Part 20 (2/2)

”We might as well go down.”

”We could get trapped.”

”But you can walk through walls.”

She snorted. ”You mean at the cave?”

He nodded.

”That's not exactly what it seemed. Haig set up a field that looked like a stone wall. It wasn't really solid.”

”Haig did it?”

”He has a lot of talents,” she said with a hitch in her voice. ”And he would have stayed with me-if he could.”

Changing the subject, he said, ”What about the portal? You said they closed it.”

”We may be able to find another one,” she said, but she didn't sound too hopeful.

”Explain the portals to me.”

She sighed. ”I don't understand it well myself. I think there are some naturally weak places in the plates between the worlds. If you find one, it's not too hard to open, with the right powers. With more power, you can open a portal almost anyplace. Theoretically,” she added.

”Theoretically?”

”It wouldn't take a lot of energy. From more than one adept.”

”So you can't do it by yourself?”

”No.”

”If we can't get through a portal, we need to find a place to hole up,” he said.

She nodded, and he held the lamp high as they went down, then stopped short when he saw mud on the floor. ”Somebody's been down here.”

He took a quick look through some of the empty rooms and saw nothing, but it was obvious that there were too many chambers to search quickly.

Rinna looked around nervously. ”I want to make sure there's another way out.”

”Yeah.”

He led her along the hallway, his senses on alert. When he saw another flight of steps going up, he stopped.

”We'll go-up and make sure we can get out, then come-back and find a place to camp out,” he said.

”Okay.”

<script>