Tash caught the end of the conversation as she passed the wire door. Séa stood naked as Chantelle crushed herbs with her pestle. Insane? "She is," said Tash. Insane yet sensible and other contradictions. Injured yet desirable. Easily fooled yet indomitable.

Séa twitched. "By Koulaina's crooked kirtle, you startled me!"

Ghomarck wheezed from behind Tash's left elbow, "Lady Séa, you appear to be unclothed."

Zorexis emitted a long whistle of appreciation from behind Tash's right elbow. "Brilliant work, Chantelle, my love. You have uncovered something remarkable."

"Why thank you, dear." The princess laughed. "But shush. I need to finish my poultice."

Under all the eyes, Séa squirmed, then made a dive for the castoff bedsheet and draped it around her shoulders. With narrowed eyes she studied the trio that loitered in the doorway. "That didn't take you very long. What happened?"

She blushes. That's just so cute. Tash said, "Partial success. We found a secret compartment by the exit. There's a windlass inside that probably retracts the stone barrier, but we can't budge it. We need your muscles."

Séa's forehead wrinkled. "What's a windlass?"

"A wheel with handles." Ghomarck's eyes closed halfway as he lectured. "It is constructed of thick metal, on a shaft that penetrates the stone. We hypothesize that a chain is wound upon the shaft. Perhaps via pulleys, the chain lifts the block of rock that seals off the exit. We further surmise that the furion was capable of raising the barrier. Great strength is required to turn the windlass and lift the stone block."

"You can have her after I bind her wounds," Chantelle said in businesslike tones.

"Isn't she decisive? Isn't she enchanting?" Zorexis said, gazing moonily at the druid healer.

Tash dried out her tones to sand dune aridity. "The princess could teach sugar how to be sweet."

Chantelle knelt to wrap the paladin's knee with poultice-laced linen.

Tash's and Séa's eyes met. The warrior's eyes crinkled at the corners and the corners of her lips lifted in a bashful smile. Tash dropped her unscarred eyelid in a saucy wink and bared her teeth. Rawr, paladin. Blood flushed Séa's face like a flood.

A merry mood warmed Tash, and she snorted in satisfied amusement. I made her blush.

The rogue padded a few paces to investigate a rearing-horse statuette by the water pitcher. Its eyes glinted in crimson hues, and she discovered that faceted rubies produced the sparkle. Something felt off about the painted plaster animal and the rogue frowned at it for a moment. Her frown deepened and she muttered, "Horses don't have claws. How disturbing."

The horse's odd mutation didn't stop Tash from stealing its eyes. The dark pits of eye sockets only added to its freakish aspect.

In due course, Chantelle dressed Séa's wounds, none of which leaked blood after her treatment. After consuming a grape-sized "goodberry," the paladin shrugged into her gambeson, her boisterous energy seemingly restored. Her energy deflated when she piled what had formerly been her armor into a rusty heap. She kept only the metal shoes. Her mace had been laced with traceries of corrosion, but it remained serviceable.

All five trouped around the pit traps and through the pillars to the circular room. A rectangular alcove graced the far wall next to the exit. A wheel with five handles filled it, and the size of the alcove admitted only one set of shoulders. Séa gripped a pair of handles. Her breath hissed and her sinews popped into vivid view. Grudgingly, the wheel turned.

The stone block shifted.

And the instant she relaxed, the wheel snapped back to its original position.

Tash's shoulders slumped. "Feck."

Many minutes later, several ideas had been floated, all by Séa. She was assured that a crew of rock moles could not be trained to bore holes through the barrier. Ghomarck explained twice that he could not melt the rock with a fire spell. He informed her that he could cast "enlarge" only once per day, though he admitted that this last idea had merit. In the end, the passage remained sealed.

Chantelle shrugged pretty shoulders. "We should just wait. It might be a tenday or a fortnight, but surely some army will bash their way in eventually."

Tash surreptitiously examined the noblewoman. She has a princess's attitude. They will serve her, she assumes. On the other hand, she knows how to make a healing poultice from scratch.

"A tenday? We'll get awfully hungry." Séa said. "How do you eat? Does somebody feed you?"

"Zorexis fetches food," Chantelle said.

All eyes focused on the incubus.

His return stare was blank. "Dooch provides meals."

"Who?" The paladin's eyebrows rose.

His perfect teeth gleamed white. "He's our cook." His smile flattened. "But you shouldn't make yourself known to him. He's a variety of yotch, or at least I think he is, and he's quite excitable. Any deviation from the plan would surely set him off. He would spread the alarm if we revealed that Princess Chantelle had visitors. Or that Habrax is dead."

Tash whistled a low glissando. "A demon cook? Now I've heard everything."

Ghomarck peered at Zorexis as if studying a spellbook. "Between here and the castle gates, how many and what breeds of demons lurk?"

Many wrinkles furrowed Zorexis's forehead. "Besides Dooch? Well, there are the defenders on the walls. They are wights, I believe."

Séa placed her hands behind her back and clasped them together. She recited, "Wights. Deceased humans who, in life, were either corrupted by or in sympathy with the forces of chaos. After death, their bodies are inhabited by demonspawn, giving them unnatural physical power. Some demonologists categorize them as undead, others as cases of demonic parasitism."

Chantelle coiled a lock of hair around her finger and speared Séa with a sideways glance. "A scholar, too?"

The princess hasn't understood her, yet. Tash merrily burbled, "Not in all areas. Séa, who's king in Liria?"

The paladin blinked. "Uh. Yeah, I should know that."

"No, Séa, it's all right," Tash soothed. "You are who you are. Let politicians worry about politics." She glanced at Zorexis. "Continue. How many wights? And who else is between us and fresh air, if we try to escape upward?"

He spread his hands. "I've only seen groups of five or six wights together, but I'm sure there are many more. There were eight or ten yotches for a while, but I think they left. There is also a portal guardian, but it may be possible to sneak past it, or outrun it."

The princess said, "See? That's too many to fight. Let's wait."

Zorexis sidled closer to Chantelle. "My love, there is one more consideration, and it's us. When the army arrives, they will force you to carry on with your arranged marriage to King Pharing. I'm sure your opinion hasn't changed on that matter, has it?"

"Oh, augh." The princess raised her hands to her hair and dug her fingers in. "That's right. Well, so much for the carefree days of being locked in a dungeon with an incubus."

The paladin's eyes squeezed to crescent moons of excitement. Breathlessly, she squealed, "If they don't swarm in all at once, we can take out a whole bunch of wights. Right, Tash? Right, Ghomarck?"

Tash stroked her chin. "I'd need 'way more arrows." I should have backed off on the 'lightning in a bottle' claim. I can't do much to a platoon of undead in full plate armor.

"A night's rest and some research in my spellbook would work wonders," the wizard said. "I can't remember my magic missile spell. The stirges interrupted my casting of it."

Séa pursed her lips. "And I need armor. If we kill a wight my size, I could wear its metal, I guess. That'd be disgusting, but I can hold my nose."

Tash managed to turn a delighted giggle into a sardonic snicker before it emerged from her mouth. "Séa disguised as a wight. The irony burns." She blinked, then snapped her fingers. "Wait a minute. It is a good disguise. If we all wore wight armor, we could practically walk out of here."

Séa said, "They might smell me coming. God-stink, or what-have-you. But it might work."

God stink? Well, it stands to reason if she can sense demons, demons can sense her.

"The first step would be to find Dooch the chef," the wizard said. "We'll see if he can be bribed or otherwise persuaded to assist."

"You can't trust a demon," Séa said.

"Fair enough," Ghomarck replied. "We might have to kill him."

Zorexis shrugged. "Fine by me."

"Definitely safer," said Séa. Her eyes popped back to joyful crescents. "And lots more fun."

A/N: