The Fallen Fortress - By R. A. Salvatore Page 0,68
only way out of the devious pit
"Glad ye could make it, elf," Ivan said from below. "But ye might think of getting away from that door if any more are on their way down."
Shayleigh managed to look straight below her, to see the blurry, heated forms of Ivan and Pikel, standing waist-deep in some murky pool. She couldn't tell the exact dimensions of the room, but it was not large, and there was no other apparent door.
"Are you all right?" she asked.
"Just wet," Ivan grumbled. "And I got a bump on me head where me brother fell on me."
Pikel began to whistle and turned away. A moment later, the green-bearded dwarf spun back, frantically, and leaped onto his brother, nearly knocking Ivan under the water.
"What are ye about?" the surly dwarf demanded.
Pikel squeaked and worked hard to get his feet out of the water.
Ivan gave a sudden yell and heaved Pikel into the air. As the green-bearded dwarf hit the water, Ivan, axe in hand, began chopping wildly, his splashes even reaching Shayleigh, high on the wall.
"What is it?" Shayleigh cried. Both dwarves scrambled about, slapping at the water with their weapons.
"Something long and slimy!" Ivan bellowed back. He rushed to the wall directly below the hanging elf and began jumping up, trying futilely to reach her boots. Pikel was at his back in an instant, clambering over him, but Ivan ducked low, sending Pikel facedown into the murk, and then he leaped atop Pikel's back.
All the while, Shayleigh begged for them both to calm down. And finally they did, exhausted, without coming close to reaching the elf.
"Use my longbow," Shayleigh reasoned.
"Eh?" Pikel squeaked confusedly, but Ivan understood. He splashed about, finally retrieving the dropped bow, then came to the wall and reached up with it, hooking Sh*y-leigh's foot
"Ye sure ye got a good enough hold?" the dwarf politely asked.
"Hurry," Shayleigh replied, and Ivan jumped and grabbed, pulled himself along the bow to get high enough to catch a handhold on the elf's boot.
"Come up over me," Shayleigh instructed. "You will have to get into the corridor first and find some way to brace yourself."
Sturdy Ivan felt guilty climbing over a slender elf maiden like that, but he understood the practicality of it, especially when his brother, stifl below, gave a worried, "Uh-oh."
Ivan looked down to see Pikel standing very still; a serpentine head lifted clear of the water and swayed slowly, back and forth, only a foot out from Pikel and nearly eye-level with the dwarf.
"Me brother," Ivan whispered, hardly able to find his voice. He thought of leaping back to the water and jumping between Pikel and the serpent
"Climb," Shayleigh said to him.
Pikel began to sway with the snake, whistling as he went from side to side. They seemed somehow in harmony, dancing almost, and the snake gave no indication that it meant to strike out at the dwarf.
"Climb," Shayleigh said again to Ivan, ''Pikel cannot get up until you are out of the way."
Ivan had always been protective of his brother, and a big part of him wanted to leap back atop that snake, to rush wildly to Pikel's defense. He managed to light back the impulse, both because of his agreement with Shayleigh's logic, and because he was terribly afraid of snakes. He carefully picked handholds along Shayleigh's clothing and got up even with her, taking solace in Pikel's continued whistling, a calm song that took much of the tension from the nasty situation.
Ivan worked his way around to Shayleigh's back and squeezed through the narrow gap between her and the heavy door. When he got fully into the sloping chute, he turned sideways, bracing with his hands and feet on opposite walls.
"Pikel?" Shayleigh asked breathlessly, for the whistling had stopped.
"Oo oi!" came the hearty reply from below, and Shayleigh felt the weight on her foot as the second brother began his climb up the longbow. Pikel thoughtfully took the bow with him as he scaled Shayleigh, then slipped into the corridor and crossed over Ivan, planting his wet sandals firmly against the stretched-out Ivan's side and reaching back over his brother to help Shayleigh. This was the trickiest part of the maneuver, for Pikel and Ivan had to somehow open the doorway wide enough and long enough for Shayleigh to get through, and at the same time give the elf something solid to hold on to.
Pikel braced his club against the door, between Shay-leigh's outstretched and aching arms.