She faced Paul. "Have we come to the end of our way, my love?"
Paul glanced at the stones and grinned. "Nay, my Love. For see, as well as they are fitted, there is no mortar betwixt these sentinels. Nor is there any where they join the walls of our passage. It is another kind of door, similar to those that closed the chambers as we passed through them. We have only to have the key to open them, and that lies here." He tapped his head.
"The ancients decided that they must allow for egress, even as they allow for entry on the other side. I believe they realized that most fathers would want their children to have an understanding of this place as they came of age, and so they allowed for entry for teaching purpose as far as the first cavern. My father sent me, as did his. But to the first chamber entry, no further. We were told that return fromm that point onward was not possible, although the ancient lay spoke of what would occur to any who tried."
He paused for a moment, his eyes shut. In his mind he was envisioning what his instructor had done to open the door from the other side. It had been a movement of such fluid grace that Paul only hoped that he could duplicate it. At last he opened his eyes and looked into Ainea's. "Step back, my Love, yet be prepared to move forward instantly. The timing is short, and it bodes not well for anyone who is caught by the doors as they close. I wish not to have to rescue you yet a third time." He grinned at her so she would know he was joking.
"See here?" His hands caressed a set of symbols that were lightly etched into one of the stone walls of the passage. Each glyph was set into what appeared to be a frame of stone, but closer examination showed that the framing deep line was just a carven channel. Or so it seemed. Then he pointed toward the other side, more than an arm's length away. A like set marched across the wall there. None of the markings was the same, and the sets on the two sides were completely different. Paul smiled anew.
"What is important here is not the symbols, but the positions. One must know what pair were last used to know which ones to use. There is a progression known only to the ruling family. If that family changes, opening and closing this gateway one or more times changes the place in the progression, reestablishing the covert nature of the system. For if one tries several sets before successfully triggering the door, it slams shut while that person traverses it and the intruder dies. For that reason we were enjoined that if we entered for any purpose we must ensure that all members of the family knew of the entry and exactly how many times it was opened and closed." He returned to the center of the passage.
Standing in the middle of the passage as she moved back, he looked at her fondly. Suddenly he moved, and his figure was nearly a blur. Like a dignified and very athletic dancer, he performed an arabesque, his extended hand and foot simultaneously tapping pairs of symbols. Not alike, as he had said, but in a definite pattern in each set. However, without knowing what the progression was to calculate the beginning of the next sequence, knowing the series of movements still would be useless.
As he hit the third pair, there was a grumbling sound heard. Still nothing moved. "The guard stones have been removed," he panted, holding his pose for just a few instants. Then he struck again for the fourth and last time. This time, the stones began to move apart and Paul shouted at Ainea, "Now! RUN!"
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