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THE TUNNEL ran straight and doards for five or six hundred e, h ceiling Three heavy silver chandeliers hung fro candles

As we entered the cavern I saw that it was oval in shape, wide across theat either end There was a platform set close in front of the wall across froh We drifted towards it, weapons poised, spreading out to for left, right, upwards, searching for vampaneze

"Hold it," Vancha said as we approached the platforht he’d seen a varound, puzzled but not alar us forward

Stepping up beside hie of a pit - oval like the cavern - which was filled with steel-tipped stakes two or three metres tall It reminded me of the pit in the Hall of Death in Vaer

"A trap for us to fall - into?" Harkat asked

"I doubt it," Vancha said "The vampaneze would have covered it over if they wanted us to walk into it" He looked up The platfor fro the stakes Now that ere close, we could see a long plank connecting the rear right of the platform to a hole in the wall behind it There was also a thick rope running from the front left side of the platfor stake

"Looks like that’s the only way forward," I noted, not liking the set-up one little bit

"We could skirt the pit and cliested

Vancha shook his head "Look again," he said

I peered closely at the wall, as did Mr Crepsley He sae were looking for just before I did and growled so foul beneath his breath

"What is it?" Harkat asked, his round green eyes not as sharp as ours

"There are scores of tiny holes in the wall," I said "Ideal for firing darts or bullets through"

"They’d cut us down in seconds if we tried cli it," Vancha said

"That’s duess muttered We looked back at her "Why lay a trap here and not in the tunnel?" she asked "The walls of the tunnel could have been peppered with holes like that one We had nowhere to turn, nowhere to run We were sitting ducks Why leave it till now?"

"Because it isn’t a trap," Vancha told her "It’s a warning They don’t want us going that way They want us to use the platforht they wanted to kill you"