"Artemis!" Butler exclaimed!
Butlers employer jumped up from his sitting position.
"Butler!" He exclaimed, his hand hovering over his chest.
"Sir? I thought you were young Artemis for a moment." said Butler dropping his hands.
"You haven't seen him?" exhaled Artemis Sr.
"No Sir. I thought you would be with him." There was a moment of silence as Artemis Sr. Put a hand to his brow and pointed to the floor with the other. He worked his jaw for a moment trying to speak.
"He, the floor, he just, fell." He breathed.
"Fell where?" asked Butler slowly. Mr. Fowl waved his hands in response.
"Down, but that's not what, you see… I heard, I heard…" He tried.
"What did you hear sir?" Butler was nervous.
"A shot." Mr. Fowl's head bent forward and his hands went to his head. "She shot him."
Butler's blood ran cold. She shot him?
"Opal is bent on revenge, she wouldn't just…" Butler tried to explain.
"I don't know who these women, this woman, are, is, or what they, it wants but… I know, I know what I heard." Whispered Artemis Sr. Butler breathed slowly and stepped into the room towards his employer. Almost as soon as Butler's momentum came to a stop the whoosh indicating the door behind him was no longer an exit could be felt.
"All right, but we still have to find him and we still have to get out of here. You probably know more about this place than I do. What is this?" Butler waved his hand down the hallway.
"It's a Labyrinth." Said Artemis Sr.
"A Labyrinth?"
"Yes it's a long puzzle. Artemis solved the first one, I think it was a math problem but I couldn't read the runes so I'm not sure." he explained.
"I can read those runes to a certain degree, not as well as Artemis." offered Butler.
"Good because the next one is behind you." Artemis Sr. pointing to the handleless door Butler had come through. Butler turned around.
Butler concentrated on the gnomish text for a moment. Trying to figure out its meaning and translate it correctly into English.
"This is the symbol for God or divinity, and this," Butler paused for a moment trying to connect the next symbol logically to the last, "means Maths or numbers and it's followed by a symbol that turns the phrase into a question.
"I see, that's simple." Mr. Fowl replied.
"Simple? It doesn't make any-" Butler was cut off by Artemis Sr's clear articulation.
"One, point, six, one, eight." They both paused after this and waited. Nothing happened. "Butler, can you say that in that," He pointed to the gnomish symbols, "language."
"Yes. I think so." Butler took a breath and repeated the number in gnomish.
After a few moments more text appeared on the screen displaying the question. Butler again read it to Artemis Sr.
"Close, to give or offer, pity, you. That would translate as; Close so I'll offer you pity." Butler closed his eyes. "Opal doesn't have the capacity to feel pity." Artemis Sr. just nodded.
Suddenly a high pitched whistling began to emanate from all directions. Artemis Sr's hands shot to his ears. Butler was wearing semi porous ear plugs as he always did before entering a dangerous situation so the noise did not effect him in the same way, he could still hear it though.
The wall that had the puzzle Artemis originally solved started to rise and after a moment Mr. Fowl and Butler both began to notice that their feet were beginning to get wet. They didn't wait long enough for the wall to raise itself high enough to walk under, they ducked under as soon as the space permitted and began to run farther down the corridor.