Fifteen

Rufus hadn’t really planned on going into the Labrynth, but there he was, stepping through the arched threshold and down the steps.

He had sold Slittlebaker back his SoulStrom at a price good enough for him to buy a sturdy sword from one of the other blacksmiths. He would have made one himself, but he had worked all morning on his Suniron blade. He’d decided to call his blade Suniron. He wanted to take a break from his task, give his mind some time to organize his thoughts…and the idea of the Labrynth kept reasserting itself into the forefront of his mind. So he’d bought a sword and, with Biggie in tow, he’d started into the underground warren of—what he hoped was—adventure.

Biggie was carrying a lantern, a pack and a massive cudgel. He hadn’t ever been into the Labrynth, but he had heard and read a lot of stories of what they might find down here.

“Biggie, give me a couple of the glow sticks, in case we get separated.” Rufus scrambled down the entrance steps into a long hallway. He waited a moment until Biggie reached the bottom. The dimming light streaming in from the entrance lighted the hallway. A wind from that same direction kicked up and stirred the damp musty air into motion.

Biggie held out some glow sticks while Rufus buckled his suit-forming bracelet around his right hand. He pressed the stone on it and the same black metallic material grew from it to form around his body. The helmet formed exactly the same as before with the wedge-like angle down the front of his face and a short, metal spike coming off the tip of his chin. As he moved forward into the darker regions of the hallway, he could see fleeting green images that would scurry away from the lantern light. Rufus and Biggie caught up to where they’d seen the images, and the light from the lantern showed that they were rats.

“Shutter the lantern for a moment, Biggie.” Rufus moved away from the entrance light, farther down the hallway.  As he did so, the green objects became more and more outlined, not only did he see the Infrared spectrum, but he also saw the walls, floor and ceiling.

“Looks like I have night vision.” He said turning back to Biggie.

“That’s nice. Could you share it with me? If not, I’ll need to use the lantern or turn back. Matter of fact, I think I will turn back anyway. This place scares me beyond belief!”

“Not yet, Biggie! Let’s go in at least a bit farther. I want to find some treasure or something.”

So they continued down the hallway. It followed a quiet stream flowing in from the right. The hallway opened up into a larger room or cavern. Rufus and Biggie could only see that the light from their lantern didn’t reach its ceiling. The stream followed their path and eventually dumped off into a gorge. Rufus and Biggie walked across the bridge that spanned the gorge. When they got to the other side, a scratchy voice drifted up from behind them.

“Did not pay the toll, did they?”

“No, I dunno. I dunno.” Said a slightly lower voice, but just as scratchy.

“No, I do not have the coin. Did they give it to you?”

“I dunno. I dunno!” The other replied.

“You did not pay!” The voice reverberated up and around the bridge as its owner climbed to the top and stood all but two feet tall. He had a smock over his body with a shock of dirty blonde hair. A much chubbier fellow swung onto the bridge. He stood up and walked over to Rufus with his hand stretched out.

“You must pay the toll. You cannot just walk across someone else’s bridge as fancy as you please with out the worry of its upkeep and maintenance. These ‘ere bridges are expensive, with all you bothernecks coming around.” The blonde haired creature motioned to his partner.

“Pay the toll! Pay the toll!” The chubby one said. His hand held out. “Something shiny, something shiny!” He looked back at his partner to make sure he had asked for the right thing.

“Gold. Shiny gold.”

Rufus thought of something. These little guys, must know quite a bit about the Labrynth.

“If I give you some gold, and the promise of more later would you be willing to travel with us for the day?” He took out a small nugget of gold he had in his backpack and handed it to the out stretched hand.

“Leave the bridge? We don’t leave the bridge. It is our home. Our abode!”

“No, leave! No, leave!”

“Ok. But if you show us the best way to go to get treasure, I’ll triple that” Rufus said indicating to the nugget.

“Maybe. That one over there.” They both pointed in different directions.

With that the two scrambled back under the bridge.

Slightly disappointed Rufus and Biggie walked away from the bridge to the cavern’s wall in front of them. This wall had thousands of caves riddled throughout its face and countless intertwining paths leading to their entrances. Rufus assumed it was the start of the “getting lost” part of the Labrynth.

Rufus looked over at Biggie, “what do you think? We’ll have to mark the turns with chalk.” He pulled out a small piece from his pack. “This will help us get back. Hopefully.” The last word he said under his breath.

Rufus chose a large cave that was close to the bridge and proceeded through the threshold.

“Nope!” Screeched a voice behind him.

They tried a few more and each one they got a “Nope!” from the strange creatures.

Finally, they went through a cave entrance and didn’t hear anything.

“I guess this the one they were talking about.” Biggie shrugged.

The pathway wound on for several hundred yards. There weren’t any off shoots or forks as Rufus would have expected.

Biggie was feeling very nervous and began talking, hoping to distract himself from his fear. “You did well today in your first match. It’s too bad the fairy won. Lucky thing it’s double elimination for the newbies.”

“Thanks for reminding me. I would’ve won if she hadn’t had her wand. She was casting spells like she wasn’t ever going to run out of magic.”

He and Biggie continued down the tunnel until they got to its end—a small hole about the width of Rufus’s shoulders. Rufus was able to get out easily enough, but Biggie had quite a bit of trouble squeezing his bulk through. He ended up putting his arms above his head and shimmying out like a slow-motion diver.

The exit opened up to the side of a mountain. Behind Rufus an immediate slope turned quickly from a grass covering meadow to pine and then a soaring peak.

The other side of the peak—in front of Biggie and Rufus—was a lush green meadow with a deciduous forest ringing it. Rufus could see a large, white castle on the other side of the meadow. It looked to be about three or four miles away. Rufus found a boulder a couple of feet away from the hole—a landmark so they could get home.

“I don’t get it, Biggie. Merlin said this place was dangerous. I could come here and spend a whole day just relaxing.” Rufus started down out of the deciduous forest--oak and sycamore trees towered overhead.

“Maybe, it is not as nice as it seems?” Biggie followed closely behind.

They walked for an hour or so and arrived a little bit past the middle of the valley. A woman was working in a small garden next to a wooden cottage. “Hello?” asked Rufus.

The woman stopped her work and slowly looked up at the two intruders. She was surprised to see them, but slowly her face lit up. Rufus and Biggie were both immediately enamored. Rufus admired her lustrous black hair, which shined in the sunlight as she moved her head. Her face was perfectly symmetrical with indescribable, yet incredible, features. The one thing that was odd was that she was working in the warm sun fully robed from neck to wrist and feet. Rufus gave this oddity but a small thought. Who am I to judge one of the goddesses?

“Why, have you come to help me? My, my!” The woman stood up, slowly and started inspecting the two men. She circled them like a vulture on the wait. “Are you new here in Volendia? Well of course you are. The Kestrel probably sent you. He’s such a smart man—always looking out for me.

“Well, you can start here with the rutabaga patch, and work your way down to the carrots.” She pointed along the row she had been working. “I’ll go inside. I won’t be but a moment.” She slipped from them as only a knowing woman could.

When she had gotten inside, Biggie said “She is beautiful! Do you think she would come back to the Arena with me?”

“No.” Rufus pulled a milkweed plant from the rutabaga.

“No? Why not?” Biggie paused from his own weed hunt to look over at Rufus.

“Because, I am going to take her back with me.” He turned from looking at Biggie back to his work, then he picked up a shovel and started digging.

That solidified it; they were each determined to outdo the other so that this mysterious woman would choose the harder worker. At least, that was what their deluded minds told them.

The hours climbed on and on, but to them it was a labor of supposed love, and they felt the hours as if they were minutes. They worked without any issue or concern as to where the woman had gone. They finished the row they had been working and decided to go see if she had anything else that they should do. They walked up to the small cottage and Rufus started to open the door—he normally would have knocked at a stranger’s home, but this woman made him feel as if they had been longtime friends or even more.

The doorknob flew out of Rufus’s hand and the woman bustled out quickly, forcing Rufus to back up into Biggie. “What do you think you are doing?” she shrieked,  “Did I ask you into my cottage? Did you see an invitation in my window?” She had gloves on earlier that morning, but now her hands were uncovered. That caught Rufus’s attention, her hands were repulsive—white, boney with small blue warts—the fingernails curved in the same arc as her fingers, but were uneven serrations. “Wouldn’t want you to get any ideas now would we, my pets? Now, please go back and finish the task I asked you to complete.” Her shrill voice had calmed significantly as she handed Rufus a flask indicating that they should stay hydrated.

Rufus walked back to the row and, as soon as he turned his view from seeing her, he felt sheepish. How could he have ever thought this woman’s hands could be ugly? Where had that thought even come from? He and Biggie both turned around to see that the row they had been working on was now completely overrun with weeds.

They got back to work pulling the weeds and digging the furrows for the woman’s garden. They finished it a second time and again went to the cottage door. This time Rufus knocked gently, not wanting to disturb her, but fully wanting to see her again. This time she came to the door, her robe had been pulled down to expose her neck. Again, the neck went from incredibly soft looking skin with an immediate line—where the line of the robe had been—that showed the same pale white skin with small blue warts. Her collarbone was so pronounced it looked as if she were emaciated, but her hands were as graceful and beautiful as they ever could be.

She again answered that they should finish the row that she had previously assigned them, gave them another flask, and closed the door.

This continued the rest of that day and into the night. Over and over, they would finish the row and meet her at the door. She would have her robe pulled up so that her feet would show, or her hands would be uncovered, or she would show her neck—all of which were an ugly sight to behold, but very difficult to remember once out of their sight. The hours melted together, days and nights seemed to pass, and the two couldn’t tell if they were tired or if they had just got up from a good night’s rest.

One morning—they couldn’t tell how many days they had been laboring—the beautiful woman came out of her cottage and walked over to them. “Are you two hungry, yet? You do realize that you have worked through the night. And still the row hasn’t been finished.” she tsked the last part. “Well, no worries, I have put some breakfast on the table. Please feel free to help yourselves.” Her voice was cheerful, but it had a bit of demand to it.

Rufus and Biggie jumped up and made their way into the cottage. They sat down and started eating the only food they had been given since they arrived.

“Go along, my sweets. The food won’t stay hot.” She entreated.

“Sister, what are you going to do with them?” A voice filled the meadow.

“Don’t call me sister, you witch!” Their host shrieked.

Above Rufus’ head a cat like creature with a pointy-eared rider on its back dropped out of the tree next to the cottage. “The Dabuek wouldn’t find this too encouraging. Are you still searching? Father would be quite disappointed.”

“Be quiet, Lisandra! What do I care of his kingdom? He is the one who put me into this hideous body!”

The longer this conversation continued the more and more Rufus and Biggie came out of the trance they were in. The row of vegetables dissipated and hazily transformed to reveal a deep tunnel that they had dug.