Chapter 20 - Part 15

The strange black stone faded away as they rose higher and higher in the structure, replaced by a cold metal that Delegado had never seen before. It seemed to have no magic of its own, but Delegado wondered if even his adamantine blade could scratch it. He did not try to test his theory.

They had passed by two doors, both made of an onyx-colored wood that they did not recognize, but Delegado had ignored them. The headband was not there. He had to go higher.

“You sensing any evil?” Delegado whispered.

“Plenty,” she said. “Nothing specific. There is so much wrongness here, I am not even sure I would see anything against the background. How much farther until the headband?”

“We’re close,” Delegado said. They rounded a corner and he saw another door set in the wall facing the interior of the tower. This one was stone, and it had a complex locking mechanism on the lever.

“The other doors weren’t like this,” she said.

“The other doors weren’t locked,” he told her. “You don’t keep a door locked unless it’s low-traffic, otherwise it’s a pain. If they locked this, it’s a storeroom that they don’t use frequently.”

“All of that is just as logical a reason to have it trapped as well,” she pointed out. “And I’m not good enough with magical traps to tell you I can get through that door. Maybe you should use your sword to cut away the lever mechanism.”

“That risks them knowing their tower was infiltrated.”

“I think they’ll find out.”

Delegado thought for a moment. “Look at the lock,” he said. “Get a feel for it.”

She knelt and took out her kit, and he held the sunrod for her. “Hold it over that slot there,” she said, taking out a soft brush. He did, and she lightly dabbed the lever with the brush. “Delegado, this hasn’t been opened in a long time,” she said, gesturing to the dust on the interior lip of the mechanism. “Maybe even a year. Oalian said there was a prisoner in here?”

“Drorin said the first riddle was with the prisoner,” Delegado said. “And Oalian said that the prisoner with that first riddle is kept near the place where the stolen artifact of the Balanced Palm lies. That’s through that door.”

“How close is ‘near?’” Ois asked.

“I wish I knew,” he told her.

She continued to examine the lock, putting her wires to use, and then her slightly bent steel probes. “It’s locked, but it’s not complicated. I wouldn’t let the door shut, though. I don’t think there’s a lever on the other side.”

“Who makes a storage room that you can’t open from the inside?” Delegado asked. “Our guy is in there.”

“Then this door is going to be alarmed,” she said. “And given the nature of the rakshasa, that alarm is going to be magical. There are people trained in infiltration who can disable those. I can’t.”

“Disable and unlock what you can,” Delegado said. “Then we go in. I don’t know how long it will take me to bash through that door, but it’s time we don’t have.”

“It’s thick stone,” she said. “I guess you’re right.” She began to fiddle with the interior of the mechanism.