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Outside
the Entrance to the Dungeons of Doom
"All right, then,"
Kellach said, "have it your way. We'll put it to a vote."
"Fine!" Driskoll said.
"All in favor of rushing into certain death to save the life of an old
elf who might actually be dead already?"
Kellach raised his hand.
Driskoll kept both hands down. The brothers looked at Moyra to break the
tie.
"Did I ever tell you
about my last birthday?" Moyra asked.
"What does that have to
do with the vote?" Driskoll asked.
"My dad had been in
prison for just over a month, and my mother was having trouble making
ends meet. She wasn't even going to be able to bake a cake for me, she
thought.
"That night, a knock came
on the door, and I ran to open it. My father was standing there, a cake
in one hand and a bag of coins in the other. We were so happy to see
him, we didn't even ask how or why.
"At the end of the night,
though, Dad told us that he had to go back to his cell. He had been
granted one night of freedom, but only under the condition that he
return the same night to finish out his sentence. Do you know who set
him free?"
The boys both shook their
heads.
"It was Zendric." Moyra
raised her hand. "We're going in."
"This is beyond madness,"
Driskoll said as he followed Kellach and Moyra toward the stairwell.
"I've heard a lot of stories about people going into this place, and not
one of them ever turned out well."
"Zendric would go in
after any of us," Kellach said. "We can hardly do less."
Driskoll saw the
determination in Kellach and Moyra's eyes and let loose a deep sigh.
"Let's get it over with."
"It'll be darker than a
new moon down there," said Moyra. She dug into her pack and pulled out a
couple of torches. She lit them both and handed one to Driskoll. Kellach
lit the lantern they'd borrowed from Torin's closet.
The three friends nodded
at each other, then walked down the long stairs into the dungeons. At
the bottom of the stairwell, an open doorway beckoned, promising
adventure beyond. Someone has scrawled out a sign and posted it over the
door long ago.
"TURN BACK!" it read.
They walked past the sign
without a word.
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