Page 35 of Paladin's Hope

“Definitely not. I work underground in a stone box full of dead bodies. Claustrophobia would be very bad for my career.”

“I can see that.”

“It’s not the tight spaces I mind, it’s the giant killing blades making the spaces so tight.”

“That seems very logical.” Galen stroked his thumb over Piper’s knuckles. The kidskin was very fine and he could feel the bones of the other man’s hand.

The blades retracted and Galen released the doctor’s grip reluctantly. (Did he imagine it, or was Piper a little slow as well?) Gnole and paladin clustered around the headless body, while Piper inspected the head in the corner.

“Male. Twenties, I’d say. Good diet, probably from a reasonably well-off family.”

“How can you tell that?”

“He’s still got all his teeth,” said Piper. “None of the usual markers of malnutrition. He’d be on the tall side, too.”

“If a human’s head were still attached, anyway,” muttered Earstripe.

“I’ll put my professional reputation on the line and say that was a recent development.”

The gnole snorted. “Leather shoes, like the others,” said Galen, pointing. “And all he had in his pockets was a pencil.”

Earstripe held up one of the dead man’s hands. It moved stiffly, but even with the dark stain of settled blood, Galen could see the ink stains on the man’s fingers. “A gnole thinks a clerk, maybe.”

“Down here taking notes?” guessed Piper. “Thomas talked about hiring a clerk. Suppose he hired this one, then shut him in, just like us?” Earstripe nodded to him.

“Other humans might have been the same,” the gnole said. “Couldn’t tell about fingers, though.”

“No, the water damage was too much,” murmured Piper. “It would make sense. He lures people in using their intellectual curiosity.” His lips twisted self-deprecatingly.

“It wasn’t just you,” said Galen. “We’re both down here with you, remember?”

He could tell that he hadn’t convinced the doctor, but Piper nodded jerkily and went to the far door. All three of them stepped out into the hall, tensed for the rules of the place to change, but nothing happened except for the greenish lights flicking to life on the wall.

“Do we try the next door then?” asked Piper.

“No,” said Earstripe. “We rest.” He sat down, leaning against the wall. “A gnole and humans did much today, much running, much alarm. Need sleep, or start making mistakes, yeah?”

“Sleep?” said Piper, sounding astonished.

“He’s right,” said Galen.

“I’m sure he is, but it seems so strange to sleep after all of this.”

“You get used to it.” Galen sat down as well, stretching his legs out in front of him. “Sometimes we’d have hours before launching an attack, and the smartest thing to do was to take a catnap. It was hard to learn at first, though.”

“I can imagine.”

“I don’t think I could sleep just yet, though.”

“No, me neither.” Piper sat down next to him and sighed. “My brain will start hammering me with guilt or second-guessing all the ways I could have stopped this.”

“You couldn’t have known.”

“Bah.” Piper shrugged. “That wasn’t a call to try and convince me. It’s the usual foolishness, nothing more.”

“Why do you do that?” asked Galen.

“Do what?”

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