Chapter 62. The Maze

eng Ren, do you hear me?”

Pendaran did not want to open his eyes.  The oblivion of sleep was his only refuge now and he fought hard to remain there.  When Zhou spoke to him, however, he did not resist.  Pendaran acknowledged that he was mad, but the only thing that had helped him survive was Zhou’s gentle voice in his head.

“Yes, I hear you.”

“Help is coming, it will be here soon.  You just need to hang on a while longer.”

“Of course, Master.”

“I am going away, now.  I won’t be able to speak to you again until we meet in the flesh.”

Pendaran’s eyes snapped open and he stared into the semi-darkness, aware of the sound of another human being breathing softly beside him.  Why did he have to become sane now of all times?

“Don’t go… I don’t know how I could have fought Zhou Li without you.  I’m scared and I need you.  This place is so terrible.”

“Pen, you give me too much credit,” Zhou replied wearily, “I urged you to fight, but I did not tell you how.  Trust your instincts, they have always helped you to survive.  Your troubles come from doubting them.”

Tears flooded his eyes.  To be alone in this tormented place was unbearable.  Parting from Zhou again, even if he was just a tormented figment of his imagination, was inconceivable.

“You’re not mad, Pen, I fled to you when my spirit was cut loose, remember?”

Pendaran nodded numbly.  Part of him really wanted to believe that was true, but he also remembered his breakdown, his attempt to take his own life, the bonds and the madness that Threnody had awakened in him.  Now that he had fallen down the dark shaft of insanity, he did not believe he could climb out.

“Your madness was justified, my friend, you were in a great deal of emotional pain.  We will meet again and together we will mend what was broken.  Believe that.”

“I can’t do this alone,” Pendaran protested.

“You aren’t alone, my friend.  Keisha will help you now.”

“She murdered you!”

“I am alive, Pen, you know that to be true.”

“I don’t know what’s real any more, I’ve gone mad.  I thought you were alive, but I may have dreamed it, just as I am hearing your voice now but I cannot see you.”

“Pen, I have little time now, I’m being pulled back to my body and I cannot resist for much longer.  Close your eyes and reach inward.  Perform the mantra to open your heart.”

Pendaran swallowed and focused on his breathing, pushing the doubt and fear from his body with each exhalation.  Centering, he chanted softly, the meter matching the toll of his heart and pushing the frightened chatter from his mind.  Peace came to him after weeks of misery, a warmth that drove the torment from his soul.  He knew the truth now, felt it in a way his mind could never grasp.

“Farewell, my friend,” Zhou said gently, “We’ll see each other soon.”

“I miss you.  I want to go home,” he sighed.

“Soon, Pen.  Just hang on a while longer.”

He was fully awake now, his body trembling as he tried to contain his grief. The very things that sustained him were also painful.  He longed for Teleri but remembered her blind rage and rejection.  Mabane elicited pangs of guilt.  He should never have abandoned the boy the way he had.  Everyone he cared about he had failed in some way, even Zhou. His cowardice and evasiveness had ultimately left his master open to attack.

A warm hand brushed his shoulder and he froze.  It was then he realized where his head was resting and he felt foolish and ashamed.  He opened his mouth to speak and a hoarse groan emerged, reminding him that it had been ages since his last drink of water or morsel of food.  Pain seized his body as he attempted to sit up.  He could feel the burn of the welts drawn across his back and shoulders.  Vaguely he remembered the cruelty that had been lavished upon him and pushed it out of his mind.  He could ill afford to dwell upon such things now.

Groaning to his knees, he gazed into the empty darkness, seeking the assassin.  Brittle white flashes of fear shimmered softly before his inner eye, drawing him toward the bundle of coiled intention that indicated another human intellect.  A hex leaped instinctively to mind, needing only to be invoked and directed.  As if sensing her danger, she stirred, her hand slapping the smooth stone as she rose stiffly to her feet.

“Is Peng Ren able to travel now?”

“Where?”

“Out of here,” she replied coolly, “Leave this maze and find a way out of torment.”

“How did you get here?”

The assassin hesitated, but when she spoke, her voice was bitter.

“I foolishly thought to kill Master Tan, but I failed and was imprisoned.  I do not know how long I was there, but after a long time, he took me in chains to a hidden room. There was a shimmering portal and he forced me through it.  On the other side there was a round chamber and everything was bathed in a fiery light.  A terrible demon roared its freedom, and yet it could not leave the chamber via the openings in the walls nor pass through the portal.  It was wild with rage and I could tell Master Tan was afraid of it.

“Tan offered me to the demon, but it gave me into Zhou Li’s keeping.  After that I do not remember much.  Zhou Li carried me down the stairs to the prison and threw me into one of the cells.  Until you arrived, I was alone and I have no idea how long I had been there.”

“How many flights of stairs did he carry you down?”

She was silent for a moment, struggling to recall.

“Three, maybe four.”

“How many did we climb trying to escape?”

“Six or seven… maybe I miscounted, or perhaps it only seemed like more since we were so tired and climbing.”

“Seven,” Pendaran replied, hiding his embarrassment over the things he had subconsciously counted in the last few days, “Are you sure his descent was shorter?”

“It only lasted a few minutes.”

“Doesn’t it seem odd to you that no one has come looking for us?”

“Now that you mention it, yes.”

“So they have us where they want us.”

Pendaran wobbled to his feet and moved toward the dim light of the landing.  Once there, he lifted the hem of the ragged robe and worked away at the threads until one of them broke loose and began to unravel steadily.  Each time he reached the end of one, he began anew, knotting the old and new together carefully.  He reeled it around his palm as we worked, taking care to prevent it from becoming entangled.  Keisha emerged from the darkness and watched him, her sharp eyes flashing with curiosity.

“I need to test a theory.  Go up one flight and return.  Tell me what you find there.”

Smirking, the assassin nodded and moved lightly up the steps.  He listened as her soft footfalls faded above him.  A few moments later he heard her return and she described an empty landing with a torch and more stairs curling upward.

“Take the end of this thread and move slowly up the steps as I play it out.  Follow the curve of the outer wall.”

Nodding, she gently wrapped a loop of the silken thread around her finger and slinked gracefully back the way she had come.  A moment later he heard a cry of surprise.

“A door,” she gasped, “It was not here before.”

“Stay there and don’t try to open it.”

With infinite care he negotiated the steps, wrapping the thread carefully back around his hand as he went.  The air grew warmer and smelled slightly of sulfur as he emerged at the end of a hall with an immense black door overshadowing them.  Its peaked lintel and arch was an unearthly shade of lavender and electric blue runes shimmered over its surface. At the keystone high above a hideous skull glared down at him, its empty sockets pulsating with an actinic glow.

“What do you see?” he asked her, noting her lack of alarm.

“A plain wooden door,” she said, shrugging, “Usual garrison fare, iron hasps and latch.”

“Have you attended the rite of Weh No Su?”

“I’ve heard of it.  Master Tan thought it was unnecessary for imperial assassins to attend that ceremony.  He said the gods already favored us since we served the empire.”

“Of course he would say that,” Pendaran snorted, “I’d imagine he would not want you to see the company he keeps.”

Keisha blanched and ran a nervous hand through her strawberry blonde locks.

“So you can see something different?”

Pendaran nodded grimly.  He drew the ring of keys from the pocket of the robe and studied them each in turn.  He was at a loss.  None of the keys stood out to him as the one that would safely open the door.  It did not help matters that there did not appear to be a keyhole, or a latch, for that matter.  Maybe the door only opened by virtue of someone operating it from the other side.  Or perhaps only demons could come and go freely.

“Do you see a keyhole?” he asked.  Keisha bit her lip and pointed to the center of the door.  He handed the keys to her, “Which do you think would fit it?”

One by one the assassin compared each key.  She eventually chose a tarnished key made of silvery brass and handed it to him.  Utterly unremarkable, he stretched it out on his palm and studied it.

“I’m going to try it.  Stand at the edge of the landing in case something bad happens.”

Grinding his teeth, Pendaran clasped the key and gingerly touched the area she had pointed to with his finger tips, glancing at the runes and skull anxiously as he did so. The black substance of the door was cold and smooth beneath his probing hand until he found a rounded incision that had to be the keyhole.  Sweat beaded upon his brow as he slotted the key in place.  The ring of keys jingled ominously as the blank doorway faded.  Pendaran stared at the room beyond and cried out in alarm as Keisha struck him from behind and pushed him forcibly through the arch moments before the door rematerialized.

Of course she could not have seen the creature staring back at him on the other side.  The shadowy chamber hid it well, but the reddish gleam of its dead blank eyes fixed upon them.  Keisha gasped as she rolled back onto her feet.  Pendaran searched frantically for a way out and spied two narrow openings in the raw fleshy substance of the rounded walls.  The vile guardian towered over them now as it uncoiled and its gangrenous belly scutes flashed in the meager light of a single torch.

The hideous serpent was enormous. Sprawled over the entire floor, is scaly loops of muscular flesh lay in coils ready to ensnare them should they dare step into its midst.  Sharp black spikes lined its dorsal surface, an arsenal of vicious blades that could cut them to ribbons.  Its monstrous head sported a wide gaping maw and rivulets of hot saliva drooled past its dreadful yellow teeth. A pair of immense nostrils snuffled hungrily below its burning gaze, savoring their odor and guiding it inexorably closer.

It was a mockery of the Forgotten Ones and sported two pairs of muscular arms, one of which clutched curved scimitars the color and luster of a midnight sky. The second pair clenched a weighted net and barbed spear.  Reeking sheets of filthy skin were stretched between its limbs, and as it raised its blades, Pendaran could see enormous ticks and maggots thriving on its suppurating wounds.

His back pressed to the wall, he sidled toward Keisha, his gaze never leaving the terrible face of the beast.  It rocked slowly, slithering forward with a sound like sizzling water over hot metal.  The assassin trembled, a low moan of fear escaping her lips.

“Can’t fight this,” she croaked, “Don’t know how to kill it.”

“We’ll go around,” he whispered, “The minute we get to that opening we run for it.”

“But it will follow.”

“It would have attacked by now if it intended to kill us,” he whispered, “We have to flee before it changes its mind.”

Trembling, she nodded and they moved quickly along the curve of the living wall as the serpent creature slithered after them and unfurled its net.  Pendaran nudged Keisha ahead of him, lingering to invoke his most potent hex in the vain hope it would delay their foe. The hex punished the beast’s attack and it reeled in agony, blinded.

Pendaran’s arms were crushed to his sides as the spinning snare wrapped around his torso.  Borne to the ground under its weight and momentum, Keisha grasped the heavy cords at his nape and helped him regain his feet while the beast slashed the air blindly around them.  Once more he shouted an incantation and the creature snarled in pain, flailing uselessly onto its breast and buying the two of them time to reach the passage. 

Pendaran could barely run beneath the confining weight of the net.  He lagged behind Keisha as she plunged ahead, her lithe form barely visible in the dimness.  Gasping for breath, he staggered onward, the hair of his nape rising as he heard the metallic hiss of the serpent’s scutes over the floor of the fleshy passage.  Keisha returned to his side, sawing the black cords of the net with her knife as Pendaran thrashed free and shed the hideous snare.

“We don’t know what we’ll run into while fleeing,” he panted, realizing she had reached the same conclusion when he saw the stricken look in her dark eyes.  There was no going back now and nowhere to hide.  Keisha clasped his wrist and urged him to follow but he resisted, drawing free to focus upon the nebulous black mind of the demon slithering inexorably after them.  He lashed it with another hex, calling upon the ether to weigh heavily upon it and slow its pace further.  Now he followed as Keisha drew him onward, her grasp firm and insistent.  The passage split and she veered right, following the organic curve of the pulsating wall suffused with a pale glow. They were heading downward.  Driven by instinct, the assassin guided him over the strange terrain, the passage barely wide enough for them to rush single file.

They ran until both of them were out of breath, hearts pounding in their breasts as they leaned against the throbbing wall side by side. Pendaran was finished.  His poor wounded body had known neither food nor water for a long time.  Keisha squeezed his hand, her pretty face lined with exhaustion and fear.

“We have to keep moving.  Walk with me.”

“Is it still following?” he rasped, disappointed when she nodded grimly.

“The air smells less rotten in this direction,” she said, “I’m hoping we’ll wind up outside with room to run.”

Driven by the fear of encountering the hideous serpent, Pendaran staggered onward.  Slowing the creature had helped, but every delay allowed it to inch closer.  The passage grew even narrower for a time and finally Keisha drew to an abrupt halt.

“Dead end,” she murmured as he slumped to his knees and panted miserably.

“Thank you for trying to help me,” Pendaran said.  Of course they would fight.  Their odds were better in such a constricted space, but they were small odds just the same.

“Close your eyes and do not open them again until I instruct you to do so,” Keisha said quietly.

Too tired to protest or question her strange request, he did so as she urged him to his feet.

“Hold me around my waist.  Don’t let go no matter what.”

Feeling awkward, he wrapped his arms around her narrow form, having to stoop to do so. His face was even with her breasts and he wanted to protest that he was a married man with a very jealous wife.  Then he snorted to himself, realizing it hardly mattered now.  The last thing on his mind was cheating Teleri and Keisha was a flesh and blood human being, not a demon.

“If I am wrong, we’ll die,” Keisha murmured, “but it will be quick and relatively painless.  I’d rather take my chances with that death than the one the demon will deliver.”

“Agreed, do what you must.”

Uttering a prayer to Lyssa under her breath, Keisha whispered an incantation and an unsettling pall of frigid darkness descended upon them.  He wanted to open his eyes but Keisha seemed to know his desire and pressed his face into her shoulder.  The ether roared around him, an eternity passed in the space of but one second.  There was a crack and a shudder, the ground beneath his feet shifting as the sensation faded away.

“I was right,” Keisha said, “It’s unfortunate, however, that the target of my step had company.”

Pendaran lifted his head and gazed upon their new surroundings.  The bloated red sun that had dogged his journey through torment glared back at him, revealing a circle of translucent shimmering beings.  They floated gracefully above the blackened ground, limbs forged of lavender and lightning, their bodies draped with ragged dun cloth.  A few wore steely masks that gave them an extra air of menace.  Beautiful and terrible, Pendaran and Keisha sank instinctively to their knees as scythe, hammer and spear point were turned toward them.

“Varesh has not opened the way to Torment.  How is it these humans have come here?” demanded one of the shimmering creatures, its form shrouded with a pair of blinding white wings.

“Another way, perhaps,” warbled one of the magi, sparks dancing over its wand, “We should imprison them and make them lead us there.”

“Humans should die,” rumbled the enormous warrior among them.

“No, I agree with A’Pnaxi,” said the scythe wielder fiercely, “Humans are weak, they will tell us what we need to know.  Let us bear them back to the garrison.”

Pendaran’s only consolation was that they were not interested in killing them immediately.  There were ten of the creatures towering over them, odds that he and Keisha could not overcome even were they not weakened by exhaustion, thirst and hunger.  He did not fight when the big warrior grasped his arm and drew him trembling to his feet.  They were a cruel and proud race and their disdain for his weak flesh was evident in the harsh way they handled him.  Flung head down over the warrior’s shoulder, he winced as the scythe wielder seized Keisha by her pale hair and spun her around.  She made a squeak of pain as the creature threw her carelessly over its shoulder.  A cruel bark of laughter emanated from one of the magi.