No Place For Magic Book 4 (Completed)

Chapter 12

 I held my breath as Eadric put the key in the lock and didn't exhale until he'd pushed the door open. Li'l fluttered beside me, too nervous to hold still. We were both disappointed when the passage beyond didn't look like anything special. Then Garrid stepped over the threshold and raised the torch high. "Oh," we breathed, for the stone walls were studded with gems of every color. Although the light from the torch wasn't very bright, it reflected off the gems, making them sparkle and wink until our eyes ached and we had to look away.

"This is the passage I saw in my farseeing ball," I said. "They took Bradston this way."

"No wonder they keep that door locked," said Shelton. "I wonder how hard it would be to pry off those stones. I bet Coral would like one!"

"We're not thieves," said Eadric. "We'

re here to get my brother back and nothing more."

"Spoilsport," grumbled Shelton. Before I could stop him, he'd scrambled from my shoulder to the ground and was poking at one of the gems. I was surprised when he snapped it off with his claw. "Did you see that?" asked Shelton. "They were stuck on. Someone put them there to make the walls look pretty."

"And it worked, too," said Li'l. "This is beautiful." I saw the way Garrid was watching her when she said that and wondered how long it would be before he gave her a gem of some kind.

We knew we were getting close to the queen's chamber when we came to the next door. It was more ornate than the first, with crudely printed letters that Garrid told us meant, "Keep out! This means you, Dunderhead!" It was obvious that the sentry had left in a hurry. Not only had he forgotten his club, but he had shut the door without making sure that it had actually closed. When Eadric set his hand on it, the door creaked open.

The room beyond was as unexpected as the gem-decorated passage had been. It was draped in fabrics of garishly bright oranges, pinks, purples, and reds that covered the stone walls so that it seemed more like a tent than a cave. Equally bright carpets had been scattered across the uneven floor, hiding holes and bumps and making walking difficult. Here and there matching pillows were mounded in piles like the leavings of some outrageously colored beast. Even with all the fabric, the room was chilly and damp and smelled strongly of mildew as well as rotten eggs.

I saw cracked urns overflowing with the feathers of exotic birds, and benches made of bone and antlers with the skulls still attached. A dainty table of tarnished silver held drinking vessels of all sorts, from rude clay mugs to finely wrought chalices made of gold. Whereas some held the dregs of a dark liquid, others held only dust.

I was walking toward the table when I nearly kicked over a basket of fruit that had been left on the floor beside one of the mounds of pillows. The grapes were withered, the apples brown and mushy, the rest so rotted that I couldn't tell what they were. When I tried to go around the basket, my foot slipped into a hole under the carpet and I stumbled, landing on my knees. I started to push myself up and found that I was looking into the glazed-over eyes of a troll. I recognized her at once. It was the troll queen, and she didn't look at all well.

I stood up and retreated a pace. The troll queen lay sprawled on her back behind the pile of pillows. All four of her heads were soaked with sweat and had tangled hair and cracked lips. Dark purple spots made random patterns on her faces. Although the head with the long brunette hair appeared to be asleep, the head next to it was delirious, turning from side to side and mumbling, "Too many birds in pie," and "Rampaging better in winter." Even though misery had distorted her face, I recognized her as the red-haired head who had threatened me over my farseeing ball.

I was startled when the head with reddish, light brown hair blinked and stared at me with wary eyes. "You here," she said, her hoarse voice almost too faint to hear. "Army searching river. Move on, we say. She not there anymore. We knew you come. He said so."