by Joffre White
‘We could see that you had trouble breathing, you’d gone deathly pale. Then Lady Dawnstar came through the wheel and as soon as she joined us she asked what had happened. It was your chest, the weight of me and my backpack had crushed it against the stone ledge.’ She paused and a tear ran down her cheek. ‘I’m so sorry, Frog, if I had listened to you it wouldn’t have happened. I thought that I’d killed you.’
‘Hey,’ said Frog. ‘Everything’s okay now, so stop worrying. Tell me what happened next.’
Fixer wiped away the tear with her sleeve, smiled and continued.
‘Lady Dawnstar pulled up your clothes and we all saw the red and black marks across your chest, it was awful. Logan made Ginger and I move away and told us not to look. But I had to, I watched Lady Dawnstar put one of those leaves under your tongue and then she kissed you – on the lips!’
Frog opened his mouth to speak, but no words came out, except he went bright red and his cheeks burnt.
‘Anyhow,’ continued Fixer. ‘She explained afterwards that it was to breathe the healing into your body because it was damaged on the inside, but she had to be careful not to let you swallow the leaf as they can be poisonous. Next, they all started to rub more leaves on you. It was ages until you opened your eyes.’
‘I guess we were really lucky,’ said Frog.
‘I was lucky that you were there,’ said Fixer. ‘But Logan says you could have saved yourself a lot of pain.’
‘What do you mean?’ said Frog.
Fixer reached behind her. ‘You forgot to wear this.’ She dropped the dragon-skin waistcoat onto his lap. ‘He was really worried about you and he’s told me to tell you that you must wear it at all times from now on, or he’ll personally feed you to a Madbagger.’
‘Point taken,’ said Frog. ‘In fact, will you help me on with it now?’
‘Yes, but one more thing. Lady Dawnstar says that you’re to have these, you might need to use a few more if your chest still hurts.’ She gave him some of the leaves which he put into the cloth pouch that he had tied to his belt.
Fixer helped Frog on with the garment. He found that apart from some small stiffness in his chest, and a little unsteadiness when he first stood up, he was generally okay. When he was ready they both went and sat with the others. Each, in turn, asked Frog how he felt. He assured them for the umpteenth time that he was all right, but it would be very nice thank you if someone wanted to volunteer to carry him for the rest of the journey. That was when they all laughed and agreed that he was getting back to his old self.
The meal was some dried rabbit, stewed up with vegetables, which prompted them to discuss how much food and water they had left. Each of them had half a canteen of water, maybe two or three days’ worth. The food consisted of more dried rabbit, corn cakes and some root vegetables that, if chewed slowly, would fight off the pains of hunger for a couple of days.
‘So,’ said Logan. ‘We’ve got to get out of this place in three days or find more water and food.’
‘I don’t know about you, but I can’t tell which is day or night any more,’ said Ginger.
‘That’s our biggest problem, so we need to find the Earth Sage and a way out as soon as we can,’ said Logan.
‘It looks as if we’ve been saved from making decisions this time,’ said Frog, pointing to the only exit. ‘Has anyone had a look to see where it goes?’
‘I had a wander down earlier,’ said Sir Peacealot. ‘It turns left then right and then gives you three options again. Just one small problem, this weird light stops and all of the passages are in darkness from there on.’
‘How many torches do we have and how much fuel’s left ?’ asked Logan.
‘Six torches,’ said Ginger. ‘I checked them when we made camp here.’
Fixer looked in Frog’s pack and pulled out the two fuel flasks.
‘One’s full and I think the other is about half empty,’ she said, shaking the flasks.
‘We’ll light three torches as we did before and see how long they last,’ said Logan. ‘When they burn down, we’ll use the other three.’
‘What happens when they burn out?’ asked Ginger.
‘We start singing happy birthday,’ answered Frog, but no one laughed.
When they were ready, they roped themselves together again. Frog insisted that he felt much better and convinced them to let him lead the way. Sir Peacealot insisted that he follow him with Ginger and Fixer between him and Logan, and lastly Lady Dawnstar. However, they all noticed that Frog didn’t hurry along with the same urgency as before.
‘Are you sure he’ll be all right?’ Logan asked Lady Dawnstar.
‘He’s a tough lad,’ she answered. ‘His spirit is strong and his body will heal quickly.’
‘I’m surprised that he survived back there, I’ve seen grown men die of such an injury,’ said Logan.
‘I think he may well surprise us even further,’ said Lady Dawnstar.
‘Let us hope so my lady, let us hope so,’ said Logan.
They reached the first intersection and decided to carry straight on. Just as they were about to move, Fixer reminded them that they needed to mark the wall with a sign to show that they had passed that way. Sir Peacealot doused his torch and let it cool a little before he blackened his hand with soot and marked an arrow on the wall.
‘Here,’ he said to Fixer, unwrapping a piece of the cloth bound around the torch’s handle and rubbing it in the sooty head of the torch. ‘Take this for now in case we need to make any more marks.’
The passage continued for a short walk, then Frog brought them to a halt.
‘What’s the problem?’ asked Lady Dawnstar from the back.
‘It’s a dead end,’ said Frog. ‘We’ll have to go back.’
Lady Dawnstar turned and led them back to the intersection where they next decided to take the righthand passage. Again, Frog led the way until they reached a left-hand turn which led them to another left-hand turn and they emerged at another junction.
‘Which way now?’ asked Logan.
‘We’ve run out of choices,’ said Fixer.
‘What do you mean?’ asked Ginger.
‘Look,’ she pointed. ‘We’re back where we started.’
On the wall in front of them was indeed the sign that Sir Peacealot had made only a short while earlier.
‘What now?’ said Fixer.
‘I know it sounds daft,’ said Frog. ‘But the only passage that we haven’t entered is the one that we just came out of.’
They all looked at him in the flickering light of the torches.
‘Well?’ he said. ‘Has anyone got any better ideas?’
‘What if we end up back here?’ asked Lady Dawnstar.
‘We phone a friend!’ said Frog, and although no one understood what he meant, he chuckled to himself and enjoyed his joke. They continued to stare at him, waiting for an explanation.
‘Look, if we end up back here, we’ll just have to think of something else. But until that happens, let’s go,’ he said.
They followed him silently until they came to a junction, where they had a choice to take a passage leading off to the right or to carry straight on.
‘How did we miss this turn?’ asked Ginger.
‘We missed it because it wasn’t there the first time,’ said Fixer. ‘Frog was right, the passages change when you approach them a different way.’
‘We’re never going to get out of here,’ complained Ginger.
‘Oh, yes we are,’ said Sir Peacealot. ‘Even if it’s just to stop you from moaning.’
They continued down the passage until they reached another intersection with three choices. One right, one left and the other straight ahead.
‘If we go down any of these, there’s no guarantee that we won’t end up back here,’ said Lady Dawnstar. ‘We could be going around in circles at every junction until we choose the correct passage and find the right way. We’ll run out of torchlight at this rate.’
‘
I think that I’ve got the answer,’ announced Frog. ‘I’ve just remembered what I read in a book about mazes.’
‘Well, what is it?’ asked Logan.
‘You have to keep your hand on the left wall, if you do that, even though it may be the long way, you’ll eventually find the centre of the maze.’
‘If I could just say something,’ said Ginger, nervously.
‘Go on,’ said Sir Peacealot. ‘But don’t complain.’
‘Well,’ continued Ginger. ‘First, this isn’t a maze, it’s the Labyrinth. Second, how do we know we need to get to the middle? I mean, I thought that we were trying to get out. And third, what if the whole thing starts spinning and turning like it did before?’
‘Good points,’ said Frog. ‘But if you ask me, a maze and a labyrinth are the same and how do we know that the middle isn’t the way out? If we have a repeat of being rolled around, remembering which is left and right will be the least of our problems.’
‘Just checking,’ said Ginger.
‘I say we use our hands,’ said Logan decisively, and they all agreed to follow Frog’s idea.
The group turned left and walked purposefully on, all touching the left-hand wall as they went. This continued for some time as they negotiated various junctions and cul-de-sacs, marking the walls with a sooty smudge as they went. Eventually, the flickering torches warned that they needed replacing and the last three were soaked in the liquid and lit just as the others guttered out.
‘How long do you think they’ll last?’ asked Frog.
‘I’m not sure,’ said Logan. ‘We might get some extra time if we wrap some strips of cloth around them and soak them in the last of the liquid.’
‘Time to get a move on then,’ said Frog, and off he went. The rest had no choice but to follow him as they were all still linked together.
The passages continued to eat up their footsteps and the torches burned down once again. Logan tore up some strips of cloth that some of their food had been wrapped in and the others did the same. They soaked the cloth in what was left of the liquid, quickly twisting the material around each torch head and relighting them.
‘If we ever needed to find light again, now is the time,’ said Lady Dawnstar as they set off down another left-hand passage.
More turns, more dead ends and with no end in sight. Frog stopped.
‘Have you noticed,’ he asked, ‘that the floor has been steadily sloping down for quite a while now?’
‘You’re right, I thought it was just me and my tired legs,’ agreed Logan.
‘Is that a good or a bad sign?’ said Ginger.
Before anyone could reply, the torches gave one last flare and then went out. They were in absolute and total blackness.
Frog brought his hand up to his face. He touched his nose with his index finger and could see nothing.
‘That’s done it,’ he said, his voice sounding flat and lost in the dark.
‘Everyone check your ropes, we don’t want to lose anyone now,’ said Lady Dawnstar.
After they had all made quite sure that they were safely attached to each other, Frog continued to lead the way. He shuffled his feet forwards slowly, just in case the floor should give way or disappear in the dark. They moved with their right hands on each other’s shoulders and their left hands continued to touch the wall. Their progress was now painfully slow and they had no idea how far they had travelled, when Frog called out for them to stop.
‘We’ve reached an opening,’ he said. ‘I’m going to take us around to the left, if you keep your hands on the wall you’ll feel the corner when you get to it.’
He moved around the corner slowly, his hand feeling the texture of the stone change – a new, smooth surface slipped under his fingers.
‘I’m not sure, but I think there’s a curve in the wall,’ he observed.
As he moved on, the sounds of the others’ movements started to echo, as did Fixer’s voice.
‘It feels different, where do you think we are?’ she asked.
‘I think that we’re in a room of some sort,’ said Logan, his words sounding hollow.
‘There’s definitely a curve in the wall, I think that we’re going around in a circle,’ said Frog. ‘We’ll find out when we reach the doorway again.’
The moments passed as they stepped slowly on, trying not to trip over each other’s feet, but the doorway never came. Frog stopped again.
‘That’s funny. We should have reached the entrance by now. I hate to say this, but I think that we’ve been sealed in,’he said.
‘If we’ve been sealed in, are we all still together?’ asked Lady Dawnstar. She urgently called out their names and to her relief they all answered one by one.
‘Just a minute,’ Frog said to her. ‘You’re in front of me.’
‘So I am,’ replied Lady Dawnstar. ‘If I put my hand out, can you reach it?’ Frog extended his arm in the dark, his hand brushing past and then finally clasping Lady Dawnstar’s.
‘You’re right,’ she said. ‘We must be standing in a circle. If only we just had a glimpse of our surroundings, then we might be able to know what to do next.’
For a few moments there was silence as they all searched their thoughts for an answer. Then, out of the darkness came Fixer’s voice.
‘I’ve got an idea. We’ve still got one of the flasks, even if it’s just got a small drop of the liquid in it, I’m sure that if I can get a spark to it, we might have some light for a few seconds.’
‘Well done, Fixer, it’s worth a try,’ said Logan. ‘Right, who’s got the flask?’
‘I think I have,’ said Ginger.
As Fixer was standing next to Ginger she managed to feel her way into his pack and retrieve the flask . She carefully placed it on the floor at her feet, found her flint and released the stopper.
‘Everyone needs to be ready to take in as much as they can, I’m not sure how much light we’ll have or for how long,’ she warned.
She struck the flint. A small spark flashed out and was swallowed by the darkness. It was, however, just enough for her to see that she needed to hold the flint closer to the neck of the flask. She could smell the foul reek of the liquid as she crouched closer to her target. Another spark sailed out and was extinguished. She held her breath and struck the flint again. Two diamond-white embers struck the neck of the flask and fell in. For a moment there was nothing. Then, slowly,a glow emanated up from the neck and formed a delicate orange flame which flickered and teased around the rim.
Shadows danced on the walls which, as Frog had guessed, were curved. In the unsteady light their eyes made out the shape of the room. It was circular, with a domed ceiling. In the centre of the floor, no more than half a metre from where they all stood in a circle, was a large round hole, big enough to swallow every one of them. The stone floor around its rim was carved with lettering.
‘Quickly!’ shouted Logan. ‘The lettering, try to make out what it says.’
They craned their necks and strained their eyes as the tiny flame shifted shadows across the letters, distorting their shape and form. They could tell at once that the light was dying; the dim glow began melting back into the flask until it was gone.
‘Keep thinking about the letters, try to make sense of what they mean,’ said Logan.
‘I thought that I saw the words, Step forward as one,’ said Fixer.
‘Part of it said, Be bound only by the hand of Trust,’ said Logan.
‘I saw the bit about, All others fall into Darkness,’ said Ginger.
‘Thanks Ginger,’ said Sir Peacealot, sarcastically.
‘Did anyone see something like, Trust the sword of Faith?’ asked Frog.
‘I saw, Trust the word of Faith, but then everything got blurred,’ added Sir Peacealot.
‘I definitely read, Step forward as one, all others fall into Darkness,’ said Lady Dawnstar. ‘We need to put this together.’
‘Did you see the size of that hole?’ said Fixer.
‘A
ll the more reason to keep our backs against the wall,’ warned Logan. ‘Right, let’s try and work this out.’ After numerous variations, they couldn’t decide where the writing started. It was then that Ginger came up with a daring suggestion.
‘If we all kneel down and lean forwards we can carefully feel for the letters that are in front of us, then we could call them out and put the words together in the right order.’
‘Ginger, you never cease to surprise me,’ said Sir Peacealot. ‘What an excellent idea.’
In the complete darkness they all cautiously sat down, placed their hands on the floor and slid them forwards until they felt the carving beneath their fingers, each tracing the pattern and calling it out. Logan found the words ‘into darkness’ and then a strange pattern which he felt signalled the end of the writing, and Ginger, next to him, managed to spell out, ‘Be bound only’, which was decided to be the beginning of the verse. After a few minutes and starting with Ginger, they in turn read out the lettering under their hands.
Be bound only by the hand of Trust
and the Word of Faith
Step forward as one
All others fall into Darkness
‘Another puzzle!’ said Ginger, trying not to sound despondent.
‘One thing’s for sure, we can’t go back and the only way out is through this opening. Whether we like it or not, it’s telling us that we have to step into it,’ voiced Frog.
‘It’s how we do it,’ said Fixer. ‘It’s telling us how to do it.’
‘Go on. Explain,’ said Lady Dawnstar.
They could hear Fixer breathe in nervously before she translated her thoughts.
‘Be bound only by the hand of trust. I think that means that we untie ourselves and hold hands, that we trust in each other. The word of faith. We have to say the word “faith”. Then we have to Step forward as one. Well, that’s obvious. All others fall into Darkness. I think that means if someone breaks their hold or loses faith ...’ Her voice trailed away.
‘We have to commit to this together,’ said Sir Peacealot. ‘But what happens once we step out? Could be the end for us should anyone waver or panic.’