They moved at a crawl through the remainder of the first level. Most of the traps were lethal, but easy to avoid provided you were cautious and kept your wits about you.
Eventually, their nerves stretched to breaking-point, they reached the stairs to Level Two.
Henry hung back feeling cross and frightened at the same time. He was cross because Blue had asked him to stay close to Comma (who liked to lurk at the back of the party for safety) so he couldn't stay close to her. He was frightened because this place would frighten Arnie Schwarzenegger. You could be killed here, horribly. One of the party already had been.
They were on a downward flight of broad stone steps, dimly lit by torches set at intervals along the walls. Henry assumed the torches were for atmosphere, to give the stairs a suitably eerie effect. In the Realm, interior light mostly came from softly glowing spheres called glow globes, but even apart from that these torches didn't look right. They made no smoke stains, for one thing. And their flames all seemed exactly the same size, as if they were generated artificially, like a coal-effect fire or something made by magic. Or maybe, thinking of magic, they weren't really there at all. Maybe they were an illusion, a sort of three-dimensional moving wallpaper.
'Pyrgus…' Blue said uncertainly.
Pyrgus was in the lead, flanked by Nymph. Pyrgus was always in the lead – he didn't seem to be afraid of anything. Henry thought if they got out of this weird maze alive he'd ask if that was for real or just bluff.
Pyrgus stopped at once. 'Everything all right, Blue?' She was just a step or two behind, on the opposite side of him from Nymph. Then came the soldiers Ochlodes and Palaemon, then Comma and Henry ignominiously bringing up the rear.
Blue said, 'Is there a statue?'
'What?'
'Is there a statue at the bottom of the steps?'
'I can't see to the bottom of the steps yet,' Pyrgus said. 'What's this about, Blue?'
'I want you to tell me if there's a statue at the bottom. When you can see. Tell me at once.'
'Yes, all right, Blue.'
The torches were all the same. Not just the flames, but the torches themselves and the brackets they were in. If you looked at one, it looked old – the iron was sort of rusty and flaky. But then when you looked at the next one, it was rusty and flaky in exactly the same places. That couldn't be natural. Or a coincidence either. There was something fake about these torches, maybe not an illusion spell, but -
'There's a statue, Blue,' Pyrgus said. He was hesitating at a bend in the flight of steps, staring down at something the rest couldn't see.
'Is it pointing?'
'It's got one arm stretched out, yes.'
'I knew it!' Blue hissed.
Pyrgus started to move forward. Blue caught up. Nymph was saying, 'There's a circular chamber at the bottom of the steps and a pointing statue in the middle.'
'I can see it now,' Blue said, then added worriedly, 'We'd better stop for a minute.'
Henry stopped. One of the torches wasn't the same as the others. It was similar – very similar – but when you were looking at them as closely as he was, you could see the flaking was in a different place. Why should all the other torches be exactly the same and this one different? With a thought half-formed in his mind, Henry reached up to touch the torch – one way of finding out if it was an illusion. It felt solid and there was heat from the flame. Then he noticed that the bracket was on a pivot. He glanced at the other torches, but no pivots there: they were all firmly fixed. The special torch was some sort of lever! It was a disguised lever!
'What is it?' Pyrgus asked.
'Nobody go near the statue!' Blue said urgently. 'Nobody!'
'What's special about the statue, Princess Royal?' Nymph asked.
There was a sudden excitement in Blue's voice. 'I can get us out of here!' she said. 'If you just give me a minute, I'm sure I can get us out safely. Hairstreak's based his design on a historical maze!'
It was Pyrgus who got it first. 'You know where the exits are?'
'I think so,' Blue said. I studied this maze at school. I still remember bits of it. I certainly remember the statue. You can move it round. If I'm right, it makes a difference where the statue is pointing. If you turn it the wrong way, you can kill yourself, but there's one setting that opens a way out. If I can remember it, we're free.'
Henry curled his fingers around the torch bracket. If there was a secret lever, it had to open something.
'Be careful,' Pyrgus said to Blue. 'You have to be very careful: this is the second level – you can be attacked.'
'You're all right behind me. If there's any danger, come running. I think I remember what to do. This is our best chance to get out of here.'
'Good luck, Blue,' Pyrgus said softly.
Blue started down.
Henry pulled the lever.
There was a grinding noise of stone on stone. A huge section of the steps fell away beneath their feet, plunging the entire party into an abyss beneath.