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"What's
going on?" Oddvar asked at the sight of Davyn, wild-eyed and out of
breath.
"Your
friends from town are here," he said. "We've got to get inside now."
Oddvar
didn't need to be told twice. He'd already dug a fair-sized hold and
Davyn could see a patch of inky blackness where the dwarf had broken
through into the sewer drain below.
"Pull some
of this dirt out," Oddvar demanded as he tried to cut the hole bigger
with the edge of the shovel "Use your hands."
Davyn
dropped on his knees and dug out as much as he could. In a few minutes
the hole was big enough for Hector.
"Are you
ready?" Rina's voice came from behind him. "They saw the fire. They're
heading straight for us."
Oddvar
directed Hector down into the hole, where the gnome's quick lamps became
very handy. Once he was down and the light was in place, Davyn and Rina
passed him all the gear they'd packed up while Oddvar carefully enlarged
the hole.
"Your turn,"
Davyn said to Jirah once the gear was down.
Jirah
slipped easily down the hole, followed by Rina, who had trouble getting
her hips through.
"Hurry up,
lad," Set-ai said. "They're almost here."
Davyn could
hear people shouting in the distance. He tore at the ground with his
hands, pulling out rocks and chunks of earth to enlarge the hole.
Finally it was big enough for the rest of them. Mudd went down first,
followed by Set-ai.
"You're
next," Davyn told Oddvar.
The dwarf
balked. "I'm not going back in there."
"If you want
to stay here and take your chances with the angry mob, be my guest,"
Davyn said.
After a
moment's hesitation, the dwarf dived, head first, into the hole. Davyn
scrambled down after him just as the mob reached the remains of their
camp.
"Move down
the passage," Davyn hissed, bending over in the low tunnel. "We've got
to keep them from seeing the light."
There was a
mad rush as everyone hurried forward in the semidarkness. A shout behind
them told Davyn that someone had found the hole.
Before he
even had time to worry about it, however, there was a thunderous roar
and a blast of air drove Davyn to his knees.
When he got
up, the light from Hector's lamp revealed a wall of rock and debris
behind him, blocking their way out.
Like so many
who had come here before, Davyn and his friends were trapped.
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