*Upon seeing what Robin is doing, Shadow can't help but blush a bit.*
Umm...good idea!
*Shadow unties the pouch from her belt, quickly fastens it to her wrist so she doesn't drop it, and then unfastens her belt. Her dress drops a few centimeters down her legs as the belt was fastened tight. She hands the belt to Robin.*
*Robin hasn't noticed the gradually shrinking chamber... he has been too busy tying the sizeable amount of cloth Shadow's belt seems to have been comprised of to his lace.*
Okay, now that's...
*He looks around.*
Oh, my dear sweet goblins.
*Hurriedly, he picks his one remaining arrow out of his quiver.*
If only this had a hook. Well, it will have to do, I suppose.
*He quickly ties a reef knot around the middle of the arrow. This will affect its ballistics, he'd wager, but there's suddenly a time element.*
Stand back, Shadow!
*He nocks the arrow to his crossbow. Hoping against hope that his aim will be true, and at least hit the red cord, he points, sizes up the shot... and shoots.*
Shack!
Feared by the bad, loved by the good, and laughed at by all the others.
*To Robin's immense relief, the makeshift hook goes through the red ring-pull on the first try. He was expecting to have to try a few times.*
Hallelujah!
Just one problem, though... how are you gonna solve this one, Robert? I think you know...
*The hook is dangling about ten or twelve feet above whether either fighter is standing. Robin, as the taller, couldn't even reach it with his sword. But closing-in walls are just what he needed.*
Right! Stand back, young lady! This man's back in action!
*A fleeting memory of doing acrobatics in a forest in front of a similar girl warrior flitting through his head, Robin steadies himself, runs at full-pelt towards the nearest wall, and as they close in, he jumps as high as his velocity will carry him...*
Feared by the bad, loved by the good, and laughed at by all the others.
*The instant Robin hits the wall, he kicks his leg forwards, the impact jarring against his thigh bone (he misjudged his jump a bit). Thrown back towards the other side of the chamber walls - now being closer together than they had been before - he relies upon inertia to carry him there.
It works - just about. Were he aiming to grab on with his hands, he would miss, but he manages to kick off the wall and get back towards the other side.*
One final kick...
*The wound in his side opening and hurting like hell on a stick once again, Robin's will is all he has to go on. He makes it to the opposite side, and just before falling, performs one final wall kick.*
Haaaaargh!
*His hands make a mad scrabble in mid-air and one finger hooks the makeshift ring-pull. Clasping tight to Shadow's belt with both hands, the woodsman begins to fall. The belt pulls the lace... and the lace pulls the red strap, just below the text that reads: EMERGENCY EXIT.
It begins to glow...*
Feared by the bad, loved by the good, and laughed at by all the others.
*Shadow nods her head. Although she is amazed at Robin's skills, Shadow's face registers relief. Her breathing is still quick and the spinning room is making her feel sick.*
*Robin falls to the floor with a dramatic flourish, although through a haze of blood and pain, so maybe it's not as impressive as he'd hope...*
Ow, ow, ow, ow, ow!
*He can't get up. The spinning of the room has intensified, as has the rate at which the walls are closing in. But the brightness of the glow is intensifying, at a tremendous rate.
As the chamber steadily fills with red light, Robin throws his hand in front of his eyes, to shield them...*
Feared by the bad, loved by the good, and laughed at by all the others.
*Robin screws his eyes up tight. The pain in his side and back is so severe, he isn't going to bother talking. he isn't even sure if he can.*
Did it work? I pulled it. I hurt myself; I don't even know how badly... but I pulled it!
*The light intensifies. Even with one hand over his eyes and them shut tight, Robin can't noticing that everything in his field of vision - indeed, everything in the chamber - everything - is becoming filled with red light.*
What's happening...? I can't have... failed...?
*With a soft flumping noise, Robin feels something firm and leathery drop from above into his free hand. Instinctively, his fingers close around the new sensation in case it's useful of aggressive... and as his hand grasps Shadow's belt tight, the red light intensifies beyond all realms of comprehension.*
I just wanted to be outside...
*And with a sudden flash, the red light is no longer there. Nor are Robin and Shadow. Marblehead's great dome is, once again, empty, the walls back in their original place... all is silent and still.
A lace which once held Robin's clothes together flutters to the floor... and stays there.*
*Minutes pass. The vista outside the windows melts away as the chamber takes on its true appearance: a windowless cavern. The central platform remains. Then, with a grinding sound, it pivots at the edges and swings open. From the darkness, a pale hand rises through the hole and bejewelled digits tap their way around the room. Soon enough, one of them finds Robin's lace, and pinches it against another magnified finger to grip it. As the hand withdraws from the chamber with its prize, the platform swings shut on top of it. From another part of Marblehead echoes a word that much resembles "Dragonsbreath", except for the end sounding less like "breath" and more like a more colourful anatomical plural. The hand forces the platform back up and retreats.*