Part 5 (1/2)
aHow do you know?a Danny asked.
aBecause I know. It is my business to know and this is not the place for magic.a Wiz looked at the rat demon, which twitched its whiskers. He put it back in his pouch. aOkay, let's take a break while Danny and I see what we can learn.a Hall an hour later a grim-faced Wiz and Danny called the others to gather around them.
aThis is the cutest thing yet,a Wiz told them. aAll these tunnels are kept open by magic, very carefully balanced magic. Too much additional magic will upset the spell and they'll collapse.a Even Glandurg looked uneasily at the glowing red magma beyond. aBetter it were that we use no magic then.a aWe won't, mostly. Danny and I have a spell running to strengthen the tunnels, so it's not quite the trap it was when we came in, but any large expenditure of magical energy is still likely to bring the place down.a aSo we feel our way through magicless,a Malkin said.
aNot exactly. With the tunnels reinforced Danny and I can use a real low-power spell to narrow our choices.a aYou say that as if there is a problem.a Wiz frowned. aNot a problem exactly, but there is a consideration. The spell is sensitive and people throw it off. It will work best if Danny and I go ahead alone while the rest of you wait here.a Malkin's face didn't move a muscle. aIs that wise?a she asked neutrally.
aAbout as wise as a lot of the rest of this expedition,a Wiz told her. aAnyway people, stay close and we'll be back as soon as we can. Above all, use no magic you don't absolutely have to use.a It took several minutes to get the details sorted out and somewhat longer to convince June she had to stay behind and not go with Danny. That done, the two wizard programmers started off down a likely tunnel.
It wasn't a pleasant experience. The heat from the walls beat in on them and soaked up through the soles of their boots until Wiz was reminded of bread in an oven. There was no noise through the insubstantial walls, but there was a low vibration as if hundreds of tons of melted rock around them was flowing and s.h.i.+fting under some unimaginable pressure. Sweat streaked their faces and soaked into their clothing. Even Wiz's socks soaked until he squished in his boots with every step he took Here and there a trick of the light turned a patch of wall into a mirror that threw back a distorted funhouse reflection of the pair.
Nor was the maze easy to unravel. It was mostly on one level, but it twisted and turned and divided and rejoined in a way that was not only confusing, it was downright unpleasant For all that, Wiz and Danny made good progress. Their spell allowed them to eliminate first large chunks of the maze and then successively smaller sections. Once or twice Wiz got an uneasy feeling they were being followed, but they saw no one and they heard nothing.
Of course, because the spell was so weak it was not infallible. Time and again, they found themselves headed in the wrong direction or caught up against a dead end.
The exit should be right up ahead here,a Wiz said at last as they moved down a twisty, glowing corridor. They turned another corner and found themselves face to face with a rock wall.
aDead end,a Danny observed needlessly.
Wiz shrugged and turned to start back down the way they had come. There was a noise down the tunnel. A noise like heavy footfalls. A lot of them. Wiz motioned Danny to silence and peeked around the corner to see what was ahead.
What was ahead was goblins. Big, hairy, nasty goblins armed to the fangs. The tunnel was packed three deep with them. The light from the molten rock reflected redly off the creatures' armor and made their little pig eyes seem even redder. They were still some ways off and they apparently hadn't seen the humans yet, but there was no place for them to go wrong.
aOh boy,a Danny said quietly aOh boy.a The breath caught in Wiz's throat. He had plenty of spells that would deal with a mere pack of goblins, but the more magic they used, the more chance the tunnels would collapse and engulf them in molten rock. But without magic both Wiz and Danny together probably weren't a match for just one of the oncoming goblins.
Wiz raised his staff and prepared to fight aWell, we can't delay the inevitable.a aLet me try something first, okay?a Danny said Wiz raised his eyebrows and nodded. Out of the corner of his eve Wiz saw Danny gesture with his staff as he said something unintelligible. Wiz took a tighter grip on his own staff and Doth stepped out to face the oncoming monsters.
Only the goblins weren't coming any more. They stopped dead in the center of the tunnel. Then they huddled together. Then they turned and ran screaming from the two humans.
Wiz lowered his staff and looked after the fleeing monsters.
aWhat the heck was that all about?a Danny looked smug. aA little something I cooked up. Look at yourself in the wall there.a Wiz moved over to the stretch of reflecting wall Danny had indicated. Staring back at him was a Thing. It was big and amorphous and tentacled, and clawed and fanged and looking at him with hundreds of beady red eyes. It had pincers, and stingers and hair and scales and fins and teeth. Lots and lots of teeth. After several years in this World, Wiz knew Things. This was an E-flat, full-bore, world-cla.s.s Thing.
aHolyaa Wiz jumped back.
aThat's what they thought,a Danny said smugly. aOh relax, it's just a seeming, a minimum-magic disguise you might say.a aA nightmare you might say,a his friend corrected shakily. aWhere did you come up with that thing?a Danny smirked. aMy imagination.a Wiz looked at the younger programmer and frowned aYou know, there are times I really wonder about you. Now let's find the exit and get back to the others before something wanders by that doesn't frighten so easily.a
NINE - KILLER VEES.
It took another hour to get through the magma maze. Beyond were more tunnels, and beyond them a series of natural caves variously modified. They made their way without incident until they came to a crudely hacked-out tunnel connecting the second and third caves.
aWait a minute guys,a Danny whispered, aI think I've got somethinga”or nothing.a The party cl.u.s.tered around as Danny checked his magic detector.
aWell, which is it?a Malkin asked.
Danny looked up. aBoth. The whole area up ahead is magically dead,a Danny reported. aI mean not a spark anywhere that I can see.a aNot even the normal background magic?a Wiz asked.
The young programmer shook his head. aNot a sign.a Wiz noticed Malkin make sure her rapier was loose in its sheath.
aOkay then. Let's take the hint and move slow and careful.a Again the tunnel widened out into a cavern and again the party moved ahead by the light of a single magical globe. Strain as they might they could hear nothing but their own footfalls and what sounded like rus.h.i.+ng water faint and far ahead of them.
Halfway across the room they found the source of the sauna. A chasm divided the cavern and from the bottom, faint and far away, came the sound of the water.
aHow deep do you think that is?a Danny asked as he squinted down into the blackness.
Too deep,a Wiz said.
Too wide besides,a Malkin added as she looked across the gap. aI don't think our ropes will reach, even if we could find something on the other side to secure them to.a Wiz thought of crossing the dizzying blackness on a rope and got a distinctly queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.
aLet's a.s.sume ropes are a non-option,a he said.
aWell, I've got something for this,a Danny said. aWatch.a He lifted his staff and pointed.
The hair on Wiz's neck stood up and he started to protest, but he was too late.
Rocks and boulders on both sides of the gap glowed blue, then rocked in their places and rose gently into the air. Danny waved his staff like a conductor's baton. Waves of magic twisted and congealed into invisible forms as the rocks floated out into empty s.p.a.ce and settled in place according to some unseen plan. More waves of magic as the rocks locked together and a great arched bridge began to take shape. More magic and smaller stones rushed to fill in the gaps. A final burst of magic and a bridge sat in place, glowing from the unnatural forces that held it together.
There!a Danny said proudly.
aCome on then,a Wiz said unhappily. aLet's get over this as fast as we can.a The bridge was solid enough beneath their feet as the party started over.
aBeats a rope, doesn't it?a Danny said gaily. aIt's a variation of a spell I worked out for Ian's toy blocks. Just scale it up, and heyaa Takes a lot of magic,a Wiz said.
aSo? We've got power to spare here.a The magic globe lighting their pa.s.sage flickered, then flickered again. Wiz saw something like a moth flit around it. Then another and another and another.
Something stung Wiz on the back of his neck. He slapped at the spot and felt something small and furry under his fingers. He jerked his hand away and shook his fingers and a sc.r.a.p of black fluttered out of them.
aGet off the bridge!a he yelled and charged ahead. Caution forgotten, the rest of the party charged after him, swatting at the things around them.
As soon as they were on the other side, Danny gestured and the rocks went thundering into the canyon. But by that time the entire party was under attack.
In swarms and hordes and legions the tiny black things came on, diving mindlessly to the attack and sticking where they landed to bite and chew. Each of them was no larger than a mouse, but they struck with blind ferocity.
Wiz laid about him with his staff, striking great swaths of the creatures down by magic. Malkin turned out to be a surprisingly good swordswoman. Her long arms gave her reach and her wrists were like iron. She used her reach to keep the things off and the edge of her rapier to take out several at once. June was a whirling dervish with her knife, slicing in a dozen directions at once. Danny also struck out with magic. Glandurg flailed about him with Blind Fury. He never hit what he was aiming at, but there were so many of the things that each stroke felled half a score. Along the way he also brought down two good-sized boulders and a stalact.i.te, but he barely noticed.
The light in the cavern dimmed as the creatures mobbed the magic globe, like a pack of enraged moths. Wiz struck out desperately again and again. Caught in the open as they were the things could attack from any direction, including driving straight down. Even the ones who had been knocked from the air crawled toward them to continue the attack.
A fireball whizzed past Wiz's ear and singed the hair on the left side of his head. He turned his head to glare at Danny and the thing that was diving on him missed his eyes and latched onto his ear instead. Danny shrugged and went back to throwing fireb.a.l.l.s.
The little things were so thick in the tunnel there was really no place to aim at, but it didn't matter. As soon as each fireball emerged from Danny's staff it was surrounded by a horde of suicidal batlets who dived to their destruction in it. Wiz, seeing what was happening, began dividing his time between beating off attackers and throwing fireb.a.l.l.s. The cavern filled with rank smoke and the reek of ozone and burned flesh. Gradually the attackers became fewer and fewer and finally there were none.