Curse of the Shadowmage - Mark Anthony [109]
"… nine hundred ninety-eight… nine hundred ninety-nine…"
K'shar's heart beat crazily in his crushed chest. Something told him he was about to embark on a new chase, one far beyond his wildest imaginings.
"… one thousand!"
With all his remaining strength, K'shar pulled the lever. There was a groaning sound, and a grinding of metal on metal. For a second, nothing happened. Then, with a sound like thunder, the portal flew open. A roaring flood of frothy water gushed through the opening carrying K'shar away with it like a piece of flotsam.
Cold water struck molten lava, and the entire cavern exploded.
* * * * *
Mari raced through the labyrinth, counting under her breath. The caustic air burned in her lungs. Sweat poured down her forehead, stinging her eyes, blinding her. The crimson glow faded as she ran farther and far-ther from the cavern. She let her fingertips slip over the smooth stone wall as she ran, finding her way by touch.
At first she relied on memory to tell her which twists and turns would take her closer to the surface. Yet as she went, recall began to fail her. Finally she reached a fork in the tunnel and came to a dead halt. Which way led up to the vale? Desperately she fought off panic and concentrated searching for any sign-a wisp of cool air, a gentle upward slope-that might indicate which passage would take her hack to the surface. She detected nothing. Num-bers continued to tumble from her cracked lips.
"…eight hundred sixteen… eight hundred seventeen…"
She could hesitate no longer. Guessing blindly, she moved toward the left-hand passage. After a moment she faltered. No-this felt wrong. She turned, retraced her steps, and plunged into the right-hand passage. There was no more time to consider her decision. She careened down the tunnel at a dead run.
She was brought up short as the passage ended in a stone wall. Something sinuous brushed against her cheek, and she batted the thing away. With a start, she realized it was a rope. She craned her neck. Above, hovering in the blackness, were three dim circles of gray light. The shaft that led to the surface! "…One thousand." Time was up. Mari cast a nervous glance at the dim tunnel behind her. Hand over hand, she heaved herself up the rope.
She was halfway up when a sound like rumbling thunder echoed from the labyrinth below. Mari froze. Then, biting her lip, she climbed faster. Her arms ached effort. A few moments later, she heard the first onrush of sound.
"Damn it, Al'maren!" she snarled to herself. "Climb!"
Clenching her jaw, she kept moving. Her shoulers were on fire now, and the rope bit painfully into her blistered hands. Her palms bled, making the rope slippery. She screamed as she slipped down several feet, barely managing to catch herself. The rushing had grown to a low rumbling. A puff of warm, moist air ruffled her hair.
The openings were close now. The rumbling became a stentorian roar, like the sound of an angry river crashing over jagged rapids. Mari reached up and clutched the edge of one of the openings. The roaring filled her mind, drowning out her terror. Forcing her trembling arms to function, she pulled herself upward. Sharp rock sliced her hands. With a cry of pain and desperation, she heaved herself up and out of the hole, then rolled away from the stone outcrop.
A heartbeat later, three geysers of boiling hot steam and molten rock burst from the fissures like glowing pillars reaching skyward. At the same moment, three throbbing notes of music rang out. Roiling jets of steam poached the skin of Mari's cheek as she scrambled away from the fissures. Painfully, she pulled herself to her knees, staring at the geysers in awe. Like air through the holes of a flute, each of the columns of steam and melted rock piped a single deep tone.
When the three tones blended