A/N: This was a really hard chapter to get out... I would love if the few of you who read this just wrote a couple words, I'd like to know what you think. Thanks!-Ai
Disclaimer: I feel you, Johanna, I (didn't) steal you...
Flesh.
That's all it could smell, all it could taste, the deep pungent fragrance wafting through the air, calling to him. It was terribly intoxicating, deliciously heady after so many years of abstinence. It had stayed true to the promise wrought in blood, honoured the ancient agreement called forth at its creation; but now, with them this close, this fresh-- it could hold out no longer.
It would have to break the promise made so long ago-- there was no other way.
And so, for the first time in over six hundred years, it gave a giant groan, rumbling as it exhaled decades of pent-up grey dust and rodents.
A little brown door appeared and the center gate glinted; a great buzz crackled through every dirty dark stone.
The running of the Labyrinth had begun.
"That's fate, that is!"
"Oh, Ronald, all of that stuff's horse dung, and you know it!"
"Nah, you just don't like it cause you weren't good at it! Can't read a fortune from a book, can you?"
Johanna had only spent an hour walking with the students-- already she was regretting their decision. Firehead and Mother Hen were constantly bickering, placing her already pressured mind into a whole other level of discomfort-- and besides, the rumbling had started again, leaving her more agitated than ever. Another wave passed through, shaking the walls a bit more forcefully this time, and there was a moment of silence.
"Just keep walking," she said after a moment. "Whatever it is already knows we're here.... s'not blery likely we'll outrun it," she said said peevishly, but the two had all ready resumed their argument.
"No, that's not why, I simply didn't believe--"
"Bollocks, you were rubbish at it."
"Just a bit of--"
"Guys, would you mind for a few minutes? Thanks." Johanna blessed the scar-headed boy beside her; instant silence. He shrugged.
"I have to concentrate harder to keep the light going... it's almost like I have to work, to make an effort to keep the spell going." He stared at the wand she was holding. "It's odd." She shrugged in return, not really paying attention as she zeroed in on a gleaming, odd patch of darkness a ways ahead.
"Do you see that, Johanna?"
"That I do, Firehead," she said, mildly surprised by the use of her first name, and they slowed their pace immediately, creeping closer with caution. Suddenly, the wand went out, and after a few muttered incantations and choice words, was pulled gently out of her grasp.
"It isn't working," he said simply, and she pulled out her gun quickly, surprised at how well she could see despite the lack of illumination.
"All of you, get behind me. Check to the back of you for an ambush every so often, though I'm not expecting one," she said stiffly, walking cautiously towards the glittering section. As she got close, she realized that it was a giant ebony plaque; great shimmering words were scrawled across it in an elegant, yet odd script. They weren't in Afrikaans, and she could recognize English, so she could tell that it wasn't written in that, either. She looked at the words for a moment--somehow, as if someone had changed the plaque itself, she found that the words were clear (although they still weren't in any language she recognized).
She took a step closer, mesmerized by the sparkling letters; she looked up, wishing she had a light to help her see more clearly.
"Hermione, do you know what is?"
"No, I haven't the faintest... hang on, I think I saw some of the outside symbols in Ancient Runes, but that's Advanced stuff, I don't know--"
"I'll read it." It was impossible for her to keep the smugness out of her voice as she spoke over the brainy girl, and with every word of the plaque, her voice shook with barely concealed pride.
"Beware of the things you can see, and not touch
The unfortunate side of the menial crutch
Be wary of times when the day turns to night
When companions and friends turn away out of fright.
Take not what's before you, but what lies ahead,
lest poisonous sugars await in their stead.
A treacherous road lies in front and behind
it's too late to turn back, you have made up your mind
But know this, if your heart's true and blood pure as well
You may go with naught but tales of terror to tell."
Johanna's self-satisfied grin slipped off her face as she realized the meaning of the words she spoke; she was taken by a sudden urge to touch the twinkling, shifting symbols glittering up at her from the ebony surface... they called to her...
"NO!" Ron had run in front of her, his arms spread, careful not to touch the odd stone; he looked more than a litle afraid of her reaction, gulping after the words left his shaking lips. Johanna blinked, staring at him for a moment before shaking her head a bit.
"Thanks for that Firehead. Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to bring you along. I don't know what came over me, I just..."
"It doesn't matter."
Johanna looked at Hermione, blinking strangely.
"You're right. We have to decide what we're going to do."
"Well, we're going to have to write the riddle down first, and then decide which way we're going to go, not to mention how we're going to get food or water or do magic or--" It was obvious that Hermione was about to have a serious panic attack, and Harry stepped in, nodding in an attempt to cut the hysterics.
"You're right-- the riddle has to be written down, these things are always more important than you think they are... hopefully, once we go pass this place we can do magic again, and that'll take care of water..."
"Don't worry about the food, we should have enough for a good two weeks. And if anything is overly dangerous, I always have a gun." Johanna stepped forward, adjusting her pack as she spoke. Hermione began to calm down, the rational thinking cooling her helplessness.
Hermione gave Johanna a meaningful look, and the elder grabbed a pen and paper from her bag, handing it to the bushy-haired younger. Johanna repeated it, the pride gone this time; somehow that made the words just a little scarier, a little more foreboding.
"So is this it?" Johanna asked after finishing, her throat oddly sore. "Are we going to go through the door?"
"I don't know," Harry said, shaking his head.
"Certainly isn't the most inviting place, is it?" Ron looked around, biting his lip. "I don't like it, it's like the bloody Third Floor Corridor in first year, you remember that--"
"Well we can't just sit here, Ron. I for one think we should go through it."
"WHAT?" The boys exclaimed in unison, incredulous; Johanna, for once, agreed with them.
"What're you like?" Ron asked, suspicious; the girl rolled her eyes at him.
"I have a sneaking suspicion that we've been going around in just one giant circle this whole time... Besides, the door wouldn't be here if we weren't supposed to go through it, right?"
Johanna nodded.
"Ekse, for once I agree with Mother Hen; I'm gatvol with this place, going through must be the only..." she trailed off, a thought occurring to her that made her sick to her stomach suddenly. Her face must have changed, because Fire-head suddenly gave her a strange look.
"You alright?"
"Yeah," she bit her lip, fear pooling in the pit of her stomach. "S'just that..."
"What?"
"I think the only way out of this pozzy is to go through the door."
"Well that's simple then, isn't it, what the hell are we waiting for?" He reached for the door and Johanna lunged, terrified.
"NO!" she blocked the entrance, arms outstretched and angry, and he took a step back.
"You befok, soutie, didn't you read the plaque? Who knows what kind of blery things are behind there you don't want to be soeking with."
"Well, then, if we're scared of what's behind the bloody door but we need to get past the bloody door, how the hell are we going to get through the bloody frickin' door?"
Johanna gave a rare grin, pulling out a gun from the side of her hip.
"You're gonna let me go first, chommie, and pray that whatever's behind there can be stopped by by fourty-four Magnums."
And with one collective, great breath, the door was kicked open and the lights left behind.
No one noticed the door begin to fade to grey.
Glossary
Ekse- I say
gatvol- fed-up, finished with
pozzy- place
befok- crazy (not a polite or friendly enquiry. Used when listener has done something really, really stupid.)
soutie- short for soutpiel, and a derogatory term for an Englishman (often used when the Englishman has spent much time in South Africa, but can be used in the same way as rooinek).
soeking- messing, picking a fight with.
chommie- friend, buddy-- like the English chum.
