The Shadow Kingdom

Chapter 26i

The only source of light is a burning torch inside a socket on the wall, resembling that of a medieval castle. I take the torch and decide to go left since neither option has a clear advantage. The corridors continue to divide for hundreds of meters, and all the corridors look the same. It soon becomes apparent that this is a maze.

I lose track of time as I trace and retrace my steps through the stone labyrinth. It is easy to understand how people go insane in this place. The minutes feel like hours, and the hours feel like days. I use my keys to create marks on the walls in order to remind myself of what directions I've taken, but they do little to help in a maze that seems to have no end.

I round one corner, and this maddening environment finally changes. There are three iron doors with knockers, shaped like gargoyle heads. None of the doors have handles, and they won't budge when pushed. I bang on all of them repeatedly and forcefully, trying to trigger any type of reaction, but nothing happens. What little bit of sanity I just regained begins to slip, and I drop the torch, slumping down against the wall. I plant my face in my palms, cursing myself for making this stupid deal.

"Giving up so soon?" An ominous voice speaks. I startle, jumping to my feet. "And to think, everyone always says you are such a smart girl. I am disappointed." One of the gargoyle heads speaks to me!

"You can talk?" My eyes open wide in bewilderment.

"Obviously." The second head speaks. "Your powers of intuition seem to be greatly exaggerated." What the hell is this? "We have a task for you. If you succeed, you will continue. If you fail, this labyrinth will become your new home... and your grave."

Shaking my head, I try to reaffirm my grasp on reality. I pick up the torch, ready for whatever task gets me out of this claustrophobic hellhole. "One of these doors leads to freedom, the others to damnation." And the third head speaks.

"One of us will only speak the truth, while another will only lie to you. The third will be an enigma." Head one says. "You may ask any of us three questions. How will you find the right door?"

You have got to be kidding me. Under normal circumstances I would scoff and not even deign to answer. This is a classic Knight-Knave-Spy style logic puzzle, the kind that I've heard a dozen times before. Knights only tell the truth, knaves only lie, and spies tell truths or lies. But my mind is so racked from being trapped in this nightmarish place that it is difficult to even form a proper train of thought.

A two-head/two-door question would be child's play. I would simply ask, "If you were the other head, which door would you say is the door to freedom." The truth teller would indicate the opposite door since he would tell the truth about what the liar would say. And the liar would also indicate the opposite door since he would lie about what the truth teller would say. But this is not so simple. I have to factor in the third door and the enigma head, the one who will randomly speak the truth or lie.

I turn the logic over and over in my corrupted brain, but no surge of brilliance appears. The gargoyles wait patiently for my questions, and I am grateful that there is no time limit. It takes me an eternity, but in the end, I smile. There is a dominant strategy.

I ask the first head, "If you were the enigma, which door would you say is the door to freedom?" The head answers the first door. He must be the enigma. Neither the truth teller nor the liar would know what the enigma's answer would be.

I ask the second head the same question. He doesn't even answer. He must be the liar. The truth teller would say that he does not know, but the liar cannot confess that he does not know because that would be telling the truth.