The 12 Days of Christmas - The Great Holiday Mystery

The Twelfth Day of Christmas

~Someplace I Dunno~

Leo brought his hand up to his head. It felt like someone had dropped a bowling ball on him from really high up. He felt around for a bump, but everything seemed normal except for his pounding headache.

He opened his eyes. Then blinked to make sure he had opened them. Another blink confirmed it.

He was in the dark.

The dark didn't bother Leo, it never had. Once upon a time, he avoided it like a plague. Now, though, he could light a flame and be able to see.

Leo sat up, ignoring the wave of nausea that passed over him

He clicked his fingers and a fire sparked to life in his palm. It wasn't necessary to click, but Leo liked doing it. It made him feel like some sort of superhero.

Leo inspected his surroundings, but there wasn't much around him. Standing up, he could see eight dimly lit tunnels leading away in different directions, like the spokes of a wheel. The archways of the tunnels glowed in a pattern of light; gold, silver, gold, silver. They were outlined in what looked like real diamond and gold, glistening in the flickering light of his personal fire.

The eight tunnels were connected to this one circular room, centred around a small wooden table. The table itself was nothing special, but on it lay the final clue.

Without touching the paper, Leo read the note aloud to himself. He needed the familiar comfort of a voice, but the only voice around was his own.

'"On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me, twelve rising suns, eleven soaring stars, ten bouncing baubles, nine fairy fires, eight snowy messes, seven dancing canes, six Christmas goblets, five wooden sleighs, four working craftsmen, three volar reindeer, two wrapped up presents, and mistletoe up a pine tree."'

Leo glanced around him. Twelve rising suns. Christmas was supposed to be a time of joy and happiness, and sunlight brought joy and happiness, he supposed. That kind of made sense.

What did not make sense was how the messenger expected him to get out of here. And how to find rising suns in a maze of tunnels.

Thinking ahead, Leo had slept with the pouch around his neck and his tool belt around his waist. At present, he didn't want to be without either.

'Rising suns,' he muttered to himself, as if saying the words would reveal their meaning. 'Rising suns, rising suns, rising suns.'

He repeated the phrase like an incantation, barely aware of any sound his mouth made. While his lips moved without command, his mind whirred and clicked like a well oiled machine.

When the sun rose, that was sunrise. Twelve, that was just the next number in the song. The last number, thank the gods.

But that still didn't tell him how to get out of here.

He checked out the shimmering tunnels. If some where silver and some were gold, than the colour must have some significance.

Gold; sun. Silver; moon.

Suddenly it made sense. The gold represented the sun, and the silver represented the moon. That meant that the right tunnel had to be one of the gold tunnels. The eliminated the four silver passages, but still left four others.

Which one? Twelve risings suns. The rising part must mean something. The note could've said golden suns, or glittering suns, or shining suns. But it said risings suns.

Something about sunrise. He gazed at the golden tunnels heading off in four directions like the North, South, East and West on a compass.

A compass!