Mark My Sword: Chapter 6

Katryn pulled out her sword as she jumped to the door, nearly taking Lorien's eye out in the process.

"What is it?" she barked. Cory and Muffin stood in the hallway, looking slightly baffled by her presence.

"Cory," she said as patiently as she could, "I heard you screaming a second ago. Would you mind telling me what that was all about?"

"Oh," said Cory brightly, "I thought I saw a dragonfly, but it was only a spider." He held out a large, hairy creature for inspection. "See?"

Katryn sighed, more relieved than annoyed. There was no danger, everyone was fine…

"Hey," said Lorien, "Where's Ezra?"

***

Ezra was in a small, dark room, and she wasn't particularly happy about it. She'd been looking at some sort of rabbit, well, mostly a rabbit, and the next thing she knew she was falling up. She'd given up trying to make sense of things in favor of being very, very angry.

Knives, check. All eight of them. It was nice to have backup. Now, to get out of this place…

Just then, a strange whispery noise came from above, a soft blue glow emanating in the darkness.

"Brust," Ezra swore.

***

"Pratchett," Katryn swore, rubbing the shin she had bruised on the tower stairs. The steps, as was tradition with evil sorcerers, were extremely steep and slightly damp, a perfect trap for incautious adventurers. Unfortunately, Katryn was in no mood to be cautious.

Still, she forced herself to take the stairs more slowly. It wouldn't help Ezra if she fell and broke her neck.

Ahead of her, Lorien looked around, waving his staff, apparently dispelling enchantments. Behind her, Cory and Muffin walked up with backup. Katryn didn't ask what the little metal  box did. She wasn't sure that she wanted to find out.

Finally, the top of the tower was in sight. Naturally, it was guarded by a heavy wooden door. Lorien tapped at it, ears flattening like a nervous dog's. He stepped aside, giving the all-clear. Katryn gave a nod to Muffin, who, with a running start, rammed his body full-force into the door.

Through a cloud of wood splinters, the team walked through the door.  They looked around, taking in the room around them.

"Pratchett," Katryn swore.


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