In The Cards

When in a tricky situation you should always stop to assess what tools and weapons are available to you. Remember though, you needn't necessarily use them in the most obvious manner for them to be most effective.

Excerpt from 'Ruminations Of A Master Bard'

The large lizard was easily the size of a pony, although with shorter and more bowed legs. It was a dusty and uneven brown, and when it slowly opened its mouth Rini could see that its teeth were as long as her hand.

"Basilisk!" Edwin gasped, his voice filled with dread. "Don't look at it or it'll stone you!"

"I know that," Rini hissed. "Keep it down!" The basilisk was lying on the far side of the room, yawning. The two children had managed to awaken it with the scream they had uttered as they entered the room, but it hadn't yet spotted them. The room was more of a large cave than an actual room, with a low stone ceiling from which stalactites hung. Water dripped endlessly into a dark pool near one of the walls and the light was dim. At one end a shining sword hung on the wall, and next to it stood a large shield partially covered by the dark red cloak that hung over it. What little could be seen of it gleamed brightly.

"Keep it down yourself!"

"You started it!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Did not!"

"Did too!"

"Not, not, not!"

"Too, too, too!"

"Not, infinity!"

"Ha! I declare this Opposite Day! That means you just admitted it!"

"Ha! I've got a Magic Mirror to reflect your Opposite Day, and that means I win. Nyah!" Edwin stuck his tongue out and gave Rini a triumphant look. The half-elf girl responded by sticking her thumbs in her ears, wiggling her fingers and making herself as cross-eyed as she could.

Are you going to be much longer? The voice of Softpaws inside Rini's head was petulant. I want to play now. Can we hunt that big lizard that's coming over this way?

Zaerini swallowed loudly. In her eagerness to win the argument she'd quite forgotten about the basilisk. Now she could hear scratching noises rapidly approaching from behind, like claws and scales scraping against a stone floor. "Uh-Oh…" she said and gave Edwin a worried look. "I think we're in trouble. Big trouble." The slightly panicky look in the boy's dark eyes told her that he'd just realized the same thing.

"Um…no problem," Edwin said. "I've got a plan."

"What plan?"

"RUN!" He immediately followed his own advice and took off like a rabbit on fire. Rini was startled for a second, but then she soon caught up with him. She was clutching her kitten, so she couldn't run as fast as she might have otherwise, but Edwin was slowed by his mage robes. He had to keep a steady grip on them in order not to trip. It would have looked funny if it wasn't for the growl of the basilisk nearing them from behind. Rini wanted nothing more than to look over her shoulder to see how close it was, but she didn't dare. Then she suddenly felt something yanking her arm.

"In here!" Edwin yelled and pulled the startled girl along with him and in behind the great shield. Both children huddled on the floor, their hearts beating like the fluttering wings of trapped birds, their breathing quick and shallow. They could almost feel the hot breath of the basilisk by now. "O-on the count of three," Edwin said, holding a corner of the red cloak covering the shield in a death grip. "One…two…THREE!" The children hurriedly yanked the cloak off even as the basilisk was about to raise its scaly paw to knock the shield aside.

Silence. More silence. All was deathly quiet, except for the frenzied sound of frightened breathing coming from behind the shield. "T-think I should go look?" Rini eventually said, her voice trembling.

"No!" Edwin was very pale. "Suppose it's just lying in wait for us? You could get killed!"

"Well, we can't stay here forever, can we?"

You're boring me, Softpaws declared. The small black kitten twisted out of Zaerini's arms and slipped out from behind the shield, ignoring her young mistress' protests. I want to play now.

"Softy!" Rini screamed and ran after the cat, only vaguely aware of Edwin coming after her, yelling for her to stop. Then she did stop, and the boy ran into her back, causing them both to wind up on the floor. Once they had managed to figure out which arms and legs belonged to whom they both stared at the sight that met them. The enormous basilisk was standing motionless in front of them, one paw still in the air, snout wide open to display the terrible poisonous teeth. It was now an even gray, a mere stone statue of itself. In the shining surface of the large shield the basilisk's reflection still looked back at it with mute horror. Softpaws was crouching in front of the beast, hissing loudly and batting at it with a tiny paw.

Hssst! the kitten spat. Die, creature! I'll catch you wherever you run! Then I'll let you go, and then I'll catch you, and then I'll let you go, and then I'll catch you, and then…

Softy! It's dead already.

Oh. I knew that. The kitten licked her nose and looked tremendously embarrassed. I just wanted to see if you'd noticed. What are you staring at anyway?

"Wow…" Edwin said and touched the gray snout of the basilisk. "It really worked! Wait till I tell everybody at home that I killed a basilisk all by myself! They'll have to let me try demon summoning now."

"Ahem…" Rini said, clearing her throat in a meaningful fashion and pushing her red hair out of her eyes. "We killed it, remember?"

For a moment Edwin looked as if he was going to protest this idea, but then he grinned. "Oh, all right. I suppose you helped. A little. But it was still my idea. I'm so clever that all the cleverness is almost leaking out of my ears! Say, when I become a Great Wizard you can be my assistant if you like. You're actually pretty brave."

"Don't be silly. I'm going to be an adventurer on my own. You can be my assistant if you want." Rini thought about this for a few more seconds. "Or we could be each other's assistants, I suppose. Then we could both be in charge as well."

Edwin was just about to answer when a deep and booming voice spoke out of empty air. "You have passed the Test of Cunning," it said. "Like the snake, you have proved yourself capable of disabling a foe larger and fiercer than you are. You may proceed, once you find your way."

The two children looked at each other. "Do you remember anything about Tests?" Rini asked, a puzzled look in her golden eyes.

Edwin shook his head. "Nope," he said. "Last test I had was two weeks ago, on elementals. Sometimes I get unannounced ones, but nothing like this, nothing really dangerous."

"Me neither," the half-elf girl said. "Gorion wouldn't allow it. I guess we'll find out what's going on soon enough. Anyway, it was rather clever dealing with the basilisk like that. How did you know?"

Edwin preened proudly. "I know lots about strange beasts," he said. "It's my favorite subject and I'm really excellent at it, that's why I'm going to be a Conjurer one day. I remembered that if you can get a basilisk to look at itself in a mirror it'll turn itself to stone, and I figured the shield would work." His smile turned dreamy. "I tried to hatch a basilisk under my bed once," he said.

"WHY?!"

"Just to see if I could do it. You know. An exp…expri…peri…exrip…thingy. Like grownups do when they want to find out how something works." His small face darkened a little and settled into a pout. "But then I got found out. You won't believe how much trouble I got into with my teacher over that. He said that it was 'at least considerate of me to try to kill myself in a manner that would leave my poor grieving parents with a memorial effigy.'" As he spoke the last sentence his voice changed subtly, taking on a highly sarcastic note.

"Ouch," Rini said, wincing.

"Tell me about it. So, want to see about getting out of here?"

"All right."

The children circled the walls of the room until they eventually came across a door that had appeared opposite the one they had entered through. It was small, so small that a grownup couldn't have walked through it without crouching and there were silvery runes written all over it. "That's elvish," Rini said. "It says…let's see…'The Test of Persistence lies ahead. Wizard, follow in my footsteps, stand fast against all hardships, and you shall prevail. Falter, surrender, and you shall fail.' And there's a picture of a wolf next to it, see?"

"I suppose that makes sense," Edwin mused. "I've heard that they can run for days and hardly stop at all. So how do we open the door?"

"Dunno. It doesn't say." The half-elf pushed at the door, without getting any result. "Think it's magical?"

"Guess so." Edwin drew himself up to his full and rather unimpressive height. "Leave this to me. I know all about unlocking spells. Don't you worry, I'll get us home in no time at all."

"I'm not worried," the redheaded little girl said with a small shrug. "But it's nice of you to care all the same. Go ahead then."

Edwin started ticking spells off on his fingers, muttering to himself all the while. "Let's see…there's 'Bigby's Crushing Ram'…can't cast that one yet. Pity, that would be fun. And Senile Scaramangi's 'Oops, Not Again'. But that one only works when you've locked your own keys inside. Or maybe…yes, it's worth a try. 'Burglar's Delight'." He moved his hands in a complicated pattern and said 'Burglaris Beneficialis' in a loud voice and then pushed at the door again. Nothing whatsoever happened. "Oh," Edwin said, looking disappointed though he tried his best to hide it. "I guess there must be a really powerful ward spell on that door if it holds against even my magic."

"Or maybe," Rini said, "it's because this door opens outward, not inward." The girl had been kneeling by the door while Edwin rattled through his spells, examining it closely until she found a small and almost invisible handle. Now it swung open easily as she pulled at it and a dark tunnel became visible.

"Well," Edwin said, holding on to the shreds of his dignity, "I suppose that could be it. I would have figured it out in a moment, you know. Probably sooner."

"As if," Rini said and picked up her kitten.

"Would so!"

"Would not!"

As they passed into the tunnel the sound of their bickering voices was abruptly cut off when the door swung shut behind them, leaving them in complete and impenetrable darkness. The door shimmered for a moment, then winked out of existence. There was, once again, no way back.