The ancient maze was carved into the thick concrete of the bridge. No one knew how big it was, who built it, or for what purpose. But at some point in time, an eccentric warlock named Syedel entered through one of the doors and conquered the fire demon that had been imprisoned deep within the labyrinth’s center. Legend had it that after this incredible victory, he used the labyrinth to hide all sorts of priceless treasures he had collected in his travels, filling the halls with dangerous creatures to guard them. When his death eventually neared, he returned and died somewhere within. For centuries it had borne his name, and there had been quests in search of his body and the spiked armor, but no one had ever been able to find it. Or, if they did, they never made it out alive.
Standing guard outside the doors were two Minotaurs. They stood like walls, tall and thick, silent and immovable. In their hands were axes twice the size of Rose. Though they clearly saw the group’s approach, the monsters didn’t speak. The only sound was the air blowing from their nostrils like huge gusts of wind.
“Which door?” Meadowrue whispered to the group.
The doors looked heavy and made of copper that had now oxidized. Each one was the same as the other down to the intricate border, except for the Gothic knockers, which were all unique. Rose had the suspicion the doors hadn’t been opened many times, certainly not recently.
After some deliberation, the group decided on the second door from the left—the one with a withdrawn, humanlike face for a knocker—but when they went to open it, one of the Minotaurs blocked their path, its ax swiping down in a flash just ahead of them. The blade was buried deep into the ground. Had it connected, it most likely would have cleaved one of them in half.
“One per door,” the Minotaur said.
The group looked at one another, a bit perplexed. “We can’t go in together?” Ridge asked.
“Not through the same door,” the Minotaur stated, its voice so deep it could have come from beneath its cloven hooves. “This is Syedel’s labyrinth. We follow his rules. You conquer it, you can make whatever rules you’d like. We’d even name it after you.”
“But we’re the Order of the Sacrifice!” Ridge shouted. “We need that armor to stop the Abomination once and for all!”
The Minotaurs, however, remained silent.
The group stepped back and huddled. “This is all they know,” Coram said. “All they’ve ever known. We have to do as they say and split up.” He looked into the eyes of the entire group. “Is that okay with all of you?”
Meadowrue nodded. “It’ll increase our odds.”
“Of what? Dying?” Rose asked.
“You don’t have to go in if you don’t want,” Coram said. “Any of you.”
“No one is staying behind,” Deedubs said. “The armor is of too great importance.”
There was agreement all around, save for one.
“Rose?” Coram asked, his eyes burrowing straight into her.
She felt her pulse quicken. Reality bore down hard. She couldn’t do this. Not alone. You have your voice, Rose. That’s all you need. Do it. For your brother. She swallowed hard. “I’ll … I’ll go.”
Coram nodded, a look of admiration on his face. “Okay, then. That settles it. We find the armor and get the heck out; meet here on the other side.”
One by one, they picked a door and stood before it. Coram took the door the group had originally selected, Ridge to his left, Meadowrue to his right. Rose, meanwhile, was on the far end, with Deedubs and Eo beside her.
“The Cobberjacks must separate,” one of the Minotaurs said, its tail whipping around as if swatting flies, its head lowered so that the horns pointed accusingly at them.
“But he’s blind!” Rose shouted.
“And Syedel had no legs. What of it?” the Minotaur snorted.
Deedubs pulled himself free of the leash and said, “I have my scent. It will carry me through.”
Eo was trembling, the leash thrown on his back. “But, Pa—”
“No, Eo. Never in my life have I turned down a challenge, and I won’t start now.” And he slowly but surely made his way to an unoccupied door. Watching him go, Rose wasn’t sure who she was worried for more, father or son.
“Okay, then,” Coram said. “Ready?”
They placed their hands on the knockers, Eo and Deedubs rising to two feet, their teeth taking hold instead.
At the count of three, they all knocked twice upon their doors—twelve deep cracks. The ceiling crumbled above them and the hinges squeaked with an asylum’s terror as the doors opened wide. Inside was nothing but darkness.
“But we can’t see,” Rose said, glancing up at the Minotaur.
“Looks like you’re all blind now.” And then it shoved her in and closed the door, its bellowing laughter cut abruptly short.
Rose stood in utter darkness. It was so complete, it was as if it had a presence, a predatory force that backed her up against the door she had entered through, pinning her there. Her heart pounded against her chest, the hands of darkness around her. She could feel its breath, its dominance. It was so easy to give in.
What were you thinking coming in here, Rose? You think you’re some kind of fighter now? Some kind of hero? You’re a sacrifice. Get it straight.
Rose felt the darkness penetrate her. It crept down her mouth and seeped through her pores. It was filling the space around her bones, from her feet all the way to her skull. It wanted to silence her. Erase her.
And that she couldn’t allow. “I have my voice,” she said.
Oh, and what good is that going to do right now? You can’t see a thing.
Rose pushed herself off the wall, refusing to succumb. If she was going to die, then she’d die fighting. She stepped into the darkness, and it was as if something gave. Each step forward became easier and easier, the enemy in rapid retreat. Her hand traced the wall, fingertips brushing the stone, and it was like claws against her attacker’s skin. When she came upon a gap, she stopped and felt for the turn. It was an effective method for now. But she couldn’t do this the entire time. What if she came across the armor? She wouldn’t even know it. And what if something was sneaking up behind her? What if something was there right now?
She turned around, her entire body shaking as she waited to be struck down. Hands waving, she reached out into the darkness, her body circling.
Nothing.
Long exhale.
Okay, keep moving.
But suddenly, she had lost her sense of direction. Shoot. You got all turned around. Which way were you headed, Rose? There were plenty of noises all around her. They echoed throughout the labyrinth like the dark’s chattering teeth. Rose had no idea what was making them or how close they actually were. At times, it even sounded like some of the walls were moving.
But as she stood there glaring down the darkness, she thought she saw something. The faintest of lights. She rubbed her eyes, hoping to adjust them back to her dark reality. But it turned out there really was a glow in the center of the darkness. A tiny ball of light. It was bright orange and jumped around in the pitch, gaining in intensity.
“A Panatoo,” Rose whispered, a tinge of awe in her voice.
She walked toward the iridescent rodent, a hand bracing the wall. Quietly, she called out to it as if it were a cat. She said she had food, a warm bed. But nothing worked. Every time she got close, the Panatoo scurried farther into the distance.
She wanted to get her hands on it—she needed to—but there was no way she was going to be able to catch it. Not like this.
Then she was struck with an idea. Maybe she could make it come to her.
Kneeling down in the dark, Rose began to sing. It wasn’t like she did when she was attacking the flying snake or the satellite in the Field of Stylites. These weren’t weaponized screams or long, fiery notes of violence. This was like singing with her brother. There was beauty and hope in her voice. It was a song.
In the dark of the labyrinth, she sang for the Panatoo to come near. She sa
ng for it to not be afraid, that she was a friend. She sang from deep within herself. And sure enough, the Panatoo stopped running, caught in the song’s trance. Gradually, it turned around and began to skitter closer and closer, nose raised in the air, taking in her scent. Rose held out her hands, and after a brief moment of hesitation and some more sniffing, the Panatoo crawled right into them, a ball of light in her palms.
Rising to her feet, she pet the rodent repeatedly, the hairs long and bristly, each one aglow, the tips nearly white. It turned out it wasn’t much like a rat after all. It was actually kind of cute. Large, round eyes that popped far out of its head, a nose that curled back on itself and wiggled, and a mouth full of tiny crooked teeth, an inner light shining out between them. It was warm and fuzzy, and that was exactly how it made Rose feel.
“Okay,” she said. “Maybe now we can actually get somewhere in this place.”
With the light in her hands, she could see several feet in all directions now, and sure enough, the walls really were moving. Some of them. There were also staircases all about, some leading up, some down. There were even trapdoors in the ceilings and floors.
“Great,” she said. “As if this wasn’t challenging enough.”
After a brief moment of hesitation, she decided to stick to the path she was currently on, walking a little longer until she eventually hit a dead end. “Hmm.” She spun around. “I thought this was open a minute ago.” She raised the Panatoo to her face. “Didn’t you think it was open? Yeah, I know you did.” She heard a sound nearby and realized a wall was moving. “Fine. We’ll just go this way, then.” But after a few steps toward the opening, the Panatoo started writhing in her hands. It squeaked and tried to run, almost jumping off the tips of her fingers. Rose gathered it in close, petting its bristles, saying that everything was okay. But as the stones slowly slid away, she realized why the Panatoo was skittish: Something was standing in the opening.
The creature was so tall its head was tilted against the ceiling. Whatever it was, it was skeletal, but with its organs showing, its veins and muscles, as if the skin had not yet developed.
The wall was slow to open, but having seen them, the creature was now anxious. It placed its hands against the opening and pushed, a moan coming from its distorted mouth.
The Panatoo shrieked, its face burrowing in fear against Rose’s chest.
“You don’t have to tell me twice!” Rose shouted to her new friend, and bolted down the hall.
The monster was now free and staggering closer. It let out a ravenous groan, its feet making a suction sound that chased her down. Its veins extended, stretching out from its body. They pulled at the walls to gain more speed, the creature’s breathing loud and hoarse.
Even with the Panatoo, it was still difficult to see ahead. She held it forward, trying to get as much light as possible, but when running like this, she was bound to hit a wall or fall down some stairs. Especially as she kept glancing back.
The monster was gaining, its veins flailing in the air like writhing fingers reaching out for Rose.
Find a wall that’s closing, she thought. Jump in at the last second. It’ll never be able to follow you.
It was a pretty good plan, if she had to say so herself and, in fact, a moment later, she heard one shifting shut. It wasn’t far ahead. Judging by the sound, it was just another ten yards or so. She made for it, tucking the Panatoo like a football. A moment later, the opening became clear. There wasn’t much room left, but she thought she could make it. It would be a tight squeeze, but she was small enough. Charging, she ducked her head and was about to jump into the narrow opening, when she ran right smack into a second beast. She collapsed to the ground, and all she knew was that she wouldn’t be making it to the Abomination. Her death was far more imminent than that.
Stay down.”
Deedubs said it to Rose as he leapt clear over her. Soaring through the dank air of the labyrinth, he unleashed a hellish howl. All four paws were stretched out, claws popped, teeth bared. When he landed, it was hard against the monster’s chest. Together, they slammed to the ground.
“Deedubs!” Rose cried.
The Cobberjack was thrown against the wall, and the monster stood. Once again, the veins from its arms extended, quickly wrapping themselves around Deedubs’s legs, binding him. The Cobberjack tried ripping them with his teeth, but for every strand he snapped, a dozen more kept coming. Soon, his snout was bound. Then his torso. Then every remaining inch of his body.
Rose let go of the Panatoo, and it retreated up her arm and down the back of her shirt. Slowly, she backed away, but the wall behind her was now sealed. Deedubs was completely engulfed, his body slowly being dragged on the ground toward the monster for consumption.
Sing, Rose thought. Sing for your life! Sing for his! With her back against the wall and her hands extended outward, she opened her mouth and let out a note. A short, sharp blast came from her hands, and it must have been painful because the creature shrieked. Then, in defense, it quickly wrapped its veins around Rose’s throat. Her voice was cut off, and soon all her oxygen would be too. The pressure was incredible. Her hands shot up and tried to rip the veins away, but it was no use. Her eyesight was fading. Her body was weakening.
The creature stumbled closer, its skeletal jaw opening wide, a pulsing tongue exposed. Terrified, Rose dropped her eyes to its chest, and there she saw the beating of its heart. It pumped there beneath its rib cage. Her hand reached out for it, but her wrist was quickly bound by more veins. Her fingertips brushed against the organ but couldn’t grab it, and her arm was flung back against the wall and tied there. The creature was now only inches from her face. Its veins wrapped around her entire body, head to toe, just like Deedubs. Her face was engulfed, her body squeezed tight. The creature pulled her in. Their chests touched. Rose was close to blacking out, she could feel it. She screamed, but her cry barely left her lungs. And that’s when she felt the Panatoo skitter down her arm. Through her last crack of consciousness, through a small space between the veins that bound her, she watched as the critter ravenously burrowed straight for the creature’s heart. Its glow was bright and the more it ate, the brighter it glowed. The creature stiffened with surprise. Its hand lunged for the Panatoo but couldn’t reach. Its veins went in search, but it was too late. The Panatoo had reached the heart and began to eat a hole clean through it. The creature’s legs wobbled. One knee hit the ground, then the other. A second later, the creature fell on its face, the veins loosening around Rose.
Writhing, gasping for breath, she threw them off and Deedubs did the same. Then she crawled over and, with a trembling hand, reached out and petted the Cobberjack, stroking his fur.
“Thank you,” she said, unable to look at the horror at their feet.
Deedubs shook his body dry, spraying Rose with a fine red mist, and stepped away from the corpse. “Don’t thank me,” he said, breathing heavily. “Don’t thank anyone. We still have a long way to go and however difficult it is to find the armor, defeating whatever guards it will be even more so. Truthfully, I expected you to be dead already. That or cowering behind the door you entered.”
“You’re so sweet,” Rose said.
“Tell me, how did you manage to get this far in the dark?”
Rose told him about the glowing Panatoo she lured and carried around. In response, Deedubs said he only hoped the rest of the group were so ingenious, giving her a thrilling jolt that ran straight through her body and lingered somewhere in her toes. Rose told him she decided to name the Panatoo Orange Blossom, and Deedubs declared it a horrible moniker. “Pray it doesn’t understand you,” he said. “Or you might lose your fingertips in its mouth. You need to give that thing a proper name. A warrior’s name! It saved your life!”
“Yours too,” Rose added, a sharp blow to Deedubs’s pride.
But Rose insisted on the name’s relevance as the animal was orange and looked like a flower in full bloom. “It’s as good a name as any,” she said. “Especially i
n this place.”
“Do you mean the labyrinth or Eppersett?”
“Does it matter?”
“I suppose you think the name Rose is so great too,” he said with a sniff.
“It’s not horrible.”
“A rose is easily trampled and ripped to shreds, with only the tiniest of thorns to protect itself. And it will never get anywhere unless it is cut down first.”
“Uh, that’s one metaphor, I guess. It also stands for love.”
Deedubs snorted and padded through the darkness. Looking down at her new pet, Rose thought, No name is going to decide what we can be. Right? She held the animal up to her eyes, cocked her head, and smiled at it. To her, it seemed like it smiled back.
As time went on, Orange Blossom grew more and more comfortable with Rose, stretching out in her hands, even dozing off from time to time, though that meant its glow faded and Rose had to continuously shake it awake. “Sorry, Blossom,” she kept telling the Panatoo. Either it really couldn’t understand her, or it didn’t mind Orange Blossom for a name, because it never snapped, not even when it was so clearly tired. Maybe it actually liked her, she thought.
For hours they went up stairs and down stairs, through sliding walls and back in circles, all while fighting off countless creatures that appeared out of the darkness. At least Deedubs did. Rose just watched him, partially in awe, partially in terror. There were trolls and zombies, giant spiders and things that walked across the ceiling with eight tentacles. For all of them, Deedubs was so quick, so vicious and precise. Not once did Rose feel she needed to aide him. Even without his sight, he was incredibly deadly, and she wondered what kind of a warrior he must have been back when he was young.
“Did your father teach you to fight?” she asked shortly after Deedubs disabled a bat-like creature that had dropped down from the ceiling.
“Every Cobberjack is taught by their father.”
Rose Coffin Page 11
