by Lizzy Ford
“How?” I ask Dildo.
“We find and challenge the demon.”
“Alone? I don’t have nearly enough crystals.”
“We have her.” He points to the Centennial Eagle.
The unicorn waits at the edge of the ramp, her pearly horn and ebony coat shimmering in the moons’ light.
I don’t want to leave. I want to believe Jareth would choose me again.
I’m a fool, but I’m not stupid.
If the Ring is off the planet, and safe in the hands of the good guys, then no one can use it for evil, including Jareth. I’ll do it for him as much as the good guys.
“Okay,” I say reluctantly.
“Remember the spell I gave you,” Zillow tells me. “Use it only when all seems lost.”
I hope I don’t get to that point.
The Bobbit motions to the unicorn and to me. With another glance towards Jareth, I hurry after the Bobbit and unicorn.
A labyrinth materializes out of nowhere. I stop in place, recalling too well how horrible it was to navigate that place. This one consists of stones the color of night. They emit coldness and a sense of foreboding.
Dildo reaches up and grasps a handful of the unicorn’s mane. I do the same. Together, we walk into the maze.
The labyrinth becomes transparent, phantom-like, and we walk through it with no problem whatsoever. My fear turns to anger. Was it this easy all along with a unicorn? Had I known …
A castle rises up before us, its stones black and turrets and battlements spiked. This isn’t the castle we thought we were headed to. That castle didn’t radiate cold evil.
Final Level reads the sign in front of the castle.
We never would’ve made it here. We were nowhere close. We thought the other castle was the center. Was it, too, a distraction to keep us from going further? We could’ve been lost forever in the maze.
I feel queasy. Is anything real?
Gripping the unicorn’s mane tightly, I gaze up at the ominous castle that’s managed to evade us for days.
“Let’s go,” Dildo whispers fearfully.
We walk up the pathway consisting of black cobblestones and to the door leading into the castle. It’s open. The demon is expecting us.
“Are you sure we should do this alone?” I ask.
“We are destined to do this alone,” he responds. “I think.”
My mood ring is the same shade of black as the castle.
Still holding the unicorn’s mane, we step into the castle. My breath forms clouds that drift upward toward the ceiling. I’m soon shivering and cursing my tulle skirt. I can’t recall ever being so inappropriately dressed. The unicorn’s hooves click quietly against the stone.
We reach a stairwell leading down into the bowels of the castle and the obsidian rock it sits on. Firelight flickers and creates eerie shadows on the walls of the stairwell.
The stairwell is too narrow for us to walk abreast. The Bobbit releases the unicorn and goes first. I follow him.
“Stay here,” he whispers to the unicorn. “We will need you to guide us out of the labyrinth.”
I’m definitely not facing the maze alone ever again.
Dildo and I creep down the stairwell. Sinister laughter comes from somewhere below. We stop and exchange a concerned look before continuing. My hand goes to my waist. The Viewfinder is gone, but the herb pouch has reappeared. I don’t know how bad things have to get before I’m supposed to use it. Will there be a sign? Because I don’t want to use up the one spell that might get us out of here.
The stairwell ends at a hallway wide enough for a car to drive through and tall enough that I can’t make out the ceiling. Fires blaze from the four great chambers lining one side of the hallway. Two are to the left, two to the right.
“Should we split up?” Dildo asks. He glances at me and then takes a step back, startled.
I’m dressed in a black dress with a V-neck that plunges to my navel. If I’m Lili from Legend, then that means, somewhere down here –
The shadows of massive demon horns appear against the wall as the devil himself walks in front of the fire in one of the chambers. My pulse soars.
“I think this is going to end badly,” I whisper to the Bobbit.
His attention is on me, not the shadows.
“Let’s split up,” I say. “You go that way.” I point to the direction opposite that which I’d seen the horns. “What do we do if one of us finds the Ring?”
“Run back to the unicorn and leave before the demon can stop us.”
“Right.”
Yeah, Dildo definitely isn’t the right guy to ask about strategy or planning. Maybe he can run and get help if I’m captured by the devil.
“Sounds good,” I add. “Good luck.”
“May the force be with you.”
“Thanks.”
I cross the hallway and press my back to the wall, moving quietly towards the first chamber. Dildo does the same and goes the opposite direction. When I reach the doorway, I suck in a deep breath and then glance in quickly before pressing myself to the wall again.
This chamber is empty. Thank god. I dash across the doorway just in case and pause on the other side to catch my breath. I’m fighting panic and the urge to cry. I’ve been scared many times during this adventure but not as afraid as I am now when I know what’s waiting for me.
I creep down the hallway until I reach the second doorway and press myself to the wall. Closing my eyes, I draw several steadying breaths. I open my eyes and risk a quick look into the chamber, as I did before.
The Ring. It’s a cherry-flavored Ring Pop on a velvet pillow. It glows with magic and sits on a table at the center of the chamber, which appears otherwise empty.
Where did the devil go? Is there a back door to the chamber?
Not about to walk into a trap, I peek in one more time. It’s then I spot the second unicorn, this one a white stallion missing its horn. It’s kneeling and appears frozen in place on one side of the chamber. Am I supposed to do something about the Ring and the unicorn?
The devil isn’t present from what I briefly observe of the chamber.
I gather my courage and slip silently into the chamber. Fire crackles. I touch the pouch at my waist, not at all certain what I’m supposed to do with the spell it contains. With any luck, I won’t have to use it.
Who am I kidding? My luck has been anything but good since entering this world!
I creep across the chamber. The unicorn is closer than the table, and I kneel beside it first. It expression is one of sorrow. Its head is bowed in defeat and its beautiful horn missing. Unlike the black mare unicorn that brought Dildo and me here, this stallion is white.
“Jack,” I say, recalling the name of the black unicorn’s boyfriend. “I don’t know how to help you.” Its whole body is solid, like stone.
The scrape of hooves on stone. It’s then I notice there’s no other entrance to the chamber except through the front door. Only one spot wasn’t visible to me from my position at the entrance: the corner nearest me. But to be there, he would have had to know to hide.
I stand and turn slowly.
In the movie, the devil mastered the line between sexy and sinful. In person, his long, black talons distract me more than the expanse of his muscular chest, chiseled features and the horns that curl to touch his shoulders. The creature is thrice the size of a normal man and towers above me.
He’s not sexy. He’s petrifying.
I can’t move. I don’t know if it’s because of my fear or if he’s put some kind of spell on me.
“You’ve come to steal from me,” he says in a deep, sinister voice touched by the smoke of hell itself. “But what is it you want? The creature or the Ring?”
I want to leave. Alive. Unscathed.
Will Dildo know to go for help?
“Which?” the devil bellows.
I jump. “Both,” I reply.
His laughter is slow, rolling, sinister. “At least you are honest,
” he says. “No one steals what’s mine.” He moves towards me on his goat legs.
I scurry away around the table.
What made me think I had a chance with a demon?
Black smoke curls at my feet. I step away from it.
“You are protected,” the devil says.
“Yes. That’s right. Protected,” I respond quickly. “You can’t harm me. I can just leave now, without stealing anything from you.”
He’s gazing at me.
I’ll take that as a maybe and move along the wall towards the door.
He doesn’t pounce. I shake off another tendril of smoke.
He’s going to let me pass. Is he that convinced I’m untouchable? Is there something else going on I don’t know about?
Does it matter, if I leave here alive?
“There it is,” he says. His eyes are on my mood ring, which has been more useless than me wielding a sword.
My hand flies up into the air of its own volition. The ring soars off my finger.
Instantly, the smoke has me. It wraps around my legs and creeps upwards, wrapping me in ethereal coils that nonetheless hold the strength of steel. I struggle against them, but the tendrils continue to wrap around my body.
The devil lifts his hand, and I’m lifted in the air by the smoke and thrust close enough for me to feel his breath on my face. “No one steals from me,” he growls.
This seems like a moment dark enough for me to use the spell I can’t get to at my waist.
I open my mouth to scream.
Smoke wraps around my throat and pushes its way into my mouth and lungs.
I black out.
Sharp pain radiated through the Red Knight’s arm, followed by a bloom of blood. It jarred him out of his fighting frenzy. No one yet had managed to land a blow, despite the overwhelming numbers he faced.
Instinct tugged his focus away from the melee towards the part of the field in front of the Centennial Eagle.
Elf was gone.
He shoved his way out of the crowd of their allies. A small man stood near the Eagle, watching the fight in concern.
“Where is she?” the Red Knight demanded.
The man wrung his hands nervously before pointing.
The labyrinth. It had reappeared. Or … a version of it had. The stones in this one were coal black.
An arrow grazed his cheek.
The Red Knight touched the wound briefly. He started in that direction, sensing something bad had to have happened if Elf left the battlefield.
“Wait!” the small man called. “You’ll need this.” He held out a unicorn horn.
The Red Knight snatched it and eyed it critically. “Do I not need the entire unicorn to guide me?”
“The horn will always find its master,” the small man said.
The Red Knight was already running towards the black labyrinth. He sheathed one sword and kept the second raised. Tucking the unicorn horn into his belt, he entered the maze cautiously. The stones became transparent, and the sole path to the center appeared. He tested the stones and looked around, waiting for some sort of trap or ambush or trick. When none came, he ran through the labyrinth, towards a black castle that rose from the center of the labyrinth.
He reached the castle, breathing hard, and checked his surroundings before striding up the path to the entrance. He walked into the fortress, unnerved by how quiet it was and how simple it seemed to be after all their struggles to reach the castle.
The Red Knight trotted down the stairs and paused to listen. Fires crackled in all four of the chambers lining the hallway. No one stirred.
Growing warier by the step, he started to the left and quickly checked both chambers. They were empty. He continued down the hall, becoming more perplexed as he went.
He reached the chamber at the end of the hallway and peered in.
Elf. A unicorn.
The Ring.
His eyes stuck to the Ring. His mind replayed what he’d learned from legends of its power. No one had ever seen it, to his knowledge. Anyone who had gotten this far had not returned.
He entered the chamber. Elf and the unicorn were frozen on one side, appearing to be statues. His gaze swept over Elf, whose clothing was the first ensemble she’d worn that flattered her shapely body. The dress clung to the curves of her breasts and hips, and the plunging neckline showed just enough skin for him to want to see more.
He forced his focus away and strode to the table, upon which the Ring of Magic sat.
His instincts warned him.
He whirled, raising his sword in a block that likely saved his head. The power behind it jarred him to the core. The sword went flying and smacked into a wall. He ducked and dove beneath the table. The wood of the table groaned beneath the demon’s blow.
The Red Knight rolled out from beneath it to the other side. He sprang to his feet, able to observe his enemy in full this time.
At the back of his mind, he knew the name of the horned monster. It wouldn’t emerge fully, not when his full attention was on the black sword the creature held.
“You dare to steal from me?” the monster challenged.
“Nothing in this chamber belongs to you,” the Red Knight replied.
The demon laughed.
“You can give me the Ring, or I will take it from you,” the Red Knight added, resolved.
Black smoke pooled at his feet and fizzled just as quickly.
“You are protected,” the demon stated. “How?”
The Red Knight refused to give away the answer. Elf was present. Her condition didn’t seem to matter.
“Of all my treasure, you wish only the Ring?” the demon baited.
The Red Knight hesitated. With the Ring in hand, he could defeat the monster and save Elf.
“Yes,” he said.
“Only the Ring,” the creature mused. He held out his hand toward Elf and the unicorn. Black smoke shot out of his fingers and wrapped around Elf. “And nothing more.”
She sucked in a breath, animated once more.
“We have an intruder, my dear,” said the creature. “What does he want?”
Elf looked from him to the Red Knight. Her eyes were filled with black smoke. “He’s come for the Ring,” she said in an airy voice.
“Only the Ring?” the demon asked.
No answer.
She didn’t know.
Neither did he. The Red Knight clenched his teeth and fists.
The creature gave a deep, rich laugh once more.
Devil. It was called the Devil.
“Disarm him, my dear,” the devil ordered Elf.
Elf walked towards him. Her eyes were on him and yet, it wasn’t her peering out at him.
The Red Knight drew his sword. His heart thumped in his chest, and fear undermined his resolve.
“Elf,” the Red Knight said. “Don’t.” He lifted the sword.
She didn’t stop. The tip of his sword pierced her thin dress and pricked her skin. A drop of red covered the sword’s tip. A vision of the snow world, and the drops of blood leading to the castle, flashed through his thoughts.
She inched forward.
The Red Knight lowered the sword. His eyes went to the devil, which watched knowingly.
“Elf,” he said quietly. “You can fight him.”
She closed the distance between them and gazed up at him.
“Fight him,” he repeated and cupped her cheek with one hand. His thumb stroked the softness of her skin, and he sought some sign she still existed within the smoke swirling around her, through her. She couldn’t be gone. It wasn’t supposed to happen this way.
Her fingers traced across the back of the hand with which he held the sword.
“How is he protected?” the devil asked. “Tell me his secret.”
“Please, Elf,” the Red Knight said more urgently.
“I am,” Elf said in the hollow, airy voice. “I protect him.” She squeezed his hand gently.
He released the sword and took her face
in both hands. “Wake up, Elf. I know you’re in there.”
But he couldn’t see her in there.
The Red Knight knew no name for the emotion inside of him, for he’d never felt it in any of his lives. It was colder than fear, hotter than anger, stronger than despair and wilder than love. It sapped his energy and filled him with adrenaline simultaneously. He could think not of the future, nor of the past. There was nothing but now, Elf’s faint scent and shapely frame, and the sickening feeling he couldn’t name.
Elf backed away from him. Without looking away, she held out the sword with the ruby in its hilt, the weapon belonging to the Red Knight of White Tree Sound.
The Red Knight’s hands fell to his sides, his fingertips tingling from the warmth of her skin.
The devil took the weapon from her. “Step away, my dear.”
Elf obeyed.
“Take your ring and leave,” the devil said.
The Red Knight frowned, uncertain he’d heard correctly. “You’re giving it to me?” he asked.
“Is that not what you seek? Absolute power?”
The Red Knight’s gaze lingered on Elf. He could barely breathe. Absolute power would grant him anything – everything.
“Why would you just give it to me?” he asked.
“Take it.”
There was a catch. There was always a catch.
But that wasn’t at the top of his thoughts.
He’d been given a choice between Elf and a door leading to his spaceship. While an end to the labyrinth was desired, he preferred the companionship of Elf. Together, they would find the Ring and rule the galaxy.
It dawned on him that Elf had never wanted the Ring, and she’d never been less interested in anything than she was ruling the galaxy. She’d only ever wanted to return home.
She’d chosen him over her home.
Absolute power would give him everything, including Elf.
The Red Knight took a step in the direction of the table.
Elf and the creature looked on.
“What happens to her?” he asked.
“What does it matter?” the devil countered. “You have what you have searched for. The key to your freedom and power.”
The Red Knight walked to the table. The feeling was becoming stronger. His hands trembled, and he sweated as if he’d spent four days straight in battle.