“A little help here, if you wouldn’t mind,” Vi grunted.
The swordswoman was straining to lift a massive stone slab. So far as they could tell, it was a sort of door, blocking the entrance to the next level. Vi had managed to lift it perhaps a foot off of the ground. Dhurka scrambled through the open crack, to the other side.
“Lift with your legs, not with your back,” Gavriel suggested.
Vi shot him a murderous glance. Then, without warning, the stone began to grate upwards. It lifted free from Vi’s straining hands and withdrew into the ceiling. Dhurka poked her head around the doorframe.
“Is open. Hurry. Before it closes.”
Gavriel and Vi shot a glance towards the stone overhead and stepped quickly across the threshold. As soon as they cleared the doorway, the stone crashed down. Dhurka squawked in surprise.
“Open lever disappeared! No way back!”
“That’s actually a good thing, I should think.” Gavriel’s voice held tightly to a reassuring tone. “We want to go forward, after all.”
“Do you have any doubles running around this level, Gav?”
The sorcerer crossed his eyes briefly before shaking his head.
“I don’t think so. They could have been destroyed, or run into a spelltrap or any number of things. We’re on our own on this one.”
“Right. So, let’s get going.” Vi flipped her swordswoman’s braid over her shoulder and patted it, absently.
“Uh, which way we go?” Dhurka pointed.
The trio was in a small antechamber like room. To the left was a white arch. To the right, a black. The wall across from them was featureless stone. Vi scowled.
“Great. More ches-playing. Well, I say we go left, take the white arch.”
“Wait.” Gavriel stepped up to the blank wall across from them. “I think there’s something here.”
“Looks blank to me.”
“One moment.”
The sorcerer closed his eyes and placed his right hand on the stone. He moved his fingers slowly, as if tracing an unseen pattern. His eyes flew open.
“There’s something here.”
“Of course there is!” Vi threw up her arms. “Why wouldn’t there be? Hidden riddles, games, wizarding idiocy. Well, what is it?”
“It’s some sort of writing or pictogram. There’s an illusion covering it.”
“Dispel it.”
“I tried. It didn’t work. I’m guessing that is against the rules.”
“How about I try smashing it, then?”
“How will that help?”
“It’ll make me feel better,” Vi growled.
Gavriel’s hands paused their exploration. Vi stepped forward.
“What is it? Did you find something?”
“It’s a maze.”
“On the wall?”
“The whole level. There’s a sigil on the wall, it’s, nevermind, it’s wizard stuff.”
“Oh, what, you think I’m not smart enough to understand wizard stuff?” Vi bristled.
“No.” Gavriel rolled his eyes. “But it’s boring me, so it’s deadshot sure to bore you. Come on. We have to pick a door and navigate the maze.”
“Can we—”
“No. That would be cheating.”
“But—”
“Cheat and we have to start over, with a handicap.”
“What about—”
“That’s cheating too.”
“Or—”
“No.”
“What if—”
“Pick a gorram door, Vi!”
“I already did.”
“Oh. Right.”
Gavriel shook his head and turned to stride through the white arch. Exchanging a glance, Vi and Dhurka followed.
***
Leigh, Drang and Glag limped down the corridor. Drang was dragging the head of some large, reptilian creature. The barbarian was whistling cheerfully.
“Will you stop that?” The snarl on Leigh’s face would have done a cougar proud. “Can’t you see that we’re lost?”
“So? We’ll get attacked, and then we’ll be found.”
Drang’s logic was impeccable, on some level. Leigh let out a sob and continued walking. Glag snickered and tagged along behind, eyes bright and ever watching.
***
The white arch deposited them in a white tunnel, perfectly square along ceiling and walls. It ran in a straight line in either direction. There was no sign of the archway. Gavriel paused to examine their surroundings. One hand reached out to gently caress the walls.
The alabaster stone seemed to ripple as his fingers touched it. It was as if a curtain drew itself from the walls. A fantastic mural, done in shades of silver, was revealed by the retreat of the illusion.
“Is creation of the world,” Dhurka breathed.
Gavriel looked closely at the wall. Vi chose to polish her sword with a spare scrap of rag. The metal positively gleamed in the white light. The sword had been sulking ever since it had lost the ability to inhabit a body, even a fake one.
“It looks like a creation story, yes,” Gavriel said slowly, “but I suspect it’s the creation of this place, rather than the creation of the world.”
Vi looked over. She stowed the sword and drew nearer to the wall. Upon closer examination, she reached out and tapped a sweep of mountainside with an expertly manicured nail.
“I think you’re right. I recognize this peak. It’s taller and more rugged, but it has the same odd hitch about a third of the way down. We camped not far from there on our way here.”
“Indeed,” Gavriel nodded and pointed to a small figure depicted in particoloured robes. “This, then, is probably the wizard responsible.”
“How far does this go?” Vi glanced down the corridor, following the mural with her eyes.
“Let’s find out, shall we?” Gavriel began to pace alongside the wall, tracing the progress of the story as he went.
Vi and Dhurka followed. The mural panned back, revealing scenes from a long journey, trails which seemed to play in reverse, until they reached a juncture in the maze. The tunnel they were in crossed a second at perfectly right angles.
The new tunnel was black. Where the two crossed, the floor looked like four arrows flying into one another, two white and two black touching point to point in alternating sequence of color.
There were murals adorning the walls of the black tunnels as well, done in shades of gold. Gavriel paused to examine the murals as they progressed down each passageway. Dhurka ran from one to another, exclaiming in a mix of disrespect, reverence, delight and disgust. Vi stood in the original hallway and kept watch. Never knew when the damned walls would move in these accursed mage-mazes.
“Well,” she called, “which way do we go?”
“This way,” came the reply.
“Why?”
“The murals tell a story. We landed in a bit near the beginning, but we’ve been progressing backwards towards the origin. If we want to get through the maze quickly, we should pick up the thread of the story later and follow it to the conclusion, which, logically, should be the way out.”
“That way it is, then.”
***
The Black Pawn hissed in annoyance. This was getting them nowhere. Aimless wandering was not going to help her agenda at all. She needed to do something to move things along. So, when the opportunity presented itself, she fell through the wall.
“Glag!” Drang lunged after her.
He tripped and fell through the wall. Glag snickered inwardly. The shortcut should make up for some lost time. She had to get back to Dhurka. Plans were in motion and she would need her aid.
***
“But?”
The murals on the walls flowed and shifted as they walked. Black to white, white to black, scenes of bloodshed and death interposed with scenes of excavation and creation. Vi paused to examine a particularly bloody scene.
“That’s this labyrinth,” she whispered. “Keep your eyes out, I don’t fancy running in to that.”
Gavriel nodded in agreement, and they continued, albeit a bit more cautiously. Slowly, bits of the story began to come together. Never a complete narrative, but with enough solidity to tell parts of the story.
A wizard of some power created this place as his personal refuge and haven. He was probably a bit paranoid, as some wizards tend to get as they grow older. He guarded his privacy with traps and puzzles, and summoned the greatest adventurers and ches-players in the world to challenge him. Most of them died.
“As far as I can tell, this place is at least contemporary with the Sulveran Empire, if not earlier,” Gavriel noted.
“That explains a lot,” Vi muttered.
Other scenes went into more detail about those who dared to venture near, invited or no. Deaths on all levels, goblins swarming, ches-pieces coming to life, puzzles and traps, monsters and blood in all shades of silver and gold.
“Look at this.” Vi’s voice cracked roughly though the silence around them.
Gavriel shot her a dark glance, but moved to investigate anyway. Dhurka scurried after him, shooting a nervous glance over her shoulder as she went. The sorcerer stopped in his tracks when he neared the wall. A disbelieving hand reached out to lightly touch the stone.
“Is that…”
“I think it is,” Vi replied grimly.
“Amazing,” Gavriel breathed.
“Valeral!” Dhurka squealed.
On the wall, the picture of Valeral stood with hand outstretched, while the monster attacking Leibrev slowly turned to stone.
***
Valeral and Leibrev stared across the ring at the opposing pair of gladiators.
“I told you it was a trap,” Leibrev murmured.
“I know,” Valeral replied, “but I still think that the alternative would have been worse.”
Conversation vanished as steel sang and spells spat.
***
“They landed here,” Vi gestured. “It looks like they managed to figure out the same thing we did. They seem to be making progress, at least.”
“It cuts off before they escape.”
“We’re at a juncture. It always skips at a juncture.”
“So we follow the story.”
“It cuts back.”
“What?”
“It changes focus.”
“How so?”
Vi just pointed to section of mural just around the corner divide. Gavriel craned his neck and examined the wall. He blinked.
“Oh.”
“Yeah.”
“That’s us.”
“Is it really? I had no idea!”
“Stow the sarcasm, swordlady.”
“As you wish, O mighty wizard.”
Gavriel ignored his partner. Instead of replying, he turned the corner and stepped into the tunnel featuring their story. They all walked a bit more slowly.
“They must have passed this level by now,” Vi mused.
“Because they were here, when we were playing with the goblins above.”
“And they seem to have figured out how to navigate this place at least as quickly as we did.”
“There’s still a chance we might catch them.”
“I doubt it. I know my nephew.”
Gavriel nodded. He paused to look a bit more closely at a section of the mural.
“The shadow-puppets worked out well,” he noted.
“Look look, come quick,” Dhurka called from further down the tunnel. Gavriel and Vi turned, hurrying towards her. Dhurka watched them out of the corner of her eye as they passed the section of the mural that revealed her part in the death of the goblin king from the level above. The duo did not pause, however. The gobliness grinned up at them and pointed at the mural.
“Is Valeral and Leibrev.”
The two youths were depicted passing out of the maze. Vi and Gavriel immediately began a minute examination of the area.
“They made it out, at least.”
“Any clue as to how, or where?”
“We can’t be that far away.”
“You never know, some of those older panels featured trapdoors and hidden passages.”
“Not helping. So not helping.”
“Sorry.”
“Just, keep looking for clues.”
“Here,” Gavriel leaned in close, “I think this sigil signifies some sort of key.”
“Where would they get a key?”
“I have no idea. A random chest somewhere?”
“Gav,” Vi glared at him, “why in the nine hells would someone leave a random key to the maze in a random chest?”
“It’s been known to happen.”
“Wizards. Idiots, the lot.”
“On the other hand, it could be a symbolic representation.”
“Meaning?”
“They might have found some way to make the maze work for them beyond what we have figured out. Or they found a hidden catch to open the door. That’s the problem with symbols,” the sorcerer commented drily, “they could mean any of a number of things.”
“Wonderful. Does that even tell us anything?”
“It tells us that the boys are out there, and there is definitely a way out. That’s more than we knew before.”
“Yes, but where do we go from here?”
“There can’t be that much more mural ahead. The end should be nigh.”
“That’s what worries me.”
“No help for it.” Gavriel shrugged.
“Fine,” Vi sighed, “onward and downward.”
The group continued down the tunnel. The mural stretched on, detailing their earlier experiences in the maze. Eventually, the mural began to detail their own experience of seeing their earlier experiences in the maze. The recursion doubled. Then it doubled again. Eventually, Gavriel halted.
“This is giving me a headache,” he announced.
“I know what you mean,” Vi said, rubbing her brow. “How deep does that narrative illustration go?”
“I suspect that it will continue as long as we do.”
“What?”
“Well, it’s conveying the story of our journey through this level. I think we’re stuck in some sort of loop.”
“What?”
“Well, it’s conveying the story of our journey through this level. I think we’re stuck in some sort of loop.”
“What?”
“Well, it’s conveying the story of our journey through this level. I think we’re stuck in some sort of—”
“Stop it!”
Gavriel’s jaw snapped closed. Vi rubbed her temples gently. Dhurka just looked from one to the other.
“How we get out?”
“How did we get in? What was different? Where did the trap begin?”
“Does it matter?”
“Beginning, ending, it’s all the same thing, in a loop,” Gavriel explained.
“So we find where we got in, we find the way out.”
“That or we just break out way out.”
“I’d prefer that.” Vi grinned.
“What do we know?”
“Uh, ches, dungeon, idiot-wizard, magic mural, recursive loop trap, stop me if any of this rings any bells.”
“Ches.” Gavriel blinked. “We’re still playing ches.”
The sorcerer pulled out a piece of chalk. Hiking up his robes, he knelt down and began to sketch out a series of interconnected sigils on the ground.
“What that?” Dhurka looked up at Vi.
“I have no idea.” The swordswoman shook her head. “Probably some mad idea or other.”
Gavriel worked quickly. As he worked, loops and lines came together to form a larger picture. Dhurka quirked her head at it.
“Is king-sign,” she squeaked. “What you do with king-sign? Only king use king-sign.”
Gavriel continued to chalk out lines and curves. Vi prodded him with her boot toe.
“Hey, Von Gucci, she asked you a question.”
“Hang on,” the sorcerer’s hands flew across the stone floor.
Moments later he stood, his work completed. Gavriel stowed the chalk and dusted his hands. Chalk dust flew all over his robe. The sorcerer glowered.
“When will someone invent chalk that doesn’t do that?” he spat.
“What about—”
Gavriel silenced Vi with a single finger. The others danced through a split-second cantrip that instantly dry-cleaned his robe. Then he idly buffed his nails and glanced to Vi.
“You were saying?”
“What,” the swordswoman growled, “is that?”
“Our ticket out of here.”
“And how does it work?”
“I should have thought of it earlier, actually. It has to do with how the ches-pieces move across the board, and which moves are legal in which circumstances—”
“Less talk, more walk! Just get us out of here. But so help me, if you blow us up again, I will—”
“You’ll what?”
“I’ll—” The swordswoman leaned in and whispered something into the sorcerer’s ear.
“You wouldn’t dare,” Gavriel gasped.
“Try me, pretty boy. Now, are you going to make with the spellwork, or am I—”
Gavriel stomped on the sigil and the whole thing blazed to life. There was a surge of vertigo and suddenly the feeling of just being elsewhere pervaded the air around them. When the dizziness cleared, the murals were gone, the maze was gone. Pretty much everything was gone.
“Where, where are we?” Vi steadied herself against the wall.
“You know,” Gavriel glanced around, “I have no idea. Out, at least. Not where I expected to be, though.”
“And where, pray tell, were we supposed to be?”
“That should have taken us directly to the lowest level. I suppose we ran into some security interference.”
“So where are we?” Vi practically bit the words off.
“We in box.” Dhurka had been scampering around in the darkness. “No way in or out. We trapped!”
“There’s always a way out,” Gavriel assured her. “We just have to find it.”
The sorcerer whispered a spell, granting them sight in the darkness. Then he folded his legs beneath him and sat on the floor. Vi groaned and slumped along the wall to sit as well. Dhurka stood.
You know, I have a thought.
“What?” Vi’s head rose.
I think I might be able to find the way out.
“Really? How?”
By the Power of Justice!
To Be Continued…
Comments on this entry are closed.