The Compass Key (Book 5) (39 page)

“Thank you, Risar!” Timoran yells as he grabs
Nyx and Delvin.

They struggle briefly until they see two vampires dart around
the ice giant and race toward them, their bodies blurs of motion. One of them grows long claws that drip with poison while the other reveals a gaping maw in his chest. The Dawn Fangs are nearly upon them when Luke rushes up from behind and beheads them.

“I’m surprised I got both of them,”
the forest tracker says as he runs backwards, ready for another attack. He watches the other vampires leap on Risar, knocking the ice giant to the ground. “Are you going to be okay, Nyx? Beheading is the only way to kill these kinds of vampires. Even then, some of them tend to come back if you reattach the head.”

“
Decapitation isn’t the only way,” she states with a smirk. Another vampire bounds over the bookcases only to be destroyed by a fireball. “Powerful magic can get the job done too. They always stay dead from that.”

Timoran dives into the open doorway and leaps down the stairs, his boots nearly slipping on the thick ice.
He hears Luke following a few seconds later, the half-elf tripping on the ice and flipping down the stairs. The door snaps shut, plunging them into darkness as the forest tracker bounces off the wall, flies over Timoran, and lands in a heap at the bottom of the stairs.

*****

The mountain shakes, sending snow onto the heads and shoulders of the sneaking adventurers. Luke crouches as he leads the way, peeking around every corner and keeping his senses sharp for signs of movement. Another quake rocks the mountain, followed by the muffled roar of the bile serpent.

“I don’t think all these quakes are coming from the bile serpent,” Nyx whispers back to Delvin. “They feel different. I can’t put my finger on it exactly, but some of
the tremors feel like they are hitting me from the side. The others are running through my feet.”

“A battle rages outside and the combatants are hitting the mountain. Those are the strikes from the side,” Timoran answers in a low growl. “The ones through your feet are from the bile serpent below us. It would appear that after slaying that monster, we have another fight ahead of us.”

“Why does that not surprise me?” Delvin asks.

“
Sounds like you’re no longer happy about being a champion,” Nyx replies as she attempts to walk backwards. She nearly trips over her own feet, so she turns around and walks next to the warrior. “I’ll admit that the battles have been nonstop for too long. I’m worn out too, but we’re almost at the end, Delvin. Just hang in there and I promise you’ll get to rest.”

“That’s very kind of you, Nyx
. Who are you and what have you done with the rude, temperamental caster that we all love?”

The blushing caster flicks
Delvin on the side of the head. “She’s waiting for someone to give her a reason to be angry. Don’t be that someone, Cunningham.”

“I’ll try my best
. Anyway, I hope we get some rest after this. At least a break from wearing my armor and fighting. I’ve been in some long campaigns as a mercenary, but this one surpasses them all. I’m almost at the point where I wouldn’t know what to do with myself if the battles stopped.”

“We could stay in Gaia and help with the repairs,” Luke suggests from behind
the others. They leap into the air at the sudden appearance of the frowning forest tracker. “If you don’t mind, I’d like for us to stay quiet. We don’t want to attract anything.”

“I agree, but we haven’t seen a monste
r or a vampire since we escaped the library,” Nyx points out, her hand to her chest. She feels her heart racing and is tempted to punch Luke for scaring her. “The monsters of the temple are either dead or with the bile serpent. That’s the only explanation for us moving through the halls without a problem. Even the traps seem to have been disarmed by someone.”

“All we need is one active trap to kill us,” Timoran
says before a noise catches his attention. The barbarian wanders ahead and steps around a corner, only his back leg in view of his friends.

“
I agree with you Luke,” Delvin claims. “We should remain alert. There’s no telling what is waiting for us in this place. Part of the trap could be a long period of nothing, so we drop our guard.”

“Speaking of long periods of nothing, when was the last time we found stairs?” Nyx asks
, her pace slowing as she examines the walls. “Have we been going in circles?”

Luke scratches his head and looks around the icy hallway. He probes his memory to see if this area is identical to any of the places they passed before. A shake of the mountain dislodges a few icicles, which causes him to groan in dismay.

“I was using the ceiling to see if we were going in circles,” the forest tracker admits, kicking an icicle across the hallway. “The quakes are changing the scenery, so I didn’t realize we’ve been walking around the mountain. Although, I didn’t see any stairs, which is why I kept going. Maybe we need Risar to open the pathways for us.”

“Or maybe stairs are not what we should have been looking for,” Timoran
says. He waves for the others to join him around the corner. “I do not like the looks of this, but it might be our only way to travel.”

The barbarian
is standing in front of a gaping doorway with no room on the other side. Instead of a floor, the icy ground makes a steep dip and plunges into the darkness. The ground looks smooth and shimmers like glass. Luke pulls out an acorn from his pouch and rolls it through the doorway. The acorn races down the ice slide, the sound of its bouncing echoing until it is too far for even Timoran to hear.

“I agree with Timoran,” Nyx whispers as she leans over the edge. “I don’t like the look of this. How are we supposed to control
our speed and direction?”

“It was probably intended to be a test for Sari,” Delvin replies, sheathing his longsword and
holding his shield to his chest. “I think we take this to the bottom of the mountain or as far as it goes. I’ll go first to make sure it’s safe.”

“You should go second, my friend,” Timoran insists as he steps forward to block the doorway.
He puts his great axe in its sheath and takes the weapon off his back. “We do not know how the landing will work. I am the heaviest, so I could hurt someone if I fell on them at a high speed. I shall go first and then Delvin whose armor makes him the second heaviest. I would suggest Nyx go third and Luke go last. Between the two of them, Luke has the better chance of avoiding a crash.”

“Beats my idea of a race to the bottom,”
the half-elf admits with a grin.

“If this slide is slippery enough then you may get your wish,” Timoran says before sitting down and pushing himself down the slide.

Delvin lets out a long breath as he watches the barbarian vanish into the darkness. He unstraps his longsword and clutches it tight against his shield. The warrior cautiously gets on the slide and is swallowed by the darkness within seconds.

“See you at the bottom, Luke,” Nyx says. She gingerly gets on the slide and closes her eyes as she races down the ice.

“I shouldn’t be having this much fun,” Luke sighs while putting his sabers into his magic pouch. He walks away from the slide and stretches his legs. “That should be enough time for them to get ahead.”

The half-elf
makes a running leap onto the slide, grunting when he hits the solid ice. He straightens his body and crosses his arms while hooting and yelling. His voice echoes throughout the darkness until he breaks into an open area, the light nearly blinding him. Silent waterfalls fall from the walls and disappear into a mist-covered chasm. The flutter of wings above him, brings Luke’s attention to a flock of gulls that are sitting among the high windows. A few of the gulls call out to the half-elf, who waves to the curious birds.

“Make it stop!” Nyx shrieks from ahead.

Lifting his head, Luke can see that he is gaining on the caster because she is shifting her body and refusing to remain calm. He slowly moves his body, so that he passes by her instead of crashing into her. A flurry of curses meets his ears before they dive back into the shadows and the slide makes a sudden curve. Luke gracefully takes the turn while Nyx careens off the solid wall.

“Send a tethe
r to me, Nyx!”

“I don’t have any rope!”

“Use your magic!”

“How will that help us?”

“Send a tether and I’ll steer you!”

Nyx
wraps a thick rope of aura around her waist and sends the other end to Luke, who wraps it around his chest. The rope hardens and takes on the feel of a metal brace, allowing the forest tracker to control her direction. It is difficult at first with Nyx flailing, but she quickly stops moving and imitates the straight form of Luke’s body. They are thankful when a dim light appears around them, replacing the thick darkness.

“Close your eyes and this will be over soon enough,”
he assures her when he sees a sharp turn in the slide.

The turn causes the pair to slide halfway up the wall, Nyx yelping in surprise as she feels weightless for an agonizing second. Luke sees a series of turns coming up, which makes him lick his lips in anticipation. Swerving and flipping around the turns, they race along the slide
with more speed than before. Nyx screams in fright and holds back the urge to cast a spell to stop them. In contrast, Luke is laughing at every challenge the ice throws at them.

“I see the end!”
he calls back when a distant light appears and steadily grows.

“Thank the gods
.”

Both of the half-elves
are stunned by the blue light of the large room, so neither of them realize that the floor is missing. Luke is already sliding over the side by the time Timoran catches Nyx, the magical tether preventing the blonde half-elf from plunging into the chasm. Delvin swiftly reaches down to pull him up by the ankle. Moments after Luke is safely on solid ground, a new floor of ice grows across the gap.

“That would have been a horrible way to die,” Luke gasps while the tether vanishes.

“Guess you’re not having fun now,” Nyx mutters from where she sits.

The floor changes into a pool of steaming water with a waterfall pouring from the middle of the ceiling. A warm mist fills the room, making the adventurers drowsy until Nyx clears the area
with a wind spell. After a few minutes, the floor becomes a churning layer of ice that will crack as soon as it is stepped on.

“I don’t see a pattern to the
transformations. Even worse, the timing on the changes ranges from a few seconds to a minute,” Delvin claims, his shield back on his forearm and his sword on his hip. He kneels at the edge of the section of floor that stays solid. “I can’t tell if this is on purpose or part of the corruption. Either way, it’s too dangerous to try to cross for the exit. At least the room is bright enough to see there’s a hallway with stable flooring on the other side of this mess.”

“I can fly us over,” Luke half-heartedly suggests. “I’m a little hungry, but a quick transformation shouldn’t make it any worse.”

“We need you for the bile serpent and whatever else is out there,” the brown-haired warrior says. He rummages in his belt pouches for a piece of jerky to give to the half-elf. “Eat this and conserve your energy. It’s made from dire boar meat, so it’s very filling. I want all of us as close to full strength as possible.”

The floor shifts into a whirlpool that is filled with jagged shards of
crimson ice. Nyx tries to cast an freezing spell on the water, but her simple spell is torn apart by the ancient magic. She curses and hurls fireballs at the shards until the floor turns into a network of narrow beams of fragile ice.

“Now it’s just me
ssing with us,” Luke groans as he pulls his sabers out of his pouch. He judges the distance to the exit as he straps them to his sides. “Can’t Nyx use her magic to get us across? Maybe a wind spell, a jump spell, or create a magical bridge.”

“That’s what I
just tried to do, little brother. There’s a spell shredder in the room. It’s probably buried in the walls, so we can’t get to it. Those things are ancient and rare, but it doesn’t surprise me that one is here. Hey!”

Timoran gently picks Nyx up and throws her at the exit, the half-elf cursing for the entire flight. She lands on her hands and knees in the opening, her limbs shuddering with the sudden impact. Glancing across the shifting floor, she glares at the barbarian, who makes an odd casting motion with his hands.

“I’m well aware that you threw me!” she shouts back, her voice echoing around the chamber. A shifting noise behind her makes the half-elf whirl around, fire dancing around her fingers. “I’m not alone over here!”

Nyx takes a few steps into the brightly lit hallway
, her eyes carefully scanning the area for signs of danger. She hears a drip and looks over her shoulder to see that the icicles on the ceiling are melting. Puddles cover the hallway’s floor, sitting still until a random drop breaks their surface. Nyx hits the nearest puddle with a fireball to make sure it isn’t a hiding monster, smiling at the sight of evaporating water.

“It’s just some dripping icicles,”
she reports, turning back to the others. She dives out of the way of Luke, who comes hurtling through the doorway. “Watch where you’re throwing your friends, Timoran!”