Fool's Errand Read Online Free PDF Page B

shoulder.
    As he rolled to his feet, he continued his sprint to the turn in the corridor beyond the trap. The blades made one more circuit before returning to rest, indicating at least one additional pressure plate beyond the first they had discovered. As Thatcher reached the corner, he snatched his dagger from between his teeth, crouching in a defensive stance. The nervous youth expected gobblers waiting in ambush. He was happily disappointed. The corridor beyond was too dark to see, but he could hear nothing beyond, and no attacks came.
    After a few seconds growing increasingly confident that he was not in imminent danger, he called back to the group in a low voice.
    “Goldain, I will need light to search for the control box, can you toss a torch all the way to me?”
    “You got it, kid. You might want to step around the corner though. It’s hard to aim a thrown torch, and you don’t want to be where this one lands.”
    Thatcher put his back to the east wall just around the corner, and soon a spinning torch clattered against the west wall and fell sputtering to the floor. The force of Goldain’s throw sent shivers down the wood of the torch, and it nearly went out after dropping to the floor. Thatcher scrambled to stabilize the flame.
    He could now see the hallway went at least twenty more feet northward beyond the corner before it stretched beyond the edge of the torchlight. Still no unwanted company seemed close. Nonetheless, Thatcher continued his work in silence. After searching for a few more minutes, Thatcher found no controls on this end either. He called back softly to the group.
    “Worse news, fellas, there doesn’t seem to be a box on this end either, and getting back to you is going to be much harder than getting to this side.”
    Duncan offered his guidance.
    “Laddie, look for a part of the wall that is different from the rest. It will be subtle to be sure, but the rock grain will be slightly misaligned. That’s how Durgak mark trap boxes.”
    After blowing on the torch to inspire the flame and carefully reexamining the walls past the trap, Thatcher did discover a small square of wall where the grains in the stone were just slightly off true. After another minute or so, he found the hidden catch. The small section depressed, sliding to the side and revealing the mechanism beyond.
    This was definitely not a gobbler trap. The controls were strong, perfectly adjusted and well-engineered. Thatcher doubted if he could break these controls if he hit them with a hammer. He soon had the trap lock in place and called to the group that it was safe.
    None of them seemed particularly trusting of his affirmation having seen the trap in action. Thatcher allayed their fears by walking back through the trapped hallway to the group to collect his belongings.
    “So, not sure you trust the kid-thief yet, eh?”
    Thatcher asked this question half in earnest and half in jest. The others sheepishly remained silent but gathered themselves and proceeded forward.
    The corridor past the trap continued north only about forty feet and then turned again west. While there were no further traps ahead, they had definitely reached somewhere important.
    Ahead was a secured metal door blocking any further progress. If there were gobblers down this hallway, they were on the other side of this door. As they stood wondering how to get past the formidable hatch, they heard voices from the corridor behind them. Thatcher quickly readied his crossbow, and the others drew their weapons. Melizar slipped into the shadows beyond the circle of the torchlight.
    A gravelly voice from beyond the trapped corridor behind shouted in broken Adami.
    “Hey, Girblaz, you all right down there? We got ‘truders. They garbled duh entry traps. Let us in so’s we can get ready for dem.”
    Different Hobgoblin and Orc tribes spoke vastly different dialects, so many resorted to Adami for intertribal communication. Adami was the trade language for most of