She gave a docile nod. Emmaline and I stood on either side of Bryna, each with a hand on one of her shoulders, while she traced the sigils and whispered the words to take us into the Duergar palace. Just before we went into the netherwhere, I drew Mort.
We came out into darkness, and my heart jolted with alarm. It took me a second to realize we were standing in a tiny, dark room. I lowered my sword.
“Thisss is the movie house,” Bryna said, leading us out of what appeared to be an exit vestibule into a larger room.
Emmaline let out a nervous giggle at Bryna’s slurring.
I could make out the faint white glow of the projection screen on the wall to the right, and the regularly-spaced lumps of theater seating to the left.
“Odd place for a doorway,” I mumbled.
“Yeah.” Bryna let out a sigh. “But it’s good ‘cause not many here know about this one.”
“Which way to Van Zant?” I asked, shifting my weight to my toes, impatient to get on with it.
She lifted an arm to wave at the back of the theater. “We go that way.”
She drifted ahead of us up the aisle that split the seats, but when she went to push the bar release on one double door, I grabbed her arm to stop her.
“Stay quiet,” I said and moved in front of her.
I sheathed Mort. Carefully and slowly, I pushed the door open an inch and peered through the gap. A couple of Duergar guards strode by, and I froze, nearly letting the door fall shut. More Duergar passed by. I watched for a few more seconds.
I swore silently and let the door click closed. This corridor was a main thoroughfare. We couldn’t just stroll out there. By now, all of the Duergar realm knew that Bryna was being held by the New Gargoyles, so they’d be sure to take notice if she suddenly appeared in the palace. And my face was probably plastered all over the palace alerts after swiping Nicole from Periclase.
“Any other way out of here?” I asked. “Maybe one that’s less busy?”
“Nuh-uh,” Bryna said.
“Well, how far is it?” I asked, irritated.
“Oh, ‘bout a hundred feet down the hall. Then turn left. Then up the stairs. Then turn left. Then right.”
“There was an exit sign back where we came in,” I said. “Where does that go?”
Bryna let out a tiny, airy laugh. “Nowhere. It’s just for looks.”
I was about ready to punch something.
“Fine. Then we’re just going to have to walk right out there and take our chances.” I wrapped my hand around Bryna’s elbow and squeezed.
“Ow,” she protested.
“If I get caught before I can get out with Van Zant, you’re screwed,” I reminded her. “I’ll make sure the Stone Order files charges against you in the High Court. What do you think the punishment will be for sending a wraith into the netherwhere to kill me?”
My hand was poised on the door, ready to push it open.
“Wait,” Emmaline said. “Isn’t there a secret passage nearby? I could swear there was a passageway near here.”
Bryna stared at her dumbly for a second and then rolled her eyes with a stupid grin. “Yes! Silly me. It’s across the hall in the powder room. Last stall.”
All I could do was shake my head at her.
“Good work,” I breathed at Emmaline.
We waited for a small gap in the corridor activity and then stole across the hallway and through the women’s bathroom door and hurried to the back. Inside the stall, Bryna pressed a couple of the wall tiles and a low, narrow door with seams that had blended invisibly popped open.
She seemed to move more purposefully as she led us into the secret passage. It was a dark, narrow space in between the walls, and it broke off into branches so many times I had no idea how Bryna managed to keep us on track. We walked single file with me in the middle. I carried Mort in my hand, not that it would do much good if I actually needed to use it. The space was way too tight to wield a broadsword. Not even enough room to put it back in my scabbard.
With a glance over her shoulder at me, Bryna whispered, “We’ll come out close to my front door. Just a short hop to my quarters.”
She sounded confident, and I started to think we might be in the clear. That turned out to be a mistake.
We reached the end of a corridor, and Bryna stopped. There was a tiny bit of light coming from random pinholes punched in the walls. I watched as she slid her fingers over a catch I couldn’t see, and there was a soft click. A narrow vertical strip of light appeared. She pushed, and the space widened another inch.
“This should be easy,” she whispered. “It’s just right over—”
The door jerked open suddenly, and a hand reached in and grabbed her arm, yanking her out. She shrieked and then snarled. Temporarily blinded after our journey through the dark passage, it took me a split second to realize there was a crowd of Duergar guards waiting for us. I didn’t even have time to utter the curses that sprang to my mind.
My pulse jolted, and I leapt out, drawing magic and swinging Mort. It took them by surprise, and a few of them stumbled back a step or two as my violet magic licked at them like razor-edged flames.
Bryna bared her teeth and snapped at the guard holding her, the docility caused by my spell seeming to dissolve away in an instant. Her mouth came away bloody, and the guard let go of her and clamped his hand over his bloody wrist. She tried to lunge away, but another guard grabbed at her hair and caught a handful of it. She furiously twisted around and kicked at him.
I kept advancing with wide slashes, glancing out of the corner of my eye at the door Bryna had been heading toward. I wanted to look back to see if Emmaline had managed to retreat, but I couldn’t give the guards the opening.
The guards were backing up and reaching for their magi-zappers. I deflected one stream of magic with Mort, the force of it traveling up into my arm and jarring me to my bones. Gritting my teeth against the foreign magic meant to incapacitate, I managed to neutralize it just as another bolt sprang at my chest. I absorbed it, too, and then whipped around to meet an attack. Mort crashed against the short sword of a guard who towered over me. When he raised his arm to try to redirect his strike, I darted under it.
I danced to the side, trying to find an opening through which I could get to Bryna. I had to hand it to her. She was doing a hell of a job fending off a couple of guards using only her teeth and claws. Perhaps because she was Periclase’s daughter, they didn’t turn their stunners on her. She was surely going to catch serious hell later for helping me. The guards had no problem blasting me, and my eyes were just about crossed from taking partial hits.
Emmaline had vanished, most likely having retreated back into the secret passages where she could elude the guards. She seemed to know the palace well, and I trusted she could take care of herself.
“Petra!” called Bryna, sounding strangled through the gnashing of her teeth.
I glanced over my shoulder just as she shoved her foot into a guard’s groin. She whipped around and threw herself at the door. It opened under her influence, and I backed my way toward it and slipped through. She slammed it shut.