Chronicles of a So-called Fire God (Abridged)

20. No Quarter Here

I opened the door only slightly and bending low I poked my head through for a quick glance. The corridor beyond the door was empty, at least as far as I could see in the dim light available. Listening keenly I could hear whispers ahead and running feet. Thankfully the running was in the opposite direction so were were in no immediate danger, but it was clear they were gathering in a group. How many I could not tell. I pulled my head back and closed the door.

"An ambush appears to be in the making," I said.

"We can use that knowledge to our advantage then," replied Lestergrad. "They do not know our number has grown and they are only expecting the three of us." He gestured to himself, Torq and me in a circle motion.

"What is the plan then?" I asked.

"We need a bow, a flame and compete darkness," said Lestergrad.

Confusion was the best everyone else could muster, and it showed on their faces. Mine included. With a sigh, Lestergrad continued.

"We douse all lights in here, open the door and all step through. Someone readies a bow with an arrow, which we then light. The arrow is fired into the dim corridor ahead hopefully landing behind the ambush and lighting them up so that we can turn the ambush on them. With darkness behind us and light behind them we'll have the advantage."

"It could work," I said. "To hide our numbers though everyone else will have to line up behind us three."

"What Ix do?" said Sneaky.

"Duck," said Lestergrad

We readied ourselves and then Bostik doused the lights. I opened the door fully and as a group we all slowly stepped forward. I was in the lead.

Surprisingly there were no attacks forthcoming from the darkness ahead. Bostik casted a spell that caused three tiny balls of light to start dancing in the air around us. We were in an empty corridor.

As I took my third step, the floor began to tilt.

I lost my balance for a moment and the arrow I had nocked fell to the floor in a clatter. The noise was embarrassingly loud, thankfully there was still no response from the empty darkness ahead.

Everyone stopped as I stopped; stumbling up behind me and threatening to over balance me once again.

"The floor is trapped," I said and I knelt down to examine the floor in front of me. The slab of stone directly ahead of us, which filled the corridor from side to side, was pivoted at opposite corners. A light touch swung the slab easily and one of Bostik's dancing lights revealed that below the stone were sharp spikes at the bottom of a fairly deep pit.

"I need to disarm this," I said. And I began searching the nearby walls for a mechanism, a button, or anything that would allow me to lock the slab in place.

"What is that?" asked Sneaky as he pointed to something on the other side of the trap.

"That will probably be it," I said, "but we're not going to be able to get to it."

"How does everyone else get by this then?" asked Torq.

"One would assume by arrangement," said Lestergrad. "Warryn, can you do something to disable the trap?"

"I need a hammer and some metal pieces."

Sneaky and Iggy disappeared into the previous room and then a second or two later came back carrying armfuls of metal shards. They were parts of chain that had been smashed in the battle with the chain-men.

"Perfect."

Taking the pieces of metal and a hammer, provided by the never ending pockets of Sneaky, I began. Between the swinging slab and the unmoving floor and walls I jammed in pieces of metal. At first I did only the nearest edges, but as the stability increased I ventured onto the slab itself. placing more and more wedges of metal into gaps I could find or make. Eventually I'd covered all sides of the slab so that even an army could stand on there without fear.

We gingerly crossed the slab, all without any incident. I then activated the lever on the other side ensuring that the slab was also locked. I had to stop Ix from tearing the lever from the wall, which would have prevented further use of the trap, but I wanted to leave the impression that the trap was still in working order.

On this side of the trapped floor were two doors. One, a double door, was at the end of this corridor. The doors were shut. The other was on the same wall as the trap lever, and right next to the lever. This door was ajar.

I listened at the open door, but the best I could make out were squeaks from the rats inside. Everyone stood either side of the door, and I kicked it wide open. Aside from a few scared rats, the room was empty of anything alive. There were a few empty sacks on the floor too.

We left that room, nothing of interest or danger here, and proceeded to the double doors at the end of the corridor. Again, I listened. This time there was something more than squeaks.

I could hear shuffling of feet, and talking. Some of the voices were sounding quite angry, but I didn't understand the language. It could easily have just been a guttural language and the conversation was all about how nice the weather is for this time of year for all I knew. The obvious slap of something hard hitting flesh told me otherwise. And then the conversation switched to a language I did understand.

"You have brought these people here and you expect us to defend you? What sort of fool do you take me for?" said a male voice.

"Master, could we not provide them some assistance?" replied a female voice.

"They are on their own!" The first voice again, and he would truck no disobedience from his tone. 

I pushed the door fully open at this point. The creak of the hinges caught the attention of the room's occupants.

Inside the room were ten people. The nearest was a large man in full armour of shining black metal. Standing next to him was a slender elven woman in a blue dress. In front of them were our friends in brown robes.