Storm of the Dead - Lisa Smedman [105]
"Out of the way!" Gilkriz yelled, shoving past her. "Kulg!" he cried, slamming his stiff-fingered hands in front of him as if they were a gate closing.
With a rumble and a thud, the tunnel ahead slammed shut. A wall of solid stone stood where an open passage had been a moment before, blocking the monster's path.
Brindell let out a whooping cheer. "Praise be to Eilistraee! We're safe."
The others were more restrained; they merely murmured their relief.
"That's it, then," Leliana said. She turned her back on the wall. "We'll have to go another…"
She paused. What was that sound?
There it was again. A faint noise, coming from the shaft they'd just climbed.
Tash'kla ran to it and peered down. Another one! she signed-as if maintaining silence would save them. Coming up the shaft!
"Gilkriz!" Leliana barked.
The conjurer nodded. He ran over to where Tash'kla stood and repeated his spell, bringing his hands together. Rock groaned, bulged. The top of the shaft slammed shut.
Brindell glanced back and forth between the blocked tunnel and the plugged shaft. "Now what?"
Leliana looked around. What indeed?
She noticed the human wizard standing slightly apart from the group, intently studying a portion of the tunnel wall. "What is it, Daffir? Have you spotted something?"
He turned, leaning on his staff. "A doorway, hidden by magic." He pointed. "Here."
The dark lenses hovering in front of his eyes hid his expression, but his voice had a strained sound Leliana didn't like. "Where does it lead?"
"To death. And… freedom."
"Whose death?" Gilkriz asked, striding forward. He peered at the wall, his face illuminated by the Faerzress glow.
Daffir shrugged.
"We certainly can't stay here," Tash'kla said. "We'll run out of air." She raised her sword in both hands in front of her; the blade hummed softly. "I'm ready to face death, if it means finding a way past those monsters."
"So am I," Brindell said. She fingered her holy symbol with a pudgy hand.
"Perhaps the divination wasn't a literal one," Eldrinn said. " 'Death' could mean the Crones, and the door may be another route to the Acropolis, hence 'freedom.'" He turned to the wizard beside him. "What do you think, Q'arlynd?"
"Why don't you try opening it, Daffir?" Q'arlynd suggested, moving closer to the other wizard. "Let's see what's behind the door, and decide."
Q'arlynd's eyes, Leliana noted, kept straying to the staff Daffir held.
"Just be ready," she told the others. "Anything could come through that door." She readied her sword. "Go ahead, Daffir."
Daffir balled his hand into a fist, raised it to his lips, and barked a word into it.
Nothing happened. The wall looked as solid as ever.
"I need assistance," he said. "Gilkriz, Q'arlynd, can you aid me?"
The conjurer nodded. So did Q'arlynd, but less eagerly.
"On the count of three, then," Daffir said. "One…"
Gilkriz raised his fist to his lips. Q'arlynd motioned for Eldrinn to step back, then did the same.
"Two…"
The priestesses also heeded the warning. All took a step back.
"Three!"
All three mages spat out a word in unison. As it left their lips, a black iron door became visible. It had no handle, but a knocker shaped like a goat's head hung dead-center on its pitted metal surface. The knocker reared up and thudded its horns against metal with a hollow boom. The door creaked open, away from them, releasing a puff of dust-scented air.
Leliana stepped forward. The top of the door was level with her chest, so she had to bend slightly to peer inside. Even without a prayer of divination, she could feel the tainted chill that spilled from the room. When her eye fell on the statue that stood against the far wall, between two arched exits,