Guild Wars_ Ghosts of Ascalon - Matt Forbeck [10]
On nearing the coffin, Dougal could clearly make out the asuran script that he’d seen on the door. From what he could read, it repeated many of the same warnings found on the doorplate, only in more strident and emphatic tones.
Dougal dropped the remaining few loops of rope at his feet and stood on his toes, leaning over the sarcophagus perched atop its bier of bones. Above Blimm’s forehead, the gem danced in the doorway’s light, its facets catching and reflecting the glow. This was no paste-work fake.
“It’s the real one,” Dougal said.
“Bring it to me. Now.” Clagg’s voice betrayed a clear eagerness.
Dougal considered the gem for a moment. A faint glow swirled deep inside it, something that had lain dormant for untold years, hidden in this buried room.
“It’s sure to be trapped,” Dougal said.
“Do you see a trap?” Clagg asked.
Dougal scanned the gem from every angle. There were no wires, no gears, no hidden plates or moving panels in the coffin. It was magic. Asuran magic. He really hated asuran magic.
“No,” he said finally, “but that doesn’t mean it’s not there.”
“Bear’s blood!” Gyda said. “You are the most worthless burglar I’ve ever met. I could have not spotted a trap myself!”
Dougal ignored the norn and spoke to Clagg. “Do you detect anything?”
The asura checked the row of glowing gems in his harness, then shook his head. “It appears safe.”
Dougal snorted at that. He’d heard those exact words at such moments before. They never turned out to be true.
He gritted his teeth and reached for the gem. The glow inside it gained strength and swirled faster as if something within it meant to meet his touch. As he brought his fingers closer to its sharp-cut facets, the floor beneath his feet seemed to vibrate softly, although he wondered if that was just his nerves betraying him.
He drew his hand back.
“Get Killeen out of here,” Dougal said. “This isn’t going to go well.”
“You spineless coward,” Gyda said. “It’s just a rock! Take it and be done with it.”
“This requires care and precision,” said Dougal sharply, “not brute force!”
“You know nothing of force! Cowardice holds your hand!” thundered Gyda. “I should come in there and show you!”
“You’d just make a mess of it,” said Dougal automatically. “When I need a lumbering ox, I’ll call for you!”
Dougal regretted his words the moment he said them. Sputtering in rage, the norn slung her hammer over her shoulder and stomped into the chamber, the floor shaking beneath her massive boots.
As she lumbered forward, Gyda snarled, “I came down to this filthy land of civilized cowards to make a name for myself, and despite working in the shadow of my legendary cousin Gullik, I have done a damned fine job of it. This is only the start of my saga, tales of which will be sung around norn campfires for centuries to come! And you, human, will be no more than an aside in it!”
Dougal dropped the rope and put the coffin between himself and the now-furious Gyda. She lunged at him. Dougal ducked around the bier, keeping the mound of bones between them. From the doorway, he could hear Clagg laughing at his predicament.
Calming the bullying norn was not an option, Dougal realized. He would have to make the best of his situation.
The norn, her eyes burning with fury, lunged at him again, but he danced around the end of the sarcophagus. He did this to her twice more, eluding Gyda’s grip. On her final lunge, she launched herself at him over the top of the stone effigy, hoping to snare him between her massive hands, but she missed and wound up sprawled across the lid of the sarcophagus instead.
That’s when Dougal snatched up the free end of the rope he’d dropped, reached out, and plucked the Golem’s Eye from its place at the head of Blimm’s stone form.
Gyda’s bright blue eyes flew so wide that Dougal could see the whites all the way around them. Dougal grinned at her as he took three quick steps back. If something bad was going to happen, he was going to face it alongside a crazed norn. The gem glowed in Dougal’s fist like caged fire.
The first warning of