Krampus Plot, part IV

[lady_bols]

 She crawled out of the tent on her hands and knees, gritting her teeth.  The ground was hard packed dirt, and the air smelled clean and fresh. It was dark, and they were under a brilliant desert night sky.

"Oh, Ichabod.  Look."

Comments

[1stwitness]

"Yes." He fishes it out and hands it over, having kept most of it out of habit. He knows how to survive in the wild. "I think so. Not for too long, but enough to refresh us a little."

[lady_bols]

She takes another two pills, and drinks.

"Yeah." She doesn't care that the ground is hard and cold. She pokes his bony shoulder a few times, like fluffing a pillow.

"Call me when room service gets here."

With that, she puts her head on his shoulder, and is out like a light.

[1stwitness]

He eyes her as she prods him, vaguely amused, but doesn't object.

And then he just sits very still, sharply alert, and waits for her to wake up - and never makes a single move to make it happen, turns or no turns.

[lady_bols]

She sleeps for a bit more than an hour, before her mind spins awake and tells her she's not where she's supposed to be. She sits up, bleary-eyed and nudges him.

"You were supposed to wake me up. Go on, then. Get some rest."

[1stwitness]

"I feel fine", he says stubbornly. "Quite well rested, and ready to explore."

[lady_bols]

"Fine. Stubborn git."

It's said with affection. She levers herself to one hip and then her hands and knees. It's slow, and painful, but she manages, balancing with one hand on the wall.

"Let's find a way out of this place. I'm tired and I want to go home."

[1stwitness]

"I quite agree. Home, and to the best hot baths Milliways can provide."

He stands up a little stiffly.

[lady_bols]

"Oh god, a bath. Oh that sounds heavenly right now. I must smell like a wet dog."

She takes the torch out of the sconce and holds it up, looking around for any signs or symbols that might indicate a direction they're suppose to take.

The question is easily solved when she discovers a dead end only a few paces away from where they'd collapsed.

"Not this way." She pivots on her heel and points back the other direction.

[1stwitness]

"Well, that was simple." There's only one torch, and Alex has it, so he follows. "Hopefully all such decisions will match it."

[lady_bols]

"So long as they don't involve anything that's trying to kill us or steal our souls, I'm fine with that."

She does eventually pass the torch to him.

"Does any of this look familiar to you?"

[1stwitness]

Ichabod peers at it in the flickering light.

"Not particularly. Some of it might be old German, but there again it might not."

[lady_bols]

"I was thinking Greek. I'm hoping we don't run into a Minotaur."

She keeps walking, slower now than before. She's clearly feeling the effects of the last few hours? Days? It's been so long, she couldn't tell how much time had passed.

"Though this still isn't as much of a Labyrinth as the Library was."

They do come to a right angle turn, and there's a dim light at the end of the tunnel.

"Is that -- oh God, I don't want to get my hopes up. Is that a door out?"

[1stwitness]

"A minotaur would be traditional", he agrees wryly, then squints ahead. "It's certainly something worth a closer look."

[lady_bols]

She tentatively leads the way, wishing she still had her gun. (Wishing Gene was here to spur her on by calling her something ridiculous like a Girl.)

"Look."

It's a door framed in iron, with vertical bars the size of her wrist, spaced far enough apart she can see out, but no farther. Beyond lies a very familiar forest.

[1stwitness]

"Milliways", he says on a sigh of relief. "If we can just get the door open... I don't suppose you have anything like a lockpick?"

[lady_bols]

"I don't see any lock. It looks like it's sealed shut. Oy! Anyone out there! Help!"

She shouts at the top of her lungs, utterly uncaring of how much it hurts. If someone is looking for them, maybe they'll hear.

[1stwitness]

He joins in, at the top of his voice.

"KATRINA! SECURITY!"

[anti_kringle]

There is a rattle of chains.

[lady_bols]

Alex falls back from the door, pressing herself flat against the wall.

"Ichabod..."

[1stwitness]

"Yes", he says grimly, standing his ground. "But if we can't get out, it can't get in. I hope."

[anti_kringle]

The rattle comes closer, as does the uneven gait of the monster.

Pad, clack. Pad, clack. Pad, clack.

[lady_bols]

Alex falls back again, one hand unconsciously covering her throat.

"Yes, but the chains," she hisses. "Get back from the door, please."

[1stwitness]

"I have a shotgun", he points out, but backs away from the door anyway, just a few feet while never taking his eyes off the outside.

[lady_bols]

"Wait do you hear that?"

She leans a bit closer.

"Is that -- sleigh bells?"

[1stwitness]

"...I do believe it is." He approaches the door again, peering through the bars. "How odd."