by Peter Glenn
Moving slowly, I pushed myself back up onto my knees, and then onto my feet. I stood there on the archway for a few more seconds before I took a step forward. With each step, the path I was on swayed just a little one way or the other, like the whole thing was on a set of rollers, and it was reacting to my shifting weight.
Great. Just what I needed. A roller coaster in the middle of the planet. How handy.
By making small, slow movements, I was able to keep the archway fairly steady and keep it from zooming out of control. I decided to approach one of the two alcoves that I was facing. The one on the right. I had no particular reason outside curiosity, but it felt like the right call to make.
I took several steps in that direction, but even when I got close to it, I still couldn’t make out what was in there.
“Hey, Isaiah!” I called out to my friend. He was several feet away, but he heard me clearly enough. “Can you send one of your light orbs my way?”
“Sure thing, bud!”
Isaiah thrust his hand forward, and the light orb that had been hanging in the middle of the room flew past me, spreading its light.
But something still didn’t feel quite right. The light orb was only a few feet from the alcove entrance, and yet it was still dark and filled with shadows. Almost like something was intentionally blocking out the light.
Or worse—something was made of the darkness.
A low growling noise was what alerted me to the fact that I’d just made a grave mistake by sending the light over there. That noise was followed by an awful stench as two tiny, red orbs formed in the shadows at the end of the alcove.
“Uh, Isaiah?” I called over my shoulder.
“Yeah?”
“Uh, you might want to prep some attack spells or something. I think we’re about to have company.”
That was all the warning I was able to give. A second later, the shadows in front of me coalesced into a vaguely humanoid shape, and the creature pounced on me. It was all I could do to raise Grax’thor to ward off the first attack before it hit.
My blade clashed with a shadowy claw, sending dark sparks flying through the air as the sinister energy fought against my magic weapon.
Then all of a sudden, my stomach lurched as the pathway under my feet started to shift again. The weight balance was off, and I was sent into a massive spin.
I tried my best to shift my weight and stay on the path while also fighting off the shadow beast, but I knew I wouldn’t last long trying to do both.
The path under me swayed with each step backward or forward, making each swing of my blade a chore as I tried to hack away at the darkness that wanted to kill me.
I heard the roar of flames as a massive fireball careened past my face a moment later, slamming into the far wall. Somehow, it had missed both me and the shadow demon.
“Sorry!” Isaiah called. “I’ll try to aim better next time!”
“Pfft! You better!” I snarled at him.
I turned my attention back to the shadow demon. Long, sharp talons formed in the darkness, swiping at my outstretched leg. I pulled the appendage backward, sending the pathway into another whirling spin.
Bile rose in my throat and my vision spun. I thrust my sword out in front of me, swinging in wide arcs, trying to keep the shadow demon away from me as best I could.
An intense pain in my side let me know that the creature had managed to nick my abdomen.
I howled and hacked at where the thing’s arm would be. The blade met with considerable resistance, and a hissing noise from the shadow demon let me know I’d been at least partially successful.
Finally, the pathway stood still for a brief second. I swung for the beast’s neck. Shadow Demon reared back and dodged the blow. As much as I wanted to follow the attack up with another strike, I could not. I had to stay put lest the pathway start spinning again.
Another fireball screamed through the air. It smacked into the side of Shadow Demon’s head, and the creature exploded into an oozing puddle of darkness. Tiny bits of shadowy gore slid off the sides of the archway, falling into the depths below. It was over.
Panting, I nodded over at Isaiah and gave him a thumb’s up. One more threat was done for.
Now I just needed to find the exit before another one came to attack me.
“Great work. Can you angle the path back toward us?” Isaiah asked me.
“I think so.”
I was starting to understand how this whole thing worked after having my guts rearranged a few times. I put a little more weight on my left side, and the path swung in that direction slowly. I kept leaning until the path was almost lined up with the original entrance, then I stopped.
“Get on slowly,” I cautioned. “And try to keep your weight near the middle of the path.”
Allie, and Isaiah both nodded and did as they were told. For once, Allie seemed to be taking things seriously. But then, I figured she didn’t like the tilt-a-whirl any more than I did.
Soon enough, all of us were on the pathway, and it was still holding stable.
“Which way?” Isaiah asked me.
I bit my lip. The right alcove had been a trap, and it seemed likely that the one across from us was as well. That left only the left alcove.
“Left,” I said. “Lean gently, and we should get there.”
Both of my companions nodded, and we leaned in unison, making the archway move over toward the left alcove. When it was in position, we straightened out, and Isaiah sent one of his light orbs into the alcove ahead of us to make sure it was safe.
Heh. Should have thought of that myself. But hey, it looked like I was right anyway. There was an opening over there, and from what I could tell, no sign of more shadow demons.
Thank goodness.
Moving at the speed of a shuffle, we all managed to get back off the archway without it doing anything egregious. Once we were back on firm land, I breathed a deep sigh and let my muscles relax just a little.
We’d survived three traps now, including the Death Ball game. What could possibly be left?
I stepped through the new archway into a third cavern. This one had more markings along the walls, though far fewer than before. On the far wall, there was what looked like an archway, only it had been walled in.
The only other thing I noticed was that the room felt a lot hotter than the previous two. But other than that, it was decidedly unremarkable with only the one entrance.
“Huh,” I said, frowning. “That sucks. Guess we’ll have to try and pound our way through the far wall, eh?”
Isaiah rubbed his chin for a second, then headed toward it. “These stones are pretty thick,” he said. “Several inches. I can try to pound at them with a burst of air, but I’m not sure if I can get through them or not.”
“Just try it, eh?”
He nodded. I watched as he brought both arms behind him, then thrust forward in one smooth motion. A stiff wind formed and slammed into the far wall, but nothing budged.
Isaiah was panting from the exertion. “Sorry. I tried, but it’s too thick. I can’t move anything.”
“Well, someone has to be able to do something,” Allie quipped. She was standing in the middle of the room with her hands on her hips. “This can’t be the end of the road.”
I huffed at her. “Got any bright ideas, then? Not like you’ve been much help so far.”
Allie’s cheeks flushed, but she said nothing. She started pacing around the room.
“These markings aren’t like the previous ones,” she said as she paced. She pointed to one in particular. It looked vaguely like a mountain, but with a hole in the top. “There are fewer of them, and they’re much larger.” She put her finger to her lips, then nodded. “These are the key. We have to press the right one.”
“And just how do you know that?”
“Simple.” She came over and patted me on the cheek again. I hated it when she did that. “They’re the only thing that’s out of place. So it has to be the answer.”
I balked. “Okay, hotshot. Which one, then?”
Allie walked back over to the vaguely mountain-shaped one again. “Hmm…” She paused for a second and shrugged. “This one is as good as any.”
Without warning, she put her full hand on the marking. It started to glow a deep red color in response, and I heard something start to rumble in the ceiling above us.
“Oh, great! Now you’ve gone and done it!”
She wagged a finger at me. “You don’t know it was the wrong answer yet!”
I got up in her face. “So what, the chamber is supposed to be shaking?”
“Humph! It’s not like you had a better idea!”
“Children, please!” Isaiah shouted, pushing us both away from each other. “We have bigger problems.” He pointed toward a strange glow coming from off to the side.
I spun to face the new threat. My eyes grew wide in terror. “Is that?”
“Lava?” Isaiah finished for me. “Yeah, it is. Take cover, everyone!”
Isaiah rolled out of the way, and I followed suit, dragging Allie with us. A moment later, a stream of hot, molten lava spewed forth from a hole that had opened up in the ceiling, filling the spot we had been in just a moment prior. It started to spread out from the point of impact, incinerating everything it touched and setting the ground ablaze.
I’d always heard that lava moved at a snail’s pace. Apparently, this particular batch didn’t know that.
“Now what?” Isaiah barked.
“Hell if I know!” Allie shot back.
I got back up to my feet and started looking around the room. Lava was dangerous, but most of it was heading toward the back of the room. It’d take a little time before it circled back to where we were. We had a moment to think.
“Just give me a second,” I told my companions. “Let me figure this out.” I patted my sword again. “Any ideas, Grax’thor?”
Hope you burn to death.
Wow. Why didn’t I turn to her first?
Shaking my head, I scanned the walls. The answer had to be there somewhere, and it was probably in the markings. Allie had been right about that, at least.
Nearby, I spotted another marking. It looked like a mountain, but without the hole in the top. I went over to it and laid my palm on it.
The ground underneath us all started to shake, and the lava switched course, heading straight in our direction.
“Sorry!”
The lava ran into a small stone that jutted out of the ground, and its path split, cutting me off from my companions. They sat there staring at me, slowly backing away from the lava stream that was growing wider and wider.
“Just do something else!” Isaiah shouted.
Fair enough. There were two large markings left in the room. Both looked kind of like squiggly lines.
I thought hard about it. If the mountain with a hole in it had been a volcano, then maybe it had been the signal for fire. Which meant the regular mountain was earth, since it had shifted the ground underneath us.
That could only mean that one of the remaining two markings was air, and the other was water. But which was which? Air might make things worse, spreading the lava faster. But water? Water would cool the lava down quickly.
I spared a glance for my friends. They were up against the wall of the room. The lava was almost at their feet. They were probably starting to burn already from the heat rising off it.
There was no time to think, and only one of the markings was close to me anyway. I jammed my hand up against it and averted my gaze.
A bright blue flash from behind me told me the marking had been activated. A whooshing sound came next, and I felt a small draft as a new hole opened up in the ceiling. Fresh, cool water fell to the ground in a torrent. The lava hissed violently as the water slammed into it, filling the room and my vision with a hot steam.
There was water and steam everywhere. Even my shoes got a little wet. Then a few moments later, everything stopped—the water, the lava, even the ground shaking. Everything went calm. We were safe.
For the moment, at least.
“Look!” Isaiah called.
I blinked a few times to clear my vision and followed his outstretched finger to its destination. The archway on the far wall now stood open. The lava had opened up the pathway, letting us continue on.
Grinning like a madman, I ran over to the opening, and headed on in. Isaiah and Allie followed close behind.
The next room was fairly small in comparison, and all it contained was a small stone altar in the middle of the room. On top of the altar, in all of its sparkly glory, was the Jade Jaguar.
It looked exactly as I’d pictured it—a jaguar made out of jade. It was perhaps ten inches long and half as tall, with an ornate, fragile-looking tail sticking out of the back and tiny jade fangs in its mouth. In a word, it was magnificent.
With greedy hands, I reached forward, eager to finally hold the thing I’d almost died a few times to retrieve.
Right before I made contact, the sound of low, slow clapping filled my ears, coming from the chamber behind us.
“Great work!” A gruff voice called out. “Now, hand over the goods.”
9
“Huh?” I said, squinting to make out the new figures that had appeared. And how had they gotten here, anyway? They looked fresh. How had the traps not put them through the ringer?
Life wasn’t fair sometimes, kids.
The man who had spoken to me was tall. Taller than Isaiah, and imposing-looking to boot. He was wearing black clothing and a burnt red cloak with a large hood that only mostly hid his dusty-blonde hair. His piercing eyes were dark brown. Almost black in the light of Isaiah’s orbs. But even under the cloak and dark clothing, I could tell that he was well-built and broad-shouldered.
Definitely not the kind of guy you’d want to meet in a dark alley somewhere. Let alone a trapped treasure chamber deep underground.
He was flanked by two people. One was a raven-haired girl with green eyes that was just a little bit heavyset and about as tall as I was. The other, I recognized right away. It was the Mystery Man from before. They were both wearing red cloaks as well, though their hoods were back and not covering their heads.
My face contorted into a frown. The assassin from before was back, and he’d brought company. My hand twitched and felt for the familiar grip of Grax’thor.
“I wouldn’t do that if I were you,” Red Hood said, tsking and eyeing my sword hand.
Biting on my lip, I relaxed the grip and let it go.
“Good boy,” Red Hood said slowly. “We wouldn’t want anyone to get killed unnecessarily, now, would we?”
“Of course not,” I muttered through clenched teeth.
In reality, though, that’s exactly what I wanted. For them to die at my hand.
A strange clattering noise from the chamber beyond alerted my attention, and I craned my neck to see that perhaps another ten or fifteen people in red cloaks had piled into that room.
Doing a little quick math, I knew we were hopelessly outnumbered. I could easily take out four or five of these punks, and Isaiah could handle another five as well, but I couldn’t count on Allie for any, and that still left more of them standing than us. Plus, I knew at least one of them had magic, probably more. So that made the odds even worse.
My mouth felt like cotton, and my heart started racing. I started to wonder if I’d make it out of this one, or if it really would be my last stand. Who’d have thought it wouldn’t be ages-old traps that would take me out, but a living, breathing human?
But there was still hope yet. Red Hood and his cronies hadn’t killed us outright. That must mean they still want us alive for some reason. Or at least that’s what I’d always learned from the movies.
“Now,” Red Hood started, “if you would be so kind as to grab the artifact and hand it over to me, we can all leave here in one piece today.” He had a strange smirk on his face, like he already knew I’d agree.
And sadly, he
was probably right on that one. Like I said, the odds were against us.
I glanced over at Isaiah and Allie. Isaiah slowly nodded. Allie just shrugged. No help from either of them, then. I returned my attention to the Jade Jaguar.
It was sitting by itself in the middle of the altar. The stone column forming the altar was nothing spectacular to look at. Just a column of stone jutting out of the ground. No markings etched into the sides, and no cloth lining it or anything.
Of course, even if there had been a cloth once upon a time, three millennia spent underground likely would have disintegrated it.
The altar didn’t look to be trapped, but then, everything else down here had been, so maybe it was as well. There was only one way to find out.
“Now, Damian,” Red Hood pressed. His tone sounded aggravated.
How did he know my name? None of this was making sense. How had they even found out about our plans to begin with? But I supposed it didn’t really matter at this point. Either I did what Red Hood told me, or he’d kill us all. I understood that much.
My hands twitched a few times. They were slick with sweat from the heat of the lava and the steam off the water that had cooled it. I reached out with one wet finger and placed it lightly on the Jade Jaguar.
Nothing happened.
I breathed a small sigh of relief and picked it up off the platform.
Part of me expected the altar to disappear into the ground and a huge boulder to come out of the roof, but of course, this wasn’t movie reenactment weekend, and so neither of those things happened. In fact, nothing happened other than I felt completely deflated.
Here I’d finally found the artifact that could solve all my money problems, and I was giving it away not a moment later.
Total bummer, huh?
“Quickly,” Red Hood growled. “Give it to me.”
“Yeah, yeah,” I muttered. “Hold your horses, you’ll get your goods.”
I let the statue linger in my hands for just a moment. It had a good weight to it. I couldn’t immediately sense any magical power coming from it, but then, I rarely did when I handled magical artifacts. I hadn’t felt anything when I’d held Grax’thor the first time, either.