Chapter 6: Would you Trust your Life to a Crisp?

Although the people around him were trying to talk in whispers their voices were becoming shrill and loud with panic. Should Liam feel panic too?

Yes.

Something dangerous is nearby?

Yes!

‘Get us out of here now please Rob,’ said Winnifred, her blue eyes constantly moving as she looked towards the pathways that led from the clearing.

‘Hush!’ said Tom. ‘Everyone shut up!’

Surprisingly, they did.

‘Rob?’ Tom hissed.

‘Just a moment.’ Their tutor knelt by the dead body and held his hand over it, drawing up a purple sphere. ‘Whatever killed him didn’t take the soul stone. We shouldn’t waste it.’

‘A purple!’

There were mutters from all around. Purple soul stones were extremely rare; Liam would need one if he ever wanted to get his fourth star.

‘All right everyone,’ Speaking quietly, Rob somehow managed to exude an air of confidence, though surely he was as troubled as everyone else to be sharing the maze with a powerful monster. ‘Back to the fountain.’

The jostling of students to get to the exit pathway was shameful. No one wanted to be last away from the fateful site of the gardener’s death. Thanks to the warning from his crisp, Liam had more reason for joining the crush than anyone else, yet he just couldn’t bring himself to pile in. Evolution probably did not favour those with good manners. With constant glances over his shoulder towards the dark corriodors behind him, Liam shuffled from foot to foot until he could move forward at last.

Wait!

Wait? You want me to wait? Didn’t you just tell me there was something dangerous nearby? Now you want me to wait?

Ungroup.

Ungroup? Are you trying to get me killed?

Exp.

Oh, hello. Exp. That was a very interesting and attractive answer. Did the crisp think that Liam had an opportunity here to gain some Exp without having to share with the rest of the students?

Yes.

I really wish you wouldn’t do that. That you’d only listen when I speak my thoughts. This is very intrusive. You think I can get some Exp here?

Yes.

Safely?

Yes.

Taking a deep breath, Liam ungrouped from his fellow students.

‘Liam?’ Kate turned back to face him, shocked.

‘The crisp has a plan. I’m going into the maze.’

‘The crisp! You trust your life to a crisp?’

‘To be fair, it is a big crisp with Telepathy. You should come too. There’s going to be Exp.’

For a moment it seemed that the word “Exp” would perform the same magic on Kate as it had on Liam. Then she shook her head. ‘Be very careful Liam.’

‘What’s going on?’ Showing an impressive display of responsibility for the students under his care, Rob had pushed his way through to the back of the crowd.

‘I’m going to explore on my own for a bit. Don’t worry about me. I’ll meet you at the statue.’

‘Don’t worry? Of course I’ll worry. You’ll get yourself killed in there and I’ll be blamed.’

‘Kate’s a witness; I went of my own accord. You didn’t leave me.’

‘He has a crisp,’ Kate folded her sturdy arms across her chest. ‘It has Telepathy.’

‘A crisp? You mean a potato chip? You have a potato chip with Telepathy?’

‘Prawn cocktail flavour,’ said Liam with a touch of pride.

Rob held out a slender hand, it was trembling. ‘Show me.’

No.

Reluctantly, Liam swung his backpack from his shoulder and fetched out the lunchbox.

‘It’s big!’ Rob touched the lunchbox to his forehead. ‘Go on then, talk to me big man… Hello. Yes, I can hear you. I see. I see.’

Their tutor shrugged and gave the box back to Liam. ‘How did you get it? Is it a pet of some sort? A familiar? I’ve never heard of a potato chip as a familiar. Nor any kind of snack product.’

‘I thought it was brought to life by the same magic that created the maze, but it says “no” to that, so I haven’t a clue.’

‘All right. My advice is to ignore the crisp and stick with the rest of us. It’s a low-level chip; it can only communicate in single words, which means it isn’t even level three.’

‘I’m going deeper into the maze.’

‘Kate you are indeed a witness that Liam has chosen to ignore that advice.’

‘Come with us Liam,’ Kate urged.

He shook his head.

‘Good luck,’ said Rob, offering his hand.

‘Thanks.’ Liam shook it and then saluted Kate. His walk across the clearing was a positive saunter. Once in the shadows of the thorn bushes though, hearing nothing but his own footsteps on the gravel, Liam felt a lot less cocky.

Azanth has invited you to form a group.

Yes / No

Naturally, he chose “yes”.

Group Menu

Azanth, Crisp (Prawn Cocktail flavour), Mage Level 0, rank 0, evolution 0. HP 1

Liam Nowak, Human, Mage Level 2, rank 0, evolution 0. HP 12

Azanth? Isn’t that a demon on one of the outer planes of wickedness?

No.

Is that you?

No.

What’s the plan then? Can you guide me?

Left.

Should I use Magic Missile to mark the path? So we don’t get lost?

No.

Liam took the next left turn. He tried walking on his tip toes to reduce the sound he was making.

Right.

Straight.

Right.

Left.

He was now in a very dark part of the maze, where the ten-metre-tall hedges grew together high above him blocking nearly all of the sky. All at once he found that he couldn’t go on. What was he doing here, way out of his depth? ‘I wish I’d gone back with the others.’ He spoke the wish as a whisper.

Forward.

I’ve got a brother. He needs me. And mum and dad, it would break their hearts if I died here. Let’s go back.

Hurry!

I’ve changed my mind. Liam turned around, could he remember the way back?

Exp!

Massive.

Vast.

Mountainous.

Exp.

On the other hand, an opportunity like this would never happen again. Even if he did find the rest of his class did he really want to put up with being the runt of the group for the rest of the year? A mountain of Exp? Enough to bring him up to level 5?

Easily.

Renewed energy filled his limbs and Liam turned towards the grim tunnel of thorns.

Good.

Left.

Right.

…

Whatever magic had transformed the rose garden had not only caused a thorny maze to spring up, it had also distorted the size of the landscape so that Liam spent over an hour walking through gloomy corridors of wicked barbs and still he wasn’t finished with the maze. Fearsome though the environment was, fear itself had been thrust down by the exercise and the constant, lulling, voice in his head, directing him through the junctions. Panic leapt up to his heart once more, though, when Liam heard a deep snort from the other side of the hedge on his right.

What was that!

Minotaur.

Naturally. It was a maze. There was a minotaur. Liam had not yet covered minotaurs in his Monsters class. They were mostly learning about low level monsters. All he knew was from the Greek legend.

That makes me Theseus, right?

No.

Hah, and you are Ariadne. You’re providing my ball of thread. Although I guess the analogy doesn’t really work as I have no way of killing a minotaur. Theseus must have been a high-level warrior to solo it. Did he use a sword? A magic sword?

Until this moment, Liam had not appreciated that his inner thoughts could babble like the words of a young child.

Run.

He ran.

Left.

Left.

Right.

Panting, Liam saw light ahead of him and he dashed towards it, reaching a square-shaped clearing where although the walls of the maze were as tall as ever, they were far enough apart that the sky above was blue. In the centre of the clearing was a chequered tiled floor, black and white like a chessboard but with thirty squares on each side. And in the centre of the tiles was a plinth with a wand floating above it, surrounded by a blue aura.

This is it? This is what we are here for?

Yes.

Careful.

Forward.

Walking slowly now – listening for the tread of the minotaur – Liam approached the tiles and when he was within a step of them, a woman’s voice came from the plinth.

‘Though once the royal garden fair,

‘The monarch’s step thou must forbear.

‘Likewise, the bishop’s overbearing march,

‘Nor humble pawn, or castle’s charge.’

Is this a riddle? Do I have to speak an answer?

Unsure.

Liam took a step back and then forward again, but the voice did not repeat the riddle.

It’s a chess riddle, right? King, queen, bishop, castle, and pawn.

Perhaps.

You don’t know?

Magic.

Obviously, it’s magic. What’s the solution? I have a feeling that if I make the wrong move I’ll be zapped. Right?

Right.

A bit of help please.

Hurry.

That’s not helping.

Well, the one piece the voice didn’t mention was a knight.

‘Knight,’ Liam spoke aloud.

There was no response. Perhaps if he were to approach the plinth using only knight moves, that would satisfy the riddle.

Good.

You approve?

Hurry.

There was no obvious tile to start with, so planning a path of knight moves to the centre, Liam took a deep breath and stepped onto a corner square…

Relief.

Tell me about it.

Hurry.

Step, step, step. Making knight moves with each foot firmly set in the centre of a tile, well away from the edges, Liam walked briskly until he could step up onto the wide base of the plinth and grasp the wand.

🎉 ✨ Congratulations! ✨🎉

Hazel Wand Quest Complete

Lore: When the titan Syceus erupted into the gardens of Queen Elisend the Good, he created a thorn maze with monsters and puzzles, at the heart of which was a hazel wand. The first group to solve the maze and obtain the wand was that of Azanth, a crisp (prawn cocktail flavour), level 0 mage, 0 rank, 0 evolution and Liam Nowak, level 2 mage, 0 rank, 0 evolution.

Reward: 14,000 Exp. +1 Quest. Hazel Wand of Syceus.

Hazel Wand of Syceus: This unassuming wand of hazel wood can cast Thornskin on a willing target three times a day. Possession of the wand grants Intelligence +3, Magical Attack +20, Magical Defence +20.

Thornskin: Range 5m. Duration 15 mins. The recipient gains a coat of thorns. Physical Defence +20. Every melee attack against the recipient, regardless of if it is a hit or a miss, inflicts 5hp of damage on the attacker as the coat of thorns ripostes.

As a member of the first group to have completed this quest you have earned the title Puzzle Solver.