Labyrinth

Chapter One Gia called after Kai. “Don’t wander off alone.” The half-elf dragon hunter meant well enough. Given the doctor apprentice’s foul mood… Kai only clenched his teeth. “You should watch where you step, no telling what waits for a snack in the shadows.” The words of the wild elf Tito echoed down the tunnel behind Kai. The lilt in the elf’s voice gave everything he said an annoying cheerful ring to it. A smart human should heed the guide’s words. Kai waved off the warnings with a half-hearted grunt before picking his way deeper into the inky black, away from the others and the safety perceived in numbers. For what he needed to do, privacy was called for. The path was easy, simple to find his way back. A small trickle of water flowed silently between the stones that littered the cave floor. If those two pointed-eared idiots can survive in the underearth, I think I should be king in a week or two. The false bravado did little to ease the tension. At least a cheerful babbling brook would have provided some background noise to cover the constant sound of dripping water. The group had no fear of dying from thirst. They had been damp since leaving the surface. Compared to the deserts covering most of the land above, this area was a swamp. The young healer recognized the pain and burning of new rashes in places the rot should never reach. A bath and change of clothes would go a long way to combat the new and evasive fungus attacking his body. His small collection of medicines did nothing to ease his agony. The blue sky, Kai missed it dearly. It had been three days since the human healer followed the insane Morgan into the dark. Three days since he witnessed the miracle of the floating islands blocking out the sun high overhead. At least Kai assumed it had been three days. The small group traveled hard the first day, underearth, before sleeping. After the lizard attack, it was easy for Kai to understand the reasoning. Distance was needed between the caymen that wanted to eat them and the group. They delved deep into the cavern system with reckless abandon. Tito and Gia rarely consulted Kai’s opinion on the course of action. He now knew what unwanted bags felt like: useless, castoff, and unneeded. With no sun, they walked until Princess Morgan stumbled or showed outward signs of fatigue. Then they set watches and rested. Any sleep that came was fitful. Every sound woke him. Kai should not be so rough on the young woman. He assumed it was when the only woman got too tired that the group stopped and rested. Kai knew he was exhausted, but the untested healer refused to be the weak link in this group. Even now, he went off by himself for privacy rather than let the others know his genuine feelings. His true weakness. His heart sank under the weight of the constant darkness. After the second bend in the tunnel, he pulled the pouch from his belt. It only took the briefest moment for him to inventory his meager possessions. A handful of stones to be enchanted and two copper hekels. His life savings, all told wholly inadequate to buy himself a decent meal in the city. How have I sunk so low? There was a time his future looked so full of hope, some might say bright. The magic marble enchanted for light went with his other treasure into the pouch. He turned to make sure he’d traveled far enough to obscure the light and sound of the others. Forcing himself to relax, he let the beat of his heart slow, listening for the others that he joined on this fool’s errand. The sounds of the group had drifted from his hearing long ago. There was nothing for him to hear in this lifeless maze of tunnels save the constant maddening sound of dripping water. Confident he was alone, he leaned back against the curved wall of the stone. The cool rock pressed against his spine. Rough as it was, he still let the weight of the world carry him down until the floor stopped his descent. Seated on his heels, he wasn’t surprised when a massive drop of water landed on the top of his head. It was the last straw. Alone as possible, eyes screwed shut in despair, the tears started to flow. He was sorry for leaving Pet’Ra and the patients from Seeme’s hospital. He let his black bangs fall over his face. Out of greed, he abandoned his charges and followed this group in some small effort to learn more about magic. It was prideful of him, and now his ancestors abandoned him to the darkness. After he died a painful death, Kai was sure to face a life of torment for his transgressions in the bowels of Infernum. He was certain he would never live long enough to see the sky again. He was going to die in the dark, more than likely alone. Lost with no way to find the safety of the surface. With no one to blame for his hubris but himself. Once the tears started, he hated his weakness even more. Each moment that passed, the sobs became more pronounced, a feedback loop of snot and depression broke his will to stop the tears. For once, he let his emotions take over. He might have cried all the moisture from his damp body if a strange intermittent chirping sound hadn’t reached his ears over the sobs. The flow of mucus didn’t stop all at once. With quick intakes of breath, Kai struggled to gain control of his emotions. A quick wipe of his sleeve removed the majority of slime from his unshaved upper lip. Over the course of the past three days, the group had encountered no other creatures. Kai assumed they traversed a lifeless section of the underearth. He knew on the surface, there were great tracts of land where no human or monster survived for long. On the other hand, there was a chance Tito and Gia knew a thing or two about the underearth that Kai didn’t. Possibly the pair guided the group safely around the monsters Kai knew hunted the tunnels. Briefly, the healer suspected all the horror stories he’d heard over the years were merely yarns told to unwitting listeners. Any tale spun in a tavern for an extra pint of ale. This chirping sound was different from anything he’d heard before, yet strangely familiar. Fearing the worst, Kai cracked his eyes open. An unexpected glow of light reached his eyes. A quick check revealed his magic light marble was blacked out in the pouch at his side. No, this illumination came from elsewhere. A soft green glow came from the very walls. A quick check and Kai found he did not imagine this new light. He could see the back of his hand, where strange splotches glowed yellow in the green light. He was covered with yellow spots. The sporadic chirping intensified, but the limited light source did nothing to help locate the creature calling out into the dark. To Kai’s untrained ears, the sound resembled the frogs that would call out from the river’s edge. Kai did his best to push the thought from his mind. Frogs to Kai meant dinner, fried frogs legs a delicacy he would undoubtedly kill for after the days of dried meat the group had been forced to survive on since leaving the compound. Pity, the chances of frogs living this far under the earth were limited. It must be some other animal. Maybe I can eat it? Each chirp only served to drive Kai crazy. The echoes off the smooth tube walls made it impossible to discover the source, no matter how hard he searched for the creature. “You should probably move on,” a strange voice sang out of the darkness. Kai nearly stifled the yelp that leaped into his throat. The shock of the voice from nowhere caused him to trip over his own feet, falling to the ground butt first into the languid stream. The impact drove his vertebrae into each other. Not taking a risk on the stranger that so adeptly snuck up on him, Kai ignored the pain and scrambled to his hands and feet, crawling back towards the group. The water splashed under his hasty retreat. At the first boulder he crossed, the face of an insect the size of his arm filled his vision. The monster chirped before the attack. From under an armor-covered head, the huge insect’s pincers slashed towards Kai’s eyes. Reflexes honed by years of cowardly self-preservation caused Kai’s body to react and push himself away from the assault, into a backward tumble. It was an adroit move and would have been an outstanding decision if not for the sharp rocks that ground into his back as he somersaulted away from danger. The face of a massive stone stopped his gallant retreat from danger. The attacking insect didn’t pause to admire the skillful dodge. It closed the distance, chirping in the dark with every step. Any space Kai gained from the maneuver was lost by the scurrying of fourteen legs. In that instant, Kai discovered the chirping source that roused him from his pity party. If Kai didn’t know better, the damnable insect sounded happy as it closed the distance for the attack. Unarmed, Kai kicked at the beast with his feet. The blasted creature latched on to his right foot with both pincers and all fourteen legs. If not for the leather covering his foot and calf, the jaws would have found tender human flesh. With a jerk of his left foot, he wrested the monster’s grip off his body. He kicked the beast as hard as he could, muscles fueled by fear. In a flash, the creature turned into an armored ball and rolled off to the safety of the shadows. Emboldened by the retreat, Kai shouted, “b***h, come back here, and let’s finish it.” A chirp from the right pulled the healer’s attention from his brief victory. Another arm-sized insect charged his face. Kai screamed while lashing out with his fist but only found air. An unfamiliar boot stepped on the head of the attacking bug. “I told you so…” It was the strange voice that called the warning to him out of the darkness. Expecting the worst, he didn’t wait for an introduction. As swift as legs could carry him in the dark, he ran in the direction he thought the camp lay. The strange voice called after him. “You’re going the wrong way!” The fear of the dark overrode his fear of the stranger who just tried to warn him of an attack. The next large boulder served as adequate protection from a possible rear assault. Kai let his gaze travel up the body of the creature that saved him. He was correct to think of it as a creature. It was nothing like he’d ever seen before. The lilting tongue it spoke with contradicted the strangeness of the monstrosity. The armored leg wasn’t covered in the normal segmented leather or metal. More the overlapping scales of husk, like an animal or insect. The strangeness of the being only continued. The back was covered with what only could be described as prickles, much like a hedgehog. Large plates of bone husk covered the monster’s chest. Massive jowls dangled over the jawline, and tiny eyes were buried under a heavy brow. Kai struggled to speak, but only senseless vowel sounds escaped his throat. “Dangerous little critters, these firebugs, but damned good eating.” The beast reached down and pulled the headless body from under its foot. “Mind the pincers, though, too much bite for most.” Long claws peeled the insect’s carapace like a shrimp before plopping the gelatinous blob of flesh into the beast’s tiny mouth. A long tongue flicked out and cleaned the fingers of any remaining juice. Some semblance of sanity returned to Kai’s brain. He muttered, “Who are you?” He nearly slipped and asked what the creature was, but he was certain that would be rude. Tito’s voice called down from the direction Kai escaped from. “Why, that is the person we’ve been waiting on. Kai, meet Tucker.” The light from his magic stone ruined Kai’s little night vision. “Our guide to White Rock.” The monster called Tucker shielded its tiny eyes from the bright light. “Please, no need to be formal, call me Tuck.” The long-clawed right hand reached out to shake Kai’s. “Careful with him. He is our healer.” Tito chuckled as he spoke. The elf scrambled over the boulders the firebugs had just scurried on. Kai would not object if the smartass elf had a few of the long pincers latch onto his leg. Rather than complain, Kai offered a weak smile. Given little choice, the healer stepped from behind his shield of rock and reached out his hand tentatively. Tuck gripped his hand in a gentler than expected shake. “Pleased to meet you,” Tuck said. “I’m sure,” Kai muttered. “The rest of the group is back this way.” Tito had already started his way back. “I know where you are. Your scent travels far on this wind.” Kai reflexively snuck a sniff of his armpits. He hadn’t bathed in several days; the scent might be him. “If you don’t mind, I will search out a few more firebugs, grab La’nora and meet you.” “As you wish.” Tito paused. “Healer, you coming?” Kai was in no mood to stand around and listen as Tito recanted the tale of Kai’s battle with the insect. Better to hang back and learn what he could about this new person, no matter how alien it might be. “No… I think I’ll come with Tucker.” “Please call me Tuck…” “Tuck.” “As you wish.” Kai, despite the creature’s pleasant tone, wasn’t ready to close the gap between them yet. “You said the bugs… firebugs… grow larger?” He let his eyes adjust to the darkness. No need to pull the light gem out if he only waited for the green glow to return. Tuck searched under a nearby boulder. “Oh… most certainly, many orders of magnitude larger. At least twice as big.” The resounding chirp of a bug echoed through the cavern. “And their bite becomes stronger, but not the venom. The smaller the bug, the deadlier the bite.” Kai watched with a strange mixture of horror and awe as Tuck pulled one of the fourteen-legged insects from under the rock. The bug didn’t go down without a fight. The long pincers searched the scaly arm for a weak spot. Before the creature struck flesh, Tuck pinched its head off between forefinger and thumb claw. “If you stay clear of the pincers, the meat is wonderfully sweet.” “How small do they get?” Kai watched as Tuck peeled another bug. That was when he noticed the strange markings drawn onto Tuck’s scales. “I never realized you were interested in the study of insects.” With deft claws, the bug shed the insect’s carapace. “I’m more concerned with learning what can kill me down here…” “Ah… I can respect that concern. The simple answer is everything. In the Labyrinth, you either eat or are eaten… and after death, you become food for the lowest of creatures.” Tuck tore a chunk off the fresh flesh, offering a piece to Kai on an extended claw tip. “Like these little critters.” With enormous willpower, Kai fought the urge to gag. His hunger overrode his disgust. He didn’t hesitate too long and took the offered morsel of meat. “Is it safe?” Tuck’s chunk of meat disappeared as swiftly as the first. It stood there waiting while licking the remains off its claws. “Should be safe enough… No worse than what you might find on the streets of a human city.” Tuck went back to searching under the next rock. The healer hated to admit the creature Tuck had a valid point. Some of the questionable street food he’d eaten on the docks made him sicker than a dog. There was no reason the surface food would be healthier than this bite—despite the gory origin. Before he could mentally debate the source of the meat, he plopped it in. At first, he hesitated to chew the bite but didn’t want to risk choking in front of the stranger. After the first bite, a sweet taste exploded to fill his mouth. Shortly followed by a warmth that grew the longer he chewed before he found himself breaking into a sweat from the heat. With a swallow, the ball of molten meat warmed him all the way down to his soul. “Good, hum?” Tuck dug deeper under the rock. “I never would have thought…” Kai smacked his lips. It might be the food, but the human felt himself warming up to the strange creature. “Yeah, I thought you might feel that way. Just stay clear of the little ones.” Tuck pulled another firebug from under the boulder. Kai watched the process to safely convert the critter into a meal. “Tell me about the little ones.” Tuck smiled a strange little grin, made stranger still by the fact it didn’t have any real lips. “This is what happens. The fireflies… see, they lay their eggs in people, any creature’s body, really. The maggots will feed on the flesh, living or dead. They don’t care. Once filled to bursting, they will sprout legs and crawl out of the victims. That is when the little critters are most dangerous. Their bite will feel like it’s been dropped in molten glass.” Tuck paused to offer Kai another bite, which he took. “Once the creatures reach about twice this size, they pop. Releasing a new batch of fireflies to restart the process… You don’t want to be around when the fireflies are searching for hosts. They swarm until they find a nest site.” “A body…” Tuck nodded. “Remember, warm or cold, they don’t care.” “Sound gruesome.” “That’s because it is.” “Is that the worst we face down here?” “Hardly… there must be a thousand ways to die in the Labyrinth.” The creature’s chuckle sounded oddly human. “Wonderful…” “Listen, I think we’ve cleaned these out. For now, let’s fetch my La’nora, then we will join the others.” Tuck stood tall, watching Kai. “Your La’nora?” Kai motioned for the creature to lead the way. The massive beast bounded over the first boulder away from the camp, deeper into the cave system. “Sure, my pack beast… La’nora.” Kai hated thinking about this new person as a monster or beast, but it wasn’t human, even if it treated him more humanely than most of his own race. He worked hard to keep up with Tuck in the limited green glow. “How far is La’nora?” “Not far. She isn’t too good at protecting herself against the bugs… Can’t have her lame over a bug bite… I don’t think you could carry her load.” Tuck chuckled at the statement. “This used to be a peaceful part of the Labyrinth. Now I find more monsters the farther I go.” Kai held his tongue since he didn’t get the joke. “There she is.” Tuck pointed down the next slope to an even stranger creature. The glow from a single horn jutting from the bird’s forehead cast a strange shine about the area. Kai thought of it as a bird, but only the shape, it was missing wings of any kind, and the gray flesh was devoid of feathers. Taller than Tuck, La’nora had to be as tall as two men. The leg muscles rippled under the strange glow of the horn. On its back was a load larger than any single surface animal could carry. Infernum, the pack looks heavier than what Seeme carried in his two-wheeled cart. “She is happy to see us. Her horn normally doesn’t glow like that around strangers.” Tuck walked the last few steps to the untethered La’nora. The creature didn’t even have a harness like a horse would have. Better than being impaled by the glowing horn, Kai kept his distance. Tuck patted the long neck of the creature and chuckled. “Don’t worry, she likes you… or we’d know it.” With a wave of the other hand, Tuck beckoned him to join the pair. A series of stuttered steps brought Kai next to the enormous pack animal. Tuck reached out and took his hand. Kai let the hedgehog-looking person place his palm on La’nora’s neck. The muscles quivered under his touch, and the bird cooed. “I told you she likes you. Nice thing about La’nora. If she likes you, she will protect you.” “What if she doesn’t like you?” “Better to not find out.” Tuck left Kai’s side. “Unfortunately, White Rock will not come to us. We should gather the others and head out.” La’nora followed Tuck up the hill to where Kai was confident the others camped. Against all his former teachings, he forced himself to believe that creatures so alien to him might be so friendly.