Death Trap!

-Dalen Capital, Lower Quarter. Night, 2 DSTR

“What the—?!” Kalena said as the whole hallway in front of her seemed to twist away from Kline and Gularzob and turn in the other direction so that the two vanished from sight. She looked to Lafayette in alarm. “What just happened to them? Some sort of smoke-and-mirrors illusion?”

She cautiously stepped forward, extending the tip of her duelling sabre in an exploratory jab. Lying ahead of them appeared to be no more than an ordinary, empty corridor. Anger swept through the former assassin; she had the distinct feeling someone was making a fool of her. It was the experience she used to enjoy leaving in her own wake after dispatching her targets; a sense of impotence by the authorities in the face of an unknown individual they had no chance of ever catching.

These Emerald Scarves could not hope to flout the Queen's laws for very long though, nor possibly survive the ungodly vengeance she and Kline intended to take. With that in mind, Kalena tentatively started forward again, and it was then that the floor all of a sudden tilted and opened away beneath her.

Some kind of trap door! she realized in abrupt shock as she began to drop. In a blur she saw Lafayette valiantly attempt to grab a hold of her, but not even he could move that fast. Her eyes turned downward, and in the light coming from above she glimpsed the terrible pit of sharp wooden stakes that awaited to impale her.

No, I don't think so! Kalena thought defiantly. She twisted her body and arced through the air, her arms and legs outstretched. At the last instance, she managed to brace them against the sides of the shaft and halt her plunge; it was a tremendous feat of gymnastic skill derived from all her training climbing up and down houses and castles. What she did next to escape from this tenuous position would take much greater physical alacrity, not to mention a huge stroke of luck.

She turned her head and looked up at Lafayette out of the corner of her eye, who was standing at the edge of the open trapdoor. “Do you have a rope?” she called up to him. “Please tell me in all that gear of yours that you have a rope!”

Her lean muscles were quivering and she was barely holding herself in place. She could feel panic creeping rapidly into her mind—just one little slip and she would fall to her doom!

<Tag Lafayette>