The Maze (Xinavee/Storytelling_Brownie)

[Storytelling_Brownie]

Slowly her surroundings started to take on definition, the dizziness receding as alarm grew. The last thing she remembered was reaching the Isle of Mino’s. From the dock the famous maze was visible, the massive stone walls drawing the eye. Impenetrable, catching her stare a sailor had shaken his head. Informing her that the walls seen from town were the entrance, the vast bulk of the maze itself was underground. The thought of being trapped underground, unable to feel the fresh air, feel the sunlight on her pale skin, or taste the salt tang of the ocean sent her into a panic. All throughout the journey Thea had been fighting panic, using her time to think of escape plans. Now standing on the dock, she knew there wasn’t any. She would die in there and the same survival instinct that had spared her death as a child kicked in to protect her now. One small woman was no match for the guards or sailors. Easily Thea was caught and subdued, cuffed over the head and carried unconscious to her death. These memories filtered in as her eyes adjusted to the gloom.

No one else was around her, either the others had woken and left her, or they were dead. Thea assumed the former as why the monster left her alone made no sense, unless he wanted her alive when he killed her. Bracing herself against the wall she levered herself to her feet, the world spun threatening to send her sprawling. Gasping she focused on the rough texture of the stone under her palm, forcing the nausea back. Through sheer stubbornness she managed to keep her footing. It wasn’t easy. Examining her surroundings she decided she must be near the entrance, a large slab of rock was at her back. It’s height towering above her and absolutely impossible to move. It had to keep in the Minotaur after all. No way out at this end, so either it was at another end or none at all. She had to hold to hope that there was a way out, or be lost. There was no food, no water, no safety, and she had no clue where anyone was or where the monster was. Panic clutched her chest, her vision tunneling to a pinprick, there seemed no choice but to die.
You can choose to die a coward or fighting with all you have. the thought wasn’t a soothing one, but it helped her calm enough to venture a few steps forward, hand following the wall, half support and half guide. In a scant few feet she encountered a wall, forcing her to go right. This tunnel continued on and on, as she walked she realized it was slopping downward. The sailor had made mention that most of it was underground. After several minutes of slow walking Thea found herself at the first of many crossroads.

“You… or you?” Indecisive she looked down each corridor as if the darkness would resolve into something definable and make any sort of difference.

Thea was a slender woman of medium height. Fair of complexion and comely of feature with eyes so dark they are nearly black. Her true crowning glory was her hair, waist length, thick, glossy, and black as a crows wing. Marring half her face was a purple bruise, the product of her attempt at escape earlier that morning. She wavered between the two directions before finally deciding to go left. After all she was lost, one way wasn’t so much better than any other. Her head ached from the blow earlier, but at least the nausea faded to manageable levels. Everything was so quiet, except for her soft pants and the shuffle of her bare feet. The air got cooler the further underground she went, soon it would become uncomfortable or even dangerous in such a thin garment as she owned. As she walked her hand remained glued to the wall, if you follow a wall surely you must find the end at some point, even if it took a long while. After choosing left the first time she continued to choose left, even when at times it led her to dead ends.

Hours had passed since she entered the maze, ever new sound gave her a start, every corner peeked around to be sure it was safe. The waiting was the hardest bit, Thea’s nerves were frayed to the snapping point. Every moment she expected to run into it, to die at the hands of the half human, half bull creature that was rumored to eat human flesh and called her prison it’s home.

 

[Xinavee]

Taller than the great walls surrounding the city, the stone that crated the maze towered high all around the entrance and perimeter of the labyrinth, blocking out the sun long before it was dusk, yet oddly the sky above already began to turn a crimson red, dulling and darkening as the hours grew long. Barren and dirt crusted, the thick walls seemed to shimmer with a scum. Was it blood or just slimy likens that grew in the creases and crevices of the stones? Bare feet would sink slightly in the mire, but as the path grew deeper, lowering into the darkened pit of the earth the feet would scrapped along a more stone solid paths.

There were living things among rocks, tails of lizards and snakes, and evidence of birds and clawed rodents. From behind her the sound of a barking howling beast of a thing would echo among the twists and turns she had just come down, and then... Drumming?

"He's playing with them tonight!" From far up ahead, where the darkness seemed to deaden the senses a warm glow quickly passed one of the turns in the maze path. The outline of a plump, shuffling elder woman would hobble from one side of the intersection to the other. The light of the lantern fading slowly behind her, before another light brightened the path once more.

"Hurry witch," This from a bent, spectacled man who raised his lantern as the sound of the rhythmic drumming became louder, almost deafening from behind. "He hunts already..." He stopped and stumbled backwards slightly seeing Thea in the path and then turned to try and hurry off, taking the light with him.

Should she follow, Thea would see him glancing behind him, his bald head turning as his over sized eyes would search and then find her once more in the darkness with a shakey "Ohh.." before he would quicken his steps, though they be hobbled and slower than he wished, as he tried to rush the elder woman along as well. This only made her stop and slowly waddle sideways to look behind her.

"It's only a girl, Jasper, no need to wet yourself. Come on then." The older woman would wave her hand towards Thea, smiling a toothless grin. Her white hair curled from every side of the shawl she wore over her head and her over sized bosom seemed to reach her waist. She held out a basket for Thea to to carry as she lifted the walking stick and lantern over her head before turning and hobbling off lower and then lower, through twists and turns that seemed endless.

"Well, only until the drumming stops." Jasper said, turning to follow the old woman he called Witch, "But she's on her own in the morning. That's it!"