Room16b
Jora reaches for the black mirror which races forward to envelop the group.
The transition is different than before. No cold assaults them; instead a dry heat like the open mouth of a blast furnace washes over them. Their mouths fill with grit with the taste of brimstone and salt. Dust and clouds swirl around them and then the air clears and they stand in the center of the room, their feet covered in sand.
The mirrors have disappeared.
In the corner of the room between the black and white doors crouches an enormous beast.
The creature’s body is that of a lion but a lion of a size which no man has ever seen. Its shoulder is level with the top of Jora’s head and each paw is as wide as his hips.
The human head perched on the monster’s neck snarls with fury and shakes the long black hair and beard as the youngsters appear.
“Will you face me in a battle of wits?”
Jora draws his sword and hears Conrad do the same beside him. “No, monster, we have chosen the path of war.”
“Then you shall die, no man can best me.”
The sphinx snarls and slashes at Jora with an enormous paw. The boy screams as four long furrows are ripped across his leg.
He slashes with the sword which fails to injure the sphinx.
Conrad dives forward slashing, again with no effect.
The monster kicks its rear foot and Conrad falls to the ground screaming with his belly ripped open.
Safir and Lamia rush to Conrad’s side swinging their staves at the beast. The wooden cudgels have as much effect as if they were feathers.
The sphinx glances at the girls and then turns back to Jora. It snarls and leaps upon the boy, smashing him to the ground in a spray of blood.
The monster’s head darts down and when it rises again and turns to face the girls, the monster’s mouth is covered in blood.
The girls back away from the monster, holding their weapons defensively.
“Now for dessert,” the monster says and leaps upon the girls.