by Paul Kidd
This did not bode well. Jus scratched the stubble of his chin as he stared at the dead, dissolving bones.
“He’s pointing toward us. He must have already safely crossedthis slime patch on the way down the corridor.”
Hovering, the faerie cocked an eye. “So?”
“So something at the other end scared him so much that heforgot about the slime.”
“Oh…” Escalla looked a little dazed as she looked downthe dark, foreboding corridor. “Maybe he was just a little shy?”
“Maybe.”
The ranger drew in a big sigh then held out a hand to Polk.
“Polk, no comments. We need the iron spikes. Twelve for you,twelve for me.”
The iron climbing pitons had loops and serrations designed for mountain climbing. Leaning against one wall, the two men lashed the spikes to the edges of their boots, pointing down. Elevated a few inches above the floor, they took a nervous breath and strode carefully past the dissolving green skeleton. The spike points grated on the floor underneath the water; Polk almost slipped, wailed, and was caught by one of the Justicar’s huge hands. The rangerhauled Polk to safety in one great surge of strength, propelling the teamster far down the corridor where he landed with a splash. Jus waded powerfully after him for a dozen feet more, then frantically began to tear away the spikes about his boots.
The spikes had dissolved almost halfway. Acid from the slime still clung to the metal and was eating it away. Polk and Jus cleared their boots and hurled the spikes away, watching them fall into the oily muck near the slime.
Polk wriggled his moustache in thought.
“Improvisation, boy. You’re learning. That’s the mark of agreat hero.” The man gave another tug at his moustache. “But the spikes aregone. How will we get back?”
“Deal with it later.”
Escalla hovered above the green slime, keeping carefully away from the water.
“So this stuff eats through flesh, leather, metal… Butit hasn’t gone through the stone floor. So it leaves stone alone?”
The Justicar shrugged. “Pretty much. Otherwise it would burnthrough to the Abyss.”
“Polk, give me one of your oil flasks.”
“Aha!” The teamster swelled with triumph. “You’ve thought ofa way to burn off the slime?”
“Nope. I thought of a thousand and one uses for one of thelocal tricks and traps.”
Escalla seized hold of the clay oil bottle, uncorked it, and poured the oil out into the water. She then carefully collected green slime with the dissolving tip of the dead archer’s bow and dropped it into the oil bottle.She dropped a piece of waybread into the jug to keep the slime fed and happy, then carefully cleaned the spout and popped the cork back home.
“Aaand there we are.” The job done, Escalla carefully washedthe bottle in the water well away from the slime. “We’ll have to keep it uprightso it doesn’t eat its way through the cork. I’d hate to see what happens if weaccidentally smash the jug.”
There was a moment’s pause and then the faerie passed thedeadly cargo to Polk.
“Here, you carry it!”
The teamster instantly recoiled. “It’s a monster! I’ll besoiled!”
“Do I look soiled?” Escalla posed above the water, flippingout long sheets of soft blonde hair. “Hey, I’m a lovable icon of forest fun. Youcan trust my integrity!”
“But you’re a faerie.” Polk sniffed. “An underhanded breed.”
“Hey!” The faerie proudly waved her little parchment with thestun rune. “When you’re my size, it’s gotta be brains over brawn. Now just carrythe damned slime!”
Polk gingerly accepted his deadly load. He wrapped a piece of rope about the bottleneck and carried it before him as though it might explode at any instant. With a shake of her head, Escalla turned invisible and rose to scout her way along the unknown corridor.
They came to a junction in the passage with a tunnel turning away from the mother route. Escalla peered both ways, shrugged, and continued along the main passageway. She gave a piercing whistle to summon her companions and flew erratically onward down a corridor that was still knee-deep in mire.
“Hey, guys, this way feels good, don’t you think? I mean,none of it looks lived in, but maybe that’s the idea.”
“Escalla!” Jus waded forward, holding his sword on guard.“Shhh!”
“But maybe we should be more scientific? Maybe the wizard iswith the weapons? We could have tried to use magic to find the trident and stuff.” The girl’s voice echoed eerily in the gloom. “Should I have memorised alocate object spell? I mean, I learned fireball, stinking cloud, and lightning bolt. I did web and a couple of magic missiles…. Does that make me soundtoo combat-heavy to you?”
She approached a door that sealed the corridor. After carefully inspecting for signs of insects, tentacles, explosive runes, and poisoned needles, Escalla pressed one tall pointy ear against the wood.
“Eww! Mildew!” The girl jerked back and scrubbed at herbesmirched little face. “Anyway, it’s empty, not a soul stirring, all that kindof stuff. Face it: We’ve been smart enough to let someone else pioneer theroute. Anything dangerous, the archer and his pals will already have solved!”The girl motioned to the door. “J-man, do the boot thing.”
The Justicar could have tried to kick the old door down. Instead, he turned the door handle and shoved.
“The door’s ajar, dimwit.”
Escalla sniffed, the very image of offended dignity.
Jus poised his sword, then with a rush he threw open the door and stood ready to fight. Miffed at having made a little blunder, the faerie took one look into the deserted room and flew right on in.
“Come on, Polk! Time’s wasting!”
Behind her, the teamster began fussing about in his backpack, finally finding a few iron spikes at the bottom. The man knelt down in the water and began splashing away with a hammer, trying to jam a spike home underneath the door.
Escalla flew to perch atop the door.
“Um, Polk? Guy, we may be working to a slight time limithere. We don’t want the others to sneak past us with all the treasure andstuff.” Polk ignored her, and Escalla leaned closer. “Just how many spikes didyou bring with you anyhow?”
“This is the last one!”
“Really?” The faerie cleared her throat politely. “Um, Polk?What the hell are you doing?”
“I’m spiking, girl! That’s what you have to do in adungeon: spike the doors! Keeps ’em open.”
The faerie gave a malicious little smile and hovered close to Polk’s ear. “Hey Polk, why do we want the doors pegged open?”
“So they’re not in the way if we have to…” Suddenlycatching onto the appalling implications, Polk stood up and quickly abandoned the whole idea. “Right! No more spikes for you two! Not now, not ever!”
Escalla ushered Polk into the room with a sigh. In a universe of idiots, she was the only pure and shining star. The faerie tugged her bodice straight, flicked back her hair, and then flew stylishly into her very first dungeon room.
The door instantly slammed shut behind her, locking itself with magical bolts of force.
“Damn!”
They were trapped in a room without exits. The faerie looked at the door, then at Polk. Not deigning to say a word, she went across the room to find the Justicar.
17
Unamused, Jus glared at the locked door. Magical forceshimmered across the portal, sealing it shut. Only a golden keyhole remained uncovered, twinkling and glittering in invitation.
“Great.”
There were no other possible exits from the room. The chamber was broad and square and strangely decorated. Nine evenly spaced globes hung from the ceiling by wires. Huge and silvery, they dangled just above the ranger’s head.
Jus grumbled, looking as though he wanted to cleave something with his sword.
“Cinders, can you smell anything?”
Muck and water. The hell hound sniffed. Magic. Boring.Go now?
“We’re working on it.” Jus tried an experimental shoveagainst the door and found his hand repelled from the portal. “Any of you findany secret doors?”
“No.” Escalla gave a shrug. “What’s a secret door look like,anyhow?”
“If I knew that, it wouldn’t be secret.” Jus hammered on thewalls with the hilt of his sword, tapping carefully, high and low. He moved with an absolute thoroughness until he noticed that Polk and Escalla were merely content to watch.
Annoyed, the ranger slitted up his eyes and said, “You could help.”
Shrugging, Escalla fluttered over to one of the silver globes. “Sure!” She rapped the sphere with her fingertips. “Hey these things areglass! Want me to break one?”
“Don’t touch it!”
The justicar held up his hand to halt the girl. He waved everyone away from the globes.
“They’re obvious, so we don’t mess with them. Remember thiswhole place is set up as a test.” The Justicar went back to his careful searchof the walls and floor. “Look for other solutions first-ones the designer didn’tthink of. Escalla, take a careful look at the lock and see what you think.”
“I’m on it!”
The girl whirred busily away. Interested scholarly noises followed as she took a thorough appraisal of the lock, and then the faerie came back to the Justicar’s side. He had his gauntlets off and was kneeling in themuck probing the floor.
Jus looked up at Escalla, raised his brows, and said, “So didyou look at it?”
“Yep!”
“Can you open it?”
“Nope!” Shrugging, the girl seemed to wonder why Jus lookedso hurt. “Hey, I’m a sorceress not a cat burglar! What did you expect?”
The only other option seemed to be the globes. Polk walked underneath one and inspected it, his face reflected into silly shapes in the silver glass.
“Son, these here are a cryptic puzzle. That’s a classicelement of dungeon design.”
“They’re a trap.” Jus shook his head and approached onesphere. “Any bets? One should have the exit key, and the others will probablyexplode or contain a shower of rot grubs.”
“You miss the point, son!” The teamster slapped Jus on hisarmored shoulder, trying to cheer him up. “Come on. A dungeon is a foe, achallenge!”
With a dire glance at Polk, the Justicar carefully touched a globe. It weighed about as much as bowl of gruel and didn’t rattle when shaken.A light held behind the globe did not shine through. Each of the globes seemed to be exactly the same. There was no way to tell what was inside without shattering one.
Escalla met her friend’s eye and gave a helpless littleshrug.
“What the hell? Pick one and bust the thing!” The girlpointed out one sphere hanging in a corner. “Try this one!”
“Why that one?”
“It feels lucky!” Making a little pirouette, Escallafluttered through the air. “Trust me. I’m a faerie.”
Blowing out a heavy breath, Jus shook his head and approached the chosen globe. He took his sword and gave it a couple of experimental swipes to loosen up his wrists, then slid the weapon back into its sheath.
“Polk, spread a groundsheet under it to catch the contents asthey fall. Escalla, go invisible.” The man waited until all was ready. Hemotioned for Polk to go to the farthest corner of the room. “Stay there.”
The manic sounds of a happy hell hound drifted into their minds. Burn! Monster come, Cinders flame!
Jus shook his head. “You’ve only got three shots. Don’tbreathe flame unless I ask for it.”
Cinders sulked, his tall ears flattening and a dissatisfied mumble echoing in everyone’s mind.
With everything ready, the Justicar moved to stand beside the chosen globe. His feet moved into a measured combat stance, and he took two deep, slow breaths.
An instant later, his sword was out of its sheath, had smashed through the globe, and was already moving in a second cut. The sphere had just begun to fly apart, black shapes still frozen inside, as the Justicar’ssword whipped through the glass a second time.
Shattered glass flew through the air, and flat black shapes suddenly screamed as they exploded from their prison. Unfolding like lethal sheets of paper, they scythed through the air toward the Justicar.
“Shadows!” Jus’ sword blurred toward one of the blackshapes, but the monster simply dodged aside. “Escalla, stay away!”
Three monsters had been in the sphere. One slid to the water’s surface, already cut to ribbons. Jus ducked as another turned itselfsideways, invisibly thin, and sliced at his throat.
The shadows attacked, numblingly swift, their voices screaming like children lost down a distant well. His teeth set, the Justicar swatted at black shapes with his blade, and they rippled like silk sheets as they tumbled, dipped, and streaked across the room. Like flying razors, they hissed and sliced at living flesh, swirling sideways as the black sword came whipping out to slash them.
As the Justicar hammered one shadow aside, a frightened faerie voice twittered from above.
“Jus!”
“Stay back!” His blade ringing as the shadows swirled andspun into the attack, Jus parried each razor cut that sliced toward his flesh. “They can kill you, but they can only hurt me!”
“Jus, get clear! I can shoot!”
“Stay invisible and stay there!”
A shadow ripped a line across the Justicar, but instead of slicing into his flesh, it seemed to incise a wound into his soul. Chill spread into his body. He cursed and whipped his blade in a blinding maze of cuts, and the two shadows flapped backward, tatters flying from their edges as they were sliced and punctured by the Justicar’s blade.
One shadow caught sight of Polk and flew at him with a keening scream. Jus caught the motion from the corner of his eye and whirled, his blade flashing to split the monster in two. Like a sliced bedsheet it coiled and fluttered as it fell, its voice fading as its hellish life-force leaked into the mire.
The final shadow gave a piercing, bloodcurdling scream. Turning sideways into an invisibly thin line, it streaked straight toward the Justicar, ready to shear his soul. One instant, Jus stood in the path of the charge. Escalla screamed in fright, and then suddenly Jus had pivoted aside, his blade whipping down. The lethally sharp sword slit the entire shadow in half. The monster flew past him, swerved to avoid the wall, and then suddenly fell apart. With an echoing wail of horror, the entity peeled into two pieces, its form fading as it disappeared like scraps of mist inside a wind.
With a curse, Jus sheathed his sword. Escalla popped into view, fluttering and anxious as she came down to swirl about her friend.
“Hot damn, man! You are awesome with that sword!” Thegirl blew out a breath of relief and made a face of disapproval. “You shouldhave let me take one. I could have helped.”
“Shadows.” Jus touched at the chill spot where the monsterhad cut at him. “They suck out strength. I’ve got lots, but you’ve got little.Safer to keep you out of their way.”
“You were protecting me like that?” The girl blinked at him,a little smile on her face. “That’s sweet!”
“Yeah.” Jus rubbed at the wound. “Normally it takes about anhour to heal, but here’s a trick they never teach at priest school.” The rangertook a long drink from his canteen of beer. He heaved a sigh, flexed his arm, and simply shrugged away the injury.
Polk nudged at the waters where a shadow had once lain. “Youshouldn’t drink on the job, son. It’s bad form.”
“You drink.”
“I’m the chronicler. It helps my creative flow.” Polk foldedup his arms. “So, have you figured out the cryptic clues? Have you solved thetrap? Come on, time’s a-wasting!”
Among the shards of shattered glass, Escalla found a little key. She took it to the door and touched it to the keyhole. It passed into the lock, turned, and achieved absolutely nothing. The faerie took out the key and looked through the keyhole in indignation, seeing the empty corridor outside the room mocking at her.
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br /> “Damn it! It’s the wrong key!” She kicked at the door inspite, but magical force made her foot rebound from the wood. “What are wesupposed to do now?”
They all looked up at the eight remaining globes. Clearly, they were supposed to break the globes one at a time, fighting monster after monster until they wore themselves out. With no humor for the wizard’s littlegames, Jus growled in ill-temper, then flashed a glance from Escalla to the door and back again, then pulled Cinders tight.
He nodded once as he stared at the door lock, then said, “Escalla, can you turn into something really, really thin”-he glanced over atthe portal-“something thin enough to go through the keyhole?”
Pursing her lips, Escalla eyed the door with the air of a consummate shapechanging professional.
“Sure! But why? It still leaves you guys locked in here.”
“Humor me.”
Jus put out his hands, and Escalla did a backflip as she turned into an absurdly long, thin earthworm. She could change her shape but never her mass. Threading herself into the keyhole and slipping swiftly through, she left her clothes lying in Jus’ grasp.
On the far side of the door, the girl had no light. Changing back into her usual form, she cowered nude and nervous in the dark.
“I’m out! What now?”
Jus nodded thoughtfully to himself and said, “Go away fromthe door, then turn around and try to open it.”
The girl’s voice could be heard muttering in the darkoutside. Polk and Cinders both exchanged idle glances as though comparing notes on Jus’ sanity. The big man caught the roll of Polk’s eye and gave a scowl.
“Bear with me.” Jus stood back from the door. “Escalla?”
“I’m coming! I’m coming!” The girl’s voice was muffled as shecame back from her little trip. “What now?”
“Turn the door handle and push!”
The door swept open. Apparently, the trap was set to let new visitors in. Jus tossed Polk into the corridor, leaping along with him in a rush as they raced out of the room. The door slammed shut behind them with a rush, the leaden boom of it echoing out along the pitch-black corridors.
Polk and Jus heaved a sigh of relief then looked along the empty passage.
