Severely sunstroke, I steadied his arm over my shoulder. "Almost there Eddinray! Almost there…Somewhere!"
Kat's lips resembled two stretched over raisins and his face was peeling like a paper mask. When the end of this desert finally arrived, it was one soul defeating sight too many — a cliff edge and an immense drop of a thousand feet. I collapsed with a pitiful groan. Eddinray withered like a weed to his backside whilst Harmony slunk over his legs. Kat remained standing of course, his cemented features eyeing what lay ahead, and what lay below. To the right of our depression was a steep stairway down to another hellish test, a glowing maze of yellow light, a labyrinth seemingly covering all corners of this realm with countless straights and corners; knot after complicated knot forming no distinct pattern. Judging by Kat's blank expression, not even he knew what waited in that network of limitless passages.
I broke the silence, but my encouraging words could not disguise the heartless tone underneath them.
"We carry on. One step at a time,” And raising my hand, I pointed far, far away. "Look there, that must be the centre,” The labyrinth's centre was an intense light of stars beaming an awe-inspiring spotlight up to the sky. It was divine radiation, the sort one would expect to find in Heaven, not Hell.
What was the purpose of this light? Was it transportation to some water abundant realm? Perhaps a free ticket to the gates of the 9th Fortress? I thought only of the good, as the rest of the labyrinth would almost certainly accommodate the bad.
"It's a dare,” said Kat, bitterly. "The prize of this puzzle."
"Well the prize stays put,” I said, wearily glancing at Harmony and Eddinray.
"Are you okay?"
"Fine,” they answered, simultaneously dull.
"Where's the water, Missy?" I thought aloud. "Where?"
I listened for her reply in my head, tried to remove myself from this life sucking place; but for all my concentration I came up short, my life-support was gone.
"There must be something Kat?" I yelled. "What have we missed? We'll be lost years in that labyrinth!"
Busying himself with meditation, any tranquillity Kat found was disrupted by a new and unfamiliar voice.
"Assist you?" he asked us.
Rapidly, we turned to meet a blurry vision, the ghostly mirage of a man no more than forty years old with a handsome face, blonde hair curling to his shoulders and a turquoise gown draping over his slender body.
"Assist you?" he repeated, his smile kind and voice soft.
"Does everyone else see this?" I stuttered, gobsmacked. Thankfully all their heads nodded, and a careful Harmony was first to approached the glowing stranger. "Who are you?” she asked, her voice painfully dry. What… do you want here?"
"I am the poet,” he replied, an Italian flavour to his accent. "I assist souls in the under-realm. Virgil, here on behalf of an individual most anxious to see you arrive safely, and promptly at your destination."
"Individual?" I said, bewildered. "Who? And what do you know of our destination?"
"Your destination is the 9thFortress," he answered, "and the individual I represent prefers to remain anonymous. It is his wish."
"His?" pressed Kat, drawing the dusty katana from his belt. "Talk!"
Unconcerned, Virgil parted his arms to reveal two defenceless palms. "I am here to help you samurai Kat. Take it or leave it." He then drifted like the ghost he was through Eddinray, giving the knight a ticklish chill.
"How can you help?" I inquired. "What are you offering?"
"I offer water and advice to reach the 9th Fortress. That is all. For now."
Reluctant to accept, Harmony interrogated. "This is Hell, Virgil, is it not? What ploy is this? The assistance you offer sorely comes free here. What price for your water and advice?"
"The price," he returned, with a grin, "is your trust."
Having given that away cheaply before, I darted a vigilant eye to Kat. "You ever experienced this?"
He shook his cruel face, and his inexperience did nothing for my nerves.
"I am an honorable man,” said the vaporous Virgil, now presenting a heavy barrel of clear water with a single wave of his arm. Too weary to be impressed, the barrel was the length and width of a man, and our lips ached for the sweet, wetness of it.
"Fill,” he added, presenting four flasks underneath the barrel. "Fill till you can carry no more in your bellies or flasks."
"Poisoned?" pried a suspicious Eddinray. “You dare poison a knight of the realm!”
"It is untarnished," Virgil replied, "a token of gratitude to Harmony Valour."
"Me?" she asked, surprised. "A token from whom? I do not understand."
"The man responsible for this gift expressed great concern for your welfare. He would not see you perish under these suns."
Harmony scratched at her elbow and appeared nonplussed, but her eyes portrayed a different story: a secret.
"Who could it be?" I asked her. "Any ideas?"
She shrugged. Then all of a sudden, her cautious attitude toward the ghost took a swift change of course.
"If this man," she said, "whoever he is is so concerned about me, then I shan't disappoint him!"
She sampled the barrel's water, then raised a satisfied face and dripping wet lips a moment later. "It's good. So good."
Kat remained steadfast in his thirst while we went to clench ours. "Fools!" he barked. "Fools!"
"It is a fool who willingly dies of thirst!" argued Harmony, soaking her ropey hair. "It is perfectly safe."
"The ferryman set you at an inhospitable port,” said Virgil, moving to Kat.
"You must have upset the skeleton a great deal."
"That maggot!" Kat exclaimed, bitterly punching thin air.
Boldly, I devoured the water at the barrel, moistening every parched part. Virgil gestured the obstinate Kat toward it, and reluctantly the warrior approached, sipping a cupful from his palm. Not as much as he wanted, certainly not as much as he needed. "This…individual you represent?" I asked Virgil, better for the drink. "Can you tell us how he's connected to Harmony?"
Virgil moved like the breeze to show me a clear view of his fine face. Harmony listened, her body looking stiff at the barrel.
"I only have my instructions,” he said. "Below is the labyrinth. Many have gone mad in its maze or perished pursuing its treasure…Pray stay left of that labyrinth — left at all times will ensure your escape."
"And after?" I asked him, the others also intrigued. "What then for us?"
"At the labyrinth's end you will come across five doors. The second will lead you the quickest and safest route to the 9thFortress…That is my message. Farewell."
And he was gone in a shower of sprites, leaving us to share puzzled expressions. A disturbing gargle then interrupted the interweaving thoughts. "Pull him out!" cried Harmony, noticing Eddinray's head bubbling deep in the barrel. Kat heaved back the knight's shoulders and the Englishman's drip happy face emerged, his armor filling up.
"Lovely!” he rejoiced. “Anyone fancy joining me in a bath?"
Harmony gave a disapproving flick of her hair, and then set to filling the four flasks left by Virgil. I meanwhile moved Kat aside for a surreptitious word in his ear.
"Harmony…" I whispered; "she's not telling us everything."
"Do you tell her everything Fox?"
"No, but I've got a feeling. Someone down here has an eye on her, and I think she knows who…"
"What to do men?" she interrupted us, passing me an overflowing flask.
I mustered a smirk back, as Kat went to wash his face. "Stop here tonight," he said. "Tomorrow…we enter the labyrinth."
23. Kindred Spirits
The evening sky was ablaze — clouds on fire — and all of us rested near or next to each other to take it all in. Eddinray slouched with Harmony beside him. Kat looked suitably itchy against the barrel whilst I paced, pressing the bloodied cloth against my eye-socket and going over that monumental brainteaser below.