Cirro considered himself warned, and so turned to follow Orena's directions whilst she turned to follow his.

It wasn't until she reached the corridor and she had to pick left or right that she realised he hadn't told her which room was in which direction. So any internal strategising she'd tried to do about her odds of success against a dark room or a slippery floor were already negated. She huffed out an annoyed breath and set off right.

She pushed the door open to reveal that she'd picked the square room, and though not perfectly she could already make out some telltale signs - such as suspiciously shiny tiles or tiles that were slightly raised compared to their neighbours. One of which was close by and she reached out with the poker and pressed, unable to stop herself jumping at the speed at which the tile retracted to reveal a series of very sharp spikes.

Orena looked over the room again, trying desperately to see if she could see some kind of lever or switch that would allow guards safe passage. But just as Cirro had said, she couldn't see anything.

The flickering of the burning torches that lit the room made it tricky to really perceive anything. She desperately tried to find anything to indicate any particular hazards on the floor she had available to step on, but no matter how hard she tried came up blank. So as she took a long steadying breath, she stepped forward slightly to the side.

Her balanced was immediately thrown as her foot slipped beneath her, she tried to regain it by throwing her weight forward to try and get her other foot on a different tile, but in doing so snagged a thin wire she barely felt against her ankle. She didn't wait to find out what she had triggered but ducked with as much momentum as she could keep hold of to roll away as she felt the heat of something above her. When it became clear she was on a safe patch of floor she carefully uncurled herself to try and see what had missed her. She couldn't be sure but she thought there was a scorch mark on the wall opposite a sconce that would have put her in it's direct path.

She nodded to herself, as she tucked her brown hair back behind her ears, it turned out careful wouldn't work, she'd have to be quick.

Orena carefully stood up, ensuring that she didn't put any weight on a piece of floor she hadn't already tested and checked she still had everything. Zerac and her dagger remained secure, and she'd dropped the fire poker within reach. There were a couple of minor tears in her skirts, but not too bad considering.

Somehow, slightly further away from the wall, she could see some of the traps a little clearer, the faint outlines of raised tiles nearby dictated her next couple of steps, until she was safely on another tile and resisting taking a breath of relief. She wasn't in the clear yet. As she scanned her gaze around she saw a greasy residue to one side, and with a slightly raised tile ahead of her, she side stepped. Her whole body tensed as she strained her senses to detect any impending doom. That time she did breathe a sigh of relief and shook some of her joints to try and keep herself fluid enough to dodge if that was required of her.

By now she could see the far door that she hoped was the correct exit. She wasn't too far away from the one that would go to the other corridor, which she knew wouldn't get her to the exit, but she couldn't be sure which was the false door Cirro had warned her about. But she couldn't see another so she was hoping that it was in the other trap chamber.

Still, going back wasn't really an option, so she looked for any signs of traps in her vicinity again before taking another step.

She instantly retracted her foot as she felt the tile shift beneath it, hands up instinctively as she prepared to duck or otherwise move out of the way. When nothing else had happened after a moment she looked down to what she had just narrowly avoided, seeing no more tile but a shallow pit full of spikes.

She changed direction, only noticing how hard she was gripping the poker when her arm started aching from holding it in such an unnatural position. She swapped hands and tried to relax herself again as she took another tentative step when she could see no obvious faults. The floor lurched out from under her, causing her to scream as she stumbled, one foot into the spike pit and half catching herself on the adjacent tile. She yanked her foot free as quickly as possible, tearing her dress as she did but ignoring it as she tried to check on the cut down the side of her calf. That slight roll back as she sat was enough to trigger the tripwire she hadn't realised was behind her, and before she could even really register that, she was blasted backwards by a gale.

In an effort to protect herself she curled and braced her head with her arms and her hands over her ears against the howl of the wind.

She came to a hard stop against a wall, and for a moment she didn't dare move to take stock, simply breathing heavily as she tried to convince herself she was still alive. When her heart finally felt like it might not hammer its way out of her chest, she slowly unfolded herself, her ears were ringing but she could still hear. She had a few bruises, but nothing felt broken, just a little sore as she gingerly sat up to check on her leg. There was a long cut but it was relatively shallow, it throbbed sharply as she tried to put weight on it, but held.

Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

Once she was back on her feet, Orena checked her weapons, relieved to find zerac and her dagger still in place. The poker was gone though, she looked towards the door she had been flung through from down the corridor she now found herself in. She must have dropped it when she triggered either the trap or tripwire.

She turned to look the other way, seeing nothing but a door on the far side. The other room full of traps. She didn't really want to go back up against the combination of slime and spikes, but would she be any better against blades now she had an injured leg?

Orena squared her shoulders. She'd already lost against the other room, she might as well try the new one. At worst she could turn around if it looked worse. If she was very lucky she had inadvertently stumbled upon the correct route through the maze and the easiest way through both rooms.

She scoffed as she took her first stilted steps, if she was lucky she wouldn't be in this mess.

Thankfully the more she moved the less her leg hurt, so whilst she was still favouring her good leg, she wasn't really limping by the time she pulled the next door open. This time casting her gaze over the hexagonal room. It contained more braziers and torches than the square room, so it was somewhat brighter, but they seemed arranged to cast as many shadows across the floor as possible to disguise as much of the triggers as possible. Orena figured that the additional brightness was to make the contrast worse when they extinguished.

Yet again she found herself examining the floor immediately by her feet once she'd pinpointed her exit. And just like the previous time, she was struggling to really make out anything useful as the flames danced mockingly in their sconces nearby.

So she decided to try and put the lightest touch of her foot to the tile she had decided was most promising, and nothing happened. Unsure if that meant the tile was safe or she just hadn't used enough weight, she tested the adjacent tile as well, and still nothing. So either there was a lot more safe ground here, or that was a meaningless test. As she chanced a glance behind her, she was worried that she was running out of time before someone caught up to her.

So she took the leap of faith and stepped forward.

The room plunged into darkness.

Orena listened hard as she hoped her eyes might adjust somewhat, but nothing came at her. She was grateful for that at least, as she tried to figure out what to do next. She decided to use small steps, keeping her feet close to the floor, using them to feel her way. A decision she came to regret when she didn't feel the trip wire above her foot until her second step went through it.

She heard a creaking sound, and she dove forwards as she really hoped that she was right about where it was coming from.

She collided badly with the floor, pain shooting through her elbow and hip before she tucked herself as small as she could to try and avoid whatever the trap was throwing at her. Unsure how the darkness had disorientated her so much that she had pitched sideways so much.

After a moment the sound died down, and she tentatively uncurled, trying to ascertain what had happened when she couldn't see. She sat up as slowly as she could, half expecting to come into contact with something sharp as she did, but there was nothing. Once sat up, she twisted around to gently feel the air where she had been stood, and this time found the solid metal of a curved blade. She swallowed at the prospect of how close she had been to being a smear on the wall.

For a second she was confused as to how these were useful more than once, before she remembered that Cirro had told her of the enchantments. She couldn't help but wonder how long it took before they reset themselves. But she had more pressing matters than to think about it for long, and instead turned to give her bruises a cursory inspection. Her hip wasn't too bad, but her elbow protested every time she stretched too far, and also when she tried to put weight on it to crawl forwards.

She really hoped she could find a quick way out of this hell. Using where the blade had dropped to reorientate herself, she turned so she was crouched low and could feel the edges of the tiles with her fingertips. It wasn't perfect, but it gave her an idea of which tiles were more closely aligned with the safe one she was on, and she crept in that direction, relieved when nothing else happened.

She had a system now, as imperfect as it was, and continued to use what tactile contact she had to root out various hazards. She was able to avoid a tripwire with her method, and she was just growing comfortable with getting by without her sight when pain flashed into her head and she slammed her eyes closed as she recoiled.

It took her a moment to realise that it was because the torches had flared back to life, and her poor eyes hadn't had any warning or time to adjust. At least they stopped hurting just as quickly when she protected them. Maybe those had been on some kind of timer too? Or was she finally on a plate that relit them? She decided it didn't really matter as she shaded her eyes with a hand and tried to slowly open them enough to start to adjust again.

When she could finally keep them open enough to look around with bleary vision similar to waking up, she was incredibly relieved she hadn't flinched any further because of the tripwire just next to her knee.

After another moment she trusted herself enough to try and stand up, her injuries complained, but not too much as she wobbled at first, but was able to steady herself. She focused on the door that should take her away from the twin trap rooms, only a few steps from her now. Avoiding the tripwire she'd already located she made her next move, and couldn't detect anything else nearby.

When her hand finally hit the handle of the door she release a breath she hadn't even realised she was holding, and yanked it open as quickly as she could before something else happened.