3

I continued creeping, then suddenly the blackness vanished. I looked up to see the Balrog straddling the crack, now holding a sword in place of the bow. The mindspeech came, angry this time, and it raised the sword swiftly. I ran for the end of the alley, and the sword swept down; I felt its very tip slit my braided hair in the back, but it missed me. I slammed one hand against the wall to steady myself, turned, and ran out from the alley.

The entrance to Mahal's Temple loomed over me, a giant edifice. We did not worship Mahal as Lord of the Universe (Him we knew by the Elvish name of Eru) but as our Maker. Any other day I would have been ritually purified before entering the Temple, body and mind; now I had no time, only enough to pause on the steps and whisper a quick prayer.

I leapt inside; the Demon-glare raced after me, turned the corner and sped into the hallowed area. I heard the Balrog pause-- even a creature such as it did not take stepping into Mahal's abode lightly. But the infidel dares all, and it continued after me. Its light ran through, seeking me once more, peering past the columns and into the highest recesses. But it did not find me.

Mahal's Temples are always built as fortresses as much as places of thanks. And here, in our greatest abode, we had made the ultimate fortress. At the back of the temple stood the mighty statue of Mahal, crowned with the Hammer and Gem-- symbols of what he gave to us, our tools and our materials. What was not apparent, and what my foe did not see, were the secret passages: within the walls and beneath the floor hid tunnels, treasuries, even two separate armories. Secret passages were hardly a rarity in Dwarven strongholds; rather, every one contained a well-known network, with the nexus always at the Temple.

But I sought not escape when I sought the Temple. It offered me something else entirely-- a trap. It was easily the only building large enough and strong enough to contain the Demon, making it the only real choice.

Speaking of the Demon: it had gone still again, and I felt that Power coursing out, trying to locate me. The same thing it had done back in the house, to find out I was behind it, and I knew it would find me. I could feel the tendrils of its spirit-senses spreading out, like a subsonic throbbing in the air: I willed them away, to the back of the Temple, to the ceiling, anywhere but to this corner, and yet they came.

I froze, not daring to breathe, as one headed straight for me. And yet-- it seemed to be blind, it passed through me and into the corner, then returned to the Demon from whence it came. And still the Balrog Hunted.

"Praise be to Mahal," I whispered under my breath. I knew the Maker had protected me, here in his Temple; the Demon turned and strode disappointed from the Temple, searching for my hiding place. Its glare faded away, its thrumming quieted to a distant murmur, and I was left alone. I slipped out of the cubicle just around the corner from the entrance and waited for my eyes to adjust.

Denied my enemy's light again, I had to deal with vaguest outlines and my recollection of the Temple layout. And deal with the Balrog's mindspeech, I remembered, as the strongest attack yet struck me-- it left my defenses quivering and me on my knees. Pure, unmixed fury. Not a single touch of the dross of other emotions slipped in. I smiled grimly; I seemed to be the first to escape it.

I contemplated how, exactly, to entrap the Balrog. I knew it had to be here, but what would I use? The columns would be ideal: knock them down on its head, bar the entrance, and let me go for the kill. But how could I get them to fall?

As if in answer, a thought blossomed in my head. I know it did not come from me, Mahal must have planted it there. The armories held many tools, one of which happened to be blasting equipment. A well-placed charge at the base of the columns I wanted to fall would leave them hanging from the ceiling; clearly they wouldn't be able to take that and would detach themselves and fall. I grinned and headed for the nearest armory.

As I returned, I managed to coincide with the Demon passing by again. I crouched back into the passage as its glow flickered into the Temple half-heartedly, then receded again. I waited until the thrumming had done so as well before exiting the tunnel.

Let's see: a charge at the base of each of the two front columns, so they'd fall towards each other; that would block the door. And then, these six here could all be prepared to fall towards one central position; I'd just need to figure out how to make the Balrog get in that position and it'd be helplessly trapped. And how was I to lure it in?

Clearly, anything deeply stupid would be a blatantly obvious invitation to a trap, and that wasn't going to work. It had to look like an accident, I mustn't appear to want it to come or the game would be up. I pondered the question as I placed the charges. And how would I set them off? Couldn't have them explode when the Balrog approached them. No. But I could use its flame to my advantage, anyway.

Our charges could be ignited by enough heat, but we usually set them off with fuses. A nice short fuse on the two at the door, fuses the Demon would light merely by entering, and they should block its escape nicely. For the six-- I frowned.

I finished setting the charges and readied the pair at the entrance. For the six, I decided on some of our lightning fuse; if I got the lengths to be identical, I'd have a maximum of two seconds from lighting it to the charges exploding. That should be enough.

Back to the armory, back to the charges, and everything was ready. I'd be somewhere near Mahal when I set off the fuses, and safely away from the explosions; if the worst came to the worst and the roof collapsed, well, the back of the Temple was the safest place to be. The trap was set, all I needed was the bait and the prey.