Wiz moved over to the stretch of reflecting wall Danny had indicated. Staring back at him was a Thing. It was big and amorphous and tentacled, and clawed and fanged and looking at him with hundreds of beady red eyes. It had pincers, and stingers and hair and scales and fins and teeth. Lots and lots of teeth. After several years in this World, Wiz knew Things. This was an E-flat, full-bore, world-class Thing.
“Holy…” Wiz jumped back.
“That’s what they thought,” Danny said smugly. “Oh relax, it’s just a seeming, a minimum-magic disguise you might say.”
“A nightmare you might say,” his friend corrected shakily. “Where did you come up with that thing?”
Danny smirked. “My imagination.”
Wiz looked at the younger programmer and frowned “You know, there are times I really wonder about you. Now let’s find the exit and get back to the others before something wanders by that doesn’t frighten so easily.”
NINE – KILLER VEES
It took another hour to get through the magma maze. Beyond were more tunnels, and beyond them a series of natural caves variously modified. They made their way without incident until they came to a crudely hacked-out tunnel connecting the second and third caves.
“Wait a minute guys,” Danny whispered, “I think I’ve got something—or nothing.”
The party clustered around as Danny checked his magic detector.
“Well, which is it?” Malkin asked.
Danny looked up. “Both. The whole area up ahead is magically dead,” Danny reported. “I mean not a spark anywhere that I can see.”
“Not even the normal background magic?” Wiz asked.
The young programmer shook his head. “Not a sign.”
Wiz noticed Malkin make sure her rapier was loose in its sheath.
“Okay then. Let’s take the hint and move slow and careful.”
Again the tunnel widened out into a cavern and again the party moved ahead by the light of a single magical globe. Strain as they might they could hear nothing but their own footfalls and what sounded like rushing water faint and far ahead of them.
Halfway across the room they found the source of the sauna. A chasm divided the cavern and from the bottom, faint and far away, came the sound of the water.
“How deep do you think that is?” Danny asked as he squinted down into the blackness.
Too deep,” Wiz said.
Too wide besides,” Malkin added as she looked across the gap. “I don’t think our ropes will reach, even if we could find something on the other side to secure them to.”
Wiz thought of crossing the dizzying blackness on a rope and got a distinctly queasy feeling in the pit of his stomach.
“Let’s assume ropes are a non-option,” he said.
“Well, I’ve got something for this,” Danny said. “Watch.” He lifted his staff and pointed.
The hair on Wiz’s neck stood up and he started to protest, but he was too late.
Rocks and boulders on both sides of the gap glowed blue, then rocked in their places and rose gently into the air. Danny waved his staff like a conductor’s baton. Waves of magic twisted and congealed into invisible forms as the rocks floated out into empty space and settled in place according to some unseen plan. More waves of magic as the rocks locked together and a great arched bridge began to take shape. More magic and smaller stones rushed to fill in the gaps. A final burst of magic and a bridge sat in place, glowing from the unnatural forces that held it together.
There!” Danny said proudly.
“Come on then,” Wiz said unhappily. “Let’s get over this as fast as we can.”
The bridge was solid enough beneath their feet as the party started over.
“Beats a rope, doesn’t it?” Danny said gaily. “It’s a variation of a spell I worked out for Ian’s toy blocks. Just scale it up, and hey…”
Takes a lot of magic,” Wiz said.
“So? We’ve got power to spare here.”
The magic globe lighting their passage flickered, then flickered again. Wiz saw something like a moth flit around it. Then another and another and another.
Something stung Wiz on the back of his neck. He slapped at the spot and felt something small and furry under his fingers. He jerked his hand away and shook his fingers and a scrap of black fluttered out of them.