Shield's Lady

nodded wordlessly.
    “Sariana.” Gryph’s voice was a bare thread of sound from the other side of the grill.
    Sariana’s heart leaped. “Gryph! We’re here, but the door’s locked and Etion doesn’t have a key.”
    “Then you’ll just have to pick the lock, won’t you?” Gryph asked mildly.
    “Don’t sound so damn casual,” Sariana said tightly. “I have no more idea of how to pick a lock than I do of how to fly.”
    “No problem. I’ll guide you through the whole process. All you have to do is pay attention and follow instructions. Got that cloak pin I gave you?”
    Sariana blinked and glanced down. “I’ve got it. What about it?”
    “Listen closely and do exactly as I say. I looked at the lock on the way in. It’s pretty standard. Targyn probably didn’t have time to have anything special made up. Take the pin and slide it along the seal that joins the two halves together.”
    Sariana pulled the pin from the cloak she was carrying and went to work. It was a tedious process and Gryph lost his patience more than once. He wasn’t the only impatient male in the vicinity, Sariana noted. Rakken was pacing in a circle in the corridor behind her, muttering dire predictions of disaster.
    “Damn it, Sariana,” Gryph snapped at one point when she failed to probe the lock spring. “What’s the matter with you? Can’t you even follow a few simple orders?”
    “Gryph, I’m trying. Explain the last sequence once more.”
    Rakken glanced at her, his eyes feverish with anxiety. “Hurry up, Sariana. If you can’t do it, just say so and drop the whole thing. We might still be able to get out of here.”
    “Shut up,” Sariana said absently as she frowned in concentration. “Both of you.” She jiggled the cloak pin.
    Gryph ran through the description of the next step, his voice taut and controlled.
    Sariana tried again and failed to find the hidden spring. “Damn westerners,” she mumbled under her breath, “too clever for their own good.”
    Rakken walked over to breathe down her neck. “Did you get it this time?”
    “No, I didn’t get it this time. Gryph, you’ll have to describe it again. I can’t find the spring.”
    “Sariana, any child could have released that spring by now,” he said roughly.
    “Then go find yourself a child,” she retorted, losing patience. “Listen to me, both of you. In case either of you has failed to notice, I’m the only one doing any real work around here. I would appreciate a little quiet and some calm, rational behavior.”
    Rakken jerked away from her and resumed his pacing.
    “All right, Sariana,” Gryph said with barely concealed irritation. “We’ll try this one more time. Now listen carefully.”
    Sariana listened carefully but still failed to find the spring on the next try. Her fingers were beginning to shake with the tension she was under.
    “Gryph, I just can’t find it. Maybe if we try it from a different angle?”
    “There is no other angle! I told you, it’s just a standard locking device. There’s no reason why you shouldn’t be able to open it with that pin. You’re just not listening!”
    “I am listening, you arrogant Shield. This is all your fault. You’re not explaining the process properly.”
    “What am I supposed to do from in here? Draw you a picture?”
    There was a beat of silence as Sariana considered that. “Why don’t you try?” she asked softly. “I got that image of the little knife clearly enough. Try drawing a picture inside my head, Gryph.”
    Gryph was silent for a few seconds. “I don’t know if I can get anything this detailed across. But I’ll try.”
    Sariana closed her eyes and concentrated on being totally receptive to the image appearing in her head. It was a meticulously detailed picture of the lock in her fingers. She watched a pin being slipped into a hidden slot at an oblique angle. The lock in her mind sprang open.
    A few seconds later, so did the lock in her hands.
    “I did it,” Sariana said with a sense of elation shared by neither of the two men.
    “Come on, let’s get out of here,” Rakken said. “Chassyn can cover us.”
    “Forget it,” Gryph advised as he strode through the door. “You’ll never make it. Targyn has traps set at the entrance. I saw them last night.”
    “What do you mean?” Rakken demanded furiously. “I gave no approval for any traps at the entrance.”
    “They’re there. Take my word for it. They’re the kind Shields and bandits use and you’ll