Rook_Revenge

by Michael D. Young

  Rich took out the tiny key he left with last time and showed the man.

  "Well, well, well, that is a handy one to have. A copy key. Simply press that against any other key you find and get an exact duplicate. That's the only way to get yourself a skeleton key these days."

  Rich perked up at the sound of that. "Does this key open all the doors of the maze?"

  The gray knight nodded, leaning on his sword. "Boy, a skeleton key will open any door in or out of the maze. It said that only three were made, and only the three Master Gigas have those. So unless you want to try to steal one from them, copying is your best bet."

  Aaron stepped forward and opened his bundle of weapons for the knight. "We also have these. I'm guessing these count as keys as well?"

  The gray knight laughed and shook his squeaky head again. "You sure do have an odd assortment. Haven't seen one of these in ages. I'm guessing you know what these are for."

  Rich opened his sack and show the gray knight as well. "We do."

  "Well, I suppose the herds could use a bit of thinning out. We've almost got a Gigantaur infestation here these days. Best of luck to both again, and just promise to tell me what a Gigantaur looks like on the inside. Never seen it for myself."

  The gray knight stepped aside, and Rich and Aaron both shouldered their packs. "Age before beauty," Rich said, repeating something he’d often heard his mother say.

  Aaron cocked his head to the side and laughed softly. "All right, I guess you do have me there."

  He disappeared through the dark arch and was gone. Rich followed him, half expecting to see the room with the ice on the ceiling and the two gargoyles again. Instead, a much more terrifying sight met his eyes. They stood in a huge amphitheater with rows of benches lining the walls. In the center stood row upon row of Gigantaurs, and in the middle of the group stood one that dwarfed even the rest of them.

  It rose nearly to the vaulted ceiling, and carried a pair of enormous double-edged spears. They looked like a regiment about ready to charge off to battle. Rich held perfectly motionless, seeing that they still looked like statues, and not one of them moved.

  "That’s a Master Gigas," Aaron said. "Just as the gray knight said. There are three of them, each with a skeleton key so they can roam the labyrinth as they wish to oversee things. They grow and shrink so they’re always only a bit smaller than the ceiling."

  Rich looked the Master Gigas and saw that it indeed had a belt around its waist that contained a single key. It looked like an actual skeleton contained in a long, transparent tube.

  "What do we do?" Rich asked, looking over his shoulder to see that the passageway through which they had come had vanished. "Yeah, we’ve got our keys, but we can't take all those monsters all at once.”

  "If you want to improve your odds, you might consider helping me escape!"

  The voice came from high over their heads, and Rich craned his neck. An enormous golden cage dangled from the ceiling, and in it stood a single man, clad in armor. It looked remarkably like his grandfather's. Rich couldn’t see the man’s face well, but he had the distinct impression that the man was a paladin.

  “I used a spell I remembered to call for help," said the knight in the cage. "It’s made so that the first paladins who step through the front door will be immediately drawn to this room. Please tell me you’re paladins. I’m a rook myself."

  "Yes, both of us are," Aaron called. "And it's your lucky day. We brought weapons that are able to defeat the Gigantaurs."

  "There are only two of you?" the man asked. “I thought they would send more than — wait. Did you said say you brought special weapons?"

  "Yes," Aaron replied. "How can we get you out?”

  The man in the cage rattled from side to side as he shook the bars. "I haven't been able to undo any of the enchantments on this place. You could try to get that skeleton key from the Master Gigas, I guess. If you can get it, you could free me right away. It's so large that it doesn't actually fit in the lock, but all you have to do is place his hand on any door he chooses, and it will open."

  Rich digested this information, the workings of a plan forming in his mind. He liked the idea of having another person on their side, even if the odds would still be ridiculously lopsided. “Aaron, would you rather be a distractor, or go for the key?"

  Aaron raised both eyebrows high. "I think distractor’s the better job for me."

  "All right, then," Rich said. "You try to distract many of them as you can, and if you get the chance, use your key on them. You, up in the cage—be our eyes in the sky. Help us know where to go. Does that sound good?"

  "I’ll do my best," said the knight.

  Rich and Aaron took the nearby staircase that led them down to the main floor. Rich turned to Aaron. “You ready to do this?"

  "Not really, but what does it matter? It's what needs to be done, and we’re the people to do it!"

  Rich thought Aaron sounded way too chipper for a guy who was about to run into almost certain doom. Rich summoned Zahn and held him over his head. Aaron did the same, conjuring a long metal staff. Both of them affixed a metal key to the tops of their weapons. At an unspoken cue, they both charged down the stairway, crying out as loudly as they could.

  When they reached about halfway down the stairs, Rich noticed a brilliant light shooting from various statues. No two statues had light in the same place. Some showed it on their arms, others their elbows, and still others on the torso, the neck, or the head, with very few on the legs or feet. He made a mental note to try to take out the ones on the feet first, because those would be the easiest to reach.

  As Rich and Aaron charged, the stone monsters came to life, stepping out of their places and then moving their arms with their assortment of weapons. Strangely, they did not move, but remained in tight formation around the Master Gigas. When Rich and Aaron reached the bottom of the stairs, Aaron banked right, getting close enough that one of the creatures flung a sword in his direction. Before Rich could decide on a plan of attack, he saw Aaron plunge into the ranks, his key outstretched.

  "To the left. Go now!" cried the knight in the cage.

  Rich did as he was told, and was glad he listened as a second later, a massive war hammer smashed the place where he had been standing. One of the monsters had thrown it, and the others followed. Rich suddenly reversed direction, making his way back to where many of them seem distracted by the fast-moving Aaron. Aaron suddenly let out a whoop of triumph. "Rich, watch this!”

  Rich heard a sound like the pealing of a small bell. He reversed direction again as one of the Gigantaurs fell, bringing several of its companions with it. When it fell to the ground, it split open its outer shell, crumbling. Rich could see Aaron’s staff protruding from what had once been the creature’s upper thigh.

  Inside, Rich could see the figure of a man wrapped in bandages like some sort of ancient mummy. He rose, but even as he did, his feet crumbled into dust and smoke.

  Rich seized upon the chance and went straight for the Master Gigas, running with all his might and bringing up a shield around himself. He reached into his pocket and brought out the copy key. Rich knew he only needed to touch the skeleton key to have his own. He reached the perimeter of the ring around the Master and knew he was in trouble the moment he stepped in. The Master itself lashed out with one of its enormous spears and scored a direct hit that sent Rich flying across the room. He landed hard, only spared because his paladin shield cushioned his fall.

  He realized a moment later that he’d let go of the key, and as he looked around, he spotted it a few feet away. He scrambled to his feet, despite feeling sore all over, and dashed for the key. The hand of a Gigantaur swooped down and took a swipe out of the ground that con
tained the key, and then reached up and poured the entire clod down its throat.

  Rich faced off against the enormous monster, but couldn’t see its weak point right away. "It's in the middle of his back!" called the man in the cage.

  As the creature chewed, Rich ran through its legs and saw his mark. Rich flung his sword, aiming for the spot, but it went wide. He rushed to retrieve his sword, but the creature whirled about and tried to crush him with its foot.

  Rich dove out of the way, and his hand rested on his pouch containing the shape-shifting supplies. He took one sphere and threw it against the ground, bringing up the image of a trampoline. He got a running start and leaped onto it, using it to launch himself toward his opponent. He landed on the Gigantaur’s arm and held tight as it tried to shake him off.

  The Gigantaur swung him around and shot a torrent of flame from its mouth. Rich activated his rook power, turning his body to stone so the flames flowed around him harmlessly. To his surprise, from the moment he turned to stone, the creature stopped trying to throw him off. Instead, it headed back toward the rest of the pack as though it had forgotten Rich.

  Maybe they can only sense living flesh or something, Rich thought. I was stone, and didn't register with its senses.

  Testing this theory, Rich returned to normal and grappled up the arm until he sat on the beast’s shoulder. The moment he reverted, the monster swatted at him with its other hand, trying to get him off. Rich changed back to stone, but before he did, he raised his sword, ready to plunge it into the beast’s back.

  Rich waited a few seconds for the Gigantaur to settle down, then turned off his stone power, at the same time bringing down his sword with the key into the creature’s back. The ringing bell sounded again, and the creature crumbled under him.

  Rich fell straight through it, and briefly came into contact with the being inside. His paladin powers of empathy engaged, and he found himself seeing another battle between a female with light blonde hair, wearing the armor of a paladin, and a Gigantaur. The woman tried everything in her arsenal, it seemed, but weapon after weapon could not pierce the Gigantaur’s hide. Her strength nearly spent, she charged the creature in a final desperate attempt to bring it down. The Gigantaur struck hard, flinging her against a stone column. She crumpled to the ground, her body broken.

  Her vision clouded, and a voice that sounded vaguely familiar spoke to her. “Do you wish to die, or will you join my army? It’d be the best place for one like you, yes, siree.”

  Feelings of darkness, pressure, and isolation nearly overcame him, feelings of being able to sense living things only as reddish beacons in an otherwise blackened world. He felt deep, abiding despair and frustration paving the way to madness and the hatred of everything that still lived free.

  Rich snapped back from the vision to find the female knight next to him. Her beauty had vanished, replaced by a weathered and wrinkled husk of a woman. When she reached out, Rich directed his healing power toward her. She cringed away and shook her head faster and faster, though some color returned to her gray skin. At last, she found her voice. "Don't. Don't save me. Please."

  Rich lowered his hand and stopped using the healing power.

  “Don't trust the one who promises life," she said. “Don't trust the one who stands by the door…" The little color that had returned now drained out of her face, and she slumped forward. In seconds, the body vanished, crumbling into dust.

  Rich drew in a horrified gasp. Inside each of these statues was a living mind whose body had withered away, held together only by the shell, the prison they had been forced into. As the knight disappeared, Rich sensed an immense peace, a long-awaited calm after so many years of bitter slavery.

  Rich hung his head, feeling both sick and sorrowful to the point that it paralyzed him. Only the voice of the man in the cage spurred him to action again. "Boy, look to your companion!"

  Rich looked up and saw that Aaron was in deep trouble. A ring of Gigantaurs circled him as he lay motionless on the ground. They raised their weapons, making him only seconds away from obliteration.

  Rich visualized himself snatching Aaron from danger just as all the weapons converged in one place. His castling abilities kicked in, and he found himself there just in time to save his friend. In a massive shockwave, all the Gigantaurs in the circle fell backwards. He set Aaron down, ready to rejoin the battle.

  Feeling rage boiling over inside him, Rich leaped forward, intent on releasing as many of these tortured souls as he could. Before, he never could have imagined something like being trapped inside a Gigantaur. His vivid imagination could picture it all too well.

  Now that he knew what the keys looked like, he could create his own without worrying about running out, using his conjuring orbs. With the Gigantaurs laid out on the ground, he found it much easier to find the keyholes higher up on their bodies. He selected one with the keyhole in its neck and released it with the sound of a tolling bell.

  Another Gigantaur struggled to rise. Rich ran over to the keyhole on its forehead and plugged the key into the lock. This one crumbled, though the Gigantaur had succeeded in rising to its knees. But Rich wasn’t finished yet. He could create five objects at a time, and he’d only done three. He withdrew the final two orbs and changed them as well to key-tipped blades. With adrenaline coursing through him, Rich found his target two more times so the battlefield now lay littered with rocky debris.

  As the remaining Gigantaurs found their feet, to Rich’s amazement, they retreated. His muscles trembled, and his chest heaved. It had taken a great deal of energy to try to heal the fallen Gigantaurs and then trying to keep five objects stable at once, and his strength now drained out like a water balloon with a pinhole in it. He barely stayed upright as he watched the retreat, not wanting his enemy to see any form of weakness.

  One monster, however, did not retreat. The Master Gigas stood in the middle of the room, swinging its arms. It roared in the direction of the others, and Rich imagined that whatever it meant was not very nice.

  To his surprise, Aaron ran past him and kept going. He had no idea what his friend had in mind, but if they were going to have any chance against this creature, they’d have to do it together.

  The Master Gigas charged, its feet sending enormous rocks and boulders flying into the air. Rich lifted his paladin shield, but he knew that it wouldn't last through more than one onslaught.

  Clouds of dust swirled around Rich so he could no longer see the charging monster. He stood frozen with terror, not knowing if he should run right or to the left. The beast could trample him if he chose wrong and force him into becoming one of them. He wouldn't let that happen. Never!

  Rich put up the strongest shield he could, but it didn't last long. He lapsed into a coughing fit as dust filled his lungs, and he expected the killing blow at any moment.

  All that training, all those quests, all that everything, stomped out in a second.

  But then, in an instant, he felt himself snatched away. One moment, he was in the center of the dust cloud, and the next, he found himself high up on the top of the stairs, looking down on the arena on the stampeding Master Gigas.

  Next to him stood the man from the cage, now free, and Rich got a glimpse of his face for the first time. A silver talisman hung around his neck, containing a gleaming white rook piece, and his features matched those Rich had seen so often in family photographs. "Father!" Rich cried, his eyes growing wide and a broad grin lighting up his face. He could hardly believe it. It felt like winning the lottery two days in a row.

  Phillip’s face broke into a wide smile. "Rich, it is you! I thought it was, but I wasn't sure.” He wrapped his arms around Rich and squeezed him tight for a few moments before pulling back.

  “You see, son, that’s how cast
ling works. The stronger the bond between you and the person you're trying to protect, the easier it is, and the more you can overcome. I imagine that the cage holding me is so powerful that this wouldn't have worked for anything less than my son and my heir.”

  The dust below cleared enough so they could see the Master Gigas again, and this time, Rich caught a glimpse of Aaron. He had climbed up on the Master Gigas’ shoulder and now scurried about, trying to keep from being crushed as the creature tried to brush him off.

  "What's he doing?" Rich asked.

  Phillip leaned forward, squinting. "I think he has the skeleton key! Maybe he opened to the door to my cage to help me out. But that would mean…"

  Rich thought of Aaron running past him a short while back. He could have been chasing of the Gigantaur that had swallowed the key. He must have found it in the wreckage and climbed up to press it against the skeleton key. But what was he doing now? Hadn’t it been the point all along to get the skeleton key? Why was he hanging around any longer than he needed to?

  “With the skeleton key, we can escape this room, and even the maze,” Rich said. “That’s got to be our first priority. But I don’t think we’re going to get out while that Master Gigas is still around. How do we take care of it?”

  "Your key-tipped blades are meant for the Gigantaurs," his father explained. "You need a much larger, differently shaped key in order to take down the Master Gigas."

  Then it dawned on Rich what his friend was doing. If he had the master key, it was supposed to be able to open any lock, including the one that held the Master Gigas together.

  Now that Rich had retreated, the other Gigantaurs slowly approached the Master, likely looking to rejoin the fight.

  "The keyhole is illuminated like the others, because he is using the skeleton key. He’s going to need time to figure it out. If the other Gigantaurs reach him before he does, he won’t stand a chance."