The Tale of Tara and Emiko

VIII. Tara

There seemed to be no more flaming axes or vats of poison or hidden spikes or even hallways branching off the one we walked down. I couldn't remember if this was normal or if we were walking towards certain death. Emiko and I could be pretty strong if we worked together, me with my skills and her with her magic. Maybe if we made it out of this labyrinth she could help me climb the ranks again. I've been slipping recently, losing my respect due to the jobs I couldn't log. All those kills, gone and forgotten. I really don't want their deaths to be in vain. Hopefully, once I've helped this girl out, my life will finally be back to normal-this time, with my sister at my side.

I've traveled through hell and back to save you. I won't let all my effort go to waste.

Wait, out? You're helping her now?

Emiko pushed open a wooden door at the end of the suspiciously long hallway, and before us was a room taken straight from a forest fairytale. Lush, green grass covered the floor like a carpet, giant toadstools and tree stumps were arranged to pose as furniture, and-was that a real tree embedded in the corner of the room? I sighed, shaking my head. It's been far too long since I've adventured through these halls, so long I can't remember the last time I was here. It's gotta be the magic holding this place together, messing with my mind.

Emiko's jaw dropped. "Woah," she breathed. I had to admit, I really let my imagination go wild with the rooms we were about to face. Me two years ago had quite the bright mind back then, when the money was low but the hopes were high.

I smiled, turning towards her. "Beautiful, isn't it?" Warm fairy lights were strung across the ceilings and trees, giving off a cozy atmosphere.

"What's this?" Emiko pointed to a wooden bowl sitting atop the tree-stump table. A few lines of text were carved on the side of the stump.

The wise knowledgeable man is sure of it, even the fool knows it, the richest man wants it, the bravest hero fears it, and the lowliest of cowards would die for it. Place it on the table.

"Must be a riddle," I muttered. The fog in my head was really messing with my memory. I created this challenge myself, I should know the answer! Why didn't I know the answer?

"Oh! A riddle! I'm smart, I always loved riddles when I was younger. Used to read loads of them when I hid in the library." Emiko started pacing back and forth, brow scrunched in thought.

"You hid in the library? How big of a library did you have? Must be massive." My own library consisted of four books. Three were journals I've been logging my work in. The fourth was a cookbook that I seldom used, unless a millipede that I needed to kill somehow got into the house.

"Oh, it was huge. So huge, and so pretty. There were books about anything you could ever hope to read, books about history and science and math, which I really hated, but there were also books about warrior princesses slaying dragons to save their husbands-to-be, and magical wardrobes that could transport you to another world, and a unicorn princess who finds she's an alicorn after being banished to the human world and befriends a wyvern, the sworn enemy of the unicorns! Whenever I was in the library, I always had this feeling of wonder and excitement, all these stories being right at my fingertips, but I was also scared that I wouldn't have enough time in my life to read them all. You should come visit! My parents would love to have y-" Emiko's face fell as she realized that maybe her last sentence wasn't as true as she hoped it was.

I put a hand on her shoulder. "The same parents that want you dead," I reminded her.

Emiko sat down hard on one of the toadstools, nearly falling off the squishy surface. "It's not fair! How come I'm wanted dead by my own parents because the daughter they favored over me was destined to die? It's not even my fault! I never did anything wrong! I was always who they wanted me to be. Sweet, kind, seen but not heard, where my sister was the life of the party, flirting with two or three guys at once, rebellious and dangerous and risky and yet it was me they yelled at, me they hated, me they banished and ordered dead." Her usually soft, sunny, unassuming tone hardened and sharpened. I marveled at how her eyes remained dry.

"Break something."

"Huh?" Emiko looked up at me, confused.

"Break something. You'll feel better. It works for me."

Emiko stiffened. "But-but what if I get in trouble? I don't want you getting mad at me for breaking something that's yours!"

I smiled gently. "It's fine. Everything here can burn for all I care. Also, you know all those rules you had to follow as a princess?"

Emiko nodded.

I continued. "Frick them. Frick all of them. They can go die in a ditch for all I care. All those rules ever did was choke you, constrict you, squeeze every last drop of freedom from your lungs. All they ever did was chain you to a lifetime of responsibility as your parents' shadow. Those rules were made to keep you in line as a princess, but guess what? You're not a princess anymore. You're an outlaw. A criminal. On the run. Heck, you're even hated enough to get your face on wanted posters! And you know what they say about those who are hated?"

"What?" Emiko asked.

"The haters hate you because they're jealous of your power. You're wanted dead because they know how much damage you could do to them if you were alive. They're scared silly of you, but they hide the fear with their status, rewarding whoever bests you because they're too scared to do it themselves. You're wanted dead? Take it as a compliment." I smiled. "I've never been wanted dead once in my life, and you saw me fight Fred the beareagle back there without a second thought. Imagine what I could do to a human with that kind of raw power."

Emiko brightened. "Me being wanted...is a compliment?"

I laughed. "Course it is! I respect you."

Emiko's eyes narrowed. "Then my snobby, stuffy, filthy rich parents who lied to me with every 'I love you' can go and stick whatever wimpy apology they had (or didn't) for me up their butt!" In a sudden burst of adrenaline and confidence, she punched the wooden bowl off the table. As it hit the only rock in existence among the grassy floor, it satisfyingly shattered into hundreds of thousands of woodchips.

I leapt up from my seat, throwing my arms up into the air in triumph. "That's the spirit!" I shouted. "Don't you feel better now?"

Emiko looked down at her hands, a smile growing on her face. "Yeah. I think I do."

I chuckled. "See? Told you."

fssssst

"The door's open," I noted.

"Huh?" Emiko asked. "How?"

"The answer to the riddle was 'nothing', so to solve it you had to remove the bowl from the table. Punching it off and destroying it worked too, it seems."

Emiko smiled. "Ha-ha! Take that, wooden bowl!"

Another long hallway greeted us, although not as long as the first one. The door at the end was much more colorful than the dank, musty walls surrounding it. Brightly colored jewels sparkled around the handles and hinges, and the main door was made of a beautiful stained glass, painted in so many colors it had taken on an opalescent sheen.

"Is this the way out?" Emiko asked. I nodded, smiling.

"The honor's yours."

Emiko put her hand on the knob, turning it. The door swung open silently. White mist rolled in from the room beyond, sickly sweet, like the unassuming smile of an experienced killer before they slit your throat. Her eyes widened, and she began to cough, eventually dropping to the floor, unconscious..

It hurt me more than it hurt her.

"It's okay. This will all be over soon. I'll do my best to find a way to save you."

I breathed in the mist, letting the sedative sweep me away into darkness.