Pool of Radiance_ Ruins of Myth Drannor - Carrie Bebris [41]
“Borea’s Blood,” Nottle whispered.
“You’ve heard of it?”
The halfling’s eyes glowed as he regarded the ice sliver almost reverently. “It’s said that Borea’s Blood-” He stopped suddenly, as if remembering himself. His eyes regained their usual mercenary glint, and he shrugged casually. “Jest a blue knife, that’s all. Nothin’ you folks would wanna lug around with ye.” He reached toward it “Here, I’ll jes-”
“I don’t think so.” Kestrel batted away his arm. Obviously the knife had some value if the peddler took interest. “I’m sure lugging this around won’t prove a burden to us at all.” She grabbed the crystal and tugged, expecting it to remain frozen in place. To her surprise, the blue knife slid from the icicle as smoothly as a sword from its scabbard.
The moment Borea’s Blood cleared its icy sheath, every shard of ice in the room immediately disappeared. The large ice formations vanished, while the broken chunks on the floor melted into small puddles. Only the blue crystal remained unchanged, resting coolly in the palm of Kestrel’s hand. Above the rune, the colored lights danced like faeries on Midsummer Night.
“You did it-you unfroze the Rohnglyn,” Durwyn said.
She regarded the fighter. Had he not taken matters into his own hands, they might have wasted an hour debating strategy. She was developing new respect for the quiet but dedicated warrior. “No, it was your no-nonsense approach that found the crystal in the first place.”
At the compliment, the corners of Durwyn’s mouth twisted in a self-conscious half-smile. He appeared unused to praise. “Now that it’s thawed, how do you suppose it works?”
As in the room they’d entered earlier, the far wall of this chamber held a carving of four diamonds stacked right on top of each other, with a small gem-an opal-in the bottom-most point. Kestrel, Ghleanna, and Corran studied the pattern, while Jarial, Durwyn, and Nottle examined the floating golden sphere and the lights.
“Four diamonds, four dungeon levels,” Ghleanna said finally. “I’m guessing the gem in that pattern indicates the current position of the Rohnglyn. The bottom diamond is the bottom level of the dungeon, and so on. Perhaps it’s simply a matter of moving the gem to the level we want to reach.”
“That tells it where we want to travel,” Corran said, “but how do we activate the device?”
“I think that’s what this sphere is for,” Jarial said, poking at the globe. “Maybe once the opal is repositioned, we push or rotate the sphere.”
“We’ll never figure it out just standing here. Let’s give it a try.” Kestrel pulled the gem out of the wall and moved it up to the next vertex. “If Ghleanna’s theory is correct, we should wind up one level above, in the room we entered before.”
They all entered the dancing lights and moved to the center of the rune. Jarial reached toward the globe. “Ready?”
The moment he touched the golden sphere, the lights spun wildly about the perimeter of the rune, circling a half dozen times before returning to their usual state. The party waited expectantly, but nothing more happened.
“Maybe it’s not as easy as we thought,” Durwyn said.
Kestrel went back to study the diamond pattern again. She frowned in concentration. “Perhaps we need to do more than merely reposition the ruby.”
“Ruby?” Ghleanna said. “It was an opal, was it not?”
Kestrel glanced at the sorceress in surprise. “You’re right-the ruby was in the first room.” She turned back to the pattern, now noticing the tiny scratch marks at the bottom of the pattern. “Here are the marks I made trying to pry it out.”
Corran walked to the doorway and peered into the corridor. “Sure enough. We’re back on the third level.”
“Ha! That’s a pretty good trick,” Nottle said. “Gettin’ around the dungeons will be a piece o’cake now.” The halfling fairly skipped toward the door. “I’m gonna check on my wagon. See you folks later.