The horse stood atop the high rim of the valley, looking at the pattern of rocks below. They angled and met, weaving themselves nearly a half mile forward into a labyrinthine valley before coming out the other side once more into the country beyond. In front of the steed, the ground sloped downwards, making a gravel path into this tight place, where its high stoned ruin made a narrow mossy wall on either side. Going in meant to entrap oneself to the maze's design. However, it stood as the only way left through this region.
"Giles. Giles, go!" The voice of the horse's master screamed over the hills behind, though he would not be fooled by such simple tricks. The animal looked behind, and saw some few miles back, a dark figure making its way across the countryside at a great pace. Behind it, rain clouds followed, their veil of gray, pouring over the now browning grass. The creature moved like water, covering the distance at such great pace that the horse had difficulty keeping focus on it.
'Damn rider,' it thought, turning its head back to the valley, 'if you didn't reek so foully, it wouldn't be able to track us over such a great distance and I'd have outrun it by now.' The horse gasped for breath, feeling its lungs aching with each inhale. 'And, I am already spent. I need you to wake up rider. Wake, and spur me on. Give my guidance. Or shall I simply run forever. It can, I can't.'
"Giles!" the voice already came closer with each passing moment. Soon, it would be upon them.
'Very well. Nothing else for it.' The steed went headlong into the labyrinth.
-
Giles spent the better part of seven hours driving Elias's horse onward through the storm. Never for a moment could he see what lay ahead. A thick barrage of rain obscured any view of the world about them. Thunder and lightning glared upon the millions of droplets and made the world about occasionally glow a blue white. He would shout and spur the steed to move faster and not give in to thinking they were anything near safety.
"Move your legs. Can't you hear it? We didn't draw it away from your master just for it to finish us like a fleeing pup. If we get caught, it will surely go after Elias next." This, more than any other threat or pleading, gave cause to the horse's speed. However, all the time they fled, Giles and the horse heard it. Never far behind, and sometimes even close enough to take a swipe near the horse's hind with its long black claws.
On the seventh hour of their journey, when they felt that at any moment they would stumble and be killed, luck proved on their side. The mud beneath the steed's feet vanished, replaced by wooden planks. On either side, they heard the gushing and crashing of water as it moved below the wood. They crossed the great bridge that connected Windgrad to The Warren, a region of rock, grassy hills, and the mountain city of Warrenhall.
The storm had driven the soldiers manning the bridge into their huts, and at the speed Giles now moved, they would have no time to step out and stop him before he would be out of sight. The same would be said of the creature. No sooner had they made it halfway upon the bridge then had the two heard the scraping of claws against wood, and a terrible cry sounded out. The feeling of hopelessness enraptured Giles' mind, and he clung tightly to the horse.
At this moment, by some final strain of divine intervention, a lightning bolt split off from the clouds and reached its terrible illuminating fingers down to the world below. With fire and sparks, it touched down at the center of the wide bridge, exploding with a great force. Planks and water flew away and the weakened structure creaked and bent against the strain of the river.
Giles felt the wood below the horse giving way, and began to fully detach from the bank at the other side. Moment by moment, the bridge gave way behind them until the planks directly below now floated free. At the last moment, the horse made a leap from their position. They flew through the rain filled air, and landed with a jolt upon the muddy bank.
The two listened as the sound of the whole bridge dislodging and crashing into the water filled the air. The few spouts of fire that gave flickering shadows of the structure's demise through the rain quickly dissipated, and the world behind once again fully vanished into gray. Giles breathed a heavy sigh of relief, cut short by the screaming of his name from the other shore. It shuddered through the distance with a quivering rage, moving up and down the far bank.
The sound of soldiers rushing out of their huts on either side of the road alerted Giles to their presence. He pulled the reins to the left, turning the horse about. The soldiers held up lanterns, observed the strange vanishing of their post, and began looking about for answers. Giles, knowing it would only be a matter of time before the creature found some other crossing down the river, chose not to allow the men to get a chance at questioning him and slowing their escape. So, he spurred the animal on, and together they evaded capture and came out of the storm at long last.
It was not long later that the effects took hold. It had started as a simple cold when the two men entered the farm, had developed since they parted. Over the first day of their journey, it had now developed into a full blown fever.
Giles felt the chill taking hold, and thought nothing more than the effects of rain. However, now under clear sunny sky, he found the world around growing dark. The road ahead swam in his mind, and he could no longer direct the horse down the path. Eventually he became aware that they wandered at a slow pace through bare winter fields of stone and grass. The days became blurred and he no longer felt sure of their direction. Even his fear of the beast felt obscured in his mind, and he wondered why he even rode a horse across this unfamiliar country. Then he finally lost consciousness, and slumped hard against the steed's neck.
-
Now within the rocky maze, the horse twisted and turned down its passages. Each way leading from one dead end after another. Its hooves echoed off of the narrow slick walls. The rider upon its back groaned in his sleep. Panic filled the animal's mind as it eventually stumbled its way back to the entrance after nearly a half hour of wandering about. It had not the mind for such things, and pleaded in its spirit that the rider would wake up and take charge.
"Giles!" The cry sounded off directly outside of the labyrinth. Without a second thought, the horse bolted down one of the halls, unknowingly choosing the only option it had yet to make. As it made its way, it heard the creature about, crying its terrible voice out for the rider to come forth. Each time it did, it seemed to be at a different area of the maze, giving the horse hope that it too would remain as lost as he did for the time being. Still, it cursed its rider for falling ill and allowing the creature to close the blessing of a distance they had gained.
-
Giles' head pulsed in and out of dreams. One moment he would be by a little stream, his child self fishing alongside others of his tribe. The next he would be running down a deep hall of torches, fleeing from black talons as they closed the distance. Now, he sat at a table atop a high cliff with a man who wore a crown of silver and ruby. They both shook hands.
"You're going to move mountains, son." The man handed him a bow, and then gestured to a vast world beyond. From North to South, the view caught fire, and a sorrowful cry took up from all areas. The heat billowed against Giles' face, and he eventually felt his own skin begin to bubble and burn. He turned to hand the bow back to the man, but he no longer sat with him. Instead, a gaunt dark figure walked towards him. Two massive antlers grew from its head. It reached one hand to the sky and pointed one at Giles. It spoke something, but the rush of flame drowned out its voice as Giles felt himself become consumed.
-
One path opened to the left, and two to the right. The horse thought little of it, and rushed into the first entrance on the right. For several minutes it went dashing about, thinking it had made great progress. Indeed, should a horse feel pride in its own genius, this one would be it.
The cry still sounded off. The time for them to escape ran lower and lower with each passing moment. Visions of itself laying ripped to shreds, its rider scattered about filled its head. Even worse, that this thing might go back to finish its business with its master, filled it with new energy to finish its final escape. Then it turned to the left and saw a long hall sloping up. This was it. With full speed it moved towards freedom and escape. Even now, the beast might be lost for hours. Even with its rider out of the game, it had done the task and brought them to safety.
All of these hopes vanished as quickly as a candle in the wind. Coming to the end of the hall, it observed a familiar sight. The entrance it went down now lay on its left, and it had come out the second. One big loop.
A terror seized it, as the cry of the beast went up one more time. It began moving back and forth, looking in a craze for some low hanging edge that it might attempt to climb out from. Perhaps then they would be able to bound from top to top and make it across that way. But nothing revealed itself.
"No, go back." The weak voice of its rider gave it pause and its ears went back. "Go back the way we came. Go back." He felt his reins being pulled, and his body followed. Being led back down the hall they had just come, the rider led him down several new twists and turns until they came to a dead end.
There, he stripped off his worn shirt and began rubbing it along where the rock walls made a corner. Then, after a few moments of this, he took off his left boot and laced it to the tunic, and threw it high up. It landed high up atop the rock.
"Now, hurry, go back where we were." As they went back, it suddenly became clear to the horse that the terrible stench of the rider was mostly gone now.
Soon they came back to the three paths, and the rider took them down the one not used. Now in control of the reins, he guided them in such a way that the horse found their progress doubling by the minute. Soon, the rocks above began to lower, and the ground below once more had winter grass below them. After a few more moments, the hall shone daylight.
"Giles!"
Like an arrow from its bow, horse and rider shot from the maze and into the open fields. Desperate, they both leaned into their speed. Galloping across rock and over hills they made their way. The rider spoke words of power and confidence into the steed as its mane billowed in the wind.
Atop a massive hill they stopped, and looked back. The ruin of the maze appeared as a distant haze in their view. No figure could be seen pursuing them.
The horse's snort and neigh drew the rider to look before them. Below the hill stretched a far forest of amber and yellow. It went as far as the distant mountains. To the left and the right, miles away two castle spires stood tall above the trees. Each structure and the rider forming the shape of a triangle, with each point equal distance from each other.
The horse felt the rider nudge his sides just a bit, and lean upon him. He took this as a sign to move down the hill towards the forest country. He was totally unaware that it was simply the rider being once more overcome with his fever and fainting into that horrid sleep once more.