The Witch and the Lich; Timing

Credits; Krell, Rea,

Rea stopped before they actually went through the door and turned to Krell. 
"Alright, what do you think we'll run into in here?"
"Well, we've hit three traps so far, plus we found the constant trap.  That means three more most likely."
"Right, something horrifying, something classic, and something sudden."
"Which leaves something with timing, something to divide a group, and something that will need a group."
Rea smiled and pushed open the door.  A short hallway with four guillotines, each alternating hitting the floor with one other.  Krell hovered into the room carefully, it had a small space to let them stand while they sized it up.  As he watched he realized that the timing on the alternating drops of the heavy blades changed slightly with ever drop, it would be almost impossible to time it perfectly. 
Then he noticed the holes on the walls and ceiling.  The tiles on the floor had been rigged to launch darts at anyone who stepped on them, even if they could get past the deadly blades.  It was a very good trap. 
"Alright, I'm going to run through it, check for a way to turn it off, and then you can follow me through."
"The tiles are pressure activated.  Even if you can time the blades you'll still set them off."
"Oh?  THen how do you think we should deal with it?"
"I'll go through and turn it off, I won't set off the tiles."
"You aren't fast enough to get past the blades Krell.  And those blades would destroy you, and then you'll just end up right back at the Palace with Holine."
"Then I'll have the chance to fight her and send her here to wait for you to kill her."
"But what we need is for her to destroy your phlactery so you can be young and hot again."
Krell paused and tried not to look back at Rea.  It was bothersome enough to hear a fourteen year old talk about making him look hot again, but it really raised the question of how she knew he'd been hot in the first place.  He hadn't had anything but bones for hundreds of years, and he'd only known her the last couple of months. 
"Ignoring that last comment, I understand what we're trying to do.  But I'm willing to take the risk and just improvise when I get there."  He finnally turned towards her and saw blank space.  He quickly turned towards the hall of blades just as she ran past him and began to vault the array.  She went right through the whole hallway without touching the ground, or getting caught under a single blade. 
"You need to have more confidence in my abilities Mr. Casat.  After all, I have been doing this for a very, very long time."
"How did you.."
"There's no off switch."
"What?"
She pulled a small bit of string out of her pocket and tied a small rock to the end.  She began spinning it, and as she released it the string turned into a chain and the rock a steel dart.  It shot through the blades, often going at sharp angles to hit the next one, and struck the wall behind him. 
"Ready to go?"
"What?"
She pulled the chain taught and held the chain up to the walls above the next door.  The rock flowed out and secured the chain so that she could let go of it.  The blades still alternated pushing against the chain that now held them securely aloft.  Krell floated across the hallway and stopped in front of the next door.  He looked at Rea, who was herself looking smugly satisfied with her acomplishment. 
"Why didn't you just do that in the first place?"
"And pass up a perfectly good oppurtunity to practice my gymnastics?"
"You put yourself in harms way just to show off, admit it."
"No.  I just like to be sure that when I actually have to do things I still know how to."
"You wanted me to know that you didn't actually need my help."
"Well I don't.  And if you don't want mine then you can go take care of Holine on your own.  I'm under no obligation to help you." 
He saw a bit of fire spark up in her eyes and moved back.  Then he thought of the last time he'd been on an adventure like this. 

The columns of stone were like the beating of a Galley's drum, each stroke clear and loud.  He looked over at Kvald and Chasia, and they looked back at him.  He looked to the right and saw that Lewiza had already started running.  She rolled under the first one and as it rose he saw her dart past the next one and dive past the third.  the sound of the fourth never came, and as the columns rose again he saw that she'd placed her stave under it to prop it up as she went for the switch.  The pounding stopped and Kvald and Chasia patted her on the back as they headed for the final door.  He stopped and snatched his wife's staff from under the last column. 
"I thought you said you'd stop doing crazy stuff like that once we had kids?"
She laughed and brushed her auburn curls back off her face as she took her staff.  "And you said you'd never work later than four."
"I'm serious, what if those had been real?"
"If they had been real we wouldn't have come in the first place.  That's the whole point of Realm, no consequences, you can't die."
"Promise me that next time you'll let Kvald handle it?"
"Not on your life Mr Casat.  There'd be no fun in it."  She laughed again and raced off to join the others. 

Rea had already gone on through into the next room.  Krell paused at the door and reminded himself to stop being a stick in the mud.  But still, what was it about him that seemed to attract all the crazy girls?