Udnar appeared satisfied. He leaned over to a different pile, snagged a pumpkin the size of a beach ball, and popped it into his mouth. "What joke?"
Seth fished out the banana from his emergency kit. "Know what this is?"
"Banana."
Seth took a steadying breath. He prayed that Nero was right about mountain trolls and pranks. "I'm going to give the centaurs a hilarious surprise. I'm going to switch this banana for the Soul of Grunhold."
The mountain troll stared at him, eyes widening. He placed one huge hand over his mouth. Then the other. The enormous creature started to shake. He closed his eyes, and tears trickled down his cheeks. Dropping his hands, the troll released a blast of sound like a stuttering foghorn.
[drawing: Seth is showing the banana to the mountain troll.]
Seth joined in the laughter. The sight of the troll cracking up was really funny, and the rest was fueled by relief.
Eventually the laughter subsided, leaving the troll panting. "Where put Soul?" Udnar asked.
"I'm going to hide it, just for a little while. A few days. It will be a good prank."
"You bring back," the troll checked, his merriment gone.
"I'll bring it back in a few days," Seth promised. "I just need to sneak it away long enough for the prank to work."
"Centaurs mad," Udnar said seriously.
"Probably. But can you picture their faces when they look for the horn and find a banana?"
Udnar erupted in laughter again, clapping his hands. As his laughter abated, the troll gobbled down another pig. "You funny guy. Talk good Duggish. Udnar miss Duggish."
"I love Duggish. Best language in the world. So where do you keep the Soul?" Seth was keenly aware that time was slipping away.
The troll jerked a thumb at the stone in the middle of the room. "Soul in heart."
"The rock is the heart?"
"Heart of Grunhold."
Seth trotted over to the stone. Udnar began smashing open barrels and guzzling the contents. On the far side of the stone Seth found the horn conspicuously sticking out, the top half fitted in a socket.
Seth pulled the horn from the hole. About eighteen inches long, the straight, tapering horn spiraled to a blunt point. It felt heavier than Seth would have guessed and had the smooth luster of slightly translucent pearl. He found it beautiful, but experienced no rush of guilt upon taking it. "I'll bring you back," he promised quietly.
He crammed the banana into the hole. The fruit was a little too wide to fit perfectly. He twisted and pressed until it curved up instead of down.
The troll lumbered over to join him, and collapsed to the ground guffawing at the sight of the banana. Seth moved away from the brute as he thrashed his bulky legs in ecstasy. "So, so, so funny," Udnar panted, sitting up.
"I need to get going," Seth announced, striding toward the only gap in the iron barrier.
"Back soon?" the troll asked.
"Count on it," Seth assured him. "You don't know any tricks for getting through the maze?"
"No touch walls," Udnar cautioned.
"I won't. Once they notice the banana, don't tell them you helped me. Pretend you don't know how I did it. That way they'll just get mad at Navarog the trickster. 'Bye, Udnar. Enjoy your pigs! See you soon!"
"Back soon, Navarog."
After stowing the horn in his emergency kit, Seth sped up to a jog. He wondered if the centaurs could sense that the Soul had been removed from the Heart. Regardless, time was running out. How long since the giant stones had started marching? Half an hour? More? Less? Why hadn't he consulted his watch until now?
He had tried to pay attention when they emerged from the maze, and felt confident that his first turn was to the right. At his next intersection he could either go left or straight. Neither iron corridor looked more familiar than the other.
Nero had said that the secret to a maze was to always turn left. But Seth supposed the reverse would work just as well--always turn right. They had spent most of their time winding around on one side of the room, and it looked like left turns would take him away from that side. He decided to take every right turn, but to keep an eye on the ceiling, and break from the pattern if the position of the chandeliers started to look wrong.
Seth broke into a run. Because a lot of this would be trial and error, the faster he covered ground, the more likely he would be to get out in time. When he hit dead ends, he reversed his course instantly. Same when he headed down a corridor that led him to a section of the room he had not travelled in the wheelbarrow. Soon he was panting and sweating. The muscles in his legs began to ache.
Fatigue forced him to slow his pace. He took encouragement whenever a particular intersection or series of switchbacks felt familiar. Most of the time nothing seemed recognizable.
He kept checking his watch. He may have failed to look at the time when he had first entered the cavern, but he knew how long it had been since he had started back to the entrance. Ten minutes. Fifteen. Twenty. Hope began to fade with every minute that sped by.
As he kept watching the ceiling, Seth finally found himself on the side of the room near the exit. Since he had only been in this area right at the start, he doubled back whenever corridors led him too far away. He abandoned his rule to generally turn right, and soon began to feel he was passing along the same corridors multiple times. A certain intersection with five choices began to look familiar. Upon reaching it again, he felt certain he had tried four of the five branches, so he jogged down the unfamiliar iron hall. After two more turns, he emerged from the maze, the tunnel to the surface gaping before him.
Seth glanced at his watch. More than thirty minutes had passed since he had started back., Breathing hard, Seth dashed up the steady incline of the tunnel until he reached the pit. Overhead, the giant stone was drifting into position, blocking out the light from the hillside torches. The megalith already covered more than three-quarters of the pit.
Observing no centaurs, Seth quietly climbed the side of the pit opposite the hill, hesitating just below the top. If he timed this right, he could use the giant stone to screen him from view. If he timed it wrong, he would be fatally mashed into the dirt.
The colossal stone hovered directly above the pit and began to sink. Moving slowly, Seth climbed out, then held still as the stone settled behind him. Ahead of him were evergreen trees, their needles visible at the edge of the firelight from the hill. Most of the intervening ground was shadowed by the megalith.
Seth crawled slowly forward. If he rushed now, he might get spotted and spoil everything. Little by little, the evergreens drew near. When he paused to glance back, the centaur sentries stood at their shadowy posts, frowning into the night. They appeared to harbor no suspicions that the horn had been removed from its socket.