CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN: THE CRYPT

The nissling skipped ahead of them with PeyPey right behind.

"After you, Krysala." Fawkes waved his arm for her to go ahead of him.

"Thank you, Fairchild."

Well, at least I'm no longer YOUNG Fairchild, Fawkes thought, then followed her.

Kipess led them into the middle of seven stone crypts on the far east corner of Bootshill.

"This is very old for a human tomb." Krysala stepped closer to read the name carved under the crenellations. "Who was Lira Blueridge?"

"Ah, no idea." Fawkes frowned. Good thing it was carved into the stone, where my mask lets me see the carved letters as holes, not that it does me much to read it. I have no idea who she was. "I'm not from Blackstone." He turned his attention to the solid stone door covered with fanciful decorations. It had no lock or handle.

Krysala pushed in one that was rose-shaped. A bare patch on the door popped open. Inside the small cache sat an iron lever. The elf pulled the lever, and the door opened.

"A puzzle door! How did you solve it so fast?"

"I have been in all of them several times. But I have yet to discover which one holds the secret."

"A secret?" Fawkes followed her into the crypt. What else is she looking for? Why has she so little interest in Garzio? How long has she been looking?

Krysala did not explain.

The inside of the crypt was little more than ten feet to a side, proof the stone walls were about a foot thick.

PeyPey walked around the sarcophagus that rested in the middle of the floor, bristling. He sniffed hard at the seam between the lid and box. Kipess went over to sniff with PeyPey.

"Himss been inss box." 

Obviously. Where else could anything be hidden in here? Fawkes looked closer at the lid as he walked slowly around it.

"I think the lid has been moved. The edges are not even."

Kipess shoved at the lid. It did not move. PeyPey snorted then reared up and put his paws on it. He shoved hard but still the lid would not move.

Fawkes pushed against the lid from the long side. Still, it did not move. He blinked. It did not feel right, either. Rapping a knuckle on the lid, it sounded like he had just knocked on a wooden door. A fake! Covered with smoothed mortar,  it appeared as though it were stone. The mask isn't showing any magic but there is nothing else holding it shut. He huffed out a breath and glanced at Krysala. She was watching him expectantly. Is she waiting for me to fail? Ha! There is something else I can do, elf.

Fawkes pulled off his mask and stuffed it into his pouch then dug out a palm-sized orb decorated with glass beads. He twisted the top of the orb one way and the bottom half the other way until there was a click. Light blazed out from the beads, shining as bright as a lantern. Unlike a lantern, the orb moved to float over his left shoulder.

"Sska!" Kipess put on his headband against the brightness painful to his eyes while Krysala closed her eyes for a long moment, then opened them. Interesting. She simply adjusted her elven eyes, unlike Kipess.

Fawkes looked back to the sarcophagus but stopped when he saw colors splashed on the with walls. He stared, sucking in a breath. Pictures of the same woman were painted upon every wall, save the one holding the door. One painting was of her sitting for tea before a mountain. At the second, she was writing at a table covered with alchemical glassware. The last was of the woman standing in a garden holding the bulb of a plant.

"I've seen far better art." Krysala gave a disapproving snort at the paintings.

It's a crypt, not a gallery, elf. Fawkes turned back to the sarcophagus. A faint blue glow came from the seam between the lid and the stone box. It was created by the light of the orb revealing magic. Unlike his mask, it was able to peer through simple cloaking spells to reveal others hidden beneath.

"Very clever." The lilt in her voice grew stronger. She peered at the glow. "A tiny little cling spell."

Fawkes blinked. That wee little spell that holds things together? He sighed. It's amazingly strong. Grandfather and the crew had pranked him with it more than once. I just have to

Krysala snapped her fingers and the blue glow vanished.

Fawkes lifted the fake lid. Strong hinges hidden on the inside creaked as the lid opened.

There was a metallic clank from the floor. The stone door of the crypt swung shut with another clank as something latched.

Hissing echoed in the crypt.  A pallid yellow mist began to rise from one corner. Kipess sniffed then jumped back with a flutter of wings and a yelp.

"Poisonss!"

CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT: DEATH TRAP

Fawkes pulled his mask out of his belt pouch and pressed it over his face. This time, though, he folded the top part of the mask down before tying it in place, leaving his eyes uncovered. He looked around at the others.

PeyPey tried to block the mist with his paws but it still seeped out through his toes, though not as fast. Wish I was immune to poisons like my dogs. This mask will keep it away for awhile. I need to figure out how to stop it before we all die.

Krysala snatched a delicate-looking silk kerchief out of her sleeve and tied it about her face.

Kipess patted his pouches. "Oh, nosss!"

"Here, Kipess," Fawkes tossed him the handkerchief from his pocket. The little fellow caught it and tied it around his snout with a grateful nod back to Fawkes.

"We must solve this puzzle quickly. Our protections won't last against this mist." Krysala looked sharp at Fawkes. "Not even yours."

She rushed to a wall and began examining it with great intent. Fawkes rushed to another wall to do the same. What am I looking for?

Kipess jumped into the sarcophagus and rummaged about.

"Shinnies!!" The nissling cheered. "Oooo leaf.  Andss feather. Andss sspoon."

Fawkes rolled his eyes. Of course a nissling would be fascinated with loot at a time like this!

"What did he say?" Krysala demanded, her tone sharper.

"He found some shiny loot that looks like a feather, spoon, and ... ah ... a leaf?"

"Look at the walls! The paintings! Find places that might fit those pieces of loot!" She began running her hands over the painting of the lady having tea.

Fawkes turned back to his wall. The lady was in a garden. There were no birds or spoons in this one, which left the leaf. There were many of those. Remembering how Krysala opened the door, he began to press all the leaves as fast as he could.

All he found was solid stone. Frowning at the painted wall, he thought for a moment. Maybe the leaf meant 'plant' instead of an actual leaf. He pressed every part of the plants. That failed, too.

Glaring at the painting, Fawkes thought some more. He had tested every inch of every plant. What had he miss --

The bulb! It would grow into a plant someday when planted. He pressed the bulb. A hand-sized square panel swung open, revealing a small cache. There was no lever. Running his hand about the inside, he felt a strange depression carved into the bottom. It felt like a leaf!

"Kipess! Those aren't loot! They're keys! Bring me the leaf! Hurry!"

"Notss loot?" The nissling's wings drooped, but he hopped out of the sarcophagus and handed Fawkes his shiny leaf.

Fawkes pressed the leaf into the depression. He turned the leaf carved out of jade around as it slid this way and that. One more quarter-turn and it clicked into place.

"Give me the spoon!"

Kipess ran to the elf and held out his precious jade spoon. Krysala placed it in her cache. It slid once before it, too, clicked into place.

Fawkes hurried to the wall painted with the laboratory scene. Kipess joined him.

"Look for a feather in this painting," Fawkes ordered as he peered at the wall. There were no birds.

"Findss one!" Kipess pressed his small hand to the quill pen the lady held. The nissling gasped as he opened the third cache. Hopping up, Kipess grabbed the opened cache door with one hand and peered in. With his clawed feet scraping as he tried to steady himself, the nissling reached in with his jade feather. Stone slid upon stone. Kipess hissed until there was a click as the feather slid into place.

A deep grinding vibrated through the stone floor. There was a clank and a thud from the sarcophagus.

"Woof," PeyPey barked, tail wagging. The yellow mist was no longer coming out but the stone door remained closed.

Fawkes and Kipess hurried to the sarcophagus. The floor hung open to one side, revealing stone steps going deeper than the twenty feet the orb's light could reach.