The dungeon master crossed to the table, put his fists on his hips, and studied his spread of bone-breaking tools. Jake shifted his arms farther behind his back, hoping that Dogo hadn’t noticed that Kree had freed his hands earlier. He had one shot.
Dogo turned around with a wicked set of shears, like those used to trim hedges. The man’s gaze locked on Jake’s bare toes. He was choosing which one to cut off first.
To keep the ogre’s attention up there rather than on the shackles on the floor, Jake wiggled his toes. Dogo smiled, exposing a handful of missing teeth.
He lumbered forward, a glob of drool hanging from his lower lip.
Once his target was close enough, Jake swung both arms wide and slammed his cupped palms against the man’s ears. It was a Tae Kwon Do attack he’d learned, devastating enough to drop a grown man to his knees.
Or a grown ogre.
As Dogo fell forward, Jake moved fast. He jackknifed at the hip and clipped Dogo’s jaw with the crown of his head. It felt as if he smashed his skull against a boulder. Jake’s ears rang, but it was a thousand times worse for the dungeon master. Dogo’s head snapped back in a wicked whiplash, rolling his eyes back, too.
The big man crashed into a dead sprawl across the floor.
Jake swung back and forth from his ankles, keeping an eye on Dogo. The man stayed down. But for how long?
“Jake!” his sister called. “Quit hanging around and get us out of here!”
“What do you think I’m trying to do?”
Again that maniacal laughter rose from one of the cells. More faces appeared in the other windows. They stared at his efforts, hope shining in their faces.
Jake used his body weight to swing back and forth, higher and higher. The shackles cut into the skin of his ankles. Blood ran hotly down his legs, but he continued to swing. He reached an arm out toward the ring of keys, which hung again on the crossbeam in front of him. His fingertips strained, but the keys were still out of reach. He had to roll higher up.
But even then, could he reach them?
He wasn’t sure.
Back and forth … back and forth …
Blood filled his head, setting it to pounding. His vision darkened at the edges. He knew he was close to passing out. He reached out again. His middle finger touched one of the iron keys, setting it swinging; but he came to a hopeless realization. No matter how far he swung, he’d never reach that ring.
He let his body go slack, giving up.
Dizzy from the effort, he flashed into the past, to a moment he thought he’d forgotten. He was riding a carousel with his mother. They were at an old amusement park on the coast of Maine where the operators still hung brass rings for the carousel riders to try to grab. He remembered straining to snatch one as his wooden horse rode up and down. But no matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t get one. He was too small.
He again heard his mother’s laughter as she rode behind him.
Jakey, you can do it! Don’t give up!
With that encouragement, he stood in his stirrups on the next pass. He jumped for the ring, managed to hook it, and fell back into his saddle with the prize.
But that was then …
Jakey, you can do it!
His mother’s words echoed in his dazed brain.
I can’t, Mom. I can’t.
“Jake!” The shout was louder than before, but not the least bit encouraging, only threatening.
His head cleared enough to recognize his sister’s voice. “Kady …?”
“Why did you stop, lamebrain? You almost had it.”
“I can’t. My arms aren’t long enough.”
She sighed. “C’mon! You can do it!”
At that moment, her voice sounded so much like their mother’s. Jake closed his eyes, holding back tears.
“For you, Mom,” he whispered, and began to swing again.
His friends crowded at the window, fighting to watch.
Marika called to him, “Just a little farther!”
Pindor was not as optimistic. “If you fail, we can always join the Blood of Ka! As they say among my people, when in Rome …”
Bach’uuk shoved Pindor out of the way. He used his turn at the window to worm an arm out and wave, urging Jake on.
With his friends’ encouragement, Jake used all his weight and strength to propel himself even higher. He reached out for the ring, straining his shoulder. Still it was no good. He touched the longest key with a fingertip, but he couldn’t grab it. His arms simply weren’t long enough.
Pindor groaned, expressing what Jake felt. There was nothing he could do. The hopeful faces of the other prisoners also sank away from their windows, equally defeated.
He had failed them all.
Still, his mother’s words echoed to him.
Jakey, you can do it! Don’t give up!
Kady offered her own final words of encouragement: “Do something! You’re supposed to be the smart one!”
Smart or not, there was nothing he could do. No matter how determined, no one could break the laws of physics. The science could not be defied.
As he swung, the word science stuck in his head. Why was that? Again Bach’uuk waved to him. His Ur friend’s wristband glinted in the firelight. Then Jake knew the answer.
Of course!
Bach’uuk hadn’t been urging him to swing. He had been offering a solution. If Jake hadn’t been hanging upside down with a fat slug still stuck on his face, he might have thought of it himself.
Jake began to swing more earnestly, cranking hard, ignoring his throbbing head and burning ankles. The key ring appeared ahead. He stretched again for it; but this time he used his other arm, the one with the wristband given to him by the Ur Elder, a band made of magnetite.
As he reached the maximum arc of his swing, he thrust out his arm and bent his wrist toward the ring, still out of reach, but only by inches. The magnetic property of the band shivered and drew a few keys toward him, including the long key he had touched earlier. Jake snapped his fingers down and caught the extended key.
He whistled his relief and clamped tightly—then gravity again reclaimed his body. As he swung back away, the key ring slipped free of the hooked nail and came with him.
A cheer rose from his friends.
With a bit of effort, Jake bent up and finally found the key to unlock his ankle cuffs. He fell to the floor, catching himself with one arm and rolling to the side. He sat for a moment and rubbed circulation back into his legs.
Marika screamed from the cell, “Jake! Behind you!”
He flung himself around as Dogo leaped at him, spitting blood from his split lip. The ogre’s bulk flattened Jake to the ground, pinning him on his back. A flash of silver reflected off the dagger as it stabbed toward his eye.