Rise of the Spider Goddess (16 page)

It crumbled into ashes in mid-air. “You seek to defy me in the temple of my mistress?” the priest asked in a menacing voice. Then he sent another bolt of energy toward Whoo.

Instantly, Galadrion shoved the pixie out of the way. The spell caught her in the leg, sending her crashing to the ground clutching her thigh. “Get out of here,” she said through clenched teeth.

Pynne grabbed Jenn's hand and flew to the nearest door. “We have to stay,” Jenn cried out.

“I can't use my magic, and your dagger isn't going to help,” Pynne answered angrily.

They both looked behind, where the priest was advancing on Nakor. Then Pynne opened the door and shoved Jenn from behind. Reluctantly, they moved into the darkness.

No! Never split the party. It causes such headaches for the poor dungeon master.

Nakor backed away slowly, keeping his rapier up. Behind the priest, Whoo continued to fire arrow after arrow. Like the first, these burned to ashes before getting close to their target. The priest gestured, and Nakor's rapier flew from his hand to land behind him.

Grabbing the altar, Galadrion pulled herself to her feet. Her leg was beginning to heal itself. Limping, she approached the priest from behind.

“I am not so easy to surprise,” the priest said. With an evil grin, he turned and pointed a finger at Galadrion. That was when Nakor rammed his shoulder into the priest's stomach, sending them crashing to the floor.

There was a loud boom, and Nakor was hurled backward. He slid across the stone floor, landing against the wall. Whoo flew over to land next to him.

“You okay?” asked the pixie.

Okay? He was just flung onto a stone floor hard enough to slide into a wall! He's probably got a concussion, and he'll be lucky if nothing's broken from—

Nakor watched as Galadrion grabbed the priest and lifted him off the ground. Then he looked to the far side of the room, where Pynne and Jenn had escaped.

“Go!” Galadrion yelled. Then she fell back as the priest sent another bolt of energy into her body.

With an angry glare, Nakor wrenched the door open and went through. Whoo followed, pausing to send one last arrow at the priest.

Oh. Never mind. I guess he's fine.

Galadrion smiled from the floor as they shut the door behind them. Then she looked up at the priest, who towered over her.

She closed her eyes, feeling her wounds begin to regenerate. There were advantages to being a vampire, she thought to herself.

Like the great dental plan! Wait, I already used that joke, didn't I?

Breathing heavily from his exertions, the priest pulled a dagger from within his cloak. “Your friends will not escape,” he said. “They will never leave this temple alive.”

Then he smiled and knelt down next to Galadrion. “I'm sorry about this, I really am. But you shouldn't have come here.” He grabbed her by the hair and wrenched her head back. Making a clucking noise with his tongue, he brought the knife to Galadrion's throat.

Jenn and Pynne glanced behind, hearing the thunderous noise behind them as the priest worked his magic. It was too dark in the tunnel to actually see anything, but they looked anyway. Then they turned and continued down the tunnel.

“So now what do we do?” Jenn asked grumpily.

Pynne didn't know what to say. Ever since she had realized her magic was useless, she had felt vulnerable. Her inability to become invisible made it even worse.

“I guess we try to find that scroll,” she said at last.

There was silence, then, as they both felt their way through the damp, cold passage. Soon, even the sounds of fighting had faded from behind them.

“Do you think they're okay?” asked Jenn nervously.

Pynne closed her eyes. “If they were smart, Nakor and Whoo might have escaped through another door.”

Jenn didn't say anything. She had seen the priest's magic send Galadrion crashing to the ground. It was very possible that she was dead.

Or, you know, deader.

“We might have been able to do something,” she said angrily.

“Yes,” Pynne replied, “we could have died.”

Jenn didn't answer.

The tunnel twisted and turned around on itself, with no apparent plan.

Much like the plot.

“I think we're getting higher, not lower,” Pynne observed after a while. Their eyes had adjusted to the darkness by now. A fungus on the walls gave off a faint green glow, enabling them to see.

Where would the fantasy genre be without convenient glowing fungus to light all those dark dungeon tunnels?

“That's not where we want to be going, right?” Jenn asked.

“Right,” Pynne answered with a frown. “Nakor said they were underneath the main temple when he fell through the trap door.”

“Great,” Jenn muttered to herself.

“Maybe you should have stayed in that city after all,” Pynne teased.

Jenn grunted in reply.

Up ahead, the tunnel branched off in two directions. Picking one at random, they marched down the left tunnel.

Soon the tunnels split off again, then another time. Shortly after that, they had become confused and hopelessly lost.

“I think we've been here before,” Pynne commented.

Frustrated, Jenn looked around. The tunnel went in four different directions, not including the way they had just come from. “Which way did we go last time?” she asked.

Pynne pointed at the third tunnel.

“Fine,” Jenn said, “Then let's take a different one.” Then she turned and began marching up the rightmost tunnel. With a shrug, Pynne followed.

Unlike the others, this corridor seemed relatively straight. As they walked on, it began to get warmer as well.

Jenn stopped abruptly.

“What is it?” asked Pynne.

“This isn't right,” Jenn answered. She didn't know exactly what it was, but something about this tunnel seemed wrong somehow. “It's too uniform, it doesn't match the other tunnels,” she commented.

Then she knelt down on the ground. “And look, there's about an inch of dust down here,” she observed.

Pynne, whose wings had been dragging in the dust for the past ten minutes, only nodded. “Nobody's been this way for a long time,” she said.

“I don't like it,” Jenn said.

“Do you want to go back?” Pynne asked.

Jenn considered for a moment. But the idea of spending another half hour backtracking was incredibly distasteful. “No,” she answered, “I just don't like it, that's all.”

Pynne nodded sympathetically.

After a while, they began to notice a pale light coming from in front of them. It grew brighter as they moved on. It was also becoming warmer. Jenn had begun to sweat, and Pynne was gently fanning herself with her wings.

“Look,” Pynne said with a wry grin, “there's a light at the end of the tunnel.”

Jenn groaned, but it was true. Up ahead, a bright red light filled their vision. In reality, it was little more than a pale glow. But after all the time spent in near-total darkness, it was almost blinding.

As they walked closer, the cause of the light became clear. The tunnel stopped abruptly, opening into emptiness.

Jenn and Pynne crept up to the very edge of the tunnel and looked out.

They were on one side of an enormous cavern, hundreds of feet from the opposite side. Jenn gasped involuntarily as she looked down.

Far below, a fiery red river of lava flowed across the cavern floor, vanishing into one of the walls. “All this is inside the mountain?” Jenn asked, awestruck.

I'm beginning to question the geological consistency of this environment.

“I've never seen anything like it,” Pynne answered.

They stared for a moment, just looking out at the immense emptiness that stretched before them.

“Well, now we know why it's so hot,” Jenn commented.

Pynne frowned. “What's that on the far side?” she asked, pointing.

Talking cow? (Which probably only makes sense to people who are old enough to remember
The Far Side
.)

Jenn squinted. “I don't see anything.”

“Stay here,” Pynne said. Then she leapt out into the air, flying toward the other side.

“What am I going to do?” Jenn asked, rolling her eyes, “follow you?”

She peered out over the edge, waiting for Pynne to return. The cavern walls seemed to drop straight down forever, coming to an abrupt stop when they met the river of lava. Jenn blinked and shook her head as a brief wave of dizziness passed over her. Pulling her head back into the tunnel, she sat against a wall and waited.

Pynne returned soon, landing gracefully in front of Jenn. She wiped the sweat from her forehead.

“There's a passageway on the far side of the cavern, too,” she said. “I suspect that there was once a bridge between the two tunnels.”

Jenn nodded. “That's nice, but I don't see how it's of any use. I can't exactly fly across, you know.”

Ignoring the sarcasm, Pynne continued. “I also saw something else on the way back. There's a ledge built into the wall a couple of feet below us.”

“Where does it go?” Jenn asked.

“Down,” Pynne answered. “Then there's a door that probably leads back into more tunnels.”

“I couldn't see it when I looked out,” Jenn protested.

“I know. It looked as if it were designed to be hidden from anyone on this side of the cavern.”

“Well,” Jenn said thoughtfully, “we need to get deeper underground, right?”

Pynne nodded. “But I'm not strong enough to fly you down,” she added.

“Damn,” Jenn muttered to herself. Then she peered out over the edge again. She was still unable to see the ledge Pynne was speaking of, but this time she saw something else.

“Look at this, there are holes on the cavern wall.” On either side of the opening, two large holes had been dug into the rock. “Hold my hand,” Jenn said, stretching farther out.

Pynne grabbed the hand and leaned back, using her weight to keep Jenn from falling. “You know,” she said, “it might be a good idea for me to be the one checking this out. Unless you've suddenly sprouted wings?”

Ignoring her, Jenn studied the holes for a moment. On impulse, she stuck her hand into one. Then she allowed Pynne to pull her back into the tunnel.

“It's only one hole,” she said. “It curves around on itself on the inside.”

I've read this scene three times, trying to visualize what they're looking at. I failed. I'm sure I had it all figured out in my head at the time, though.

“That's probably where they would have anchored the bridge,” Pynne guessed. “Whoever ‘they' were.”

“Who cares?” asked Jenn. She untied the rope belt at her waist and leaned out again. Threading one end of it through the hole, she tied a quick knot. “Will that get me down to the ledge?” she asked.

The rope stretched a good two feet below the floor of the tunnel. Pynne nodded slowly.

“Then let's go!” Jenn said excitedly. Grabbing the rope in one hand, she carefully sat down, dangling her feet over the edge. Then, closing her eyes, she allowed herself to slip out of the tunnel.

Pynne launched herself into the cavern and turned to help steady Jenn.

Lowering herself down, Jenn kicked out at empty air. That must be where the ledge is at, she thought to herself. Then she looked down.

Pynne saw the color drain from her face. Grasping her gently by the waist, Pynne whispered reassuringly. “You're not going to fall. Just lower yourself a little more, then jump onto the ledge.”

“Jump?” Jenn hissed, eyes wide. She had no fear of heights, but looking down into the lava below frightened her. The thought passed through her mind that the only thing preventing her from falling was her flimsy rope belt. Her arms were beginning to tire.

“Would you rather climb back up?” Pynne asked, worried.

“I can't!” Jenn answered. The fear in her voice was clear.

“I can't! Mostly because the plot says so!”

“Jenn,” Pynne began in a calm voice, “take your left hand and put it at the bottom of the rope.”

Wordlessly, she obeyed.

“Now put your right hand just above your left.”

Jenn did so, cursing quietly as she reached the knotted end of the rope belt.

Now put your right hand in, and then you shake it all about.

“Okay,” Pynne said reassuringly, “now when I count to three, let go.”

“What?” Jenn cried. She could see the ledge now, but there was no way for her to get to it. She could try to swing back and forth, but she didn't know if her rope was strong enough. “Let go?” she demanded.

“I'm going to push you onto the ledge,” Pynne explained.

“I don't like this,” Jenn moaned, closing her eyes.

Writing tip: There's absolutely nothing wrong with using “said” for dialogue instead of constantly reaching for other words. Though Sir Arthur Conan Doyle liked to use “ejaculated” for a dialogue tag, and he's done pretty well with those Sherlock Holmes stories, so what do I know?

“Would you rather just hang there?” Pynne asked. “You'd get awfully hungry after a while.” She studied Jenn's situation. “Not to mention that you look rather silly.”

Jenn glared angrily at the pixie.

“It's your choice,” Pynne offered.

“Count to three!” Jenn hissed. “And if you let me fall, I swear my spirit will haunt you for the rest of your life!”

Pynne grinned. “One.”

Jenn closed her eyes and prayed.

“Two.”

She held her breath.

“Three.”

Jenn let go, feeling her stomach clench as she started to fall. Then there was a violent shove on her back, and she crashed onto the ledge. She stayed there for a minute, breathing rapidly and unwilling to move.

A moment later, Pynne landed beside her, holding her belt. “You did it,” she said.