Free Adventurers Wanted, Book 4: Sands of Nezza by M. L. Forman Page B

sound of rushing air, and Alex was suddenly alone in the dungeon. He moved back to the iron door, then put out his weir light.
    The guards were still asleep. Alex rebolted the iron door and relit the guard’s lamps. Then he worked his magic and became invisible once more. He thought it would be best to wake the guards before leaving. If someone found them asleep, it might raise questions and suspicions. Awake, the guards might remain where they were for hours. Plus, then they might be able to tell him where to look for the adventurer’s magic bags.
    “Wake,” Alex commanded.
    The two guards stirred, then struggled sluggishly back to their feet. They looked confused and worried.
    “The iron box that holds the adventurers’ possessions—where is it?”
    “Nothing came with the adventurers,” one of the guards answered.
    “If there was something of great value, where would the wizard keep it?” Alex tried again.
    “Things of value to the wizard would be in his private rooms at the top of the tower,” the guard answered.
    “Forget,” Alex said.
    The worried looks on the guard’s faces vanished, and they stood at attention on either side of the door. Turning away, Alex headed back up the passageway as fast and as quietly as he could. The guard’s answer was not what he had hoped for. He wasn’t ready to face Magnus, and recovering the stolen magic bags might mean that he’d have to. As he started up the stairway, he considered leaving the magic bags where they were for now.
    Alex was almost to the stairs that would lead him up to the fourth level of the dungeon when he stopped short. The sound of moving men echoed through the dungeon, and torchlight filled the hallway in front of him.
    “What’s all this?” a voice asked in the darkness.
    “Orders,” came the answer.
    Alex moved closer. He wanted to hear what orders had been given.
    “The dungeons are to be searched from top to bottom. Every room is to be inspected without exception,” said a man who looked like an officer.
    “We haven’t got enough men to do that,” another man answered. “There are rooms down here that nobody’s ever seen, and passageways that end in bottomless pits.”
    “More men will be coming,” the officer answered. “For now, all of you are to stand guard in front of the stairs. Nothing is to get past you to the fourth level. Understood?”
    The guards nodded and spread out across the stairway.
    Alex’s only escape had just been blocked off.

Chapter Six
    The Escape
     

     
    As he retreated from the torchlight, Alex let his right hand brush against the wall. His mind felt empty, unable to think or plan. When his hand found an open space in the darkness, he turned into another hallway. After walking another hundred yards, he stopped and closed his eyes.
    What is Magnus doing right now? Alex asked himself.
    The answer came to him, and it was as if Alex could almost see what Magnus was thinking. He knew that Alex was in the dungeons somewhere, and he knew that he’d found the adventurers. With guards at all the stairways, and more searching the dungeon from top to bottom, there was little chance for Alex to escape. Alex thought he could magic his way past most of the guards, but sooner or later someone would notice, and then Magnus would know exactly where he was.
    Conjuring a weir light to guide him, Alex broke the spell that made him invisible. If Magnus could track Alex by his magic use, then Alex couldn’t stay invisible forever.
    He has a plan; he must, Alex thought, remembering what Savage had told him.
    Magnus had known that Alex was in Nezza for at least four days. He might have been planning for something like this for years, but what was his plan? Alex couldn’t guess, but one thing became clear in his mind. Whatever Magnus had planned, he would need to be close by to make his plan work. Magnus would want to be in the dungeons when Alex was found.
    “If I wasn’t stuck in the bottom of the dungeon, now would