NOVEL NEXT Chapter 65: Just In Case
Dominic’s mind raced. What was he missing?
“Why round objects?” Sekhmet suddenly interjected.
“They make the ceiling come down faster,” replied Sirius, sounding confused about her asking the question.
“No, she has a point,” Dominic said, realisation dawning. “Why would there be buttons which only make the ceiling come down faster? Obvious buttons at that. No one would ever push them – they’d be useless. They must be part of this puzzle.” Was this linking to the line they hadn’t been able to decipher? ‘Yet five must be fed; they close when it ends’?
Would pushing the buttons somehow keep the fires burning? But then which button was with which fire? They were spread all over the room! And did they just need to press the button once, or keep it pressed?
‘Right, everyone, pick a button and stand next to it. Press it when I tell you.’
‘But the ceiling will come down faster,” protested Fang nervously.
‘I know,’ Dominic sighed, ‘but if what I suspect is right, then we won’t be able to light the fires without pressing them. We’ll just have to be really quick.’ And perhaps not actually have the fires burning until the last moment if it wasn’t as simple as pushing the buttons when trying to light the fires and then letting go….
The five members of Dominic’s pride followed his instructions quickly, each intelligent enough to be fully aware of the death which awaited them if the ceiling finished its journey to the floor.
‘OK,’ Dominic continued, grabbing the torch that Procyon had dropped in exchange for the stick he was holding. The difference was that the wooden stick the dungeon had supplied actually went out as soon as he’d lit his brazier; the torch from Dominic’s storage space that Procyon had been holding hadn’t. Clearly, that was another part of the intended puzzle, but not one that Dominic felt inclined to suffer through. ‘I’m going to try to light a brazier. Each of you press your button for a count of three and then let go.’
‘A count of three?’ Fang asked uncertainly. Dominic realised that he might not be capable of counting. Actually, maybe none of them were – Dominic wasn’t sure if any of them had shown evidence that they had any knowledge of number.
‘Press the button and hold it. Take a long, slow breath in. Release the button. Clear?’
‘Clear,’ they all echoed in the Pride chat, even Lionel.
Dominic touched the torch to the brazier, calling out the names of his party one by one. Each time the fire went out, he repeated the action with someone else, keeping track of who had had a turn and who hadn’t.
‘Procyon, keep holding the button,’ Dominic instructed, his eyes on the flame which hadn’t gone out this time. The ameshek obliged. The flame stayed burning. ‘Alright, let it go.’ The flame went out.
‘Well that’s clear,’ he sighed to everyone. ‘The button must be continually pressed to keep the flame burning.’ He eyed the ceiling worriedly – even that test had had a visible impact on the passage of the ceiling. It was going to be tight.
But at least they had figured out the trick. Dominic was abruptly glad that he’d entered the dungeon with a full party of six: there were five buttons and he’d have to run around to light each of the braziers. He didn’t know how they’d have managed it with a smaller party.
‘Procyon, your button relates to this brazier. Don’t forget!’ he ordered, his tone firm. While he was tempted to light the fires one by one, each button pressed increased the speed of the ceiling’s descent; he suspected that multiple buttons would have either additive or multiplicative effects on the speed too. They’d run out of time if he tried to use the obvious method.
‘I will remember, pack leader,’ Procyon promised, his mental voice tight. Dominic wasn’t the only one who had noticed the progress of the ceiling.
Moving as fast as he could, and chafing at the time it took them to determine which of the buttons related to which brazier, they proceeded logically. Each round went faster – eliminating one button and brazier pair from the equation helped speed up each subsequent test, though they did get lucky a couple of times and found the right button before needing to test more than one or two. By the end, when it was down to just two braziers, they didn’t even need to test the last one after they’d eliminated the penultimate.
It was just as well – the ceiling was at less than half the height it had been at the start. If the buttons had an additive, or worse, multiplicative effect on the speed of the ceiling, it might get too close for comfort.
‘OK everyone, we’re doing well,’
Dominic said, trying to boost their spirits even as nerves turned his own belly into a writhing mass. ‘Last step now.’‘Lighting all the fires?’ checked Fang.
‘Yes,’ Dominic confirmed. ‘Do each of you remember exactly which brazier is attached to your button?’ Time might be pressing, but he’d rather know of a problem now than in the middle of the attempt.
Fortunately, a chorus of assent filled the Pride chat.
‘OK, good. I’m going to run around the room, lighting each of the fires in order. As soon as I stop next to the brazier your button is attached to, press and hold your button. We need to get all six fires burning.’ And then they’d see whether their guess that ‘six eyes’ indeed meant ‘six fires’ was true or not.
Dominic was met by grim determination both in the Pride chat and in the body language of his pride members – they all knew that this was it. They probably wouldn’t get another chance.
With the rattle and rumble of the ceiling as his accompanying drumbeat, Dominic lit the first fire. His torch had burned down to the point that it was actually singeing his whiskers and he felt its heat burn the side of his jaw. The scent of burnt fur filled his nostrils and made him wrinkle his nose unhappily. Using the dungeon-provided stick wasn’t an option here, though, so he just did his best to ignore the pain, smell, and loss of sensation. Spatial Awareness fortunately made up for the loss of his whiskers.
Dashing around the room as fast as he could, he lit the fires one by one. His pride members acted perfectly – pressing the button just before he touched the burning brand to the brazier and keeping it pressed while he continued.
The combination of multiple buttons being pressed indeed had an effect on the ceiling’s speed, but fortunately it appeared to be additive, rather than multiplicative. They probably wouldn’t have had enough time in the latter case.
By the time Dominic lit the final fire, the ceiling was stopping him from moving fast, pressing down on his head and forcing him to crawl as if stalking prey. It was hard to light the fire too – half the recess was cut off by the ceiling so he had to angle the torch awkwardly. Once more he wished he still had hands! He also wondered whether having one of the smaller lions actually light the braziers would have been a better idea, though perhaps they wouldn’t have succeeded with actually lighting it.
Finally, though, he did it: the final fire was lit.
The ceiling paused, its descent to the point that Dominic was almost forced against the ground and it had made the amesheks crouch too. Then, at first slowly, but gaining in speed, it reversed its direction and rose again.
Keeping their paws on the buttons, the pride members watched in relief as the ceiling rose back to its original height. With a loud clunk, the ceiling stopped moving.
‘Can we let go?” Sirius asked uncertainly after a few more moments.
‘Probably,’ Dominic replied, ‘but stay near your buttons just in case it starts moving again.’
Cautiously, the five members of his pride released their holds, each looking anxiously up at the ceiling as they did it. They all breathed a collective sigh of relief as the ceiling stayed in its place, only to jump a moment later when there was another loud rumble.
‘Not again!’ Dominic groaned internally.
When the ceiling didn’t move, they all looked around frantically to find what had caused the noise. Given the bareness of the room, the culprit was easy to spot.
‘Well, at least we can get out of this room now,’ remarked Sekhmet with relief as they saw the open door. That wasn’t the only thing they saw.
‘It’s another of those ‘chests’,’ remarked Procyon curiously. Everyone immediately converged on it since there was nothing else to attract their interest.
‘Maybe there will be something for the males of the group here,’ Fang said airily.
‘The cheek!’ spluttered Leo, piping up for the first time in a while. He’d been quiet during most of the puzzle which Dominic had appreciated – distraction hadn’t been desired. His reaction to Fang was predictable, but also actually something Dominic agreed with to an extent. Passive-aggression wasn’t something he wanted to encourage. Apparently loot brought out the worst in lions just as much as it did people, or at least in this one.
Moving over to the younger lion, he nudged Fang hard. The younger male stumbled away, barely keeping his footing. Whirling around once he’d regained his balance, he snarled at Dominic.
Dominic, in return, snarled back at him, the sound far eclipsing that of the smaller and weaker pride member. They kept it going for a little longer, and Dominic wondered whether it was going to turn into a fight. It certainly seemed like Fang was considering it.
‘If you attack me,’ Dominic said directly to the younger lion, ‘I will kill you. I am bigger, stronger, and more experienced than you. Don’t be a fool and bite off more than you can chew.’
The younger lion’s snarl faltered and then trailed off. The lion himself then looked away and started grooming himself as if he hadn’t been a whisker away from attacking Dominic. The larger lion wasn’t willing to leave it at that, though. Stepping forwards, he prodded at Fang with a paw. It was a rather human gesture, but Dominic didn’t care.
‘Why did you consider a fight?’ he asked, the question a genuine one. ‘Especially over something we don’t even know is useful to you. You had to know you couldn’t win.’
‘This is what I was warning about,’ snarled Leo in the back of his mind. ‘Young males always challenge their elders when they are old enough unless they are driven out first.’
‘Yeah, but it’s a stupid time to do it,’ argued Dominic privately with his companion. ‘He’d be better off choosing a moment after a fight when I’m already injured.’
‘He’s a young male. They don’t always think before they act,’ Leo dismissed. Which, if that was right, would definitely explain the low survival rate of young male lions in the savannah prior to the System.
‘You gave the female something last time, and took several things for yourself,’ Fang responded sulkily to his question after a moment of hesitation, whether because he didn’t want to answer the question or wasn’t sure how to, Dominic didn’t know. He was obviously unaware of the conversation Dominic had been having with Leo in the meantime. ‘I wanted something for myself.’
‘I’ve already told you – if something comes up which is best suited to you, you’ll get it,’ Dominic told him in exasperation. ‘Hasn’t this last puzzle proven that working together is necessary? I gave the bracelet and potions to Sekhmet because I think she’s the one who will best use them, I used the orb because I was the only one who could use it, and the rest have been put away for later because they’re not useful now for any of us. Where in that do you feel like you’ve been disadvantaged?’
Fang resumed licking his shoulder with particular focus, as if it was the most important thing for him to do. Dominic suspected that he was feeling embarrassed. He still wanted an answer, though, so he gave the younger lion another good poke with his paw.
‘I…I thought that you gave the object to the female because she is female. It’s no secret that you favour them.’
Which…well. He wasn’t wrong, was he? Dominic decided to be straight with Fang, and even included Lionel in the conversation, just in case he had similar doubts.
‘I…favour the lionesses because chances are they’re going to stay with the Pride and work with me to achieve what we need to achieve. I won’t lie: Leo wants to mate with them and, of course, has wanted me to kill or drive you out when we took over your pride,’ he admitted. The slight shifting of the two younger males indicated their sudden onset of nerves. ‘And he’s been urging me to do that ever since.’
‘Whose side are you on?’ demanded Leo in the background.
‘Well, keeping all this from them doesn't seem to have worked,’ responded Dominic privately to him. ‘I want to try honesty now.’ Then, returning back to the other two males, ‘But I’ve convinced him that giving you a chance is the right thing to do.’
‘A chance,’ repeated Lionel flatly. ‘A chance to do what?’
‘A chance to prove that you’ll be just as good as any of the females in working towards the Pride’s benefit. If you want to stay in the Pride, that is.’
‘And if we don’t prove it?’ Fang asked cautiously.
‘Attack or try to attack me and I’ll kill you,’ Dominic replied simply. ‘I can’t afford to let enemies threaten me or my Pride. Choose to leave, and you can do so with no hard feelings. Be a burden on the Pride and I will chase you out. And passive-aggression or general bad attitude counts as being a burden, incidentally. But be part of the Pride, work towards its advantage, and benefit from everything just as much as any other Pride member will.’
With that, he waited a few seconds in case they had some questions, and then, when they were silent, closed the conversation by standing up. They needed to think it over and make their own decisions.
