This time, Jig had no complaints. The sluggish pace meant that he could test each tile before putting his full weight on it. He would press his back against the wall for balance and extend his toes to tap the next tile up the hall. If that felt safe, he ran to the opposite wall and did the same on that side. As the corridor was three tiles wide, this procedure eliminated all but one. The middle tile he simply tested with the ball of his foot. If something happened, he would be off-balance, but without a convenient wall to lean against, he had no choice in the matter.

Naturally it was a middle tile that turned out to be trapped. The corner sank a half inch, and Jig leaped back, flailing his arms for balance.

“Which tile?” shouted Darnak. He hurried to Jig’s side, counting as he went. “Ten, eleven, twelve . . . the thirteenth tile. Center one, right?”

Jig nodded. That had been too close. He could have easily fallen forward instead of back, and who knows what would have happened had he landed on the loose tile. But I didn’t. That was the important thing. He glanced to either side, waiting for the trap to spring.

Darnak’s quill scratched furiously as he penned a warning about the tile. Barius stepped closer, shoving Jig to one side. With his sword, Barius prodded the corner Jig had stepped on. Another click, but nothing else happened.

He tried again, harder this time. “Perhaps it’s stuck,” he mused. “The mechanism grown tired from disuse? A clumsy oversight by whomever maintains these tunnels. What could be more useless than a trapdoor that refuses to open when triggered by its prey?”

“Behind us,” Riana yelled. At the same instant, Smudge flashed red-hot.

Darnak whirled, blinding Jig as the lantern’s beam passed over his eyes. The rope tugged Jig forward, then went slack. Jig crashed into the wall and stayed there, out of the way. Whatever was coming, Barius had decided to keep both hands free to deal with it.

Jig blinked and squinted. Riana had stayed behind, next to him. He could make out the shapes of Darnak and the humans moving back up the tunnel. Beyond, more humanoid figures moved in silence. Jig saw the glint of weapons from the new-comers. What were they? His vision was bad enough without the party blocking his view.

Riana had drawn her stolen knife, and her chest moved rapidly as her breathing quickened. She and Jig both jumped at the first clang of steel against steel.

But what was it they fought? Where had they come from? He suspected it was something to do with the trapped panel, but he didn’t understand what.