2/11/05: It's been six months since I updated my current stories. Six months! All I can say is 'sorry' - I lost my muse and couldn't turn out anything anywhere near the standard I had set myself with the previous chapters. However, last night my muse returned from her extended holiday trekking around Africa finding herself (or whereever she got to), and I managed to rewrite the last update of this story, in response to reviews saying that Kurtis' behaviour just didn't fit. So here's a rewritten version that I think works better, complete with original author's notes to chapter 13. The next chapter is already underway and reviews for both incarnations of chapter 14 will be answered there.
Sorry, sorry, sorry for the wait! RL keeps getting in the way, and I've been working on Partners In Crime, as you know. We got a new pond in our garden and got four new fish - named Penn, Teller, Lara and Kurtis! LOL
Akkon - You're welcome! That chapter wouldn't have been half as good if you hadn't pointed out my unintentional reference with the name 'Minos'!
SilverDragon67 -Thanks! ;-) I think that the dialogue in the final scene of this chapter is a bit weak - what do you think?
Linzi - How has it been, living on tenterhooks wondering how Lara is going to get out? evil laugh ;-) How do you feel about still not knowing how she's going to get out? LOL - next chapter you'll find out - I promise!
Jordana - Thankyou kindly:-) Good to know my hard work in the action scenes is paying off. You're not the only one to ask for Maria/Bryce, so I think I'll be nice (to you and Bryce! LOL) and throw some in.
Well, the age-old question of 'Who the hell is that Weird Dream Lara Chick?' gets some work today...
Dark Dawn (#2)
"Fishman!" Lara tore across the cavern, guns spitting round after round into the Minotaur, but it ignored her. Behind her, Kurtis called her name, begged her to stop, but she couldn't oblige. Fishman's life was already lost, now it was his soul at stake and she couldn't let him die. Not again. Not completely.
"Lara, no!" Fishman cried, but again she ignored the plea. She was only feet away from him now. Her bullets were having no effect on the Minotaur, but if she could punch it, kick it, persuade it away from Gareth…
A bang like a bomb exploding crashed throughout the cavern. Instinctively, Lara ducked, covering her head with her arms, a short scream of surprise and fright escaping her. Awaiting some kind of fallout from the noise, Lara waited, still ducked. None came. Slowly, confused, Lara uncovered her head and looked up, blinking.
Silent darkness.
And then it hit her. The doorway had closed, taking Kurtis with it and leaving her trapped in the underworld with no light and no way out. A small gasp of terror sounded, dreadfully small in the claustrophobic blackness.
Lara started, gasping again, as there was the sound of hot breath being snorted somewhere to her right. It was the Minotaur, as shocked as her at the sudden disappearance of light so completely that it was impossible to pick out even the smallest detail. It snorted, hooves shuffling as it climbed off Fishman and the man groaned as the horns were torn from his shoulders and his battered body was released from underneath the crushing weight of the beast.
Loose shale tapped as the monster hooved the same spot continuously, unnerved. Lara froze, her breathing painfully shallow and light. The slightest sound could persuade the beast to charge in her direction and in the darkness that could all too easily be fatal. The moment was horribly, horribly precarious.
She was stunned as a bright, white light suddenly flared around her. For an instant she was blinded, squeezing her eyelids shut ineffectually against the red burning on her retinas. The shock of the sudden loss of one of her most important senses seemed to shut down her others, and it took a moment to realise that there was the sound of galloping, and it was rapidly approaching her.
At the last possible minute her eyes recovered, and she froze once more in the sudden realisation that the light was centred on her and her alone, and the Minotaur, now seeing its target again, was dangerously close.
She acted on instinct, not even knowing what she'd done until she had dived to the left, crashed to her stomach, rolled over, and opened fire on the irreverent mockery of a bull as it slid to a halt on the loose, broken ground. Her bullets were still having no effect and it was seeming more than just a possibility that the creature wasn't just resistant to her attacks, it was completely immune. The fierce light surrounding her put her at a definite disadvantage – though the Minotaur had clear view of her, she could see very little of it, or indeed anything else. Her eyes just couldn't function properly in the glare, and they certainly couldn't handle the contrasting darkness further out. It was the opposite of leaving a dark cinema and stepping out into broad daylight.
Growling in frustration and fear, Lara flipped back onto her feet and stood her ground. The Minotaur was already robbed of its natural mortality, otherwise it wouldn't be here in Hades. Post-death immortality was attainable, Kurtis had said, if a person could shake the lifelong expectation of eventual death. The Minotaur didn't have that expectation – it wasn't nearly self-conscious enough. Quite simply – Lara didn't believe that there was any way to win the fight.
She stood, shaking her head uselessly, as the beast turned and advanced on her once more. Its thundering hooves echoed throughout the cavern, and as it came closer her crippled eyes began to make out the shadows of its form through the light.
She couldn't fight – it was useless. If she ran blindly, would she escape? Lara was at a loss and she honestly didn't know what to do.
'Remember,' she told herself in her mind as the Minotaur drew closer and closer, its head bowing to bear its sharp, already bloodied horns, 'this will only kill you if you think it's going to. It won't kill you. It won't. It won't. It won't.'
She closed her eyes, turned her head away, ready for the agonising pain that was bound to befall her as the Minotaur impaled her, and in the back of her mind a little voice said, 'It will.'
A cry of excruciating pain rang out through the cavern.
Overcome, Kurtis collapsed. His knees gave out, his mouth fell open and his body flopped to the ground, his eyes still staring almost sightlessly at the silent tomb. That was it. She was dead. The gateway had collapsed and she'd been left behind. Without him she couldn't open it again, and there was no other way back. No other way.
A tightly controlled, angry voice broke through the shocked quiet, challenging him to voice the answer that he'd already silently given. "Where. Is. Lara?" It was Bryce, chest heaving in rage as he glared at Kurtis with a look that would have been painful if Kurtis hadn't been feeling so completely numb. He still didn't answer, just looked back, an apology in his eyes.
"Where is she?" thundered Bryce.
"Gone," Hillary whispered and then, more loudly to Kurtis, "She's gone, isn't she?"
Unable to face them, Kurtis got to his feet and ran.
Lara's mouth had been open ready to scream, but she'd never had the chance. She opened her eyes, felt something fall at her feet, looked down…
When she managed to speak her voice was shocked, relieved and horrified all at once. "Fishman!"
He'd come out of nowhere, thrown himself between her and the Minotaur – saved her. He was crumpled at her feet, blood pouring from his wounds, panting desperately and holding onto life through sheer, forced belief that he didn't have to die. It was a tenuous link, a thread that was about to break, and with the pain that he was feeling he wasn't sure that he didn't want it to.
The Minotaur took a couple of steps back, lowered its head, prepared to strike again, as many times as necessary to persuade its enemy that the wounds were mortal.
"Stop."
Lara turned towards the voice, the entire cavern suddenly becoming illuminated by source-less light that incorporated her own and diluted it throughout the space, dimming everywhere to a comfortable, paler luminosity. Minos was stood across the cavern.
The Minotaur stopped, snorted, backed off and sloped back to its master. "This is unnecessary," Minos said, watching the two carefully as Fishman lost the strength to sit and collapsed completely, Lara knelt by his side in concern with one eye on their attacker.
"What do you want from us?" Lara demanded.
Minos' expression changed, becoming more calculating as his head cocked to one side and his gaze fixed resolutely on Lara. "You're a strong woman. Impressive warrior."
Lara looked down to where Gareth was breathing hard, his head lying heavily in her hand as her other rested comfortingly on his chest. "Not impressive enough, apparently."
"My people need a champion."
Surprised that this motive hadn't occurred to her before, Lara sighed, her shoulders sagging. "So that's what this is about." Her voice suddenly became harder as a wave of anger washed over her. "Fishman won't stay to protect you so you try to kill him? It's help you or nothing, is it?"
"I do this for the good of my people."
"You do this for the selfish appeasement of your conscience." The accusing voice that spoke was Lara's, but she hadn't said anything. For a moment, her features knotted in confusion and then she realised that Minos wasn't looking at her any longer and she followed his gaze. Astonished at what she saw, she staggered back in her crouched position and fell against the wall.
It was Her again, her double, the other Lara that she had seen in her dream.
"What do you mean?" Minos asked Her, his voice belligerent.
"You know exactly what I mean. I know my mythology. As King you committed sin after sin, and then, when you were trying to kill an innocent man, you were murdered. Instead of being cast into Tartarus where you belonged, though, you found yourself appointed a judge of the dead with the deciding vote for all those that came through the adamantine gates after you." She walked towards him and began to circle, her eyes flashing and her mouth twisted venomously as she continued. "Oh, you were terribly grateful for your narrow escape, weren't you? Decided that you'd do everything you could to deserve it. So you cast the evil down to Tartarus and the good to the Elysian Fields. Then the gods up and leave, letting chaos reign. And you can't stand it, can't stand the guilt that comes with knowing you got off scot-free and the people who deserved an eternity of bliss weren't getting it. So you stayed, took them in your charge, ruled them and protected them as you should have done in life, only you made it all the worse – because as soon as the damned realised that their judge and jury was still around, they came after you. And you, frightened little King, hid. Hid behind your subjects and let them die for you, and then Fishman showed up. Oh, he wasn't supposed to be here, he was supposed to go somewhere that still had order, which wound you up, no end, didn't it? So you decided to try and make him stay – force him to stay in hell with you and at the same protect you and the people you were using as your human shield. Isn't that right?"
"I think you overestimate your importance here," Minos shot back, his voice whispering with barely contained rage.
"Oh, I don't think so. When I was alive I believed in all religions and followed none. I don't belong in any one nether world but I can travel through them all. There's a little bit of every creed in me, and that makes me more powerful than you could possibly imagine."
"You dare to threaten me?"
"You dare to threaten the people under my protection." She shot Minos one last dagger-filled glare and then approached Gareth and Lara, Lara's astonished, terrified gaze contrasting with Gareth's expression of admiration and gratitude.
"Thankyou, for looking after them. Go, now." She smiled and nodded to one side in gesture for Fishman to leave.
"But - Lara," he groaned, "she's trapped here now."
"Lara will be fine," She smiled, extending a hand to him. "Go." Fishman surveyed her for a moment, judging the truth of her words, and then acquiesced. He reached up and took her hand, letting her pull him to his feet, wincing from the movement. "Go," She confirmed, placing a hand on his chest.
"No!" Minos exploded, and as the Minotaur charged again, Gareth turned to Lara and smiled his thanks as he disappeared in a flare of blinding white light.
"You son of a bitch!" Bryce screamed, tearing off in hot pursuit of Kurtis who had disappeared down the tunnel.
"Bryce! Wait!" Hillary cried, darting after him.
Not quite knowing what else to do, Maria followed. As she emerged from the end of the tunnel back into the main dig site, now bathed in the light of a dawn outside the building that had come too soon, she was just in time to see Bryce dive and tackle Kurtis.
The two men fell to the floor, yelling and hitting and kicking and cursing. "Get the fuck off me, you freak!" Kurtis cried, on the bottom of the struggle and not faring well in his exhaustion.
"You killed her!" Bryce bawled, maintaining the upper hand through punches and strangleholds and sheer unadulterated fury.
Hillary dashed forwards, reaching down and pulling Bryce off his victim, locking his arms around Bryce's shoulders to maintain his hold as he brought him to his feet. Panting, Kurtis lay there, spitting out a mouthful of blood from a split lip.
"I'm sorry," he insisted, getting unsteadily to his feet. "I tried, I really did."
"Why can't she open that doorway again? Why is she trapped there?" Hillary reasoned, still holding back his cohort.
"The same way you need a Lux Veritatis to get you into Hades, you need one to get you out. She can't open it herself." Kurtis shook his head, still breathing heavily, and grimaced in frustration at his inability to find another solution. Sensing that Bryce's initial wrath was spent and now replaced with dull shock, Hillary pushed him away and advanced on Kurtis himself, showing an anger that never usually reached the surface in such vehement quantities. "Get her back," he hissed. "Perform the ritual again and go in and get her back."
Trent backed away, surprised at Hillary's uncharacteristic attack. "I can't. It's too late! Another few minutes and she'll be…" He stared at Hillary imploringly for a moment and then dropped his head as his shoulders sagged.
"What…do you mean?" Hillary whispered, daring Kurtis to even suggest that there was no chance for his employer and friend.
"We were under attack by the Minotaur." He wiped away more blood that had appeared on his lip, staggered a few steps further. "We were under attack by the Minotaur, with no escape. And that thing was invincible. The ritual can't be performed again until nightfall – there's no way she'll survive until then, even if it weren't for the fact that time there is different. Usually it runs faster – by the time I get back to her she could have been stuck there weeks."
"That's why it's dawning already," Maria realised. "The time dilation must have leaked through the doorway."
"I don't understand," Bryce complained wearily. "How can it kill her if she's already dead? And why did you leave her down there with it?"
"Down there, your body is dead but your soul is still alive – and if that gets killed…"
"You're gone forever," Maria said to herself.
"You didn't answer his question," Hillary derided, his eyes narrowing. "Why did you leave her down there like that?"
"I had no choice. She went back to save Fishman from the Minotaur and I got sucked through the gate before I could stop her."
At his words, Maria looked up hopefully. "Gareth's down there?"
Kurtis didn't answer, just looked at the girl sympathetically and then looked away when he couldn't hold the eye contact any longer. Maria choked back a sob, her hand covering her mouth in sick terror.
"He's gone," she whimpered. "Isn't he?"
"Maria," Kurtis began, taking a step towards her, but she interrupted him, her voice angry this time.
"Isn't he!"
"The last I saw…the Minotaur had him."
It was too much for Maria – bursting into tears she turned and ran, tearing across the dig site and scrambling up a ladder to floor-level before disappearing further into the building, her sobs echoing through the vast stone corridors.
"You…" Bryce began, his face sneering in contempt, but he could find no insult to follow. He took one angry step towards Trent, his posture a pure threat backing up his murderous gaze. His voice became tightly controlled as he said, "Hillary. Go and find Maria. Mr Trent and I are going to have a little talk about our possibilities."
Hillary knew full well that a fight was brewing, but his concern was for the young girl who had just lost her surrogate father, and so, silently praying that Lara could hold on until they could get to her, he turned and ran off in search of Maria.
"What thehell she sees in you, I have no idea," Bryce spat, coming to stand too close in front of Kurtis, who held his ground with a slightly sheepish expression.
"Look," he breathed. "I'm sorry – "
"Sorry! SORRY! You don't phone, you don't write, it's her birthday and all you can do is send her a present without even a note that you know is going to leave her hanging on and then when you do finally turn up all you do is drag her into your mess and leave her to be butchered by – "
"Bryce." Kurtis's voice was low, his eyes suddenly steely. "Bryce, think very hard. Was Lara wearing the necklace?"
Cut off in the middle of his tirade, Bryce was suitably taken aback. "What?"
"The necklace, the Eye of Horus that I sent Lara for her birthday. Was she wearing it when we went to the underworld?"
"Um…yeah. She said that in her line of work she'd take all the help she could get."
"That's it." A look of wonder and joy crossed Kurtis' face. "Bryce, that's it! The necklace! You've saved her! You just saved Lara!"
He darted around his stunned colleague, sprinting off up the dig site ladder and down towards the exit. "Come on!" he yelled, "we have to get to the river!"