required increases according to the square of the distance.’
Masha didn’t ask him what he meant by ‘square’.
‘Stick close to me. Not just for your sake. For mine also. As I said, the mage
will not have considered women trying to get into his place, so his powers are
directed against men only. At least, I hope they are. That way he doesn’t have
to use as much energy on his magic.’
‘Do you want me to lead?’ she said, hoping he wouldn’t say yes.
‘If you had as much experience as I, I wouldn’t hesitate a moment. But you’re
still an apprentice. V we get out of here alive, you will be on your way to
being a master.’
They went up the steps cut out of the stone. At the top was another archway.
Smhee stopped before it and held his torch high to look within it. But he kept
his head outside it.
‘Ha!’
11
He motioned her to come to his side. She saw that the interior of the deep
doorway was grooved. Above the grooves was the bottom of a slab of stone.
‘If the mechanism is triggered, that slab will crash down and block off anyone
chasing the mage,’ he said. ‘And it’d crush anyone in the portal. Maybe …’
He looked at the wall surrounding the archway but could find nothing.
‘The release mechanism must be in the other room. A time-delay device.’
He got as near to the entrance as he could without going into it, and he stuck
his torch through the opening.
‘I can’t see it. It must be just around the corner. But I do see what looks like
webs.’
Masha breathed deeply.
‘If they’re real spiders, they’ll be intimidated by the torches,’ he said.