Keys to the Demon Prison (Fablehaven #5)(95)

Seth picked up the leprechaun and pulled out a flashlight. Treading carefully over loose rocks, he ducked into the tunnel. The low ceiling forced him to walk in a crouch. Newel and Doren followed.


The earthy corridor reeked of pipe smoke. Large, uncut emeralds lay scattered on the floor and embedded in the walls.


"Look at those stones," Newel said. "I know a jeweler who could make them sparkle."


"Who, Benley?" Doren asked.


"No, Sarrok, the troll. No one at Fablehaven has a keener eye or a steadier hand." Newel crouched to study a dull emerald the size of a new bar of soap.


"The instructions warned us to touch nothing in here," Seth reminded them. "We must only take what Cormac gives us."


"Waste of resources," Newel grumbled.


The tunnel broadened into a rounded room with several wooden doors. Casks and barrels were stacked against one wall. A low table sat beside a still pool of water in the center of the room.


"The items," Seth prompted.


"Are you sure you wouldn't rather have a crock of gold?" Cormac asked. "Much more traditional."


"We want the items Patton left with you," Seth said. "The whistle, the bell, and the music box. And Newel and Doren want their gold back."


Cormac brushed a finger along the side of his nose and gave the satyrs a wily glance. "Fauns have no business consorting with human youths," the leprechaun scolded. "Tell you what--free me from the boy, and I have a crock of gold for each of you!"


"Take off the coat," Seth ordered.


Newel hesitated. After Doren nudged him, he started unbuttoning the frock coat.


Cormac twisted and hollered. "Side with the humans, will you? This won't be forgotten! Mercy! Leave me my coat!"


"No," Seth said. "You had fair warning."


Newel tugged off the coat. The leprechaun was left pouting in a dark yellow shirt with a patterned vest.


"You'll get it back if you cooperate," Seth said. "Next step is we shave your beard."


"You've bedeviled me enough!" Cormac spluttered. "Set me down by that door." He pointed at the one he meant.


Keeping hold of his beard, Seth placed the leprechaun beside the door. Cormac knocked three times and snapped.


"Is that all?" Seth asked.


"Open it," the leprechaun said.


Seth picked up Cormac and opened the door, revealing a closet cluttered mostly with empty bottles.


"Close it," Cormac instructed. "Then open it again."


Seth complied. When he reopened the door, the closet was gone. Instead he found himself looking down a long tunnel.


"One more time," Cormac sighed.


Seth closed the door again, then opened it to reveal a large room full of shelves, crates, and chests. Sundry treasures crowded the shelves, including fine porcelain figures, strands of pearls, enameled urns, ivory carvings, jeweled goblets, and an extensive collection of snuffboxes. Old paintings hung on the walls in gilded frames. Three heavily ornamented suits of plate mail stood together in a corner beside a rack of halberds.


"Where are Patton's items?" Seth asked.


"The case on the bottom shelf," Cormac said with a gesture. "Help yourself."


Keeping a hand on Cormac, Seth crouched and pulled the wooden case from the shelf. Unfastening the catches, he opened the case to reveal a handbell, a music box, and a slender whistle, each housed in a velvet-lined compartment contoured to match its respective shape. Satisfied, he closed the case and exited the room. "Success?" Doren asked.


"Looks like it," Seth replied. He gave Cormac a squeeze. "If you cheated us, we'll be back."


"I never lie when I deliver on a captor's request," Cormac said. "That's what keeps my kind alive. Those are the items Patton left with me."


Seth pointed at the satyrs. "Return their gold and we'll leave you alone."


"I brought the sack," Doren said, shaking it open.


"I'll need my coat back," Cormac said. "The coins are inside."


"I couldn't find any," Newel said, handing the dapper coat back to the leprechaun.


Raising his eyebrows, Cormac slipped his arms into the sleeves. "Hold me by my feet and shake me over the sack."


Seth turned the leprechaun upside down and began bobbing him up and down above the open mouth of the bag. Cormac's deft little hands reached into the coat, and a cascade of gold coins began to pour into the sack with a musical shimmer of clinking. The cascade eventually slowed, a few final stragglers plunking onto the rest.


"Feels about right," Doren verified, hefting the sack.


"Tell you what," Newel said, extending the flask to the leprechaun. "Keep the whiskey."


Cormac brightened. "That is right neighborly of you." He accepted the flask. "I'm sure you three can find your way out."


"You need to escort us out," Seth said. "Patton warned us. Then we'll quit bothering you."