Paul flung himself headlong into the second trench. He was so concentrated on what he was doing that he did not take time to look back at Ainea. Thus he did not see the look of terror in her eyes as she watched him. He would have been hard pressed to understand whether that expression was from concern for him or for her own ability to perform the complicated dance with death that now engrossed him.
The second roaring log whizzed by over top of him and he was up and running for the third trench even as it continued to roll. Each of them passed completely over the floor, and then inertia took over and carried the logs up the far wall to fall outward into the lower of the two recesses. As a trap, this was murderous. It brooked no mistake, no room for error.
Counting silently to himself even as he ran, Paul could sense that he was near to missing getting to the third trench. The bang of the second log dropping into the outgoing recess seemingly caused the release of the third. It rattled and roared as it came to the lip of the higher recess and began to drop down the wall. Paul dashed across to the third trench and fell gratefully into it a mere second before the third log reached him.
A person might have thought that he now was safe. However, that would have been wrong, as the ensuing moments proved. Up for the final time, running as hard as he could, he reached the nitch of the intended entry to the room only a few seconds before the sweep of the end of the fourth log would have caught him. Spinning, he watched as a fifth log came right behind the fourth. He had been correct. He had only been allowed the three intervals. Even if he had been able to reach and survive in a fourth trench, during the passage of the fifth one all the trenches were leveled. There would have been no way to avoid it.
Spinning around Paul immediately yelled to Ainea as the fifth log fell away into the lower recess. "Step back! Now!" He did likewise. A heavy stone grated along sideways, closing the portal through which he just had come. Even as it slammed closed he could see that Ainea had retreated just in time. They could hear the roar of water entering the chamber as it both cleansed itself and reset. The five logs banged and bumped as they floated out of the lower recess and were carried upward by the rising water to lodge once more in the upper one. The reason for the odd shape of the room now was apparent, for it was such that they were guided to do this without intervention of any man's hand. Even if a person had managed to avoid all five logs and survive their deadly charges, they would have drowned or been destroyed by the far more violent and unpredictable movement that ensued in the water.
With a grim expression, he waited while the process completed. Water spurted from the edges of the door, but fell to the floor of the passage and ran into a gutter that carried it away down a leg-sized hole and left him entirely dry and untouched. It was a grim victory, however. Now it was Ainea's turn to navigate the peril of the chamber, and he had no means to aid her. Either she could do it, or she would die in the attempt.
As soon as the sound of rushing water ceased, the doors shuddered open once more. Paul could see her return tentatively to the edge of the entry once more. She looked across at him, and the distant expression on her face seemed now to be one of fierce resolution. She did have a small advantage. She carried nothing but the Sword of Nuada, so her burden was less. But could a woman run as needed to reach the protective trenches? Or would her skirts impede her? Raising his voice, he called out to her.
"My Love, the first log is triggered as ye come about half way to the first trench. Each successive one comes automatically at a prescribed interval, as ye have seen. As the Scots would have it, kilt up thy skirts and then run like a deer. Ye understand now that ye can not stop once the process stops. And do not think to turn back. I have no idea what will happen if ye do, but I suspect that the room can sense such a tactic and foil it. Now, take thy time to begin, but when ye do, may God give thy feet wings and thy lungs breath to succeed. And remember that I love thee above all else. That love must be the source of thy strength."
Falling silent, he waited while she sized up her chances of duplicating his success. What would happen if he entered the room to try to assist her in the last leg of the passage? Even as he thought of it, the door stone against which his hand rested trembled slightly. He took meaning from that. If he also stepped into the room, it would close, sealing both of them to their deadly fate.
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