Destroyer of Worlds

8

'Shouldn't we have a rope or something, or chalk so we can scribble some arrows, or some other shit like they have in all those old stories?' Veitch asked uneasily as they picked their way through the twists and turns of the dusty tunnels beneath the queen's palace. Bearskin and Shadow John had found two torches to light their way, but they revealed no distinguishing features on the stone walls.

'My nose will lead us back out,' Bearskin said, before adding with a hesitance that masked a touch of distaste, 'Fragile Creatures have a distinct aroma.'

'You can smell the woman?' Shavi asked.

'Not yet. But when our paths cross…'

Shavi's hand jerked to his alien eye.

'Seeing things?' Veitch asked.

'Just flashes… flickers on the edge of my vision. It happens like that sometimes. I cannot tell what they are until they come into focus.'

Bearskin held up a hand to bring them to a halt. 'I smell… something. ' He listened intently. 'The beast still roams this place, but not near, not yet.'

As if in response to his words, a low, mournful growl echoed along the tunnels from deep within the Labyrinth, but Veitch understood that the odd acoustics of the place could mean it was much closer than it sounded. He drew his sword in readiness. 'How do we know it hasn't already eaten the girl?' he asked.

'We do not,' Bearskin replied.

Stooping to avoid scraping his top hat along the tunnel roof, Shadow John peered nervously into the dark. ''Pon my soul, this place is dismal. Can you smell the rotting bodies of the recently departed, Bearskin? How far am I from the parlours I usually inhabit. How very disturbing this all is. At least we have two Brothers of Dragons to save us.'

Veitch and Shavi exchanged a don't count on it look.

For the next hour they stumbled around the maze of branching tunnels and dead ends, clambering over piles of rubble or wading through ankle-deep pools of water. Occasionally blasts of warm air threatened to extinguish their torches and Bearskin and Shadow John fought to shield them with their bodies. The origins of the air currents were unknown, but suggested some shift in the Labyrinth's structure, or the opening and closing of doors to the outside.

At every junction, Bearskin's nostrils flared as he searched for telltale scents, and at one he let out a low growl. 'More of those skull-headed warriors have entered the Labyrinth,' he said, one hand unconsciously going to his blunderbuss.

Their journey was repeatedly punctuated by the low, mournful sound of the beast that lived there, sometimes so distant it was barely audible, sometimes unnervingly close at hand making Shadow John jump and shiver, his long fingers folding into claws.

Finally the endless blur of grey tunnels gave way to a hexagonal area about twenty-five feet across. In the centre of the space was a pile of yellowing human bones arranged in a circular pattern with a hollow at the centre.

Bearskin plucked a thighbone from the heap and gave it a cursory examination before tossing it over his shoulder. 'A nest,' he said.

Shavi spun swiftly. 'Something is here.' He came to a halt before one of the six tunnels that led away from the nest. 'Gone now.'

The mournful growl of the beast issued from another tunnel, so close it raised the hairs on Veitch's neck.

'Hurry, now!' Bearskin insisted. At a rapid pace, he led the way into the opposite tunnel, before a crash of bones and the sound of pursuit echoed behind them. Though the echoes were disorienting, Veitch was sure the beast moved on four feet, but it occasionally issued a rasping laugh that was eerily human. It was fast, drawing closer.

'We're going to have to stand and fight,' Veitch gasped.

'Not advisable,' Bearskin shouted back. The flames of his torch trailed behind him as he loped, and to Veitch he now looked more animal than man.

Somehow they avoided dead ends as they ducked this way and that down the many tunnel options presented to them, but the beast at their back never slowed. The rasping laugh came faster, accompanied now by the gnashing of teeth.

'Get set now,' Bearskin roared furiously, 'and run as fast as you can!'

As they raced past the point where another tunnel crossed their path, Veitch glimpsed the pale forms of the Aztec warriors approaching from their left. A moment later the tunnel reverberated with a terrible rending and tearing accompanied by the beast's human laughter as it attacked the warriors.

By the time Bearskin brought them to a halt, the beast no longer followed. Resting his hands on his knees, Veitch filled his searing lungs, but Bearskin was already pacing around, sniffing the air.

'We are nearly there. Yes, I think we are!' he exclaimed. He set off again, and after a few more minutes they proceeded down a short stretch of tunnel that ended in roof-fall. Crouched at the foot of the rubble, hugging her knees and whimpering, was Rachel. Her tear-stained face was streaked with dust and her clothes were dirty. She cried out as Bearskin approached her.

'Let me,' Veitch said.

Her blinking eyes recognised on some level that they were the same species, but the fear held her in thrall for several moments.

'You,' she said weakly. 'I saw you… when I first arrived in this… in this…' She gulped a mouthful of air. 'Awful place.' Breaking into wracking sobs, she collapsed into Veitch's arms.

He held her tightly until her crying subsided. 'Yeah, this place can be a nightmare until you realise how it works. But we'll soon get you back on your feet.'

'Home,' she said. 'Take me home. Please.'

'First thing, we need to get you out of these tunnels. Can you walk?'

Nodding, she appeared to see the Labyrinth for the first time. 'I don't know how I got here. It's all a blur since I last saw you.'

Helping her to her feet, he briefly introduced her to the others, though she shied away from Bearskin and Shadow John and refused even to look at them.

'Understandable,' Bearskin said. 'Fragile Creatures find it difficult to adjust to the wonders of the Far Lands, if they ever do.'

'I do not understand how she got here,' Shavi whispered to Veitch once they were back in the tunnels. 'Only those with the Pendragon Spirit can cross to the Otherworld without paying a price, and she cannot be a Sister of Dragons.'

'That's something we can work out later, if we actually get out of this hole,' Veitch said.

Whimpering intermittently, Rachel stumbled along close to Veitch, occasionally reaching out to touch his arm for comfort. He was moved by how quickly she had placed her faith in him.

Following Bearskin's nose, they cautiously retraced their steps, senses attuned for the approach of the Labyrinth's guardian. At the junction of the two tunnels, the half-eaten remains of the Aztec warriors were scattered. Once the nest was far behind them, their spirits eased a little, but the beast's occasional echoing growls still troubled them and sent Rachel into paroxysms of sobs.

It felt as if they had walked miles when Bearskin announced, 'We near the exit. This is the most dangerous time of all.'

The words had barely left his lips when he pitched forwards to the ground, unconscious.

Shadow John let out a cry of alarm. 'Something rushed by me!' He whirled round and round, but his torch revealed nothing.

Veitch prised Rachel's fingers from his wrist and drew his sword. A moment passed as they all waited tensely, and then the staccato laughter rolled out of the dark only feet ahead of them. Shadow John held Rachel tightly against him to prevent her from fleeing back along the tunnels.

'Right, you bastard,' Veitch growled, raising his sword above his shoulder, 'let's see what you've got.'

Veitch only glimpsed a flash of the beast as it erupted from the dark into the tiny, flickering circle of torchlight: a human face, distorted across a broad head, slanting silver eyes, and then the long, lean body of a jungle cat ending in a thrashing, sinuous tail tipped with sharp quills. As it bore down on him, the mouth wrenched open to reveal three rows of snapping teeth.

'The Manticore!' Shadow John cried.

A weight crashed into Veitch's midriff as he prepared to swing his sword, slamming him into the wall and then down onto the flags, winded. It was not the Manticore, for the beast passed over him a second later, turning fluidly mid-leap to rake him with its enormous claws. Instinctively, Veitch rolled out of the way as the creature crashed to the flags, so close he could feel its hot, meaty breath on his cheek.

Disoriented, Veitch heard Shavi shouting, but his words were drowned out by the sound of Rachel's screaming. Scrambling to his feet, he had a split second to search for whatever had knocked him down before the Manticore leaped again. His legs went out from under him before he could even raise his sword. Through his shock, he just heard the last of Shavi shouting, '… something else here!' and then the Manticore pinned him down. The distorted human face pressed close, made worse for the lack of any intelligence in the wild eyes. Deep in its throat, the laughter rumbled and then it tore its jaws wide.

Veitch's vision was filled by the rows of teeth. Suddenly the Manticore convulsed and turned on Shadow John, whose fingers were hooked into cruel claws. The Manticore's side had been raked open.

Stepping in front of Shadow John, Veitch said, 'Thanks for the help, mate, but stay back. Protect the girl.'

'I see it!' Shavi called.

Veitch only had a brief impression of Shavi wrestling on the floor with something he couldn't see before he was surrounded by the Manticore's snapping jaws and rending claws. Rolling to one side, he let the sword dance instinctively, the flames painting a sizzling blue mandala in the dark.

The Manticore's laughter turned to shrieks, and it fell to the floor in a frenzy. Veitch hacked until it was dead.

Shavi continued to roll around the floor, welts and scratches mysteriously appearing across his face and hands. Shaking the daze from his head, Bearskin lifted Shavi with one hand and with the other wrenched out whatever invisible thing was clutched in Shavi's grasp. One snap of his wrist brought the struggle to an end. In his hand materialised a lifeless thing that resembled a small ape.

'The queen of the Court of Endless Horizons needs a lesson in fairness, ' Bearskin growled. 'Two beasts instead of the one she told her contestants they faced. And invisible to boot.'

Attempting to staunch his wounds, Shavi said, 'So, this eye does have its uses.'

Veitch clapped an arm around his friend's shoulders. 'Good bit of teamwork there, pal.'

'Just like the old days.'

Rachel's cries ebbed away, and she looked on Veitch with the wonder only reserved for a true saviour. As he helped her to her feet, she asked with breathless respect, 'Who are you?'

'South London's finest, darlin',' he replied.

Within fifteen minutes they were out of the Labyrinth. The city was still gripped by the darkness and the intermittent screams had not diminished, but now there was a new element: a slow drum-beat rolling out across the rooftops. It felt like a call to ceremony, but there was something in the quality of it that left them all inexplicably chilled.