The Wyvern's Spur - Kate Novak [47]
"They won't hurt me with you to protect me," Cat insisted. When she looked down at Steele, she gasped softly. "This is your cousin?" she asked.
"Yes. Why?" Giogi asked.
"Nothing," Cat said, shaking her head.
"Well, now that you're here, I suppose you can help," Giogi said with a sigh. "Take these," he ordered, handing Cat his foil and the finder's stone so he could use both hands to lift the table off Steele. He strained under the weight, unable to shift the massive piece of furniture.
"How did they move this thing on top of him in the first place?" Giogi gasped, sweat beading on his forehead.
"Look up," Cat suggested, holding the finder's stone over her head so he could get a better look. A great length of rope ran from the table to a pulley mounted in the ceiling twenty feet above, to a second pulley at the edge of the room, and finally to a spool controlled by a winch.
"Keep an eye on them," he ordered Cat. He crossed the room to examine the winch. Whimpering kobolds backed away from him. It took him a minute to find and operate the toggle that engaged the spool's gears. He cranked the rope taut, then began lifting the great table off the floor. Even with the ingenious machine, it was hard work. Sweat trickled down the sides of Giogi's face by the time he'd raised the table a few inches.
"That should be enough," Cat said, peering under the table at Steele's body.
Giogi returned to her side and slid Steele clear of the crushing weight. "I wonder how these little monsters managed to get this table in here," Giogi said aloud. "I think it used to be in the anteroom beneath the crypt."
"No doubt they bribed something bigger to do it for them," Cat guessed. "So, unless you want to meet whatever that thing is, I suggest we leave now."
"Good idea," Giogi agreed. "Just as soon as Steele recovers. I need to fetch a healing potion from Birdie's pack."
Cat placed a slender hand on Giogi's sleeve. In a soft but urgent voice she said, "If you bring him around now, he'll see me down here. Didn't you say he'll think I'm the thief?"
Giogi nodded. "Yes. He'll make a tremendous fuss, too. Steele can be quite vicious when he has his heart set on something, as he does on the spur. I'll have to carry him."
"But that will slow us down awfully," Cat argued. "Why don't you load him on the burro and wait until we're back out in the graveyard before you use your potion?"
Oh, no, you don't, Olive thought from her hiding place in the shadows.
"Birdie's got a full load, and even if I unpacked her, Steele would weigh too much for her."
Cat gave an annoyed sniff. "I might be able to manage a spell to handle him," she offered.
Handing Giogi his weapon and the finder's stone, she drew a vial of silver liquid and unstoppered it. Murmuring a chant, she tilted the vial so a drop of the liquid fell from it. Just before it reached the ground, the droplet spread out into a shimmering disk, rose three feet, and hovered there. "We can lay him on that," Cat said.
"Are you sure it will hold him?" Giogi asked.
"Hurry," Cat whispered, putting away the vial, "before the kobolds begin to lose their fear of you."
Even before Giogi looked back at the little monsters cowering in the cavern, some of them had begun making muttering, discontented sounds. He lifted Steel up and laid him on the disk. It held the wounded man off the ground without sinking. Cat headed slowly for the doorway. The disk and its cargo followed her.
Giogi followed, too, walking backward, his weapon at the ready. If the kobolds attacked en masse, he was sure he would not be able to hold them off.
Suddenly, one of the grimy creatures stepped from around the table and began shouting angrily. Its weapon was sheathed, but its tone was hostile. Cat stopped by the entrance and turned around. The disk hovered beside her. She listened with some interest to what the creature had to say.
Giogi backed into the mage. "Do you know what he's gibbering?" he asked in a whisper.
"She says," Cat explained, "that it's not fair. Your cousin captured and tortured her, but