Page 22 of Paladin's Hope

“No more so than a cliff edge,” said Thomas. “I’ll go first. Just don’t dawdle, and stay out of the center of the room.” He set his hand on the block and pushed. It moved inward with a click and the door slid open. He stepped forward. The other three exchanged another set of helpless glances and followed.

The room inside was perhaps twice as wide as the corridor, leading to another open ivory door. The walls, floor and ceiling were made of the same familiar ivory material. Rather more worrisome, there was an enormous bloody splatter across the floor and a series of drag marks leading to the door they’d entered.

“…um,” said Piper. “Uh. Okay, this may sound rude, Thomas, but I can’t help but notice there’s a giant blood stain on your floor here.”

“Yes,” said Thomas absently. He was staring up at the ceiling. “Don’t worry, it’s from a pig.”

The door suddenly slid closed behind them. Earstripe leaped for it, but couldn’t get his claws around it. The door across the room also snapped shut. Earstripe turned toward it, but Thomas threw an arm out before him. “No, don’t go forward. Wait for six minutes.”

By the ceiling, the walls began to glow.

“The door will stay closed for twenty-eight minutes,” said Thomas. “I timed it.”

“And something happens in six minutes,” said Piper. “You timed that, too?”

“Oh yes. It’s really quite amazing. Better demonstrated than explained, though.”

“A gnole does not like this,” muttered Earstripe. Galen agreed heartily.

The walls, once Galen actually looked at them, were not quite smooth. Delicate lines, barely wider than a human hair, crossed and recrossed the bone-colored surface. Most were perfectly straight, running across the ceiling and the walls, but occasionally they would break off at right angles. Decoration? Seams? Marks from furniture or equipment that used to be there? His eyes followed one from the far door, cutting a neat square around the corner, and down to the floor where it got lost under bloodstains.

“You’re saying you butchered a pig down here,” said Galen, wondering if this sounded completely absurd to anyone else.

“Not butchered, no. Dragged it back upstairs and did that. Imagine butchering anything in this room!” Thomas tittered, which did nothing to soothe Galen’s nerves. He always hated tittering.

Is this man completely deranged? What is going on here? He took a step back and angled his body between Thomas and Piper, just in case something dangerous happened.

Perhaps the motion alerted Thomas to his fears, because the man smiled apologetically. “I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be mysterious. This is truly extraordinary and I want you to experience it the way I did. Then maybe you’ll understand what it’s like. Just another few minutes, I promise. But do not cross the room.”

Earstripe’s ears were laid flat against his skull now. Galen didn’t blame him in the slightest. What does he expect to happen?

“Any minute now…”

Click.

Whoosh.

A wall of ivory fell from the ceiling and slashed down to the floor, cutting the room in half. Piper cried out in surprise. Earstripe yipped. Galen stepped backward, blocking Piper into the corner, one hand going for his sword.

“There!” said Thomas, satisfied. “There, you see?”

“What the hell is that?” shouted Galen.

“I don’t know!” crowed Thomas. “Isn’t it amazing? The ancients made it. It’s thousands of years old, just like the lights, and it still works.”

“Works?” said Piper, from somewhere behind Galen’s left shoulder.

“The mechanism. The door still opens, the blade still falls. Oh, it’s quite safe now. It won’t reset until someone opens the entry door from the other side.” Proving that he believed what he said, Thomas strode forward into the room.

No one else moved. Galen watched the man walk up to the enormous wall and pat it almost affectionately. “Look at it!” he said. “It’ll retract back up in another few minutes, so look now.”

Piper stirred behind him. Galen was reluctant to let the doctor out of the relative safety of the corner, but…well… What are you really going to do against something like that falling from the ceiling? Do you think you’re going to block it with your sword? He stepped aside.

The doctor joined Thomas at the blade. Galen grimly followed, even though his nerves were screaming. Earstripe stayed by the doorway, his ears still flat.

The ivory wall had not quite touched the floor. The bottom tapered like a wedge, into an edge as sharp as an axe blade. That’s what it is, the world’s biggest axe blade. If you were standing under that when it fell… His eyes were drawn to the blood stain, which was neatly bisected by the wall. Ah. Yes.

“Fascinating,” said Piper. He touched the surface with his gloved fingertips. Galen’s nerves jangled, but nothing happened.

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