Just to be sure he motioned to Danny. The younger programmer swept his magic detector back and forth across their path and then shook his head. No magic before them.
Wiz took three steps before Malkin grabbed his arm.
“Freeze,” she commanded
“What’s wrong?”
“Your trusting nature, for a start,” the tall thief said.
“But there’s no magic here.”
Malkin looked amused. “Do you think that’s the only danger we face? Look at this place. Why do you think it’s built like this?”
To hold the roof up?”
“Perhaps. But why here and nowhere else we have seen? Give me more light, if you can.” With that she picked her way ahead, studying the floor before her intently and occasionally poking and prodding with her rapier.
She got perhaps a dozen steps beyond Wiz before she stopped dead and looked around. Finally she reached into her pack and pulled out a rock the size of her fist. She tossed it underhand at a perfectly unremarkable section of stone floor a couple of steps ahead of her.
As soon as the rock struck there was a creak and a section of the floor swung downward, leaving a gaping blackness beneath. Far below Wiz thought he heard the sound of rushing water, but he heard no splash from the stone. Then there was another creak and the stones swung back into place, leaving the floor looking as perfect as before. Malkin looked smug.
“How did you know that was there?”
The stonework was too regular,” she told him, leaving Wiz to try to determine why that section of the paving was any more regular than any other.
“Now listen,” she said. “I’m going to go ahead to find the traps. I’ll mark the safe path and then you come through one at a time. No more. We want as little weight on this floor as we can.”
As Wiz and the others watched, Malkin picked her way over the stone floor. Twice more she marked hidden traps with a bit of charcoal stuck on the point of her rapier, and once she skipped neatly out of the way as a blade swung down from the ceiling on a long rod.
“All right,” she called back as the blade slowed. “The place is so big we’ll have to do this in stages. The first one of you follow my path to here. The next one come to that white stone just in front of the second trap.” Wiz picked his way forward and Danny followed. By the time he had reached the now-still blade, Malkin was up ahead, dodging in and out of the forest of columns.
They watched intently as she spotted another trap, then she stepped behind a pillar and they couldn’t see her anymore.
“Hey!” they heard her yell. “What…”
With that Wiz and Danny were off and running. They stayed on the safe path Malkin had marked for them but they were almost side by side when they reached her.
They gasped when Malkin stepped out in the light. Her entire right side was splattered with blood. Gore was matted in her hair and dripped down one side of her face. But she strode toward them strongly, rapier in hand, apparently unaware of the extent of her injuries.
“We,” she announced, “have got to do something about that lobster.”
Shock, thought Wiz numbly. She’s in shock. He and Danny rushed to meet her and half-carried her back to the others. Malkin was apparently too dazed to appreciate their help. She struggled and protested all the way back.
“Will you to let go of me!” she demanded as they laid her down on a cloak. Danny managed to get her rapier and Wiz tried to hold her down so June could work on her. Malkin was having none of it. She pushed and shoved and tried to knee Wiz in the groin.
“Have you run mad?” she demanded.
“Take it easy, you’ve lost a lot of blood.”
“What blood? The thing never touched me. I’m fine I tell you.”
Wiz looked more closely. In spite of the amount of clotted red all up and down her side there was no sign of fresh blood. He dropped his arms to his sides and stood up.