What a day! After your audience with Ixion, you and Rachel finally get round to a large breakfast, then you both experience going to the large toilet in the shower block, to relieve yourselves. You have already been informed that two management employees - humans - help to recycle the organic waste of you centaurs, so it becomes fertiliser for your future crops.
After cleaning each other, you and Rachel are taken by the friendly Theo to the ferrier, to be shod. Proudly, Rachel and yourself then leave and get used to your new hoofwear. Next, Theo takes you two over to a field with archery butts and equipment set out. For the next hour, Nessus teaches his new brother and sister in the aspects of safety, posture, aim, and technique.
At first, half of your shots land outside of the red area. Some miss the target altogether. But Nessus is a good, patient teacher. By the end of your practice, you are almost consistently hitting the red and yellow zones. Rachel is just as good.
She appraises your handiwork, and smiles. "Well, Ben. You are a Saggittarian, after all!"
"Oh, yes - my sun sign. The centaur archer. Very drool, my mare." You grin.
Nessus smiles, but his eyes are serious. "You should gather your friends together, now - and depart for the Labyrinth. I can teach you no more today!"
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Within the next hour, your 'task force' - the weretigers Sigmund and Krista (who are both in full-tiger form); the merfolk Sapphire and Felix; the satyrs Minerva, Dick, and Anarosa; and two centaurs (Rachel and yourself) - finally arrive at your destination, having left your haras to arm themselves for an expected siege.
Having carried the merfolk on your backs across the shingle from the nearby sea, Rachel and you allow Sapphire and Felix to drop into the pool inside the coastal cave that the mermaid directed you to. The rest of you gather on the ledge running alongside the length of the cave. A magical globe of light, fixed into the roof, illuminates the stone door at the back of the cave, where the pool ends. A gold panel at the bottom of the door bares an impression - an imprint of the tail of a large fish.
"What happens now?" you ask, as you nervously adjust the bow and quiver of arrows that you are carrying. Rachel is likewise equipped.
"This is our door - only a merperson can open it," replies Sapphire. "Felix - I'll let you have the honour! But beyond the door, there will be a maze of dry passageways. You landsfolk must go on without us!"
"You can go no further, then?" asks Anarosa.
"There is a system of underwater tunnels that lead from this pool. One will take us to the central chamber! The Labyrinth was designed so that all species could access its heart - but no one race could do so alone," Sapphire tells you all.
"I understand." Rachel nods. "Co-operation between our races is the key here. Without us, you merfolk wouldn't got to this door. And we can't get in without you, in turn!"
"Exactly." Sapphire nods to Felix, and the Spanish merman gracefully glides across to the far side of the pool. Dick and Anarosa help him out onto the rocky ledge before the stone door, and Felix presses his tailfin into the impression on the door. It is a good match.
Suddenly, there is a golden aurora of energy emanating form the door. Felix's body glows for a moment, then the light faces away. Everyone, including Sapphire, is taken aback. Felix hurriedly rolls back into the pool.
Sapphire shrugs. "I have never seen the Labyrinth doors opened before. I just know how they are opened." She falls silent, as a 'click' is heard, and the stone door rises with a rumble, into the roof of the smooth-floored corridor now exposed. Your party gathers round to look inside, as more magical globes, fixed into the walls, flare into life.
Then Rachel screams, and quickly hoof-steps back.
You freeze, as your eyes take in a figure wrapped inside a net, which is hanging from hooks hammered into the walls. Quickly, you and Rachel pull out the hooks, and the satyrs help to free the mermaid, who is dehydrated and barely-alive.
"Ddeirdre!" Krista growls.
"Krista, Rachel..., Ben, Dick... Felicia!" Deirdre croaks. She is too weak to move, and her back bares slash wounds, as if from a knife. She's lost a lot of blood.
"Quick! Get her into the pool!" Sapphire yells.
"Too late...! Stop Cedius...! Free Marina and...Harry from their hyp...notic trance..." Deirdre shudders, and then stops breathing. Her eyes glaze over.
Sucking in their breaths, Dick and Anarosa drop the mermaid into the pool, and Felix attempts CPR. But your friend fails to revive.
Deirdre is dead.
"Llook!" Sigmund rumbles, drawing your attention to the tunnel wall. A message has been scrawled in Deirdre's blood. It reads: 'An Eye For An Eye!' Underneath is one letter: 'C'.
"What does that mean?" Anarosa whispers, horrified.
"Skye," you mutter darkly. "She knifed Harry, and when Harry became a weretiger, he killed her. Now Cedius has claimed Deirdre's life, in exchange."
"Skye is dead?" Minerva gasps.
"Sorry! Of course you don't know!" You slap your forehead. "I guess you were friends..."
Minerva looks lost for a moment. "We were friends...as humans. She...was...such a sweet girl, before we were both turned into satyrs. After that, she became a favourite of Cedius', and she developed a cruel streak so she could be...worthy...for him. She lost her humanity... I lost MY humanity, too." Minerva sniffs, then looks up. "The fact that Skye has gone, is no justification for the murder of your friend! Let's move on!"
Everyone pauses, then - one by one - heads into the corridor. Apart from the merfolk, of course - who stay in the pool, tearfully hugging Deirdre's body. They close her sightless eyes.
Rachel is still staring at the sight of the dead mermaid. You gently tug on her arm.
"Rachel... We can do nothing more for her," you whisper.
Your mate weeps and turns into your embrace. Finally, she meets your eyes, and squeezes your hand, as she makes her feelings towards Cedius clear to you.
"Let's take that monster down, once and for all!!" Rachel declares.