Chapter 4 Part 3

Darkness was everywhere weighing heavily on her chest. Calista knew that she was about to die when the sand covered her head. The snake-thing had dove into the sand almost on top of her. The thing missed its death strike, but its passage into the desert depths had drawn her down under the sand with it.

The mass of the sand had squeezed the breath out of her almost immediately, and even as she completed the thought that she was dying her consciousness slowly slipped from her.

From the very edge of the blackness of unconsciousness, she felt the sand move beneath her. Surely it was the monster returning to finish dinner. It was only proper perhaps that her last thoughts were a silent prayer for her lost love, Sam.

Suddenly, however, she was free of the sand and falling through open air. With a ferocity known only to those on the verge of asphyxiation, she inhaled life sustaining air. Totally disoriented, she was slammed in the back by a rough wall and sent tumbling along a sandy floor until she lay still on cold stone.

There in the darkness, she lay listening to the hissing of flowing sand. A deeper sound was that of the snakes movement. The thing was moving away. After a few moments, the only sound left was that of the sand.

Calista lay still in the darkness hardly daring to breathe. Time passed and she grew bolder with each minute. Sam was depending on her and the others. What if she was all that was left? Somehow she had to survive to get out. Sitting up, she rubbed at some sore spots where there were undoubtedly bruises.

A sound to her right drew her attention and she faintly made out the silhouetted outline of a giant structure nearby. A light brightened and from around the edge of the structure she saw the unmistakable head of a torch being carried by a familiar yellow-eyed halfelf.

"Avery?"

"Hello," The ranger greeted her back. "That was a close one wasn't it?"

"What happened?" she asked.

"We got sucked under the sand," Avery explained. "Then the worm burrowed into this chamber and we fell through the roof." He used the torch light to show her the giant mound of sand that she had thought was a structure in the darkness. "The sand is still pouring into this cave from that hole in the roof. It won't stop until the mound gets high enough to plug it up."

"Are we alone?" the girl asked looking around.

"I’m not sure," Avery replied as he walked past her. "Come on and let's find out."

They found Armegon laying face down on the stone floor. An ugly bruise on his left temple gave them some cause for concern and Calista held her breath as Avery checked the mage over. Finally the ranger leaned the mage up against a pile of sand. "He's going to be fine," he assured the anxious girl. "He should come to in a few minutes, he just got beaned good."

"Beaned?"

Avery patted the girl's shoulder. "Hit on the head," he explained. "You stay here with him. I’m going to look around."

Calista did as she was asked. Avery left her in the darkness with Armegon. She could see the torch wandering off in the distance. Armegon's breathing was the only thing besides herself and the soft hiss of sand she could detect.

In the distance the torch disappeared around the curve of the sand mountain. Several long minutes later it reappeared on the far side. Avery returned.

"I don't see any sign of the others," he said.

"Do you think they are buried under all that?" Calista asked indicating the sand mountain.

"No," Armegon said sitting up. He rubbed his head carefully. "Did you see a rather tall white rabbit with a pocket watch pass this way?"

Avery laughed. "No but there was a smiling cat sitting on a rock over there," he said gesturing to his left. Calista looked closely, but could not see any sign of the creatures recently mentioned.

"I saw Ruk, Ganatar and Ultrecht get thrown clear of the area when the monster came up. They’re probably still up there and worried about us," Armegon explained. "For that matter, where are we?"

"I’d venture to guess that we’re in a cavern beneath the desert. That giant worm seems to have burrowed through the bedrock into these catacombs," Avery informed him. "It looks like these tunnels are its natural habitat."

"Are we in any immediate danger?" Armegon asked.

"From the worm? Not that I am aware of." Avery and Calista gave Armegon a hand in getting to his feet. "I think the critter is long gone."

"Which way?"

"I can’t be sure, but it looks like there has been fresh passage in that direction," Avery answered pointing back behind him.

"Then which way do we go?" Calista asked.
Avery glanced at Armegon. The mage frowned. "Give us the straight deal," he said.

Avery cleared his throat. "I’m just not sure," he said. "We got turned around pretty good during that fall. My sense of direction was upset. I'm afraid the best I can do is make some guesses."

"Then guess away," Armegon urged irritably. "Right now we aren't getting anywhere."

Avery stared off into the darkness. "Let's follow the worm," he suggested. "There’s no logical reason that we’ve seen for the creature to have changed its direction after burrowing, and it was originally headed in the same direction as we were."

"I hope you are sure of that," Armegon said reluctantly. "Otherwise we are going to have a lot of trouble getting out of here."

"We'll get out," Avery assured them. "Even if we have to capture that worm and get him to dig a hole for us to escape, we'll get out." They retrieved their scattered belongings and Avery led them around the sand mound to a place where the sand was scattered down a side tunnel. "The worm went this way."

"How are we going to mark the path?" Armegon asked.
"There are probably other sand mountains like this," Calista hypothesized. "Every time that snake or worm or whatever it is went up or down he probably left a mountain of sand."

"Cal's right," Armegon agreed.

"Well we could leave a sand trail or something," Avery suggested.

"That means we’ll have to carry a lot of sand," Armegon disagreed. "Sand is heavy."

"I think that we can do it by just marking turns," Avery continued. "And if there are as many sink holes as we suspect, then we’ll encounter plenty of sand. That means we won’t have to carry much sand."

"All right," Armegon conceded. "After you," he gestured for Avery to take the lead.
The ranger filled a small sack with sand and then took a handful from the mound and dropped it on the floor. Then he knelt and drew an arrow pointing in the direction which they were to take. "If we pass this way again we’ll know it by this," he explained.

The trio set out with a single torch carried aloft by Calista as she followed the ranger. Armegon carried a sack of sand across his shoulder and brought up the rear. The path they traveled upon was a winding tunnel roughly circular. They passed two side passages, both on the same side, before they arrived at a second sand pile nearly half an hour later.

"He returned to the surface here," Avery announced. "And that ends our visible trail."

"How now brown cow?" Armegon asked.

Calista did not even look for the animal this time. She was certain there were no cattle about.

Avery dropped some sand on the floor and drew a reversed arrow to show from which direction they had come. Then he led them around the sand pile. Again he made his directional mark. "We go this way," he announced.

"Any reason why?" Armegon asked.

"Because it’s better than standing around," Avery answered, "and because this is the general direction the worm was headed."

Again they took off into the darkness. This time, however, they realized they were in a natural cavern instead of a bore hole. Avery, trusting to his ranger's sense of direction maintained a direction consistent to the direction the worm had taken.

"Armegon?" Calista asked to pass the time.

"Yes?"

"There are a lot of times I don't understand what you’re talking about. You and Avery and Ultrecht, I mean."

"Such as?"

"While ago you were talking about a brown cow. There aren't any cows down here."

Avery snickered.

"It’s just an expression, dear," the mage said readjusting the sand bag.

"How about the white rabbit and the smiling cat?"

Avery laughed. "You might as well tell her the story," he said. "It'll pass the time."

Armegon sighed. "That referred to an experience we had when an associate of ours named Archibald brought in a cursed mirror that turned out to be a doorway to a pocket plane. "Apparently his daughter, a pretty young girl named Alice had gotten lost inside and we had to go and get her." Armegon shook his head with the memory. "That place was weird."

"It was a wonder we ever returned," Avery added.

"It was that dangerous?" Calista asked.

"Oh, no," Armegon assured her. "It wasn’t really dangerous, just abstract. I mean the place was crazy."

"I see," Calista said. "So you were talking about a previous experience."

"Right," Armegon assured her. "We often comment about things we’ve experienced."

"Ruk and I noticed," Calista said. She frowned. "Could you try to use references to things that we can understand?" she asked. "I mean it’s hard sometimes to follow what you're discussing when we haven't shared the same experiences."

"We’ll try," Avery said over his shoulder.

Two hours later they emerged from the tunnel in a large gallery. Avery marked their emergence point with sand, and walked out into the open darkness. After a few moments they came upon a sand pile which was conveniently near a small trickling spring. They paused long enough to replenish their sand supply and get some water.

"Well that complicates things somewhat," Avery muttered as he studied the spring winding off into the darkness.

"How's that?" Armegon asked.

"The spring goes in a different direction than the direction we have been following."

"How’s that bad?" Calista asked.

"Which way do we go?" Armegon asked.

"Well, I recommend we follow the same path," Avery suggested. "If it proves false, we can always follow the stream."

"Lead on then," Armegon said. They had little choice. Avery was really their only hope of survival as things were.

They continued onward, Avery lead the way showing no trace of the doubt and insecurity he was feeling. Never before had he been in such a state of uncertainty. The world they were in had no magnetic field that he could get direction from, there were no stars, sun, trail or anything else for him to follow.

The only indication that there was any chance of their finding a way out was that the flow of the water behind them had indicated slope. His instincts were in conflict with his training. Part of him wanted to follow the upward slope and the other part urged him to maintain the path they were on.

Eventually they would starve, or find an egress by means of elimination of choices. They could conceivably use their marking procedure to map out the entire underground until they located an exit.

The thought did occur to him that it might be possible that there was no exit at all. Avery pushed that thought to the back of his mind, but his thoughts came back to haunt him when their path ended in a solid rock wall with no signs of passage.

"Well I guess the decision has been made for us," Armegon observed. "The stream it is."

They returned to the spring and marked the dead end as such then marked the new direction of travel. The stream swirled and deepened as tributaries joined it at irregular intervals. Armegon and Avery agreed that they must be near the water table for such behavior to exist. Calista questioned their discussion and was treated to an abbreviated, but informed course in hydrology. "Ultrecht would be able to explain it better," Armegon told her. "Ask him to sometime. Knowledge is always useful."

After two hours of following the stream, they decided to take a break. Tired and hungry they broke out rations and rested. While resting Calista formed another question.

"Avery?"

"Yes?"

"If we are underground, and water flows downhill, why are we following the stream? All it’s going to do is take us deeper."

Armegon sat up straight and listened for the ranger's reply.

Avery stretched his legs and then lay flat on his back. "Which way would you have preferred we go?"

"I don't know," Calista admitted. "But I would not think we would go deeper."
"Well we aren't going this way because it goes downward," the ranger told her. "We are going this way because it is a marked direction. We want to follow the easy paths before we try to map out these caverns."

"I still don't understand that," the young woman complained.

Avery patted her shoulder. "Go to sleep," he advised. "We may have to do a lot of walking before we get out of here."

Armegon listened a little longer before he drifted off to sleep. When he again woke, Avery was moving about in the darkness.

"How long did we sleep?" Armegon asked.

"How should I know?" was the reply. "There’s absolutely no way to keep time here." We may have slept one hour or fifteen. How do you feel?"

"A little stiff if the truth be told," Armegon replied with a stretch and a yawn.

"That is a good indicator of a long sleep," Avery replied. "Do you feel refreshed, or lazy?"

"What do you mean?"

"The body usually rejuvenates itself in about eight hours," Avery explained. "If you sleep more than ten, you tend to wake up feeling lazy."

"In that case I’d say that we slept a long time, because I wouldn’t mind taking the day off," Armegon considered his own words. "Assuming that it is day, that is."

"Annoying isn't it," Avery agreed.

"What's annoying?" Calista asked with a creaky voice.

"Not knowing whether it’s night or day," Armegon replied.

"I'll say," the young woman agreed. "So what do we do now?"

"Continue onward," Avery recommended.

"How about some light?" Calista asked.

Avery and Armegon, being half elves could see heat in the darkness and had extinguished the torches to preserve their life. However, solid rock did not normally radiate heat so even though they could see each other, they could not see their environment. So, in response to Calista's request, Armegon lighted a torch.

With light to guide them, they continued their exploration of the catacombs. Avery led them for another hour when they happened upon something unusual. A side passage was carved into the solid stone beneath an engraved archway.

"Now that looks promising," Armegon observed. "I don't recognize the language nor the alphabet, but at least it’s some sign of intelligence. Maybe that tunnel leads to a way out."

"I hope so," Avery said as he marked the new direction on the floor. "Let's find out."
They began walking up the tunnel in a better mood. At least they now had a reasonable hope of getting out of the underworld, as Calista had dubbed it.

There was more good news. Avery announced after about ten minutes that he believed the passage was leading upward. That information lifted Calista's spirits drastically until they came across a broken skeleton.

"Now that’s not what I wanted to see," Avery muttered as they passed the derelict.

"Keep going," Armegon advised. "If we stop for too long we might join him."

After another two hours, Calista requested a rest stop. Avery agreed and Armegon began to prepare another torch. The one he was using was almost burned out.

The mage wrapped the new torch and set it to flame. "That’s strange," he said as he held the newly lighted torch up. The flames flickered wildly. Avery stood and sniffed the air. Then he spun and gazed back down the passage they had come from. His eerie yellow eyes seemed to be boring through the darkness.

Suddenly Avery yanked Calista to her feet. "Run," he whispered to his companions as he grabbed Armegon's torch and bolted on ahead.

Calista was not privy to half the knowledge of her compatriots, but she knew enough to follow Avery's order without question. She race as fast as her feet would carry her after the ranger with Armegon hot on her own heels.

A scraping sound behind her caused her to glance backward involuntarily and she could make out the dim flicker of the old torch in the distance where Armegon had dropped it. Suddenly into the dim light glided the massive form of one of the giant burrowing snakes. Panic and fear overcame the fatigue in her legs and Calista pushed her self faster.

Avery sprinted along effortlessly even though he carried the heaviest pack of the trio. He was thankful for Armegon's warning when the torch had started wavering. The snake was so large that it's motion through the tunnel had caused air currents to flow in front of it as it moved. That was the only warning they would have gotten before it would have been too late. Fortunately Armegon had noticed it.

They ran for what had to be twenty more minutes before the scraping died down. Apparently the snakes could not sustain long endurance chases. He pulled up to a rapid walk.

"Is it still back there?" Calista panted.

"I don't see its heat," Armegon reported with relief.

"That was close," Avery added.

"Can we stop and rest?" Calista asked.

"I think we’d better keep going," Avery advised. "I want to put as much distance between us and that thing as we can."

"For that I’ll keep walking," Calista agreed.

They walked on for another two hours before Avery decided to stop. "We have a problem," Avery announced. "We’re running low on torches. If we stop and rest, we may not have any torches left when it comes time to leave again. On the other hand, the torches are our best method for telling when one of those worms is approaching."

"Isn't there anything else we can use?" Calista asked.

"It did make a scratching sound as it crawled," Armegon recalled. "Maybe if we rest in a state of readiness, we can run as soon as we hear the noise."

"I don't think we have much choice," Avery agreed. After that forced march at such a quick pace they were fairly tired. "We do need the rest."

Armegon sat down but did not take his pack off. Calista did likewise. Avery took their last torch and prepped it to light. "If I hear anything, I’ll light this torch and wake you up. Be ready to run immediately." With that, he snuffed out the waning light of the torch.

Avery leaned back against the cold stone wall. He strained his ears for any sound that something was approaching.

Alone in the darkness, Avery's imagination began to play tricks on his hearing. Every sound possible to hear, he was hearing. But the one sound he was listening for never came.

Armegon woke first. Avery estimated that they had rested for three hours as he lighted a torch.

Armegon woke Calista, who leaped to her feet and looked about wildly. "Nice reflexes," the mage commended. "Calm down girl," he told her. "We’re just getting ready to leave and the worm’s not here."

Calista yawned. "Well it wasn't much of a rest, but at least it was one."

Avery shouldered his own pack and resumed the journey without a word. Calista and Armegon followed.

They walked another hour before Avery stopped and knelt to the floor. "Got something?" Armegon asked.

"Maybe," Avery answered. "Cut stone. This floor was not worn by erosion but was cut instead. That’s a good sign." They walked on and the hoped for signs of civilization began to appear.

"Steps," Avery noted as they stood at the foot of a narrow set of stairs cut in the stone.

"We needed a ranger to tell us that?" Calista asked mockingly.

Avery swung around slowly and fixed her with a critical eye. He studied her for a moment then glared at Armegon. "You’re a bad influence on this girl," he said.

The mage frowned and shook a finger at Calista. "Now you behave, young lady," he said with a wink followed by a smile. Then when Avery began climbing the steps, Armegon leaned closer. "That’s one point for you," he whispered. "Good job. But you had better keep your guard up from now on because you’re now playing the great game of cut downs, and Avery’s had years of practice."

The steps were long, and Avery led the way carefully. He was unsure of the structure's stability. They climbed steadily upward for the better part of ten minutes before arriving at a landing with a heavy wooden door at the far end. The door was closed and only a large metal ring adorned its surface.

"Any bets that it is unlocked?" Armegon asked.

"The way our luck has been holding out," Calista insinuated, "that would be a foolish bet."

Armegon frowned and glanced sidelong at Avery. "You're right. She is getting a little sharp tongued, but she didn't learn it from me."

"I can hardly wait to hear her tear into Ultrecht," Avery added.

"Would you two stop yapping and open the door," Calista scolded. "Our last torch is down to its last few flickers."

"Yes ma'am," Avery replied.
Armegon and Avery turned their attention to the door. "I think we should pull on the ring," Armegon suggested.

"Be my guest," Avery relinquish his place to the mage.
"Oh no you don't," Armegon put up both hands. "This is your job, not mine."

Avery frowned. "Blindly trying doors that may be trapped is not my job at all," he corrected. "That honor belonged to Norwind and Keeneye. Now it’s Ruk's."

"And now it’s yours," Armegon pointed out.

"You’re both wimps," Calista said as she reached out and grasped the ring and gave it a good pull.

The two halfelves were flabbergasted and both held their breaths. But the door swung open with nothing more than a ageless creak. Avery and Armegon glanced at each other momentarily then their gaze shifted to Calista.

"You are both paranoid," she nagged. "You overlooked the obvious. Considering how we got down here, do you really think this door was meant to keep people from escaping? No," she continued. "This door is obviously to separate these caverns from that hallway," she gestured through the door where a well carved corridor beckoned. "Apparently the caverns are a storage area. Who locks a closet?"

With that, the young woman stormed past the mute halfelves in a huff. She had had enough of their boyish games. Sam was in trouble, and these imbeciles were too scared to open a closet or pantry door.

"Now see here," Armegon snapped at the young woman's passing form. "I agree we may be acting overly cautious, but that’s no reason to get rude."

Avery's reply was even simpler. "Yeah."

"Then get your collective half-breed butts motivated," Calista snapped back. "Time is wasting."

Avery and Armegon followed obediently. "Okay miss leader," Avery said with a smirk, "you may take the point." He passed her the torch.

Calista took the torch and headed cautiously up the hall. Avery was about to follow, when Armegon caught his elbow. "Do you know what you're doing?"

"Don't worry," Avery advised. "I'll keep an eye on her. Besides this’ll do her some good." Avery grinned then turned and followed Calista.

Calista was still fuming, but at least they were moving again. She also felt a pang of pride as her comrades felt confident enough in her to allow her to lead the way; either that or they were just letting her take the lead so that she could make a mistake.

The hall was not very long, and there was an old door about midway along the left wall. The door was ajar, and displayed an small room that was mostly empty with the exception of a scattering of old mining tools. A few picks and shovels lay broken randomly about the chamber.

Calista ordered, though it sounded more like a polite suggestion, Avery to retrieve the broken handles to use for spare torches. While the halfelf complied, Calista continued scouting out the hall. She felt more than a little smug about her cleverness in replenishing their torch supply. She glanced over her shoulder briefly to see Avery and Armegon following about three steps behind her.

At the end of the hall was an archway that led into an intersection. Which way now, she wondered to herself. Taking a newly lighted torch she held it out before her. The torch flickered lazily but surely showing a light, barely detectable breeze. "This way," she murmured, and turned to walked into the breeze.

"Why?" Avery asked.

Calista was about to make a smart reply to his question when it hit her that he was asking her to justify her choice. It was a legitimate question, she decided. With her in the lead, they were trusting her to choose the right path. They were placing their safety in her hands. "Because this is the direction the breeze is coming from," she answered with a poorly disguised bit of false bravado.

"Why walk into the breeze? Why not follow it," the ranger asked.

"Because it’s fresh air?" She was still not sure of herself, but this time she was not trying to hide it.

"What does that mean?" Armegon asked.

“That means the air is coming from outside," Avery explained. "If the air was originating from inside it would smell musty of stale."

Calista smiled. She had correctly passed Avery's little test.

"What other reason, Cal?" Avery was still after another answer.

Calista was clueless. She finally admitted her ignorance. "I don't know."

Avery smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. Instead of chastising her, he would help her draw a new conclusion. "How long have we been in this world?"

"A long time," she answered. None of them really knew how much time had elapsed.

"And every time we entered a structure, with the exception of the first one, what’s happened?"

"We were attacked."

Avery agreed. "Right. So what should we expect?"

"To be attacked?"

"Not necessarily to be attacked," Avery corrected, "but that there are others in this structure along with us is very possible."

"So?"

"If we walk with the breeze to our backs, the breeze will carry our scents ahead of us and announce our coming to any who are interested," Avery explained. "If we walk into the breeze, it is we who gain the warning."

"The wind’ll still carry our scent behind us," Calista pointed out.

"It will," Avery agreed, "but anyone wanting to attack us will have to come and get us, not sit and wait for us to walk into a trap."

Calista understood. She offered the torch to Avery so that he may resume the lead. The halfelf nodded in refusal. "No," he said. "You’re doing just fine. Keep going."

Calista was pleased in the ranger's confidence in her. She enthusiastically turned and
pressed onward.

"Are you sure she can do this so soon?" Armegon asked quietly.

"No problem," Avery confided. "She’s not going to get into any trouble unless she blatantly trips a trap and I’m watching for that."

"What if we get attacked? She’s the prime target."

"The only thing ahead of us with its scent on the wind is a sweaty minotaan," Avery admitted. "I caught wind of Ultrecht and Ruk the moment we got to the intersection. That’s why I suspect that we’re in the Tower."

"Well I bet their path was easier than ours was," Armegon muttered.
Avery chuckled and followed Calista.

Armegon grimaced. Well at least they had an idea of where they were. He wondered why Avery had not mentioned the unicorn.

Calista had stopped near another archway. Avery pulled up next to her. "What is it?" he asked.

The young woman pointed to the dusty floor. A wavering black line seemed to float back and forth across the accumulated dust. "What’s that?" she asked.

Avery slowly reached out his hand. The air currents had the torch flickering lazily, and the result was a similar motion in the shadow of the half elf's hand. To their surprise, the shadowy hand was mocked by the mysterious black line in the dust. "It's a shadow," the ranger deduced.

Avery took out a long dagger and slowly extended the blade flatly across the surface of the dust. When the blade crossed the shadowy line, the different color of the dagger exposed a tripwire only a few inches above its blade.

"The wire is the same color as the dust and floor," Avery observed. "That makes it almost invisible." He patted Calista on the back. "You have sharp eyes to catch that," he commended.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"You decide," Avery told her. "You’re in the lead."

"I’m asking for advice," Calista replied coolly. "Give me at least enough credit to know when I need help."

Avery laughed. "Well said, Cal. Okay look at how the wire’s attached."

Calista peered at the wall where the string disappeared into a small hole. The other end did likewise. "I can't tell," she complained. "It just goes into these holes and that’s all."

"So is the trap tripped by pulling on the wire or by breaking the wire?" Armegon asked as he joined the conference.

"I don't know," Calista repeated.

"Then we can’t decide how to disarm the trap," Avery pointed out. "So we bypass it."

"Just don't step on the wire right?" Calista asked.

Avery flipped his dagger around and caught the blade. with the handle, he tapped on the floor under his feet. The resulting sound was a high pitched knock like that of metal on stone. Then he did likewise on the floor near the wire shadow. This time a hollow thunking heralded the striking of metal on metal. Avery grunted and nodded to himself. "Trap door," he announced. "I wouldn't advise stepping on it at all. Some traps like this have two triggers. It might trigger when stepped on as well."

Calista took her own knife out and tossed it underhanded a few feet ahead. The object sounded announcing a stone floor in that spot. "We jump," Calista suggested. "It’s not very far."

Armegon drew his saber. Waving it in the air over the trap door, he checked for any other wires. "It’d be very disappointing if you tripped another wire trap when you were leaping safety from this trap. " he cautioned the girl. "It’s true that we can’t detect every trap that we pass, but when we find one, taking a little extra caution isn’t being paranoid."

When they found no other tripwires, nor any evidence of any other traps, Calista passed her pack to Avery. "Since this is my plan," she announced, "it’s my duty to test its safety."
The ranger just nodded.

"Be careful," urged Armegon.

Calista took a couple of steps back and then made a running leap forward. She came down planting her foot precisely where the dagger had bounced. But the dust was very thick and made her footing slip. She fell as her feet skidded out from under and ahead of her. She fell on her back but on solid stone.

The jarring of the hit of the floor rattled her teeth and was followed a split second later by a pang of burning fire in her left leg. She sat up and was shocked to see the floor before her covered with long thin spikes. It appeared as if the dusty plain had erupted with a forest of tiny trees. One of those lethal trees had grown right through her left calf.

A thump to her right snapped her shocked mind back to the present as Avery landed and carefully walked into the forest of sharp spikes. He knelt next to her injury and cursed. "These things are barbed," he told Armegon.

Avery twisted Calista's foot in several different directions causing her enough pain that she had to work hard at not screaming bloody murder. "The good news is that the tendon’s intact. She’ll be able to walk again, but not until it heals on its own or we can get this Tower activated so that we can use magic.”

Armegon tossed Avery the packs and then he too leaped across the trap door. "That was a nasty trap," Armegon observed.

"Admire it later," Avery snapped worriedly. "Right now lift her leg a little. We have to break this spike. We can't back it out so we’ll have to run it on through."

Armegon complied and Avery, using his dagger like a chisel, broke the spike from its mount in the floor. When it was free, he cradled Calista's injured leg in his arms. Armegon rummaged through his pack and took out a pipe and some dried weed. He stuffed the weed into the bowl and lit the weed with his torch. "Here," he said. "Smoke this.”

Calista did as she was told. Having never smoked before, though, she coughed quite a bit before she was able to inhale very deeply. Slowly the pain subsided and she felt warm and mellow. In fact she giggled a bit after about half the weed was gone.

Armegon watched the weed Tyson had discovered take its effect on the girl. When half of the weed had been smoked, he moved between Calista's head and her foot obscuring her view of Avery. He watched Calista giggle as a smoke ring formed around her nose.

Behind him he heard Avery shift his weight in preparation for what had to be done. When Armegon was certain that the weed was in full effect on the patient, Armegon whispered over his shoulder directing Avery to proceed.

Avery nodded and grasped the bottom of the spike and in a hard surge, pushed it on through. Calista yelped as the sharp pain broke through the fog in her brain like a bolt of lightning.

"Got it," Avery announced as he tapped Armegon on the shoulder. The mage, was busy holding the girl down.

Avery then took a small vial from his own pack and rubbed some of its contents on the wound. Calista cringed as the alcohol bit at the exposed flesh. Then Avery applied a salve to stop the bleeding. After about ten minutes, Avery was finished and Calista was sitting upright with the help of the ranger.

"Very efficient," Armegon noted examining the trap. "The pressure plate here is to impale anyone following and the trap door is to get the leader. We’re lucky we were coming from the wrong direction."

They gathered their things and left with Avery carrying all three packs, and Armegon was carrying the young woman. They left the trap behind and Calista giggled mercilessly asking if they had anything to eat.

Avery and Armegon, both burdened with extra weight, moved on for another ten minutes. The hallway was bare, but made several turns and finally began a steep incline. They ascended the ramp and after another several minutes emerged at the top on a plateau that branched into three other passages where Armegon called a halt.

Calista's squirming and playfulness was making carrying the youth difficult and he requested they break long enough for the euphoric drug to wear off. Avery agreed, and took the time to examine the bindings on the young woman's leg for signs of bleeding.
After half an hour, Calista's mood changed radically. The pain was reimposing itself on her and her happiness disappeared. Calista complained that the pain was awful and she would rather be carried. Armegon proclaimed that he would be more than happy to let her lean on him as they walked, but he was not going to carry her another step.

Avery made the young woman stand on her feet and he read the pain in her eyes when she placed her weight on the injured leg. "You’re just going to have to deal with it for now," Avery told her. "When we find Ruk you can try to con him into carrying you."

Avery nodded to Armegon then continued. "In case you’ve forgotten, we are both paranoid and wimps. You said so yourself."

Armegon snickered, but Calista did not think the timing of the halfelf’s revenge was very appropriate. She granted that her hasty words at that door had been fiery and opened her for a reprisal, but she never imagined that her companions would treat her so. With a determination that belied more iron that she really possessed, she met their challenge.

"Fine," she said through clinched teeth. "I'll walk."

Armegon shook his head in wonder and grinned. He took one of the three packs. Avery shouldered the other two. They were after all just teasing the girl. True, she should exercise the leg or it would stiffen, but if she was in too much pain, they would not forsake her.

Avery checked his direction in the three tunnels and chose one. Calista, leaning heavily on Armegon's shoulder followed at a much slower pace leaving Armegon hoping there was no reason for them to run in the near future.