OOM: To the labyrinth with Bossuet

[cook_the_rude]

At the top of a hill, there is a door, set into the hill-face.

The lake is shimmering in the distance, and the Scottish summer is in full effect.

But the door in the hillside might still be considered boding.

"Not making any Dante puns," Dr. Lecter declares, gesturing to the door invitingly.

Comments

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Bossuet smiles a bit at that. "Then I'll refrain as well. I've been refreshing my memory of Dante lately--a wandering sort of reading, nothing scholarly--and I hate to think just how far in Hell I ought properly to go. No need to summon anyone who might see that my absence there has been overlooked, and correct the clerical error."

It's been a pleasant walk; he takes a last deep breath of summer air before pushing open the door and stepping in.

[cook_the_rude]

Inside, it is dark. There is a smell of a fire that has burned out a long time ago, and of corroded metal. Far ahead, there is a vague, dark-red glow.

"You said hell," Dr. Lecter chuckles as he follows Bossuet inside.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"I may come to regret it." He sounds cheerful about it, still. "But I'm no believer. I think I could visit even Hell itself and find myself still a heathen and an infidel. Did you bring a lamp? The Bar gave me this, but..."

It's a perfectly nice flashlight, quite unfamiliar to Bossuet.

[cook_the_rude]

"I did, but this will serve," Dr. Lecter says.

He holds out his hand for the flashlight.

The glow ahead expands, brightens.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

He passes over the flashlight; he's been in Milliways long enough to guess that you press a button or slide a switch and something electrical happens, but he'd just as soon not find out the hard way that the Bar gave him some futuristic death device by mistake.

"So you say we keep going forward, and never back."

[cook_the_rude]

The glow ahead dims, and decreases.

"Yes, that is the only option," Dr. Lecter says, turning on the flashlight. Something glitters ahead. "We go forwards until we find the door to the next world, and so on."

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"But what happens if we turn back? Orpheus lost his Eurydice that way, but we have none." (A brief wild thought: perhaps they are going to a hell, to another afterlife, from which he can bring back a friend. He peers ahead into the glow with a new sharp eagerness.)

[cook_the_rude]

Dr. Lecter turns off the flashlight again. The brightness ahead grows and brightens again. There is a very faint, sonorous rattle.

"We won't find the door we came in through," Dr. Lecter explains, "only the one ahead. And for that, we may have to creep past that."

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

That quiets him. Laigle glances at Lecter for a moment, but doesn't say anything further; he adjusts his satchel so that the contents don't rattle so much.

[cook_the_rude]

Very, very quietly, Dr. Lecter moves forwards.

The smell of smoke gets stronger. The light brightens and expands, then dims to a reddish glow, in regular intervals. There is that faint rattle as well.

And a clink.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

It turns out Bossuet can be quite soft on his feet. He follows Lecter, slipping along close to the wall and listening hard.

[cook_the_rude]

A rumble seems to emerge from underneath the rattle, and in the slow rise and fall of the light, there are glints of glittering things.

Then, Dr. Lecter steps on something that then skitters away with a metallic tinkle.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Usually it's Bossuet who finds noisy things to step on at inopportune moments. This is a refreshing change of pace! He pauses, then peers around to see what it was. A coin? Keys?

[cook_the_rude]

Dr. Lecter briefly shines the flashlight around. There are several coins and a few rings, all shimmering golden.

The fiery glow grows brighter, and doesn't dim again.

Dr. Lecter turns off the flashlight, quickly.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Bossuet's lips form a silent whistle. He checks the ground before his own feet for odds and ends and carefully toes a jeweled ring out of the way.

So, no turning back, eh?

[cook_the_rude]

In the low glow, they can now see a number of pillars; Dr. Lecter slips into the shadow behind one, and gestures for Bossuet to follow.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Fair enough. He follows as directed, with a twinge of nostalgia. It's not unlike evading Paris police. Though considerably more picturesque.

[cook_the_rude]

The glow rises again, and this time, there are two bright shining orbs, beyond the shadows, and puffs of smoke.

"The door is there," Dr. Lecter murmurs, right beside Bossuet's ear. "On the other side if the dragon's hoard."

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"But of course it is." Laigle's voice is just as quiet. Of course the door is on the far side of the monster's lair; that's how labyrinths work.

He studies the glowing orbs. Does one slay a dragon? If one does, there had better be a very nice princess. Er. Two very nice princesses. "...It doesn't seem particularly distractable," he murmurs back. "But I clean forgot my great-sword."

[cook_the_rude]

"I don't know that we need to kill it, although we could, of course," Dr. Lecter says. "I'm sure there must be weapons in that hoard. But I'll try something else first."

He sidles further sideways in the shadows, expecting Bossuet to follow.

The dragons great, dark, reptilian skull is now clearly discernible, the eyes glowing as the head moves, searching.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

"I'd as soon not, if we don't have to. I've never fancied myself a dragon-slayer."

Bossuet follows, eyes on the hoard and on the dragon. Whether there are swords or not, he wouldn't know what to do with them: but there might be something there.

Besides, of course, the glittering treasure.

[cook_the_rude]

Dr. Lecter bends, and does scoop up a handful of glittering treasure.

However, he doesn't keep it but pulls back his arm and throws the trinkets as far away as he can, in the direction they'd come in from.

The dragon's head whips around, and it spits fire towards the source of the noise.

"Run!" Dr. Lecter says, and does.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

Bossuet runs.

Bossuet runs, tangles with an absurdly complex coronet, all points and clusters of gems and delicate arches to stick your foot through, trips, falls face-first on the floor, and almost gracefully rolls himself along into the shelter of another pillar.

[cook_the_rude]

The dragon's head whips around and emits another jet of fire.

Dr. Lecter dives behind the pillar beside Bossuet, shoves a rather large, ornate lance into his hands, and springs out again.

[tire_moi_mes_bottes]

He's never used a lance.

But he's used a bayonet, and not too long ago. Lesgle takes the weapon with a steady grip. The crumpled crown is by his feet; is there a chance the dragon will fall for the same trick twice? He catches Lecter's eye and mimes kicking the thing off in the other direction. Worth a try?