Chapter 14: Barred Doors and Vanishing Floors

Root and Mulch simulataneously dived out of the way of the pursuing boulder into the corners of the chamber. It sped past their fallen forms and continued down a passage opposite.

"Is everyone alright?" Butler asked pulling Root to his feet.

Both Root and Mulch managed nods.

"Foaly?" There was no response, "Foaly!" Root said turning slightly red. There was still no response.

"Foaly!" He finally gave in and shouted, turning his famous beetroot colour.

"Julius, we've got trouble," Foaly suddenly said, "Chix, Grub and Spiro appear to be on your trail and Spiro pushed Trouble into the valley outside. He's unconscious and his magic is barely keeping him alive because he used most of it up getting the scroll. He needs someone else's magic. Fast."

"So we need to get a move on," Butler commented dryly.

"Why?" Mulch asked, "You should have just given me a helmet Julius!"

"Don't call me Julius! We need to hurry, Trouble is badly injured."

"Stupid fairy! How did he manage to injure himself when he was just sitting around?!"

Root raised an eyebrow and spoke to Mulch the way an adult would to an ignorant child.

"Chix Verbil, Grub Kelp and the human Spiro, pushed him over the edge of the cliff. Apparently they are the bad guys."

"Weird combination," Mulch muttered.

"Foaly?"

"Still here."

"Tell the others that there is a rogue boulder on the loose."

"Gotcha," Foaly said and disconnected to speak to the others.

After a moment of composing themselves they headed back down the path which the boulder had pushed them from. Instead of walking beside one another they decided on single file and Root, who was walking at the front, carefully checked the pathway before them. Cautiously, much more so than the last time, they advanced. Finally they reached an ornate door. It was surrounded by a wooden frame, reminiscent of the pagoda outside. In the centre there was a hole surrounded by Chinese symbols.

"Where did the boulder come from?" Mulch asked.

Root and Butler shrugged.

Root moved towards the door to examine the hole.

"Don't put your hand in!" Foaly said suddenly appearing again.

"We weren't about to," Root muttered.

"This is where Mulch comes in," Foaly continued.

"Mulch, get to the other side of the door," Root instructed.

"Urm, in case you hadn't noticed, the floor in here is covered with these massive slabs. How am I meant to get past them?"

"Can't you move them?" Foaly asked.

"I can try," Butler said walking over to the edge of one of them.

He slid his fingers under the slab in the small gap between slabs and began prising it upwards. Surprisingly it was very light and Butler was able to move it incredibly easily.

"What about the other side?" Root enquired.

"It should be fine. The original creators of the maze didn't want to waste their own magic getting to the treasure so they thought of ways to bypass the traps. Hence the very light slab and hopefully the lack of them the other side."

"I see." Root replied.

"See what?"

"The other side is clear, go through and…"

"Open the door. Got it."

Mulch continued muttering that he should have been given a helmet as he unbuttoned his bum flap. The others quickly retreated around a bend in the passageway just to be safe and Mulch disappeared into the earth.

He soon emerged on the other side of the door in a tunnel identical to the previous one, except, just as Foaly had predicted, it did not have any slabs on the ground. He turned to the door which looked exactly the same as the other side. There didn't appear to be any handle or key or keyhole for that matter.

"What do I do?" Mulch shouted to the others through the door.

There was no reply.

"This is what you get for not giving me a helmet," he muttered and continued muttering as he scanned the door and the surrounding walls.

Artemis, Holly and Juliet continued on in grim silence. Foaly had informed them about Trouble and their pursuers and that a boulder could run them down at any moment.

"Do you hear that?" Artemis suddenly announced breaking the silence and looking worriedly at Holly and Juliet.

"It's the floor!" Juliet shouted, "Get back!"

They all stepped back and the floor in front of them crumbled away revealing row upon row of glistening spikes, stretching as far as they could see.

"Couldn't we just drop down and walk in between them?" Juliet asked.

"We can if we have to," Artemis replied.

"But even their edges are sharpened," Holly said examining the gleaming metal, "it will be painful."

She reached down and touched one of the spikes. Simultaneously it pricked her finger and the same magic force which had drained her already on numerous occasions ran through her.

"I can't go down there," she said grimacing, "and I barely touched that spike and it pricked my finger so I don't think you would want to go down there either."

"Any suggestions Foaly?"

There was no response.

"Foaly!"

"Everyone wants a piece of Foaly. The others wanted help opening a door so I told them…"

"Foaly! What do we do?"

"Oh, right. Yes, this is one of the traps I already knew about. The one that Butler wouldn't fit through, so..."

"We can't walk through them before you suggest that," Holly interrupted.

"I wasn't going to. Stop interrupting me!" Foaly said, the hurt evident in his voice, "Look on the wall to your left."

All three turned and scanned the wall.

"What exactly are we looking for?" Artemis enquired sceptically.

"Well a button of some kind like…There!"

"My ears!" Juliet complained.

"Holly, don't move. You see in front of you, that little brick?"

"Here?" Holly said running her fingers over a slightly raised stone.

"Push it."

Holly tentatively pushed the button and a large stone to the left of them slid back into the wall. Holly peered into the hole.

"That will lead all the way to the other side."

"We have to crawl through here?" Juliet asked peering in herself.

It was just big enough to crawl through, Foaly was right, Butler never would have fitted. From her helmet light Juliet saw the passage began to veer right until she assumed it ran parallel with the spiked pit.

"I'll go first," Holly volunteered, a look of determination spread across her face. Juliet and Artemis decided it was best not to argue.

She lent into the small gap and pulled her legs up behind her.

"You next," Juliet said to Artemis, "I have to make sure you're alright after all."

Artemis nodded and slipped into the hole. Holly was already crawling away around the bend.

"Holly wait," Artemis said struggling to pull himself towards her in the awkward space, "You don't know what we'll find on the other side." Juliet pulled herself in behind him.

"I'm perfectly fine Artemis. Don't worry about me," she said and began to crawl away again.

"But I do," Artemis muttered quietly under his breath so that Holly couldn't hear, as he began the uncomfortable crawl behind her.

He calls himself a genius! He didn't even remember that we all have our helmet mics on!

Holly shook her head slightly which was difficult in the confined space, but despite her negative thoughts a grin spread on her face.

Grub raced down the steep slope to the bottom of the valley, hoping that Trouble was alright.

It wasn't meant to be like this. We were just meant to make our wishes; no-one was meant to get hurt. Especially not Trouble! What will I say to Mummy if he's not alright?

He spotted the crumpled figure of his brother nestled in a pile of rocks. He had decided to attempt to save him, how could he have done anything else? The others had descended into the maze, but he couldn't leave his brother dying, or maybe he was already dead! He quickened his pace and stumbled a few times in his haste. He reached Trouble and was relieved to find that he still had a heartbeat.

I have to heal him. But first…

He removed Trouble's helmet and put it on his own head.

"Foaly?" he said.

There was no response.

Maybe it's broken.

"Foaly?"

"Grub? Is that you?"

"Yes, it's me. I…"

"What's going on, why were you with Spiro? No, that can wait! Save your brother!"

"Foaly listen to me you have to stop her."

"Stop who? Why aren't you helping Trouble?"

"I'm about to heal him, but first I had to tell you to stop her Foaly, otherwise there won't be anything we can do…"

"Grub!" Foaly shouted, "Who! Who are you talking about?"

"Opal. Opal Koboi."

A/N: Sorry for the lateness of updates again, there's no excuse! :D