"Okay, let's see what isle we ought to try next," Han said as he took the map out again. "Don't touch anything until we figure this out."
Chewbacca snorted disapprovingly.
"Okay, so we've been on the Isle of the Crown, and Isle of Wonder...so we can pick between a beast, or a sacred mountain," Han said. "As little as this place was, there's so much crazy stuff around here...I wonder if we'd fare better on a bigger isle? Maybe there's less insanity running around."
Chewbacca rumbled in response.
"Okay," Han sighed, "let's try the Sacred Mountain."
The isle lit up on the map and he saw a bright blue light, and the next thing he knew, they were facing a different seafront again.
"Hyperdrive's got nothing on that," Han said as he folded up the map and put it away again, "Alright, Chewie, let's find out what we got-ah!"
Han turned around as he spoke and came to a sudden stop when he saw they were at the bottom of a huge mountain that seemed to take up nearly every square foot of the isle, and a set of round steps seemed to have formed on the edge of the rock, and they zigzagged all the way up the mountain.
"This has got to be somebody's idea of a joke," Han said half to himself, "And I'm not laughing."
Chewbacca whined in comment.
"I guess we don't have any choice, we'll have to try it," Han said, and added as he got a look at how fairly narrow the steps actually appeared to be, "watch your step."
He didn't want to guess how long it would take them to climb to the top of the mountain, he didn't want to guess if they even would reach the top of the mountain. Han had never had a problem with heights, but facing them without his Falcon to make for a far shorter and more secure trip, that was making him dizzy already and he'd only gotten four feet off the ground.
"Who even put these stairs here?" he asked himself as he noted how they were all the exact same size and all an equal length apart from one another, which should've made the trek up them easier, but with every few feet he rose higher and higher, he felt less likely to make it to the top. More than once he pressed himself against the side of the mountain for support, trying not to look down every time he had to shift directions from left to right or vice versa. He shifted his weight carefully as he transitioned from one zig to another zag again and he looked down and suddenly he felt his whole body shaking and pressed his weight against the rock at full force. He felt lightheaded and everything seemed to be spinning.
"Chewie," he groaned to the wookiee a few steps below him, "I don't think I can do this."
Chewbacca roared in response. Han looked at his friend and saw the wookiee was having no trouble scaling the steps.
"You're part mountain goat, aren't you, pal?" he asked, waiting for the spinning sensation to stop.
Chewbacca reached the step below him and in one blunt movement, grabbed the Corellian and slung him over his massive furry shoulder and carried Han up the rest of the steps. Han's whole body went stiff and he was too terrified by the sudden change in events to even scream, he didn't want to do anything that would risk throwing them off balance.
"I trust you, pal," he said, closing his eyes as they climbed higher, "but try to hurry."
He felt them change sides several more times before Chewbacca growled, and Han opened his eyes and saw they'd actually reached the top of the mountain, he let out a massive sigh of relief, it was the first breath he was even aware of taking for...he looked down, about 400 feet.
"Thanks, Chewie," he said a bit shakily as he patted the wookiee on the side. "Now, let's find out who or what this place has to offer."
Turning around, he saw the cliff formation continued even at the top of the mountain, at the front of it were a couple steps, two thin pillars holding up a small gabled roof, and two tall wooden doors.
"Sheesh, you don't suppose someone's actually living there, do you?" Han asked his co-pilot.
Chewbacca roared in answer.
"Yeah, we probably don't want to get caught trespassing there first thing," Han agreed. He looked and saw the top of the cliffs spanned out into a walkway leading to the north. "Let's try this way and see if we find anything...or anyone."
Chewie agreed and they took off. After some ways they came to an area that was strangely covered in a black and white marble floor much like the chessboard on the Isle of Wonder, and they were surrounded by large stone pillars, and up ahead...
Up ahead were two pale skinned men with short dark hair in red and gold tunics and armored breastplates, and they had huge white feathered wings sticking out of their backs and towering over their forms as they guarded the pathway with shields and spears.
"Look, intruders," the first one said.
"Halt!" the second said as he pointed their spear at them, "How did you get up here, human?"
"Wasn't easy," Han answered, "we came up the steps on the cliffs."
"That is not possible," the first winged man said, "no one has solved the Cliffs of Logic in centuries, and it would certainly not be by a human."
"I don't know anything about that," Han shook his head, "apparently they were already solved when we got here."
"No visitors have been welcome on the Isle of the Sacred Mountain in years! Not since the red and white queens had spies in the guise of friendly visitors steal our island's sacred golden fleece!" the second guard told the smuggler, "But we will not display such foolish trust again! You will have to answer to Lord Azure and Lady Aeriel. They will determine what will be done with you! I can assure you, it will not be pleasant."
"Hey-hey!" Han yelled as the two men grabbed him on either side and the next thing he knew, he felt his feet leaving the ground, he looked up and saw the guards' wings were flapping like a bird's. Chewbacca howled and grabbed for Han to get him back on the ground, then to rip the wings off the guards, but two more appeared out of nowhere and lifted the wookiee off the ground as well, though with noted difficulty compared to the average sized human.
Han looked down at the ground, and while this wasn't as bad as climbing the mountain, he didn't feel much better as he felt himself lifted higher as the guards headed straight for a pantheon building that rested particularly high on a pillar.
They were taken inside the building and straight to the throne room of Lord Azure, a well built man in a white toga and leather sandals tied halfway up to his knees, and Lady Aeriel, a dark haired lady in a long white gown decorated with gold embellishments around the collar and waist. Both also had huge white feathered wings that made Han question how the two even sat down.
The guards explained the situation and shoved Han towards the front, Chewie was kept a few feet back, he snarled and grunted at the guards but even though he knew he could rip them all to pieces he didn't, not yet anyway.
Lord Azure addressed Han and told him, "It is lucky for you, human, that climbing the Cliffs of Logic is part of a prophecy that I cannot ignore. We have just been ordered by Vizier Alhazred himself to dispose of any strangers that might land on our fair isle. But the prophecy would have a different fate befall you."
Han might've been inclined to ask who that was if he actually cared or thought it would make any difference, but he doubted it did.
Lady Aeriel added, "The prophecy predicts that whosoever climbs the Cliffs of Logic will defeat the Minotaur. The Minotaur has violated our sacred catacombs and eats our young in sacrifice. Our own daughter, Lady Celeste, was taken there only this morning as his most recently demanded offering."
Han wasn't even sure what to make of that and he was starting to feel as confused now as he did on the Isle of Wonder. First of all, what was a Minotaur? Secondly...to hear these two say it, you'd think they were discussing what time it was, or if it would rain that day, he found it hard to believe they were actually all that concerned with their daughter's life or wellbeing whatsoever, because if they were, third, why didn't they do anything to rescue her themselves?
"A dilemma, then," Azure broke up the silence and appeared to be in contemplation as he said to Han, "Whom shall I obey in regards to your fate, the Oracle or the Crown? But since Alhazred did not dictate how I was to dispose of intruders, and since you cannot possibly survive the catacombs, your imprisonment there should serve both purposes quite admirably."
Chewbacca snarled a couple decibels under his infamous ear splitting howling, but Han motioned for him to hold his ground. He didn't like what he was hearing, but he'd never been in any situation yet he couldn't figure a way out of, if nothing else, he'd blast his way out. That seemed to be one thing these people didn't or couldn't seem to anticipate.
"What if I do?" Han asked them. "What if I don't just survive the...catacombs," what the hell was that anyway?, oh well, Han added, "but come out with your daughter alive and intact?"
He still didn't know much of anything in all this. He didn't know what a Minotaur was. He didn't know that these people's daughter wasn't already Minotaur fodder, what the hell a catacomb was, but that didn't mean there wasn't a chance he couldn't.
"Hmmm," Azure seemed to consider the possibility, but wouldn't directly answer. "First I must tell you that the catacombs are a labyrinth of rooms, a place of exceeding danger. My guards will take you there now, you seem courageous enough, but the catacombs will determine how brave you really are."
With that, Han felt the guards grab him again, and heard Chewie grunt as he was apprehended as well, and they were raised up and flown out of the pantheon and back to the cliff formation with the doors on them. Ah, so that's what a catacomb was, didn't look like much from the outside. This might go easier than he thought. They touched down and the guards went over to the doors and opened them.
Before Han entered, the first guard turned to him and asked, "Why did you tell Lord Azure you were ready and willing to face the catacombs? No one is ever ready and only a fool could be willing!"
"Yeah well right now it looks like I'm his daughter's only hope, who knows? You might be surprised," Han answered nonchalantly.
"Bravery and suicide are two different things, human. You will have a chance to renounce your choice soon enough, when you lay trembling under the Minotaur's hooves," the second guard warned him.
Han ignored that comment and replied cynically, "Thanks for the escort."
The first guard retorted, "We only escort you to your death; may the fates make it quick so that you do not have to scream long."
With that they shoved him in, and Chewie followed behind him. The doors slammed shut and from the outside they could hear a bolt locking.
"Gee, you'd think they don't trust us," Han noted.
Chewbacca grumbled in response.
They looked around and saw the room was made of stone, huge stones, and was faintly lit by a single torch on the wall, a tall archway led through to another room.
"Well, we're in this now," Han said, "now I guess we gotta actually find their daughter. Still, for all they act concerned, they must have a backup incase she doesn't make it. But it shouldn't be too hard to recognize her if we do find her. Hey Chewie, do you have any idea what a Minotaur is?"
Chewbacca snorted in answer.
"Oh well, I guess whatever it is, we'll know it when we see it," Han commented, "Let's see where this goes."