They entered the shady passage very carefully. Ankou was scouting in front of them. Dawn didn’t trust herself in the lead. She had overlooked a demon trap the last time she was in the caves. She followed close behind him, Lutha trailing after her and Kharma making up the rear.

Shivers were running down Dawn’s spine now that she was underground again. She listened intensely for any noise, her nerves frayed.

They wandered down underground passages for some time and had to check out several branches, before they finally found the way to the spider’s cave. ‘So there really was an exit on this side, too bad we didn’t reach it without getting discovered last time.’ Dawn bit her lip as she remembered stumbling into the demon’s trap. She looked out on the water surface and would have loved to turn around and leave the caves. Only the presence of Ankou and Kharma gave her the courage to go on.

This time the demons were active in the main cave. Several were scuttling around on the ground before the junction to the passage above and the spider’s den. Slowly, Dawn tipped her head back and looked up. These monster’s wouldn’t surprise her from above again. Nothing moved on the ceiling. She dared to move a few steps farther in, trying not to make a noise. Her gaze was roving: down in front of her feet, to the sides, up to the ceiling. Nothing. On her left side she discovered another branch in the passage, the aperture was half filled with rubble. Ankou had sniffed it perfunctorily and ignored it. She wanted to investigate it. To leave an unknown passage behind her gave her a bad feeling. But they had a plan to follow. First, they needed to get into the passage leading to the city. Hopefully, Kharma wouldn’t be tempted to go looking for his friends before they could finish their preparations. The uncertainty regarding their fate was hard to endure for him.

As they studied the seemingly chaotic movement of the demons for long minutes, they discovered there was in fact an underlying patrol pattern to it. “We can slip through after the next one disappears around the bend,” Dawn whispered. Running as quietly as they could, they managed to slip through between the passage of two spiders by the skin of their teeth. Spooked and breathless, the companions entered the passage upwards to the lowest level of the city. They endured several tense minutes on the way up. If a demon encountered them here, they had no chance to evade it. But they got through to the cemetery level without hiccup and the whole level was blessedly demon free.

Dawn said: “We are in the fourth level of the city now, in the cemetery. We have to get up to the second level to close the first portcullis.” They trudged up to the second level through two more passages, all the time listening for the distinctive clicking noises of the demons. Everything stayed calm.

Dawn investigated the portcullis at the exit of the second level. It was held up via several rope fastenings with anchor weights, that could be shortened or lengthened by the turning of a wheel. “That mechanism hasn’t been used for a very long time,” she stated. “It’s a minor miracle the ropes are still holding it up. I don’t think I can get that wheel working, it is stuck. If we cut the ropes it should fall down. But here’s one little problem: The ropes are on the wrong side. If I cut them I’ll be stuck on the second level. I wanted to trap the demons, not myself.”

Kharma rolled his eyes: “Is easy, burn rope and get out.”

“Oh, you mean set fire the rope and then get through the opening and wait for it to fall down. Kharma, you’re a genius!” Dawn exclaimed. “But, that will make a lot of noise. We may be knee-deep in spiders before we know it.”

Kharma retorted: “We want to lure demons. Good if come.” Dawn sighed. “You are right. So, I will set fire to the ropes. But we will have to look over the portcullis on the third floor first. I don’t want any surprises once the spiders arrive.” And down to the third level they trouped once more.

“It gets tricky here,” Dawn said while looking over the portcullis on the exit of the third level. “The mechanism is the same here, I can burn the ropes as well. But getting the timing right will be difficult, to say the least. The ropes take some time to burn through. The demons need to get in far enough that they can’t get out again before the portcullis falls, and there can’t be any left in the passageway. Or they will just squish us when we try to get out. I don’t think the monsters will be nice enough to do it exactly right.”

Kharma grinned fiercely: “Have me. Stone singer useful. Can make hidey hole in passageway.” Saying that, he stood under the portcullis and started to hum. Directly adjacent to the aperture with the portcullis a hole began to form in the wall. Kharma took his time, singing the stone away and pausing to regain his breath in intervals. He could be patient, now that he was acting to help his friends. Slowly, the hole in the wall grew until they all could fit in, and still he wasn’t finished, preferring to gain some more distance to the passageway.

Dawn was pacing uneasily while he worked, from time to time she stopped and listened intensely with baited breath for any noises from below. At last, Kharma stopped. He was breathing heavily and looked totally spent. Dawn said: “Stay here and catch your breath Kharma. Optimally you all get into the hidey hole now. I will go up and bring the first portcullis down.”

She sprinted up the passage to the third level. There she set fire to the ropes of the mechanism and hastily ran through the doorway. Jittery, she waited to see if the portcullis would come down. It took longer than she had anticipated, she was almost tempted to go back through the doorway to check if something went wrong. But finally, with an earsplitting shriek, the portcullis fell and thudded down on the ground heavily.

“One down,” she said, “and with enough noise that it could wake the dead.”

‘I hope the demons won’t arrive in the passage before I can get out,’ Dawn thought with a shudder. But her trepidation was unnecessary, she rejoined her friends with nary a spider in sight. Kharma had in the meantime narrowed the entrance to their hiding place, so no spider could get in and it was not that easy to see. They waited tensely for the clicking noises that would announce the demons. It seemed an eternity had passed and nothing happened. “Maybe they didn’t hear the noise three levels down,” Dawn whispered. Kharma shook his head and whispered back. “Caves very silent. Hear that much noise on other side of mountain.” Lutha added, “Patience, child. Haste makes mistakes.” Dawn struggled to stay still, the persisting tension wearing her down.

At long last they made out the clicking sounds they had been waiting for. “Here they come,” Dawn whispered. Quiet as mouses the companions waited, as a procession of spider-demons scuttled through the passageway and entered the third level of the underground city. Once no further demons were arriving Dawn took a deep a breath and activated Shadow Play once more. ‘No mistakes this time,’ she thought. ‘I need to get it exactly right.’ She scurried through the doorway and was stunned to see that the spiders were systematically searching the enormous room. ‘They are intelligent and they learn,’ she thought, as a shiver ran down her spine. ‘No insect I have ever seen had that level of intelligence.’ In slow motion she approached the portcullis mechanism. She needed the spiders to be farther away. Once the rope started to burn, the demons were certain to notice the fire.” ‘Wait, wait,’ she said to herself. ‘Now!’ Her firestarter ignited the ropes and she hastily retreated out of the doorway.

With baited breath she stood in the passageway and watched as the ropes started burning fiercely. The moment of truth was here. When would the demons notice? If she hadn’t got the timing right, all their preparations might be in vain. A minute went by, then one of the spiders obviously realized something was burning. There was a chittering sound and the spiders started scuttling back in Dawn’s direction. Dawn froze as she saw a wave of the demons approaching. She wasn’t able to move, she was petrified with fear. Suddenly, she was pulled back into the hiding place, Kharma whispering angrily: “You want be meal for demons?” The first spider was already clicking its way through the doorway, when first a deep clang sounded and a moment later the portcullis plummeted down with a deafening shriek and a reverberating thud.

Tentatively Dawn stuck her head out of their hiding place. The spider that had been passing the doorway had been pierced through by the portcullis on its way down. It was stone dead. Several more spiders were trapped behind the portcullis.

“Yes!” whispered Dawn fiercely. “About ten spiders out of the fight. That’s a good start.”