly at the sinuses.
Cinders stirred slightly as he tested the subterranean air. Smell slime. Hear water. Much magic. The hell hound gave a snort and then a sneeze. Evil walked here, little while ago.
Escalla slowly unshielded her light and said, “He scents evil, huh?”
“Evil passed here.” Jus settled the hell hound’s snout firmly into place. “Meaning it walked in here from outside.”
“Oh, lovely.” Escalla looked a little miffed. “Our ex-comrades are sounding better and better.”
A slow, careful descent began. They marched down the stairs for interminable minutes, until finally the stairway opened out onto a square-hewn room. The pure, clean light from three necklaces flooded out to fill in the details of the room. Rough-surfaced walls gleamed slick as mucus with mottled patches of algae. Oily water—filthy, blood-warm, and smelling like an abyssal swamp—reflected rainbows from the floor. A rotten stench hung in the thick air. A slow lap of water echoed in the distance, and the atmosphere clung warm and sticky to their skin.
A prod of the water with Jus’ sword revealed that the floor was about one foot below the surface. It would be unpleasantly easy to hide traps and tripwires underneath the muck. Enclosed by untold thousands of tons of volcanic rock, Escalla had turned slightly pale.
“So, um, this is a dungeon, then?”
“Yep.” The Justicar carefully prodded his sword into the mire. “Claustrophobic?”
“Me?” The faerie shook her head, keeping careful watch as if the walls and ceilings were about to mash her as flat as a bug. “Never! Nope! Not me! No way am I longing for the wide open spaces!”
“Good.”
Cinders could see and smell nothing lying in wait under the water. Even so, it could hide a monster lying in ambush. With no choice except to move forward, the Justicar secured his sword to one wrist with a leather thong and stepped cautiously down into the scum.
The filthy stuff was warm as phlegm and crept insidiously inward through his bootlace holes. With a curse, the Justicar waded forward, his motion making far too much noise. The way things were going, the whole dungeon would be able to hear him coming.
A short corridor extended away into the dark. Jus looked back to see Polk holding a scroll upon a clipboard and scribbling notes as fast as he could write. Though he half-wished the man would be swallowed up
by a carrion crawler, Jus seemed to be cursed with a streak of responsibility.
“Polk! Stop that, and stay close.”
“I’m chronicling, son!” The teamster held up a page covered with awful, childish letters written with a waterproof wax marker. “Don’t pay me no mind. I’m just an observer. Hey, how do you spell ‘thews’?”
Jus muttered, exchanged a look of annoyance with Escalla, then jerked his chin toward the tunnel ahead. The faerie gave her partner a confident nod, then popped instantly out of view. On invisible wings, she whirred slightly ahead of the Justicar as he felt his way forward through the water.
They moved slowly onward, senses testing at the darkness beyond. Moments later, Escalla came back to hover at Jus’ side.
“What is a thew anyway?” she asked.
“Who knows.”
The tunnel took a sudden ninety-degree turn. Jus flattened himself against a corner, knelt down in the muck on all fours, and peeked around the bend with his head down low.
“Let’s go.”
The faerie whirred invisibly ahead, and Jus followed. With a clang and a rattle, Polk brought up the rear, diligently watching for the slightest slip in his companions’ professional codes.
Cinders gave a warning growl. Cat smell.
“Cat?”
Wet cat. The hell hound didn’t seem particularly worried. Big wet cat, sitting in water.
Far down the tunnel, a lamp cast a little yellow pool of light. The Justicar moved carefully forward, and a figure slowly materialized out of the gloom.
The passage up ahead forked three ways. Just in front of the junction, a large female sphinx sat unhappily in the mire. Bigger than a cart horse, with her fur matted and her hair hanging limp, she looked rather like a huge, bedraggled lion. The creature sat up as she noticed her visitors and tried to make herself look haughty and prim.
She wore a natty headdress made out of gold and gems. Straight brown hair had been cut into a rather attractive little bob, but the effect was spoiled by the horrible humidity of the tunnels. Brown eyes and a smattering of freckles made the sphinx’s face look rather more like the girl next door rather than a carnivorous monster.
A shimmering, transparent wall of force screened the sphinx and her intersection from the adventurers’ end of the corridor. Smoothing back her hair, the creature drew herself up and tried to make herself presentable as Jus, Polk, and the faerie drew near.
With one paw laid importantly upon her breast, the sphinx cleared her throat, then spoke a rhyme.
“Round she is, yet flat as a board
Altar of the Lupine Lords
Jewel on black velvet, pearl in the sea
Unchanged but e’erchanging eternally.”
The sphinx intoned her riddle in a beautifully cultured voice. Before anyone else could move, Escalla popped into view and waved to the two men to keep away from the action.
“Guys, back off.” The faerie cracked her knuckles. “It’s time for auntie to do her stuff.”
The faerie fluttered joyously toward the force wall and waved quite happily at the sphinx. “Hey, that’s a really great riddle! No one seems to make them with that sort of quality anymore.”
The sphinx recoiled a little in surprise, then shrugged her furry shoulders and nodded. “Thank you. Answer the riddle, and I shall let you pass.”
“Again, classic technique used to best possible effect!” Escalla shook her head in admiration. “Riddle-solve, magic door. I mean, you just take tradition, and you make it work!”
“Oh.” Combing at her muddy hair, the sphinx sat up a little straighten “Well… well, thank you.”
“Oh, you’re welcome! I’m Escalla, by the way.” The faerie hovered happily in midair. “Boys, come up and meet… ?” Escalla tilted her head at the sphinx. “Sorry, I didn’t quite catch your name?”
The sphinx gave a shy little smile and said, “It’s Enid.”
“Enid! Really?” Escalla raised one brow and introduced her companions. “Well, here’s Polk, the world’s most pedantic wagon driver, and this is Ev—” The Justicar’s warning growl cut the faerie off. “Um, ev-everyone’s friend, Jus the Justicar.” The girl leaned a little closer to the sphinx. “Overdeveloped sense of justice but has pecs to die for!”
“Really?”
“Oooh, yeah!” Escalla decided to sit upon Jus’ shoulders to talk with the sphinx. “So anyway! You’re magically held here in place, or are you working freelance?”
“Hmmm? Oh, magically held.” Enid the sphinx minced about in a circle, trying to find a place out of the slime. “That little two-toned reprobate put an enchantment on me. I’m stuck here for a whole month!”
“A month!” Escalla clapped her face to her hands. “Sitting here in the mud? You could get swamp itch! You could get fur fungus! Isn’t there even a dry place to sit?”
“No. Not at all.” The woman-headed cat shook out her ruined fur. “They give me eight hours to sleep over in a pokey little room—no brush, no comb, and raw meat for supper. There’s not a book to read, not a thing to do but make spell symbols and cook up new riddles!”
The faerie joined the sphinx in a shared bond of feminine indignation.
“Oooh, I hate that! Some damned sorceress up north had me doing almost the exact same thing—had me delivering portents! Had to fly to some ‘chosen child’s’ village and be his mentor for a whole year.” Escalla had never had to do anything of the kind, but she instantly threw herself into her role. “Damned little brat tried to pull my wings off!”
“No consideration. None at all.” The sphinx grumbled. She tried to sit down and fold her paws, but the filthy water deterred her.
“But still, you get time to make up good riddles.” Escalla looked about the floor. “Hey, did some other guys come through here just before?”
“Sods snuck past me!” The sphinx grumbled, flexing her claws. “Both sets of them guessed my riddle in seconds!”
“That quickly?”
“Straight off the cuff. Said ‘moon’ in less time than it takes to draw a breath!”
“Really?” Escalla looked suitably distraught, even while filing the information away. “Well it’s going to keep me guessing for a while, I can tell you!”
The sphinx would hear none of it.
“Oh, I can’t imagine that! A girl like you? You’ll have it in a trice!” Enid scratched her ear with one hind leg. “Go on, give it a try—do!”
“Well, since you insist.” Escalla thoughtfully cupped her chin. “So, let’s see… I mean, it’s a classic. You’ve got really good, pure simplicity working for you here.” The faerie bit her lip, flew in a circle, and then came to a stop. “I’m gonna go right out on a limb here. I’m thinking… moon?”
Enid opened her front paws in joy and shouted. “See, you got it! I knew you could!”
“Well, it took a lot of doing. But hey—moon—something everyone sees, right in front of your face, so you never think about it! Classic misdirection, Enid! You really have the touch.”
Enid reached up to remove a slip of papyrus from the ceiling above the portal. She simpered as the force wall came down.
“Well, thanks. You know, one tries one’s best.”
“Well, your best is pretty good.” Escalla crossed the line of the force wall and ushered the two men through. “So Enid, the big J here is thinking something along the lines of finding the guy who summoned you and maybe chopping him into at least eleven pieces. Do you want to come?”
“Aaaaah.” Enid gave a disappointed sigh. “I have to stay here. Magic spell, you know.”
“Oh, sure, I can see that. But hey, we’ll try to kill the guy and set you free.”
“Oh, thank you!” The sphinx seemed utterly relieved. “Look, just for you, here’s a little help.” The sphinx gave the faerie the slip of papyrus from above the force wall. “It’s a stun symbol. Anyone passing through a door you place this on—instant knock out! I made it as a little extra for anyone trying to break down the for
ce wall.”
Holding the little gift with unfeigned delight, Escalla held the papyrus out in the light where it could be admired.
“You made this?”
“Certainly!” The sphinx looked a little shy. “It’s a sphinx thing.”
“Well, thank you! That’s really generous.” Escalla noticed Jus and Polk waiting for her impatiently in the right-hand passageway. “Wish us luck, and we’ll do our best for you!”
“Be careful!” Enid the sphinx waved the party on their way. “It’s one treasure per tunnel.”
Escalla tucked the papyrus down her cleavage then whirred up the passageway to meet Polk and the Justicar. The two men stared at her, and Escalla opened her hands in innocence.
“What? Just because we’re adventuring, we can’t be nice?”
The Justicar shook his head and motioned down the corridor. “Come on. We have a wizard to kill.”
They moved down the eastern tunnel—Escalla flying invisibly to the fore, followed by the Justicar with Cinders grinning from his helm. Polk came behind, taking a pull from his whiskey flask to clear his sinuses from the smell of mold. The teamster flicked a glance up the corridor then back to Jus and clucked his tongue in disappointment.
“It’s a shame, son, a shame to see you letting a woman take the lead.”
“The woman happens to be invisible.” The Justicar let his voice drop to a mutter. “And she can fry you like an egg, you old coot.”
With his front leg hovering mid-step in the water, Jus suddenly heard Cinders bark an alarm.
Stop.
The Justicar froze in position. Above his head, Cinders’ red eyes shone. New smell. Danger in water.
“Escalla?”
A bow floated on the water nearby. The faerie’s wings disturbed the water surface as she hovered low, her magic light peeping out to illuminate the murk.
“Yeah, yeah, I see it. Some sort of… ewwwww!”
A corpse lay half submerged in the shallow water. A screaming skull thrust up toward the surface, with crooked finger bones already dissolving even as they reached upward for escape. The skeletons flesh had turned into a vile, putrescent ooze, floating in green streamers all about the dissolving bones.
White Plume Mountain Page 18
