Regius (20 page)

"Another trap?"

"Yes. Push the bed another
inch and it should unlock it. Ehm..."

I stared as the trap opened
up and then frowned at the camera, wondering why he was so
uncomfortable.

"Lift the mattress at the
right corner and you'll find a long rope."

Eyebrows raising, I did as
he told me and indeed, a neatly rolled up rope was hidden beneath
the mattress. I waited for him to explain.

"You were supposed to get
dinner only. Mallow snuck in to bring you breakfast and the rope
while you were sleeping."

That's
why I hadn't noticed anyone coming in. The whole Seer 'we are
one and feel at home' thingy had probably made my sleep even more
comfortable when she'd been here. Rolling my eyes at the pair
Robinia and Mallow made, I crouched down beside the bed and started
tying one end of it around the foot. I sincerely hoped they watched
their backs and that their kindness wouldn't get them
killed.

"Let's hope it holds." I
muttered as I grabbed a hold of the lantern and then carefully and
slowly lowered myself on the cord, legs twisting around it while
holding on with one hand as I used the other to see where I was
going. I realized that it definitely wasn't 'let’s see if humans
can fly' kind of deep, but I could have twisted an ankle or
something of the sort had I just jumped my way down without
lessening the distance. It wasn't long before I reached the end of
the rope and I realized I was going to have to leave it behind,
which didn't make me very happy. Ropes were useful in this
place.

I took a deep breath and
then let myself drop, lifting the lantern so I could look at what
place I found myself in now. The sewer stench was back, and I
wasn’t happy to find that it was another hallway. Although this
one, contrary to the previous, didn’t have a door waiting for me,
instead it looked like a dead end.

"Let me check the map
before you do anything. I'm seeing something that makes me
curious." Robinia muttered absently.

Looking around, I saw the
camera and loud speaker were in the left corner of the narrow
passage, right above my head. Sighing, I placed the lantern on the
floor beside me and then leaned against the wall, trying to make
myself comfortable as I waited for Robinia to figure things
out.

"Please tell me the camera
is mirrored and you just leaned against the right wall instead of
the left."

I sheepishly moved
away.

Seeing my action, he then
added. "Did you feel anything move?"

I cleared my throat. "Yeah,
but..." I just thought the brick work wasn't that solid in this
particular place, all stones felt loose when I'd leaned against the
wall.

"Stones don't move without
a reason here!"

"What did I
do?!"

"Those slight gaps on each
side of the walls ahead of you?" I nodded. "Well, before you
touched that brick they wouldn’t have done anything and right now
they won't do much to you either. But once you start walking, it'll
detect movement and I'm thinking something pointy and harmful will
stick out of those gaps. You know," He growled unhappily.
"Decapitation, guillotine, poking ones gut?"

Padding my pockets, I
located the screwdriver and threw it forward. The moment the
screwdriver landed on the ground a sharp blade shot out through the
first gap, leading me to yelp in fear, jumping backwards so I could
plaster my back against the wall behind me.

"Don't touch the walls!
Let’s avoid activating more crap!" He shouted angrily. With my eyes
twitching, I carefully centered myself in the small square I knew
to be safe.

"Good. Now, there isn't
enough space between the first two gaps facing one another. Because
the first blade comes from the left and the second placed somewhat
further ahead from the right, I'm going to need you to make a sort
of... Zig zaggedy jump to get to the space that will offer you a
couple of seconds to breathe before you tackle the third blade." He
paused for a moment, probably trying to find a way to get me
through this alive. "The first blade comes from below while the
second comes from above. Can you jump over the first blade, drop
down and roll over to the space between the second and third
without dying?" Staring blankly up at the camera, Robinia huffed
and then tried again.

"Jump over when I count
one, land on two, duck down on three, roll over on four and you
should be in the space where there are no blades on five, leaving
you one more count, six, just in case."

He'd calculated it. He
didn't sound playful like he had the first time he'd talked to me,
neither did he sound bored. He was dead serious. And I think I
appreciated the lack of cheer he was now sporting. He was aware of
the deadly traps at this point. Then again, blades were invented to
be deadly in the first place, hard to mistake them for lap dogs or
a nice swim in the ocean.

Breathing in deeply, I
processed his instructions before nodding nervously.

"I think I can do that."
Not like I had a choice anyway.

"Breathe, Solenum, be as
calm as you can possibly be. I know it isn't simple, but I need you
to focus and hear me count. I'll count out loud."

Inhale deeply, exhale
loudly, inhale, exhale.

Shaking my limbs to try to
lessen the stiffness in my posture, I bent through my knees and
fixed my eyes on the corridor before me, preparing myself mentally
to start jumping. I was
so
not in LV anymore.

"One!" Just as soon as the
shout escaped his mouth, I jumped up and over the blade the moment
it shot out low from the wall. "Two!" My feet connected to the
floor. "Three!" I ducked down. "Four!" I rolled underneath the
second blade that shot out from above. "Five!"

Pushing myself up onto my
feet, I remained stiff until he said, "Very good. Take a
breather."

Unlocking my muscles, I
reached up so I could press my palms flat against my chest, feeling
my heart thundering underneath. Looking down, I raised an eyebrow
and then picked up the screwdriver I'd thrown here earlier, tucking
it back into my side pocket.

"Yes, keep that, you'll
need it to block blade number six in order to not get hit when you
jump blade number seven."

"Instructions?"

"Blades four and five will
both shoot out from up high in the wall. You'll need to dive
forward to miss them, but," I really hated buts. "Blade six shoots
out from below. If you stand up, you'll be hit by blade five. With
the screwdriver, you'll get three counts to jam it into the gap,
block blade six long enough for you to stand up and jump over the
seventh, which shoots out from a low angle as well." So far so
good. "After that, we are done with this corridor."

Running the instructions
through my head, I exhaled loudly. "One and two to dive, three,
four and five to jam. Six to get up. Seven to jump over and eight
will be the last count to land on the other side?"

Robinia remained silent for
a moment, mulling over my words before he agreed. "Sounds great."
Clearing my mind, I positioned myself, waiting for him to start
counting.

"One!" Dropping to my
knees, I dove forward and felt the whoosh of air over my back as
blade four shot out above me. "Two!" Blade five shrieked through
the air as I made my way underneath. "Three!" Barely getting up, I
crouched, gripping the screwdriver tightly. "Four!" Ramming the
tool into the gap, I quickly pulled my hand back and shot up onto
my feet. "Five!" Blade five came close to my head, but having
blocked number six did help. "Six!" I jumped upwards at the same
moment the screwdriver broke free and flew across the floor as the
blade shot out of the wall beneath me. Panicking, I didn't wait for
Robinia's next count, instead jumped my way blindly over blade
number seven.

Landing on my feet in the
open space behind the blade, I looked around carefully.

"Am I dead?" I touched my
face.

"You did that faster than
we'd planned!" He said cheerfully.

I couldn't help myself, I
grinned. "Thanks!" It was good to feel smug. I'd missed that
feeling. I knew I wasn't out of this place and maybe I would never
be, but I'd just survived a
knife
alley
. Not many people could say
that.

"You're welcome." He said
firmly. "Now."

I held up a finger, cutting
him off as I located the water bottle in my left knee pocket.
Uncapping it quickly, I took three greedy gulps of water, wishing I
could just sit here for a moment and like, not do anything. But, I
better get this over with. Pushing the bottle back, I eyed the wall
before me and saw a rope hanging there so innocently. It was
suspicious. It had to be.

"I know what you're
thinking," Robinia said. "But I truly believe the rope isn't a
trap." Taking five more seconds to eye it carefully, I decided to
trust him. Because first of all, I didn't have another choice and
second, so far he hadn't let me down.

Stepping forward, I grabbed
it and pulled myself up, climbing my way to the top of the wall.
There was a small opening, much like the one that had helped me
escape the dogs in the first part of the dungeon. After worming my
way through, I stood and eyed the space. While it was similar to
the previous corridor, this one was properly lit, no eye squinting
needed. Planted into ancient looking holders made out of metal were
candles lining each of the walls. Turning around so I could crouch
before the small opening, I pulled out the pocketknife I carried
and placed the sharp edge underneath the rope.

"You are certain this rope
isn't trapped, right?"

"Positive."

Looking up at the loud
speaker and camera in the top left corner, I smiled in thanks and
then cut the rope loose. Once my hacking was complete, I tied it
around my waist, needing to wrap it around almost five times.
Patting it happily, I whirled back, ready for whatever was
next.

"I don't see any gaps." I
announced as I checked the walls, kind of glad I didn't have to
deal with blades anymore.

"I can't tell what is going
to happen. It doesn't show on the map like it did earlier." He
murmured. "That means that whatever this hallway is trapped with,
was added by the Blue Bloods and wasn't part of the Altor training
ground to begin with."

Joy.
I sincerely hoped it was not the dogs again. I couldn't
survive those a second time. Puffing out some air, I hitched up my
pants and then took a determined, but careful, step forward and
then another and another. And another...

"Robinia..." I edged,
looking around nervously. Only this time, the moment my foot
connected to the stone floor, a roaring flame shot out underneath
my shoe. Eyes widening in fear, I stumbled backwards. Another flame
shot out behind me on my right, forcing me to stumble to my left
and then there was fire
everywhere!

"That should have been
obvious." Robinia scolded himself.

Shrieking, I zig zagged my
way back to my beginning point, falling to the ground, one hand on
my heart as I breathed rapidly. I gulped as I now noticed the small
circular holes in the floor. Two rows of them, going throughout the
entire length of the corridor.

"Obvious?!" My voice high
pitched with fear. "How is this obvious?!" My fright was replaced
with anger.

"Maybe I'm seeing it wrong,
but you look angry."

"I
am
angry!" I shouted, clapping my
hands together and rubbing them.

"I suggest you jump
from-"

"Shut up." I commanded,
pushing harshly off my feet to gain as much speed as I could.
Planting my left hand on the right wall, I used it as leverage to
jump up and forward, the corridor narrow enough so that it was easy
for me to let my feet connect with the left wall and allow me to
bounce back to the right. My Altor vision popped on, telling me I
was using everything the soldier in me had to offer as I ran up and
forward, escaping the flames only narrowly. That didn't matter
though. I smirked arrogantly as I was going to beat this
bitch.

When gravity tried to rule
me, I jumped over to the left and then moved back and forth between
both walls until I reached the end. Diving forward, I rolled over
my shoulder and crouched when my feet flattened on the ground
again. It felt like I'd gone to the beach for an entire day,
toasting in the sun to the point of being burnt.

Standing back up, I wiped
my clothes and turned around to give the corridor the
finger.

"Very mature." Robinia
commented.

"Let’s see you do that." I
waggled my eyebrows at the camera.

"Don't get too cocky. There
is a lot of dungeon left."

He was amused despite his
words. Sighing, I turned my attention to what lay ahead and could
only purse my lips curiously at the large staircase that went
down.

I made my way over
cautiously, but Robinia would have already informed me if it wasn't
safe. As he remained silent, I reached up, rubbing my upper arms
that were strained. I was pretty certain I'd pulled a muscle at
some point.