Chapter 10

**Merianna**


I almost immediately started hearing cries of pain, surprise and fear as I was enveloped in the mist. I didn't dare to stop though, I didn't dare look at what was going on around me. It was each one for himself in here, and I could care less about what was happening to the others.

I heard unearthly growls, maniacal chitters and skin crawling clicks. I shivered involuntarily as the sounds enveloped me while I could barely see seven feet in front of me. The mace was heavy in my fist and I held it at my side, ready to swing it at whatever might jump out at me. I ran as silently and as quickly as I could, going left, right, and then back again when I hit a dead end.

It never helped to try and create a map of the maze in your head through all the training sessions, the vegetation constantly kept changing! Even during the training sessions you were able to hear the leaves rustle and some branches crackling as they shifted positions and made new pathways.

I cursed as a ball of fire suddenly came shooting in my direction. I quickly dove to the ground and rolled with my momentum as it sailed right over my head, I swiftly jumped back onto my feet and kept on running in the same direction. I was NOT going to get caught like a sitting goose on a pond. I REFUSED to get caught.

My breath heaved as my legs propelled me as fast as they possibly could. Next thing I knew as my foot thudded against the ground was that I was falling. The earth opened up beneath me and vines were snaking in from the hedge's sides.

Blindly grabbing at the air I propelled myself over the yawning gap that stretched at least 20 feet across from where my feet were. I brought the air up underneath me and had it lift me over the gap while my momentum carried me through to the other end.

Once I landed in a roll I jumped up and looked behind me quickly, just in time to see that the vines stilled their movements and a heavy low-hanging mist covered the hole that I just escaped.

A second before I turned around completely to start running again I saw a flash of clothing and heard the thudding of feet. Silently sending up an "I'm sorry" to whomever foolishly followed in my steps I thundered on while hearing incessant cursing following a heavy thud into something deep.

I ran for what felt like hours until I came to a point that had a pathway splitting to either left or right. Aiming to go left, I sprinted at the turn and crashed into a wall. Okay, not an actual wall, but it was a close enough description.

A gruff "Oomph" exploded out of the wall as I bounced off of it and fell backwards. Quickly, I bent my spine and flipped over pushing my hands against the ground so I landed on my feet again. I lost my mace that now lay at the feet of one of the burlier guys in the training group. His light brown hair was tousled, blood was running down the right side of his face and his left arm looked like something had tried to chew on it.

I grimaced and stood back up in a ready stance. Looks like I finally had someone I had to fight, and here I hoped that my lucky streak would hold...

He stood still seeming to think about something, glancing from me to a spot far ahead of him as I felt a tingling of energy emerging behind me that felt suspiciously like Raska's.

Oooooh no. Pleeease no. No, no, no, no. Don't let it be Raska. Don't let it be Raska. Don't let it be the demon...

I chanted the mantra in my head as a cold shiver ran down my spine. When the energy fully manifested the guy in front of me paled so much that I wondered if he had suddenly died on his feet.

This really can't be good.

I slowly turned around and came face to face with Raska.

*Oh gods, I'm dead.*

I'm sure the guy behind me had the same thought as he let out an undignified noise as soon as Raska grinned evilly at the two of us. Just as soon as the undignified noise left the guy's mouth he was silent as the grave. I couldn't even hear his breathing anymore, I only heard an odd rhythmic swishing sound.

Did he really die of fright?!

Taking out my knives and holding them ready I quickly glanced behind me and regretted it instantly. Cold gripped me from head to toe as I quietly whimpered to myself.

Yes, the guy was still there. He didn't completely disappear, yet. But what had him in its clutches was something that I would definitely run away screaming from. Using thin insect-like legs that looked as sharp and deadly as a linked obsidian spears, it strategically rolled a figure around in circles in the air as a web was spun around its victim. The web was thick and coated in its saliva which had a numbing poison. The globs of saliva dripped in thick sticky droplets to the ground as it worked. Its big caterpillar-like body with its soft, sickly white flesh bulged and heaved as it spun and spun. The webbing never caught or hitched on its razor sharp rows of needle point teeth that seemed to go all the way into the back of its black gullet.

A Tartarus Crawler...

It was only about 5 feet away from me as it gurgled and grunted with every new twist it made. Suddenly it let loose a wind that must have been stuck in its craw and the force of it flipped my hair back. I let loose a thin high pitched and undignified whimper as air escaped my throat. My skin tingled in revulsion, or was that the numbing poison? I couldn't tell. But I swear that if I didn't know better, my hair probably withered and fell out of my scalp as it burped in my direction. The wretched stench of rotted flesh and plant matter burning in acid in its gut was horrendous.

My eyes stung and every muscle in my body was clamped tighter together than the rusted hinges in the bowels of Noch's smithy.

Slowly, I turned my face away from the Tartarus Crawler to face Raska. She was smiling adoringly at the creature while she cooed tenderly at it.

"Awe my little Lillian." She gushed as she wiggled on the spot. "Be a good girl now and don't eat them yet okay?" She said making kissing noises at it.

I...wanted to scream... and cry... at the same time... while running in the opposite direction of this abomination. I wanted to run into the deepest darkest pockets of this maze and hide away where I won't be found for at least the next decade or so. Especially by this thing!

There was only one obstacle that stood between me and my possible escape to freedom from this creature, flag be damned. That was Raska, and I would take a battle with Raska any day over being stuck in the same breathing space as *Lillian*.

With that thought in mind, I forced my muscles into action and lunged for Raska who was still gushing at her pet. In the moment before my blade was going to sink into her neck, she looked me in the eye and smirked.

*This can't be good.*

Grabbing my hand she wrenched my arm around behind my back and made me face Lillian. Her iron muscles held me captive as I struggled.

Dearest little Lillian was finished cocooning her victim and was slowly shuffling and heaving her gargantuan weight over the surface of the ground towards us while her wrapped burden was left on the side of the path like last week's lunch in the stables.

"RASKA! I'M GOING TO KILL YOU FOR THIS! YOU SAID YOU WOULDN'T BE IN THE MAZE!!!" I exclaimed as I twisted ferociously out of her grasp, making sparks of energy fly as my nerves went haywire. I coursed energy into the two daggers I had in my hands. They instantly felt light and sturdier than ever, sharp, like they could cut through the air itself.

Raska laughed right in my face as she allowed me to stumble away. "And I didn't break my promise!" She chirped happily.

I frowned as I moved further and further away from Lillian. "But how can-," I cut myself off as the answer hit me and I groaned in utter hatred of myself. Leave it to Raska to find a way through all words and promises. I could swear that she was half Fae.

Raska smiled gleefully. "Indeed Merianna. I didn't say anything about my doppelgangers not being a part of this."

Great, now all the other terrified screams of utter terror and disbelief that I've been hearing all around me made perfect sense. Raska was sitting quite happily on the side-lines. Most possibly with Noch, and of course a bottle of wine shared between the two.

Oh for the love of all things damned.

Yes, that would mean that I am one of those damned things. Most definitely damned. Damned to run through this gods forsaken maze to the amusement of two of my demonic instructors.

*Perfect...*

"Well as much fun as I know you are having. I have to go. Jeva!"I uttered the old Herminian salutation while clinking the blades of my daggers together. The accumulated energy on the blades ignited and created a blinding flash that dispersed the surrounding fog for an instant and allowed me to dive through the foliage while Raska was cursing and rubbing her eyes.

And that was when I heard Lillian rumble.

Well that worked perfectly... Create a flash of light that blinds the doppelganger. Sure, things are well and all. Until you consider the fact that a Tartarus Crawler doesn't have any eyes!

Cursing under my breath I made my way as quickly as possible through the shadows of the hedge. I drew the shadows to me like a cloak, taking a bit of Raska's teachings and implementing into this desperate situation. Until I remembered again... a Tartarus Crawler wouldn't care if it could see me or not. Letting loose a string of even more colourful curses I launched myself through the air and over the hedge to a new corridor.

I didn't give myself a chance to think or plan another side to take through the split paths as I heard Lillian's screeching roars and the ground's ominous rumbling from the other side. I just dove down the first side that looked the most inviting. Sadly, with the way my luck seemed to be going at that moment, I ended up crashing against yet another figure, and said figure happened to be another Raska...

*Just great.*

She tossed me over the side of her hip and I ended up having the air knocked out of me with the impact of the ground. Now I lost one of my daggers, but that was okay. Rolling back up to my feet I unsheathed one of the other daggers I had kept under my gear.

"Time to say your prayers Merianna." Raska said in an ominous tone. "That flash was smart, but it didn't last long enough!" With that she lunged at me in a flurry of shadows and suddenly the earth erupted from behind me and Lillain emerged in a screeching frenzy, diving straight out of the ground and aiming right for me.

I gave a squeak before I used the air around me to shoot myself away from the duo as quickly as possible. There was no way in Tartarus that I was going to end up as Crawler dung! I crashed into the hedge again and started feeling vines snake towards my limbs. Quickly I scrambled up and started running down another passage with Raska's laughter ringing out from behind me.

*Curses. Curses. CURSES!*

I kept mentally yelling out my frustration seeing as I didn't really have enough air in my lungs from all the huffing and puffing I was doing while running away. I kept track of Raska's energy signature as I ran and nearly stumbled and fell as I felt the earth underneath my feet heave and groan.

*Oh no, not good.*

I quickly jumped to the side and bent my body in ways that I didn't even know existed as I dodged a double sided axe that came sailing down from right above my head. Once I stood still again, I blinked at Raska who was blinking at me as well.

"Child, I never knew you could bend like that." She said in an impressed tone and broke out in an evil grin.

*Oh no.*

"This is going to be more fun than I thought, and I already thought that this would be fun eoungh to begin with." She grinned and chuckled darkly.

"Go harass someone else!" I yelled as Lillian erupted out from the ground. Bits of earth from her skin and mouth fell on my head and I shivered in revulsion as I felt some of her spittle also land on me, I stood perfectly still trying to quell the urge to flail the bits of dirt and saliva off of me.

Raska sighed. "Now now Merianna. Where is the fun in that?" She dove at me and I jumped up into the air, using the element at the same time to give myself more height. I cleared the top of the hedge and was greeted by a hideous screech.

With my heart thundering in my ears I turned my head to see a huge bat-creature flying straight for me. Its fur was oily and matted and its sharp pointed teeth were so twisted and overgrown that they were sticking holes through its lips in jagged succession.

I yelped and had the air push me back down as quickly as possible. I only saw a second of spiked vines reaching for me before I collided with them and the ground. I barely felt the cuts that the thorns left on my skin as I scrambled away from Raska who was sprinting towards me with a gleeful cackle.

My energy was crackling inside of me nervously as I shot down passage after passage. I heard fighting up ahead and had a brilliant idea pop into my head. Grinning at myself I picked up my speed as I felt Lillian moving underneath my feet again.

"Get out of my face troll snot!" I heard a guy yell.

"Take your own passage banshee breath!" Another voice yelled next.

I rolled my eyes at the bickering of the two men I heard ahead of me. *Men* was probably not an accurate description in any case, both voices sounded tinged with desperation and fear even though they were both in their forties at least. I felt two more energy signatures, identical to Raska's, creeping up on them from where they probably came from and stumbled into each other.

I winced internally as I quickly went with my gut that said, fighting off one 'Raska' was substantially more appealing than trying to fight off three 'Raska's', a Tartarus Crawler and a giant Bat from the bowels of Hades itself.

Rounding the corner I saw the two men trying to get each other into strangleholds. Rolling my eyes I quickly glanced behind me and decided to wing it. I had no friends with these groups in any case.

Using my energy I grabbed strands of air around me and wrapped it around my legs as I came closer to the two men. They must have finally heard my pattering footsteps as they both suddenly looked my way with anger while still gripping each other's clothing.

Sudden terror marked their faces when they looked past my calculating expression and saw exactly what was right on my tail. A raging Raska and a terror Bat. I felt Lillian suddenly erupt out of the ground from behind and dive towards me with her screeching maw wide open. The guy's faces both went deathly pale and they stood still as statues while I jumped off from the ground and kicked off from their heads to the passage beyond them, heading straight to what was most likely another doppelganger.

I refused to get caught before I found one of those blasted flags!!!

Sending back a silent apology to the now screaming men that I had left behind along with Raska's laughter, I ran straight ahead with my two remaining daggers up and ready to attack her next doppelganger and whichever other pet she had.

My heart was thundering by the time I reached the corner. I flew around the bend, and stopped dead in my tracks. I swear that even my heart gave out in that second. This was just too cruel. It was so cruel that I felt all of my energy just drain right out of me and get swallowed up by a deep dark abyss in the bowels of Lillian's digestive tract.

*Curse you Raska. Curse your smart, evil, sadistic personality to the deepest pits of Tartarus and back!*