“Which way, gang?” Gene asked.
“I think we’ve been here before,” Snowclaw said. “I smell you guys.”
“You’re no rose petal yourself, kid,” Gene retorted.
“I didn’t say you stank,” Snowclaw said, sounding a little miffed, “now did I? It’s just that I’ve got a good nose, and you hairless types have a distinctive smell.”
“Just kidding, Snowclaw. I can’t say you have any sort of scent at all. Humans don’t have a well-developed olfactory sense.”
“Olwhatory?”
“Smell, smell. Anyway, I apologize. I didn’t know you were sensitive.”
“Oh, it’s all right. For some reason I’m edgy.” Snowclaw sniffed the air. “Don’t know what it is.”
Suddenly the floor began to vibrate and a low, growling rumble came from what seemed like the entire structure of the keep.
Linda clutched at Gene’s sleeve. Gene took her hand and pulled her back down the hall, ducking into a nearby alcove. “Come on, Snowclaw!”
Snowclaw crowded in with them.
About five seconds later the alcove began quickly to rise.
“Whoa!” Gene yelled, poking his head out the opening. “Hey, we’re —”
Snowclaw yanked him back just as the thick stone edge of the ceiling — and the floor above — swept past. “You’d look funny without a head.”
“Thanks. Sorry, that was stupid.”
Another floor went by, then another. Then the moving alcove slowed. A fourth cross-section of stone slid down across the opening, coming to a stop at a level smoothly flush with the floor of the alcove.
“Is this lingerie, do you think?” Gene asked.
The three jumped out.
Linda marveled, “A stone elevator.”
The vibrations grew stronger.
“Hey, look,” Snowclaw said, pointing down the hallway, which was identical to the one four stories below except that it ended in an archway leading to the outside, or so it looked. Bright sunlight poured through the opening.
“An aspect, I guess,” Gene said.
“Oh, look at the walls,” Linda said.
The stone around them glowed faintly, emitting an ethereal blue light. The rumbling sound grew, and the floor became uncomfortable to stand on, transmitting nauseating vibrations up through the body.
“Let’s get out of here,” Gene said.
They ran for the opening, dashed through, and came out into a jungle clearing.
The ground was motionless. Stopping, they looked around. Tall palms with scaly bark bordered the clearing, and dark green fronds grew within, a wide footpath cutting through them. A tropical sun warmed the heavy, moist air.
“Shashrackk vo hunnra nok,” Snowclaw said. “Ba nan irrikka vahnah damn unak valvalackk.”
Gene and Linda were staring at him.
“Huh?” Gene said. “Snowclaw, what did you say?”
“Bok?”
“What? Hey, wait a minute.” He beckoned for Snowclaw to follow, walked back to the portal and stepped across the boundary.
When the big white beast had stepped across, Gene said, “Now, what was that you were jabbering about?”
“I said, we ought to explore this place, I’m tired of that dreary old castle — that’s what I said. What was all that noise you were making?”
“You can understand me now, right?”
“Sure.”
Gene walked a few paces forward, crossing the boundary. He turned and said, “What about now, when I’m standing on the other side of the interface?”
“Oh, I get it. You’re outside the castle, so the spell is cancelled. Is that it?”
Gene walked back across the line.
“Huh?”
“Gonna be kinda hard to communicate.”
“You said it.”
“Yeah. What do you want to do?”
“I don’t know. But I still want to get out of this cave.”
“Maybe we can work out some sign language,” Linda suggested.
“Sure, I guess,” Gene said.
“Let’s go,” Snowclaw said. “I’ll just keep my mouth shut.”
They left the corridor and walked down the well-worn path. As they neared the middle of the clearing, they found an intersecting trail, this one narrower. Snowclaw, in the lead, stopped to sniff the air, looking about, his pointed ears cocked.
Gene was pensively regarding the portal. It stood unsupported on the ground like a frameless life-size photograph. A fresh thought occurring to him, he walked back to it and stood at the interface, peering into the dim interior. A draft of cool air flowed out from the opening, carrying with it the musty smell of the castle. Gene walked to the right, coming to the edge of the portal, went beyond it and stepped behind the plane of the opening.
“Oh, hell.”
“What, Gene?” Linda’s eyes searched around. “Gene! Where are you?”
“Behind the portal.”
Linda walked back to the opening, Snowclaw following.
“Where?”
“Behind. Go around and come back here.”
They did, walking around the portal as if it were a movie screen — one which, they found, had no thickness at all. Gene was standing a few feet from the juncture, peering into what looked like an identical aspect of the corridor they had just exited.
Gene left them, walking around to the front again, then returned shortly.
“I was expecting the damn thing to disappear when you went around it. But it doesn’t. And this corridor is a mirror image of the other one. See that alcove on the left? It’s on the right if you go around front.”
“Which means what?” Linda asked.
Gene stooped, searched the ground and found a pebble. Picking it up, he threw it through the portal. The stone ticked off the flagstone of the corridor floor, bounded a few times and skidded to a stop.
“It means Euclid’s mother wore combat boots, but that’s not news.”
“Huh?”
“Never mind. I don’t know what it means. Who comes out this way? And what happens if we go in? Or is this just another exit in another part of the castle?”
The three of them exchanged baffled looks, then walked back around the portal, going down the path a few feet.
“Where to?” Gene asked.
“Let’s stay on the main path,” Linda said. “I see footprints all over it, so somebody must come here regularly. I hope it means that this portal is one of the stable ones.”
“Probably does. Hey, maybe this is Earth.” Gene reached to touch a frond, which immediately recoiled, rolling itself up until it looked like a long green cigar. Gene sighed. “Then again, maybe not.”
They made their way along the path, moving through the clearing and into the trees. Here the undergrowth wasn’t shy, though it was lush, almost impenetrable.
They became aware of sounds. All around, insects clicked and chirped. Whooping cries came from a distance, echoing among the trees.
They walked through deep shade, the soil of the path soft and loamy. Smells were numerous, and Gene was reminded of a greenhouse. The odor of damp earth and rotting vegetation was heavy.
“Reminds me of Phipps Conservatory,” Gene said.
“Where’s that?”
“My hometown — botanical gardens. I remember going there on grade-school field trips. Thing is, the vegetation looks weird. Kinda reminds me of the Carboniferous.”
“The Carbon … oh, you mean millions of years ago.”
“Yeah. Actually, maybe early Jurassic.”
“Maybe we’ve gone back in time.”
“I doubt it. I don’t recognize anything, and I took a few courses in paleontology.”
“Do you think this is another planet out in space?”
“My guess is we’re on another planet for sure, but the location is, like,real moot.”
“You mean we might be in the fifth dimension or something?”