Screams from another creature thrashing about at the side of one of the flooded pools snatched the assassin’s attention towards a large crab-like creature being shocked with lightning blasts from a Minotaur wielding a strange spear. Every time she shocked the creature, forcing it back towards the water, she would flip the weapon about, as if by doing so it somehow recharged the device. The crab monster dropped one foot into the pool as it retreated, just as the next blast hit; the resulting shock blowing the creature apart, sending fleshy lumps of meat and hard shell spinning about the arena and dropping the spear wielder down onto her backside.
“There he is!” The spectator standing alongside Thomas shouted out his appreciation, standing up and slopping wine from his goblet down the front of the captain’s clothes and almost knocking the hood from his head. Thomas bit back his annoyance and followed the enthusiastic spectators’ gestures, staring over towards the arena entrance and noting Rauph just stepping down onto the sun-kissed sands. The air exploded with golden ribbons as the audience screamed and threw their favours of support into the arena. Rauph just stood there, his face bemused, apparently studying the scene unfolding before him. The Navigator stepped further out into the arena and the passageway rumbled closed behind him, sealing all of the remaining contestants into the arena.
A clarion call of trumpets sounded and high up on the far wall a section of the labyrinth slid to one side with a loud rumble, making Thomas appreciate how the clever use of the foliage within the maze served to camouflage things. The captain automatically traced backwards across the arena, taking in the varying heights of the columns of stone and the precarious pathways the contestants would need to traverse to enable them to reach up the wall to the height of the exit. This would be quite a challenge for even the fittest of decathlon athletes at home!
Rauph appeared to have also analysed the puzzle, apparently deciding that the lowest stone pillar was the place to start. He jogged across the arena floor and moved to ascend the crumbling pillar, much to the delight of the crowd. The thin, red headed female Minotaur carrying the lightning spear and sporting a purple ribbon came up behind Rauph and shouted up to him, asking if he would help lift her onto the pillar. Rauph had paused in mid-climb, staring down at her, seeming to consider her request for aid, after all, Thomas had always told him to be kind to the ladies on the El Defensor and help them if he could.
“Don’t do it.” Mathius hissed. “She’s suckering you.”
“I don’t think I can watch.” Weyn confessed, lifting his hand to his face and staring through his fingers.
Rauph dropped down to the arena floor from his lofty position and cupped his two hands together, urging Pascol to place her foot in them so he could boost her up the column. It seemed the gentlemanly thing for a Minotaur to do and Rauph immediately felt good about himself for doing so. She placed her boot in his hand and Rauph could not help but notice the frayed threads holding the leather together and the fact that the heel of her boot shifted slightly as she put her weight upon it.
He hoisted Pascol up onto the pillar with a mighty shove, allowing her to scrabble amongst the ancient masonry and secure a hand hold so she could clamber up to the top of the column. Rauph held his head down until the worst of the debris had stopped falling on his head from her boots and then proceeded to clamber up after her, his huge hands easily finding purchase on the eroded stonework.
“Hey Kristoph.” Pascol shouted over the roar of the crowd, just as Rauph’s head came level with the top of the pillar. “I think you only helped me because you wanted to look at my rump in my tight leather armour.”
“What?” Rauph replied, pausing in his climb, bemused by the comment, then mortified at what the female Minotaur was suggesting.
“Just avert your gaze for a moment.” Pascol teased, fluttering her eyelashes provocatively at him. Rauph, still eager to please lowered his head and stared back down the column, noting out of the corner of his eye that other contestants were making their way towards him from across the sands.
“Here it comes.” Mathius groaned. “What a glutton for punishment our navigator is.”
“Tell me when it’s over.” Weyn sighed, now covering his eyes with both hands. Pascol leaned down and callously jabbed her spear into the side of Rauph’s head; A blast of lightning lifting the hapless navigator clear from the column and dropping him back down onto the sand of the arena where he lay jerking as sparks danced along his horns.
“Ouch!” Thomas winced. “That was a dirty trick.”
Weyn lifted his face from his hands only to cover them again as another competitor charged across the sands, her spiky hair flattening as she ran, blue ribbons dancing at her shoulder and blood streaming from a wound in her leg. The Minotaur screamed as she hit Rauph square in the back, just as he got to his knees, using the poor navigator as a spring board to launch herself up the granite column and gain purchase on the crumbling stonework. Rauph crashed back down, face first, the air rushing out of him, only for the air to shimmer and pop as another contestant materialised out of thin air in a swirl of cloak and delivered a skilfully placed boot into Rauph’s side, just where he had already been injured by the mace attack.
The navigator groaned, guarding his side and rolling away as the female Minotaur’s red cloak billowed out above him, the material threatening to settle upon his body, the insides of the material revealing row upon row of black barbed teeth. Rauph rolled again, desperate to avoid being enveloped in the tooth-lined interior of the cloak, only to feel the ground disappear from beneath him as the Minotaur dropped into one of the deep pools with a mighty splash.
Ammet pulled the hood of her magical cloak from her head, allowing her curly black hair to bounce free as she stared down at the dark waters below, her eyes as dark as the serrated teeth lining the inside of her deadly cloak. Her gaunt face shivered as the teeth of the cloak lying across her back dug into her flesh, sucking a little more of her life force away and explaining why she always appeared so gaunt.
Ripples arrowed through the water towards her, signifying the path of deadly predators arrowing through the depths towards where a fountain of bubbles marked the descent of Kristoph’s sinking body through the murk. It was a shame; her cloak had hungered for the chestnut prince and the sentient clothing had missed this opportunity to feed. Another shudder ran through her body as the cloak extracted its price for her failure.
She stared up at her colleagues, who were already making their way across the first rickety bridge that swung above the dark pool and frowned in frustration. Maybe she would have better luck feeding her cloak with another one of her competitors. The problem was that she knew there was no way she would be able to climb up the granite column like her rivals, as she lacked the height required. Pascol, already making her way across the first rickety bridge seemed to realise this, looking back and laughing before goading her challenger by throwing a playful wave in her direction; an action which she instantly regretted as the bridge wobbled dangerously beneath her. Ammet gritted her teeth, staring at the back of the Minotaur with eyes like daggers, wishing with all of her might that the waving bitch would just miss her step and fall.
A gleaming black arrow shot through the air, turning Pascol’s smug look into one of surprise as the razor-sharp hunting head of the projectile sliced straight through one of the bridges supports ahead of her. The guide rope she was holding suddenly snapped, leaving the female Minotaur windmilling her arms, trying desperately to stay upright before she lost her balance and tumbled from the bridge with a scream, dragging the rope with her.
“What a terrible spot of bad luck. Who would have suspected such a structural failure?” Mathius grinned, standing beside Thomas, the both of them using their bodies to obscure the fact that Weyn was swiftly unstringing his bow before anyone in the crowd glanced behind to see where the arrow had come from. “had to be an ‘Act of the Gods’.”
“I call it Karma.” Thomas grinned, patting Weyn on the
shoulder. “Damn fine shot by the way!”
Pascol hit the water and carved a huge wake through the surface as the rope swung to a stop, spluttering and crying out in shock as the cold water washed over her. Despite this, she stubbornly held onto the line, struggling to pull herself out of the water with every intention of ascending the rope to make her way back up to the ruined bridge. The structure rocked and swayed from side to side at her struggles, much to the annoyance of Chane who still clung onto the remaining hand support as she attempted to make her own way past where her fellow opponent had fallen.
“Keep still you fool!” Chane yelled down. “I have no intention of joining you and the more you thrash about the more the predators will be attracted to you.”
“Like you care.” Pascol spluttered, pulling herself arm over arm, inch by inch from the water. “You just want to win. You have never cared about anyone but yourself.” She pulled herself higher, managing to lift her top half clear from the water and bit back more curses as she watched Chane finally limp across the gap and make it onto the next pillar. She was such a bitch. Watching that Minotaur overtake her ignited a hatred and energy Pascol never knew she had.
Pascol lifted herself further, using her upper arm strength to lift her bottom from the water, just as something hit her legs hard, pushing the Minotaur physically across the surface of the water and almost tearing the rope from her hands. The competitor froze in terror as whatever it was that had hit her swam past, leaving the Minotaur to arc back through the water to her original starting place just below the bridge. She shivered, not knowing whether to start climbing or simply stay still, her nerves alert for a sign of whatever it was that had attacked her in the water.
Ever so carefully, she wrapped the rope back around her leg and started to inch up the line, her eyes flitting left and right for signs of the creature returning. Another inch, another chance of life. The rope slowly turned Pascol around, allowing her to see the bubbles from where Kristoph had fallen into the water. The surface appeared to explode in a frothy maelstrom, clearly whatever was in the water was now attacking the prince. Taking this as a sign the creature was occupied, Pascol renewed her efforts, straining to pull herself from the water, lifting herself arm over arm, as first her body and then her legs lifted free.
Pascol hugged the line tight, letting the fluid drip from her body and finally allowed herself a moment to catch her breath. Something appeared to ripple through the water beneath her, something that caught the sun and reflected it back from several mirror-like scales that moved just below the surface, their edges defined by a golden glow.
The Minotaur could not help but be mesmerised as the tip of a dark green snout slowly rose from the water. Golden crest spines arched along its neck, a thick grey webbing stretching between them. Orange eyes stared up at her as two widely spread webbed claws swept through the water with incredible power.
“Is that a turtle?” Thomas asked, rubbing his eyes in disbelief as he took in the sight of the monster’s neck stretching further and further from the surface as if it was made of elastic. The dark snout opened wide, then lunged, snapping the air just inches below Pascol’s feet. The Minotaur struggled to grip the rope securely before pulling her spear free, lifting it high to clumsily jab down at the monster as it lunged again. Lightning flickered down the spear, jumping from Pascol across the gap into the turtle’s open maw. The monster instantly withdrew its head, re-submerging in a gush of steam.
“Looks like it was nearly a bowl of soup for a second.” Weyn remarked. “Oh there he goes. Drummon is moving now.”
“Why hasn’t Rauph come up yet?” Mathius asked, leaning further forward in his seat, trying to catch a glimpse of the churning waters. “He should have come up by now.” As if in answer, the water marking Rauph’s descent into the depths suddenly turned still and its colour darkened.
“That doesn’t look good.” Thomas stated getting to his feet. “I think Rauph’s in trouble. We need to get down there and help.” Weyn turned towards his captain open mouthed, as if to ask exactly how Thomas expected them to do this with all the Minotaur guards present, just as Mathius laid a hand on Thomas’s arm and calmly gestured to the form of a soggy chestnut Minotaur pulling himself from the water, sword in hand, the end of the blade dripping with a viscous slime.
“I think our navigator has it all in hand.” The assassin replied calmly, despite the fact that even he was feeling the racing of his heart. The emotions of the crowd reflected by the deafening roar that rippled around the arena as Rauph finally pulled himself to his feet and turned his attention back towards the smallest pillar.
The water exploded behind him, the giant turtle in the centre of the pool hurtling up from the depths, its neck stretching from the water, sharp jaws snapping together to bite deeply into Pascol’s midsection where she swung helpless on the rope. The Minotaur managed one wailing scream, flailing ineffectively with her spear, her lungs crushed by the force of the bite. Pascol’s body came apart like the ragged seams of her armour, the lower half dropping with the giant turtle, leaving her top half hanging suspended from the rope, her entrails slopping wetly into the water. The crowd roared their appreciation at the gore but Rauph was oblivious to his fellow contestant’s demise and was already clambering up the pillar, preparing to cross the rickety bridge.
“What is Drummon doing?” Mathius murmured, pointing as the black Minotaur angled away from the pillars and ran along the far side of the arena, only stopping to hack away a questing pincer from an over eager crab-like creature.
“More importantly where is he going?” Thomas asked, following the path of the Minotaur as he ran to the base of the wall below where the new opening loomed high above. “He’s never going to attempt to scale the wall, is he?” Thomas frowned, thinking the action would be highly unlikely, before he observed the prince regent scrabbling through the undergrowth as if he were looking for something.
“Go for it Rauph!” Weyn cheered, gaining several confused looks from the nearby spectators who had no idea who Rauph was. Weyn pointed back to where their navigator was wobbling his way across the bridge with a grim determination and surefootedness that could only come from spending time in the rigging aboard the El Defensor. He reached the other side and another roar of appreciation came from the crowd, just as the giant turtle breached the water below and snapped its jaws together on the gory remains of Pascol, ripping the corpse and the remains of the bridge down with it. Another sombre horn blow heralded her demise.
“That’s an interesting development.” Mathius commented. With the bridge out of action we have two female Minotaur that are going to be hard pressed to make it up to the height required to gain footing, especially the one with the trident. She looks a little dazed from the injury she sustained earlier. Look she isn’t even walking in a straight line.
“Maybe they will just use the ladder Drummon has magically found.” Thomas snarled. “Of all the cheating….” He shook his head in dismay as the black minotaur continued to pull a ladder from the undergrowth he had been so enthusiastically searching and positioned it against the wall just beneath the exit. The crowd seemed to notice at the same time, loud boos and catcalls coming from the spectators who quickly quietened down when the Minotaur guards along the walls looked in their direction.
Rauph paused in his journey, staring out across the network of rickety bridges he needed to traverse and coming to the same conclusion that his spectators had; that somehow, he had let himself be suckered into taking the long way around.
A trumpet blast echoed through the arena, causing Drummon to start climbing up the ladder as fast as he could. Rauph had no idea what the trumpet call meant but if the urgency of his brother’s ascent was anything to go by, he needed to move fast!
The first granite pillar exploded, dropping down to the ground with a crash. Rauph reached the third pillar in a rush just as the second pillar also toppled with a groan. A flash of crimson near the base of the ladder to
re Thomas’s attention from his shipmate back to Drummon and the fact that the female Minotaur in the strange red cloak was racing up after her Prince.
Drummon noticed the vibration through the ladder and started tearing vegetation from the wall, hurling debris and leaves down on his pursuer who simply disappeared as the branches and foliage fell only to rematerialize after they had passed by. Karlar, sporting her green ribbon staggered to the base of the ladder and after staring at her trident in a confused manner started to climb unsteadily after her two adversaries, setting the ladder wobbling ominously under their combined weight.
Rauph raced across the bridges, setting them swaying dramatically as he charged. He almost got half way across the next bridge, that swung precariously over a large pit lined with spikes, when a blur of silver and blue whistled out from the pillar ahead of him and arched back in towards his head making him duck in surprise.
The strange object whirled back to the pillar ahead, only to be thrown out again, offering Rauph a quick glimpse of its owner, a flash of spiky hair and a blue fluttering ribbon. The weapon arced out with deadly accuracy, whistling past the navigator to slice through the handrail behind him instantly dropping the bridge to one side.
Rauph threw himself forward towards the far side of the bridge, his huge hands scrabbling for something to secure himself to, just as the bladed weapon sheared through the second rail as it continued its lazy curve back towards its wielder. The granite pillar behind him suddenly exploded, sending jagged shrapnel flying out across the sands. The bridge trembled and then snapped, leaving Rauph with a split-second feeling of weightlessness before he plummeted towards the spike laden pit below.
Chane could not hide her superior smirk as she observed the Prince dropping away. She held out her hand and caught her weapon almost by reflex, securing it at her belt before limping off across the next bridge, intent on getting through the exit as soon as possible. This was almost too easy.
The Labyris Knight Page 76