“We’ll wait here,” Fagred growled after they led us to the very edge of the pit.
I had a unique opportunity to look down. The pit was about twenty-five yards deep. It was divided up by walls set in a haphazard, hit-or-miss fashion, and this chaotic disorder created the so-called Labyrinth. I was a bit disappointed. I never expected the orcs’ grandiose structure to be just an ordinary hole—even if it was deep—in the ground, with a few partitions set up in it. The partitions were made of some kind of wild creeping plant that was still green, even in the middle of October. At least, that was what it looked like to me.
“Glo-Glo, what are those plants down there?” I asked in a quiet whisper.
“I advise you to keep as far away from the walls as possible,” the goblin hissed back. “Those are yellow eyes, and they eat absolutely anything, apart from happening to be poisonous.”
“Thanks, that’s really cheered me up.”
Just then Olag came up and led us along the edge of the pit toward a stairway leading down into it. At the bottom we found ourselves in a pen fenced off from the main part of the Labyrinth by a heavy grille. As well as Glo-Glo and me, and the five orcs who had followed us (including Olag and Fagred, who were making sure no one did any premature damage to us), there were at least ten other Firstborn, as well as two men and two elves. The elves were dirty and had been beaten very badly, but they maintained a proud bearing, as if the orcs were their prisoners and the entire Labyrinth belonged to them.
“The final group?” an orc in a leather apron asked Olag.
“Yes.”
“Let’s get started.”
“Hand-to-hand,” he said, jabbing a finger at the elves.
“Foot-to-foot.” That was for the two men.
Two Firstborn started carefully chaining the runners together for the Labyrinth. Leather Apron came over to us, thought for a moment, and announced:
“Neck-to-foot.”
Glo-Glo gave a dull groan, but then Fagred stepped up, grabbed Leather Apron by the sleeve, and dragged him aside. I noticed one of my emeralds disappear into Leather Jacket’s hand. The orc came back to us for a moment and announced:
“Hand-to-hand.”
They put a heavy bracelet on my left wrist. The bracelet at the other hand of a yard of heavy chain was fastened on the goblin’s right wrist.
“Don’t let me down, moth,” Fagred whispered menacingly into my ear. “We’ve wagered too much on you.”
“How fast can you run?” Leather Apron asked me.
“Can’t you see he’s lame?” the goblin answered for me, and immediately collected a slap to the back of his head from Fagred.
But luckily enough, Leather Apron left me alone after that.
“How fast can you run?” he asked one of the two human warriors.
“Very fast,” the man replied gloomily. “Too fast for you to catch me.”
“That’s good,” Leather Apron said with a serious nod, and moved away.
“Choose your weapons, but don’t try anything stupid!”
No one was going to try anything stupid—not even the proud, taciturn elves. How far could you get with a sword, if six bowmen had you in their sights?
There was a whole heap of steel lying on two large tables right beside the railings. And the same amount lying along the walls. Nothing for throwing or firing, of course. No bows, no crossbows, no javelins, no throwing knives, not even a sling. The clever orcs didn’t want any of the prisoners to try killing the spectators. So we had to choose from an assortment of cutting and stabbing weapons.
While the goblin and I wandered round the tables, the elves each chose themselves a s’kash, and the two men settled for a sword and a single-handed ax. Of course, I would have taken something like a spear or a pike— with a weapon like that you can keep any enemy at a distance, or almost any. But for that you had to have both hands free. And you couldn’t do much running with a spear. So after hesitating briefly, I chose a short sword with a broad blade, the kind that armored infantry use. It was about the same length as my knife, although it was wider and heavier. And it had a scabbard, so I didn’t have to carry the weapon in my hands.
The goblin inspected the hardware and snorted in disappointment, but then he rummaged for a while in the very last heap and pulled out a Sultanate dagger with a blade shaped like a flame. He tried waving the weapon through the air a few times and then stuck it behind his belt.
“That’s it, out you go!” Leather Apron ordered, and on his sign the orcs started raising the heavy grille.
Without waiting until the grille was raised, the dark elves leapt forward into the Labyrinth and then ran off as fast as they could go. The lads obviously also had some kind of plan. At least they certainly weren’t planning to face the Labyrinth together with us.
Then it was the men’s turn. Glo-Glo didn’t waste any time, either; he dragged me forward and jumped out into the Labyrinth. The grille started slowly descending behind us, creaking so terribly that I barely heard Leather Apron shout, “Hey, runner!”
We all turned at the same time, and one of the orc bowmen put an arrow into the leg of the man who’d said he could run very fast.
“Now try running fast, little monkey!”
The orcs roared with laughter.
“And you told me they cut the tendons,” I muttered, setting off toward the fallen man.
“Times have cha— Look out!”
Glo-Glo leapt aside and dragged me after him. The goblin might have been small, but he had plenty of strength, and I had to struggle to keep my balance. Two creatures came darting out of the passage the two elves had just run into. They looked pretty much like ordinary human skeletons, but they were a bit taller and had four arms instead of two. And the creatures were exactly the same dark green color as the walls of the Labyrinth—they seemed to be made out of plants, not meat or bones. The orcs’ roar of delight thundered along the cliffs. The show had begun.
“Run!” the goblin yelled. “There’s nothing you can do to help them!”
Cursing all the gods and the damned goblin into the bargain, I dashed after him, forgetting about the creatures advancing on the two warriors. Following my companion, I dived into a narrow passage with high walls. The little shaman was incredibly agile, and I could hardly keep up with him.
“Left … past three corridors on the left … right … straight on … left again…,” the goblin muttered, leading me along the route that only he knew.
I glanced back anxiously, but the green creatures apparently weren’t following us.
“Who were they?” I asked Glo-Glo.
“Creations of orcish shamanism, not really dangerous, unless you get under their feet. A petty nuisance.”
“They why did you beat it so promptly?”
“Don’t distract me! I think we go right now.… Yes! This way!”
And the goblin set off again at a run, dragging me behind him. In the last three minutes I’d completely lost my bearings in the green labyrinth and I ran after the goblin like an obedient dog. Eventually Glo-Glo turned sharp left and we found ourselves at a dead end.
“That does it!” I panted, and the hills replied with a rumble of joy.
Tell me, if you please. How could the orcs see us? But they could, may the demons of darkness take them!
“Now where have you brought me, Glo-Glo?”
“Keep quiet for a moment and let me think! It’s thirty years since the last time I was here, and my memory’s not what it used to be. Ri-i-ight now, where could I have gone wrong?”
“Maybe…”
“Shut up!”
I had to do as the goblin said and wait for him to be struck by another brilliant idea. I really regretted ever having anything to do with goblins. Scatterbrains, every one of them; they always did everything back to front.
