Page 31 of Paladin's Hope

“Our charming host thought that one closed door in the wall outside was the exit,” said Galen.

“A gnole thinks that human dances with snakes.”

“What does that mean?”

“You know…?” Earstripe made swooping gestures with his hands, wiggling his whiskers.

Piper and Galen looked at each other, then back at Earstripe. The gnole sighed. “Humans can’t smell.” He reached out and touched the panel beside the door.

It slid open onto darkness.

Fourteen

A smell of decay rolled out. “There’s a dead body in there,” said Galen, holding up the lantern. Earstripe mumbled something, grabbing his nose.

Piper took a deep breath and lunged past him. Galen cursed, grabbing for him, but the doctor said, “I’m coming back!”

“But if you go halfway—!”

“I won’t!”

The corpse was only about a third of the way inside the room. The corpse’s head was rather farther away. Galen followed Piper, ready to pick him up bodily and throw him through the doorway if he had to. But the doctor only leaned down and touched the body. He stiffened, inhaled sharply—Galen swore and reached for him—but then he straightened up and turned back, nearly running into Galen.

“Sorry, I—”

“Go, go! Apologize later!”

Piper ran for the door. They got through and it was at least ten seconds before the door finally closed, which made Galen feel as if he’d been acting irrationally, which only annoyed him further.

“Don’t take risks like that,” he said, through gritted teeth.

“We agreed I was going to do the trick—”

“I’ll drag the corpse back for you!” snapped Galen. “Just…no more running into death traps.” This came out much more angry than he wanted it to. He took a deep breath and added, in as pleasant a tone as he could manage, “I’m sorry. I don’t mean to yell. It’s not that I don’t think you’re capable. I just...”

Piper’s a grown adult. He’s not a soldier under your command. Stop acting like you have the right to order him around.

Galen half-wanted to give the man a dressing-down as if he were a raw recruit, and the other half wanted to wrap him in cotton wool like a hollow egg. “So, the body,” he said, trying to change the subject.

Lines drew taut around Piper’s eyes, and Galen cursed himself again. You’re yelling at him when he just watched a man die. What’s wrong with you?

“More blade walls, I think,” said Piper. “Two of them meeting horizontally, right at neck height. I’m not sure exactly how tall that is, but if we crouch down, we should be all right.”

“I’ll go in,” said Galen.

“But we don’t know if there’s more blades. There could be another set.”

“Is a corpse cut in any other direction?” asked Earstripe.

“No, but they would have fallen down after the first one. If there’s another blade, at hip height, say, he wouldn’t have been around to see it.”

“A human lies flat,” Earstripe suggested. “By corpse. Then we know.”

“I love lying flat in congealed blood,” muttered Galen. “Really. One of my favorite things.”

“I don’t mind,” said Piper. “I’ve seen a lot of blood. I can go.”

“And relive the man’s death for six minutes?” asked Galen.