Free Golem in the Gears by Piers Anthony Page A

one of the others will recognize it." He was dis- appointed that the chest had not contained treasure, though he really had no use for treasure anyway. It was mostly human beings and dragons who placed value on treasure, so others tended to copy that attitude.
    Snortimer fastened one of the objects to Puck's band of chains, so that the little ghost horse could carry it back conveniently. It was little enough, as treasures went.
    He was disappointed on another score: here he had penetrated to the center of the labyrinth, and unveiled its secret—and found nothing worthwhile. Certainly no liv- ing creatures had been here for centuries, and there seemed to be no traps. It was probably safe to use the other tunnel down into the Gap Chasm, if it didn't collapse on them. "Let's get out of here," he said.
    The others were happy to go. They started back—and heard another rumbling. There was going to be another collapse!
    Suddenly Grundy recognized a pattern. "Chester— those are his heavy footfalls!" he exclaimed. "He's trot- ting around up there, looking for us—and knocking the stones down! That's why tunnels keep collapsing!"
    That did indeed seem to be the reason. "Chester, slow down!" Grundy called—but when he raised his voice, the sound echoed as if he were a giant, and dirt sifted down from the ceiling of the chamber. He could bring it down on himself!
    Silently, they hurried back. Chester's erratic trotting continued to shake the chamber, making them increas- ingly nervous.
    They reached the point of the first cave-in. Now they had to figure a way around it, intersecting their original tunnel on the other side. That shouldn't be difficult—but Grundy felt a tightening apprehension.
    He guided Snortimer to the left, hoping to cut back right. But though the passage soon forked, neither fork bore back the way they wanted. This was like the detour in the forest, that had refused to return to the magic path. The perversity of the inanimate! If he had Dor's talent, he could simply ask the passages where to go, and they would answer. For that matter, he could have asked the metal thing what it was, and solved the mystery. But that of course was why Dor was rated a Magician, and was now King: his magic talent was more versatile than Grun- dy's. Anyone could talk to living things, if he knew how;
    only Dor could talk to the inanimate.
    The tunnel forked again, and again neither fork went where they wanted it to go. Grundy was about to turn
    back and try the other direction—when there was another rumble, and the passage behind them collapsed.
    "Chester, you hoofbrained horse's rump!" Grundy wailed impotently. "You're destroying us down here!"
    Now they had to go on, and none of them knew the best way through this maze. They just had to keep going
    and guessing—
    Before long, Grundy knew they were lost. The pas- sages went on and on, dividing and merging, and there was no way to tell which way was out, or whether any way remained open. They were trapped.
    Grundy thought of something else to try. "Maybe if we knock on the ceiling, they'll hear us, and can come in from the other side."
    Snortimer used one of his hairy hands to pick up a rock, scrambled up the side, and banged on the ceiling. Some pebbles were dislodged, but there was no collapse. He tapped in a pattern: KNOCK-KNOCK, KNOCK-KNOCK,
    KNOCK-KNOCK BANG!
    It worked! The earth shuddered as the centaur trotted over, orienting on the sound.
    In fact, it shuddered too much. "Another collapse!" Grundy screamed, and they dived out of the way as the ceiling sagged and then fell. They had almost brought
    disaster on themselves!
    They choked, on the clouds of dust in the air, as the rocks settled. They would never get out this way!
    Then sharp-eyed Puck saw something. He neighed and started forward, scrambling over the rocks. "Watch out!" Grundy cried. "You'll bring another fall down on your
    head!"
    "Yo!" Chester called. "You okay, down there?" The collapse had opened up a