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Fuck fuck fuck.

“Your foe today is the Banshee.” The crowd cheered at his words. “That terrible scream you hear, it carries more than you might expect.”

Stay away from them when they scream.

“As last time,” Theron went on, “either you reach your father first. Or the Banshee does. And do be careful, dear one. You really don’t want to fall.”

I turned and ran, my feet kicking up the rain as I went. The labyrinth became darker and darker as I moved through it, the walls rising and falling and seeming to spring up in front of me every time I turned.

The crowd suddenly became louder, and I was sure one of those fucking things was getting closer to me. I had never seen a banshee before, only heard the stories as a child. I had thought for a time they weren’t even real, but no, they were here. They were after me.

I turned, weaving through the maze, trying to keep my bearings. I threw my eyes up into the stands, yes I was moving forward, no I wasn’t, I’d doubled back too far.Fuck, MOVE. I had to keep going forward.

I turned right and hit a dead end. The crowd whooped and cried out, and I turned to go another way.

One of these fucking things was right in front of me.

Its hair was wiry and black, long talons at the end of even longer fingers. Its eyes were just two bulging black orbs in a wrinkled white face. It almost seemed to float as it moved towards me, its feet not visible underneath the tattered black robes that trailed around its withered body.

I was so frightened I couldn’t move for a moment. Its head moved unnaturally as it came closer, its finger pointing at me. Its mouth opened to reveal haphazard sharp teeth, a pointy black tongue flickering out over where the lips should be.

I backed against the black slate wall, gripping Arankos. I didn’t know how to kill this thing, did it even have a heart? Did it bleed?

Suddenly, the mouth tore open so far it shouldn’t have been possible, and it screamed.

The banshee’s scream was drowned out by a scream of my own. The searing pain in the left side of my head was so strong it felt as though a hot poker had been shoved straight through my ear drum. The pain sent me blind, and was met by another searing burn across my face.

I collapsed to the ground, blinking furiously, trying to see. The grey at the edges of my vision cleared enough to see the remnants of a green cloud that had burst from the banshee’s face when it screamed at me. My ears were ringing so loudly I felt sick. My hand flew up to my cheek, where I felt the skin blistering.

I scrambled away, realizing I’d dropped my sword, my grip slipping in the rain. I finally got a firm grasp on the hilt, swinging it around towards the banshee, who was looking down at me. But only its head was turned towards me. Its fucking head was on backwards.

I sprang to my feet and swung my sword as it began to walk backwards - forwards, whatever fucking direction, face first at least. That terrible, lipless mouth began to open again, and I knew I had to stop it before it let out another one of those debilitating shrieks. The taloned hand shot out to grab me, but was stopped as Arankos sliced it right off.

The banshee’s head fell back, and I jammed my shoulder up against the left side of my head to try and lessen the shrill pain echoing through my skull. The scream directed at the sky erupted with another plume of green gas. I swung again, and the banshee’s head hit the wall with a thud. The body crumbled in on itself almost instantly.

The crowd cheered, and I moved forward, pushing on, making myself move. I had to reach my father before one of these fucking things did.

The skin on the side of my face burned, like it was being eaten away. I thanked Mokosh it hadn’t gotten my eye. That would have been a disaster.Stay away from them when they scream- yes, that was good advice.

The labyrinth seemed to tower higher and higher the further I advanced. I couldn’t hear anything but the cheers of the crowd and my own footsteps as they thundered through the puddles. I rounded a corner too quickly and slipped, falling onto my side. Shit, I had to be more careful. I had to be more aware, more deliberate. I couldn’t afford to hit the ground when these things were floating around.

The ground rumbled underfoot, and the wall beside me began to move as I ran past it. I didn’t understand what was happening until I ran full pelt into a wall that sprang up before me. I was thrown on to my back, and black spots took over my vision as I tried to catch my breath. The labyrinth was changing.

Elara, you need to get up.That was Rook’s voice. I could hear it, in my bones, in my head. His voice was tight, and I could sense his fear.Elara, move, now, they’re coming.I forced myself to my feet. Rook could see what I couldn’t. He could warn me. I focused on the silver thread, the bond between us.

Help me,I said and felt his apprehension.

I looked up into the stands, trying to get my bearings, trying to figure out how far I had moved. I had to be more than halfway now. I had to be almost there.

I rounded a corner and nearly ran into another banshee. It floated above the ground, soundlessly, like a ghost. It didn’t seem to recognise that I was there, it hadn’t heard me. Maybe they were deaf. Maybe they only had those glistening black eyes to rely on. I sliced Arankos through the air before the banshee realized I was upon it, and the head rolled away, accompanied with a spurt of black blood that hit my face. I gasped, expecting another acid burn, but all I felt was ice. Their blood was like ice water, like being struck with snow. I wiped it away with the back of my hand, jumping over the bag of bones that remained on the ground, and pushed on.

The rain was pooling in the labyrinth. It was up to my ankles now, the slate so slick underfoot it made running almost impossible.

There’s one behind you.Rook’s voice was so loud it made me jump, and I spun around to face a banshee that was twice as big as the others. It towered over me, its spindly hands extending towards me. I swung Arankos, taking off two fingers, but it didn’t stop. It kept advancing. Another lunge with my blade, and black blood went flying up the slate wall as more fingers fell away from the banshee’s hand. But instead of flinching or pulling back or doing anything else, it rushed at me, its bloodied hands seizing my shoulders.

I drew back my sword and drove it into the banshee’s torso amidst a sickening crunch, like I was stabbing into a pile of broken twigs. The banshee merely flinched, then tore its mouth open. Its fingers had a hold of me, an iron grip. I pulled my sword out and tipped it upwards, driving it into the banshee’s jaw just as its chest sucked in to scream in my face. The already bulging eyes seemed to roll in their sockets, and the banshee’s tongue lolled out next to the sword that had impaled its mouth. I withdrew the blade, and the banshee collapsed into the puddle beneath it. Black blood clouded the water around my feet. I'd killed three. How many more could there be? I kept running.

I was close now. I had to be. I would reach my father in a moment.