Chapter 11

"We could have had such fun writing anonymous letters to the ministry if Albus hadn't forbidden it" said Abraxus, mournfully.

"Yes… we could have written that Derwent is really a muggle, not even muggleborn, who had a down on wizards and has been infesting all our animals and kit with Chizpurfles" said Hawke.

"Muggles can't detect or handle chizpurfles" said Ellie.

"No, but I bet most ministry oiks don't know that" said Hawke "They still think that muggles copy magical effects with technology and that the worst weapons they have are poor copies of goblin flintlock pistols."

"We could write that Voldemort possessed a first year – now a second year – and that the children of deatheaters are getting morsmordre on their arms" said Willow.

"I could understand them checking that one" said Abraxus.

"What, without confirmation from the Order of the Phoenix people here? They'd have to be barmy to come roaring in without anything but the unsupported word of one child; and it'd be a real cheek after Harry was disbelieved even with adult backup from Albus and Sev!" Willow said indignantly.

"They are barmy. And inconsistent" said Hawke "And they only check on things they aren't scared of. You did quite right to write to uncle Lucius to put the fear of him into Witherspoon, brother mine. Any other ideas?"

"Yeah, I got a good one" said Kinat "That one of the class is really a wereknarl who believes in hedgehog rights and who plans to take over Hogwarts by force as a protest over turning hedgehogs into pincushions."

There was an awed silence

"That is so brilliant" said Romulus "Oh boy I wish we hadn't been forbidden."

"WE've been forbidden" said Willow "But what if we discuss our concerns and some little busybody overhears us? It's not our fault if they decide to act improperly and tell the ministry not go to Professor Dumbledore first."

"Isn't that breaking the spirit of the prohibition?" asked Myrtle.

"In spades; but he only forbade us to stop us from inundating the ministry with creative absurdities and getting into trouble" said Abrax "And I for one would like to see DERWENT get into trouble over this. We need to pick someone relatively harmless to be our supposed Knarl but who isn't going to be upset.

"Cynner Strong?" suggested Romulus.

"Emerald Lenoir?. Her dad's as rich as Croesus and she'll think it's a laugh" said Hawke.

"Lynx Black Weasley; she's a junior marauder and thinks EVERYTHING is a laugh" said Kinat.

"ARE there such things as wereknarls? Or even werehedgehogs?" asked Ellie.

"Who cares? There are now – at least in our fertile and wicked imaginations" said Hawke. "Somehow I doubt it; oh no, that hedgehog is going for my throat, oh dear, I knocked it to the ground from where it leaped at kneeheight."

"A WEREknarl would be human sized though perhaps?" said Willow.

"Gotta be…not so scary otherwise" said Kinat "How about we approach this like, this is terrible what's happened to young Lynx, we have to protect her and stop people finding out, and stop her too from doing anything too drastic…do we dare tell professor Snape and see if he can make a knarlbane potion like the wolfbane potion….if we first ask you to look up when the moon is full, Willow 'cos everyone KNOWS you're a walking almanac. We can take the rest of the term busily setting this up, between exploring for hidden passages."

"All right, I don't know about passages and it's not my business" laughed Ellie "Us girls are out of it…except maybe Willow."

"I'm busy tying Padfoot down" said Willow demurely.

"He's into bondage?" asked Hawke.

"Metaphorically, idiot!" said Willow.

They broke up laughing and went to ask Lynx if she'd like to be bait for a gotcha to a bully.

Naturally Lynx was more than up for it!

Willow was with Sirius when Lucius turned up.

"I found out who owns that dire apartment" he said without preamble. "You were ready to bite the owner, weren't you Willow?"

"Nobody ought to be allowed to force other people to live like that" said Willow. "Why, is it you, Lucius? I'm prepared to accept that you've so much property that a dishonest factor could assure you he was spending the money you budgeted for and was actually pocketing it. I actually trust you."

"Thank you Willow; I appreciate that" said Lucius "So you'll maybe be prepared to be as reasonable over who really does own it."

"Who?" said Willow.

"Sirius Black" said Lucius, looking at Sirius.

Sirius paled beneath his tan.

"I own an apartment block?" he asked.

"You own several old boy" said Lucius "That one and a few in the Obscura Alley-Umbrous Lane complex of streets in Hammersmith. As do I – the latter. And yes, Willow, my factor has been feathering his nest at my expense, but fairly judiciously, so I scared him well, and promised him that if he did so again he would look so odd turned inside out that he'd have trouble getting an apartment even at the northern end of Umbrous Place."

"Is that bad?" said Willow.

"It's the end predominantly occupied by goblins who work in the factories off Umbrous Alley" said Lucius "I own a few of those too….as to Obscura Alley it's where the likes of Kordach the crime lord live. He's at the more salubrious end, of course."

"I shall have to find out who my factor is" said Sirius grimly "AFTER I have personally inspected this dire building of mine and any other properties I own. Thank you Lucius; I am shamed."

Lucius shrugged.

"We've been a little preoccupied, old boy" he said "And for thirteen years, you more than most…."

"Yes; but I guess I should have checked what I owned" sighed Sirius. "Perhaps I can slip over at the weekend….what is it Hermione always used to say to express deep emotion? Merlin's Pants!"

"I could think of a few other more cogent verbal ejaculata" said Lucius "But I suppose for a Gryffindor…."

The Marauders meantime had set off to explore the goblin passage. They had taken the precaution of tickling the painted pear, making it giggle and squirm, to access the kitchens and made big hungry eyes at the kitchen elves to get sandwiches and fruit to take with them; and because they were prime favourites with the elves were also given big slabs of cake.

"Enough here to keep us going for half a week" Kinat gloated.

"I'll remind you of that when you've eaten it all on the march after about half an hour and start complaining that you're hungry" laughed Romulus "You're the smallest of all of us, and yet somehow the greediest!"

"Well, I got more growing to do, haven't I?" said Kinat.

The passage set off towards the lake.

"It's almost alongside the Slytherin common room" said Hawke, who was accounted the best geomancer of the group. "Nice piece of planning; and I use the word nice in its proper sense."

"We're under the lake, aren't we, just here" said Abraxus "It's quite damp feeling."

"But only skirting it; look we're sloping up a bit now" said Hawke "Guess they liked straight lines; me I'd have skirted it. It's getting drier now."

They went on.

"Lot of cobwebs" said Kinat, with some distaste. Kinat was not fond of spiders.

"Lot of BIG cobwebs" said Romulus, grimly "As in acromantula sized; reckon this must come out in the Forbidden forest"

"Can't, if it keeps going this way" said Abraxus "The Forbidden Forest is East of the castle and we're going determinedly Southish."

"Y'reckon they went straight to be on a ley line?" asked Romulus.

"I can't feel one…" said Hawke.

"It may be they were following an easily excavated stratum of rock" said Kinat "I know the mundane and easy reasons are boring but they're more often than not the right ones."

They laughed.

"Practical as always!" said Hawke "I'd not disagree!"

They went on.

"Look, there's a passage opens off to the left; and it's well cobwebby. I TOLD you it had an exit in the Forbidden Forest" said Romulus "And there's one of Aragog's grandchildren" as a spider about six inches across scurried from their lit wands.

"Technically they're only half or at best part acromantulas" said Hawke "Being descended from Aragog from ordinary spiders"

"Well whoop-de-doo" said Kinat "They're still big and hairy and have way too many legs and eyes. Why is there never a Basilisk around when you want one?"

"Y'know, sometimes the cure is worse than the symptom" said Romulus "I think I prefer spiders to a basilisk; at least spiders can be exploded by spells, basilisks are a teensy bit resistant to anything much short of Gryffindor's sword in case you hadn't noticed."

"It'd like us we're Parselmouths" said Kinat, firmly. "All right, we need some kind of strategy here; go on, or turn left. Me, I don't like the idea of having spiders behind us, I vote we go left and deal with them as we come to them and see if we can't find a way to block them out; failing that we may have to collapse the roof a little bit."

"I agree" said Abraxus "I think we should take any side passages as we come to them anyway, unless there's good reason not to, and I think we need to prioritise making the passage safe. And that means spider-free."

They continued up the passage, the little spiders fleeing from them; until two larger ones, some three feet across decided to make a stand. Romulus and Kinat were taking their turn at the front with ready wands while the Malfoy twins used their wands for illumination.

Kinat promptly turned a blasting spell on one, showering the passage with bits of foul-smelling exploded spider; and Romulus turned the other into a rabbit.

"I don't like killing things unnecessarily" he explained "And it's less messy than Kinat's method."

Hawke wiped some bits of spider off himself.

"Yeah" he said "Of course, it'll have a job to escape uneaten by the other spiders, but I guess that's not really our problem. We're going first now, Abraxus and me; we don't have any problems with spiders. And I think, y'know, although it's technically forbidden, we use the killing curse because it's a quick death and more merciful than fire or exploding."

"It's only forbidden on people I think" said Abraxus "But do the biggest ones count as people? Aragog was."

"We'll tell them to piss off before we cast anything and worry about that if any of them talk back" said Hawke. "Kinat, are you eating your sandwiches already?"

"Combat always makes me hungry" said Kinat, apologetically "I'm only having one."

"EVERYthing makes you hungry" said Abraxus. "Reckon your stomach is connected to the place evanesko sends stuff to!"

Kinat grinned.

He was used to being teased about his appetite.

As it was, he was already taller and stronger than most goblin lads his own age; and he seriously wondered whether goblins were in the main short because of being in many cases deprived, and certainly not enjoying as good a diet as the children of Hogwarts, nor did they get the degree of exercise he did with quidditch and other games, not to mention running up and down the unexpectedly shifting staircases between lessons. He spent a lot of time outside too and had a good and ruddy complexion that also set him apart from the sallow, even greenish looks of many of his race. When several other Goblins had been through Hogwarts, if they showed the same benefits, that was time to make an issue of the differences engendered.

Spiders were here and now a priority however.

"There's a doorway ahead" said Hawke "Hold up the wands, can you?"

The illumination showed a doorway and a broken, sagging door hung from it; behind it seemed to open out.

"Well that's something we could do, repair or replace the door" said Kinat in some relief "Even if we can't stop them further on."

The doorway led into a room; it was full of old webs, the first thing they noticed. There was the sound of a drip of water, that came from a plain pump above a drain cover with a tarnished pewter goblet hung from the spout on a chain; a fireplace; and what may have once been a bed. Dried leaves had blown in and there was a litter of animal bones on the floor.

The bones crouched by the bed were not animal; they were those of a goblin. His clothing was tattered with time and looked to be almost four hundred years old. The sword still stuck in his ribs, that one skeletal hand clutched at convulsively was more likely to have been his cause of death than any spiders.

"The last big goblin war, 1612" whispered Kinat "It's a refuge; he made it here, but only to die."

"He died free in any case" said Hawke "Though that's rather adding insult to injury; there's not a spot of rust on the sword, it must be goblin made."

"Yes, our people made plenty of weapons for wizards that were then turned on them" said Kinat, sadly. "I claim the sword for the Marauders; it can live with our other treasures in the flue-room. And I want to take him outside and give him a proper burial."

The others nodded soberly.

"We'll have to frighten away spiders first" said Hawke. "Let's look around here; if there's a chimney perhaps we can climb it and take a look-see, if it's not blocked or barred."

The room also had a rudimentary toilet and a surprisingly solid cupboard. When they opened it they found one reason for that; it had a preserving spell on it and there was still food from when it had been cached so long ago.

"Their cooks weren't much good" said Abraxus, critically, looking at a leg of mutton barely cooked on one side and burned on the other.

"Well they didn't bring their women to war did they?" said Kinat.

"You'd have thought, beings as how an army marches on its stomach – even if Napoleon hadn't said it at that time – they'd have got over being so sexist and learned" said Abraxus.

"Oh for a goblin male, that's good cooking" said Kinat "Getting over being sexist was one of the hardest things I faced at Hogwarts; and my parents have a pretty equal partnership. Garjala didn't have any trouble of course; Golgo may be the loudest, rudest and most aggressive of the goblin rabble-rousers, but at home he's henpecked. Truth!" he grinned.

"Well I think we should leave it here for now and think about whether to use it for wolf-meat – or rather spider-meat – later, or whether to risk eating it or throw it away" said Romulus "It's the least important thing. There's another door out; shall we go look and then see about the chimney?"

The other door was in a similar state to the first; although it looked as though a rotten piece had initially been prized off, then other pieces. The signs of spider mandibles were apparent. Kinat shuddered.

"You know what I reckon?" he said "I reckon this was Aragog's first lair and he enlarged the door as he needed too until he became too big for it. The passage out is really low and narrow, it's goblin sized and built small to prevent humans following easily."

"We can squeeze" said Hawke.

The Malfoy twins were fairly tall, but very slight; Romulus was wiry. It was tight but not too difficult.

"I'd hate to come along here fighting, I'm stooping and I could imagine how difficult Severus say would find it" said Abraxus "And he's rail thin at that. Krait'd stroll it of course, but she's tiny."

"Yes it was a shock when I realised I was taller than her" said Romulus; "And you two have been for a while. Hello, steps up."

They came up a flight of steps into an archway that looked out of a small cliff face, extinguishing their wands since there was still light in the sky. There was a hollow which was full of spiders, many of them too big for the passage. Kinat swallowed hard.

"I'm not sure I want my kinsman buried there" he said. "Can we bring a box and take him back to bury somewhere else in the forest?"

"Reckon that's a good idea" said Hawke "Tell you what, we can tell Hagrid we found a goblin bolt hole, and our friend here, and ask him to help; it's kinda hard going into the forest without Hagrid finding out, and he'll be all right about it if he's told, but he might be hurt and cut up rucky if he ain't."

Kinat nodded.

It made sense.

Hagrid hardly really counted as a professor after all; he was more like a very overgrown schoolboy.

"I say we put a stout door on this place that can be opened only with a parseltongue password" said Kinat "And that'll keep the buggers out; unless they can get down the chimney."

"Let's go up and see" said Hawke.

Climbing the chimney was tough, but by no means beyond the capabilities of fit young boys.

It emerged above the spider hollow in an old oak tree, and there were no cobwebs in it.

"Make a good lookout place" said Hawke in approval "If we put iron rungs in the chimney, above the level of the opening, we can go up and down readily. Reckon we can use herbology spells to grow branches to conceal a little hut up here too. A grating we can open will make doubly sure it's spider-tight."

There was a lot to do; not least cleaning up. That could be done any time however.

"I think we'll eat our sandwiches in the room then get back to school" said Abraxus "It's getting late. By the time we get back it'll be bed time and I haven't done my potions homework yet."

"None of us have" said Romulus "We'll get short shrift from dad if we turn in short essays but he'll forbid us to maraud if we don't turn in any. We'd better write them in bed and risk getting caught."

"Kinat, has all your food gone?" asked Abraxus. Kinat looked sheepish.

"Most of it" he admitted.

"Sure you haven't got worms?" asked Hawke, rudely.

"Quite sure" said Kinat "I wondered that myself and performed the vermin-killing charm on myself. Just in case. No difference."

"Huh, you were just the same a year ago, Hawke" said Abraxus "Mum wondered if you were concealing a fugitive in your room at one point when you came down to make sandwiches in the middle of the night every night."

Hawke grinned.

"I'd forgotten that…here, Kinat mate, have one of mine; I've more than enough."

"Thanks" said Kinat. "You grew out of it? I'm glad to think I might, I think it worries my mum too. We're not poor but well, you know; we're about like the Weasleys I guess."

"And that's almost as rich as any honest goblin gets to be, isn't it?" said Romulus "Confined to skilled but not highly paid jobs through not having the qualifications. The lowliest curse-breaker at Gringott's seventeen years old and still spotty gets paid more than someone like Griphook who has a highly responsible job and who has been there for decades. But the spotty seventeen year old has OWLs and maybe even a NEWT or two."

"Isn't that my soapbox to climb on?" grinned Kinat.

"It's for all of us" said Hawke.

"It's a marauder thing" said Abraxus "Like Prongs, Padfoot and Wormtail supported Moonie's 'furry little problem' and we stand up as they did for werewolf rights too. We stand for fairness."

It had been a busy evening; and they were glad to fall into their respective beds; even though their day was not finished until they had finished their potions' essay.

Kinat made the shortest work of his.

The essay was on combined antidotes.

Kinat's essay was one line long.

It read,

"Stick a bezoar down their throats."

It may be said that Professor Snape had to work on not laughing when he glanced down at this; and he gave Kinat an 'O' grade for combined brevity, wit, plagiarism and accuracy, then set him detention to repeat the essay properly.

Kinat took it with philosophic resignation.

By mutual consent the marauders decided to leave the rest of the tunnels until they had a whole weekend to devote to them; and confined their marauding to spying on others in the Slytherin common room. They felt almost sorry for Emil Porteous seeing the way his sister pushed him about; she was in a blazing temper over something. Emil was standing up to her well enough but she had the upper hand. Reading between the lines, Lana Porteous had done badly in some class tests and resented the fact that Emmeline and Abigail Greengrasse had surpassed her.

"And it's only because they're teachers' pets because they go to that stupid stinking muggle secret society" she said "And I expect YOU to get them; I can't I need an alibi. I don't care what you do, but get them; they make eyes at the professors who go along, and I wouldn't mind betting that that brat Salazar that Krait Malfoy carted about with her own illegitimate brat is Abigail's brat with Professor Snape, 'cos she disappeared for more than a year you know".

"I say, that's a pretty serious thing to say about Snape if you can't substantiate it" said Emil "And I don't want to get caught by him repeating it!"

"Well there was already the rumour about him getting some of his kids on NEWT students who wanted better grades, wasn't there?" said Lana, referring to an earlier spurious and malicious rumour put about to discommode Grace.

"Well Romulus isn't even his kid, he was Lestrange-Symond before, and he was disowned; and so was Grace. I dunno nothing about Erich" said Emil.

"And why were they disowned? Romulus is skinny and dark, not a bit like Mordred, his supposed brother. And what about Krait Malfoy herself? She appeared from nowhere as his ward. The younger two, Jade and Lydia are obviously her sisters, he had a Malfoy mistress somewhere, perhaps a halfbreed that wasn't acknowledged. If you ask me, Snapey's been putting it about good and proper. And he favours his ex lovers as well as his bastards like Krait Malfoy. So you FIX the Greengrasse girls!"

"Bitch" said Romulus with quiet venom.

"Right; we take it in turns to watch Emil Porteous; and catch him at it" said Hawke.

It was scarcely difficult; Porteous had very little imagination. He had enough originality to booby-trap a doorway to set a babbling curse on anyone who went through it – to set up his own alibi – but forgot that it would also affect him when Kinat threw a cream cake at him – it was stale, Kinat later explained so not a waste of good food – and then fled. Porteous ran after him – through the doorway.

He was busy babbling what was uppermost in his mind, which was his sister's instructions, when Madam McGonagall found him; and both Porteous and his sister had uncomfortable interviews with Professor Dumbledore. Dumbledore explained exactly WHO had sired both Krait and Salazar and their half sister and pointed out that Abigail had disappeared for her own protection; and that really Abigail had been through enough through being possessed not to need the thoughtless cruelty of a silly and jealous little girl.

"And since Professor Snape's wife is happy to accept responsibility for children who find themselves bereft of proper care he has been good enough to adopt them; and that is really none of your business" said Professor Dumbledore "And if you continue to take away the good names of married witches such as the mothers of Romulus and Grace – Erich's mother is dead, he is an orphan – I imagine that they will take out lawsuits against you once you are seventeen."

It had never occurred to Lana Porteous that her spiteful comments, aimed primarily at the Greengrasse girls and in a secondary way at Krait and Severus, might lead to lawsuits from other adults. She swallowed hard.

She lay low for most of the rest of her brief time at school.

The Marauders had not forgotten their plot to discommode Derwent as well, and made sure the boy overheard concerned and whispered conversations, mentioning little Lynx and her 'rather prickly little problem' that raised his curiosity.

Once the boy was interested, it was easy to drop clues that were difficult to work out, but by no means impossible; like the whispered argument over whether to ask for Professor Snape's help, Romulus firmly maintaining that his dad would help, and Kinat saying stubbornly that he would feel bound to report it and wondering if Professor Dumbledore would feel bound to exclude her on such grounds as danger to other students.

Hawke left a book that he had shut hastily enough to trap a corner on the entry on knarls and was seen to put back a book in the library ALMOST all the way in that spoke about lycanthopy in general, discussing what forms were known and speculating on others. It was a sensationalist book that hinted that almost any animal form could be considered; and Hawke had actually found an interesting reference on the Indian Rakshasa, which had solved another little mystery for personal interest.

Derwent was hooked.

And when the next full moon was out, and the marauders acted uneasily and crept outside, only to throw a blanket over a prickly looking figure, cast binding spells and hustle it inside he was certain he knew what was going on.

It had taken some artistic ingenuity to make Lynx spiky; she herself had suggested transfiguration, but the boys were adamant that there should be no real magic to lend credence to the tale to anyone else, in case they were caught. In the end, she was simply wearing a wig that had been well spiked with muggle hair wax for punks. It looked effective enough in the uncertain moonlight anyway!

Derwent wrote an impassioned letter to the ministry about the dangerous wereknarl.

The marauders went off exploring for the weekend, having entirely forgotten the wereknarl in the superior excitements of goblin passages; and permitted the junior marauders to come along providing they pulled their weight in cleaning out spider webs and mending doors.

The junior marauders were happy to make that promise; it was exciting to be involved in anything that big!

The plan was to make the spider room safe first to prevent any more eight legged incursions while they explored other passages; and with nine children working with a will – Willow was bereft of Sirius for the weekend as he was visiting his apartment block – it was soon accomplished. Willow was a mixed blessing to the New Marauders; she could be bossy, but at the same time she was the only one fully capable of squashing the effervescent Lynx. Hawke watched; and learned.

He might need to do it himself some day; if not on Lynx, well he and Abraxus had twin sisters.

Once the main entrance was blocked with a door, and their new secret room cleaned out, and the bones of the goblin laid neatly in a box, they could explore the continuation of the main passage.

It was a disappointment to find it blocked by a stone wall that was obviously an intentional wall since it had on it a mosaic of a goblin in armour.

"Why have a passage to a picture?" demanded Willow "Has it got ritual significance?"

"None that I've ever heard of" said Kinat. "It's probably some kind of secret door"

Lynx tried walking through it; to no avail.

Thinking of the pear that led to the kitchen, Senagra tickled the goblin.

He was unmoving.

"That's a wizardly solution" said Kinat "Not a goblin one. We like static art; to a goblin, moving pictures are a little frivolous. I think it's a secret door; but if you ask me it's well and truly trapped. Let me think about this; I reckon we'll need to apply arithmancy to it."

"What numbers do goblins ascribe most luck to then?" asked Hawke.

"Prime numbers" said Kinat.

"What about Fibonacci numbers?" said Abraxus "Because of cogs and things?"

Once it was established that Fibonacci numbers were the same as Wenlock numbers, named for the famous arithmancer Bridget Wenlock who predated Fibonacci by several hundred years, everyone was much more enlightened.

"I've got her on a famous wizard card but all it says is that she proved the magical properties of the number seven" said Abraxus.

"And how many wizards do you know who get past the fact that seven is magical in arithmancy?" demanded Kinat.

"Most of the ones we know well….. all right, I take the point. Wenlock numbers are more powerful than just doing things in sevens though, haven't you ever noticed that the number of clockwise and counter-clockwise stirs Sev does in his most serious potions are often based on the Wenlock series?"

"You're right, they are" said Kinat. "I still think primes are our better bet here; but I need to be sure and get it right because a favourite Goblin trick is to use a deadfall if a door's not opened right."

"Tell you what" said Hawke "When you're certain, you open it and the rest of us will go up the passage a way."

"Spoken like a true Slytherin" grinned Kinat, "Here, my Gryffindor friend, let's you take risks for us."

"Damn right" said Hawke, lazily.

"It'd be something that needed to be done in a hurry" said Kinat "Quickly and easily to pass through without trouble, especially if there was pursuit. Look; the mosaics at the top of the picture on tiles one, two, three, five, seven, eleven are faintly different colours, not enough to notice unless you were looking for them but glaring when you are."

"Check thireen, seventeen and nineteen too" said Abrax "I'd hate you to finish off too early and finish us off too early if you take my meaning."

"Errrr….thirteen yes; the others are in his helmet, and I don't think there's enough difference to make it stand out" said Kinat. "It'd tickle the sense of humour of a goblin to finish on a thirteen anyway; a lot of wizards find it an arithmantically tricky number, we ascribe a lot of good fortune to it."

"I've heard it said you have to be born at the right time arithmantically speaking for thirteen to be lucky for you" said Willow "But my researches show it's how you use thirteen in your calculations. It's a ticklish number all right but only incompetent arithmancers need fear it."

"It shows how much they do that it's a number on which huge amounts of muggle superstition is based" said Abraxus "But I bow to your usually superior arithmantic powers, Willow."

"And well you should do so" said Willow in a Yoda voice. "C'mon Kinat, press that goblin's buttons."

"I'm going to ignore the innuendoes in that comment" said Kinat in what he fondly hoped was a repressive and faintly Snapish voice; and pressed in the chosen mosaics in rapid succession.

For a moment nothing seemed to happen; then the door hissed smoothly back into a cavity set for it.

"Arithmancy. It's important" said Kinat, walking through.