In The Cards

Giving up when faced with the impossible is only sensible if you have an alternative course of action. But if the only alternative is death you might as well carry on. Who knows, you may even be able to win through.

Excerpt from 'Ruminations Of A Master Bard'

It was pitch dark. Rini couldn't see anything of her surroundings, but she sensed that she was inside a narrow tunnel. The air didn't move enough for it to be another large cave. She reached out a hand to touch a smooth stone wall. Once her eyes adapted to darksight she could make out Edwin by the red glow of his bodyheat. The boy was still standing where the door had been, looking about himself nervously, but obviously without seeing anything at all. "Um…Rini?" he said, and his voice trembled just a little bit. "You still there?"

"Right here," the girl said and reached out to touch his arm.

Edwin jumped into the air with a yelp and banged his head on the ceiling. "Don't do that!" he said in a plaintive voice. "You spooked me half to…er…that is…"

"Sorry. Didn't mean to scare you."

"I wasn't scared! I'm never scared! I was just…surprised. Er…can you see anything at all?"

Rini shook her head and then remembered that her new friend couldn't see her. "Just you," she said. "Oh, and Softy of course. You don't know how to conjure mage light, by any chance, do you?"

"I already tried," Edwin said. "It doesn't seem to work in here." He sighed. "I really wish I could see in the dark like you can," he said. "There's a spell that does the same thing, but it's divination."

"So?"

"Don't you know anything? I'm supposed to do conjuration magic when I grow up, remember? And that means I can't do divination or my mind will grow into all the wrong shape."

"Your mind already is the wrong shape," Rini muttered. "I was only asking, you know."

Are you coming or not? Softpaws asked. The fluffy kitten sat on the floor, the red glow surrounding her making her take on an almost hellish appearance, apart from the fluffiness that was. I want to go hunting. See all these tracks? I bet I can make a major kill if I can just sneak up on whatever made them…

Indeed there were tracks on the floor, footprints glowing with warmth. They had to have been made from magic. No real print would stay warm long enough to give off visible heat. They were animal prints, paws and hooves mixed all together before leading off in different directions and into different tunnels. "Wow…” the young girl said. "That's really neat…" She described her findings to Edwin.

"I guess we're meant to follow one of them," the boy said. "But I don't know how we're going to figure out which."

"I do! There was a wolf on the door, remember? That has to be it!" Then the half-elf remembered something and she felt a keen sting of disappointment. "Except I don't know what wolf prints look like," she admitted.

"I thought elves knew all about animals and forests and things like that."

"Duh! I'm a half-elf remember? And besides, forests are boring. Just a lot of trees. Nothing exciting happens in stupid old forests."

"Well, it so happens that I know what wolf prints look like. I read it in a book." Following Edwin's description the two children were eventually able to work out which prints looked like they could belong to a wolf.

"Guess we'd better get going," Rini said. "Here, hold my hand."

"I'm not holding hands!" Edwin exclaimed, sounding mortally offended. "What do you think I am, some sort of scared little baby?"

"No, I think you're a human and unable to see in the darkness. Do you want to get lost in here?"

"Oh. I guess that's all right then. As long as you remember, I'm never scared." His grip on her hand was very tight though, and made the half-elf decide that he was probably lieing. She didn't press the issue however. After all, she really didn't want him to go and get himself lost.

"I hope there aren't any traps in here," Edwin suddenly said as they were about to enter the next tunnel. "Only…I've heard some stories about dungeons. And about traps. Like these big spike traps that tear you to pieces, or the ones with giant boulders that smash you, or the ones with fireballs that burn you all up…"

"Immy likes traps too," Rini said, suddenly feeling very worried. "She told me that they're impossible to see unless you're a trained thief…"

"I mean…I enjoyed those stories when I was at home, but it's a bit different when you're actually in a dungeon, isn't it?"

"Yeah…Well, we can't do anything about it. Pity we don't have a thief here."

"Yes," Edwin said with a deep sigh. "Pity."

The children walked in quiet for a while, Softpaws running ahead of them as they followed the wolf prints though the twisting labyrinth of tunnels. They were still holding hands. Rini decided that she rather liked that. It felt good. The darkness was oppressive, and she couldn't help thinking about how many dangerous monsters might be waiting around the next corner. Besides, it was boring the way she couldn't see anything of her surroundings except those footprints. "Wish there was some more light," she said. "We could stop to play some."

Edwin nodded. "That would be fun," he agreed. "But maybe we'll get out soon. Hey, I have a great idea. Once we get out, how about if I ask whether you can come over to my place and play some time?"

"Sure! I'd like that. And you can come over to see me too, Gorion won't mind."

"Is Gorion your father?"

Rini paused and when she spoke again her voice was tinged with sadness. "Yes," she said. "Well, my birth parents are both dead, but he's the best father anyone could have. I wish he was my really real one. Sometimes I pretend that he is."

Edwin's grip on her hand tightened a little. "I'm sorry," he said. "I know how you feel. Er…not that my parents are dead or anything, but…um…nevermind."

"Thanks. It could be much worse, I guess. I mean, I don't even really know my parents, they died while I was still too little to remember them. And Gorion really loves me, so I guess he's all the father I'll ever need, you see."

"Yes…yes I see. I suppose you're right. So…anyway…what kind of games do you like to play?"

"Oh, lots of kinds. Reading, climbing trees, going swimming, card games, pretend games…Once my friend Immy and me pretended that we were evil dragons."

"How do you do that?" Edwin asked, sounding very interested.

"Well, mostly we jumped out at people from behind corners and roared at them. Then we thought that we ought to learn how to fly so we could be proper dragons. So we made ourselves a pair of wings each." She frowned. "Gorion caught us before we could try them out though. I still think they would have worked. Don't know what all the fuss was about."

"Oooh!" Edwin said in a fascinated voice. "Wings, did you say? I'll have to try that when I get home. Sounds really exciting. I can see it now - Edwin Odesseiron, the Magnificent Flying Wizard. Or d'you suppose I should get a codename?"

"Why?"

"So people won't know my secret identity, of course."

"But I already know your real name."

"Well, that's all right. You can know it if you want to, as long as you don't tell anyone. But if you have secret powers you're supposed to have a cool secret name. It's part of the rules. How does 'The Boy Marvel' sound?"

Rini snorted. "Really silly," she said.

"Oh. How about 'Mr Magnificent'? Or 'Magical Mayhem'? Or 'Red Lightning'? Or 'The Dread Wizard'?"

"The last one. Definitely. Got one for me as well?"

"Sure! Um…how about 'Hell-kitten'?"

Rini grinned widely. "I like that!" she said. "Sounds dangerous." She made a growling sound and extended her fingers like claws. "Rrrrr! I'm the mighty Hell-kitten, and if any mean old monsters turn up to fight me I'll scratch their eyes out and eat their souls!" She giggled loudly and was happy to hear her friend join in. Suddenly the darkness didn't seem all that frightening anymore.

The children walked on. Rini wasn't sure how much time had passed, but it felt like a really long time. She was starting to get hungry. Dreadfully, terribly hungry. It was like a small animal was trying to gnaw its way out of her stomach. She couldn't understand it, it was too much, too sudden. It was getting more and more difficult to see the glowing pawprints on the floor, she was so tired and her head was spinning. More than once she had to stop and go back a little after taking the wrong path. And it was getting colder too, she was shivering like a leaf. Suddenly the tunnel came to an abrupt halt. The wolfprints simply disappeared under a wall.

"What's wrong?" Edwin asked at the half-elf's horrified gasp. He, too, was obviously exhausted, his face was pale and drawn and more than once he had stumbled and nearly fallen. Once Rini had explained what she saw his lower lip started trembling. "No!" he protested. "That can't be true. You're…you're just making it up, aren't you?"

"No, I'm not," the girl said in a dull voice. She sat down with her back against the wall that stood in the way of their way out, half hoping that it would prove to be an illusion. Unfortunately it was all too real. "We're trapped in here forever. We can't get out." She sniffed. The dreadful hunger was tearing at her insides. "I'm so hungry…and it's cold. I…I don't want to be here any longer. I want Gorion!" Tears started trickling down her cheeks.

Edwin had plopped down next to her, and he wasn't any better off than she was. "I'm tired!" he wailed, his head resting against his knees. "And freezing! I…I want to go HOME!" His thin shoulders started shaking violently with silent sobs.

Both children cried until they didn't have the strength to cry any longer. Then they simply sat there for a while, huddling close to each other to try to keep warm. But it wasn't enough. Rini knew that they wouldn't last much longer before they froze to death. And yet…something stirred within her. Gorion had always said that she was the most stubborn child he'd ever known. If somebody told her something couldn't be done, she wouldn't give up until she'd done it. She wouldn't give up. She couldn't give up. And besides, she wasn't alone. She couldn't just lie down and die when her friend was in trouble along with her. "Hey…" she said, patting Edwin on the cheek. "Don't cry."

"I'm n-n-not crying! I j-j-just have a cold!"

"Whatever. I just thought of something. There has to be a way out. Remember what that writing on the door said? 'Falter, surrender and you shall fail'? That has to mean that it's possible to get out as long as you don't give up. We'll just have to think of something. And we will. We're Hell-kitten and the Dread Wizard, remember? We'll beat this dumb old maze yet."

Edwin sniffled for a few more moments, and then his face suddenly took on a determined look. "You're right," he said. "We'll make it." His eyes lit up. "Wait, I just remembered something!" He carefully extricated two rather crumbling and broken cookies from one of his belt pouches. "Here," he said, holding out one of them to his companion. "I stole these in the kitchen this morning. I can't believe I forgot about them." The smell was wonderful, sweet and spicy. Rini gulped the cookie down in just under ten seconds. When she was done she felt a little better. Still a bit hungry, but less cold. "We should probably try to get some rest as well before we go on," Edwin said in a thoughtful voice. "Otherwise we'll probably just get lost. Except…I'm not sure if I can go to sleep in here."

The half-elf thought about this. "Here," she said. "Let me try something. I've done it for Immy sometimes, and for myself when I've had a nightmare." She cleared her throat and started singing softly. It was a silly little song she'd made up herself, about a knight in shining armor who rode out to rescue a princess from a dragon. In the song the knight ended up engaged to the dragon instead, mainly because he couldn't see very well through his helmet, and the princess ran off to become a powerful sorceress.

"Mmm, I like that," Edwin said sleepily. He was leaning his head against the girl's shoulder by now and he had a smile on his face. "Stupid…knight. Wizards…much smarter…" His eyelids fell shut and his breathing became slow and steady. Rini carefully touched his face. He felt much warmer already. Good. She felt better herself as well, as she sang she had felt a pleasant warmth spreading through her, and the hunger and fear was subsiding as well. With a pleased sigh she nestled closer to the sleeping boy, wrapping her arm around him. Softpaws settled onto her lap and added to the feeling of comfort and safety. Before long she drifted off into peaceful sleep.

The children slept deeply, still huddling close to each other like a heap of sleeping puppies. Thus they were unaware of the voice that echoed through the chamber. "You have passed the Test of Persistence," it said. "Like the wolf in winter you have endured, defying hunger, cold and despair without surrendering to them. You have been found worthy, for a mage must be ready to suffer for his magic and not give up at the first obstacle. You may proceed." The children still slept, and around them the dungeon started rearranging itself into a new configuration.