Dounia was impatient to get moving and find Zahra. The others had been found, Zahra couldn't be too far. "I'm going to go get her. You guys stay here, watch Cyn, make sure she's okay. I'll just go back along the line, I won't do any exploring. Okay?"
"Cover more ground faster. A good idea," Tymythy grunted, nodding his head in agreement. "Stay on the marked paths perhaps, as much as possible? I doubt Zahra would decide to wander down unmarked paths, were she to find the trail we have already taken. And perhaps make new marks so you don't get lost backtracking, mistaking our old path with your new one?"
Dounia trotted off. It was difficult to remember at times that she was only fifteen but her youthful energy was now obvious in her stride.
And she was alone again but this time it was different, being in the service of her friends and knowing where they were (for the most part). There was also the confidence of her thin chalk line. She followed it as she was evenly chased by her infinite reflections through the crooked maze. She was speeding up until she came across an odd sight. A perfect image of a red hand at near shoulder height on the left side mirror.
Current Map - Dounia, Tymythy, Cairee
_
Zahra continued to follow the blue chaulk until she came to an achingly familiar dead end.
"I'm going to go get her. You guys stay here, watch Cyn, make sure she's okay..."
A protest rose in Cairee's throat. We can't separate! But Dounia's words turned the cleric's attention to Cyn. Was she badly hurt?
As Dounia hurried past, Cairee grabbed her arm. The thief squirmed, then stilled when she realized her friend was blessing her, not stopping her. "ecna Tis Res," she murmured.
Then she reached into her hood and stroked Ousel's wing. "Go with Dounia, and let me know if she's okay." Even though she had only known the bird for a short while, she felt confident she would know if they were in need. She gently lifted the small thrush out of her own hood and placed her into Dounia's. "I think Ousel can understand you. Tell her if she can help."
As Dounia trotted off, Cairee turned to Cyn. "May I examine you?"
Zahra blew out a frustrated sigh when she reached the dead end. One of the others would have recognized the futility of the path she had chose, but not her.
Turning around, she hurried back towards the junction where she had chosen poorly.
Ousel looked serious as she obeyed Cairee. She flew into Dounia's shayla and crawled until she was nestled into the back of the young thief's neck. Her feathers were soft and warm and her claws were like little needles.
Dounia could hear a little whisper, "I'm ready. Let's go."
The strange other feeling that Cairee felt since Ousel appeared was excitement.
Cairee took a look at Cyn. The wound was too symmetrical for a snake bite which was good as the size of the wound would make for an enormous creature. The wound came from a forged weapon and there were signs of poison. From the colour and viscosity it looked like a natural venom, snake or spider ... blood marsh spider venom, most likely.
"Ooh! That tickles," Dounia announces as the little bird climbs into her shayla. Then, "Hey! I understood you!" Shocked, she looks at Cairee. "I heard her!"
But there wasn't time to marvel, they had to find Zahra. Dounia sprints back down her chalk line, calling Zahra at every junction. When she came across the red hand, she grinned. "That's gotta be Zahra!" Or a trick her mind whispered, but she ignored it. Zahra must have found her line, then gone the wrong way on it. Speeding up, she called Zahra's name again. "ZAHRA! Stay put! I'm coming to you!"
As Cairee looked over Cyn's wound she could feel that tickling outside-of-herself feeling that she knew was Ousel's state. It felt like a sudden rush of determination.
Cairee took a look at Cyn. The wound was too symmetrical for a snake bite which was good as the size of the wound would make for an enormous creature. The wound came from a forged weapon and there were signs of poison. From the colour and viscosity it looked like a natural venom, snake or spider ... blood marsh spider venom, most likely.
Cairee shuddered at the thought of a creature what could make puncture wounds this size. "It must have felt as if you were attacked by a monster. But this wound was made by a forged weapon. A particularly cruel one, meant to replicate the bite of a blood marsh spider."
She reached into the pouch tied at her waste and carefully retrieved a small vial of white liquid with black flecks. The draught to delay the actions of poison they had acquired the day before, for protection from the portcullis beasts. They hadn't needed it then, and Cairee was grateful for it now. "Here, drink this. It will make you feel better. The effects are temporary. You'll still need care once we're back in the arena."
She patted down her pockets for something to cover the wound. If only she had her healers kit. But she hadn't seen it in days, and could only assume that she'd stupidly left it at Zahra's mentors home. "Does anyone have a handkerchief or clean bit of cloth I can use to wrap Cyn's neck?'
As she looked at the others, waiting for an answer, she caught Tymythy's eye. Her stoic friend looked exhausted, though he stood as straight and proud as possible. What trial had the mirror forced upon him? Cairee reached for her pendant. Surely Saiph's grace could sooth all wounds, even the kinds the cleric couldn't see?
"Does anyone have a handkerchief or clean bit of cloth I can use to wrap Cyn's neck?'
”No, but you are free to use as much of this as you need,” Tymythy staggered over, drawing a knife and taking hold of a corner of his half-cloak in the other. ”It’s clean enough, considering there’s barely any dust in these corridors.” He cut out a long strip of cloth and handed it over to Cairee, then leaned back against the wall to rest while keeping an eye on the corridors around them. Just because nothing had come out of the mirrors to hunt them thus far didn’t mean it couldn’t happen in the future. He could feel his quivering muscles settle slowly, the effects of the lethally beautiful demon’s spell fading finally, but he still felt sick in a way he could not describe even to himself.
And soon enough, another pulse of Cairee’s radiance washed over him, bringing a measure of relief. ”Thank you, this is better.” Not perfect, no, but a step in the right direction.
He was itching to share what he had seen of the vision, but then again, he well knew that they were observed magically for the benefit of the other guests so this was not the time nor the place for it, but one question he particularly nagging him, one word that had been thrown around as if it should matter to him.
”By the way, do any of you know what manner of thing a genie-rator is?”
Cairee poured a bit of the potion into Cyn's wound and fed her the rest. Cairee, using the gloves, she was able to draw out some of the milky substance and pinch the wounds closed. The gloves seemed to be able to mitigate whatever a healer's kit might be useful for. She could draw poison from the wound, attempt to close a laceration, or provide support for a break ... some of it by mystically entering the body with the gloves and working beneath the skin with very little blood.
After about two minutes Cairee could feel Ousel's feelings change. A sense of joy came to her and a slight longing to return.
-
Zahra headed back from her deadend and could here steps coming towards her. Dounia's familiar voice echoed through the hall, "Zahra, I'm coming." The two met somewhere in the middle of the passage's length.
Dounia felt a sense of anticipation build as she followed the hands and their pointing fingers. She spotted Zahra coming down the mirrored passage in reflections before she saw her friend. Ousel shuttered at the nap of dounia's neck.
Zahra sagged in relief when she saw Dounia before running to embrace her friend. "You're real! I'm so glad you found me!" The sorceress held Dounia tight, almost unwilling to let go.
"I don't know where any of the others are, do you?"
A little whisper emitted from Dounia’s Shayla, ”… can’t breathe …”
Dounia laughs, then shakes Zahra free. "You're squishing Cairee's little bird," she says, lifting her shalya a bit to reveal Ousel. "Yes, I found the others," she says proudly, as if it was fully her accomplishment. "Come on, let's join them," she pulls Zahra by the hand, refusing to let go, and retracing her blue line yet again. "Those hand prints were you, right? Clever!"
Ousel stretched her neck and flapped her wings to fluff herself out again and then nestled back int position.
It had been nearly three minutes since Dounia left to search for Zahra before their return. Cairee's confidence was bolstered by her empthic connection, that strange 'other' feeling, she had since Ousel appeared.
All were reunited and they now had a choice to make about what next ... and how much to tell each other.
Cairee tended to Cyn's wound, marvelling as her fingers seemed to move beneath the skin, drawing out the poison and encouraging the flesh to knit. These gloves were truly a gift from Saiph, even if they were found in a challenge. Her patron had guided Zahra towards them, the cleric was sure of it. "This should help you until we can get you to the healers tent."
”By the way, do any of you know what manner of thing a genie-rator is?”
"Is that Aerthane?" The term sounded strange. Perhaps it had a root in another language? "Do you think it's a clue, like what we saw in the trap challenge?"
Cairee could feel a sense of joy radiating from Ousel."Dounia found Zahra!" A few minutes later, the two women hurried towards them. Cairee pulled Zahra into a gentle hug. "Are you okay? We were so worried!"
Once the group had settled down, Cairee returned to the job of navigating them out of the maze. "We have much to discuss, but we should focus on getting out. Did anyone see anything that will help us solve this maze? Dounia, do you know where we are in relation to where we were all separated?"
Once the group had settled down, Cairee returned to the job of navigating them out of the maze. "We have much to discuss, but we should focus on getting out. Did anyone see anything that will help us solve this maze? Dounia, do you know where we are in relation to where we were all separated?"
”No clues how to finish the maze except what we were already doing, checking every corridor until we find the exit, but I did find another of these things,” Tymythy said, showing the others the next piece of the silver key he had secured from his last vision.
Dounia shouted with glee when Tymythy held up the key. "Amazing! Oh, well done!" She went to grab it, to try and slot it in with the others, but then pulled her hand back. Later, do that later, she scolded herself.
To Cairee, she pointed behind them, "Just three turns back there. We keep going forward now, right? And tie ourselves back together."
Zahra gasped and immediately let go when Dounia told her she was crushing Ousel. "I'm so sorry! That was so nice of Cairee to send her with you."
She blushed a bit when her friend called her clever. "I'm not sure how clever it was because I did it because I forgot I had that piece of chalk. I'm just glad we've found each other again." It was obvious that Zahra was happy and relieved to be back with the others but there was also an uncertainty and a sadness underlying her mood.
Zahra sank into Cairee's hug, grateful for the comfort of her friend's presence. She gave a small smile, "Physically I'm right as rain and ready to continue now that we're all back together." She squeezed Cairee's shoulder, "You ready to lead on?"
The sorceress joined Dounia in cheering Tymythy's find. "Someone was productive. I think that's the first glimpse of hope during this whole challenge."
Cairee, knowing Dounia had found Zahra through her strange empathic connection with Ousel, took a moment to go through the bag she brought back with her.
It seemed to be some kind of utility pack with several compartments. There were four: a main compartment (that contained the strange folding grapple hook she had used in her vision), a front pouch (which contained a small handful of iron spikes), and two side pouches (one of which contained a single delicate wooden carving of a feather).
Also in the pack was a series of silk climbing ropes, basic tinkerer’s tools, a hooded lantern, some lantern oil … a folding ladder? … a bed roll, fishing tackle.
This didn’t make sense. The entire bag seemed to weigh five pounds.
There was a set of cold weather clothes, a couple of sacks, a water skin filled with some very still water, a strange set of manacles, a kit that looked like an antidote kit, another that had make-up and false hair and sets of fake teeth … and an umbrella!
While they waited for Dounia, Cairee unshouldered her backpack and put it on the ground. "This came through the mirror with me," she said carefully, aware that the arena could likely hear what they were saying. Any talk of her friend would wait until they were safe behind closed doors. "Maybe there's something useful in it."
Cairee felt uncomfortable as she opened Flyson's backpack, as if she was spying on her old friend. Was it even his? Did the mirror take it away from him and give it to her? Was it a copy? A mirage? Would the contents disappear, like the belongings of the copies of Zahra and Tymythy that had attacked them in the trap challenge. She shuddered at the memory of Zahra's likeness turning to mud, and almost pushed away the bag.
But there could be something inside that would help them find their way out. She sent a little prayer to Flyson. If this is really yours, please forgive me for the intrusion. His face popped up in her mind's eye, rolling his eyes at her and smirking like he had so many times before. He didn't care. He would do exactly the same thing. She let out a chuckle, and untied the strap on the main compartment.
The bag seemed to hold endless items. There were ropes, a lantern, was that a ladder? Yet it weighed practically nothing. "Dounia will love this," she said with a smile.
None of the common items seemed particularly useful to their current situation, though Cairee giggled at the idea of Tymythy wearing the false teeth. She noted the antidote kit, but thought Cyn seemed okay for now. They should press on, though it was good to have on hand if Cyn's symptoms became worse.
There were a few items that seemed to have some special qualities. Perhaps they could help?
Cairee remembered the grappling hook. Flyson had bragged about pinching it from a drunken traveler. "It's called an 'anytool'. You can easily mold it into almost any shape. See?" She straightened the hook's curve and flatted the top half, turning it into a crude spoon. "It takes some practice."
She tried to focus on the other items. But the mirror had taken something from her, weakened her in some way. She couldn't concentrate. Their powers evaded her.
"We keep going forward now, right? And tie ourselves back together."
She squeezed Cairee's shoulder. "You ready to lead on?"
Cairee looked the way Dounia pointed, to their right. "That's the way I came, but there were other paths. How big is this place?"
She noticed Dounia staring at Cairee's new backpack. "Can you carry this? I think it'll do more good in your hands," she said casually, passing the light pack to her friend.
She made sure they were all secured to the rope, and led them onward.
Cairee remembered the grappling hook. Flyson had bragged about pinching it from a drunken traveler. "It's called an 'anytool'. You can easily mold it into almost any shape. See?" She straightened the hook's curve and flatted the top half, turning it into a crude spoon. "It takes some practice."
Tymythy’s eyes lit up as Cairee demonstrated the shape-shifting tool. ”Now this is magic I can appreciate,” he said, nodding his head. A tool that could become most anything one might need? An axe to cut firewood, a shovel to move sand and dirt, a hoe to till the soil, a saw to cut wood into planks... Vastly better way to use the spirits’ blessings than fixing the cycles of day and night in place, or many of the other utterly frivolous magical marvels he had seen in this strange land.
”Now this is magic I can appreciate.”
Cairee formed her rough spoon back into a hook shape and held it out to Tymythy. "I think it fitting you take stewardship of the tool. Who better to value it and put it to good use?"
The reunited team moved to the junction where Cairee had found herself near. There was a north passage that Cairee remembered led to a series of stairs (up, down, down, up, down). The passage east terminated thirty feet away and turned north. The south passage turned west after forty feet.
Cairee formed her rough spoon back into a hook shape and held it out to Tymythy. "I think it fitting you take stewardship of the tool. Who better to value it and put it to good use?"
"Thank you, I'll be happy to hold onto it," the hunter said eagerly, accepting the wondrous tool and immediately beginning to experiment with it, frowning as he found it difficult to concentrate on the image of one tool at once as his imagination took flight.
For a hunter who traveled light, something like this was a true spirit-send, a single light item that could turn into an answer to any number of widely different mundane needs.
"Those certainly look significant," Tymythy grunted, gesturing at the corridor leading to stairs. "But with this strange place, who knows. I'll go peek around the other two corners quickly," he said, jogging forward to see if the east and south passages continued further after their respective corners or came to immediate dead ends.
"They both continue for a bit," Tymythy said, having taken a look behind both corners. "So, more corridors or something else for a change? I think I could do with the stairs for variety's sake."
Zahra winced uneasily as Tymythy unbound himself from the rope to scout ahead. She relaxed when he returned. This place was weighing on her and she was ready for it to be over. She wanted desperately to retreat to the baths and have a good cry. She also needed to make up her mind about what she saw. Did she believe it or reject it?
The sorceress completely trusted Cairee, Tymythy, and Dounia to find their way out of the challenge. She nodded at Tymythy's suggestion and looked at Cairee, their leader, to see if she agreed.
Dounia pulls the pack onto her front, so she can dig around in it while she walks. She's shocked at how light it is, considering what's in it. "Where did you get this? Did it come through the mirror with you? Not fair! All I got was burned!" She wanted to ask more, but decided to wait until they were private. "Was this one of the secret goals, I wonder."
At the stairs, she paused to look around, confused. "I don't remember seeing stairs when the others went through. I wonder if this is the next level of challenge. Let's go down!"
Up, right, right, down, left, left, up, right, up, left, down, right, right, down, right, straight, left, up, left, left, down, straight, down, right, straight, right, down, right, right, up, left, left, up, left, down, right, straight, right, up, right, right, down, left, left, up, left, down, left, up, right, right, down, straight, down, straight, up, left, up, right, left, left, straight, right turning stair up, left, left, down, up.
The hall ended with a hatch in the floor. It was a simple wooden hatch with an iron handle.
Cairee led the team on. And on and on. The marched for what seemed like hours, though maybe it just felt that way to her. The trip through the mirror to her family home had taken more out of the cleric than she had realized. She was weary. Her body ached. And the responsibility of leading her team weighed heavily on her. Why was this taking so long? Had she missed something obvious? Was she guiding them into unnecessary peril?
They came to another dead end. Cairee almost turned back, would've missed the hatch in the floor. But Dounia pointed it out excitedly. "Look!" She pushed past Cairee to inspect it.
Cairee sagged against the wall, grateful for a moment's pause. It was hard to keep track of all the twists and turns, but she had a feeling they had been led North-West. "I think we may be 10-15 feet above where we started. Perhaps this hatch will lead us back to the main door." She pulled herself up and focused on the hatch, hand at her pendant, looking for any signs of magic.
"I think we may be 10-15 feet above where we started. Perhaps this hatch will lead us back to the main door." She pulled herself up and focused on the hatch, hand at her pendant, looking for any signs of magic.
Tymythy perked up at Cairee's words. He felt he had managed to keep his bearing reasonably well, but he hadn't figured they had come this far. "Really? That would be welcome news - I have had my fill of strange visions and meandering hallways both."
Dounia had been trying to keep track of their direction, though it seemed an impossible task. She agreed with Cairee's assessment, though she was more interested in the hatch.
Working together, as had become habit, she and Tymythy began to investigate for traps and other dangers before she pulled it open.
It wasn't just the stairs. The mirrors showing reflection upon reflection of the team, sometimes a feet feet away and sometimes in the distance, was starting to give the team members headaches. The stairs helped by taxing the body while the mirrors taxed the brain. Everyone was feeling it but the effects were most visible on Cairee and Zahra.
The group stopped at the hatch. Cairee reached out with her feelings, the empathy that gave her insight, and she could see magic. The hatch itself wasn't magical. It was something beyond the hatch.
The cleric stepped back to a distance where the aura was still visible and Tymythy and Dounia squeezed into the five foot wide space so they could examine the hatch.
The hinges and handle seemed to be simple iron. The hatch was ash but had pins through it. The pins were similar to those that might support iron banding on the opposite face. The wooden hatch was smaller than the opening by enough for someone to force their smallest fingertip into. Tymythy pointed it out and Dounia took a closer look.
There was a silver edging, perhaps even a silver plate on the other side of the hatch. It was clear to them both that the hatch was the back side of a secret door into the mirror maze.
There was no sign of a snare or poison needle. There were no tiny magic sigils or compressible pin triggers. The hatch itself seemed unlocked.
”Seems safe enough,” Tymythy said, exchanging nods with Dounia who seemed to agree. ”Only one way to see if it leads where you think it might,” he went on, put his hand on the handle and promptly pulled the hatch open.
"There's magic on the other side. If we are indeed where I think we are, we're on top of the long hall that ran from the door to the first room of visions. There was no magic in the hall. I could be sensing the door. Or perhaps something new."
Tymythy started to open the hatch. "What do you see?"
Cairee slid her hand out of the loop on the rope and gathered it from the others. "We can use this to climb down. Dounia, can you secure it to something?"
Tymythy pulled the hatch up and the hinges made a soft low squeak. The mirror attached to the hatches underside became exposed and reflected the six Black Birds. The floor they stood on was a full foot thick and then it was a ten foot drop to the floor beneath.
The hatch led to a hall that stretched to the left and right. The sides of the hall were lined with the same five foot wide by ten foot high mirrors.
"... There was no magic in the hall. I could be sensing the door. Or perhaps something new."
Cairee looked through the hatch, trying to determine the location of the magic she had sensed.
The magic was radiating the same auras they'd seem so far. They were unmistakable. Divination, enchantment, illusion.
Zahra leaned heavily against the wall as the others checked out the hatch. Every bone in her body felt like it was filled with lead and her head was all foggy.
"So we go back to the beginning?", she asked not really following where Cairee said they were. She looked doubtfully at the rope, "I'm not sure I have it in me to climb down a rope."
Tymythy laid down next to the hatch and inched forward enough to poke his head through the opening and looked around at the upsides-down hallways, seeing if there was anything down there he recognized.
Tymythy bent forward and into the hole. The hall beneath looked unremarkable in relation to the halls they'd already walked. It went fifteen feet to the right and turned left, and ten feet to the left and turned right.
Dpunia shrugged. "Well, we go down, or we go back. So let's go down. Don't worry Zahra, we can lower you. Well, Tymythy can. Here, I'll go down first and check it out."
She sat on the edge of the hatch and lowered herself down until she hung by her fingertips. Then she dropped the rest of the way down, using her reflexes and skills to try to land softly.
She then peered around while she waited for the rope to come down, looking for dangers or anything of interest. She was careful not to wander more than a few feet away from the hatch overhead.
Dounia did a tidy curl around the lip of the hatch and dropped lightly to the floor. The she crept to the corner on the left. A dead end.
She crept to the corner on the right. There was a path just five feet down going further right and a path forward with several sub-paths. It looked familiar.
Thirty feet down the corridor the floor was marked with a blue chalk line, and again at fifty feet.
"What does it look like?" Tymythy asked as he saw Dounia trotting back. "We all come down there or you climb back up and we backtrack from here?"
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(INTERLUDE)
They climbed in the light of the two moons for no one followed the secret way in the light of the cobolt moon alone.
Six times the path approached the mouth of her domicile and six times it led them back down the peak of the mountain. They were nearly there. The woman, of some orcish extraction, tightened her bandage again. She felt her ribs through the bandage and the plaster and counted in a soft voice, "three, four, fi-six, seven" She didn't tell the others. They could know she was hurt but never by how much.
The old man still watched her with concern. "Does your head wrap need attention?" He knew before she said anything that she would lie. She was their physical protection. She was their only real wall against what lay off the path and he worried.
"No, ancient one."
"Could you teach that to my apprentice here - HEY, BOY! I said stay on the path!"
"Calm yourself, ancient one. He's just resting."
"I promise Master. I was just removing a stone." The young man climbed back onto his crutch from sitting on a large stone at the path's edge and began to climb again. "I'll never." He looked the old man in the eyes with true regret. "Not after last time."
The old man felt a pang but stubbornly refused to back-peddle, "We're almost there."
She looked past the old man, "You did ok kid. You gave better than you got. If you're going to make a mistake up here then pay for it and move on. Don't let it take up your head space. Let's worry about the next thing that's going to kill us." She made pointed eye contact with the old man before turning around and reading the ground for tracks. 'Hmm, traces of condor perdition. A vicuna. No trace of what took it down. Snow leopard, maybe' she thought to herself.
It was another half-hour and they came to a small stone wall and in the wall was an arch and through the arch was an iron door. Above the arch old letters were written.
The old man looked up and read, "You have no power here, no office, no dominion, and no right. Enter of your own free will." He walked forward and knocked on the iron door three times with a breath-length pause between each knock. A light sound of metalworks issued from inside. He reached forward, pulled the bar handle and entered.
The half-orc woman shuddered and followed.
The young man tightened the strap holding the canvas package on his back and whispered to himself as he exhaled, "ga'ba'ra'ka". He paused as he pretended to read the words, mimicking his master.
A cobwebbed breeze wafted out of the door frame - cooooommmmme.
He forced his left foot forward and followed his master down a long winding stair.
"This way is a dead end, but that way we're back to our trail. Might as well come down here and we can try a different branch. Unless you want to backtrack through the stairs, and look more carefully for hidden passages. Seems like a lot of work to make that passage that doesn't do anything. It wasn't even a trap. What do you think?"
She felt frustrated, like there was something they were missing. What was the point of this place?!