by N. Y. Weaver
forming a circle around Musashi, Dean and Moon.
Moon lunged forward with his machete, slashing at Musashi who deflected the strike to the right of him with a flick of his great sword. Moon swung again but Musashi deflected the machete upwards. Enraged, Moon began to strike in a downwards motion but his hands were stabbed from below by Musashi’s second blade. Before the machete had fallen to the ground Dean used his revolver to put a bullet through Moon’s head, which Musashi then decapitated and Dean then shot off into the distance with a blast from his sawn-off shotgun.
The tribe began to close in from every direction yet again. Musashi surveyed his surroundings and momentarily eyed something in the tangle of trees inside the island.
“Dean, follow me.” he whispered under his breath.
Slashing his two swords as he spun with tornado-like motion, the tribe began to sink backwards creating an opening in the circle, through which he escaped followed by Dean. The two leaped over the dead bodies that littered the sand and sprinted into the forest with the tribe chasing rapidly.
Sprinting past the lush, dark green vines and trees Dean now saw the solid black door. Where the door led, he had no idea, but it gave him the slightest feeling of hope. The circular golden emblem on the door seemed to spin impossibly fast as the two came nearer. Musashi charged into the door and together with Dean they descended into the darkness.
The Labyinth
Dean and Musashi tumbled through the black door and fell for what felt like an eternity before abruptly crunching into the old, stone ground of the labyrinth. Painfully picking himself up off the cold floor, Musashi realized that he could only see black. Every direction he gazed into was cloaked in perpetual darkness. Dean sat up with his back against one of the walls and held his hand directly in front of his face. There was no difference, just the same pitch blackness as before. They were not blind, the blind see nothing, but the absolute absence of light was enough for them to begin to despair at what lay ahead.
Feeling the stone floor Dean found his revolver, sawn-off shotgun and sombrero which he placed on himself before standing up and accidently knocking into Musashi. Dean spat out the blood that was swirling in his mouth from the battle on the beach.
“Where in hell are we?” he asked, his voice amplified and echoed by the high walls that surrounded him.
“The start of it.” Musashi replied.
He took a deep breath and a faint far-off foul odour waft into his nose.
Cautiously he extended his arms and felt the walls around him. Three smooth, solid walls enclosed the pair forming a narrow curved passageway forwards.
“We’d better get moving.” Musashi said.
Musashi extended and tapped his sword into the ground front of him, and with his left hand placed on the wall began to navigate the intricate labyrinth. The darkness invoked fear in every step. Every heartbeat, breath and blink could be heard, so much were their other senses intensified by the lack of sight. Musashi felt his hand reach a corner indicating a passageway to his left. Keeping his hand on the wall to his left Musashi turned the corner.
“Follow my footsteps,” Musashi called out to Dean, “As long as we follow a wall we’ll eventually come to the centre of this maze.”
They followed the wall to the right, and then snaked through a series of long adjacent passageways before reaching a dead end and trailing all the way back to the original passageway. The desolation of the situation began to manifest tenfold in Dean’s mind.
“Everyone’s dead.” he said exasperated.
“All things end. All we can do is hope that our salvation comes when we reach the middle of this maze.” Musashi said.
“Glad I got to see the end of Captain Moon though. You know,” Dean said thoughtfully, “We could have taken out the rest of those people.”
“Maybe, but then we would have killed twenty more people unnecessarily.”
“You’re pretty fond of life for a killer. So how’d you know this place was safe?”
“I didn’t. But as soon as I saw the doorway I knew it led to somewhere secluded. Strange they didn’t follow us through. I thought we’d have to lock them out. Instead it looks like we’re locked in.” Musashi reflected.
Musashi and Dean continued onwards through the darkness. The first hour trickled through slowly, but once they decided that they were alone in the labyrinth time proceeded somewhat faster and their previous sensations of fear slowly subsided to cravings of hunger and sleep. Musashi stopped using his sword to feel in front of him but still kept his left hand touching the wall at his left side as he walked.
After six or so hours trudging through the narrow curving passageways they decided to sit down to rest for a moment. They soon began moving again this time Dean leading the way with his hand on the wall. They had not eaten since breakfast on the Napoléon and their stomachs growled dejectedly. The two now talked little. Hope was fading and they chose not to acknowledge it. It was impossible to tell when night fell and day resumed but they circled through the labyrinth in this manner for what seemed like two days before their lethargy overcame them they could walk no longer. Lying down in the narrow passageway they were undeterred by the cold stone floor and fell asleep almost immediately.
Through his dreams Musashi tumbled through memories and visions in the sea of his mind. He remembered when his grandfather came to Himeji Castle shortly after his father died and how they buried him under the pink blossoms of the sakura tree. Then he was walking along a pathway through the brightly lit forest towards the waterfall he loved. Later he was in his room in Himeji Castle looking out at the dark blue mountains looming in the distance. And he felt someone in his arms. It was Lan. Lan looking deep into his eyes, her head moving closer to him and then suddenly she fell though his hands and Musashi was startled awake. The vivid colours of his dreams were now abruptly replaced by the miserable blackness of the labyrinth. His heart fell and a tear began to well in his eye as he slowly realised it was only a dream. When Dean awoke Musashi was meditating and if he could have seen his face it would have been unreadable.
The pair set off following the wall, not knowing if their minds or their bodies would give in first. Trudging forwards they no longer felt their legs, only the caving of their stomachs and the dryness of their mouths. Over the next day they began to notice the time between turns becoming shorter and the passageways become slightly wider and to incline ever so slightly upwards. They hinged on these small, perhaps meaningless details in the hope that their journey through the sinister labyrinth would soon reach its end. At one point they reached a horrid smelling passageway, too horrific smelling to enter. Firing his Baby Dragoon and listening for the bullets to hit a wall, Dean determined the passageway to be a small chamber and they traced their way backwards and continued onwards. Eventually their ears began to pick up faint taps on the stone ground not too far away. Their minds jumped to dripping water and they picked up their pace till at last, after circling the devilishly designed tangle of passageways for almost four days they reached the centre of the labyrinth.
Musashi entered first and in the absolute darkness that he was drenched in, did not even realise he had made it into the cavernous centre of the labyrinth which lay at the very heart of the island just beneath its piercing mountain. With his hand still tracing the wall he walked along the outside of the large cave until he suddenly tripped over a large heap of items.
Dean heard the clashing and clanging of dozens of objects hitting the floor.
“Musashi, what happened?”
Leaning down Musashi picked up a handful of coins and jewels and then let them slip between his fingers to the ground.
“I think we found what the Captain was looking for.” he said with a smile.
Dean and Musashi yelled and laughed ecstatically as they moved through the treasure, but what they imagined in their minds didn’t even come close to what the cavernous chamber of the labyrinth contained. Hundreds of chests overflowing with coins, golden cups and chalic
es were scattered across a vast sea of gold. Rising above this golden sea were sheer mountains of precious treasures containing century-old ruby studded crowns, golden-hilted swords, diamond sceptres and priceless medieval heater shields. And ominously among this glorious golden sea, hidden from sight by the omnipresent darkness were the bones and skulls of dozens of previous visitors.
All of a sudden the tapping on the floor resumed, not so much tapping but a clacking of something rapidly hitting the ground in quick succession. It was not the sound of water dripping as they earlier thought, but something much more sinister. Musashi and Dean stopped moving instantly. Their psyche became overwhelmed by the fear of the unknown. Something was moving among them. They heard the sound rushing towards them and in an instant realised the clacking was the sound of feet. Dean pulled out his revolver and shotgun, will Musashi drew out his two swords a short distance away.
Dean began to shoot his two weapons into the space in front of him but only managed to fire twice before his chest was pierced by two horns on the head of a monstrous Minotaur. Dean was sent flying into a heap of coins and chalices behind him, which collapsed on top of his body. Hearing the crash of coins Musashi threw his short sword in the direction of the sound, picked up a heater shield in his left hand and