Masquerades - Kate Novak [94]
The two warriors drew their swords and cut into the briars until they'd cleared a path into a tributary of the gully.
"There!" Olive whispered excitedly, pointing into the hillside.
The doorway was partially blocked by mud and rock carried by heavy rains, but the door was still visible. Fortunately it opened inward, so they weren't required to do any digging. Alias pushed up the latch with the tip of her weapon and nudged the door open with her foot. The door's hinges made an alarming squeal, and a decade's worth of dust assailed the swordswoman's nostrils.
Dragonbait whispered "Toast," in Saurial, causing his enchanted blade to blaze. Igniting a straw from the paladin's sword, Alias used it to light a conventional lantern. Dragonbait took the point; Alias followed behind him. Olive, after one last look down the dry wash to be sure no one had observed them, slipped through the door behind the warriors.
The passageway beneath the city wall was so narrow that the adventurers had to go single file. Olive's nose twitched in the dusty, sepulchral air. "Smells like Zrie Prakis," the halfling complained.
Remembering the lich's smell, Alias shuddered in spite of herself. Prakis had been among the alliance of evil beings who'd created her. Each being had had some evil purpose for the swordswoman, but it was Prakis's purpose that had unnerved Alias the most. Prakis had had a long-abiding love-hate relationship with Cassana, even after he'd become undead. He wanted an enslaved Alias to replace Cassana.
"That's good, though," Alias said, "if it means that no one has been using the passage since then. Look, ours are the first footprints in the dust in years."
"Maybe because it's haunted," the halfling suggested unhappily.
Spiderwebs across the passage crackled and fizzled away, ignited by Dragonbait's fiery blade as they moved forward, but there was nothing they could do to keep the dust from swirling up into their faces. Olive, who was closer to the floor, had to put up with more, and she muttered nonstop complaints all the way down the passage. Alias began to sense that the shorter woman was fighting a growing sense of panic. The halfling had also been a prisoner in this house, in all but name.
"They're all dead, Olive," Alias said, trying to reassure the woman. "Nothing but dust is left of them," she added, then realized as Olive puffed at the dust in the air that that probably wasn't the most reassuring thing she could have said.
Olive laughed, a little nervously.
They reached a dead end in the passage-a wall of solid rock. Dragonbait sniffed at the blockage, trying to discern any breeze or whiff of fresh air that would reveal a hidden mechanism.
"Allow me," the halfling said, stepping forward. "Coming out of Cassana's, the catch to move this wall was on the right. We can probably reach it from the left going in this direction."
Olive ran her hand along the wall until it disappeared into a hole in the rock. There was a click, which echoed down the secret passage behind them. Olive stepped back. "I've done my bit. Now it's your turn. Push here on the right side. The wall pivots. You'll have to put some muscle into it to get it started, but then its weight swings it around."
Alias set down the lantern and began shoving at the wall. After a moment, she felt it begin to move, but something seemed to be jamming it on the other side. Dragonbait held his sword out for Olive to hold. The halfling took the heavy weapon with some trepidation. The paladin put his back into the labor along with Alias. The door moved another inch, then another.
"Just like old times," Olive said in an excited whisper. "My brains, your brawn. A dusty dungeon, the hint of danger. Now all we need is-"
The door rotated a full ninety degrees, and