237. The Portrait Gallery
Amy decides to check out the portrait gallery. She walks around the staircase and approaches the open double doors. Beside the door on each side is a large suit of armor holding a poleaxe. As she rounds the staircase she could swear she sees the helmets of the twin suits of armor turn to face her. She shakes her head and dismisses the idea as crazy. When she gets closer, though, she hears a distinct Klank! sound from each of the suits. She’s sure that the suits, which once held their poleaxes at ease, now stand at attention, their helmets facing directly forward.
“Well,” thinks Amy, “at least they’re not in my way.” She walks into the gallery. The carpet here is a sumptuous red, the walls adorned with ornate, yellowed paper. Three grand crystal chandeliers shed their light on the room, giving the room an elegant feel. Gilded support columns line the walls. In front of each column stands a suit of armor, each one holding a different weapon. Amy recognizes broad swords, short swords, crossbows, maces, and morning stars, and she also notes a variety of polearms with names too esoteric for her to remember. Between the suits are portraits of varying shapes and sizes. At this end of the hall, the portraits are all of people Amy doesn’t recognize. She notes, though, that some bear a vague resemblance to the couple she saw in the pictures upstairs. All of them look very serious and dour; if the clothing styles didn’t date them as having been painted in different eras, Amy would have thought all the portraits had been taken at the same funeral. The hall is quite long, but at the far end Amy sees three doors.
Amy cautiously makes her way into the hallway. Her path veers to the right as she takes a detour to inspect one of the portraits, of a cranky-looking old woman whose nose bears a slight passing resemblance to that of Amy’s grandmother. The plaque beneath reads “Lady Elizabeth Stephenson, Fourth Lady of Stephenson Hall.” Amy steps back and, upon seeing in the woman’s steely eyes and wrinkled lip, decides she’s quite glad not to have known Lady Elizabeth.
Just then Amy hears a clanking of metal to her left, down the hallway. She looks over and sees a flamboyantly dressed man. He wears a red tunic with a gold coat of arms on the chest. His pants are green and he wears a floppy purple hat with a long feather in the brim. A long fencing sword, which Amy recognizes as a rapier, completes the ensemble.
“En garde, villainess! You’ll soon taste the sting of my blade! Though it pains me to end the life of one so fair as you, it is my sworn duty to ensure that none shall pass this hallway!”
The man draws his sword and adopts a fencing position, waving the sword menacingly in Amy’s direction. Amy looks around in search of some kind of weapon. Fortunately, Amy is between two suits of armor. The suit to her left holds a long sword. The suit on her right holds a flail with a ball-and-chain. The man advances on Amy slowly, keeping his left leg forward at all times. Amy looks back; she’s not that far from the doorway. She could always turn and run…
What should Amy do?