They're on their way, must be getting close now, right?
Thanks to everyone for their comments and follows. xxx
Dean hurried to catch up but didn't fail to notice how the scenery was much different to any of the pathways they'd taken so far. Still, he refused to get his hopes up, but also was feeling not so defeatist as he had been minutes before. They continued to move forward, twisting and turning and seemingly going deeper and deeper into the labyrinth. There were a few close calls, cleverly disguised pits of quicksand, some very tight pathways complete with the obligatory sharp, jagged rocks, but eventually Sam and Dean found themselves standing in front of two very solid oak doors. Each door had a cast iron knocker attached is the shape of a face. The one on the left had a large ring attached to its ears, while the one on the right had the ring in its mouth. There were no handles as far as either brother could see.
"So, what? Do we just knock?" Dean asked.
"I guess so." Sam shrugged.
"Okay, but which one?"
"Not sure, and if there's no handles, how do we get back if we've gone the wrong way?" Sam pointed out.
"Are you two going to stand there all day or are you going to ask us the question?" The knocker with the plugged up ears yelled.
"Ask what question?" Sam asked.
"What?" The knocker yelled back.
"What question?" Dean yelled.
"Why are you mumbling?" The knocker asked loudly. "Why does everyone mumble?"
"What the hell is going on here?" Dean threw his hands in the air in frustration.
A muffled voice sounded from the other door.
"Oh, now what's his problem?" Dean asked.
"What did you say?" Sam asked leaning towards the door on his right.
"I sef hff dfff an cnn hrrr ooo!"
"Did you get any of that?" Dean asked.
"Not a word." Sam reached out and grabbed the large iron ring and gave it a small tug. The knocker opened its mouth and the ring slid free.
"Ooooh, that's soo much better!" The knocker exclaimed as it moved its mouth around.
"Excuse me, but what did you say before?" Sam asked.
"I said, he can't hear you, he's deaf."
"Oh. Well maybe you can help us?" Sam asked.
"It's possible, what do you want?"
"He said something about asking a question, what question?"
"Whaaat?" The first knocker asked.
"Shush you." Dean replied pointing at it.
"Oh, yes, one of us leads to the center of the labyrinth and the other leads to 'certain doooooom'," the other knocker said ominously and Dean was sure if it had hands it would be waving them and waggling it's fingers just for added effect. "You may ask us question one to determine which door leads where."
"Oh, that's easy then." Dean began. "Which door…"
"But! One of us will always lie and one of us will always tell the truth." The knocker finished.
"Ah, that changes things." Dean said, slumping his shoulders.
"So one of you leads to the centre and the other leads to certain doom," Dean chuckled when Sam added in the hand effects he had imagined earlier, "we can only ask one question and one of you lie and one of you tells the truth." Sam said refreshing the information in his head.
"Correct. Now ask your question."
"Simple, do you…"
Sam placed his hand on his brothers arm.
"No it's not that simple. One lies and one tells the truth so we have to figure out which is which. But we don't know which is which…"
"You're making my head hurt Sammy."
"I got it!" Sam turned back to the knocker. "Would that door," Sam began pointing to the door on their left, "tell me that this door leads to the center?"
"What did he say? Speak up and stop mumbling!" The first door demanded.
Dean waved a hand in its direction, silencing it.
"Yes!" The second door answered.
"So that door leads to the centre!" Sam said triumphantly, pointing to the left hand door.
"How do you know?" Dean asked.
"Did he ask the question?" The first knocker yelled.
"Shut up you!" Screamed the second knocker.
Sam rolled his eyes and set about explaining his decision to his brother.
"He said that this door would tell us that that door would lead us to the centre." Sam explained pointing first to the right door then the left door and then back to right door again. "One of them always lies and one of them always tells the truth so we know that the other door is actually the one to take us where we want to go." Sam finished pointing to the left door.
"But what if that one's lying?" Dean asked pointing to the right door.
"Then that one would be telling the truth, so we still know it's the door on the left." Sam said.
"Huh." Dean still looked quite confused. "I still don't get it, but if you say its this door." Dean said pointing to the door I front of him, "then it's this door."
"Did he get it right?" The deaf knocker yelled.
"Yes!" The two men and other knocker screamed back.
Dean gave a shrug and reached out for the handle, except there was no handle.
"How do we get through?" He asked after several wasted seconds of fruitless pushing against the solid wood.
"Knock three times!" The left knocker said dramatically. "And please stop tickling me."
Dean had been running his fingers around the edge of the door looking for a trigger or latch and quickly pulled his hands away.
"Sorry." He said leaning closer so the knocker could hear him.
He reached for the ring hanging from its ears to knock for entry.
"Wait. Let me just put this one back." Sam said holding up the large iron ring still in his hands. He held up to the other door knocker. "Open up."
"Nope! Mm-mm." The knocker said through tight lips.
"Come in, we're busy, we've got important stuff to do!" Sam pleaded.
"Don't care. Don't want it." It grumbled through clenched teeth, figuratively speaking.
"Doesn't want it back does he?" The deaf knocker asked with a laugh. "Can't say I blame him. These things are heavy and at least I won't have to put up with him mumble, mumble, mumbling all the time." It chuckled.
"Fine." Sam said giving a defeated sigh. "I'll just leave it here."
He hung the ring over the knockers head, making sure it's ears would stop it from sliding off.
"Okay, go ahead." Sam gestured for Dean to knock the ring three times.
The loud bangs as the iron struck the wood echoed around them and then the door creaked open. The brothers glanced though and saw nothing but a clear pathway. With twin sighs of relief they stepped through and continued their journey.
…
a/n yes I did borrow heavily from the Jennifer Connelly/David Bowie movie of the same name, and no, I'm not sorry! I just wish I could have put Hoggle and Ludo and Sir Didymus and the bog of eternal stench in there somewhere. Oh wait, maybe I did…