"Gunderal seems pleased," said Ivy to Mumchance, watching the little wizard walking in front of them. Although she still cradled her injured arm, the wizard held her head straight, and her long black hair bounced on her shoulders, free at last from its confining top-knot.
"Yes," said Mumchance, but there was no elation in his voice.
"What is wrong?"
"Not all her spells worked," Mumchance replied with a frown. "She couldn't throw a decent frost, that wall of water nearly collapsed, and she should have been quicker with slapping that last spell on Sanval. That trick should have been easier for her. And, Ivy, we may need more from her before we are out of here. The river is going to worm its way into these tunnels. I just know it. And the only one of us that has any control over water is Gunderal. But if she has no control over her magic, then we are sunk-way down in the mud sunk."
"You worry too much," said Ivy. Gunderal had been slow in the fight-Ivy had never seen her more unsure when casting a spell-but she was not going to give the dwarf the satisfaction of agreeing with his gloomy prognostication. After all, she was the captain of this little company, and a captain should be optimistic even when she was stuck up to her hips in a mucky situation with only one shovel to dig herself out. She tried to cheer the dwarf up. "After we got away from the river bank, it's been bone dry, even in the ossuary!"
"Make jokes if you want. But it doesn't feel dry to me. Just you wait and see."
As they entered the baths, the smell of the dead phantom fungus assaulted their noses. Mumchance glanced down into the dry pool with the mosaic bottom, shifting his head so he was staring straight down with his good eye. He cursed-quiet little curses that made Wiggles whine-and waved his lantern over the edge of the pool. Dry dust had become slimy mud, and water clearly shone in the light of the torch.
"The river is rising," Mumchance said, "and the water is running through the old pipes that fed the bath."
"Well, that's something less than wonderful," observed Ivy before Mumchance could say anything more and upset everyone. Nobody needed to hear "I told you so" right now, most especially her.
But Ivy was more worried than she let her friends see. The water was rising, and they still had no idea how to get out of the ruins of Tsurlagol. Ivy feared they might have to swim to make it out.
CHAPTER NINE
When they passed out of the chamber still stinking of dead bugbear and fungus, the Siegebreakers entered into a network of much broader tunnels. Looking at the ledges running high above them, Mumchance suggested that they were traveling down an ancient and dried-out storm sewer.
"And," he pointed out glumly, "if it was a storm drain, it means that it had pipes feeding into it-the type of pipes that will carry the rising river water into it."
"We'll worry about that when our feet get wet," countered Ivy.
Kid picked up new sets of tracks in the tunnel. The four who had fled from the phantom fungus and a larger group following them. "Wide feet, short legs, iron nails striking sparks on the stone as they march along," said Kid, clicking beside the group, still watching for tracks in the dirt. "And that other thing behind, dragging over their footsteps and wiping some away." At one point, he stopped and stooped, tracing the peculiar track with one hand. "One very large snake moving very fast." Satisfied once the mysterious track was identified, Kid wandered out of the circle of lights cast by their torches and lantern, sniffing the air for more tunnel entrances.
"Fottergrim had hobgoblins and mountain orcs moving in and out of the city until we bottled up the western woods," observed Sanval. "We never could find their tunnel. Maybe this is it." He sounded excited and pleased by the prospect of running into an unknown number of adversaries.
"Maybe these are old tracks," said Ivy, with very little hope.
"New," said Kid, rejoining the group. "A day, not more, perhaps less, my dear."
Upon hearing that, Ivy shifted her position to the front, grabbing a torch from Zuzzara in passing. In her opinion, she was the best fighter among them, even if she did not have the shiniest armor.
"Who is playing hero now?" whispered Mumchance to her.
"Hey," said Ivy in sharp if not coherent rebuke.
The dwarf jerked his head back toward Sanval. "You are mad that he killed the fungus."
"Not at all," hissed Ivy. "Did you smell that thing?"
"And smashed that skull."
"He needed Gunderal's help to do that."
"And Zuzzara stopped the kobolds."
"Zuzzara is good with kobolds. I am more than happy to let her bat them around."
"So why are you shoving to the front?"
"Because I don't know if it is kobolds, fungus, or more talking skulls around the corner. And you know the rule. It's only a good day…"
"…When everybody gets to go home."
"So far, it has been a very bad day. I want it to be a good one," said Ivy. "Besides, right now, if we run into anything that is not an ally, I would prefer to hit it hard and keep hitting it until I feel better."
"Fair enough," agreed Mumchance. The dwarf put Wiggles down to run. She raced past Ivy, yip-yap-yip, except the last yap cut off abruptly.
"Wiggles!" yelled Mumchance. The dark way before them was filled with silence and shadows. "Wiggles!" The dwarf whistled and whistled again.
Kid's sharp ears caught the answering bark. "Ahead, dear sir, ahead," he said. "And down."
Around the next corner, the floor just disappeared. Ivy spotted the darkness half a step short of the edge, her foot raised. She stopped and leaned back, slapping her hand against the wall to balance herself. She raised the torch that she was carrying as high as possible to illuminate the hallway. The hole stretched halfway across the corridor. There was no sign of Wiggles.
"Stupid, stupid mutt," murmured Ivy as she hung over the edge and waved her torch in an attempt to see Wiggles. Ivy's torch barely lit the wall for several feet down, and then the hole went black. "Dumb, dumb dog." But she muttered softly, so Mumchance could not hear. He was too busy whistling and calling to the little dog to pay any attention.
"Stay, Wiggles, stay!" the dwarf yelled into the black hole.
"Truly, truly wonderful," said Ivy.
"I'll go, Ivy," said Mumchance. "I can grab her and get back here fast."
Ivy stared at the dwarf, who was at least three centuries older than her and never a good climber, and sighed. "No, I will go down. I will get Wiggles. I will bring her back. You will all stay here and do nothing foolish, like come after me."
She did not hear a chorus of agreement.
"That was an order," she said.
There was still silence.
"I am an officer of Procampur-" Sanval began.
Ivy interrupted him. "Which means that small white dogs are not your responsibility. Protecting my friends, however…"
"They will be safe. I will protect them," he stated in his quiet manner. Ivy believed him. It had to be, she decided later, the way that he just gleamed in the torchlight. Shiny armor. It just made a man look like a hero, Ivy thought. Something about the way that he stood too. Absolutely straight. Sword drawn and clasped in both hands, point down. She had tried that stance a couple of times when she was younger. It had never worked for her. But Sanval, he made it look natural-like one of those guardian statues in the better class of temple. Although most guardian statues did not have a huge scorch mark running across one shiny boot and a worried frown wrinkling a normally smooth forehead.
"It will be all right," she said, just to make that line disappear. It certainly did not suit Sanval's usual noble and serene demeanor. Ivy handed her torch to Kid, who just stood there looking at her with an eerily similar crease in the middle of his forehead that made the outer edges of his eyebrows tip up even more dramatically. "Don't worry. Whatever went down there is long gone. Just look after my friends."