"Good thinking, Kendra," Trask acknowledged.
"I was about to say the same thing," Seth complained.
Mara led them back the way they had just come, and they reached an area where the tunnel forked in two directions, one slanting up, the other down. "This is new," Mara said with renewed vigor. "Follow me."
They continued onward, running and walking, seldom pausing, passing some of the same intersections several times. From time to time, Mara had them double back without reaching a dead end. Kendra felt her eyes growing heavy. Her legs felt leaden. When she jogged, her muscles burned. Only fear about their urgent mission kept her from curling up on the floor to fall asleep.
When they next halted to eat and drink, Kendra guzzled water, then slumped against the wall to rest her eyes. Tanu had to wake her when it was time to proceed. He hoisted her to her feet, apologizing.
"It isn't your fault," Kendra said, slapping her cheeks to make herself more alert.
Not long after that, Mara started loping forward with greater vigor, claiming she could sense a change in the air. Kendra struggled to keep up. Tanu ran beside her, one supportive hand against the small of her back.
Kendra tried to let Mara's hope become contagious. Could this be the end of the unrelenting labyrinth? Might they actually escape before collapsing from exhaustion? After a final intersection and a few dead ends, the passage opened into the largest room they had encountered so far.
"Well done," Trask enthused, clapping Mara on the back.
"We're in the belly of the Dreamstone," Mara said. "The hollow center."
The vast, empty space of the rectangular room had dimensions proportional to the Dreamstone itself. Polished expanses of dark obsidian formed the floor, walls, and ceiling, illuminated by the same mysterious light prevalent throughout the convoluted passageways. Three strange devices patrolled the far side of the otherwise vacant room: two mechanical bulls and one mechanical lion.
Composed of overlapping iron plates, the elephant-sized bulls tossed their heads as they rolled around the floor on four wheels, their metal legs dangling decoratively. The artfully rendered bronze lion, slightly larger than the bulls, prowled about on huge paws, moving with a sinuous grace inconsistent with its clockwork appearance.
"Are these the guardians of the artifact?" Seth wondered.
"I hope so," Elise said. "I've had my fill of this place."
Chapter 5 Translocator
I don't see any keyholes," Kendra remarked, eyes roving the walls, floor, and ceiling. "Me neither," Mara said.
"We'll find one on those animals," Trask predicted.
The mechanized bulls had turned and were rumbling toward the entryway, their bulky shapes reflecting darkly in the polished floor. The lion continued to prowl the far side of the room, copper mane gleaming.
"Let's go see what we're dealing with," Trask said, striding forward. "Judging from their design, my guess is the bulls can't turn very well. We should be able to dodge them if we keep on our toes. The lion looks like a different story. The bulls seem to be defending it, so I'd bet we'll find the keyhole on the lion. Kendra, Seth, hang back at the entrance with Elise. Who has the key?"
"Got it," Tanu said, following Trask onto the floor.
"Spread out," Trask said. "Make them work."
Mara went the farthest left, Berrigan the farthest right, while Trask and Tanu advanced across the center of the room several paces from each other. The bulls veered slightly and increased their speed, both wheeling at Tanu.
"I think they know I have the key," Tanu said as the bulls hurtled toward him.
"How heavy is it now?" Trask asked, moving farther from Tanu.
"Maybe six or seven pounds."
"Throw it here," Trask said. "I could wait until the last second?"
"No, now."
Tanu tossed the key underhand to Trask. Having sheathed his sword and slung his crossbow over his shoulder, Trask caught the iron egg in both hands. The bulls swerved, altering their course to run down Trask rather than Tanu. Trask stood his ground as the bulls approached, wide horns lowered. Kendra gasped as he dove out of the way at the last instant, the tip of one horn missing his leg by inches.
The bulls started curving around to come at him again, careening as they turned. Trask now ran toward the lion, his long legs eating up ground. Mara ran alongside him, paralleling his course. Berrigan did likewise on the other side of the room. Tanu hustled valiantly, trying to keep up.
"They're swinging back around," Elise warned, as both bulls charged Trask from behind. "Use me," Mara called.
Without breaking stride, Trask flung the key over to Mara, who caught it one-handed, staggering a bit until she regained her balance. One bull swerved after Mara; the other stayed on Trask.
"They're not so dumb," Seth said.
Mara came to a standstill, facing the onrushing bull, showing little concern. As the bull drew near, she vaulted nimbly aside, performing a one-handed cartwheel. Trask managed to dodge his bull as well.
The lion roared, mechanical jaws quivering. One of the bulls went for Berrigan, who adroitly skipped out of the way. The other bull came around for Mara again, who threw the iron egg to Trask before using a lowered horn to gracefully swing astride the speeding bull. The iron bull tossed its head, metallic parts squealing, but Mara rode it effortlessly.
Kendra resisted a smile. Her friends seemed to have the situation under control. It looked like they were battling giant metal puppets.
Tanu had stopped in the middle of the room, kneeling. He pulled what looked like a large silken sheet from his pack, then swallowed the contents of a bottle. Yanking off his shoes, he began to expand, promptly shredding whatever clothing he failed to remove. The Samoan swelled to more than twice his former height, his meaty body growing broader and thicker to remain proportional. He tied the sheet around his waist. With the transformation complete, he stood head and shoulders above the lion and bulls.
Apparently sensing the threat, the bull not ridden by Mara charged Tanu. The other bull streaked toward Trask, while the lion pounced at Berrigan. Tanu stood his ground like a matador, danced aside to avoid the horns, then lunged at the side of the bull, lowering his shoulder. The impact overturned the mechanical bull, and the iron body squealed as it slid across the stone floor.
From astride the other bull, Mara called for the key, and Trask tossed it up as he leapt out of the way. When Mara leaned out precariously to catch the imperfect toss, the iron egg grazed her fingertips before falling to the floor with a resounding clack.
As Berrigan tried to flee, the bronze lion swiped him with a paw, sending him sprawling across the floor with parallel gashes in his back. Tanu rushed over to help, and the lion turned to confront the new threat.
Suddenly, beside Kendra, Seth stumbled abruptly forward. He turned to face her, his expression shocked. It took her a moment to notice the arrowhead protruding from his chest.
Elise and Kendra whirled to see Torina at the far end of the hall behind them, setting another arrow to her bowstring. Zombies staggered into view around her. One of the leading zombies was clearly recognizable as Laura, her hair disheveled, her outfit tattered and bloodied. Another was Camira.
Torina looked giddily triumphant. Back at the house, she had been too far away for Kendra to view her clearly. The lectoblix appeared even younger than when Kendra had last spoken with her, and more athletic as well, like a woman who obviously knew her way around a gym. Her sporty outfit accentuated her fit physique. She grinned as she pulled the arrow back.
Before Kendra could react, the arrow struck the center of her belly, jostling her backward as it rebounded off the adamant mail beneath her shirt. Seth had given her that armor. It was rightfully his. Had he been wearing it, he would not have an arrow through his rib cage. Light blue eyes holding Kendra's gaze, Torina gave a disappointed pout.
After fumbling momentarily with her crossbow, Elise launched a quarrel at Torina. The lectoblix ducked behind the jumbled mass of emerging zombies, and the quarrel lodged in the hip of a rotting, balding man.
"We've got company!" Elise called, seizing Seth's shoulder and rushing him around the side of the entryway, out of sight from the passageway. Staying low, Kendra followed them out of the entryway into the huge chamber.
On the other side of the room, Tanu had wrestled the lion onto its back. Mara had dropped from the bull and recovered the iron egg. Trask faced the entryway, huge crossbow held ready, a pair of long quarrels waiting to take flight. The bull Tanu had toppled lay motionless on its side, but the other was coming back around to attack Mara again. Berrigan rose unsteadily to his feet.
"The keyhole is under his chin," Tanu boomed.
Wincing, Seth plopped down on the floor. The feathered shaft of the arrow protruded from his back, the cruel arrowhead from his front. He scrabbled in his emergency kit, withdrew a flask, then handed the satchel to Kendra. "Keep it safe," he rasped.
"You'll be all right," Kendra assured him hysterically. Everything was happening too fast!
Seth unscrewed the lid of the flask. "She got me," he wheezed. "I'm a shish kebab."
"You can't go gaseous," Kendra insisted. "You might not be able to teleport with us!"
"Better than bleeding to death or getting zombified." He fingered the arrowhead. "I'm useless like this." He coughed wetly into his fist, then chugged the contents of the flask. His body and clothes became hazy as Seth transformed into a ghostly, vaporous version of himself. The arrow in his chest became gaseous as well.
Elise grabbed Kendra, hustling her farther from the entrance. Kendra allowed herself to be led. The spectral form of her injured brother followed at a much slower pace.
Up ahead, grimacing fiercely, sweat glistening on his brow, Tanu held the squirming bronze lion in a wrestling hold as Mara drew near. The iron bull was rapidly closing in on them, but Mara reached the lion first, climbing hurriedly. She hastily stabbed the key into a socket and twisted. Both of the bulls and the lion fell apart in clangorous heaps of metal scraps. The parts from the moving bull tumbled and slid across the glossy floor, colliding with the wreckage of the lion.
As zombies shambled into the room, Trask fired a quarrel from his huge crossbow, then set the weapon down, drawing a sword. Tanu and Berrigan flung aside metallic plates and ornaments, searching frantically. Blood oozed from ragged stripes and ugly punctures on Tanu's arms and shoulders. Elise raced toward the demolished lion with Kendra.
A melodically chanting voice caused Kendra to glance over her shoulder. The zombies had parted to let a glaring man with golden skin stride into the room. The slender stranger wore a cape and a turban. Beads, bones, and bits of twine decorated his braided beard. He held up one hand clenched in a fist. With every step, he left behind a flaming footprint burning blue and green. His chant rose to a shout as he pointed across the room at Tanu. In a flash, the giant Samoan shrank back to his normal size.
"I have it!" Mara cried, holding up a platinum cylinder. "It was inside the key."
"Use it!" Trask barked.
Tanu, Mara, and Berrigan all took hold of the Translocator. Nothing happened.
Not far from where Trask stood with his sword, Kendra and Elise ran side by side, still about forty yards from the fragmented lion. Tanu took a step away from Mara and Berrigan and flung the Translocator like a desperate quarterback. The cylinder flew in a high arc toward Elise and Kendra, turning end over end. Elise stopped rushing forward, took several steps to one side, and made a diving catch.
Trask lifted his crossbow, aimed, and let loose another quarrel. The wizard waved a hand, and the quarrel turned into a harmless stream of twinkling dust. Behind the wizard, the Gray Assassin stalked confidently into the room, swords unsheathed. Trask ran toward Kendra and Elise.
Elise handed Kendra the cylinder. Symbols embossed the silvery casing. Tiny white gems sparkled. Kendra felt the Translocator hum to life when the device came into contact with her fingers. Noting its three segmented sections, she could see where she would twist it, but she hesitated, waiting for Trask to reach them.
Back by the entrance to the chamber, the wizard was chanting again. He opened a small, samite sack, and thick-linked chains slithered out rapidly, clinking against the polished floor. The chains were much too long to have fit in the small sack without the aid of magic. Torina emerged from the entryway, bow held ready, along with a fierce creature that looked halfway between a wolf and a bear. Zombies continued to stagger forward.
Trask grabbed the middle section of the Translocator. Kendra held the left, Elise the right. They twisted the device as Torina let loose an arrow.
Kendra experienced a brief sensation like she was folding into herself, as if she were collapsing down to a single point somewhere in her midsection, and then the odd sensation passed, and she was standing in a tidy apartment. Daylight streamed through the windows. Out on the street, somebody honked a car's horn.
"Where are we?" Elise asked.
"My apartment in Manhattan," Trask said, tossing his crossbow onto a nearby couch. "First place that came to mind. Let go of the device. I have to go after the others."
Kendra and Elise released the device. Trask twisted it and vanished. For a moment, Elise and Kendra stood together in silence. The refrigerator hummed as the compressor kicked on.
"He'll be back, right?" Kendra asked.
"He'll be back."
"Is there a chance he'll get Seth?" Elise stared with wordless sympathy. "He'll try," she finally said.
Elise started to pace. Kendra folded her arms. The apartment was stylish, with leather sofas, a sleek flat-screen television, a glass coffee table, black-and-white photographs framed on the walls, and designer lamps. Kendra disliked the suspense of waiting. "When do you--"