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Merlin and Nimue stood next to Beansprout, examining the plans she had spread across the central table.
“Where did you find these again?” Merlin asked.
“Over on that shelf, using a finding spell,” Beansprout said with pride.
“Well done,” Nimue said, smiling, before turning her attention back to the plans. “I bet there’s all sorts of hidden rooms and passageways here. I can see a couple of markings in rooms I thought I knew well.” She shook her head. “What else was he hiding?”
“Time enough for that, Nimue,” Merlin said. “What are we going to do about this passageway? Should we wait for Arthur?”
“No,” Beansprout said quickly. “We should search now. Arthur could be hours yet. And it might be nothing.”
“I agree,” Nimue said. “Let’s go.” She rolled the plan up and led them down the stairs towards the kitchen. “From the look of this map, the passageway should lead off one of the cellars.”
They passed through the kitchen and into the storage room beyond. From there a small passageway led off to more rooms. Beansprout had only been in here once before, and all she remembered was stores of dried foods, and Raghnall’s fine wines. Nimue led them to the middle room, lined with racks filled with plates, bowls, cooking utensils, glasses and garden lanterns.
“Anyone would think he was running a hotel,” Beansprout said, pulling a plate off a pile. “This has actual gold on it!”
Nimue took a quick look. “Porcelain too, probably the best money can buy. So if that’s up here, who knows what’s in the passageway.”
The walls were made of polished granite, solid and unyielding, and although they examined them in great detail, there wasn’t the slightest hint of a break in them.
Merlin turned to the floor, made of thick timbers. “Maybe it’s a trap door?”
Once again Nimue studied the map, turning it this way and that, while Beansprout and Merlin tugged at the floor boards and tapped them, listening for a change in sound.
“Try the far corner,” Nimue said.
Beansprout crouched down and ran her hand under racks loaded with heavy pans, serving platters and glasses. She gasped. “I can feel a draught!” She knocked the floor and it sounded hollow. “It’s here!”
Within minutes they moved equipment off the shelves and onto the floor in teetering piles, and then pulled the rack away from the wall. The only discernible change in the flooring was that the planks looked a little shorter and made an uneven square. Grabbing a large serving spoon off a shelf, Beansprout wedged its end into the gaps and levered the planks up. As they started to lift in one solid mass, Nimue and Merlin grabbed the edges and pulled, and the entire trap door swung upwards and back, landing with a thud against the wall.
Underneath, steps led down into darkness.
They grinned at each other. “Me first,” Nimue said, “then Beansprout. Merlin, you’ll go last.”
They each grabbed a lantern and Nimue said, “Beansprout, you can light them for us.”
Beansprout concentrated her energies and repeated the short spell she had been taught. A small flame appeared in the centre of her palm, which she directed to the lanterns. Within seconds they were burning strongly.
As they made their way down the dozen or so steps, the temperature dropped and they found themselves in a low-ceilinged passageway with walls of rough rock and ancient bricks. Before long it turned a corner and started climbing upwards, and then opened into a small square space with several exits leading from it. Beansprout’s heart sank. They could easily get lost down here.
“Damn it,” Nimue said, pulling the map out again. “There aren’t any other passages marked on here.”
“I suspect the one we want must go up, if it leads to the mountain with Giolladhe’s workshop,” Merlin reasoned.
“But where else could the others go?” Beansprout asked, nervously looking around.
“Other buildings, maybe?” Merlin said, thoughtfully stroking his long white beard. “Or to caves. Dragon hoards?”
“Hidden spells?” Nimue added.
“Please don’t suggest splitting up,” Beansprout said.
“Not a chance, dear girl,” Merlin said, patting her shoulder. “Let’s find the workshop first.” He examined the entrance to each passage. “Only one leads up, so – after you, Nimue.” He gallantly stood aside as she led the way, Beansprout close behind.
