In The Cards 25 - Child's Play

Imps are strange creatures, sometimes hostile, sometimes simply mischievous. The imp to really beware is the one who insists on showing you something 'funny'. You probably won't like it. If you're unlucky the joke will turn out to be on you. If you're particularly unlucky, the joke will be you.

Excerpt from 'Ruminations Of A Master Bard'

Zaerini didn't know what exactly she had expected Ulcaster to look like. It certainly wasn't anything like this. She was floating inside what seemed to be some sort of large sphere. A black and starry sky surrounded her on all sides, even far below her feet. She could see actual constellations as well, and even recognized some. The stars were singing. Faint, silvery notes emanated from each one as they slowly turned around each other in an endless dance. The bard hoped she'd be able to remember even a fraction of that song afterwards.

"Amazing", Edwin said in a soft voice. "Though I question the wisdom of having your front door end up in empty space."

"Silly boy", a cackling voice interrupted him. "School set up for Testing, no rooms in usual places." The bard and the wizard turned their heads to see a small creature grinning at them. It was vaguely humanoid in form, with dark red skin, small but sharp horns on its head and a lashing tail with a wicked stinger.

"You're an imp, aren't you?" Rini asked. "Is Ulcaster your master?"

The little creature giggled. "Nimus has many masters", he said and lashed his tail. "Him little hardworking imp, does work masters sets him."

Edwin gave the imp a commanding look, something not very easy to do when floating in empty space. He almost managed to pull it off, but the fact that he started spinning slowly when he tried to move didn't help. "We seek knowledge, imp", he said. "A certain book. 'Dream Magic'. Tell us where it may be found."

"Books inside. Many, MANY books. You try library, maybe?"

"Ulcaster said it would be inside his study", Zaerini said. "Can you tell us how to get there?"

The imp grinned and rubbed its armpits, after which it smelled its own fingers carefully. "Through Tests", it said. "Is only way once Test has started."

"So how do we go about taking these Tests?"

Nimus giggled again and waved his small hand. A door appeared hanging in the air before him. "Through there", he said. "Is lots of fun. Nimus likes watching, seeing students go splash."

"Go splash?" Edwin asked in an apprehensive voice.

"Oh yes. When students fails, tests get very, very messy. Is very funny, but poor Nimus has to clean walls of gunk. That not so funny."

"Particularly for the students. (I'd like to kill Ulcaster for neglecting to mention that little detail if it wasn't for the fact that the bastard is already dead.)"

"We can't do anything about it", Rini said. "We have to go on."

"Not so fast", Nimus said. "First, you become proper students or Tests not work right. Nimus fix. This will be soooo funny!" The little imp muttered something and before either the bard or the wizard had the time to react a swirling rainbow-colored cloud sped towards them and enveloped them entirely. Zaerini tried to cry out but the sound that came out was oddly shrill. The colors were fluttering all around her, pressing in at her like a swarm of maddened butterflies, and her entire body was tingling. She felt…so…strange…

She was lying on her stomach, her nose almost touching the cold stone floor beneath her. Zaerini blinked and raised herself up on her elbows. Funny. There was something about the shape of her hand… Then she gasped. Her hand wasn't her hand anymore. Or rather, it wasn't the hand she'd woken up with this morning, though it was still very much attached to her arm. This hand was small and rather dirty, the nails thoroughly chewed. Her arms and legs were thin, and even more importantly, short. Her body was much smaller than it ought to be, and much flatter. It might as well belong to a boy. And her voice had sounded awfully squeaky…

I can't believe this, the half-elf thought. I'm a child! Without a mirror it was difficult to tell how old she was but judging by what she could see of herself she ought to be eight or so.

"Oops!" a giggling voice said out of empty air. "Nimus almost forgot…"

And Zaerini felt something like a warm blanket settling around her mind. When the feeling passed, she wondered what she'd been thinking before. There was nothing wrong with her. She looked exactly like she was supposed to look, except that she couldn't think why she'd be wearing black leather trousers and a matching vest. It wasn't the sort of thing Gorion would normally let her get away with. Oh, well. She might as well enjoy it while she could. It really looked neat. Like something a grownup would wear.

The little girl got to her feet and looked about her. She was in a large room, completely empty but with several doors leading out of it, illuminated by a soft and pleasant light with no obvious source. There was a large stone statue next to each door, each one portraying a different animal. The closest one was a bear standing on its hind legs, its jaws open and growling, and the next one seemed to be a large dog. No, a wolf. Apart from the doors and the statues the room was quite empty. Quite empty, that was, except for the other person occupying it.

A small human boy was sitting on the floor on the other side of the room, looking rather confused. As he saw the approaching half-elf he hurriedly got to his feet and gave her a suspicious look. He seemed to be her own age, but it was with no little satisfaction that Rini noticed that he was actually shorter than she was. She was so tired of being the smallest child around Candlekeep. Even Immy was taller than she was, and she was younger. It just wasn't fair. The strange boy had dark eyes and tousled black hair that looked like it hadn't seen a comb in days. Rini felt instant sympathy. Her own red locks steadfastly resisted all Gorion's attempts at producing anything faintly resembling neatness. She couldn't really see the point of neatness anyway. It wasn't as if it was going to last. Strangely enough the boy was wearing what seemed to be actual mage robes, colored a rich red. There were a few splatters of black ink on his hands and another on his cheek.

"Hello", Rini said cautiously. She'd learnt the hard way that most of the children at Candlekeep viewed her pointy ears and weirdly colored eyes with extreme hostility. Imoen was her friend, but none of the others really liked her, even when she tried to be nice. Still, if this kid wanted to jump her, she was fairly sure she could beat him up, and just standing around staring at him seemed pretty stupid. "I'm Rini. Who are you?"

"I'm Edwin Odesseiron", the boy said, sounding like he expected her to be impressed by this fact. His face fell a little when the half-elf didn't react with anything but a blank look. "Where are we?"

"I'm not sure", Rini said. Now that she thought about it, she really couldn't remember how she'd got here. "The last thing I can remember is that I was climbing the tallest apple tree back home when I heard this really odd voice and lost my grip. Then I was here."

"Really?" the boy said. "That's weird. I was doing homework, and I think I fell asleep. When I woke up, I was lying on the floor. Now that you mention it, I think I heard a strange voice too." He rubbed absentmindedly at the inkspots on his hand. "And that essay on basic enchantments was due tomorrow too… I've gotta get home or I'll be in big trouble!"

"You're a wizard?" Rini asked.

"Sure! I'm a great wizard! The greatest who ever lived, probably." Edwin struck a dramatic pose, and then he noticed the girl's skeptical look. "It's true! At least it will be once I grow up." He looked at himself with some puzzlement. "I kinda wonder why I'm wearing red though…I'm not supposed to do that till I get older." He watched Zaerini with obvious interest. "Say, you have really strange eyes, did you know that?"

Oh great, the girl thought. Here we go again. "I know that!" she retorted. "I do look in the mirror now and then you know. And if you say anything about how weird or ugly they are, I'm going to hit you. Hard."

"I wasn't going to!" Edwin said. He sounded a little insulted. "Well, they are weird, but not ugly. I think it looks kind of neat, actually. Reminds me of the tiger at home."

"You have a tiger?" Zaerini asked, completely forgetting her anger. "That is so awesome!"

"Well, it's stuffed." Edwin grinned. "But I've put this cantrip on it, so I can make it growl just like a live one. You won't believe how much fun I've had with that."

"I think I do", the half-elf said, her quick mind recognizing the endless possibilities for fun with unknowing strangers. Or Ulraunt… "So what about its eyes then?"

"Oh. Well, its eyes are yellow, sort of like yours, except they're glass of course. That's what you reminded me of. The yellow part, not the glassy part."

"Gee, thanks."

"Are you an elf then? Your ears are sort of pointy…"

"Half-elf."

"Really? I don't think I've ever met a half-elf. Say, is it true that you can see in the dark?"

Rini nodded proudly. "I can see anything that's live and warm", she said. "It's kind of hard to explain. There's this sort of red glow around people that I can see even when it's all dark around."

"That sounds useful."

"It sure is", Rini said, pleased at this opportunity to have her mixed heritage viewed with envy rather than with resentment. "Makes pulling pranks lots easier. I can usually see people coming long before they see me. They never could prove what happened to that cake…"

Edwin sighed. "Wish I could do that", he said. "Then I wouldn't have got detention last week. It wasn't as if I meant for those toads to get into the soup. It was an accident waiting to happen, I tell you."

Rini laughed. And then she cocked her head in surprise at the sound that emerged from the backpack she was wearing. It was a tiny meow, and it was followed by a fluffy black head. A small black kitten crawled out of the pack and into the girl's arms, blinking sleepily at the two children. "Softy!" the girl exclaimed and hugged the kitten who protested loudly. "That's a good kitty!"

Hey! The voice inside Rini's head was small and petulant. Stop squeezing me! Where's my dinner, anyway?

"She's yours?" Edwin asked, a look of total adoration on his face. "She's really yours?"

"Yep", the half-elf said with a big smile and stroked the soft fur. "She's my familiar. Isn't she great?" Something was strange though, Rini thought. She knew that what she said was true, but she couldn't remember exactly when she got her cat. How could she have forgotten a thing like that?

"She really is…", Edwin said. "Wish I had a familiar too. I had a monkey once, but that didn't really work out. I can't believe you have a familiar of your own!" He looked really envious.

"Um…want to hold her a bit? If she lets you?"

"Can I? Really?" The boy eagerly held out his arms to the kitten and held her carefully while he petted her. The kitten started to purr softly.

"So", Rini said after a while, "how d'you suppose we got here? And how do we get back?"

"I guess it's some kind of curse", Edwin said, his small face frowning as he thought the matter over. "But I don't know how it could have happened, and I don't know what curse it is. And that's kind of strange, I know lots of curses. I guess we just have to go on and see where we wind up. Unless it's a dream of course." He reached over and pinched the Rini hard on the arm.

"HEY! What did you do that for?"

"I wanted to see if it was a dream."

"Then you should pinch yourself."

"Why would I do that? That would hurt."

"I'll give you hurt!" The half-elf threw herself at Edwin, knocking him flat on his back. Within seconds the two children were engaged in an informal wrestling match that ended with them rolling all over the floor until they collided with a statue of a large snake. They were more or less evenly matched and all in all the fight was a very satisfying one. Neither got really hurt and when they saw the huge stone snake stare down at them with a disapproving look in its eyes, they both broke out in wild giggles.

"Truce?" Edwin asked.

"All right. But you'd better not pinch me again. D'you suppose we ought to go through one of these doors?"

"Guess so. But which one?" The two children wandered around the room, examining all the statues. Eventually they settled upon the snake, mostly because Edwin insisted that snakes meant luck. The door opened easily enough, and they went through it with Softpaws once again safely tucked into Zaerini's pack, still bickering about whether the snake statue was supposed to be a cobra or a rock adder. So preoccupied were they that they hardly noticed that the door disappeared behind them, blocking the way back.

The children came out inside a dimly lit chamber, and it took a few moments for them to get their bearings. Then they saw what was inside the room with them and they both screamed like banshees.

The large lizard was easily the size of a pony, although with shorter and more bowed legs. It was a dusty and uneven brown, and when it slowly opened its mouth Rini could see that its teeth were as long as her hand.

"Basilisk!" Edwin gasped; his voice filled with dread. "Don't look at it or it'll stone you!"

"I know that", Rini hissed. "Keep it down!" The basilisk was lying on the far side of the room, yawning. The two children had managed to awaken it with the scream they had uttered as they entered the room, but it hadn't yet spotted them. The room was more of a large cave than an actual room, with a low stone ceiling from which stalactites hung. Water dripped endlessly into a dark pool near one of the walls and the light was dim. At one end a shining sword hung on the wall, and next to it stood a large shield partially covered by the dark red cloak that hung over it. What little could be seen of it gleamed brightly.

"Keep it down yourself!"

"You started it!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Not, not, not!"

"Too, too, too!"

"Not, infinity!"

"Ha! I declare this Opposite Day! That means you just admitted it!"

"Ha! I've got a Magic Mirror to reflect your Opposite Day, and that means I win. Nyah!" Edwin stuck his tongue out and gave Rini a triumphant look. The half-elf girl responded by sticking her thumbs in her ears, wiggling her fingers and making herself as cross-eyed as she could.

Are you going to be much longer? The voice of Softpaws inside Rini's head was petulant. I want to play now. Can we hunt that big lizard that's coming over this way?

Zaerini swallowed loudly. In her eagerness to win the argument she'd quite forgotten about the basilisk. Now she could hear scratching noises rapidly approaching from behind, like claws and scales scraping against a stone floor. "Uh-Oh…", she said and gave Edwin a worried look. "I think we're in trouble. Big trouble." The slightly panicky look in the boy's dark eyes told her that he'd just realized the same thing.

"Um…no problem", Edwin said. "I've got a plan."

"What plan?"

"RUN!" He immediately followed his own advice and took off like a rabbit on fire. Rini was startled for a second, but then she soon caught up with him. She was clutching her kitten, so she couldn't run as fast as she might have otherwise, but Edwin was slowed by his mage robes. He had to keep a steady grip on them in order not to trip. It would have looked funny if it wasn't for the growl of the basilisk nearing them from behind. Rini wanted nothing more than to look over her shoulder to see how close it was, but she didn't dare. Then she suddenly felt something yanking her arm.

"In here!" Edwin yelled and pulled the startled girl along with him and in behind the great shield. Both children huddled on the floor, their hearts beating like the fluttering wings of trapped birds, their breathing quick and shallow. They could almost feel the hot breath of the basilisk by now. "O-on the count of three", Edwin said, holding a corner of the red cloak covering the shield in a death grip. "One…two…THREE!" The children hurriedly yanked the cloak off even as the basilisk was about to raise its scaly paw to knock the shield aside.

Silence. More silence. All was deathly quiet, except for the frenzied sound of frightened breathing coming from behind the shield. "T-think I should go look?" Rini eventually said, her voice trembling.

"No!" Edwin was very pale. "Suppose it's just lying in wait for us? You could get killed!"

"Well, we can't stay here forever, can we?"

You're boring me, Softpaws declared. The small black kitten twisted out of Zaerini's arms and slipped out from behind the shield, ignoring her young mistress' protests. I want to play now.

"Softy!" Rini screamed and ran after the cat, only vaguely aware of Edwin coming after her, yelling for her to stop. Then she did stop, and the boy ran into her back, causing them both to wind up on the floor. Once they had managed to figure out which arms and legs belonged to whom they both stared at the sight that met them. The enormous basilisk was standing motionless in front of them, one paw still in the air, snout wide open to display the terrible poisonous teeth. It was now an even gray, a mere stone statue of itself. In the shining surface of the large shield the basilisk's reflection still looked back at it with mute horror. Softpaws was crouching in front of the beast, hissing loudly and batting at it with a tiny paw.

Hssst! the kitten spat. Die, creature! I'll catch you wherever you run! Then I'll let you go, and then I'll catch you, and then I'll let you go, and then I'll catch you, and then…

Softy! It's dead already.

Oh. I knew that. The kitten licked her nose and looked tremendously embarrassed. I just wanted to see if you'd noticed. What are you staring at anyway?

"Wow…", Edwin said and touched the gray snout of the basilisk. "It really worked! Wait till I tell everybody at home that I killed a basilisk all by myself! They'll have to let me try demon summoning now."

"Ahem…" Rini said, clearing her throat in a meaningful fashion and pushing her red hair out of her eyes. "We killed it, remember?"

For a moment Edwin looked as if he was going to protest this idea, but then he grinned. "Oh, all right. I suppose you helped. A little. But it was still my idea. I'm so clever that all the cleverness is almost leaking out of my ears! Say, when I become a Great Wizard you can be my assistant if you like. You're actually pretty brave."

"Don't be silly. I'm going to be an adventurer on my own. You can be my assistant if you want." Rini thought about this for a few more seconds. "Or we could be each other'sassistants, I suppose. Then we could both be in charge as well."

Edwin was just about to answer when a deep and booming voice spoke out of empty air. "You have passed the Test of Cunning", it said. "Like the snake, you have proved yourself capable of disabling a foe larger and fiercer than you are. You may proceed, once you find your way."

The two children looked at each other. "Do you remember anything about Tests?" Rini asked, a puzzled look in her golden eyes.

Edwin shook his head. "Nope", he said. "Last test I had was two weeks ago, on elementals. Sometimes I get unannounced ones, but nothing like this, nothing really dangerous."

"Me neither", the half-elf girl said. "Gorion wouldn't allow it. I guess we'll find out what's going on soon enough. Anyway, it was rather clever dealing with the basilisk like that. How did you know?"

Edwin preened proudly. "I know lots about strange beasts", he said. "It's my favorite subject and I'm really excellent at it, that's why I'm going to be a Conjurer one day. I remembered that if you can get a basilisk to look at itself in a mirror it'll turn itself to stone, and I figured the shield would work." His smile turned dreamy. "I tried to hatch a basilisk under my bed once", he said.

"WHY?!"

"Just to see if I could do it. You know. An exp…expri…peri…exrip…thingy. Like grownups do when they want to find out how something works." His small face darkened a little and settled into a pout. "But then I got found out. You won't believe how much trouble I got into with my teacher over that. He said that it was 'at least considerate of me to try to kill myself in a manner that would leave my poor grieving parents with a memorial effigy.'" As he spoke the last sentence his voice changed subtly, taking on a highly sarcastic note.

"Ouch", Rini said, wincing.

"Tell me about it. So, want to see about getting out of here?"

"All right."

The children circled the walls of the room until they eventually came across a door that had appeared opposite the one they had entered through. It was small, so small that a grownup couldn't have walked through it without crouching and there were silvery runes written all over it. "That's elvish", Rini said. "It says…let's see…'The Test of Persistence lies ahead. Wizard, follow in my footsteps, stand fast against all hardships, and you shall prevail. Falter, surrender, and you shall fail.' And there's a picture of a wolf next to it, see?"

"I suppose that makes sense", Edwin mused. "I've heard that they can run for days and hardly stop at all. So how do we open the door?"

"Dunno. It doesn't say." The half-elf pushed at the door, without getting any result. "Think it's magical?"

"Guess so." Edwin drew himself up to his full and rather unimpressive height. "Leave this to me. I know all about unlocking spells. Don't you worry, I'll get us home in no time at all."

"I'm not worried", the redheaded little girl said with a small shrug. "But it's nice of you to care all the same. Go ahead then."

Edwin started ticking spells off on his fingers, muttering to himself all the while. "Let's see…there's 'Bigby's Crushing Ram'…can't cast that one yet. Pity, that would be fun. And Senile Scaramangi's 'Oops, Not Again'. But that one only works when you've locked your own keys inside. Or maybe…yes, it's worth a try. 'Burglar's Delight'." He moved his hands in a complicated pattern and said 'Burglaris Beneficialis' in a loud voice and then pushed at the door again. Nothing whatsoever happened. "Oh", Edwin said, looking disappointed though he tried his best to hide it. "I guess there must be a really powerful ward spell on that door if it holds against even my magic."

"Or maybe", Rini said, "it's because this door opens outward, not inward." The girl had been kneeling by the door while Edwin rattled through his spells, examining it closely until she found a small and almost invisible handle. Now it swung open easily as she pulled at it and a dark tunnel became visible.

"Well", Edwin said, holding on to the shreds of his dignity, "I suppose that could be it. I would have figured it out in a moment, you know. Probably sooner."

"As if", Rini said and picked up her kitten.

"Would so!"

"Would not!"

As they passed into the tunnel the sound of their bickering voices was abruptly cut off when the door swung shut behind them, leaving them in complete and impenetrable darkness. The door shimmered for a moment, then winked out of existence. There was, once again, no way back.

It was pitch dark. Rini couldn't see anything of her surroundings, but she sensed that she was inside a narrow tunnel. The air didn't move enough for it to be another large cave. She reached out a hand to touch a smooth stone wall. Once her eyes adapted to darksight she could make out Edwin by the red glow of his bodyheat. The boy was still standing where the door had been, looking about himself nervously, but obviously without seeing anything at all. "Um…Rini?" he said, and his voice trembled just a little bit. "You still there?"

"Right here", the girl said and reached out to touch his arm.

Edwin jumped into the air with a yelp and banged his head on the ceiling. "Don't do that!" he said in a plaintive voice. "You spooked me half to…er…that is…"

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

"I wasn't scared! I'm never scared! I was just…surprised. Er…can you see anything at all?"

Rini shook her head and then remembered that her new friend couldn't see her. "Just you", she said. "Oh, and Softy of course. You don't know how to conjure mage light, by any chance, do you?"

"I already tried", Edwin said. "It doesn't seem to work in here." He sighed. "I really wish I could see in the dark like you can", he said. "There's a spell that does the same thing, but it's divination."

"So?"

"Don't you know anything? I'm supposed to do conjuration magic when I grow up, remember? And that means I can't do divination or my mind will grow into all the wrong shape."

"Your mind already is the wrong shape", Rini muttered. "I was only asking, you know."

Are you coming or not? Softpaws asked. The fluffy kitten sat on the floor, the red glow surrounding her making her take on an almost hellish appearance, apart from the fluffiness that was. I want to go hunting. See all these tracks? I bet I can make a major kill if I can just sneak up on whatever made them…

Indeed, there were tracks on the floor, footprints glowing with warmth. They had to have been made from magic. No real print would stay warm long enough to give off visible heat. They were animal prints, paws and hooves mixed all together before leading off in different directions and into different tunnels. "Wow…" the young girl said. "That's really neat…" She described her findings to Edwin.

"I guess we're meant to follow one of them", the boy said. "But I don't know how we're going to figure out which."

"I do! There was a wolf on the door, remember? That has to be it!" Then the half-elf remembered something, and she felt a keen sting of disappointment. "Except I don't know what wolf prints look like", she admitted.

"I thought elves knew all about animals and forests and things like that."

"Duh! I'm a half-elf remember? And besides, forests are boring. Just a lot of trees. Nothing exciting happens in stupid old forests."

"Well, it so happens that I know what wolf prints look like. I read it in a book." Following Edwin's description, the two children were eventually able to work out which prints looked like they could belong to a wolf.

"Guess we'd better get going", Rini said. "Here, hold my hand."

"I'm not holding hands!" Edwin exclaimed, sounding mortally offended. "What do you think I am, some sort of scared little baby?"

"No, I think you're a human and unable to see in the darkness. Do you want to get lost in here?"

"Oh. I guess that's all right then. As long as you remember, I'm never scared." His grip on her hand was very tight though, and made the half-elf decide that he was probably lying. She didn't press the issue, however. After all, she really didn't want him to go and get himself lost.

"I hope there aren't any traps in here", Edwin suddenly said as they were about to enter the next tunnel. "Only…I've heard some stories about dungeons. And about traps. Like these big spike traps that tear you to pieces, or the ones with giant boulders that smash you, or the ones with fireballs that burn you all up…"

"Immy likes traps too", Rini said, suddenly feeling very worried. "She told me that they're impossible to see unless you're a trained thief…"

"I mean…I enjoyed those stories when I was at home, but it's a bit different when you're actually in a dungeon, isn't it?"

"Yeah…Well, we can't do anything about it. Pity we don't have a thief here."

"Yes", Edwin said with a deep sigh. "Pity."

The children walked in quiet for a while, Softpaws running ahead of them as they followed the wolf prints though the twisting labyrinth of tunnels. They were still holding hands. Rini decided that she rather liked that. It felt good. The darkness was oppressive, and she couldn't help thinking about how many dangerous monsters might be waiting around the next corner. Besides, it was boring the way she couldn't see anything of her surroundings except those footprints. "Wish there was some more light", she said. "We could stop to play some."

Edwin nodded. "That would be fun", he agreed. "But maybe we'll get out soon. Hey, I have a great idea. Once we get out, how about if I ask whether you can come over to my place and play some time?"

"Sure! I'd like that. And you can come over to see me too, Gorion won't mind."

"Is Gorion your father?"

Rini paused and when she spoke again her voice was tinged with sadness. "Yes", she said. "Well, my birth parents are both dead, but he's the best father anyone could have. I wish he was my really real one. Sometimes I pretend that he is."

Edwin's grip on her hand tightened a little. "I'm sorry", he said. "I know how you feel. Er…not that my parents are dead or anything, but…um…nevermind."

"Thanks. It could be much worse, I guess. I mean, I don't even really know my parents, they died while I was still too little to remember them. And Gorion really loves me, so I guess he's all the father I'll ever need, you see."

"Yes…yes I see. I suppose you're right. So…anyway…what kind of games do you like to play?"

"Oh, lots of kinds. Reading, climbing trees, going swimming, card games, pretend games…Once my friend Immy and me pretended that we were evil dragons."

"How do you do that?" Edwin asked, sounding very interested.

"Well, mostly we jumped out at people from behind corners and roared at them. Then we thought that we ought to learn how to fly so we could be proper dragons. So we made ourselves a pair of wings each." She frowned. "Gorion caught us before we could try them out though. I still think they would have worked. Don't know what all the fuss was about."

"Oooh!" Edwin said in a fascinated voice. "Wings, did you say? I'll have to try that when I get home. Sounds really exciting. I can see it now - Edwin Odesseiron, the Magnificent Flying Wizard. Or d'you suppose I should get a codename?"

"Why?"

"So people won't know my secret identity, of course."

"But I already know your real name."

"Well, that's all right. You can know it if you want to, as long as you don't tell anyone. But if you have secret powers, you're supposed to have a cool secret name. It's part of the rules. How does 'The Boy Marvel' sound?"

Rini snorted. "Really silly", she said.

"Oh. How about 'Mr Magnificent'? Or 'Magical Mayhem'? Or 'Red Lightning'? Or 'The Dread Wizard'?"

"The last one. Definitely. Got one for me as well?"

"Sure! Um…how about 'Hellkitten'?"

Rini grinned widely. "I like that!" she said. "Sounds dangerous." She made a growling sound and extended her fingers like claws. "Rrrrr! I'm the mighty Hellkitten, and if any mean old monsters turn up to fight me, I'll scratch their eyes out and eat their souls!" She giggled loudly and was happy to hear her friend join in. Suddenly the darkness didn't seem all that frightening anymore.

The children walked on. Rini wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it felt like a really long time. She was starting to get hungry. Dreadfully, terribly hungry. It was like a small animal was trying to gnaw its way out of her stomach. She couldn't understand it, it was too much, too sudden. It was getting more and more difficult to see the glowing pawprints on the floor, she was so tired, and her head was spinning. More than once she had to stop and go back a little after taking the wrong path. And it was getting colder too, she was shivering like a leaf. Suddenly the tunnel came to an abrupt halt. The wolfprints simply disappeared under a wall.

"What's wrong?" Edwin asked at the half-elf's horrified gasp. He, too, was obviously exhausted, his face was pale and drawn and more than once he had stumbled and nearly fallen. Once Rini had explained what she saw his lower lip started trembling. "No!" he protested. "That can't be true. You're…you're just making it up, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not", the girl said in a dull voice. She sat down with her back against the wall that stood in the way of their way out, half hoping that it would prove to be an illusion. Unfortunately, it was all too real. "We're trapped in here forever. We can't get out." She sniffed. The dreadful hunger was tearing at her insides. "I'm so hungry…and it's cold. I…I don't want to be here any longer. I want Gorion!" Tears started trickling down her cheeks.

Edwin had plopped down next to her, and he wasn't any better off than she was. "I'm tired!" he wailed, his head resting against his knees. "And freezing! I…I want to go HOME!" His thin shoulders started shaking violently with silent sobs.

Both children cried until they didn't have the strength to cry any longer. Then they simply sat there for a while, huddling close to each other to try to keep warm. But it wasn't enough. Rini knew that they wouldn't last much longer before they froze to death. And yet…something stirred within her. Gorion had always said that she was the most stubborn child he'd ever known. If somebody told her something couldn't be done, she wouldn't give up until she'd done it. She wouldn't give up. She couldn't give up. And besides, she wasn't alone. She couldn't just lie down and die when her friend was in trouble along with her. "Hey…", she said, patting Edwin on the cheek. "Don't cry."

"I'm n-n-not crying! I j-j-just have a cold!"

"Whatever. I just thought of something. There has to be a way out. Remember what that writing on the door said? 'Falter, surrender and you shall fail'? That has to mean that it's possible to get out as long as you don't give up. We'll just have to think of something. And we will. We're Hellkitten and the Dread Wizard, remember? We'll beat this dumb old maze yet."

Edwin sniffled for a few more moments, and then his face suddenly took on a determined look. "You're right", he said. "We'll make it." His eyes lit up. "Wait, I just remembered something!" He carefully extricated two rather crumbling and broken cookies from one of his belt pouches. "Here", he said, holding out one of them to his companion. "I stole these in the kitchen this morning. I can't believe I forgot about them." The smell was wonderful, sweet and spicy. Rini gulped the cookie down in just under ten seconds. When she was done, she felt a little better. Still a bit hungry, but less cold. "We should probably try to get some rest as well before we go on", Edwin said in a thoughtful voice. "Otherwise we'll probably just get lost. Except…I'm not sure if I can go to sleep in here."

The half-elf thought about this. "Here", she said. "Let me try something. I've done it for Immy sometimes, and for myself when I've had a nightmare." She cleared her throat and started singing softly. It was a silly little song she'd made up herself, about a knight in shining armor who rode out to rescue a princess from a dragon. In the song the knight ended up engaged to the dragon instead, mainly because he couldn't see very well through his helmet, and the princess ran off to become a powerful sorceress.

"Mmm, I like that", Edwin said sleepily. He was leaning his head against the girl's shoulder by now and he had a smile on his face. "Stupid…knight. Wizards…much smarter…" His eyelids fell shut and his breathing became slow and steady. Rini carefully touched his face. He felt much warmer already. Good. She felt better herself as well, as she sang, she had felt a pleasant warmth spreading through her, and the hunger and fear was subsiding as well. With a pleased sigh she nestled closer to the sleeping boy, wrapping her arm around him. Softpaws settled onto her lap and added to the feeling of comfort and safety. Before long she drifted off into peaceful sleep.

The children slept deeply, still huddling close to each other like a heap of sleeping puppies. Thus they were unaware of the voice that echoed through the chamber. "You have passed the Test of Persistence", it said. "Like the wolf in winter you have endured, defying hunger, cold and despair without surrendering to them. You have been found worthy, for a mage must be ready to suffer for his magic and not give up at the first obstacle. You may proceed." The children still slept, and around them the dungeon started rearranging itself into a new configuration.