“So, Arthur did it himself.”
“I did it myself.”
Ah. Here was an edge. Well, not exactly an edge. The marble became clear, like a window, looking into another brightly lit space. There were things in there, indistinct and melted-looking, but no way in to them.
The chatter of the Winkings flowed over him as he crept forward.
“—more of a vaultette, really. But he got a dungeon in, even if you have to go out into the hall to shut the door properly—”
Gentility meant all sorts of things, Windle thought. To some people it was not being a vampire. To others it was a matched set of flying plaster bats on the wall.
He ran his fingers over the clear substance. The world here was all rectangles. There were corners, and the corridor was lined on both sides with the clear panels. And the non-music played all the time.
It couldn’t be alive, could it? Life was…more rounded.
“What do you think, Lupine?” he said.
Lupine barked.
“Hmm. Not a lot of help.”
Ludmilla knelt down and put her hand on Windle’s shoulder.
“What did you mean, no one built it?” she said.
Windle scratched his head.
“I’m not sure…but I think maybe it was…secreted.”
“Secreted? From what? By what?”
They looked up. A trolley whirred out of the mouth of a side corridor and skidded away down another on the opposite side of the passage.
“Them?” said Ludmilla.
“I shouldn’t think so. I think they’re more like servants. Like ants. Bees in a hive, maybe.”
“What’s the honey?”
“Not sure. But it’s not ripe yet. I don’t think things are quite finished. No one touch anything.”
They walked onward. The passage opened up into a wide, bright, domed area. Stairways led up and down to different floors, and there was a fountain and a grove of potted plants that looked too healthy to be real.
“Isn’t it nice?” said Doreen.
“You keep thinking there should be people,” said Ludmilla. “Lots of people.”
“There should at least be wizards,” muttered Windle Poons. “Half a dozen wizards don’t just disappear.”
The five of them moved closer. Passages the size of the one they’d just walked down could have accommodated a couple of elephants walking abreast.
“Do you think it might be a good idea to go back outside?” said Doreen.
“What good would that do?” said Windle.
“Well, it’d get us out of here.”
Windle turned, counting. Five of the passages radiated equidistantly out of the domed area.