site!'
The journey continued through this complicated meander, and there would be no arguing with Kat over direction. Randomly he chose now — left or right corridors, whatever took his fancy. The labyrinth was all the more difficult to navigate as there was not a single distinctive feature to guide us. Nothing but Kat's fickle instinct.
'I spy with my little eye,' said Eddinray, drowning out the eerie click of our footsteps over the grates, 'something that begins with?' (Thinking) Nope. My mind is barren!'
'Oh, can I have a go?' asked Harmony, enthusiastically. 'I spy with my little eye, something that begins with R. R for rabbit!'
'Is it a rabbit?' said Eddinray.
'Nope,” she grinned back.
'A relic?' he guessed, waggling a thumb to Kat's back.
'Nope.'
'Is it a rock? A rapscallion perhaps? I'm right, aren't I?'
'Nope!'
'A radish then?' he said, frustrated. 'It must be a radish!'
Harmony rolled the eyes in her head. 'Godwin, I can scarcely imagine a radish in Hell! I won't play with a silly person!'
'Rigmarole?' he quipped. 'Certainly feels like it.'
'Shush!' yelled Kat, turning to stop the pair on their toes. 'Enough of this…jabber!
Eddinray and Harmony sheepishly shrunk to appease the infuriated samurai, who after an alignment of the topknot, resumed his quiet lead
***
We had been long in the labyrinth, like zombies through the monotony. I attempted to keep spirits up during this march by recounting the various cases I had worked on as a detective in 21st century Earth. The memories came to mind with a crisp freshness, but hardly one worth remembering — crime prevention was a dirty business after all. One particular story however seemed to spark their interest — the adulterous case of a husband who butchered his wife. 'What drives one to kill?' Harmony pondered.
'Such violence boggles the mind.'
After an awkward silence from us men, I felt obliged to answer. 'In my experience Harmony, two things drive people to murder: love and money. Or in most cases, the love of money.'
'Defending ones life!' added Eddinray. 'Sometimes my dear, one is left no choice.'
Harmony had little time to consider the subject, for Kat jogged ahead to a smudge of something new. With volts of excitement, we rest upped the pace, hoping to see the end of this tiresome conundrum.
'Well done Kat!' Harmony exclaimed, delighted. 'Your instincts are second to none! How did you know?'
He didn't. All hope was lost as we arrived at the foot of many steps, the very same we had descended several hours ago. 'Knew it!' I moaned, holding an accusing eye at Kat. 'We should have stuck to the left! Like we were damn told! Shit!'
I stepped back to control my temper, as a deflated Eddinray slumped to one knee. It was now Harmony's turn to raise group moral. She tried, but didn't have the words or the heart for it
***
His grating voice spirited us from our bleak dejection. An alien voice.
'Lost your way?'
A humped figure was hobbling down those steps behind us. His entire form was concealed under a damp hanging cloak, and his left arm supported all his weight on a staunch looking spear. I thought it was the Ferryman at first, but only at first; there was no coiling snake around this man's hand, and no rattling bones as he walked.
'Who are you?' demanded Kat, standing to arm himself.
The twisted form remained silent as he took a fragile step and limp down the last remaining steps.
'Move no closer!' Kat warned him, the katana blocking his path. 'Who are you?'
The creature's fingers curled and clung for life around the spear, his flesh of his hand a grassy green and prickly with hair. 'I seek a favour.' he said, drained and ancient underneath his cloth. 'My name is Wisp — merchant in Hell-fire. I trade blades and bows, the rarest and latest weapons. I see the man there has a very unusual blade by his thigh. May I have a closer inspection?'
I put a protective palm over my soul-destroying dagger. 'It ain't for sale.'
'Show me your weapons!' Kat ordered the merchant, with no intention of buying or selling. 'Do it now!'
'Alas,' the thing returned, 'I have none but this spear to support me.' He coughed what appeared to be more hair into his already furry palm. 'I was robbed crossing the deserts — my horses, my stock, all taken by the sand dwellers. I killed twelve before I was overcome, but nevertheless escaped with my soul intact.'
Confused by his predicament, Wisp leant rather pitifully against the wall for air.
'What favor do you seek from us?' I asked, feeling sorry for him.
'I am in search of resurgence,” he wheezed, painfully. 'My body…is frail, you see. Only the labyrinth holds the key to my renewal. With the dangers that lay ahead and my current condition, I cannot achieve this feat alone. If you will see me safely to the centre of this web, each of you will be handsomely rewarded. Very handsomely indeed.'
We were intrigued, but far from interested…Yet.
'Why our help?' pressed Harmony. 'You don't know us. Why, we could be out to rob you ourselves!'
Wisp gargled. Under that cloak, he sounded more animal than anything else. 'A samurai, a knight, angel and man; such unions are made in Heaven not Hell. I have seen most Hell has to offer, and I see in all but one, that hearts are good here.'
It wasn't difficult to deduce who the bad heart in our group belonged too. Kat did not appear insulted. Although he had killed for less, there was something about Wisp that Kat clearly warmed too.
'Tell me,' I pried; 'what lies at the centre of the labyrinth? We saw its light from above. What is it?'
The odd creature stepped and limped forward, and with a face of vacuous shade, he bent to share his secret. 'The well,” he grumbled. 'The light…and the well.'
Kat's gasp shocked me, and Wisp responded with the merest dip of his cloaked head. Harmony and Eddinray were as open faced and nosey as I was, and Wisp didn't keep us waiting.
'Every sentenced soul in Hell,” he began, “has at one point, knowingly or unknowingly, drank the wells water. It is dispensed from the labyrinth centre in various forms: showered through droplets in the air itself, or distributed by the black angels alongside their death and despair. The well water is circulated to reach all who deserve incarceration, and here it contains them.'
'What does it do?' whispered Eddinray. 'What can it do?'
Wisp coughed again and stumbled sickly against his spear. 'It gives the suffering…a threshold. One sip and the body can withstand the most unimaginable torture. The mind will feel, but the body survives. Perpetual suffering is the way of things here, and the well and its light make eternal torment possible. Drink enough of the water, knight, and it is said to replenish ones youth and vitality — the Holy Grail itself. All this awaits a mere few walls away…'
I knew now why the decayed Wisp desired such a gift, but I was still indifferent to this crazy side quest.
'That's not why we're here,” I said. 'We don't seek any treasure, especially one found in Hell. I'm sorry Wisp, but we can't help you…'
Wisp gave me a respectful wave. 'To find the greatest treasures,' he said, 'one must endure the worst hardships. I see by your eye that you know exactly what I am talking about.'
I turned the left side off my face from his sight. I didn't need reminding of the worm's post or the bluntness of Scarfell's knife.
'I too have been through much hardship,” Wisp added. 'The body has been ravaged by various forms of fire and brimstone. My health will be restored by the well…as will your eye to you. Alternatively, do you humans seek something greater? The way out perhaps? I can, if you so desire, lead you there.'
With a gasp similar to Kat's a moment ago, I looked greedily back to Wisp. I wanted my eye back, course I
