Chapter 28: Traps

My foot crunched down on the flagstone. With baited breath and my eyes glued to the murder holes riddling the ceiling, I waited for a reaction.

When, after long moments, nothing happened, I relaxed muscles rigid with tension. I glanced down at the flagstone beneath me. The sigil inscribed on it had been begun to pulse, waxing and waning through different shades of blue. Not wanting to wait and see if that boded ill, I stepped forward, onto the next blue flagstone.

Still, no trap activated.

Growing more confident, I stepped to my left, then forward, and left again, before taking the final two steps forward required to clear the flagstones.

I was through. I exhaled a relieved breath and resumed my way down the next tunnel.

My journey through the maze continued without incident for another two hours. During that time, I encountered four more traps—a stretch of passageway seeded with snares, a deadfall, a trapped room filled with whirling blades, and a collapsing tunnel. Each time, I saw some sign that someone else had been that way, and I grew increasingly convinced it had been the goblins. Which only made me wonder what lay beyond the maze.

Was it a tribe of goblins? I wondered. The chief, the two archers had spoken off? I wasn’t certain, but I knew whatever it was, I would find a way around the challenge.

As the hours passed, despite my determination to stay alert, the day’s excitement and exertions began to claim its toll, and I was lulled into a half-daze by the increasing familiarity and sameness of the maze’s surroundings.

Which was why I was caught off-guard when I exited the maze. One moment, I had been brushing the wall to my right with my fingertips, the next I felt nothing but air beneath my searching hands.

The sudden emptiness shocked me alert. Grounding to a halt, I took stock of my surroundings. I was standing on a high ledge. A few feet away, on all sides of me, the ground dropped away suddenly. I was no longer in a tunnel, I realized. I was in a cavernous natural-rock chamber.

My surroundings had brightened considerably too, I saw, and tinges of red-orange shot through the darkness. There was no light-source within my line of sight, and I deduced that whatever the source of light, it came from below.

Sinking into a crouch, I crept to the edge of the ledge and peered warily down. A hundred feet below, I spied a rickety wooden table with two oil-lamps resting in its center. The rest of the table was strewn with odd bits of junk and food.

Three goblins sat around the table, too, with their heads resting on its surface. From the loud snores emanating from the trio, I guessed they were asleep.

Directly behind the goblins was a grilled-metal gate and mounted on the wall next to it was a large bronze bell. The cavern below was being used as a guard station, I deduced, and the three goblins were guards, if poorly-trained ones.

I turned my attention to the ledge itself. A rope ladder leading to the room below had been conveniently fastened to its edge. My gaze flitted from the guards to the ladder. Assuming the goblins really were asleep, I could make the journey down unseen.

Moving slowly, I swung myself onto the rope ladder. On my shoulder, Gnat fluttered his wings once, but did not break the silence. I lowered myself down the rungs of the ladder and touched down onto the cavern’s floor without incident. I dropped into a crouch.

You and your familiar are hidden.

The rhythm of the goblins’ snores was still unchanged. Padding softly through the cavern in a wide arc to avoid the brightly-lit center, I repositioned myself behind the three goblins.

Unlike the two archers, the trio were armed with small axes and their hide armor appeared heavier. Close combatants then. I drew one of my blades and moved right up to the closest goblin. With his head resting on the table, the back of his neck was exposed. I licked suddenly dry lips, readying myself for what I knew I must do.

I had to kill the three guards, and I had to do it quietly.

The bell behind me was evidence enough that somewhere beyond the grilled-metal gate there were more goblins waiting to respond to whatever emergency arose. I couldn’t let that happen or I would be swamped.

Raising my sword, I positioned it a few inches from the back of the goblin’s neck and deliberately relaxed tense muscles. Do it, I thought. My blade flashed downwards, point first and pierced vulnerable flesh.

For a fraction of a second, my victim tensed. His snores cut-off abruptly, and I felt a shriek build within him. But before the goblin could give voice to his pain, his life fled away and with a gently sigh, his body sagged against the table.

You have killed a level 13 goblin warrior and have gained experience.

With my blade still buried in the goblin, I stood motionless poised to flee or fight. Killing someone without any betraying slip of noise was much harder than I expected, and I was on edge. For a drawn-out moment, I watched the other two goblins, waiting to see if they would react in any way to their companion’s demise.

They snored on, oblivious.

I sagged slightly in relief. Placing my left hand against the dead warrior’s head, I extracted my bloody blade from his neck. Then I crept behind my next target and repeated the deed.

You have killed a level 10 goblin warrior and have gained experience. You have reached level 9!

Once more, I pulled of my assassination without a hitch. One last time, I thought, and drove my blade through the last guard.

You have killed a level 11 goblin warrior and have gained experience. Your shortswords has increased to level 21. Your sneaking has increased to level 24.

I stumbled backwards from the three corpses and coming up against the cavern wall, slid downwards. The killings left a bad taste in my mouth, but I knew they had been necessary. If the three guards had been awake and alert, my chances of surviving the encounter would have been slim, at best.

A flicker of motion on the table caught my attention. A wooden chest had materialized there. I pushed myself to my feet again.

Upwards and onwards, Michael.