Elena whispered, "We're never going to shift all that stone. Not without making a whole lot of noise."
She regarded the half-Kishak lad standing next to her. Etienne had not revealed very much about himself since they first encountered him. She knew what he'd told them -- that he worked for Marques del Maraviez in Pavairelle. He was wiry and graceful, constantly studying everything around him as though a potential threat lurked in every corner.
He nodded at her comment, still examining the mass of stone that clogged the stairway they'd found leading up out of their prison. Behind them stood Isaac, Nevid and Arrafin, the Naridic girl still staring in a shocked fashion at the lip of the grotto.
The group gathered in a tight circle to discuss their options.
Isaac growled, "We're not sitting here waiting for that crazy pirate to get back."
Arrafin looked at him. "I like him. He's funny."
"Well, sure, we like him, but, you know, pirate? Dishonest?"
Etienne spoke up. "We have to get out of here. There's no way we're sitting around waiting. No way."
"Fine," said Elena, "Then we have to deal with guards downstairs. We don't even know how many there are."
Etienne eyed a coil of rope among the stored supplies.
"I have an idea."
*****
The halfbreed was heavier than he looked. Isaac suppressed a grunt of effort as he strained at the rope supporting Etienne. The half-Kishak hung upside down, far above the waters of the grotto, trying to keep from spinning as he slowly dropped past the rock face. Simultaneously trying not to think about the horrible growling sounds and shrieks that had come from the water after Adil splashed into it. As he approached the top of the dock cavern below, he signalled for a slower descent.
His head dropped below the level of the roof of the cavern that lay directly beneath where his fellow prisoners were assembled. He saw a broad warehouse-sort of space, littered with crates and boxes and coils of rope. Seated around a flaming brazier sat three rough-looking chaps whom he recognized as members of Pirate John's crew. A door sealed the room at either end, which was open along one long side to the grotto. Thick posts showed where the pirate's ship would normally be tied up.
Etienne studied carefully, estimating distances, and then signalled for Isaac and the others to pull him up.
"Okay, we're about sixty feet above the water. You go over the edge here, and there's thirty feet of rock wall and then you're hanging in front of another room like this one, only bigger. There's one door pretty much right where that one is," he pointed to the door at the far end of the room, "And another one at the opposite end. There's three guys sitting around a fire, pretty much right in the middle of the room, maybe... twenty feet in from the edge."
The others tried to picture the scene in their minds.
Nevid nodded. "The doors downstairs are closed?"
"Yep."
Nevid walked over to the door and tested it. It opened, and without a word he passed through and closed it behind him. Etienne looked at the others.
"What's he doing?"
"Don't ask us. We never know what he's doing."
Arrafin had gone and collected the skull that lay on the marble slab in the alcove and stood turning it over in her hands.
"I wonder whose skull this is and why those pirates never took it?"
"We can do all the investigating we want, Arrafin," said Isaac, "After those pirates are dealt with."
The Naridic girl smiled happily. "Really?"
Elena grinned and turned to Etienne. "They got lots of supplies down there? Crates, boxes, crap like that?"
"Yeah."
"You see any gunpowder?"
*****
Once again Etienne dangled from a rope high above the glittering waters of the grotto. Both to his right and his left, sunlight streamed in through the high cave openings on either side of the island, giving rise to endless patterns of dappled reflection along all the walls of the long tunnel.
This time, he was right-side-up, and bracing himself against the cavern wall, just above the lower cavern. He took up a bunch of slack on the rope and held the coils loosely in one hand, tying a knot where he figured the right length would be. He wasn't sure what to think about these folks, but this whole trip had turned out a lot more exciting than he'd expected. The woman Elena's ability to make candlesticks walk notwithstanding, they seemed like pretty straightforward folks.
"Wait for the explosion."
He could imagine that being able to move candles around in an environment containing gunpowder could produce an explosion pretty easily. He just hoped they didn't blow the entire cavern to smithereens.
He hung there, wondering what on earth that skinny Naridic girl was doing with the rest of them.
*****
"Okay, brace yourself."
Elena peered through a knothole in the downstairs door. She could see, across a jumbled vista of disorganized supplies, the three pirates gathered around the brazier. With greater confidence than she'd had previously, she reached out and mentally gripped a flaming brand from the brass bowl.
Ignoring the startled cries of the pirates, she lifted the brand into the air and carried it to a gunpowder barrel. The effect was everything she could have hoped for.
With a thunderous roar, the room erupted in flame and smoke and flying debris. The door crashed inward, knocking Elena back against the steps, coughing. Nevid held his crossbow up, peering into the thick smoke. He could hear yelling, so the pirates hadn't been killed outright.
Up in the grotto, Etienne leapt into the billowing cloud of smoke, hoping he'd judged the distance right, gritting his teeth as he plunged downward in a swift arc.
He didn't hit the water, but the smoke was still too dense for him to see anything as the swing started up the other side, so without any real idea as to how far from the ground he was, Etienne let go.
The instant the rope went slack, Isaac hauled it in, grabbed it where the half-Kishak had tied a knot, and, to Arrafin's horror, charged straight out over the edge.
"Some half-Kishak daredevil thinks he can outdo a Saijadani..."
*****
As the cloud began to disperse, Nevid saw Isaac. He was flying.
Clinging to the rope with one hand, clamping his hat to his head with the other, still with his omnipresent cigar clenched in his teeth, the big Saijadani swooped in from the grotto and let go, sailing through the air to crash into a mass of splintered crates.
Etienne had already drawn a longknife and was circling one pirate who kept slapping at a smouldering patch on his breeches. Nevid saw another pirate getting to his feet and fired his crossbow at the man. The bolt slammed into the man's shoulder and pitched him forward onto his face.
Isaac staggered to his feet, spinning to check his surroundings, and saw a stunned-looking fellow with major burns to his face. Which probably really stung, reflected the Saijadani, after his fist connected so solidly with the poor chap's jaw. Isaac pulled out his big sword, saw the opposite door opening and charged.
Etienne feinted forward, dropped his shoulder and when the other guy slashed at him, spun back and cut in a long arc down the man's side. He shrieked and dropped his knife and the Kishak lad kicked him hard and let him fall. He whirled to see Isaac charging the far door, and saw the barrel of the firearm a second before the Saijadani did.
Isaac sat down heavily at the impact of the ball, on the ground before he really registered what had happened. He looked down just in time to see the blood from his chest wound suddenly gush out down his shirt.
"That's gonna hurt."
Nevid, at the report of the pistol, pointed his just-reloaded crossbow at the far door and released. The bolt smashed into the doorframe, but the pirate hiding there withdrew. Etienne had gotten to the wall alongside the door and stood there motionless, watching Nevid for some sign.
Isaac groaned and collapsed. Elena swore.
"We have to get out there. He's going to die. I'm going. That bastard sticks his head out again, Nevid, you shoot him."
"What?"
Elena crouched low and ran for where Isaac lay. Etienne tried to wave her back but she paid no attention. She did pay attention when Nevid yelled, "Get down!"
There was another pistol shot, followed immediately by the heavy metal twang of Nevid's crossbow. Elena fell to her hands and knees and, feeling no terrible impact, she kept going.
As soon as the gun and the crossbow went off, Etienne wrenched open the door and grabbed the weapon away from the startled pirate standing there. So startled was he that he stood perfectly still as Etienne slipped a knife up under his ribs. He groaned quietly and fell to the ground. Etienne turned and saw Elena's ashen face look up from where she knelt next to Isaac.
"He's going to die."
*****
"Isaac? Isaac, drink this, okay? Some water for you."
Arrafin tried not to look at the wound in Isaac's chest. The others were upstairs, moving aside the blocks of stone that had blocked the stairs up there. Nobody wanted to try the waters in grotto, as they had turned out to be populated with extremely agressive and toothy predators of some indistinct type. Loud grinding sounds and occasional bursts of swearing came from above as she tried to smile at Isaac's watery eyes.
"We'll get out of here soon, Isaac. Don't worry. You have to help me investigate the skull, remember? You have to help me."
She sat next to the man, his laboured breathing setting off her nerves. Awkwardly she reached out and patted his shoulder.
"So, del Valencia, huh? From Petrahegna, is that right? It must be beautiful. Of course, I've never been so, don't know, ha ha. But I read. Poetry. You know. Can you read?"
"I can read."
Isaac's lips hadn't moved. Arrafin leaned closer, frowning.
"I can read."
Isaac also couldn't speak Naridic, as far as she knew. It occured that maybe somebody else was speaking and she turned around.
Adil, dripping wet and stark naked, stood there.
*****
They'd almost gotten the last stones pulled free when they heard her screaming.