“Regret.” Puck sighed, with a quick glance at me. “Regret is a fire that burns inside. It’s regret, so shut up and get on with the others.” He moved toward the pill ar opposite me, crossing his arms and leaning against it.
The scorpions were getting louder, more frantic, as if they knew we were scant seconds away from solving the riddle. Their legs and cara-paces scraped against the rock, an ocean of noise surging around us.
Grimalkin sniffed and shared a glance with the Wolf.
“I believe the last two are fairly obvious, are they not?” he mused, sauntering toward the pill ar that said Knowledge. “I do agree, knowledge is sometimes a terrible burden. The last pill ar is yours, dog. I do not think we can argue your strength. Your intelligence, perhaps, but not your strength.”
“What about Ariel a?” I glanced at her, looking a bit lost on the edge of the platform. “She has the burden of knowledge as well, not just you, cait sith.”
“Ariel a is a Winter fey, and we already have a Winter,” Grimalkin replied easily, hopping onto the broken pill ar of Knowledge, peering down at us all. “And I think you would be in favor of solving this quickly, prince. In any case, I believe we have to stand on the pill ars together. That is generally how these puzzles work.” The Wolf growled, leaping atop the broken stone, huge paws close together on the edge. “If this does not work, cat, I will make sure to eat you first before the scorpions get to us,” he muttered, balanced pre-cariously on the small platform. Grimalkin ignored him.
Puck and I followed suit, jumping easily onto the broken pill ars, as the sea of scorpions chittered and writhed below us. For a few seconds, 211/387
nothing happened. Then, the sphinxes’ eyes opened, searing blue, their voices echoing through the room.
“You—” they breathed, sending a ripple of power over the sand “—have chosen…incorrectly.”
“What!” Puck yelped, but it was drowned by the furious buzz of millions of scorpions, stirred into a frenzy. “No, that can’t be right. Furbal
’s never wrong! Wait—”
“You—” the sphinxes breathed again “—will die.” I drew my sword, tensing to drop down as the scorpions rushed forward, scaling the platform and spilling over the edge. Ariel a gasped and stumbled backward, as the living carpet of claws and legs and stingers began covering the platform.
“Stay where you are!” Grimalkin’s voice rang through the chamber, booming and steely with authority. We froze, and the cat turned wild golden eyes on Ariel a, baring his teeth, all his fur standing on end.
“Time!” he spat, f lattening his ears. “Time is the fifth answer, the cog that turns the wheel!
Stand in the center now!”
I clenched my fists as Ariel a ran to the middle of the platform, the f lood of scorpions closing in from all sides. They swarmed up the pill ars, crawling over my clothes, legs and pinchers digging into my f lesh. I lashed out and sent dozens of them f lying, but of course there were always more. They were not stinging…yet. But I felt the seconds ticking away, and knew that if the creatures beat Ariel a to the heart of the dais, we were finished. Puck yelled a curse, f lailing wildly, and the Wolf roared in fury as Ariel a finally reached the center of the dais.
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As soon as she set foot in the middle, a shiver went through the air, starting from the center of the dais and spreading outward, like ripples on a pond. The f lood of scorpions halted, inches from swarming Ariel a, and started f lowing backward, leaving the platform and crawling down from the pill ars. I shook the last of the tiny predators off me and watched the carpet recede, disappearing beneath the sands once more.
In seconds, they had vanished completely, and the dunes were still.
“You have chosen…correctly,” the sphinxes whispered, and closed their eyes again.
Ariel a was shaking. I leaped from the platform and went to her, wordlessly pulling her close. She trembled in my arms for a moment, then gently freed herself and drew away, smoothing her hair back.
“Wow,” Puck muttered, dusting off the front of his shirt, “now, that was weird. And to think, I never thought I’d live to see the day….” He trailed off, grinning.
I eyed him wearily. “Fine, I’ll bite. You don’t mean the scorpions or the sphinx. We’ve seen much stranger then that.”
“No, ice-boy. I never thought I’d see the day when Grimalkin was wrong.”
Grimalkin, still on his broken pill ar, didn’t react, but I saw his whiskers bristle as he glanced our way. “Goodfel ow,” he said with an enormous yawn,
“I feel obliged to point out that, had I been wrong, you would all be full of tiny holes right now. Anyway, we are wasting time. I suggest we move out, quickly. I certainly do not wish to be stuck here until the end of time with any of you.” And before we could reply, he leaped 213/387
down and trotted off in the direction of the now-open door, passing between the sphinxes with his tail held high.
I looked at Puck, smirking. “I think you offended him, Goodfel ow.” He snorted. “If I ever worried about that, I’d never open my mouth.” CHAPTER FOURTEEN