"Where is Balcombe now?" she asked abruptly.
Blu shrugged again and looked toward the opening to the right. "He come from there. Sometime Blu hear things," he said, pointing to the stretch of cave wall opposite them, between the left and right openings.
Of course, she said to herself. The giant is too large to leave this cavern and knows nothing about what exists beyond it, except for vague memories of his home. She chose her next words carefully for maximum impact on the dull-witted giant.
"It wasn't your fault that you got trapped in here, Blu.
Balcombe lied to you, to keep you working. He uses the gems you mine to trap souls-" Too complicated, she thought-"to do very bad things. Right now he's using one of the gems you found to do something very bad to a human squire. The squire is trapped inside the gem, and Balcombe is going to give him to an evil god in exchange for, well-" She would never be able to sufficiently explain what Balcombe was doing, she decided.
Selana changed her approach. "He's an evil magician," she said staunchly, trying to hold the giant's gaze. "He puts people inside the gems and never lets them go."
"They can't get out? Blu can't get out, too. But Blacome let me out many soon, when Blu work good and find many stones."
"No, he won't," Selana said, shaking her head. "He never intends to let you go, Blu. In the end, he'll kill you, too."
Blu's eyes darkened with anger and he shook his head mutely. "Blacome good."
"He's an evil wizard!" she pressed, struggling against the manacles. "Why else would I be here, with my hands chained?"
"Blacome say mean woman."
The frail sea-elf held her arms as wide as the chains would allow. "Do I look like I could hurt someone as big as Balcombe?"
Confused, the giant waddled backward, pounding his own head and sobbing.
"Blu," she said gently but firmly, "I can help you. If you'll just let me loose, I'll set you free. You won't have to work anymore in the dark, and you can see your family again." She held her wrists out toward him. "Just do it, Blu." Heart thumping, she looked toward the entrance to the right. "Quickly!"
Blu was highly agitated. He pounded his head against the cavern ceiling and whined to himself. He reached for Selana's neck, as if he meant to snap it like a chicken's. Her breath caught in her throat, and she told herself that dying in the giant's immense hands would be a far better fate than whatever the mage had planned for her. At the last second, though, the indecisive Blu stepped back, sobbing in confusion, and planted his huge, thick toes smack into the fire. His stunned yelp reverberated through the cavern.
Abruptly his long face froze, and he cocked his head to the side, listening for something. His eyes filled with fear. "They come!" he cried. Wheeling on his knees, he fled, feet smoking, down the tunnel from which he had come.
Not knowing what to expect, Selana looked to the entrance to the right. Seconds after Blu had fled, she heard a thumping noise, then two minotaurs stepped into the room. They were white from horns to toes and covered with networks of pulsing red veins.
The beasts approached her mechanically, looking neither to the right nor the left. She realized they were not animals at all, but magical constructions of stone called golems. They walked directly toward her with outstretched arms, stone eyes unblinking. As the first closed in, Selana mustered her courage and strength and planted her right foot on its stomach and pushed with all her might. The golem did not budge, but seized Selana and pinned her arms firmly. The other construct grasped the chains in its fists and pulled them apart as easily as Selana might have broken a thread.
The automaton holding Selana slung her over its shoulder, face down, with one arm wrapped firmly around her legs.
"What are you doing?" she cried. "Where are you taking me? Let me go!" She kicked and pounded its back, but her blows had no effect other than bruising herself. The minotaur carried her down the tunnel to a roughly circular chamber. Selana watched in disbelief as the beings turned and strode straight toward a blank section of wall. Just when she thought they would collide with the rock, they passed right through it and she found herself in another tunnel.
As they marched down the passage, Selana noticed a faint illumination that grew slowly until she and her escorts reached the entrance to another chamber. This one was a far cry from Blu's squalid, unfinished cavern. The walls of the egg-shaped chamber were polished rosy granite. Spiraling pillars, apparently natural features of the cavern, reached from floor to ceiling around the perimeter; a torch flickered in a sconce on each. The ceiling was highest in the center and sloped down at all ends of the "egg." At the farthest point of the room an elaborate pedestal table had been chiseled from the mountain granite.
The golem carried her to the center of the chamber and set her on her feet.
"Hello, my magical little mouse."
The dreaded deep baritone was oily with conceit. Selana closed her eyes in defeat for a moment before she followed the voice to the right.
The mage stepped out from behind a pillar. He wore black robes now instead of red, and the ram's-skull cap was missing from his head. A black silk patch covered his hideously scarred eye socket.
"Welcome to my-hmm," he paused, searching for the right word.
"Lair?" she spat, struggling to control the quiver in her voice. "I see you've decided to stop mocking the red robes. At last you're wearing a color more suited to your vile nature."
His laughter was throaty and staccato as he walked up to her slowly. The heels of his boots clicked against the cold, smooth stone floor and echoed in the rigid chamber. "I would think a woman in your tenuous position might speak a little more deferentially," he said smoothly. His thumbless hand reached out to touch her tattered clothing; his fingers lingered on the pulse that throbbed in the hollow of her pale neck. Aghast, the sea elf princess pulled away. Balcombe only smiled.
"You might almost be presentable, with some soap and water and a decent gown," he said, eyeing her slight form in the torn clothing. "Actually, the rags are almost alluring, in a primitive sort of way."
Selana shrank back but could not evade his sight or his probing hands.
"You have not thanked me for healing your wound," the mage said, his fingertips trying to trace the outline of the new pink scar on the inside of her left upper arm. She wrenched away, but the motion was clumsy and painful because of the weight of the short lengths of chain still dangling from her wrists. Balcombe only laughed again, which made Selana shake with silent fury.
He paced before her, his shaved head bent in thought, his hands tucked into the bell-shaped sleeves of his black robe. "Of great curiosity to me is the fact that I still do not know the identity or the fate of your friend and fellow mouse, the little kender." He watched her closely. "Or your name… Princess." He was greatly satisfied to see her jump.
His thick red lips pulled back into a smile. "An educated guess on my part, one I'm gratified to see is true. The spell I cast to analyze your bracelet told me much about it and, by inference, about you. Most interesting was its elven origin, though at that time I could not identify the kingdom. That, of course, became more clear as soon as I saw you without your scarf and cloak."
Balcombe stood just out of her reach and pushed back the sleeve of his right hand, revealing the copper bracelet. He tilted it toward the low flames. "Lovely, the way the amber gems catch the firelight, isn't it? It is only a bauble to me, really, but I shall enjoy owning such a beautiful piece of work-the gray-haired dwarf's, I presume? It's unfortunate that such a skilled artisan won't be crafting any more." Balcombe's sleek pate shook slowly in mock mourning.