Castle Perilous

Lower Levels

Linda hugged the floor until the tremors passed, then got up and started walking again. An enormous blue flying insect buzzed by. She ducked, and the thing went sailing over her head — then transformed itself into an umber bird and continued down the tunnel. Crawling things skittered across the floor. To her own surprise, Linda had ceased jumping at their every appearance. She hated bugs, but she was rapidly getting used to far worse.

There seemed no end to this maze, and she was near despair.

No, she told herself. You’re not giving up. You’ll find Gene and we’ll get out of this place. Believe it.

She believed it. For the first time in her life she actually believed she could do something, that she could be a cause and not just an effect.

A section of the right wall slid back, revealing the end of a large pipe. Her reflexes well-sharpened by now, Linda was quick to step back. As she did, there came the sound not unlike a commode flushing. Water spurted from the pipe, and then a man came sliding out and tumbled to the floor.

Linda held her nose.

Osmirik groaned and massaged the base of his spine.

“Mother Goddess!”

“Are you hurt?” Linda asked him.

He was startled at first, but when he saw Linda, he broke into a smile. “Greetings,” he said. “Be you human, or only a fair approximation?”

“All too human, I’m afraid,” Linda said. “Can I help you?”

“I am undamaged … methinks.” Osmirik struggled to his feet, wincing.

“Oh! Are you sure you’re all right?”

“You are too kind, fair lady. No, I am sound enough.”

“However did you get yourself into the plumbing?”

“It is a convoluted tale. I fell in, then was plucked out, but I had to throw myself back in, so to speak, in order to get out again.”

Linda nodded, shrugging, “Makes sense.”

“Very little, I’m afraid. I’m at my wit’s end. I seek a certain person who may be about this part of the castle.”

“Oh. Let me ask you a personal question. Are you out to help this person?”

Osmirik gave her an odd look. “In truth, no. Why do you ask?”

“This is just a wild guess, but is this person a tall, skinny redhead with well-developed magical powers and about half-a-dozen soldiers for bodyguards?”

Osmirik was taken aback. “You have seen her?”

“Oh, we’ve met.”

Osmirik grasped Linda’s arm. “Where?” Linda flinched away, and he let go. “Forgive me. I am not wont to manhandle a lady. I am sore distressed. I must find this woman. She is a danger to us all.”

“You’re telling me. She nearly killed me and my friends.”

“That is danger enough, but she threatens the existence of many more. Where did you see her?”

“That’s the problem. We escaped from the room where the Brain is, and then we —”

“The Brain? Of Ramthonodox?”

“Yes.” Linda explained.

After listening, Osmirik nodded. “So the Stone and the Brain are together, the one holding the other in suspension, the other feeding its power into the containing spell.”

“Huh? Well, they’re related, if that’s what you mean. Just what is Super-Bitch up to?”

“I beg your pardon?”

“The woman. Your friend.”

“She is hardly my friend. She is my liege lady and mistress.”

“Mistress? Oh, you mean you’re her servant.”

“That is so. You were saying that you escaped from the room wherein the Brain resides.”

“Yeah, but now we’re lost again.”

“ ‘We’?”

“Well, yeah, my friends, but as you can see, we got separated.”

“Hey, Linda!” came Snowclaw’s voice.

Linda whirled, searching. “Snowy! Where are you?”

“Hold on!”

A moment later Snowclaw materialized in the corridor. He flashed a toothy grin. “Hey, how about that? Neat trick, huh?”

“Fabulous! You got your talent!”

“Ain’t it something? By the way, I found Gene.”

Linda jumped up and hugged him. “You wonderful guy! Where is he?”

“Well, it’s kind of hard to explain, but I just left him to get to you. I can jump right back, but I don’t exactly know where he is in relation to here — if you know what I mean.” He put Linda down and sniffed, looking around. “Hey, who did doo-doo all over the floor?”

“Never mind. Let’s find Gene.”

“That’s gonna take some doing.”

“You say you don’t know where he is, but you can get there by doing your disappearing act?”

“Yeah.”

“Why don’t you jump back to Gene and tell him to start yelling. We’ll do it too.”

“Right.” Snowy poked a milky claw at Osmirik. “Who’s this dude?”

“This is — I’m sorry, I didn’t get your name.”

“Osmirik, scribe to the House of Gan.”

“He’s on our side, Snowy. Nice to meet you, Os …”

“Osmirik.”

“Sorry. I’m Linda Barclay, and this is Snowclaw. Very pleased to meet you, Osmirik.”

“The honor is mine, Mistress Linda Barclay, and … Snowclaw.” Osmirik bowed deeply.

“Okay,” Snowclaw said. “I’ll jump back.” He closed his eyes briefly, turned his body slightly to the right, took two steps and vanished.

“Wow,” Linda said admiringly. “Neat.”

“I believe I can find your friend,” Osmirik said.

“You can?”

“We all have our talents, do we not? I seem to have been endowed with certain olfactory gifts ordinarily reserved for dumb beasts.”

“Olfactory? You mean you can smell Gene from here?”

“No, but the creature who just left us has a most unusual odor. He is in that direction.” Osmirik pointed to his right.

“Speaking of unusual odors …”

After Osmirik had bathed in the travertine tub Linda had thoughtfully conjured, he rubbed himself down, put on the clean tunic and tights she had also conjured, then stepped out from the partition.

“I hope I do not catch my death of ague. I was taught that it is not advisable to immerse one’s body.”

“It’s not only advisable, it’s desirable. And fun.”

“Especially with another person,” Gene said.

Linda spun around. Gene had his arms wrapped around Snowclaw. “Hey, it worked, Snowy.”

“Whattaya know,” Snowclaw said. “I don’t know how, though.”

“Apparently you have a teleportation field around you,” Gene said. “On second thought, why wouldn’t a chunk of the floor go with you too?” He shook his head. “No, it’s magic. You just have the ability to teleport things, including your own body.” He looked toward Osmirik. “Hi, there.”

Osmirik bowed.