Chapter 12
The next several days mostly were spent being idle while the preparations for the contest were made, including making it known to all who were living within the nation (which was nearly a fifth of the planet's size in terms of area) that a challenge had been issued. The purpose in doing this, as Jackylin explained, would be so that all subjects knew whom they would be following at the conclusion of the fight, and for those that could not come for one reason or another would find out after those that could attend went home again.
I tried asking Jackylin exactly what would be involved in this 'contest', but already suspected that the majority, if not entirety of it would simply be me fighting, and/or killing the king. If it was, then this would probably be ridiculously simple and conclude only a few seconds after it began. The only answer she could give me was a shrug and said that ti was the one challenged that decided what the contest would be. Given the king's physical condition he would probably find it an insult to himself if he fought me in single combat simply because I was an Elder. Jackylin concluded that I shouldn’t worry to much about it.
Personally, I thought she was being overly confident. Certainly I was skilled and powerful, but that was under the condition that I had a horn in my possession. Of course, Jackylin did not know that, and I was not about to tell her this in case she should change her mind about keeping her word, but having that one crucial weakness made me feel more and more nervous the closer to the day of the confrontation we came. Still, it was unlikely that it would be a problem.
A week and a half after the challenge was issued the king declared that they had waited long enough and the contest ( in which, the word 'contest' was said with a roll of his eyes) would proceed the following morning.
“The confrontation will consist of three parts. For the first neither of us shall have food or rest for a full day and night, as is tradition. The second will be a test of worthiness for the challenger using the catacomb labyrinth beneath this castle. You” he faced me. “will be confronted by ten of my fighters whom are the best in their field, and they will try to kill you. Each of them will be given a key. One of those keys will unlock the door that will allow you to exit back to the surface. Simply find this key and exit, an you will have passed the second portion. The final portion will be a public confrontation between myself and you without a break from the previous two parts.” My face must have shown my displeasure, because he went on to explain that a there were times in the past when a leader would need to be awake and active and would not have time for food and rest for prolonged periods of time. Going without rest and sustenance would put a strain on the mind's ability to focus, and being underground in a labyrinth in complete darkness would force me to rely senses other than sight, which would be the senses most affected by a lack of rest.
For the first twenty four hours I was put under guard by two men who would be making sure I would be staying awake. It wasn't easy and I would have dozed off no less than four times had the guards watching me not prodded me awake. Each time I thanked them for the sake of courtesy, but after the third time the guard doing it began rolling his eyes at me every time my head started to dip a little.
Finally, just when I began to think that the sun would never rise again up it came, and the soldiers led me through the castle, down into what might have been meant as a dungeon but what I suspected in reality to be a torture room, and then I was blindfolded, spun around several times, and then led again by an arm. When we stopped again the blindfold was removed and I saw a thick wooden door before me, and to my right side, the king.
“You look tired, Elder.” He commented. The king himself did not. In fact, he looked ready to take on the world, if need be. “Perhaps you should have taken my suggestion and backed out?” I grunted and told him to get on with it.
“I ain't getting any younger, and this is wasting precious seconds of my life.” The king nodded at me and then nodded to one of the guards, who pulled on a heavy iron ring, which tugged the door open. Gesturing for me to enter with his hand, the king told me 'not to die too quickly' and then stepped back and allowed me to enter. Ha! As if your men stand a chance against me! I smirked as they closed the door and locked it behind me, plunging me into complete darkness and silence.
For the moment I chose to trust my non-sight senses. This place was dead-quiet and darker than the a night with no moon. In a way it was a little unnerving and a passing thought brought to mind the idea that I'd plunged myself into a grave; cold, silent, and dark, and I shivered. But plucking up my courage I placed one hand on the cold, rough stone wall, and then began do descend the thankfully dry stones into the labyrinth below.
Fourteen steps down the stairs ceased and the floor became flat, but not smooth. Like the wall my hand rested upon the floor, though flat, was uneven, and even lumpy at times, which made keeping steady footing difficult. My footsteps sounded like a shout in my ears, and I slowed my steps and lowered my feet at a slower rate as well, which quieted my footfalls, but did not silence them. Casting my eyes about ineffectually I sighed. I really am too dependent on my eyes. I can see why this bit would be performed in the dark. They have me at a distinct disadvantage here. The corners of my lips angled up. If I didn't have my own source of light, that is! I gathered the energy from my body needed to create a floating ball of light above me, then hesitated. I was blind in this darkness, but so was my enemy. Even with their higher senses due to our differences in genes, chances were that I'd hear them coming soon enough to ready myself for a fight, and if I did light the area up I'd be easily spotted from around a bend or corner, and they might have time to set up an ambush for me. The dark it is, then, but that doesn't mean I still can't cheat a little.
Changing the 'weave' of the spell, I focused the magic into my eyes instead and gave myself a gray version of night-vision. Though there was no actual light that had appeared, I still needed to blink a few times as my brain adjusted from blindness to being able to see again, albeit being colorblind. Yuck! I almost walked into a cobweb! I side-stepped it and took a right, my hand still on the wall, drawing off a line of dust so I'd be able to find my way back if I got turned around during a fight.
__ __ __ __ __
Jackylin tapped her fingers on the frame of her bed. She was bored, and just a little nervous. She hadn't missed the mild scent of worry that had come from Jacob, though she doubted he knew that emotion gave off a scent in evaporated sweat. He hadn't voiced any worry unless being curious about that proceedings counted as worry, but she knew it was there. Was he worried that he might fail? She doubted that. He had already proven himself to be more than capable of surmounting incredible odds, so it was likely that he was concerned about someone else. He's probably concerned about Applejack. I can't always be around to keep an eye on her, and he no doubt knows that. Such a concern could distract him, and a distraction can be just as fatal as an arrow to the knee or some other joint when surrounded by enemies. She frowned. Actually, now that I think about it, where is Applejack?
Jackylin sat up and slid off the side of her bed and then made her way to the door and exited to search for her 'servant'.
First she made her way to the closest tower to her room so she could survey most of the grounds outside the castle. It was unlikely that she would be outside since Applejack knew what kind of people inhabited this world and also knew a bit of background on Jackylin's society. But perhaps she had the urge to try out some of the local grass. Jackylin shrugged. This was unlikely, as Applejack did not give her the impression of being stupid, but even the wisest sometimes made themselves out to be fools from time to time.
__ __ __ __ __
Applejack paused and once more looked behind her. She frowned. Applejack could have sworn that she was being followed. From time to time she heard one or two more hoof steps than she should be hearing, or perhaps someone would cough, but every time she looked behind her all she saw was an empty hallway. She didn't like it. It could not have been Jacob because he was partaking of the second part of the test and would likely not be coming back again for several hours, if he came back at all.
Applejack turned a corner and stopped moving forward, but instead trotted in place and turned while doing so, taking care not to alter her stepping pattern. As she suspected would happen she suddenly heard an audible gasp and Applejack threw herself forward towards the gasp and felt herself collide with another body.
“Oof!” Applejack wrapped her legs around what she thought was the neck and squeezed until she heard choking.
“If'n you don't make yerself visible righ' now, I'mma squeeze yer neck until yer head pops off!” Applejack threatened loudly. A few seconds later a vaguely familiar unicorn appeared in her arms. “Wut the? Who're you? And what are you doing here on Gaea?”
A sea-foam green Unicorn made a choking noise and feeling a bit sheepish Applejack released her. She gasped for air a few times and then cast a glare at Applejack.
“I'm here on royal business, if you must know! Why are you agreeing to work with that Darkfist-woman? You do know what her people do to ours, don't you?”
“Yeah, I know, but her people and ours have an understanding and her part of the deal is that she won't attack mah hometown.”
“And your end?”
“None of yer business is what it is! You should go back to our world before you get yerself ett by some non-pony person!” 'Royal business' my plot! If she was sent here by the princesses, then she'd already know what the deal was! Unless maybe, she left before we did.
“And what about you? How will you get home?”
“”Like ah said, none of yer business! If'n you don't have the sense to leave, then that's yer problem!” Applejack turned away from her to leave, but the unicorn trotted around and in front of her.
“You may not want to tell me your reasons for being here, but I'd rather not have us tripping over one-another's hoofs in the near-future. I recently heard that Jackylin Darkfist has challenged their leader for right of leadership of her species and is, of all persons, using an Elder to fight for her. And, judging by his description, he is the same Elder that came to Ponyville about two weeks ago. What makes him so different that he can hope to survive the second trial?” Applejack frowned and narrowed her eyes and tried to get around her one more time. In response the unicorn wrapped her up in a magical aura and slammed her against a wall, knocking the wind out of Applejack. “I have worked too hard and already have given up much to get to where I am now! You will not jeopardize my position here!”
Applejack tried to struggle against the magical bindings that had been placed on her, but to no avail, and at a brief increase of the light encircling her horn, the pair of ponies vanished again, and her captor carried her away toward the room she'd been given to stay in whilst on Gaea to forcibly interrogate Applejack.
Unbeknownst to both of them, a third figure had begun following along behind them and followed them by hearing alone, taking care to match her steps with Lyra's own perfectly.
__ __ __ __ __
Princess Luna snorted at the group of Humans examining the rotting bodies that she and her personal Night Guard had slew a little over two weeks previous to today. Others under her command had been rather distraught when she came back later that night and discovered that she'd left without telling them. Luna silenced their coddling them by firmly informing them that she was far older, stronger, and more experienced than half of her forces put together. If she wasn't able to take care of herself, than an army would hardly be able to do any better. Besides, the self-chosen mission she'd gone on required speed, silence, and leaving no trace of who'd committed the act behind, and Pegasi had a habit of leaving their feathers behind during swift strikes. Her personal guards had no feathers, so there were none better to accompany her, and her guards had refused to leave her side anyway.
But that was in the past, and now she was busy studying their reaction. So far most Humans that she and hers had fought and slain seemed to show only mild remorse for those lost. There had been exceptions, of course, and in one case a female had wailed at the top of her lungs over the body of a slain male, and then threw herself at one of her earth pony soldiers and fought tooth and nail under she was killed. Perhaps he was her mate? Or a brother? not that it mattered much to her. Pity was a thing to feel for your enemy after the war was over. If you allowed it to cloud your judgment when the survival not just for yourself but your entire race was at stake, it could lead to some very poor decisions. Decisions that could get you killed. Like it did my father. A pang of sadness lanced through her, but she pushed it away and once more focused on the occurrences below her.
Most of what they did was examine the injuries, and then strip them of useful armor and weapons, and in some cases, an article or two of clothing. They certainly do not waste anything, this group. They also seem more organized and alert than the group that we slew. I shall have to send a stealth scout to observe their encampment in our old castle. We already know that they've been rebuilding it enough for it to be defensible, but that's all we know. If they're going to be using it as a fortress from which to coordinate attacks on both this side on top of the Griffon's efforts, then it needs to be leveled. I suppose that I could do so with my magic alone, but I'll need to be careful unless I want to make it into a crater and not simply level it.
The Humans gathered their dead in a pile, and then built a large cairn from a combination of dead and fresh wood and piled the dead on it and set them on fire. Now choking on smoke, the princess of the night backed off a little and blinked her stinging eyes a few times to clear the hot smoke from them. When she opened them again all but three of the twenty that had come to the clearing had left, and these three were gathering more dried wood and tossing it on top of the smoking bodies that had not yet caught fire. Seeing no further reason to remain, Princess Luna flew back to the encampment in the company of her guards to plan their next move.
Their next move involved her once more sitting at a large low wooden table with a map pinned to it inside a cloth tent informing her advisers that she was more than capable of handling herself, followed by a drink of warm mint leaf tea, and then reviewing a list of supplies that they had remaining in inventory, as well as what little new information that her scouts and spies had obtained. There was not much of importance aside from a letter from her elder sister informing her that Ponyville's residents had made a deal with the Human camp nearest to Ponyville that involved them no longer raiding their town. Luna could hardly bring herself to believe it. It also said that Applejack, one of the locals to Ponyville and one of her army's soldiers would be going on a mission with two Humans to assassinate the Gaea king and that they were not be impeded in any way. This letter was, unfortunately a bit late, but it had not mattered because she'd already seen Applejack traveling willingly and without any sort of binding with them. She had been confused at this turn of events, but knew of Applejack and had met her on several occasions and knew that there was no way she'd trust a Human without good reason, so she'd let them go. Now she was glad that she had, but now she wondered why two Humans would turn on their own kind in such a huge way.
She had, of course, seen them fight amongst themselves, and even witnessed a skirmish from two different hunting groups fighting over a few murdered deer that ended with nearly three times as many Humans dead, but those two groups had, from their dialog before the fight, been enemies to begin with. How could someone become a ruler of so many if that ruler was hated? That leader could have forced his way into that position through force or fear, but but she knew from personal experience that such a tactic was not a good one, and had slim chances of success. Though perhaps in this case, it had worked, and this assassination mission was from two Humans that still hated him for it. She wished them luck, but she did not have the time to worry about it at the moment. Either they would succeed, and it would throw the Human race into chaos for a time and give Mythica a much-needed stroke of good fortune, or it would fail, and nothing would change.
“Has anyone managed to sneak into the old castle yet?” Luna asked her chief military adviser. He shook his head slowly.
“These Humans have a very acute sense of smell. Every time one of us gets too close to them or when the wind is blowing on us and towards the castle they send out a search team looking for our scouts. One of them got caught two days ago and we've not heard from her since.” He sighed. “She is very likely dead.” Luna nodded, and dipped her head and closed her eyes in pity for the lost soul. When she opened them again she asked if they had tried any transformation techniques yet.
“If we become one of them in all but mind we may be able to sneak in that way and gain some good intelligence information on their plans and patrols.” He shook his head.
“We've already tried that as well, with disastrous results. A complete, or near-complete transformation takes away the Unicorn's horn, and therefore their ability to use magic, which traps them in Human form. So far we've been unable to change him back to his true self.”
“What about having a Pegasi fly over them at night?”
“That has been met with mixed results. Sometimes our scouts come back, and sometimes they are shot down and captured. And again, those that are shot down we never hear from again.” Luna sighed.
“How many have we lost this year during these scouting or spying attempts to date?”
“Princess Luna, you must not blame yourself for these occurrences, all of your soldiers would gladly give their lives for-”
“How. Many.” She repeated.
“More than one hundred, your majesty. The Humans are getting progressively better at spotting us even at night.”
“Far to many.” A regretful frown reached up from her lips to her eyes and eyebrows, and became a look of fierce determination. “Fine then! If they are content to simply slaughter our people, then perhaps it is time that we returned the favor!” She banged her front hooves on the table once, signaling that their meeting was over, and then headed for the tent's entrance/exit.
Luna left the tent and made her way to a podium that had been constructed shortly after she had chosen this place as their own base of operations. Luna hopped up and flapped her wings twice to stand on the upraised platform, and readied her Royal Canterlot Voice.
“My soldiers! Come to me!” She commanded. All across the camp Pegasi, earth ponies, and Unicorns dropped what they were doing and galloped to the podium and formed ranks before it and saluted.
“So have you called, and so have we come!” They all yelled in unison when the last of them had arrived. Luna nodded and continued speaking, still using the her Voice.
“It has been longer than ten years since the menace we all know of, and in some cases of have come to hate, called Humans came to this world and began killing and abducting our kind for use as their meals! Most of us have lost someone we called a friend, or a family member, or perhaps a special somepony to these...creatures! They have rampaged across our countryside, as well as that of the Dragons, and some of the Zebra lands as well! But here, today, we stop acting in the defense of our nation, and instead go on the offensive! Too long have we been content to wait for them to come to us, too long have we let them have in their possession the entrance to our world. THAT CHANGES NOW!” A cheer rose from the ponies before her so loud that it made the ground vibrate, and Luna's spirits rose with the knowledge that what her adviser had told her was true. Even with all that they had lost, and with all that they still might lose, they were still ready to follow her. She would not fail them. “Tomorrow we will assault the Humans that have taken up residence in the Everfree forest, and cleanse it of their presence! I myself shall lead this purge, and if they will not leave mine and my sister's old home, I shall use my magic to destroy it! I would rather tear down my own home to the ground than leave it in their possession!!!” Her army roared louder, and several stomped their hoofs on the ground. Luna spread her wings and reared on her hind legs. “Ready yourselves, my soldiers! Tomorrow we take back Everfree, and take the first step to reclaiming all our lost homes!!!”
^ ^ ^ ^ ^
I froze, thinking I had heard something up ahead. I waited in place for a minute, but heard nothing further. I could have sworn that I heard someone sneeze... I took a few steps back and waited some more. Still nothing. Hmm... pulled off my boots and withdrew the horn from its hiding place. Using a little levitation I made the boots 'walk' forward to the turn up ahead. An arm jabbed out from around the corner with a slim, double-edged dirk in hand into the area where my chest cavity would have been.
“What?” Came a woman's voice.
“Psyche!” I taunted and pulled my knife from the other boot and spun it around from the end of the handle and cut off her hand at the wrist. She cried out in pain as blood flowed freely from her injury and she withdrew what was left of her arm back behind the corner and, from the sound her footfalls made, retreated down the hall. I smirked, feeling pleased with myself until I bent over to retrieve my boots and found that her hand had fallen into one of them. Now feeling sick I flipped the boot over and dumped it out and set the knife back in the sheath, followed by my foot.
Feet once more equipped with shoes I followed the darker circles on the ground that I assumed were drops of blood. Now I know how Travis' old dog felt! It was nice to be able to see in total darkness, but at the same time seeing only in shades of gray when I was used to seeing in color made the world feel a little less-real.
“Where are you, my little hunter?” I said in a quiet sing-song voice as I walked as softly as I could.
So far she was the first of the 'warriors' that I'd encountered or had even seen. Either the king had lied about the number of people down here, or this labyrinth was much larger than I had thought. Already I'd been down here for what I guessed was more than an hour, and the constant silence was grating on my nerves and was making me feel edgy. Of course, that's probably the general idea.
I stopped again at the sight of a puddle of blood under what seemed to be an arch connecting one wall to another. An arch in the middle of nowhere when there's been nothing but open air above me until now? I stopped underneath it and stared up at it.
The arch wasn't much taller than the walls, and if I stood next to the wall and reached up I could touch the bottom of it. Wait a minute, this is a labyrinth, not a simple maze. I thought as my eyes trailed up along it. A labyrinth tends to have more to it than just being flat. In this case, that would probably make this a- My eyes stopped on a smear of blood that trailed up over the lip of the arch and became wide. bridge! It was all-too perfect for an ambush-point, and like a fool I'd walked right up to it!
A figured hopped down from the bridge and spun on one foot, kicking me in the side and shoving me against the stone wall. It then kicked the wall with that same foot and a few small inch-and-a-half-long blades extended from the toe end of it and then quickly did the same with the other foot and banged its wrists together, and two more blades, these ones longer and wider and serrated extended beyond its hands from a pair of metal gauntlets it wore (I say 'it' because this figure wore a mask, and had no real definable figure differences). It work loose-fitting clothing, but not so loose that it was baggy and would be getting in its way. The figure also had a hood that covered any hair he or she may have had.
“Woah!” I pushed myself off the wall and once more drew my knife in one hand as my adversary ran forward and began jabbing his arms at me one after the other like a boxer aiming high and then low in different areas. The first few I deflected and sparks came from the impacts, but my quickly became numb under the constant heavy blade-punches, and after less than ten jabs the knife was knocked from my hand and I received several shallow stabs and slashes. Can these people see in the dark? If not then how the heck does this person know where to stab?!
I crouched down low to the ground and after my enemy's next step forward and jab I pushed myself up from the ground as hard as I could and thrust both fists up on an angle to hit both under the chin and that spot in the ribcage that really hurts if poked. My lower punch was stopped by a leather shirt of some kind that acted like a light armor, but my other fist landed hard and knocked my opponent back a step and 'he' stumbled back another on 'his' own. Seeing an opportunity I reached out a hand and crushed the gauntlets around 'his' arms. To my surprise 'he' did not scream, or seem to react at all.
“I just crushed your arms with your gauntlets!” I protested. “How can you not be writhing in agony?!”
“Oh, so that's what's wrong with my hands?” My enemy asked. It's voice was deep, but I still didn't know if it was male or female. “I feel no pain. If you think you can beat me simply by breaking a few bones, you're mistaken.” Again, he/she began advancing on me, albeit with a tad more caution this time. I said nothing to this, but concluded that one way or another I'd have to kill him. If I just took his key (which I had no idea where on his/her person he/she was hiding it to begin with) he/she would simply come after me again and I'd have to fight later. First Human kill? Even with my life threatened and them being a different breed I'm not looking forward to it. I raised a hand, and then was knocked flat by an explosion.
I looked behind me to see a kid stick her head out from behind the next turn.
“Hey Nix! Did I get him?” She yelled.
“I don't know, but you almost got me you little fool! How many other traps like that have you set?!”
“Only about two dozen!” She answered defensively. Another explosion went off in the direction of a wall, which meant either a mine (or the like) had detonated prematurely, or another hunter had triggered it. 'Most capable warriors'? More like crazy people! I quickly got up to my feet again and, though this would probably give me nightmares to come, used my magic to rip Nix's head off. His/her body fell to the ground whilst spraying blood from the remains of the neck, the blades of the previously-hidden weapons clanging or clattering on the stone which the corpse collapsed upon.
“Was that an effective enough strategy for you?” I said to his head before dropping it to rest with his/her body.
“Nix?” The kid called up the hall again. “Nix, did you get the old guy?” Please, not a child...please just surrender! I blinked down the hall to stand right in front of the girl. Being pitch-black in the labyrinth, all she saw were two brief blinding flashes of light.
“Ack!” She covered her eyes and held her hands there.
“Give me your key, and I won't rip your spleen out.” The kid jumped and scampered back until she hit a wall, pulling a ball out her pocket with one hand, and pulling a pair of small stones out of another pocket with her other hand.
“Do you know what this is?” She moved her hand holding the ball. “Don't feel bad if you don't, I invented it!” She held that hand away from the ball and spun the rocks in her other hand, which spat a bunch of sparks around. “If I touch these rocks to the ball and spin them, we both die! So, what were you saying about ripping out my spleen?” I raised a hand and pinned her arms against the wall her back leaned against. “What-?! How did you do that?!”
“The same way I killed Nix. Magic.” She stuttered for two seconds incoherently, then spoke.
“But- but Humans can't use magic!” She protested.
“Wanna bet?” I formed a ball of light and illuminated the area which we stood in. Foolish, perhaps, but I felt it necessary. If I could scare the kid into giving me her key, then I'd not need to hurt her. She closed her eyes against the sudden light, as did I. When my eyes had adjusted I opened them and squinted, but found that she too had opened her eyes and was staring open-mouthed in wonder and a bit of fear at me.
“No wonder you thought you could challenge the king...” she whispered.
“Where's your key?”
“I hid it.”
“No, ya think? Where?”
“I ate it.”
“For you sake, I hope not.” I closed my eyes and let the light go out, and began scanning her body with a spell that a Unicorn treasure-hunter had once taught me. He'd used it for searching out traps in several ancient ruined city's vaults, but I hoped that it would work just the same here. To my relief, it did, and it turned out that she was lying. It was in the pocket below the one she'd pulled the spark-rocks from. I smiled and walked forward, and began digging through her pockets.
“Hey! Keep your hands to yourself!” She objected, and tried to head-butt me.
“You're fortunate you were lying. I'm told that being disemboweled is quite unpleasant.” I found her key at the bottom of her pocket, and pulled it out and dropped it into my own pocket. “Nice doing business with you. Sleep well, kid.” I knocked her out with a simple sleep spell and then returned to my first victim and scanned that body as well. He/she had concealed it in one of the boots, and in short order I had a second key as well. Two down, eight to go.
My next encounter was with my first encounter. She'd bandaged her wrist by using part of her shirt and some corded vines. The makeshift bandage was soaked through blood, but the spot I'd found her in had even more of her blood on it. Apparently it had been her that had set off the kid's trap earlier, and now only part of one leg above the knee was intact, and gore was splattered on the floor, walls, and steps that I'd just finished ascending. Long and disgusting description short, she was dead of blood loss. Unfortunately even after searching all of her pockets and scanning her body with magic I could not find her key. It must have been in a shoe or something. I hope it wasn't her key that I needed!
Though I felt a little sorry for her, there was nothing I could do here but continue on and wonder what the other seven were best at doing. Concealed weapons, explosive traps... I cast a look over my shoulder. no way of knowing what she was good at now. No doubt one of these people will be a muscle-head. Not that it would make much difference as long as he or she didn't catch me unawares. Given what I was I had a definite unfair advan-
Snict! I looked down to see that I'd stepped on a thin metal panel that ran along the width of the floor. Trap!! I dove to the floor as a small throwing ax whirled end-over-end and barely missed my head as I dropped to the floor and flew down over the stairs and clattered on the landing below and behind me. Whew! I thought as I began to get back to my feet again. That was clo- yikes! a second ax came at me and I halted it mid-air with magic, stopping it just as it touched my nose. A trickle of sweat ran down my face and I took the ax in hand and pushed myself to me feet. Looks like I didn't give this kid enough credit! The clicking sound had been an intentional alarm, and the delay between the first ax and the second was meant to reassure the person dodging that they were safe. They'd start standing up again, and 'chluck!', ax to the head, victim is dead! The scary thing is, it very nearly worked! I swallowed hard, breathing quickly as a brief surge of adrenaline coursed unnecessarily through me (now that the danger was past). Thanks again, Twilight!
This time I waited a full three minutes before rising to my feet again and cautiously progressed forward until I found the launcher of the axes. When I did I found that there had actually been a third ax as well, but it had failed to activate when the fine string that had been cut for the launching of the second ax whipped into the mechanism of the third and had gotten tangled. So not just explosive traps.
Using the ax I had taken for my on use I smashed what was left of the trap and took the third ax as well. Better that I have them than for another hunter to get their hands on them. Well, maybe. I've never fought using an ax before. Or much of anything else save magic and my body, for that matter, and what I had used they did not have in this world.
I wandered through the labyrinth, taking care to continue leaving a drag line in the dust with my hand as I went. I supposed that I could just use my magic to find my way back, or out, if need be, but if I should, for any reason, lose the horn I'd be screwed.
As with before, the walls and floor were rough and uneven, and for the first time since entering I wondered what this place had been originally made for. Jackylin had said that no one knew who had originally built it, but no one built a castle just for the fun of it. A castle was meant as a place to retreat to or to stand strong in a time of large-scale war, which made little sense in the society they lived in today, but a lot could change in just twenty years. What would they need a labyrinth for? Fun? I looked up at the ceiling overhead. There was no ceiling. I blinked and looked again, squinting. Nothing but black. Either the ceiling is simply dark in color, or there really is no ceiling! I was tempted to fly up there and see if there really was no ceiling, but I had more important things to do, and it was not as if I could not come back later so long as I survived.
As I once more returned to the lower level of the Labyrinth I came to an open area where several statues in various poses stood and torches on wall scones had been lit. Some of the statues looked to be dancing, some were weeping, some looked to be fighting one another, one held a bouquet of flowers, and one stood up on a pedestal with his arms crossed looking down at the others before him and watching with a look of pride on his face. I moved through the statues carefully, not wishing to knock one over and stopped before the overseer. He looked vaguely familiar and I had leaned in to closer examine him when I heard a footfall behind me and whirled, expecting someone to have stepped out from behind a statue. I saw no one. Hmm... I narrowed my eyes and began looking through the group of posed statues again. Huh? I had walked back to where I'd walked in from, but saw nothing moving. I had noticed that something wasn't quite right though. One of the statues, one of the two weeping ones, had moved. Or at least, I thought it had. You're probably just getting paranoid, Jake. I raised an eyebrow and came closer to it. It did not react. I placed a hand on it and its 'skin' was cold to the touch. Probably just a trick of the light. I rolled my eyes and shook my head, then turned away from it and started walking away.
A soft whistling sound followed by a stab of pain in my back near the base of my neck made me scream and I tried to turn but my body refused to obey me. What?! Why can't I move?! Soft footsteps came from behind me and one of the statues that had been weeping walked around to my front and smirked at me.
“You make a handsome statue yourself, old man.” She traced a rough gray finger along my jaw and her smirk became sly. “If you were half a decade younger I just might have enjoyed your company a bit before I killed you.” She sighed, looking mock-sad. “As you are now, though, you'd probably have a heart attack before I'd be satisfied.”
My jaw was stiff, but I managed to get out in broken words the question of what she'd done to me. “I stuck a needle in the base of your neck next to one of your nerves. Unless someone removes it you'll stand there until either you die, or someone knocks you over.” Didn't they do something like this in those old Kung Fu movies? What did they call it? I couldn't remember, and it wasn't like it was really important anyway. Does my magic still work? I tried to use it, and to my horror found that I could not. OBAMAR long suspected that there was more to using magic than just touching a horn. Why didn't I listen to them?!
OBAMAR had been a research group that had been studying magic and its uses back on Earth. More than once they'd asked me for help since I was the only Human besides Trixie that had an Alicorn's horn and they wanted to try replicating a stronger version of the artificial Unicorn horns, but I'd refused, knowing that if such power fell into the wrong hands it would be like giving them a nuclear bomb and a free pass to their bomb's destination.
“Why don't you let me go and I'll show you just how long my heart can last, sweetheart?” I challenged. She smiled.
“Nice try, but I'm getting tired of this dank hole, and I miss the daylight.” A second voice, an older voice and male coming from behind me objected to her choice, however.
“Oh, come sister! If he wants to play, then I think we should let him. After all, it's not often that we get a challenge from our victims instead of a beg for mercy. It could be fun!” The young woman looked behind her and then smiled at me.
“It seems you'll get your wish, Elder. Try not to die too quickly, okay? And give us a good scream from time to time.” She reached behind me and slowly withdrew her needle, and then ran off amongst the statues, her brother and her laughter echoing off the walls like that of gleeful children.