Chapter Eleven: Labyrinth Part Three

Rashid went back to being silent, after his story time was over. Letting the unnatural silence flow back around us, and I shudder a little at it, but I try my best to ignore it.

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“Fuck!” I grunted as pain bursts from my nose, after I fell onto the unnaturally, smooth cave floor for the umpteeth time today, and heard a loud sigh but I ignored it, and I know it’s still today since my stomach hasn’t said anything since Rashid gave me some kind of bar to shut it up, it tasted like chocolate but I don’t chocolate has bones in it.. And since my stomach is a very knowledgeable about when to eat, I know hasn’t been more than a couple of hour since we came down here.

Anyway back to why I’ve been falling down, well that’s because it’s gone from dark to pretty fucking black and I can’t see a damn thing. Oh and don’t think just because it got a little dark I’m falling, well maybe a little bit, but most of It has to do with why this place is so quiet. It’s because the floor, walls, and ceiling is absorbing any impact that’s hitting it like crazy, so not only can’t I see, I can’t hear or get a good reading on the vibrations so It’s messing with my balance like a mother fucker. Though I do feel pretty good about figuring out why it’s so quiet and has made it feel a little less creepy down here.

But no less fucking frustrating about falling over every five blazing feet! Even worse- “Ack!” I squeaked as the cart rolled onto my back and legs. That too, it made things much more annoying, and I could feel my anger slowly building up.

I carefully push the cart off myself, and then guide myself up with it. I take a couple of deep breathes, and soon with the cold air filling my lungs, I manage to level my temper. I take another deep breath, and taste it a little and then breath out and take another deep breath till I know where Rashid is.

Following the smell, I know Rashid is but a couple yards ahead of me and still moving. But unlike me the old bastard hasn’t fallen down once, and I knew it too because he’s been doing that annoying loud sigh each time I’ve fallen down, like that each time I fell I disappointed him a little more, well fuck you old man I don’t need your respect. I sprint over to old man, only stumbling a little before I got over to where I heard him sigh.

He put his hand on my shoulder before I could pass him, and grips me with crushing force holding me in place. He speaks in his raspy voice “Boy do you not know how to use your aura?” That took me by surprise and I ask “Is that why you’re moving so smoothly?” Despite the darkness I could feel the weight of his glare and I eventually answer as I feel it becoming stronger, and say sheepishly “No, I just learned how to tap into it.” He says nothing for a second and then a slight light appears in the darkness and he pushes a shining silver chain into my hands “Hold this, and keep it taut, and in case a goon like you doesn’t know what that means-,” I interrupt him and say irately “Yeah I know what taut means.” I hear him mumble in annoyance, and say “Just make sure to keep up.”

We then go back to walking in a more comfortable silence, that included me not tripping over myself.

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I feel the chain go slack, but I walk till I reach Rashid to see why he stopped. Getting closer I can see a little through the lightly lit darkness, and can make out five or so different paths to go down. I try to walk a little further, but Rashid puts his arm out in front of me and says “Don’t go forward yet.” My curiosity aroused I ask “Traps?”

In the dim light he shakes his head and walks forward.

Rashid lifts his arm up into air with his palm facing the ceiling and a bright light tears through the darkness and I have to whip my head away from the light to keep it from frying my eye sockets but despite that I still got spots on my eyes. I look at the shadowy darkness, till the spots on my eye disappear and turn back to Rashid and see that he’s holding up a huge and dimly glowing silver stake that must be as long as I am tall. He looks at it and then turns to me with a grin before slamming in it with one arm into the ground surprisingly silent.

I walk over to take a closer look at his stake, but see nothing interesting about it beside it’s completely smooth, and silver. I point to it and ask Rashid “So what was that about?” He answers by throwing a chain at me, which I catch and then notice that It’s attached to the stake that’s lodged into the ground. When I look back to him I notice that he’s giving me a crooked smile “Well my boy, that’s because this is where the real labyrinth begins.”

I give him a confused look and questioning gaze, and ask him “I thought we already entered the labyrinth?” He barks out a short laugh, and says “No, this is where it really starts.” He pauses with a questioning gaze “..and what type of labyrinth do you know of that only goes straight?” I say nothing and point to the different cave entrances, then ask “So which one goes to our destination?”

Rashid scratches his hairy chin, and then a his face lights and say “Man’s Intuition! It told me to bring out the chain. We’re going to go down each passage till we get there or die trying!... Or maybe it’ll be just you, since there are things down here that entirely capable of killing you. But me not so much.” He gazes at me firmly and says hard “Don’t die on me boy, It’s a lot of paperwork to do if you do.” I gave him my answer by giving him the bird.

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Walking down the fourth tunnel of the day with only the chains giving off any light, I ask Rashid tiredly and bitter “So what makes you so sure that this the right tunnel this time?” He looks back at me with a grin on his skeletal face and say loud and proudly “ Man’s intuition!” Annoyed that I got the same answer for the third time I throw a rock at his head and for a second It seems like he doesn’t notice, but at the last moment he dodges, spins around and spends a stake at me with blinding speed, and I duck down as fast as I can but feel it strike past where my head was a half second ago. He grins at and says again “Man’s intuition!” To which I slam my face into my hands and groan.

Groaning done I get up and ask again “So any real evidence we’re going in the right direction?” He nods his head and confidently says “Yes actually, look at the wall, “ He points to the wall and points to some deep and oddly shaped marks, with a black ooze spilling out. “Those are our signs we’re going in the right direction.” The smell from the ooze drifts over and I shudder a little at the stench coming off it, and back away from it, It smells sweet, too sweet that even from here it make my gums ache, but it also smells sour, so sour it makes Carcajou’s formula seem drinkable. Backing away some more I ask “That’s toxic is it?” Rashid nods his head “Yes, it’s quite toxic I assure you but only if you ingest it, but never let it get in you or it will make wish you were dead.”

I raise an eyebrow “Speaking from experience?”

He forms a slight frown and say bitterly “Yeah, one of the worst things I’ve ever felt. Wouldn’t wish it on my worse enemy, and I have a lot of enemies..” He pauses and grins at me “And annoying little punks who don’t respect their elders.”

“So what makes these marks? Some kind of badger or wyrm?” I ask with interest, I haven’t ever seen claw marks quite like these, they’re very weird looking too, sometime jagged and zigzagged but then turns into completely straight lines. Not quite matching up with anything I’ve seen before, yet also looking vaguely familiar.

Rashid sighs and says very tiredly but shot through with a dark anger “You’ll know what makes them when you see them boy. Any other question before we move on?”

I take a moment to let him calm down and ask “Yeah, last one why do you call this place a labyrinth?” He chuckles and says “Well, it because this place is trapping things from getting out and keeping us from getting in unless you know the proper way in like me, but we been lucky so far since haven’t-”

Rashid voice got cut off by painfully piercing, shrill screech from the down the cave. After it cut off I hear Rashid whisper “Well shit, should have known our luck wouldn’t have lasted.” He turns to me and says “Get ready boy, it’s live or die time.”