Jig didn’t answer. He studied the walls closely, wondering how he should go about searching for hidden doors. Dwarf logic aside, what made Darnak think there was a door here? Wouldn’t it make more sense to drop adventurers through the whirlpool into a room with no way out? Let them starve. That way the intruders died without a struggle. It would be easier and more effective than sending wave after wave of monsters to fight and die each time someone snuck through the lake.

The marble was smooth and cold to the touch. Jig shivered and wished for a fire to dry himself. Even Smudge’s warmth would have helped, but for once the fire-spider was uncooperatively cool, having steamed any trace of water from his small body.

Already he hated this place. He distrusted the magic that kept the lake from pouring in on them. If Jig and the others could pass through that barrier, how long before the lake broke free? The room itself was equally disorienting. At home the walls flowed into the floor, like liquid rock frozen in place. Which, if he were to believe Darnak’s crazy explanation, was exactly the case. The sharp corners of this room were alien, and they emphasized Jig’s sense that he didn’t belong.

Jig saw Riana rap her knuckles against the wall. She was listening for hollow areas, he realized. Knocking on a door would produce a different sound than knocking on a wall. How clever of her.

Jig followed the wall in the opposite direction, tapping and running his hands over the marble as he walked. He heard nothing unusual, and his knuckles swiftly began to complain. He took out his new sword and used the pommel to tap the wall instead. Still nothing.

By the time he ran into Riana on the opposite side of the room, Barius was up and pacing impatiently. Darnak’s prayers had apparently done wonders for the prince. Jig wished he could have seen exactly how this magic healing worked, but the dwarf had already pulled out fresh parchment to begin his new map.

“Have you found nothing?” Barius demanded.

Neither Jig nor Riana bothered to answer. The least you could do is help us search. But Jig knew enough to keep that thought to himself.

“The fool goblin has led us to a dead-end.” Barius glared at Jig, ignoring the fact that the fool goblin was just as trapped as the rest of them.

He was like Porak in that way. If things went wrong, he searched for a scapegoat. He had to first find someone to blame before he could try to solve the problem. Porak used to beat up the younger goblins every time he lost at Rakachak. Jig wondered if this was something all leaders did.

“Brother, use your art to find a way out of this trap.”