Broken Crossroads (Knights of the Shadows Book 1) by Patrick LeClerc Page B

tub.
    “There's a door here that hasn't been tampered with.”
    “So Vaigh missed it?”
    “Well, as it didn't have a sign reading Loot within! Strike here with crowbar! in letters of fire, he might have.”
    She continued her minute survey of the wall. Conn tried briefly to see what she was looking at, but the whole thing looked the same to him. The wall was one large scene of gods or demons wreathed in flames. He saw no interruption which could define a door.
    Trilisean stood back, smiled and nodded. Conn readied himself, wondering what she had planned. The thief pressed on one of several inlaid gems and a section of wall swung away. Conn realized why he had missed it.
    The door was not square, but followed the contours of a figure, a goddess or creature, obviously female despite the extra pair of clawed hands and the reptilian head crowned in fire.
    She paused a moment, then stepped through the goddess-door. Conn followed, ducking and twisting to avoid any contact with the wall, in case it was trapped in some way. They found themselves in a smaller room, less ornate but still filled with wealth, and less disturbed.
    If the first chamber was the room of a powerful man, this was that of his mistress. A small bed stood in the center, draped in clothes of gold. A table stood to one side, a small but flawless mirror upon it, jeweled combs, jars of pigments and fragrances carefully arranged. There was a small wardrobe to one side and a long mirror beside it. The walls were decorated here as well, but with scenes of explicit and unlikely couplings between mortals and supernatural beings. At least supernatural in flexibility and certain endowments.
    “Nuad's Arm,” breathed Conn.
    Trilisean expertly scanned the room's contents, selecting a few items, choosing for worth, portability and ease of sale. She soon filled a small leather sack and made it disappear.
    “So, do we have enough?” asked Conn.
    “We have a lot,” she replied with a smile, “but what is this enough of which you speak? Seriously though, we're looking for a crystal sphere, about a hand-span in diameter. That's the prize, this is just…trimmings.”
    “So no chance of running off and buying a castle with the trimmings?”
    “Courage failing you, oh mighty warrior?”
    “We've seen one corpse already, something scared old Vaigh off, and there are still those buggers in the forest who tried to kill us,” he replied. “I'm just putting forward the option of quitting while we're wealthy and breathing.” He shrugged. “But it's your call, lass.”
    “Vaigh is an amateur, the corpse in the entryway missed an easy trap. He used a crowbar on the front door.”
    “Is that as bad as passing the port to the right?”
    “Worse than accidentally hitting the barmaid on your backswing during a high spirited tavern brawl,” Trilisean replied, holding up a jeweled comb for closer inspection before slipping it into her bag.
    Conn blanched in horror at the thought. Do that and you probably wouldn't get served again.
    She finished her sweep of the chamber and then returned to the passageway. The next few doors were plain, untrapped, and revealed only sparsely furnished cells.
    “We need to find a way down,” she whispered, peering at the walls. “I could drop down on a rope, but I'd rather not risk that until I've…exhausted…all the other…options…Aha!” She indicated a span of wall with a grin and a flourish.
    Conn dutifully followed her gesture, but try as he might, he could see no difference in the fantastically carved section indicated from the rest of the passageway. “Apart from a wall, what am I supposed to be seeing?” She wordlessly pressed on a carved figure, and the section of wall swung away to reveal a passageway. She made a quick search of the portal before stepping lightly through. Conn followed cautiously.
    The walls of this passage were bare of adornment. Cold, dark lamps of copper set high in the walls were the only thing that broke