by Casey Knight
I picked up my pace and could just make out the wolf’s form as it stopped under a ventilation shaft and seemed to gulp great mouthfuls of air. He sat there so long I was ready to give him a nudge when he stood up and padded down the opposite tunnel. I nearly sprinted to the shaft and stuck my head up it as far as possible, inhaling big mouthfuls of fresh air. Yes! I stayed there as long as possible before reluctantly turning to follow the wolf. I walked on until the tunnel slanted slightly upward before heading into a small open area. I glanced around until I spotted the wolf. He was studying the space that had only two wooden doors leading from it. They were closed. I had no idea why they were there or where they led once opened.
Before I could reflect on the issue further, a faint trace of magic tickled my senses. Looking around, I saw the wolf shimmer as he turned back into a man. He took out his notes and studied them before he shoved them back into his pocket and moved toward the left door. Hesitating a moment, slightly, he reached for the doorknob, turned it gingerly, then froze like a statue in place. Then he resolutely pulled the door open and stepped inside. He paused just inside the entrance for a split second before there was a click and he dropped from sight. If I had to guess, my money would be on door number two. Isn’t that the beauty of hindsight?
I leaned back against the wall to wait for the next competitor. It didn’t take long for the fae to race back into the area. I was guessing the vampire was having a harder time digging out. The fae stood quietly inside the room. Pausing, listening, and if he was smart praying. His eyes roamed over every square inch in the area. He was taking it all in. Then he carefully approached the doors, stopping well short of them. He hesitated, pulled out his notes and skimmed them. Apparently satisfied, he put them away and approached the left door. I already knew that wasn’t the correct choice. Wisely, he didn’t touch anything, just stood there. Finally, he ran his hands over the surface of the door and around its perimeter, pausing when he reached the bottom of door next to the doorjamb. Then he got down on his stomach and put his face up against the bottom of the door. My guess is, he was probably feeling for a draft.
The fae was either very brave or very stupid. After what I witnessed to this point, I wouldn’t put any body part near any opening I had not scrutinized. He apparently got lucky because nothing blew up before he stood up and moved to the other door. Stopping only long enough to turn the knob, he pulled open the door and ambled into the next room. I couldn’t see much until he advanced farther into the room. It looked like an insignificant shrine to a lesser deity. There was a small statue of Zeus on a raised dais on the opposite side of the room. Byzantine frescoes adorned the ceiling. The inhabitants of Cappadocia had been Christians. There appeared to be three wooden steps leading up to the elevated platform.
I trailed the fae into the room and leaned against the wall near the door. Hedging my bets, I knew if the fae did anything stupid I could dive for cover. I might be invisible, but I wasn’t immortal. The fae approached the stairs and studied the statue, examining it from every conceivable angle. He consulted his notes one more time before thrusting them back into his pocket. Then he walked warily up to the statue. I hoped he knew what he was doing, because so far in these games, touching the wrong part of a statue had proven to be disastrous. The statue was a small marble replica of an angel standing, wings spread wide, holding a sword in its left hand. Hesitating for the briefest of moments, the fae reached out and pulled the sword toward him. With no more than and/if or by your leave, a trapdoor under his feet opened, and he plummeted from sight.
I slid down the wall to sit and wait for the next competitor to arrive. My thoughts drifted to what Jason and his team might face when they confronted the two avenging gods. It was almost time to deploy Jason and his team through the portal by the oasis. I didn’t like to sit by and let someone else take the risk for me. I had pissed off Erebus. I’m the one they’re trying to kill. I didn’t want anyone else hurt or killed because of my actions. Before I could work up any more self-righteous angst, the sound of running footfalls pulled me from my self-castigation. I stood up and slipped further into the room, so whoever came through the door wouldn’t accidentally stumble into me.
As I waited, I heard the competitor moving around outside the doors. Finally, the doorknob turned, and in creeped the elf. I wondered when he might show up. The elves were tied with the fae for first place. He stood in the doorway, studying the room and scouring his notes. Apparently satisfied, he stepped carefully into the room. The elf paced around the room, gazed at the frescoes and looked over the dais. I gave him points for being thorough and watched as he walked up the steps toward the statue. He approached the figurine and moved around it without touching it. Wisely, he hadn’t touched it. Perhaps he remembered his run in with the two giant statues. Then he turned and inched warily back down the stairs. When he got to the bottom, he turned around until he again faced the stairs.
I wondered what he was up to when he sidled over to the bottom step and tapped around it. That’s when a slot opened in the stair riser and a white powder whooshed out engulfing the elf. He gasped, sputtered, and stumbled blindly toward the door, collapsing as he staggered through the doorway. He was still breathing. His lack of movement would send a team to retrieve him. Another one bites the dust, or more aptly, eats the dust. It didn’t take long for the team to recover the elf and the all-clear siren to sound. At this rate, I wouldn’t get to see Jason’s team take down the two avenging gods.
The sound of running feet pulled my thoughts back to the present, just as the vampire burst on the scene. He approached the area in front of the two doors and examined them methodically. Kneeling in front of both, he warily tested for any hint of a breeze or trap. Finally, he settled on the door the elf had just stumbled from. He entered the room and meticulously examined the area and its contents. Maybe his trip down into the quicksand had made him more careful or a tad paranoid. He changed into a bat and flew up and around the statue. I’d say he had every reason to be suspicious, and he was wise to take every precaution. Next, he flew up over the stairs and hovered above each step, before landing and changing back. Seemingly satisfied, he moved toward the steps, running his hands lightly over each step without tapping anything.
Then he sat back on his haunches and studied his notes. The vampire sat there so long I thought he had nodded off. Finally, he stood, stretched and walked over to the second step and pulled up on it. It gave way, and he reached inside and came out with a small object, which sounded the horn to indicate he’d won the third challenge. Three down and one more to go. I was ready for this to be over.
The final stage of the closing challenge I knew was the hardest one yet, which should cause any sane person to drop out. It was a maze, and from what I recalled from the design team’s plans, it was potentially deadly. No shock there, the whole freaking place was lethal. The last challenge I knew was a labyrinth buried deep under the Cappadocian complex. Karma was a bitch, it had to be. I hated small tight underground chambers, and here I was again under ten or twelve stories of rock and sand. The sadistic project team created this maze with dead ends, trapdoors, hidden chambers, sliding doors, and false passageways.
I decided to prepare for the arrival of the next wave of competitors. I trudged down several levels until I came to a descending staircase in the south corner of the cavern. I nearly missed the stairs concealed inside an alcove screened off from the rest of the room by a large stone plinth. I followed the stairs down until I was standing in a small room with a low ceiling. I could reach and almost touch the ceiling, which didn’t make my little claustrophobic heart happy. The chamber appeared to be empty, and I settled in to wait for the first competitor. Cloaked so that unless the competitors literally tripped over me, they wouldn’t know I was there. I hoped they hurried. The air was stale, still, and stagnant, making the space hot. The small cracker box made me fight to keep from hyperventilating.
Thankfully, I didn’t have long to wait. I heard the sound of
footfalls as someone moved down the steps. It was the vampire making use of his bonus minutes for winning the third challenge. He sauntered down the stairs and inspected the small chamber thoroughly then walked around the room looking closely at every corner, every nock and cranny before returning to stand by the stairs. Scratching his head, he reluctantly paced over to the nearest wall and ran his hands slowly to examine every inch of that divider, before moving over to repeat the process on the next wall. The vampire systematically worked his way around the room. Suddenly, he paused to tap the wall, leaning in close to inspect something. Then he vanished as the entire wall rotated. A few seconds later, the wall rotated back into place without the vampire.
I had no way to know if he’d made a mistake or if he had found the next phase of the maze. At least I hadn’t heard any screaming or swearing. I would take that as a partial victory. No autopsy, no foul, worked for me. Before I could give it any more thought, another contestant started down the stairs. It was the fae. Like the vampire, he hesitated on the steps to study the area before he strode off the stairs and into the room. He treaded carefully, advancing around the room, examining the walls without touching them. It seemed to me like a prudent approach. When he finished the walls, he started around the area inspecting the floor. Finally, he returned to examine the stairs. He looked at each step and riser before moving back down into the room. Tilting his head, he checked out the ceiling. It looked bare to me except for a place where the large stones intersected. There was a small channel between each slab of stone. I couldn’t tell how large the slabs were. He looked over each of the four blocks before he ran his hands along the channels between the slabs. Whatever he was looking for, he seemed satisfied. Next, he reached up and tapped on each section of the stone ceiling. He was working his way back and forth across the ceiling in a grid pattern. Lastly, the only one left unexamined was the section directly above the stairs, and he again began to rhythmically tap on it. Nothing happened at first, and he turned to advance farther up the stairs when the section slid back with a click. The fae wasted no time leaping up and grabbing the edge of the opening and pulling himself up and in. He disappeared, and the stone slid back into place.
I waited to give him time to move before following. The fae had been gone for almost ten minutes, and I was preparing to follow when I heard another competitor running in my direction. I ducked back down and away from the stairs. That is when I saw an obviously pissed off vamp barreling down the stairs. He wasted no time on the walls this trip. He already knew that wasn’t the correct solution. He scanned the floor and ceiling. Deciding the correct choice was the ceiling, he began methodically tapping and prodding every square inch of the space. When he reached the area over the stairs, I moved to stand near the bottom of the steps so I could tail the vampire into the area above us before it closed.
I trailed behind the vampire with only seconds to spare before the section slid back into place. I stood as still as a statue while the vampire perused the room. The space was empty, and there was only one exit, appearing to lead down a dimly lit entryway. As the vampire started down the hall, I followed about ten feet behind him. We hadn’t gone far when massive stones, possibly from a cave-in, blocked our way. Great, now what? What was the vampire doing? It looked like the fool trying to dig, climb, and crawl through the rubble. No flippin way. You go boy. I slid down the wall and settled in to see where this would lead. A cloud of dust, swearing, grunting and the sound of rocks being pushed or pulled told me the vamp was making headway. Better him than I. If he did find the way out, I would have no trouble following his trail, a blind man could.
I may have nodded off, because I awoke with a start to the sound of falling rocks, screaming and cursing that startled me into consciousness. I was awake when the sirens sounded telling me a rescue was underway. I didn’t need to guess who they were liberating. It didn’t take long for the rescuers to remove the vamp. I used the break to chat with Tokem. This dead-end was part of the design, making me grateful I hadn’t followed the vampire too closely. I wondered how many ships of fools I’d have to wait for before one of the competitors made a different choice. Take out would be nice right about now. I’d have to make do with water and an energy bar. Oh, for joy.
The all clear signal sounded, and it took roughly ten minutes for another competitor to leap up into the space. The wizard stood surveying the room. While I waited, I wondered what happened to the fae. Tokem told me he triggered a trapdoor and was beginning again, but I had no idea where the door dropped him. Finally, the wizard started in the same general direction the vamp had taken. I hoped someone would figure this out soon. I was over this debris-choked hallway and its toxic cloud of dust. I heard the wizard rooting around in the rubble. I couldn’t see him, but the sudden burst of expletives told me he was alive and exasperated. That’s when I heard what sounded like a shout of joy. Could it be the wizard found something?
I started in the general direction of the gleeful cries. Certain I was getting close, because I heard him doing a happy dance; I scampered up and over a large block of stone. Sure enough, there was the elated wizard studying a simple wooden door. I couldn’t tell what the wizard was thinking, but I knew what I was thinking. Anything in these games looking too good to be true, likely was. To his credit, the wizard was showing painstakingly slow progress examining the door. He was checking every conceivable surface, which took longer than normal because he was ducking and weaving every time he touched something. I was almost tempted to shout boo, but we’d made it this far without a fatality. I didn’t want to give him a heart attack.
Thankfully, the suspicious wizard reached out and tried the knob. It turned in his hand, and he pushed the door gingerly forward. The door creaked, and the wizard ducked and rolled to his left. I couldn’t say I blamed him. There was no explosion, poison dust or trapdoor. He stood up and dusted himself off before he emerged into a hallway. I couldn’t see anything from where I stood, so inched closer for a better look. Damn it, it appeared to be a dead-end. Then again, it was anyone’s guess if it was, or if there was another twisted way to get out of the corridor.
The wizard consulted his notes, appeared to sniff the air, and inched cautiously into the passageway. He stood there examining the hallway. From where I stood, it looked empty; no windows, doors, or obvious signs of an exit, or implement of destruction. The wizard paced the room, scrutinizing every inch of wall, floor, and ceiling. He appeared to be looking for drafts, trapdoors, or anything opening into another area. Then he turned and moved back the way he had come until he was again in the rubble-choked passageway. Like the vampire before him, he shoved blocks and debris around as he tunneled farther into the opening. Personally, I didn’t think it was a good idea. Those blocks and piles of stone and rubble didn’t look stable. Again, I heard the sound of approaching footsteps. The wizard also overheard it and renewed his digging in a frenzied manner. Bad idea. I heard a crash and dust billowed out of the passageway. I couldn’t hear anything in the direction where I’d last spotted the wizard. Then the alarm sounded. I guessed the wizard was down and out, and his suit had triggered the alarm.
It didn’t take the team long to arrive, but took a while to dig out the wizard. He would be done for the games. He had a few broken ribs and a broken arm. The all clear sounded, and within minutes, the fae raced into the passage. He must have been the competitor I’d heard before the cave-in. The fae took a long look at the walkway before he started his cursory search of the space. It didn’t take him long to locate the door. My guess is, he scented the wizard and went in a different direction. He didn’t appear to be any more trusting of the simple door than the wizard had been. Finally, he turned the knob and entered.
Once he crossed the threshold into the empty room, he took it all in before he proceeded around the room without touching a thing. His next move surprised me. He fished a lighter from his pocket and held it next to the wall while advancing methodically around the room. Nothing happened until the fae was
halfway around the room. The lighter flickered, I’ll be damned. He circled the lighter around the area until he found the exact spot where the flame sputtered the loudest. The fae pocketed the lighter and then approached the area where the lighter had guttered, and held his hands inches from the wall. Next, he tapped the stone where the lighter had flickered. The block he tapped slid silently away, and he scrambled into another room.
I hustled over to duck in before the stone slid back into place. It took a moment for my eyes to adjust to the dimly lit space. I recognized a room roughly ten by ten feet. Great, another empty room. Or was it? What was the design team up to? The fae poured over his notes, scratched his head and then walked around the chamber. He flicked his Bic again and zip, zero, nothing happened. Next, he got down on all fours and crawled around the room in a grid pattern. He proceeded to alternately tap the floor and skim his hand along the dirt flooring. That’s when I heard a click. A panel slid open and a pair of stone obelisks sprang up through the floor on either side of the doorway we’d just entered. They appeared about six feet tall. They were covered in what looked like hieroglyphics. It was beyond my ability to decipher. Maybe the fae knew what they meant.
The fae remained where he was, and regarded the two columns. I was with him on this. Who knew what the two might sprout, shoot, or spray at him or anyone else foolish enough to proceed without caution. I decided since nothing happened I could risk slipping in a little closer. The Eye of Horus was on the left obelisk, and the Ibis headed god of Troth was on the right column. I racked my brain to recall what the two symbolized. They could mean any number of things, depending on what context the design team intended. They could be tame, or not. My money was on the latter.