SurfAngel_1031

  “I will get you, little girl. You can’t run and you can’t hide in my maze.” The minotaur grunted, then rammed itself into the door again to no avail then the area went silent.

  Standing in pce for a few minutes, Ruby waited until she was convinced that the dy minotaur had left.

  -Probably going around and coming in from another direction.-

  Ruby guessed to herself and focused on the room. Following the thin cabling with her eye, Ruby noticed that all the strands had been tied to cy pots that banced precariously on little strips of wood that could tip over with a slight breeze if it moved the cords. Teasing her with the glitter of gold, the egg with her original map piece along with a third section beckoned for Ruby on the far side of the room.

  -Avoid the strings, don’t break the jars and get to the other side before the minotaur gets inside.-

  After pacing around in her ‘safe’ zone for the better part of an hour, Ruby folded her arms and leaned against the door.

  -I can’t even test to see the limits of the lines. The good part of this whole thing is that it appears that the beast can’t get inside, so it’s one way in and one way out.-

  Smiling and shaking her head, Ruby clenched her fists and ughed. “Shit. What did Father tell me in abundance? Knowledge comes as a hard fact. Wisdom is the ability to use that fact.” She announced, then chuckled. “I was looking so hard at the strings, I didn’t think of the pottery.” Ruby pushed herself from the door and walked up to the closest cy jar, and simply lifted it from its home and set it on the floor.

  Curiosity jumped into Ruby’s mind and she nearly pulled the stopper from the fragile container. Coming to her senses, Ruby pulled her hand back and instead, cut the sck string with her dagger. “Just in case. I don’t want that to break open just because I tugged the line by accident.” Ruby walked to the empty strip of wood and pressed hard.

  -Good, it holds weight like I thought.-

  Biting down on the bde of her dagger, Ruby jumped on the pnk and found herself at chest level with another pot. Banced as though she were on a mast, Ruby first gave the string sck and then cut it from the jar. Hopping down she set the container down gently and resumed her trek inward.

  After going back and forth to the front of the room, Ruby eventually had a long line of pottery and the direct means to the puzzle pieces. Deciding to take the path she knew was safe, Ruby climbed and jumped from pnk to pnk until she nded with the grace of a cat right in front of her prize. “Gotcha.” Ruby gleefully announced and heard the pieces separate again. While reaching for the third map piece, a little brass pte flipped up and dispyed another nugget of wisdom.

  ‘No man has the right to be an amateur in the matter of physical training. It is a shame for a man to grow old without seeing the beauty and strength of which his body is capable.’-Socrates

  Rubbing her sore arms from all of the climbing she’d just done, Ruby nodded. “True…every true.” She quipped aloud and looked at her new map chunk. Rather than like the others, there were no numbers, letters or even pathways. There was only one single arrow and it was moving around, occasionally turning in every direction, but always in a pattern that suggested that the arrow was patrolling.

  -Great. Please don’t let me be right about this.-

  For a final time, Ruby became an acrobat and made her way back to the iron door, and as she approached the locks released and the door opened once again.

  -Small favors.-

  Illuminated by her stolen blue light rock, Ruby sighed and made her way to where the arrow kept its erratic and looping pattern. Ruby knew from the knots in her stomach that the arrows were leading her to the protector of the maze, a minotaur. Recalling the glimpse she had prior, she could easily tell that unlike the Greek legends, this one was roughly nine feet tall, female, with thin cow hair over its entire body. Strong muscles outlined the beast's arms and legs, her mane stingy and hung down to the tops of her well-proportioned breasts. Ruby took a deep breath and pictured the one final part to the minotaur-girl, the huge axe that it wielded without any problem.

  Upon hearing the loud hooves from her adversary, Ruby put her light back in her pouch and took a deep breath, confirming her current fear.

  -Sometimes being right is terrible. How to deal with the minotaur?-

  Upon hearing the footsteps pass her and go a few feet down the hallway, Ruby took a single step before hearing a gruff yet distinctly feminine voice. “I know you are there, girl. I smelled you long ago.” The minotaur breathed deeply, “The question now is, do you want to die in the dark like a cowering rat, or with your little light, courage running in your veins?”

  Realizing that she’d been caught, Ruby lifted the stone from its bag and illuminated the area, and looked down at the gold map, noting that the arrow had stopped moving. “Surely there is another…” Ruby felt a quick breeze which gave her enough warning to react. A quick somersault backwards allowed her to avoid a hefty and hard swing from her opponent's axe. “..another choice?” She nded deftly on her feet as though the move were natural to her. “If given the choice..” Ruby sidestepped a lunge from the sharp tip of the weapon, “..I would prefer not to die.” Sensing that the next attack would aim for her knees, Ruby jumped right as the beast tried another cleave.

  Full of rage from its inability to hit her target with her trusted axe, the minotaur charged Ruby at full speed with its head lowered enough so the horns on her head would pierce her adversary.

  Seeing that the minotaur took up a majority of the hallway with its enormous size, Ruby knew that she couldn’t move to either side or drop to her knees without being run over and squashed like a grape. A nugget of a pn emerged for Ruby to implement. “Mercy Mermaids let this work.” She muttered and waited for the rushing monster to get within arms length before she reached out and gripped the small curved horns and using a little maneuver she’d learned while moving rope to rope on ‘The Ghost Spade’, managed to twirl herself, flip over the beasts head and nd squarely on its back. When the monster stopped running and straightened up, it filed around trying to get Ruby off her back. “Lucky me.” Ruby announced and saw a thick colr around the minotaur's neck. “What do we have here?” Deftly swatting the beast's hands away from her, Ruby managed to turn the colr and saw a name. “RinRah? What a pretty name, for a pretty protector.” Ruby whispered soothingly into the minotaur's ear.

  Suddenly ceasing her attempts to remove Ruby from her back, the minotaur stood up, “You think my name is pretty?” RinRah inquired and squatted down. “I am not going to attack you, so you can let me go.”

  “Finally, a voice of reason.” Ruby softly cooed and scratched RinRah behind her ears. “I knew there was a better way.” Ruby sighed and slid down RinRah’s back and nded silently on her feet. “I have killed lots of people since my widow-day and I am on a little journey, as it were.” Ruby furled her bare eyebrow realizing she’d used a sailor term for the first time. “I am gd I didn’t have to kill again.”

  “I gave you every reason to kill me, though.” RinRah offered, “You got the upper hand and while you had the means on your hip..” RinRah pointed to Ruby’s gleaming dagger, “..to end the fight, you showed me mercy and even complimented me. I am in your debt, Mistress of the Maze.”

  Somewhat shocked that the minotaur sounded reasonable, Ruby smiled when she heard RinRah call her Mistress of the Maze. “You are more than welcome, RinRah.” Ruby untied a couple of her silk sashes that held her cornrows in pce and handed the lengths to RinRah. “Use those on your lovely mane so others can see your amazing milky face.” Ruby patted RinRah’s cheek the best she could. While her new friend was busy taking care of its mane, Ruby showed the map chunk to RinRah. “I know there is another map piece for me to follow, but this piece only brought me to your lovely self.”

  Adorned with the colorful sashes weaved in her mane so her face was readily visible, RinRah pointed to her axe that she’d leaned against one of the walls. “Yes, I am the final piece of the puzzle. The creator insisted that I be the final challenge.” She wiggled one thick finger, “I thought it meant fighting to the death, but the creator never said that had to be the case.” She lifted her axe and turned the bde to the side revealing an indention that was the exact shape of the puzzle that Ruby possessed.

  “No risk, no reward…Right RinRah?” Ruby smiled when the minotaur nodded. Pressing the third piece into the axe, Ruby witnessed the gold object fuse itself into the bde, then nothing. “What in the?”

  RinRah began heartily ughing, and patted the pirate on her back. “I thought you were in it for the journey?” Motioning for Ruby to follow, RinRah hefted her axe over her shoulder and quickly walked the halls until she and Ruby were at another iron door. “This leads out of the maze, but you cannot leave without your treasure, right?”

  Stopping herself from jumping for joy and agreeing with RinRah immediately, Ruby simply took a steadying breath and hooked her arm around her new friend. “I won’t lie to you, dearie. I desire the egg quite a bit, but meeting and befriending you is just as much of a treasure. I would like to come back and visit you from time to time, should the winds bring me back to Alexandria.”

  As if on queue, the alcove appeared beside the door with the golden egg fused as one. Ruby looked at RinRah who simply nodded. “Take it, the egg is yours.” She leaned down and nuzzled Ruby’s shoulder. “I would be delighted if you returned. Until then, I get to roam the halls and think of new puzzles.”

  Ruby lifted the egg from its pedestal and saw a final brass pte appear.

  ‘True wisdom comes to each of us when we realize how little we understand about life, ourselves, and the world around us.’-Socrates

  “Aye, and that be how me came to hav’n possess’n the golden egg, I did.” Ruby winked and held out her hands. Once Digger handed the treasure back, Ruby added, “Went back often I did, watched RinRah grow old and move on to the wild blue sea, a friend Ruby nay been able to acquire since. Passed with the ribbons still weaved in her mane, faded with time.” Ruby looked around and picked up one of her bottles of unfinished rum downing the rich liquid in a few gulps. Walking back over to Ava, Ruby set the egg in her lover's p and resumed her seat next to the dragon-woman. “Avanora, you be pick’n the next one, savvy? Me rambled a wee too long on that one, sure in mermaid's name I did.” She gnced over at Digger, Lookin’ a wee over the top, boy. Get ya some water.”

  While Digger filled one of the empty rum bottles with water, Ava’s bright silvery eyes widened and she smiled. “Lovez, I think zat telling Digger the way you left Captain Jaques would be a nize tale, yes?”

  “Aye, the devil Captain hisself. Aye, my lovely dy. Me retirement from ‘The Ghost Spade’ as it were.” Ruby watched Digger as he sat down and drank his water. “Let’s see, how to start…”