Lucky Rabbit

With a look up at Isidor, Pandy edged forward. Her Spark didn’t move, because it wasn’t that kind of light, which was really rather frustrating. In game, Edgar used fire spells to light the gloom, and Clara, of course, had Light elementals, at least as long as she still had enough Stamina to summon them. Pandy, however, only had Spark, and while she could just cast it several times, that would eat into her Mana, which was Not Good. Which left her with only one option.

Pandy thought, mental voice filled with resignation.

Radiant Presence successful. Two uses remain before next level.

Pandy began to glow. In the dimness of Thaniel’s bedroom, it had been faint, and in daylight, it would probably only be a subtle luminescence, but here there was no missing it, especially as she hopped forward, pushing back the gloom. Isidor started to follow her, but she glared at him, and he stopped, still within the light from the previous room. He held up his hand, obviously ready to cast a spell of his own, but Pandy had a plan.

All along the hall, torches had been placed at intervals of about thirty feet, with the first one hidden in the blackness fifteen feet down. If Clara was too tired to light the way, Edgar could use these to do so, though it used up one of his elementals, so he wasn’t as effective in the boss battle. Since Clara was support on his route, it was usually best to use up all but about ten of her Stamina, and save Edgar to fight.

Pandy, however, forged her way into the depths of the stygian dark, ignoring the slithering that took place just outside of her glow. She could barely make out the torch on the wall when she reached it, but she knew it was there, so a directed Spark caught it, sending up a flare of light that barely stretched back to merge with the pool of yellow light in which Isidor stood.

There were six torches in total, each one illuminating a bit more of the hallway, and of course in the game, Clara and Edgar had to light all of them. Here, however, Pandy waited for Isidor to join her, then pointed a paw up at the torch hanging from the wall. It was up high, probably so it didn’t threaten to set Clara’s beautiful hair on fire, but by stretching up onto his toes, Isidor managed to push it up out of its bracket, causing it to tumble down, making him and Pandy duck instinctively away. Fortunately, Isidor didn’t quite move outside of the light in the process of avoiding being set on fire, but Pandy didn’t think she imagined the disappointed sound of the hissing that surrounded them as he picked up the still-lit torch.

After that, they moved down the hallway with a great deal more confidence. Pandy saw the next torch on the wall, but Isidor didn’t even slow down, much less light it, just plowed on, following the sound of soft, dejected sobbing.

The final torch lay exactly fifteen feet from the door at the end of the hall. Its light would barely have touched the dark wood, much less the metal bands riveted across that wood, and the large lock just beneath the brass handle. A lock for which Clara had a key, and Pandy very much did not. Fortunately, she had Isidor and his torch instead.

Isidor crouched down, peering through the keyhole. Whatever he saw made him mutter something in a particularly angry tone. Straightening, he pulled the hem of his white shirt out of his pants, revealing a narrow leather strip encircling his waist. He traced a finger along the top of it, and it parted, allowing him to remove a slender piece of metal before he dropped his shirt back into place.

Without so much as a glance down at Pandy, Isidor inserted the strip of metal – which was barely more than a wire with some unusual bumps on one end – into the lock. With a grimace of concentration, he began to wiggle what Pandy was beginning to suspect might be an actual lockpick. What an interesting skillset Isidor had. Pandy was honestly jealous, because she couldn’t count the number of times she’d misplaced her keys. How convenient would it have been to be able to-

The lock clicked, and Isidor quickly grasped the handle, beginning to push open the door. Pandy suddenly realized that she really should have taken a few seconds to talk to him, probably while they were making their way through the door maze. She’d been worried that she’d need the last moments of Shifting Faces for something else, so she kept putting it off, but she absolutely couldn’t let him go in there without some kind of warning. This wasn’t like the third floor, where Pandy was confident they could handle the Apparition together, but if she said too much, Isidor would abandon her to face it alone.

she thought, catching at Isidor’s arm just before he opened the door all the way. Pulling him back, she whispered, “There’s a monster in there. Maybe. Probably?” It was three years before Clara was supposed to come here, but surely this place wasn’t just sitting here empty. After all-

“It doesn’t matter,” Isidor hissed back. “The princess needs help, and it’s my job to protect her.” He pulled at his sleeve, but Pandy was strong – far stronger than anyone would guess by looking at her.

“You don’t understand,” she told him, tugging him backwards again. “It’s going to ask you riddles, and-”

With a twist, Isidor managed to slip his arm from Pandy’s grasp. He gave her a little nod, then slapped his hand against his chest, immediately shimmering into something that could have been invisibility, but probably wasn’t, since he left a mirage-like waviness in the air as he dashed forward. Only to come to an abrupt halt as a soft, fluffy paw the size of a Smartcar crushed him to the ground.

Pandy winced. It was too late. He’d been noticed, and Isidor would have to face the challenge. Unfortunately, it seemed that neither the librarian nor the chancellor had made it here, or – horrifying possibility – they had already been eaten. Then another thought occurred to her, and Pandy looked around at the apparently empty air.

“Zeph…yr? Ra? Um, the chancellor’s elemental?” Pandy whispered. “Are you here?” Not a breath of air moved in the closed space, but she went on anyway. “If you can, you should probably get Mr. Blackwood now. That would be really helpful, so, uh, thank you?” There was absolutely no response, but Pandy couldn’t wait, so she muttered, “Cancel Shifting Faces,” before slipping into the room after Isidor. 

For now, the boy should be safe enough, since the boss of this dungeon preferred to play with its food before eating it. Pandy refused to look at the enormous shape crouching over the flattened boy, instead creeping around the wall to her left, where the monster’s thrashing tail couldn’t see her. She had to find Eleanor and make sure the girl was safe, and then she could figure out how to help Isidor.

Eleanor wasn’t crying anymore, which made it more difficult to be certain where she was, but Pandy had a pretty good guess. This room was meant to look a bit like a colosseum, with columns all around, and a vaulted ceiling so high that she could only make it out around the edges, where more torches flickered. The monster sat in the center of the room, waiting for food, and, as in all games, the treasure could only be reached by going through it. Unless, of course, it was busy with another victim, and you could just go around.

“Born from flame, I shimmer and fly. A spark of light in a moonless sky. What am I?” a deep, growling voice asked as Pandy darted from one column to the next, and Pandy dared a glance toward the center of the room.

The Puffinx lounged, with a single paw pinning Isidor to the ground. The boy was unhurt, as far as she could tell, which was a relief, even though she’d expected it. Claws the size and sharpness of scimitars curved over his shoulders, and judging from the look on his face, Isidor was equal parts terrified and furious.

“Let me go!” Isidor shouted into the furry face that stared down at him.

The cat-head tilted to one side, while the shark-head bared brilliantly white teeth at the teenager. She couldn’t see the third head, but she knew it was there, and it was by far the most terrible of the three. “Answer our riddles,” the cat-head said, “and you may leave, and take a single piece from our treasure, as well. Fail, and we’ll eat you.”

A fin atop the gray-skinned shark head shook in glee at this, and Pandy shivered, turning away. The Puffinx was a creature of its word. So long as Isidor didn’t give an incorrect answer, he was safe. He was also smart, and anyone who had done any reading about this world at all should know the answer to this ‘riddle’. Even in her first play-through, Pandy was able to answer without looking it up.

Isidor shook his head, and Pandy could see him trying to get his hand down to his pocket. His shoulder was held in place, twisted awkwardly away from his chest, but the arm could bend at the elbow, and Isidor was clearly determined to reach Tempest. “Tell me again,” he grunted, straining to reach around the massive claw.

A curl of fetid breath emerged from the cat’s mouth, wafting about until it reached Pandy, where she was almost halfway around the enormous room. She caught one whiff, then simply stopped breathing for the duration. Poor Isidor wasn’t as lucky, and he turned distinctly green beneath the natural dark tone of his skin.

“You heard it once,” the Puffinx said, and the shark-head nodded eager agreement. “Answer or be eaten.” Its toes flexed, claws scratching against the floor as they tightened, and Isidor went still.

“Sparklefly,” Isidor grunted, voice strained. This was a tier-one elemental that only appeared when a wood fire burned outdoors during the day, casting sparks into the sky.

“Correct!” the cat-head said, sounding far too cheerful. It knew it would be getting its meal soon, and in the meantime, it was fun to watch Isidor squirm.

The shark-head knew it too, black eyes rolling as non-existent lips pulled back from serrated teeth. “Riddle me this,” it said, in a surprisingly high-pitched voice. Its gills fluttered in a rhythmic and slightly creepy way that Pandy couldn’t tear her eyes away from, even as she finally began working her way around the back of the vast room.

“I walk without form, yet burn with pride. Born of the mountain’s molten tide. No breath I take, no heart to beat, yet all who near me fear my heat. What am I?” the shark asked as the cat laid its head down, slitted eyes watching Isidor.

This was also a riddle from the game, with a fire elemental for the answer. The tier-three elemental was significantly rarer than a Sparklefly, but Pandy was still confident that Isidor would know what it was, especially since she’d just told all the children about it…had it only been earlier that day?

A small voice whispered, “Pyraxon,” and Pandy’s head whipped around. There, almost hidden between two columns, was a mass of thorny green vines and branches. Bright orange flowers grew among the vines, and the three-inch thorns were dark with oozing, poisonous sap. Only the tiniest of gaps were visible in the dense thicket, which shook its leaves threateningly at Pandy as she approached.

Pandy couldn’t call Eleanor’s name as she was, but she couldn’t use Shifting Faces, either. There was no way the Puffinx would miss an adult human suddenly appearing near its prize. So Pandy just kept going, dreading the moment when she had to face those thorns. To her complete surprise, however, a single flower drooped down toward her when she got close enough, its petals closing, then opening again, for all the world like a creature drawing in a deep breath. Then the vines shivered, parting just enough that she could make out the pale oval of Eleanor’s small face.

The little princess’s eyes were huge, and they filled with tears when she saw Pandy. She let out a little sob of hope and fear before pinching her lips shut, holding back any further sounds. Pandy crouched down, almost crawling on her belly as the branches rustled, moving aside just far enough to allow Pandy to enter the small space in which Eleanor huddled, slender arms clutching her knees, making her just small enough to fit.