The Pegassian Order

10. Drown

The freezing water made her torso convulse as she swam upwards. The structure she was trapped inside was too narrow for her to swim or even keep afloat inside. She freed the dagger from the wall and wedged into the wall further up and pulled herself up again. Water soaked through her clothes, weighing her down, longing to pull her into the icy darkness below.

Shudders violently rocked her spine and explosions of pain burst throughout her limbs, as exhausted joints tried to carry the burden of her bruised body. Her jaw chattered as her numb fingers found the handle of the dagger again and she wedged it into the wall once more and pulled herself up, until the water pooled around her waist. She planted her boots against the wall but could feel them filling up with water with each passing second, and threatening to sink to the bottom again. She reached up and pushed the rock slab sealing her in as hard as she could. It didn’t budge. She cried out in agony and fury as the water reached her shoulders again. Spluttering, she pulled the dagger free.

Her legs cramped and tears streamed down her cheeks as she slammed the dagger into the corner where the slab met the wall. The dagger wedged in and Elliot pushed down on it with all of her might as water filled her nostrils. She leaned up and took in a final gulp of air before being fully submerged in the water. She pushed down on the dagger with so much force that air bubbles rushed from her nostrils and lips. Finally, the slab groaned and slid to one side.

Elliot reached out and gripped the edges of the wall where the slab had come away and using her own body, she pushed the slab aside as she pulled herself out of the tomb. Water spilled over the tall cuboid pillar of stone and Elliot dropped herself onto the hard ground and lay on the ground as cold water pooled around her.

The violent shudders began to subside when she noticed another pillar across the room. It was identical to the one she had been in and water was streaming down the sides, like a pan filled to the brim with boiling water, which spills over.

On instinct Elliot climbed up a small ledge which formed a passage way that led to the lid of the cuboid pillar. The passage was narrow, and had been paved over time. This was what her assailant must have used to dump her in there in the first place, she thought.

She reached the slab of rock covering the water filled stone coffin and using the dagger, she prised it open. As the rock budged by an inch, water burst out. Elliot heaved as she shoved the rest of the slab off the top of the stone contraption, revealing a floating body inside, next to it was a dagger wedged into a wall. Elliot reached in and pulled the dagger free, then slipped it into the band of her trousers. She then pulled the body out.

The body was heavy and unmoving. She recognised the face immediately, it was Cara. Elliot placed her onto the path and checked for a pulse, then performed CPR. Cara looked like a statue, like one of the pale stone busts she and Elliot had passed on their way through the previous stage.

That was when it hit her. If this was a game of survival, it meant she had led endangered Rafi, Galen and Duke. She wondered how they were, whether they had made it this far, whether any of them didn’t…

Guilt flooded her entire being as she stared down at the limp body of Cara. She repeated the CPR, refusing to let Cara die on her watch, refusing to surrender to the guilt of possibly endangering or even killing Rafi, Galen and Duke. Why did she bring them into this?

‘Wake up!’ She ordered. She pressed firmly against Cara's chest, and repeated the manoeuvre until finally, Cara spluttered and rasped. Elliot pulled Cara into a seated position and patted her back as Cara coughed up the water and shivered.

‘Thank god.’ Elliot sighed, running her hands over her own face and fighting back tears. Cara sat in silence for a few moments then looked at Elliot.

‘I owe you one.’ She said. Elliot watched the thief climb to her feet and peer up at the large coffin she was sealed inside just minutes ago. ‘£100,000.’ She said.

‘What?’ Elliot asked, confused by the sentence.

‘That's what I was paid to come down here. That's what I almost died over.’ Her eyes glazed over and her thoughts were elsewhere. She looked troubled by the realisation. Turning to Elliot, she added. ‘At least you're risking your life for something noble.’

Elliot fell silent. She knew Chloe was a strong swimmer, she knew her sister had made it this far at least. Chloe had a more mechanical mind than Elliot. She was able to see how things were put together, she could dismantle and reassemble just about anything when they were kids. She would spend hours destroying Elliot's toys, just to fix them again. That was why Elliot knew her sister wasn't dead yet. She knew they, whoever they were, hadn't won.

And she knew if she just hung in there a little longer, she would be able to find her. Elliot cupped her head.

‘What was in the drink you gave me? What happened?’ She demanded.

‘I needed to knock you out. Alcohol and some semi-illegal pain killers. I had to seal your wound.’ Cara shrugged. A wave of anger washed over Elliot as she stared at Cara.

‘You carry that around with you?’

‘Proved useful, didn't it?’ Cara answered. Elliot marched up to Cara, stopping inches from her face and stared into her eyes. ‘If you didn't knock me out, this wouldn't have happened to us.’

‘You don't know that. I was struck from behind. I didn't even see who or what did this.’

‘Who.’

‘What?’ Cara asked.

‘You said ‘who or what’. It's always a ‘who.’’ Elliot said. Cara paused, as though she was evaluating Elliot for a moment before scoffing.

‘I've seen things, Mara. Things your mother would believe.’

‘Don't talk about my mother.’ Elliot warned. Cara exhaled then shook her head and walked away from Elliot.

‘Where are you going?’ Elliot asked.

‘To finish this.’ Cara replied without turning back, that was when Elliot saw the narrow doorway ahead of them. Above it was an engraving of a snake which had a single droplet dangling from its fangs.

‘Wait.’ Elliot requested but Cara walked onward and Elliot followed until the duo found themselves in a stone maze. ‘Do you smell that?’

‘What?’ Cara asked.

Elliot frowned. ‘That. It's like something is burning...’

Elliot looked ahead and panicked as she realised, she had suddenly lost track of Cara. The walls around her appeared to ripple but Elliot knew it wasn't possible. She planted a hand against a cold wall to steady herself.

‘Cara?’ She called.

‘Mara?’ Her voice replied, from what seemed to be miles away.

‘Cara? Where are you?’

There was no reply. Elliot grew aware of an orange glow coming from round the corner. She crept toward it, her hand gripping the dagger in her waistband. She rounded the corner to find a torch on the wall. The auburn glow illuminated the smog hovering in the air.

It was a hallucinogen of some kind. Elliot glanced up and noticed the head of Medusa with several snakes sprawling outwards. It was painted across the ceiling, each snake had a different skin colour or eye colour.

How much deeper into the pit of this darkness did Elliot need to go to find her sister? She wasn't sure how much more she could take. Elliot leaned on the wall, only to have it vanish into thin air and she fell onto the ground. Confused, she stood up at once and reached for the walls around her. They seemed to be growing further and further apart.

Was she imagining it?

The undeniable sound of rock grinding made her lift her head just in time to witness small square panels in the wall slide apart to reveal a sharp pointed shard of stone. Elliot stared at the path of the maze she was in. It was straight and turned away at the end. The walls growled as they began to close in on Elliot. Elliot ran forward, conjuring up what strength she had left and sprinted for the end of the passage. She focused on the opening as the pointed tips of the shards began to pierce her peripherals.

She skidded into the empty space at the end and turned to see the walls collide into each other. Elliot panted, breathless and afraid. What was happening? Was any of this real?

She stepped toward the two walls and gingerly reached out, touching the stone. They were real. If she thought she was hallucinating and didn't bother running, she would be dead right now.

Cara could have sworn she head Elliot Mara call out to her. She wasn't entirely sure how she had lost track of Elliot. One moment she was there, the next moment she had vanished and the walls around them started to move. Whoever had designed this place must have been watching them. She was sure of it. How else would they know the next stage had begun? This time, nor she or Elliot had triggered anything or pressed anything. They had simply walked through a passage way. Cara hadn't seen any lasers or any machinery but she was certain that if she looked hard enough, she would find a camera or a sensor of some sort.

If Elliot was right and people were behind this, then people were messy. Somewhere, somehow they will have made a mistake or left a clue. She intended to find it and bypass their stages and tests.

As she rounded the corner, she found herself facing yet another dead end. She looked up at the walls, they were roughly eight feet tall. She thought for a moment then walked in the opposite direction to the dead end she had just found.

She turned on her heel and sprinted back toward the wall. As she reached it, she leapt toward it and planted her boot against the wall and scaled up it, grasping the top of the wall with all her might. She pulled her body up and onto the top of the wall which was two feet wide. Wide enough for her to run along. With her new found perspective on the maze, she began to run then leap from wall to wall in search of a way out. She realised she found it easier to think up here. She felt clearer somehow.

If she came across Elliot, she would pull her up, if she didn't, you win some, you lose some.

Or at least, that was what she told herself to make it easier to fall asleep at night. Cara noticed a thin white tube running along the top of the wall, like a wire. She crouched and pinched it. It wasn't a wire, it was a tube. Something was passing through it. She followed the white tube to the end of the wall and stopped at the sight of the sprinklers which pushed gas downwards into the maze.

They were inducing hallucinations and combining them with real traps in the maze. What a bunch of psychopaths.

‘Mara?’ She called, but received no reply. She slowed down as she noticed something move in her peripheral. She crouched and remained silent as she hovered on the wall like the old goblins atop church roofs.

She saw it again, a shadowy figure skulking through the maze. As she stood, she realised the figure was stalking Mara, who groggily staggered through the maze a few turns away, closely dodging swinging blades and other traps.

She had to reach her before it was too late.