Yes, bones, Sorin said. If they are to use us for fertilizer, why not kill us here in this cell with poison?
Nissa looked down at the empty bowl of gruel her jailer had shoved at her. She d eaten it all without a word, gagging slightly at the grubs which she had seen the elves picking off the kolya leaves earlier that day. But at least she had known they were fresh.
Then we need to free ourselves quickly and rescue Anowon, she said.
Are we not back to the discussion we were having before? Sorin said.
From far away Nissa heard the low drone of a horn. It was a tremendous dusty sound, the loudness of which increased then dropped off then built again to a crescendo. She heard the sound of thick-soled sandals shuffling in the hallway.
What was that? Sorin said.
Death, Smara said, suddenly. Death, death, death, death.
Hush, Nissa said. She listened to the horn for a while longer. A signal horn. They use a similar code to the Tajuru a force approaching.
Well, we must get out now, Sorin said. He cast his eyes around the cell. They had been over the cell in the daylight and found nothing. The simple bench was carved out of the wall, and there was no window. The solid door was the very piece the builders had cut to make the doorway, presumably. It fit into the doorway so snugly that Nissa could not see light at the seams.
Sorin got to his knees before the door to look at the lock. After a moment of inspection he inserted his long first finger into the keyhole and drew it out again.
If the door were wood, he said, if it had ever been alive, I might have had some enchantments that could putrefy it or make it an entity for us to command. Sorin pushed on the door, and when it did not move he strode over to the bench and sat down.
Nissa bent down for a look in the keyhole. She d heard the elf unlock and lock the door three times when he and the others put them in the cell at Ser Amaran s order, and the two times they had been brought food. She had never heard the jingle of keys, or the scrape of metal on metal, or metal on rock. They were elves after all. If she were to design a lock, it would not feature metal a useful but untrustworthy creation. She would use something natural. Nissa looked into the lock hole again.
The hole was dark, or course. But Nissa could see clearly enough the hallway on the other side of the door. There was no keyhole shape to the hole, just a circle. What kind of key would fit a circle? she wondered.
One thing was certain: the cell had not been built to hold elves. Either the occupants of the Impossible Garden never thought they would imprison an elf, or there were other cells for elves elsewhere in the tower. The door was very small, and Nissa concluded that the cell had been built in all likelihood for goblins. Even the cruellest elf would leave a window if he knew elves were being held. Not being able to see and smell the outside world was paramount to the most inhumane torture for an elf. No, their cell had not been built for elves.
Nissa looked into the hole again. Silent figures passed in the hallway. Inside the lock s hole the opening from keyhole to keyhole was absolutely smooth. She pushed her finger into the hold and felt a sensation. The feeling was neither hot nor cold, but buzzed slightly.
There is a field of power here, Nissa said.
Sorin rolled his eyes. You are coming to that realization only now? he said.
Nissa ignored him. Goblin, she said. Have you looked? You are of the Lava Steppe Tribe, are you not?
The lead goblin stood and walked to the lock. He did not glance at Nissa. With a grunt he bent and peered in the rock. He looked up at Nissa, then back at the lock, and then back at Nissa, before shrugging.
They heard footsteps approaching in the hall. Soon something was inserted into the keyhole from the other side, and the door swung out into the hallway. A force of six armed elves strode in. They had bright bladed scimitars and armor composed of pieces of chipped slate wired together.
Nissa could smell the fear on them, and it smelled like warm copper coins. She peered closely at them. They are not afraid of us, she realized as their eyes jumped toward the hallway. The lead elf tucked something into a pocket in his robe. A key, Nissa supposed. He closed the door and frowned at Nissa.
Sorin took a deep breath. Nissa saw what was to happen, and she just had time to clap her hands over her ears. A moment later a string of rasping, somehow vile sounding words emanated from Sorin s open mouth. Many of the words came with a guttural boom from the back of his throat. Sorin snapped them off in such a way that his tongue clicked wetly in his mouth.
The effect was instantaneous. The elves fell dead and rotting a moment later. Nissa found herself on the basalt floor as well. The very room vibrated when she stood, as did the contents of her skull.
Sorin stood in the middle of the floor, cleaning his fingernails with his small eating knife, which he pointed at the mess on the floor. Now, Sorin said. Who will find the key in all that muck?
The smell in the small cell was overwhelming. The sloughed bodies of the elves were already in an advanced state of decay, and just looking at them caused Nissa a bit of unease.
I thought it was to risky too use your rot talk among the crystals? Nissa asked.
I decided it was a risk worth taking. Now, goblin
Fetch. Sorin pointed at where the head elf s slate-plate armor lay crumpled and wet.
The goblin looked at Sorin for a long moment as though he had not fully understood the language he was speaking. For a moment Nissa thought he would say something, but instead he blinked once and then stood and proceeded to the bodies.
It took some mucking about in the bodies, but finally the goblin produced the key and held it out to Sorin. The human eyed the dripping key warily.
Well, Sorin gestured at the door. Use it.
The goblin walked to the door, inserted the key in the hole, turned it, and nothing. The key did not click in the lock, and the door did not open to either pushes or pulls.
Sorin threw up his arms. Wonderful, he said.
The horns had grown louder. And Nissa thought she could hear something else: a deep growling, maybe. Like boulders dragged across a flat place.
Sorin took the key between two pinched fingers and tried it in the lock. It turned but would not open.
When it was Nissa s turn, she stood before the door and looked closely. The basalt was worn smooth around the keyhole, and a similarly smooth area was visible where the elves put their hands to push the door closed. There were also two patches on the floor where the elves feet had worn it smooth. Nissa placed her sandaled feet in the smooth areas. She inserted the key and turned, and the door snapped open.
Sorin stood and moved to the door. He took a wary look out to make sure some of the scuffling feet they had been hearing in the hall were not passing. Smara was muttering under her breath behind Nissa as she slipped out of the cell. Sorin was standing in the middle of the hall. The doors of four similar-sized cells were visible in the light of the torches that sputtered in the hall. Nissa opened them all and found them to be empty until the last. Anowon was waiting, and he brushed by Nissa when the door opened. Without stopping, he walked down the hall, sweeping past Sorin.
You could at least thank the elf, Ghet, Sorin said. I would have left you.
Nissa followed Anowon, and the others followed her. They passed empty rooms, some with plates of warm-looking food still in them.
Wait, Nissa said. She ducked into a room. Sorin s great sword and Nissa s staff were propped in a corner. She seized them and left.