Escape Games

Chapter Three

     The sound came again, a long howl followed immediately by a warbling noise.  The elven tensed, but Mac let out a short, sharp whistle. The howling came again, and Mac responded again.
"Shut up," the elven hissed. "Do you want it to find us?"
"If it's my dog," Mac answered. "We definitely want her finding us." The elven gave him a look.
"You're telling me you have a pet armor hound?" He asked.
"Yes," Mac gave him a straight-faced look of his own. When the elven didn't respond, Mac whistled again. The howling sounded again as well, and a moment later it was followed by barking.
"Bear!" Mac called. "Come here!" More barking came in response, and a moment later a large canine came trotting quickly around a corner further down the corridor.  She ran up and put her paws on Mac's shoulders, her tail wagging furiously.  Mac rubbed the thick, straw-colored fur on her neck, telling her what a good girl she was. 
     The armor hound's tongue lulled out of her mouth, exposing the eighty-four teeth in her long, broad jaws, not including the second set connected to the extra skull covering her face and lower jaw.  The extra skull also held two sets of saber teeth and tusks, one set in front of the canine teeth and the other behind the incisors.  The only part of the skull that had flesh was the wet, brown nose, which twitched as the dog noticed the humanoid.  The dog's small, fuzzy, triangular ears, which were rounded and flopped at the tips, pricked up as she turned her almond-shaped amber eyes towards the elven.  She blinked once and stuck her nose in his face, licking his chin once. 
     "She likes you," Mac told him.  "She doesn't normally give kisses to strangers." The elven reached out and cautiously patted the dog's head. Her long tail wagged a few times.
"You've done well raising her," he told Mac. "These aren't exactly beginner friendly pets." Mac shrugged.
"I grew up with all kinds of dogs," he said. "I've learned little things over the years. But I also know plenty about the supernatural, so I was allowed to keep her after I found her. I probably got lucky finding her as a puppy, though."
"Or you got lucky that she's naturally on the friendlier side," the humanoid said.
"That too," Mac rubbed the slightly darker fur on Bear's back as her white tipped tail moved, thumping the stone floor as she rolled over for a belly rub.
"Looks like whoever put us here took her supply pack," Mac noticed as he tickled the lighter fur on the dog's upper belly, being careful of the outer ribs on the dog's chest. "We'll be fine for a bit but we'll need to find the stuff she was carrying if we want to last longer." The elven looked thoughtful for a second.
"Maybe they hid the supplies," he suggested. "If so, we could probably find them along the way if we look in the right places."
"True," Mac said. "But the voice said this is a maze of some kind, so we'd need a lot of luck just finding the exit, let alone finding hidden supplies." The elven huffed before his thoughtful look came back.
"Isn't there a trick for mazes?" He asked. "Doesn't following one of the walls supposedly lead to the exit?" Mac nodded.
"I think I heard about that," he said. "I believe it's the left side you have to follow. Except we don't know what shape this one is, and we don't know if the trick works for all maze shapes. And besides, we couldn't follow the left wall unless I carried you." He met the humanoid's gaze, seeing a flash of annoyance in the elven's eyes.
     "What?"  Mac asked.  "You struggled just getting this far, and that was with one hand on the wall.  Your bruised leg will take a couple days at least to get to a point where you can use it without hurting.  Even if the voice said we have a month, we can't afford to waste time and risk whoever it is taking out their boredom on us."  Mac used the calmest, gentlest tone he could, but the elven still huffed before responding. 
     "I know," he sighed.  "It's just..." he paused for several seconds, so Mac tried to finish the sentence for him. 
     "A personal space bubble?"  He asked.  The elven sighed. 
     "You could say that," he answered.  "I just never liked being picked up, even when I was little.  Just was never my thing."  He'd looked at the floor for a moment, but now looked back at Mac. 
     "Fair enough," Mac told him.  "But right now, we don't really have much choice.  There isn't exactly a wheelchair handy, and I don't want to drag you behind me either." 
     "I'm not asking you to," the elven said.  He sighed and huffed.  "I'm just not going to be happy about being carried." 
     "I'm not asking you to be," Mac said.  "It'll only be until the bruises heal, then we can figure out how to get you walking."  He looked at the chain connecting them for a second or two before speaking again. 
     "The chain looks long enough that I might be able to carry you over my shoulder," he said.  He started to reach for the elven, but Bear suddenly grabbed the chain and bit hard, shaking her head furiously. 
     "Hey!"  The elven yelled, but the dog didn't let go.  After a few seconds, the chain snapped with a rattling sound.  The dog dropped the portion of the chain still held in her jaws.  There were still the padlocked bits that would need to be removed from their wrists, but now Mac and the elven had a lot more freedom. 
     "That's my girl!"  Mac told the dog, rubbing her chest affectionately. 
     "Good dog," the elven patted the dog's head a few times. 
     "That'll make things a little easier," Mac said.  He moved to put his backpack on, with the pack part over his chest. 
     "Put your hands on my shoulders," he told the humanoid.  The elven huffed but did as he was told. 
     "Easy, grumbles," Mac said as he slowly stood up.  "I'm trying to make this easier for both of us." 
     "Don't call me that," the elven grumbled as he hopped onto Mac's back. 
     "Then give me a name to call you," Mac leaned slightly forward and placed his hands just above the back of the elven's knees.  The elven sighed loudly. 
     "It's Jorik," he said, letting out another huff. 
     "That's a nice name," Mac slowly began walking, the flickering lanterns hanging near the ceiling casting an eerie light, though it was enough to see by.  Jorik just let out another huff. 
     "So where do we start?"  He asked as Mac began walking a little faster.  "What exactly should we be looking for?" 
     "Right now, anything that can help us would be nice," Mac answered.  "A map would be lovely, but probably way too easy."  He scratched his dark, four inch long hair a few times, trying to think. 
     "What about where the dog came from?"  Jorik asked.  "They had to have been keeping her somewhere until she was let out."  Mac nodded. 
     "It would be a place to start from, at least," he agreed.  He looked at Bear, who looked back at him. 
     "Can you show us where you were before you found us?"  He asked the dog.  She half-barked, raising her tail at an angle.  Her head went slightly forward and down as one front paw raised, before trotting slightly ahead to round the corner first.