The stairs descended a long, long way.
If anyone had counted there were thirteen hundred and thirteen steps. Finally they saw an opening into a brightly lit room. The source of the light was again not evident. The room extended one hundred and sixty-nine hands to the left and right of the door and was one hundred and sixty-nine feet across. The ceiling was high. If anyone had measured it was thirteen arm lengths.
(An arm length was considered three feet.)
The floor was highly polished and divided into light and dark squares that were thirteen hands on each side. Their devices once again revealed auras of Magick and again the room created a sense of uneasiness more than a direct threat.
Erinnia eased onto the first square on the left side of the doorway. The doorway was two squares wide.
“Ouch!” she cried out.
She was zapped on the backside by a little bolt of energy the came up from the square she stood on. She jumped off the square and back into the doorway.
A Magick Mouth reverberated within the chamber, “You didn’t say ‘May I’!”
Erinnia indignantly rubbed her backside.
The little spell was more mischievous than harmful; it had opened no wound; it felt more like the effects of a trip behind the barn for a whipping from one’s father as payment for misbehavior.
Nigel laughed, “You have been bad! You needed a spanking!”
“That’s very funny Nigel. You go next!” Erinnia pouted.
Nigel harrumphed and walked onto the first square.
“Ow!” he exclaimed.
The Magick Mouth again said, “You didn’t say ‘May I’?”
Nigel jumped back into the stairwell and rubbed his seat.
“That stings! I’m embarrassed more than hurt,” he reported. “It’s more like a sprite or imp’s spell. My daddy gave me a lot worse behind the barn. But enough of them would add up!”
Cara shrugged her shoulders and asked, “May I enter the room?”
The Magick Mouth said, “Yes, you may.”
Cara stepped onto the first square and said to the others, “Stick close together.”
The group squeezed onto the first square. There was a chorus of fourteen “ouches!” as all but Cara felt the sting upon their backsides. They jumped back.
“You didn’t say, “May I?” the Magick Mouth reminded them.
All fourteen said, “May I enter the room?”
“Yes, you may,” the Magick Mouth said.
They managed to stand on the first square but it was a bit cozy. Boomer and Big Jon took up a bit more of their share of the forty-two and a fourth square feet.
They waited.
The Magick Mouth uttered, “Step forward two squares.”
“May I?” the fifteen voices chorused.
“Yes, you may,” the voice replied.
benjamintowe 