What? Kali thought. Was that meant to be some kind of joke? Sure, she'd come upon one or two 'protective measures' in her time but, for the most part, she'd had more problems with animals around the sites than anything inside them. Truth was, most contained nothing worth trapping at all.
"Why?" she asked, suspiciously. "Should I be?"
"We have encountered some such hazards recently. There is a possibility we may encounter some today."
Kali realised he was being serious, and couldn't help but be intrigued — where the hells had these people been? "Well, then," she said, "I'm your man."
Once again, the woman made a noise, but Munch silenced her with a slice of his hand. For the first time he looked Kali — openly and unashamedly — up and down. "Now," he said, "I know you are lying."
A lech as well as a psychopath, Kali concluded. But at least her gamble seemed to have paid off. For the moment, she would live — an extra member of Munch's team. The fact was, she resented that immensely — the Spiral should have been hers — but, on the other hand, she'd bought herself chance to examine it properly for the first time — and maybe when she knew more she could make it hers again. It had to be better than being sliced like a rack of shnarlmeat on the floor.
Munch, his people and Kali moved off across the vast chamber floor, their way lit by a fresh flare of light from the shadowmage. As her feet crunched on crystal shards, Kali looked up at the Spiral, noting the circular runics inscribed on massive plates that ran in a ring beneath the dome, wondering for what mysterious reason the builders had put them there. The sheer scale of what the Old Races had achieved never failed to leave her in awe, and now, with the advantage of this lower perspective, she found herself staring open-mouthed and more awed than ever before. Walking through the Spiral was like walking through a cathedral, a construction of staggering proportions, but however impressive it was, its actual purpose left her puzzled — and a little troubled. Her first thought — that it was some kind of museum — didn't really work, as what kind of museum contained only one exhibit? What, then? Some kind of memorial — but to a key? No, it had to be something else. A huge key perhaps suggested some accompanying huge vault, but then she had seen nothing here that a key such as the one atop the Spiral might open, and besides, what kind of vault, whatever its size, left the means to open it on public display?
Okay, so the place was hardly public. The point was, it didn't make sense.
The party reached the base of the Spiral and Munch and the others stared up the towering structure, assessing it. But left feeling uneasy by her inability to pin anything down, Kali's gaze was drawn instead to the grey remains of the plantlife that wrapped it, the nagging doubt about what she thought she'd seen earlier returning. As she watched, a tiny triangle of light — natural light — lit a patch of the lifeless tendrils and pods.
Kali looked up, blinked. The still-mottled but otherwise soil-free dome had begun to glow, the planet's distant sun rising and shining into that one patch of the Sardenne not obscured by its dark canopy — the clearing above.
Daylight was coming to Twilight.
And with it — in tenuous shafts that must have been intruding here for the first time in long and unknown ages — to the Spiral.
Kali looked down. She couldn't be absolutely sure but it seemed to her that the plants had stirred, as she thought they had earlier.
"Uurrmm…?" she said to the others.
Munch had apparently noticed something, too, as he had stepped back. He addressed her directly. "Did you see that, Miss Dawn?"
"I'm not sure," Kali responded. To her eyes, the plants seemed more… fleshy, too. "It could be — "
"It's nothing," the woman who'd protested earlier interrupted. "A trick of the light, that's all."
Munch looked again, but the plants — if they had moved — were now still once more.
"You are certain?"
"Of course I'm certain," the woman said, stripping off her hood and cloak, "or my name's not Orlana Dawn."
What? Kali thought. What? The woman had announced herself so casually that for a moment the name hadn't really registered. But nonetheless Orlana Dawn stood before her now, arms folded and smiling daggers, a buxom blonde putting all the right curves into a dark silk bodysuit. It was of a kind favoured by certain members of Vos and Pontaine's thieves guilds, which she had clearly adopted as her working gear. Kind of appropriate, really.
Still, it had a certain something. What Kali thought was: I have to get me one of those. What she said was: "Okay outfit, shame about the ass."
She looked at Munch. He had clearly been playing games from the start, probably even knew fully what the Spiral and the key were.
"If you knew — ?"
"Why didn't I kill you?" Munch answered. He inclined his head to the Spiral. "Frankly, because I do not know what hazards I face here, and I have lost too many people in recent months to waste an extra resource." He sighed lengthily. "The question, therefore, is which one of you goes first?"
"Konstantin!" Orlana Dawn objected.
Another sigh. "It's simple, Orlana. The two of you obviously share a passion for this kind of thing, but I have no idea which of you is the most competent at handling it. If I send you first, and you die, I send her in with the knowledge gained of what killed you. Or, I send her first and — "
"I get the picture," Orlana said. She looked suspicious of him, suddenly. "If she goes first — and succeeds — do I still get paid?"
Munch shrugged. "Sadly, the funds allocated to me are limited."
"Farking poxes from the pits! You're a bastard, Munch, you know that?"
"This I have been told before," Munch rumbled, unconcerned.
Their exchange faded in Kali's ears as her gaze flicked from the tower to the dome, the dome to the tower and back again, already ahead of them and working out what she needed to know. Then it struck her. The Spiral of Kos was no museum, no memorial and no vault, it was a greenhouse — a greenhouse specifically designed around its centrepiece, not the tower but the plants. In reaching that conclusion, however, she was still left puzzled. Because in the middle of the Sardenne Forest, what possible need could there be for more plants?
Unless…
"I'll go first," she said, suddenly, and what she hoped was decisively. She had no interest in the money but, as much as she disapproved of Orlana Dawn's motives for doing what she did, if her theory was right, she couldn't let her take the risk.
"Go to hells!" Orlana Dawn hissed at her. "She's a greenhorn, Munch."
"Hey, who are you calling a greenhorn?" Kali objected, despite herself. "The Maze of Moans," she cited, pointing proudly at her chest. "Me."
Orlana Dawn stared at her, momentarily nonplussed.
"Oh, really. How about the Lost Plateau of Thurst?" she retorted, with a snort.
Kali piffed. "Couldn't have been that lost. The Booming Room. The Booming Room, eh?"
"Quinking's Depths."
"Quinking's Depths."
"I already said that."
"Third level."
"Impossible. Look, this is my job, you interfering bitch. Konstantin, this is nothing I can't handle — "
"Miss Dawn goes first," Munch declared, putting an end to it. "The real one, that is." He gestured two of his people towards Kali. "In case she is tempted to help, hold the other one."
Kali was grabbed by both arms and struggled as Orlana Dawn sighed with satisfaction. "Munch, this is a mistake," she protested. "Orlana, don't — "
Munch hushed her. "Bring me that key, Miss Dawn," he ordered.
Orlana nodded, and Kali watched helplessly as her rival took one, two, then three tentative steps up the first turn of the Spiral. Even Dawn couldn't fail to notice that the plants had filled out somewhat now beneath the strengthening rays of the sun, but other than giving them a cautionary frown she continued slowly upwards, too inexperienced, too stubborn or simply too greedy to back down. As she did, one or two of the pods that Kali could now see formed the hearts of the various sets of tendrils belched something foul-smelling into the air, and Dawn stared down at them, curling her mouth in distaste. She was now past the fifth turn of the Spiral, and halfway round the sixth, and as she concentrated on putting her foot on the next step she failed to notice that some of the tendrils were, with a sound of sucking mud, slithering slowly onto those beneath her.