“No, it’s not,” he said at last. He counted tiles and continued to draw as he spoke. “Never seen anything like it, truth be told. Mind you, Ryslind’s always been a queer one. But he never warred with himself like that. Makes me wonder if he hasn’t taken on more than he can handle with this quest.”

They walked in silence down the right-most of a three-way fork. If Darnak was right, could they trust Ryslind to lead them in the right direction? Without the dwarf’s help, would he have even made it this far?

“What did you do back there?” Jig asked.

“Eh?”

“When you prayed. You and Ryslind were connected somehow, and you stopped breathing.” At the dwarf’s scowl, he quickly said, “I didn’t mean to listen in. But you were distracted, so I thought someone should watch for more of those creatures.” Jig almost smiled as he thought up the lie. No goblin would have believed it. But Jig didn’t want to admit he had been eavesdropping. Fortunately, Darnak didn’t know goblins well enough to understand that rather than try to protect the others, the average goblin would have simply cut the dwarf’s throat and fled.

“Something’s been draining his strength,” Darnak said quietly. “Felt it when we first reached the mountain two days ago. Been growing ever since. Earthmaker can’t help him directly. Wizards don’t get along with gods, never have. But through Earthmaker, I can lend him a bit of power and will.”

He shook his head. “There’s some who’ll be telling you that dwarves have the thickest, hardest heads of any race in this world, and I’ll not argue with them. And a good thing for Ryslind, too, for without my help, I’ve no doubt he’d have lost himself when we came through that whirlpool. My help and that of the god, that is,” he amended hastily.

Jig bit off his next question as Darnak stopped to note another trap Ryslind had pointed out. When he finished, Jig asked, “How long until you can’t help him anymore?”

Darnak didn’t answer.

Despite Ryslind’s magic, they still triggered another trap. At least this time it wasn’t Jig’s fault. So intent was Darnak on mapping every detail of the tunnel that he stepped squarely on a trapped tile, even as he drew that same tile on the map.

Like before, a panel in the wall flickered and vanished. Another of the corpselike creatures looked up and raised his sword. Darnak dropped his quill and raised his club, screaming a battle cry.

Before he could attack, something flew by and hit the wall of the alcove. This triggered the magic again, and the panel reappeared seconds later. As the marble solidified, Jig imagined he saw a look of annoyance on the creature’s sunken face.