Riddle looked through the gaps of the portcullis gate into a room he recognized very well. He looked at the steps where he'd died just a half a day ago, and felt strange. There was much time to reflect on his own death and he realized that he wasn't really prepared to do so. Looking at the place where it happened and then naturally letting his gaze drift to the obscured hollow under the wooden deck and assumed his killer still waited there. He didn't know if he was strong enough to kill the lizardman, but he was certain that the whole group could. Unfortunately a gear was missing from the mechanism that would allow them to open the gate. He was only slightly annoyed to learn this. Thinking that maybe he needed more time to prepare himself for that reunion. Riddle stared for a while longer, until Xandal grabbed him and drew him back into the present.

  "There are chambers to search. We may find the gear and return this gate to working order. Then you can seek out whatever it is that has captivated you, greenling"

  "I can smell something foul. Something with scales and teeth" The lie came easily to him. Xandal stiffened somewhat.

  "You can smell that? I certainly cannot"

  "It's just something I've encountered before. Adventuring on the surface" It happened again. He hoped it wasn't obvious.

  'Hrm'

  "Same as before then. We find the gear or we discover treasure elsewhere. Makes little difference"

  Riddled nodded and followed behind him.

  "What then, halflings?" Lloyd and his brother waited, stone-faced.

  "The door to the southern chamber is closed. The passage north is wide and open. The west looks safe enough, but probably leads back the way we came. The gate is inoperable. We passed a few other rooms but I'm certain you'd all like to avoid backtracking. So, Enfrida, which course seems wisest?"

  She walked about again in a little circle while rubbing her thumb over her holy symbol.

  "I suppose the northern hall is best" The others nodded and grumbled to themselves and assumed their marching order. Once through the mouth of the hall they discovered a large alcove to their right with a fire pit and benches. All old and worn, but still usable. Riddle prodded with his sword under the benches and among the cold damp ashes but found nothing of value. They called him back over after a minute or so of waiting and then continued north until they reached a large westward hall. The northern wall was a great mural and relief. Showing stone animals and structures and arranged above them were crystal-like many faceted stones. There were splotches of pigment where paint had once been but what little remained was pale and chalky.

  "One of the histories. From what I understand each of them are different. And all regarded as false" The Priestess said with a narrowed gaze. Looking suspiciously at the carved diorama set into the wall. The opposite wall was hung with faded tapestries that were many colored and full of repeating patterns.

  "Forward" The voice of the hunter was cold and distant.

  They broached a large octagonal room with several wide ropey bushes planted in a raised garden that set out around the wall on all sides.

  "Beware. They might be poisonous or whip at you" Lloyd went slowly towards them with his sword and shield held ready. Claude trailed behind them and glanced back to make sure the others would be close. When he was satisfied he used the spear to rifle the bushes and vines. They were quiet and listened intently. Claude thrashed at them for a while and when he was satisfied he retracted the spear tip.

  "I think we're fine' The spearman turned to regard the group and earthy shapes moved among the greenery.

  "Danger" Xandal said and fired in fraction of a second. The arrow whizzed by and landed out of site in the bushes. More shapes stirred and leapt from the leafy barrier. Large bumpy looking serpents with broad flat heads led with their fangs. The first to land bit harmlessly on Lloyd's shield and glittering venom poured down it's interior. He stabbed it through the head without hesitation. Claude yelped as one clasped it's jaw around his elbow. He thrashed his arm and side into the raised stone and wood of the garden wall until the serpent relented and fell. He stomped it with his bootheel the instant it was on the floor. The whistle of another arrow and the hiss of a direct hit brought Riddle into action. He advanced and swung low through a growl. The sword licked the neck and jaw of a snake vertically. It recoiled from the strike and raveled into itself in the bushes. The priestess ran to Claude's side and grabbed at his wounded arm. Claude's fingers had begun to take on a claw like shape and his arm stuck hard to his side as if bound. She began a loud series of litanies. She held the symbol against his arm and struggled to hold him upright. He started to kneel, pushing himself against the lower wall. He was gritting his teeth fiercely and the rest of his face was shut so tight it was going red. Another arrow went by them and pinned back a snake. She choked on some of the words but persisted. The last word echoed as if through a loudspeaker and the symbol glowed with scintillating light. The rest shielded their eyes for the few seconds it lasted. Afterwards Enfrida Beckoned him to rise. Claude did, but his hand and arm were still restricted to some degree.

  "The venom is neutralized, but the damage is done. You will have to soldier on without the full use of your arm" He nodded and shuffled backwards, clutching the spear and heaving it awkwardly into another serpent that was in striking distance. The remaining snakes scattered into hollows in the wall itself.

  "Will he survive?"

  "He will, but he will not be himself in battle. Not until a greater form of healing is cast upon the arm"

  "Maybe we can find a scroll. Or an elixir" His brother spoke with steely resolve.

  "If we're very fortunate. In the meantime I expect you to safeguard your brother"

  "Yes, Priestess. I will" Lloyd said with absolute seriousness.

  "Are you certain he'll manage? He's in pain" Riddle asked, observing the deep lines on Claude's face, that was held in a furrow browed wince. His teeth clutching at the flesh of his lips like hooks.

  "Less so... Than Before. It should... Pass" He labored to get the words out comfortably, to keep his voice from cracking or to let something like a cry escape.

  "Then take a minute to rest, Claude. We have time while they search" She rested a hand on his neck.

  "Perhaps longer" Xandal said, reentering the room from the hallway they came from. A lit torch in his hand. He motioned with it to the unlit torch at Riddle's belt and he took the meaning. He touched the tip of his own torch to the lit one and watched how quickly the flame spread.

  "We will hold these into the holes in the wall. Make certain none of those rock snakes may strike at us while we're busy searching for treasure" Riddle took it and drove it in the first hole, hearing and feeling nothing other than the haft of the torch dragging over and against the wall of the hollow. He retracted it and tried another. A third was slightly smaller and he could not get the fire in deep enough to be satisfied.

  A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

  "I got one" Xandal said matter-of-factly. Nothing like pleasure or satisfaction in his voice or his body language. Riddle kept working on his own holes. They were irregularly placed channels in the stone wall. Smooth and uneven as if they emerged in a wall natural stone organically. But he knew that couldn't be. Nothing about this place was natural. He tried another and for the first foot or so of the thrust he felt nothing that he hadn't in the previous holes. Then as about two thirds of the torch was in the wall and the hole narrowed there was a sudden shudder of feedback traveling to his hand through the torch itself. He was startled and let go, the torch was placed deeply enough that it did not fall out into the garden bed with him. He caught himself and clasped the handle with both hands. Pushing slightly further until it was scraping and then retracted the torch. It had left soot and small embers inside, but he believed he had burned one of the rock vipers.

  "Got one" He said with a fraction of Xandal's certainty. The hunter was watching him disapprovingly since he lost his grip on the torch. But only refocused on checking more of the holes in his reach. Riddle did the same and in another few minutes only encountered one more occupied hole. By the time he was certain the viper was dealt with he glanced over to see Xandal was shoulder deep in of the holes himself.

  "Some of them are small, but they dogleg left or right. I'll bet at least one holds something of value" Riddle understood and hesitantly checked one of the smaller holes highest above the garden with his fingers feeling as gently as he could with a shaking hand. He felt something metallic and cool to the touch. He retrieved a bracelet of intertwined silver and gold with small white opals set into it. It wa very large in his hands and clearly sized for a much larger person than himself. He rubbed it over his breeches to clear the dust and felt satisfaction at seeing his own warped reflection on the surface of the bracelet.

  "That looks quite valuable" The hunter said and was inching closer, checking holes as he went.

  "It does at that" He said with a kind of awe. Running his thumb over it before drawing it nearer to himself to appraise. The ghostly sheet appeared. 'Clasp of friendship +1 fate +1 presence'

  "It is. It's useful too" He murmured under his breath "Could Enfrida benefit from such a trinket?" His cursory knowledge of the mechanics of this world mapped onto to his understanding of many other game systems. Presence had to be like personality or Charisma. It implied both a social and spiritual component and both were clearly within her domain.

  "Far taller men than you have offered her jewelry, lad" Claude said as jovially as he could. But there was still pain and exhaustion in each word. His brother chuckled briefly.

  "What makes you think it's for her and not just a source of Groats?" Xandal said, only an arms length from Riddle now.

  "I. I suppose the colors. Silver and gold and a white stone. Seems sort of pious to me" The hunter's gray eyes bored into his for a moment and then shifted down to the bracelet looped over his knuckles.

  "Perhaps. We would need to elicit the services of a sage to be certain. That could be expensive, maybe even more then it's worth" Riddle handed it off to Xandal who clenched it in a hand with a small bag.

  "You've had good fortune as well"

  "We'll let the lady decide" Riddle watched him as he hopped down and moved to join the other three before returning his attention to the holes. The next four were empty, and all he felt were loose pebbles and the occasional greasy sheen of dirt. The next time he reached in to a hole the tip of his middle finger ran over what was clearly a coin. An inch further and his little finger also drifter over a coin. He began to drag with each finger. Piling coins near the mouth of the recess before prodding again. His fore arm and the meat of his hand beneath the thumb made intermittent contact with small metal discs until he felt something slightly different. It was a ring, and not of the same composition as the coins. It was rougher to the touch and not so cool. He piled more coins and hooked the ring with his middle finger. Dragging it back to the opening and studying it. 'Pauper Prince's ring. +1 vitality +1 fate. It looked to him to be a companion piece to the crown. Stained the same deep chocolate brown. It was a bit large on his finger, but he popped it over the thumb and found it would hold.

  "More coins" He raised his voice while he shoveled the coins into his palm.

  "Good. Bring them here" He acquiesced. Hopping down and kneeling to Enfrida's side. The small bag on the ground in front of her was opened to reveal a palm full of pearls of varying shades. He dropped the coins near them. She picked at them and piled them immediately.

  'Thirty-Two groats. The pearls are quite common, but the lot may be worth another fifty. If we split them and adjust the totals we should be at (Number will be revised)

  "At this rate we'll be begging in the market square a day from now. We are in need of a legitimate horde" Lloyd snapped at Enfrida. Thumping the flat bottom of his shield against the floor for emphasis.

  "We still have the strength enough to fight on" Enfrida spoke with an uncharacteristic sharpness that made Riddle shiver slightly.

  "We do" Riddle said. Drawing severe glances from the other men standing tensely around the priestess.

  "We continue then, but we can afford no further injuries. Should a patrol ambush us, or someone trigger a trap..."

  "Everyone understands the law of the Labyrinth" Claude spoke a little more easily than before. Riddle could see less tension in his arm but the fingers still seemed caught on one another.

  "Indeed. Grab fruit from the bushes and we go on. Mind your torch, Riddle" One halfling nodded to the other and the party as a whole picked among the shrubbery until they each had one or two fist sized stone melons. Lloyd cracked the gray melon on the lip of shield like an egg and tore into the flesh. Riddle followed suit and opened the hard shell of the fruit on the wall of the garden. It tasted like a sour pear, which he discovered was a flavor he quite liked. He crossed his legs up on the garden bed itself. He ate quietly and absently watched the others do the same. Xandal was the first to finish. He watched him put several more into his waistbag and knew where his owns groats would be going soon. With only his hands and a belt, there was little room for loot. He cracked another one and ate it more quickly.

  "Ready to move?" The hunter asked him directly. He nodded and took up the still-burning torch that was resting on the dark soil next to him.

  "hrm' The hunter took off, and the rest of them followed. Riddle last of all.