"Get it away from me!" Archlis shouted at Kid.

"Give me my tooth!" sobbed the skull and hovered above Kid.

Kid whipped out from behind the sarcophagus, the flameskull in hot pursuit behind him.

"That's it! I've had it with you!" Ivy was still wearing her armored gloves. When the flameskull went whizzing by her, she reached out both hands and snagged it through the empty eye sockets and jawbone. The green flame licked harmlessly at her heavy gauntlets. The skull was a simple catch for anyone who had grabbed a dread or the head of a floating corpse and felt the nose rot off into her hand. Some things just got easier with practice.

"Wwwarghts!" The skull let out a muffled shriek, unable to speak any words with Ivy's left hand wrapped tightly around its jawbone. It tried to tug out of her hands, continuing to make strange gargling noises.

"Careful, Ivy," Gunderal warned. "It's trying to cast a spell."

"Shut up!" Ivy yelled at the flameskull. She held it in front of her and stared into its flickering eye sockets, confronting it with her jutting chin almost touching its naked jawbone.

The flameskull gave an involuntary tremble. Ivy smiled-and it was not a nice smile-and slung the flameskull into the stone box in front of her. Before the magical creature could recover, she slammed the lid of the sarcophagus down. "And stay there!"

Muffled bumps and bangs echoed from inside the box. A puff of smoke came out of the crack between the lid and box. Ivy ignored it. She swaggered up to Archlis, grabbing a stunned Kid by the shoulder and pulled him behind her. The little guy was obviously feeling murderous, but attacking Archlis at this moment might not be the best plan. She thought that she had a better idea.

"Admirable style, my dear," Kid whispered.

"Thank you," Ivy whispered back. "Now stop trying to play hero. If I tell you to throw me a moldering molar, throw it."

"Yes, Captain." Kid sketched a quick bow in her direction. She ignored it, swiveling toward the magelord.

"You!" Ivy said, jabbing a finger at Archlis.

The magelord blinked.

"All right, we have saved you. Destrachans drowned. Flameskull boxed up. Can't ask for more than that from any mercenary," Ivy announced loudly. "So pay up and lead us out of the ruins."

Archlis blinked and slowly turned his head toward her. When he did not reply, she snapped her fingers to be sure she had his attention. Not a flicker. His gaze dropped back to the Moaning Diamond. It was as if the gem were speaking to him, distracting him from more normal concerns and cares.

"Hurry up," Ivy said, pressing Archlis to make his decision- there was a creaking sound coming from the corridor behind them. "Those golden doors behind us won't hold the water out forever. We need to get out of here before the river breaks into this room."

"The river is no problem." Archlis sneered. "Not while I hold this treasure." He fondled the Moaning Diamond in his hands.

"It's pretty," said Ivy. What was the matter with the man? He was like a child with a new toy, aware of nothing else. She wanted to wave both of her hands in front of his eyes to determine if he could see anything besides that stupid diamond. Fighting to keep control, she said, "But there are bigger ones lying all around here."

"Those are just gems. This artifact toppled the walls of Tsurlagol. Even muffled in that stone box, it called the other gems out of the depths of the earth."

"Knew this stuff didn't come here naturally," muttered the dwarf behind Ivy.

"Now I can use its power to unearth all the hidden treasures of the world!" Archlis started forward, hurrying, paying little attention to where he stepped. His feet caused a small avalanche of gems, and he stumbled and shot out an arm. To Ivy's regret, he managed to stay upright. She started to reach a hand toward his Ankh, but Mumchance whispered a warning behind her. Archlis had recovered his balance and was glaring at them, the fingers of one hand white around the Ankh's handle. Ivy did not dare to set him off; they had nothing to protect them from his fire spells. With an oath, Archlis strode past her, kicking at the rolling gems.

"Watch what the Moaning Diamond can do!" Archlis raised the Moaning Diamond in one hand, holding it high above his head. The magelord began to cry out the words of some spell, using the same grating language that he had used with his charms earlier. The ululations from the gem grew louder with each of his shouts.

On the edge of her vision, Ivy saw the wall changing. Without turning her head away from Archlis, she slid her eyes to the side to better see what was happening. A part of the wall at one end of the room began to melt away. It did not crumble with roaring dust clouds, as had the stone chamber walls when the destrachans had attacked them. Instead, the material of the wall seemed to evaporate, as though it were no firmer than mist. Within the widening opening she saw a hidden staircase spiraling upwards.

The smell of clean air was immediately evident to the keener noses in the group.

"It is headed outside," whispered Zuzzara to Ivy.

"What is?" Ivy hissed.

"The diamond. It wants out," Zuzzara answered. "Look! It has found a way out. That staircase leads outside."

"Fresh air," explained Gunderal.

"Even I smell that," her sister elaborated.

With a sweep of his arm, Archlis motioned them all forward to the staircase. His head still bent down to stare into the depths of the Moaning Diamond. The Siegebreakers looked at each other, their eyebrows rising in question. Ivy shrugged and then gave a slight nod. The group silently began the climb upward to daylight. Archlis came behind them, the Moaning Diamond gripped in one hand and the Ankh in the other.

"I thought we were deeper in the tunnels," Zuzzara whispered.

"Wrong again," Gunderal murmured as she drifted ahead of her large half-sister. "I could tell that we were near the surface."

"So what do you smell now?" Zuzzara asked.

With a quick glance over her shoulder, Gunderal whispered, "Trouble, bloodshed, full-scale, all-out warfare."

"Oh good. All stuff we can handle."

Ivy reached out a hand and touched Kid's shoulder. She leaned close to his ear to say softly, "Whatever happens, stay on the far side of me, away from Archlis."

"I can take care of myself, my dear."

To Mumchance, climbing the stairs in front of her, she said, "Get your eye ready." She saw the back of his head nod.

And as she passed Sanval, still held between the two bugbears, she whispered, "Stay alert."

His lips stiff, his face expressionless, he whispered back, "I am always alert."

CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO

The stairway twisted up, one endless turn after another. They climbed and climbed and continued climbing. The air was no better here, still close and musty; the one whiff of clean air had dissolved into dust. Ivy had hoped for a fresh breeze to indicate that they neared the surface and an escape from the ruins of old Tsurlagol.

"I guess we were deeper than I thought," said Gunderal.

"Or we're going higher than we should," said Mumchance. "We should be level with the city streets by now."

"Or our knees are so tired we think we've climbed more steps than we have," Zuzzara muttered.

"Quiet!" whispered Archlis behind them. He was still leaning over the Moaning Diamond in his hands as if the gem were speaking to him in some occult tongue.

"Look how the stone of the stairs has changed," observed the dwarf, ignoring the magelord's command. "Ivy, I think we are inside the city walls."

"How can we be in the walls?" Ivy asked.

"Don't know. But the stair is forming inside the wall. Look. It's the same stone as the outside of the southwest corner. The stuff we surveyed earlier." Mumchance trailed his hand over the stone as they passed. Cracks ran up the walls surrounding the staircase. "It's being shifted from the inside by Archlis. This was all filled with rubble or mortared closed, and he's forcing it open-changing the stones of the wall to make the stair. And I don't think the wall wants to be opened here." The stones of the stair creaked and groaned around them.