Maid with Necromancy

“That ill-written, shallow ruin of a girl. Such a Denna ” Harmony bit back at Adric’s descriptions of what transpired. In the process, she’d  slipped into one of her mother's favorite insults. Comparing people she disliked to characters from bad plays had been a habit of hers.

“The Chronicles girl?” Adric asked with a hint of confusion.

“Sorry,I had to read the play dozens of times for my mother. Made me really grow to hate that character. The point is, Princess Rosaline is behaving just like her.

“But she's under some dark influence.” Adric excused her.

“I've learned enough about the unfathomable to know they suggest, and convince, but rarely take action. This is on her.”

Having squeezed info from Pappi that was mostly right. A lot of it’s complicated, don’t mess with them, I don’t trust my resources, and such warnings. Only Milo’s pressure got her that much.

Adric grunted uncomfortably at that, but didn’t press further. They did have a maze to deal with and couldn’t spend the whole time arguing.

Oftentimes, the easiest way to solve a maze was to follow a wall until you reach the end. Harmony discarded that idea, assuming that more than one trick or trap would take advantage of it.

Reading up on the sixth floor of Nae’s Garden, the rat maze had many people's perspectives. In Tenjin’s Traps, Tricks and Trouble in the Spire, the author took the perspective of a designer and talked about all the horrible things you can do to those who challenge your maze. Speedrunner by Elliot talked about cheats, loopholes, and design flaws. While Harmony liked the idea of doing that with established and well-researched locations, there was an inherent danger when trying to take advantage of the unknown.  Here, the bioluminescent flowers dripped with sticky moisture, and the black twisted hedges they grew on were thick with needle-like thorns. The whole scene screamed, Don’t mess around with these, just stay on the path.  Construct Maze Tactics had the answer Harmony liked; the book wasn’t even about the 6th floor, but was shelved with them and talked about ways to design a construct to solve any maze.

What was key in this situation was that the target was ahead of them, the castle’s towers reaching above the maze walls. It was called the optimist’s approach to always pick the paths that led you closer to your destination. You backtracked at dead ends but continued whatever direction led you closer to your goal.

But where were the traps? They kept their steps light, Hyacinth riding in her bosom and dancing forward on the tips of their toes to limit the area their feet touched with long bounding strides.  

It was almost a relief when a giant mole exploded out of  the ground, blocking their way. The monster took up the whole path with barely a handbreadth on each side, separating it from the deadly-looking maze wall

Fear was a possible option for dealing with this obstacle; touching into the deepest fear of a new target was on the list of things to try. With this potentially being a race to be one of the ten at the castle, experimenting might not be the best option. Nothing to stress the already weak Adric would do. Harmony reached for [Shadowed Graves].

The moles exploded before Harmony finished that act. Blood and gore covered the flowers, turning the white light red.  

“Sorry if that was impertinent, Lady White, but maybe we could join up and get that chance to share a drink together.” Muthu offered as he stepped through the mess he had made, in his pair of  bonded pants and golden fur jacket.

Adric said he was the man who’d made sure food was delivered to him, even snuck out once or twice during the imposter challenge to bring him a meal. Pairing up wouldn’t be so bad.  Hyacinth liked… “You’re a Mimic.”

Muthu’s light hearted, natural laugh, and awe shucks grin came with a shrug at that accusation. It was almost enough to convince you of the ridiculousness of such a statement. Until he spoke, “Came on too strong early on in the mimic wasteland? Or is it that I let myself bleed into the puppet of your poor pet with that folksy drawl I’ve come to enjoy? With all that time with Adric anchored in the elements, I thought that I had perfected the modifications to get around that pesky primal bond. Uniques are that way for a reason.”

The three of them against one mimic. Its absolute confidence as it stood there amidst the corpse was unnerving. How had it killed the mole? Even the hole it popped out of was erased. It wasn’t, however, attacking. “What do you want?”

“Did you know when I first came to this plane, I thought about being a bestkin cat girl named Keira with sapphic proclivities? But it has been done before. This folksy worker seemed right. Everyone's friend.”

“You’re a monster.”

“I’ve seen in your head and know you know barely anything about us. Even the educated ones here history of us is demonstrably false and pedagogically classist. I’m a contracted being to provide a sometimes lethal challenge to competitors. Not too different from your guide.”

Hyacinth squeaked a snort of protest at that from Harmony’s chest.”

Muthu continued, “Sure, we’ve got the mindless little boxes, even that big boy, he liked that get socks, let’s call him socko, I think he earned a name, go to a liminal space of being not quite dead and not quite alive when you strip them of their role. I am a different level of opponent than a mere monster.”

 Harmony focused on her sickle, ready to coat that blood-hued blade with [Disintegrate].  “We’ll just defeat you.”

Muthu’s grin got wider, enough to show an extra tooth. “Unlikely, but you’ve surprised me so much. Even if you don’t care about making it to the castle to be one of the ten, your friend here is running out of time.”

With a wiggle of its fingers, an hourglass appeared above Adric’s head. A flash of true sight showed tethers to Saccerate’s cage inside of his body, the degradation matching the draining sand that flowed at an accelerating rate.

“Harmony don…”   Adric started.

Another gesture and her pet lost his mouth.

“This is between you and me, but as a gesture of good faith, I’ll grant you the time you need.”  A bolt of chaos, quicker than she could catch, crashed into Adric, piercing his flesh and entering into the fading spirit. The sand reversed course, refilling the top of the hourglass and emptying the bottom.

Harmony hadn’t felt this helpless at a display of power since Von Trell froze her in the palace tower. Rage simmered at having to take the abuse. I will get stronger. “What do you want?”  

“Now you ask those words with the desperation of someone who will listen. You unlocked the door to these Games, and so many of the contractual requirements have happened in this game that an opportunity in the fine print has become available. You have the ability to let me out. Haz’el Ri will even benefit, a few extra centuries of power to keep this running.” The master mimic cocked its head. “Not that you care. But I can give you things you not only want but need.”

“Mmmm ummmmm mmmm eh mm.”  Adric protested.

[Familiar Bond] showed Hyacinth as unresponsive. Neutral, almost, like he didn’t want to interfere with the proceedings. Her partner without an opinion was a rare thing.

“Go on.”  Harmony grudgingly prodded.

“I could tell you your heart will betray you, and to be prepared for that. That it’s the right choice to leave your tiny world for the taste of what is out there. Or all those lovely confirmations about how you view the world and magic. But like this little conflict, where it’s not about winning, it is about not losing, it is more important to know where your plans will go wrong if you stick with your plans.”

That wickedly friendly grin. The bloody monster knew he had her. He could read her mind.

“Tell me,” Harmony said flatly with authority.

The authority didn’t touch him, not even a twinge.  A look to Adric had him stay, as much as his hackles rose, the man’s mouth faded back into existence with a growl while the master mimic walked up casually.

“I want to assure you that this deal does not let a,” he let out a long sigh,” monster run loose. My appetite for people will be limited to self-defense. I will only be out and about while you’re alive. Maybe we’ll even get to share that drink. But I do have business to attend to past that lock.”

None of those statements made Harmony feel better. Bending over  until his mouth was next to her ear, the mimic started to explain all the ways her plan would fail and why, with the last key to resolve this mess held until she opened the door out of the games for him.

With a grunt of effort, the master mimic drew a line in reality to pull out a doorknob in the air, a physical manifestation of the concept she needed to unlock. The instructions were specific. Harmony sliced her palm for the same blood that opened the Ascendant Games and gripped the exit. With instructed words that made her teeth crack and tongue bleed, she opened the door to the outside. May the world forgive her.

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