Labyrinth Wall (9780991531219) (10 page)

A single door positioned behind me is the only exit. Oddly, there’s no flooring at all on the ground. It’s just dirt. A large comfortable-looking bed sits in the corner. Six feet from the bed, a small fire burns. Over near the front window sits a table with a couple benches. A third mutt is sprawled across the surface, chewing on what looks like a human bone, then lapping water out of a cup. Of all the strange things about this place that makes me the most uncomfortable.

A good fifteen minutes go by. Attempts to pry out of the binds yield no result. I start jerking the chair up in an effort to rip it from the ground. When that doesn’t work, hope of escape begins to fade. Neither the rope nor the chair will give. Discouraged and wondering what happened to Korun and Rase, I sit in silence.
What’s going to happen to me?

I try again to communicate with the Mahk and Creators tied to the wall. “Help,” I plead.

They don’t speak at all. A couple even look my way and whimper, like they know what I’m saying but can’t respond. Bones protruding from her cheeks, one fixes her eyes on me, licking her lips like she’s hungry.

Shivers shoot through my back, but I speak anyway. “What is this place? Who did this to you?”

One of the mutts yaps angrily at me, followed by a deep grunt.

Now the people go back to ignoring me. Uncomfortably strapped to the chair, I become restless after an hour or so passes. My gaze won’t tear away from the people tied to the wall. Terrible things must have been done to them that they would become so complacent.

A couple sleep on their sides, curled up in fetal positions. Others cling to the wall and whimper. One crawls to lap his tongue into a water bowl, barely in his reach. He doesn’t lift it in his hands to drink, the man laps at it like a dog.

The door swings open behind me. I’m tempted to whip my head and observe who enters, but I restrain myself. My eyes close as if I’m still asleep.

Discerning the many sounds that follow is difficult. For certain, more mutts trot inside. All of them get excited, yapping at each other almost as if in conversation. I strain to hear any human footsteps or the thumping of boots, but I never do.

My eyes stay shut tight, even though I only heard the mutts. My gut tells me there’s something else in the room with us. The people by the wall all stopped whimpering and got extremely quiet when the door opened. That could strictly be due to the dogs, but I doubt it.

My muscles have got to stay relaxed. Eyes need to stay closed. Resisting from tapping my feet is nearly impossible, but I manage.

Rattling comes from the direction of the table. I would guess that sound is a bag of bones. All the mutts start barking again as they run around the house. Bones hit the floor, and the dogs fight over them.

I still don’t hear anyone cross the floor, but a couple minutes later, water sloshes in the corner. I presume the sound is the filling of water bowls, but I can’t be sure.

The sound of the water ceases. All that can be heard for the next ten minutes is dogs gnawing on bones and prisoners lapping up water.

That’s when hot breath suddenly coats the back of my neck followed by a low growl.

Chapter 11
Rhymes and Riddles

The breath intensifies on my neck. Hands grip my shoulders, and my eyes jerk open in horror. I’m too terrified to look at whatever is behind me.

Hello, my pretty pet,

I knew you were awake.

You should never try to trick me.

I know what’s real and what’s fake.

A raspy voice whispers in my ear. The last word tapers off into a louder growl. I can feel my body shaking now.

Still I haven’t seen a face, but I’m able to observe the strange hands on my shoulders. They look almost like human hands, but they have coarse hair at the knuckles and animal claws instead of fingernails.

Shudders shoot through me when something wet drips on my collar bone.

Abruptly, he releases my shoulders and swings around me, placing a hand on my upper leg. His face is close to mine, and I’m staring into giant round dark eyes. His breath smells like that of an animal as he pants in my face.

He has normal human skin but instead of hair, the top of his head is covered in coarse fur. His abnormally round dark brown eyes make me cringe. Goop is accumulated at the crease of his eyelids. The creature’s ears are small and point up. The sides of his lower lips sag a little. Saliva hangs loosely, waiting to drop. Awkwardly he stares at my face, blinking a couple times.

Silence goes on for so long I can’t take it. “What do you want from me? Who are you?”

The left side of his upper lip rises when he talks. Giant sharp teeth like those of a lion are revealed as he opens his mouth to speak. His words are accompanied by a rumbling undertone.

My pretty pet, I’ve been so rude,

Of course my name you’d like to know.

It is Sir Riddles, if you will.

Think of me as neither friend nor foe.

Instead call me master,

You’ll be glad when you do.

I will teach you tricks,

And possibly even feed you.

His words come out slowly and sometimes aren’t even spoken but instead growled. He lets go of my leg before backing away toward the people chained at the wall. The monster walks with a bit of unsteadiness, but he wears long robes, preventing me from seeing what’s wrong with his legs.

See, these are my pets.

These are good and those bad.

He points at the people chained to the wall, indicating they’re his good pets. His gesture suggests the bad pets are outside the back windows, but I can’t see anyone. Straining to set my eyes on what he’s referring to, I finally make out dead bodies and bones scattered about on the ground outside.

They reap their fate.

Pets do better when they don’t make me mad.

He pauses in front of the prisoners then snaps his fingers. The Mahk and Creators instantly sit up, their legs tucked under their bodies, leaning on their front hands. They stare at Sir Riddles without flinching.

Sir Riddles cackles heartlessly. He smiles at me, like I should be impressed.

Next he extends his arm straight out horizontally in front of him. All the people chained to the wall lay down, stretched out on the floor. He motions his arm around in a circle, and the people roll in response.

Good little pets,

Now it’s time for a treat.

You all do so well,

And that’s why you get to eat.

My stomach writhes in sickness from watching the display. They’re all miserable, but they don’t have a choice except to obey.

Sir Riddles walks behind the table to pull out some food then sluggishly moves back over to the prisoners. Green and black mold coats parts of the food. He throws it to the ground in front of his “pets,” and they hastily swallow it down. Their skinny malnourished bodies are bruised all over. I wonder if they’re beaten when they misbehave or if they fight each other for scraps.

I think you’re going to be good, pretty pet,

And behave all the time.

He turns his attention back to me and inches in my direction.

I can punish you if you’re not,

That’s not a crime.

“I’d rather die than live like that!” I retort.

The prisoners whimper.

“I’m not scared of you.” I
am
afraid, but I’m more terrified of living like the people chained to the wall. I’d rather stand up to him than be degraded.

He snarls back at me with a wince.

I am patient, and I will wait.

I can play fair.

Until you’re ready to be good,

You can sit in that chair.

Yet again I find my strings are being pulled, this time by a different puppet master.
I refuse to be the puppet again
.

He continues to go about his own business. After retracing his steps back behind the table, he extracts food from a bag. His hairy hand pulls a meaty bone from the pan he has now placed in the center of the table. With no sense of dignity, he shoves giant portions of food in his mouth and clumps of it miss, smearing to his face. A couple of the dogs lay on the large table, also eating meat from the pan.

So disgusting, it’s offensive to watch. I close my eyes, trying to flee from it all, but chewing noises and raspy panting still haunt my escape.

It’s dangerous in the labyrinth anyway.

There’s nothing good outside.

Good pets are safe with Sir Riddles.

I help them hide.

“Hide from what? You’re the most terrible thing I’ve seen in the labyrinth. They don’t want to be here.” I look at him. Crumbs have collected on his robes.

Oh no, my pets tell me differently,

I know about the real dangers.

There’s lava, snakes,

And all kinds of evil scavengers.

His eyes narrow at me.

Many things about the labyrinth

Are kept secret from you.

So many dangers creeping about

Hidden from view.

“How could you know anything about the labyrinth since you hide in the Rotting Pass torturing people? I know almost every inch of this labyrinth. I’ve managed to survive on my own for two years. There’s nothing that can surprise me in it.”

Oh, but there is still something big

About which I am certain you don’t know.

Its brothers are a snack,

And it’s double a foe.

A difficult thing to kill,

But from its grave, a gift it will bestow.

“You’re just making things up to scare me. Is that what you did to them?” I motion my head in the direction of the people tied to the wall. “Did you make up lies and beat them until they submitted?”

He continues shoveling food into his mouth. The dogs are off the table now and piled around the bottom of the bed, all twenty-two of them sleeping.

Abruptly he stands up from the table and moves over to the bed.

Good night, my pets,

And think of sweet things.

Fight the nightmares away,

And we’ll see what tomorrow brings.

He throws off one heavy floor-length robe, revealing another underneath. I still haven’t seen what’s wrong with his legs. Instead of crawling into the bed, he leaps across the dogs into it. The iniquitous monster walks in a circle a couple times before curling his body like a canine on top of the blankets.

I can’t help but wonder what exactly is wrong with him. Perhaps he’s a Mahk the Creators didn’t get quite right. He’s not only physically abnormal. There’s something very wrong in his mind.

Lying in the bed, he repeats a riddle while he drifts to sleep.

Which little pets

Live in the penitentiary,

Eat dead rats,

And have selective memory?

He cackles every few minutes after he says his riddle. This goes on for a good thirty minutes before finally fading to loud snorting and snoring.

I sit perplexed, wondering how I’ll ever get out of this dog house. My only hope is Korun, but he may not even be alive.

Flames dance above the burning logs, casting dark shadows across the room. Snoring, panting, and whimpering fill the space. Fearful of what I’ll wake to face, I struggle to stay awake, but eventually, my eyelids insist on shutting and my surroundings fade away.

Sir Riddles doesn’t leave me alone in my sleep. The hot breath is on my neck again as drool falls from his mouth. He forces me to be a good pet, making me do tricks and drink like an animal. His words dance through my head. In my nightmares, he feeds me to his mutts.

I have no idea how long I’ve slept after I come to. As I open my eyes, I hope somehow I was rescued in the night and won’t find myself in the chair. Unfortunately, my wish doesn’t come true. I’m still in the wooden house of mutts. Sir Riddles, the mutts, and the prisoners are all real. A part of me had hoped I was still knocked out from the gas, imagining Sir Riddles in my head.

Across the room, Sir Riddles pets his saber tooth mutts, cuddling them.

Such sweet friends I have,

Always watching out for me,

Spending all our time together,

So happy are we.

He is mad. It would feel so good to slap the rhymes right out of him.

He stands up to stretch then walks over to the table. His mutts are eager for a meal, but he tells them it’s time to work, rushing all but three out the door. Repeating the same riddle from the night before, he picks up bones and cleans.

Which little pets

Live in the penitentiary,

Eat dead rats,

And have selective memory?

Sir Riddles works his way over to the food and eats a meal.

I’m conflicted as he does so. My stomach is starting to hurt, but I’m also sickened by his way of consumption. He looks up in the middle of a bite to see my cringing face.

Offended are we, my pretty pet,

To see me eat.

But I’m tired, you see,

After I made this whole place neat.

My head drops as I close my eyes. Darkness and decay are nothing new in this world, which is why there’s always a better place to go in my imagination. I go to the beautiful land with cascading water and take Blue with me. We enjoy a picnic together, eating cooked fish, bread, and strawberries for dinner. Elaborate pictures spring from my mind onto big boulders, and songs burst from my mouth. Blue dances in the water to her heart’s content. Nothing can harm us there.