The Labyris Knight

by Adam Derbyshire

  A loud horn sounded outside, the echo of the call ghostly and haunting as it resonated down the chimney, then the relentless stomping of hundreds of feet vibrated throughout the cave. The Provan legion were on the move again. A larger clump of soot dropped from the chimney, rolling over and over, bouncing down into the fire pit and incredibly as it landed, the debris muttered a loud curse. There was a flash of light and suddenly a man appeared, stepping out of the fireplace and brushing his soot covered robes down whilst further oaths fell from his mouth indicating his surprise on how he had ever avoided being burned alive.

  He turned, taking in the small room, his hands pushing back his lank hair, only pausing to adjust the eye patch covering one eye. His boot came down heavily on a chewed apple core, almost causing the figure to stumble and further curses come from his mouth.

  Scrave reached down and picked up the mushed apple core before throwing it away. He stopped and sniffed the air. Something flared brightly from behind his eyepatch, illuminating the Elf’s face in a cool green glow. Scrave’s lip curled up, his face becoming more bestial in an instant as the twisted creature coiled within his right eye socket sought control.

  “Dennarrrissss!”

  Chapter Forty

  The immense doors to the labyrinth boomed shut behind Rauph, sealing him inside a dimly lit world where the sky above was a thin strip of cobalt blue, hemmed in on all sides by dark granite walls twenty-five feet high and fifteen feet thick. The surfaces of the walls were festooned by colourful jungle plants, moss and creepers, some dark and slimy and adorned with thorns, whilst others displayed gloriously vibrant flowers and variegated leaves. The floor of finely raked sand indicated the tracks of the other contestants who had entered the maze before the navigator, starkly marking the trail Rauph needed to follow.

  Pausing for a moment, the navigator suddenly found himself showered with brightly coloured ribbons and streamers, thrown down onto him by the spectators crowded around the top of the massive walls. They fell about his feet like confetti, serving to impair the Minotaur’s keen vision as effectively as the roaring appreciation of the crowd deafened his chestnut ears. He had memories of this place, vague shadowy ones of wandering the maze with governors and later with friends but the actual route into the heart of the labyrinth remained a mystery lost in a history that his fractured recall was at present not party to.

  Burning brands, set at regular intervals along the walls, served to light the solitary path ahead, leaving Rauph with nothing to consider apart from his bearings, which was no easy feat, considering all of the Minotaur’s surrounding landmarks were obscured by the towering walls and the bobbing heads of the braying crowd. The only obvious structure of note was the imposing pyramid, stretching up to the sky. The navigator scrunched up his face and tried to ignore the roar of appreciation. This situation needed to be carefully considered; he could not simply charge headlong into it like a Minotaur in a porcelain shop, as that quite often resulted in a severe scolding, losing your allowance and a lot of broken crockery!

  Rauph realised his situation was serious and that the decisions he took next could have fatal consequences. He knew he was often seen as stupid or slow; however, neither of these descriptions accurately portrayed the complex inner workings of the navigator’s mind. The navigator was aware how he became confused when people talked to him, sometimes misunderstanding sarcasm and humour. This innocence often left Rauph responding to situations by saying things that others would never consider, leading to the Minotaur stumbling through uncomfortable social situations and making his ability to balance the fine art of politics a suspect one. It was always so easy to upset people’s feelings, even when Rauph meant nothing untoward at the time.

  He recalled that as a youth, his first encounter with politics and social niceties had been an unmitigated disaster when he had attended the funeral of a local noble woman. Her husband, a keen hunter, had shared his grief widely, exclaiming he would have an empty house and could not imagine life without her. Rauph had tried to offer comfort, suggesting that maybe he should have her stuffed and mounted like his other hunting conquests, because his grace always remembered those adventures so well. That way she would never be far from his thoughts. Surprisingly, to Rauph, these comments caused sheer outrage and bluster from the grieving widower, demanding instant redress, threatening duels and demanding compensation.

  They also caused amused titters from the assembled courtiers, who instantly imagined the departed lady’s head mounted on a wooden plaque and stuck on the wall between a stuffed Penades tiger and Berelian antelope. The cheeks of female serving staff also coloured, knowing that there was more than one way of interpreting the young Minotaur’s naive comments and that mounting and stuffing had been going on under their mistress’s nose for years!

  Displaying such poor tact, Rauph often found himself with a lot of time alone. He would spend it in quiet contemplation, carefully replaying scenarios and mulling over problems or situations that were confusing to him, sometimes these revelations occurred in the middle of conversations with others, leading to people finding his behaviour and unexpected outbursts strange. The Minotaur laughed aloud for no apparent reason, sometimes several days after hearing a joke or experiencing something that had confused him. More often than not, these chuckles occurred in lessons of mathematics or Taurean language, resulting in stern punishment for causing a disturbance in class from the tutors who mentored him.

  Despite these setbacks, Rauph remained genuine, fair and kind, his quiet behaviour gaining him more friends and supporters than he realised, as he quietly sat and pondered his day-to-day problems within the security of his own imagination, allowing the politics of Taurean to continue on without him.

  Those very same thought processes were happening in Rauph at this moment. He knew the object of this competition was to get under the pyramid and to climb up the stairway to the ancient halls above. The Minotaur also realised he could not get to his goal by simply scaling every wall that he came upon, travelling in a direct line until he reached the centre of the labyrinth. After all, he knew the pyramid actually rested upon the maze, meaning at some point the sky would disappear from above and his passage would be to all intent and purpose, subterranean, making climbing over the walls an impossible act. He also had no rope or climbing tools. Tunnelling through the walls was equally problematic. He would need supporting struts, digging tools and… well it was simply too much work.

  Leaving a trail of breadcrumbs or unravelling a ball of string were two other options quickly rejected. Rauph had eaten all of his bread at breakfast time and had not considered that he would have needed more loaves for this endeavour, otherwise he would have asked for a very large packed lunch! He also knew of no one in Taurean with a ball of twine as large as the one he would need to trace a way through a labyrinth of this size. The resulting sphere would have been as wide as the very passageway he was travelling, making such an idea totally impractical, let alone impossible to hide beneath his tunic.

  The Navigator considered tracing his hand along one wall and letting the maze take him wherever it would, before he factored in the other contestants and the rules to this contest. The competition was time restricted, so tracing up, down, in and out of every blind alleyway and twisting pathway would be yet another time-consuming way to end up finishing last and it was strongly suggested that finishing last was not conducive to good health and longevity.

  Rauph scowled, deciding to apply his thoughts as if this were a navigational problem. The Minotaur prided himself in his sense of direction and his ability to find any course on any map. If he followed the logical thought that ahead was towards the centre of the maze, or for today’s purposes North, he might just have a chance. A smile crossed his features, as he finalised his plan, then he frowned again. Unfortunately, he had no labyrinth map currently in his possession.

  Well, in that case, he would just have to make one!

  The navigator scrunched up his e
yes and tried to imagine what such a map would look like. First, he needed to imagine a blank sheet of paper. That was not too hard; most people thought his mind was a blank anyway! He then decided what colour pencil to mentally draw his image with and let his imagination sketch the purple passageway along which he travelled.

  A rough picture of the maze started to appear in Rauph’s mind. He mentally enhanced the image with every forward footstep taken, adding little notes to his mental picture of wobbly pencil lines, recording a scraggly bird’s nest up on the right complete with chirping young, and a large gouge taken from the stone on the left. He took another step and felt the floor sag slightly beneath him. That was strange; floors seldom sagged in Rauph’s limited experience. He paused in his mental cartography, filing the information away before considering the mystery before him.

  The navigator noted the tracks in the sand, noticing that every set moved to either the left or the right, before tracing along the stone walls, rather that striding straight across the sagging floor. Was this some kind of trap that would be triggered if Rauph walked across it? The Minotaur considered this option carefully, weighing the idea as he gently bounced one foot up and down on the edge of the sagging area, sending sand slipping down through a crack that ran directly across his path and making the floor squeak loudly. A loud growl came from beneath the ground and the sand visibly flew upwards as something huge slammed into the underside of the passageway.

  Rauph quickly ignored the growl, after all floors rarely snarled, although the squeak could mean he had inadvertently disturbed a large mouse. Rauph knew he could not allow himself to be distracted by a cuddly mouse with big floppy ears and a button nose no matter how big it would have to be to make all of these sounds. He briefly wondered if he could find some cheese then shook his head as he realised that he was losing focus. He had to concentrate on the clues before him. If the other competitors had considered this area a threat, then maybe there was something in their beliefs, because as of yet Rauph had not heard any announcements informing him of a departure of one of his rivals, either out of the maze exit or via a gory death and there were no sticky dead bodies lying about the sand either.

  The crowd roared loudly somewhere over to the right, suggesting something exciting was happening in that direction, distracting Rauph yet again. He decided to act, tiptoeing carefully along the left edge of the pit, despite the fact that whatever was below him was now clearly agitated at his passing, before finding himself back on firm ground.

  The navigator scowled as he recalled his scratchy purple picture in his mind and added an important squeaky mouse note to his diagram, then he placed a huge imaginary gold star on his sketched route to remind him to return and find said mouse, before he continued along the passageway, only to find it terminate at a ‘T’ junction with two possible choices now offered. Rauph suddenly wished he had something to chew on whilst contemplating this unexpected situation. Indeed, a piece of crumbly cheddar seemed a great idea at this time! He looked left, then right, noting that both appeared to run straight as far as he could see. So would it be port or starboard?

  The Minotaur turned to port remembering that his starboard side now faced towards the centre of the maze and jogged a few confident strides, hearing the screaming from the crowd lessen as he ran along the passageway, away from the uproar. Rauph noted the moisture slick walls here, vivid deep purple blooms, a hint of honeysuckle in the air and a dark blue-black squirrel foraging for food before he realised that the sandy floor before him was smooth, showing no sign that any competitor had selected this new route. His footing became less confident, his pace dropped and doubts crept in. What if he had gone the wrong way?

  If everyone else had chosen to turn to starboard, then maybe he needed to go that way too. He swivelled on the spot and slowly started to backtrack, confirming as he jogged along that his footprints were the only ones marring the sandy surface. Rauph started to pick up pace as his confidence returned and his imaginary purple pencil scribbled out the wrong passage from his map. He knew he was the last contestant to enter the labyrinth, so by definition he was therefore the last contestant in the race and he intended to rectify that unfortunate situation as swiftly as possible.

  The Minotaur reached the same ‘T’ junction he had recently departed and stole a quick glance down it to try and spot the giant mouse, only to notice that the floor of the passageway, right about where it had appeared to sag, seemed to be rising up from the ground. There appeared to be a cage of some sort, rising from the floor, with something large pacing angrily around inside its confines and it was definitely not a mouse.

  Rauph shook his head, chastising himself at his lack of concentration and focused on charging ahead down the other branch of the junction in pursuit of his rival contestants, the purple illustration in his mind growing more complex with each measured pace. He did not have time for trivialities now, he had to follow the others, then overtake them and he also wanted to find out what had had the crowd in such an uproar. What was behind him did not matter at this time, even if it did have a cute button nose.

  The cage clanged loudly as the door at its front dropped away, raising a ripple of excited shouts from the crowd, answered by the monstrous creature that charged out with a primeval roar. The menacing challenge echoed around the walls of the labyrinth and the crowd roared their appreciation in return, struggling to see the spectacle of the exotic creature crawling below them.

  Rauph heard the loud noises from behind him, his brow creasing with confusion. Had he somehow been turned around in his travels? Rauph double checked his imaginary purple drawing and shook his head. No, the crowd had definitely been cheering more loudly up ahead, not behind him and the direction to the centre of the maze was definitely on his left side. Had someone doubled back? He considered this for a moment as his feet pounded along the passageway. That was ridiculous! Any contestant would have had to get past him first and he knew he had not bumped into anyone on his travels, so why the excitement of the crowd?

  This whole scenario made no sense.

  Another wave of sound echoed hauntingly behind Rauph, growing nearer and louder as the creature from the cage swiftly closed the gap towards its prey. The navigator turned about, stealing a quick glance behind but upon seeing nothing but shadows, returned his attention to his chosen direction of travel, only to slide to a stop at a second intersection. This time a choice of three passageways led him forward: Port, starboard or dead ahead. Dead ahead… somehow Rauph did not like the sound of that! The centre of the maze was to port, so the navigator turned left, continuing to extend the purple map in his mind’s eye.

  Something huge extracted itself from the darkness and swiftly skittered up the wall of the labyrinth behind him, eight blade-like legs stabbing through the vegetation, gouging the stonework beneath. A razor-edged tail whipped about in excited agitation, as its yellow eyes narrowed and zoomed in on its fleeing meal.

  The crowd screamed their delight at seeing the exotic beast closing in on the first victim of the competition, delighted that they knew something the clueless competitor below did not. Spectators leaned over so close to the edge of the wall and so dangerously near to the stalking beast that they ran the risk of also becoming its prey but this was apparently lost on the crowd in the anticipation of seeing first blood spilt.

  Rauph continued his charge along the corridor, hearing the baying of the crowd but simply deciding it was better if he ignored them. He noted the passageway turned to port a short way ahead but there was also a narrower overgrown side passage to starboard heading the way he wanted to go. The navigator pushed his way into the side corridor just as the screams of the crowd reached a crescendo and the monster launched itself from the wall above.

  The beast hit the edge of the passageway in an explosion of foliage and frantic scrabbling, just ahead of where Rauph had turned off the main walkway. It snarled its anger and frustration at miss-timing its leap, clawing at the vegetation and ripping apart
everything it could get its teeth and claws into. A spiked hood of loose skin flared up around its neck, adding to the creature’s fierce look as it skittered and slid down to the floor before shaking its head and wheeling about, charging off after the Minotaur prey that had not even bothered to look in its direction.

  Rauph, oblivious to the frenzied pursuit, continued running along the new passageway, noting the way the ancient gallery twisted first to the left, then to the right but always orientating himself in the direction which the pyramid lay, whilst hoping that a new corridor would soon present itself, allowing him to move closer to his goal. The navigator tried to blot out the eager screams of the crowd of heads peering down at him from the walls and focused on the details of the labyrinth as he ran.

  Filtered sunlight had permitted vegetation to thrive here in vivid greens and vibrant flowers, whilst other walls, where predominant shadows and darkness remained, led to the growth of tightly spiralled ferns, waving fronds and lush clumps of green and brown mosses that clustered tightly around pools of rainwater collected in the cracked and tired masonry.

  “Behind you!” a voice screamed in warning from above, clearly very excited at watching the action unfolding beneath, drawing disgruntled looks from fellow spectators who did not want the surprise of the pursuing beast spoilt for the fighter apparently fleeing below. Rauph shook his head, determined to keep his gaze focused firmly ahead. He did not intend to turn about, besides, the purple map in his mind’s eye told him he was currently moving in the right direction! Sometimes people just went out of their way to cause trouble and make you doubt yourself, which was too much of a distraction whilst he was trying to make up time.