Sir Averny, as was his responsibility, took the lead. Behind him trailed three others: his squire, yet hapless and hesitant; Lady Olwen, who had insisted upon coming and whom Averny couldn’t deny; and the Lady’s handmaiden, Snowdonia, who Averny couldn’t trust. In her wake thumped a strange construct of her own creation that made the entire party conspicuous and slow. ...

A pyramid underground was strange—but Hildebrand the Faint had been taught to expect the strange and, failing that, accept it at the very least. The strange was not always the perilous; the perilous, sometimes, was the most familiar. His mentor's words were prominent in his mind at all times. He trusted that Herladic's words like law. Stranger yet was the voice that spoke as the pyramid resolved itself into a great hewn giant, vast blocks of stone stacked and chiseled. "Li...