The Stone Labyrinth

“Are you sure you already want to resume your travel? Nothing compels you to leave us.”

     Standing on the threshold, Henox turned to face Kemishi.

“I am grateful for your hospitality, though we lingered here long enough. It is time for us to continue our journey.”

“Well, if you come back around here,” Lennac began, a step away from Kemishi, leaning his hands against her shoulders “our doors are open to you. As long as there is a door, of course!”

     With enthusiasm, the little fairy nodded. Seemingly confident about this possibility. Naivety probably has its charm.

“Yes! We’ll come back to visit you.”

“On that note.”

     Henox concluded with these mere words, turning around to leave the cottage’s threshold. Sun rays made their way to the ground, lightening the undergrowth, passing off the fine particles floating in the air as golden dust.

     He only made a few steps before Lennac promptly added.

“Gretel! Enjoy your journey! Next time we’ll see each other, it’ll be your turn to tell me your adventures.”

     The smile she gave him then was beaming.

“Promised! And you take care of your lover!”

     Widening her eyes, Kemishi’s cheeks instantly reddened. Lennac, on the other hand, displayed a satisfied grin.

“Of course!”

     The sorcerer didn’t stay any longer. A wrong trail, again.

     Despite the alchemist’s goodwill, she ended up taking him aside to tell him that her attempts had failed. A fairy’s wing constitution, a concentrate of crystallised magic, was too complex for her. To find a compound able to interact with that unique matter would take far too long. It was better for him to continue his research.

     Kemishi profusely apologised. Lennac had offered them a magic map to thank Henox for helping them. Their benevolence was no lie.

     Regardless of this, from the little he had learnt about them, Henox found it odd for the alchemist to abandon so hastily. In a mere few days she had given up? But well, maybe the recent events gave her the desire to focus solely on the research of an antidote that would save Lennac. At least he was thankful she didn’t make them lose more time.

     They still had many trails to explore. The only thing they needed was to avoid lingering in the wrong place.

     Time had become a precious commodity.

     Precious? That mere thought shocked the sorcerer. No, rare would be more appropriate.

“Sir Henox!” Gretel pulled him out of his thoughts. “Can we go to the spot on the map?”

“I would prefer we avoid to go there. It would be better for us to join a village. We have a better chance to find a track over there.”

“Please, let’s go there! I promise to behave!”

“We’ll visit numerous other places.”

“No… Lennac has told me it is a unique place! Which makes your eyes sparkle! Please! Please! Please!”

     Seeming worried, Gretel persisted. It was unlike her to act whimsically.

     Henox sighed. It was a waste of breath to continue this debate.

“Very well. We’ll go there.”

***

Holding the parchment map in his hands, the sorcerer checked their progress, two tiny dots moving as they travelled. Trees had become sparse until being replaced by rocks. They still could be foreseen below, concealing their secrets and inhabitants from prying eyes.

“Are we arriving soon?”

“It will takes hours before.”

“Mmm…”

     The little fairy seemed thoughtful. She who mostly spent her time marvelling at everything she saw along the way, hopping on his shoulder until she got his attention and showed him her banal discoveries… She didn’t even seem to notice the will-o’-the-wisps dancing here and there, more numerous as they walked.

     Henox kept an eye over the blue flames while stones grew higher, shaping a path into which they indulged. It was an authentic maze of stone where multiple rocky corridors were forming before becoming more spaced out, less marked.

     It was impossible to see beforehand what was beyond these scattered walls.

     His battered armour was here and there scuffed, deep scratches having dented the silvery alloy. He stood there, in the middle of nowhere, his whiskers raised to the nascent moon.

     It was impossible to guess they would come face to face with a Matagot.

     Henox immediately stopped. Fortunately, he hadn’t noticed them so far.

     Slowly, the sorcerer caught sight of a near rock behind which one they would be able to hide. Slowly, he took a step towards it.

“A cat?”

     Gretel’s astonished voice made the silence shudder.

     And soon the Matagot’s whiskers did the same.

     The feline warrior’s eyes slid in their sockets until beholding the sorcerer and the fairy.

     His pupils slid, his jade gaze seemed to pierce them.

     Straightaway Henox extended his hand, fragments of rocks piling up on both sides… before falling back abruptly.

“Tssk…”

     Obviously… It wouldn’t work.

     Henox winced and scurried making a step aside to hide behind a tall stone, Gretel letting out a scream when the Matagot hurled an iron spear towards them, barely chipping the stone.

“Sorcerer! Don’t hide and come tackle me.”

     Soon enough they felt the stone behind their backs being riddled with impacts. The Matagot had seemingly found more projectiles.

“W-Why is he throwing things on us?” Gretel stuttered, shivering.

“Not a word!”

     In a panicked gesture, the little fairy clapped both hands over her mouth.

“What is a being like you doing with a fairy?” The Matagot questioned, raising his voice. “You have the same odour as I, what are you waiting for?! Get out from there!”

“It’s a misunderstanding. We’re just passing through. We’re travellers. Let us-”

“To others. Don’t try to fool me. Those who see it day after day recognise it without difficulty. The smell of death.”

     He hesitated – the Matagot’s footsteps drawing him closer to them at each passing second – taking enough time to glance at both sides, his mind boiling.

“A warrior? A thief? An assassin? Which one are you? Let me see the tint of the blood staining your paws.”

     Then the sorcerer moved away from the standing stone that had sheltered him until then.

“At the risk of disappointing you…”

     Exposed, facing the enemy, it was with a single move that he sent flying a cloud of pebbles and small stone splinters towards the cat warrior.

“…I absolutely loathe losing my time.”

     When the latter crossed his arms in front of him to protect himself from the rubbles, Henox slipped away, running along a corridor outlined by the menhirs.

“Grrrrrr…” The Matagot’s throat was run through by a growl, and he spat angrily. “There’s nothing I despise more than cowards!!!!”

     And to throw himself in pursuit of them, pouncing nimbly on their trail. His armour had ceased slowing him down long ago. His paws protected by the metal let deep prints where they landed just long enough to catapult him forward.

     Keeping Gretel in his hand, his goatskin floating in his wake, Henox didn’t lose time casting a glance backwards.

“We’re going to lose a tail.”

“Why do we flee??”

     Gretel clung at his index finger as tightly as she could. She had never seen the sorcerer flee from his opponents. Could that be he was reluctant to hurt a cat?

“Here, I can’t fight.” He grudgingly admitted at last. “There are no souls-”

     Though he didn’t have the opportunity to end his sentence. The rocks had given way beneath his feet… Barely letting him enough time to widen his eyes as they drowned at the bottom of a rift.