Underground

"There are too many of them for us to have any chance in a fight," the woman said. "We must flee before they can cut off our escape."

Fred followed her a short distance across the hallway, to where a flight of stone steps led down. Torches fixed to the walls provided enough light for the two off them to see by. The first xorn reached the top of the flight just as they reached the bottom.

There was an open doorway immediately in front of them. When they had passed through it, the woman said: "Help me close the door."

It was a heavy door, seemingly carved from a single huge block of stone. They got it closed just in time, and the woman shot home great iron bolts at its top and bottom. "There!" she said. "That should hold even xorns for quite some time."

Fred looked around him. They were in a great chamber carved out of the rock beneath the castle, dimly lit by torches on the walls. There were several other exits from it. "Are we trapped down here?" he asked. "Or is there another way out."

1. "There is a secret exit back to the surface. It was created long ago for just such an eventuality as this. But the way will be long and possibly perilous."
2. "There is no other way out. But reinforcements should be on their way. Once they have dealt with the xorns it will be safe to emerge."
3. But before the woman could answer him, they heard a distant scream.

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