Escape!

The Slime King

He couldn't tell how long he'd slept, but Nayeli's knees were still under his head when he became aware of the world again. Opening his eyes slowly, the first thing to greet them was the Lioness' face, mouth hanging a little open in her sleep as she leaned against a pack that had been set to prop her up. Behind him, he could hear the twins quietly playing with a deck of cards. The other two -- no, three now -- were absent.

Nayeli awoke the instant he began to turn his head. "Good morning," she smiled, after working her dry tongue around her mouth for a second, "Was I drooling?"

"Does it matter?" he shrugged, sitting up, "You could make even that look beautiful. How long was I out?"

Diya giggled as Nayeli blushed. "Well, he woke up on the right side of the bed, at least. It's been... gosh, half a day? We've eaten twice, and the respawn occurred."

Nayeli nodded. "Sarahi and Kitt went hunting for some of those 'mychonid' things Kitt says are edible. Mom went with them for support, if something goes wrong, and Diya sent Sonny to help too."

"Without me?" the Rabbit growled, ears twitching in annoyance... but then sighed and shook his head at himself. "No... that's good. It's good that I'm not absolutely necessary. You guys are strong in your own right." Oro popped his neck. And his shoulders. And his back. "You okay?" he asked, looking at Nayeli as she took the opportunity to roll off of her heels.

She gave him a slightly pained smile, massaging her legs after finally getting them stretched out a little. "I'm fine. My legs have slept more than any other part of me, but all I have to do is walk, really. It's you and Sarahi that do the hard maneuvering. You sound better."

Oro nodded slowly. "A little. Thank you... for stopping the stupid. I... am... ," he rocked his head, as if trying to shake the right word out of it. "I don't know," he decided at last, "I don't know what I am anymore, except full of regret. And desperate not to add any more to the pile. I want to get you out of this place, kill the witch, and then go to Hell so I can punch this demon in the balls," he growled, though without much conviction.

Kylan quirked a brow, but couldn't suppress a grin. "Not the checklist we want to hear, but at least you sound like the old you again. Seeing you all calm and thoughtful yesterday was actually really scary."

The Rabbit nodded again. "Yeah. All I could think was that I needed to get you to the exit before I lost whatever of me is left," he confessed, running his hands up the length of his ears as if they needed stretching out, "Looks like I'm going to last a while longer, though, so that's a relief. We should catch up with the others."

"Wait," Nayeli asked, extending a hand to him as he got to his feet. When he helped her to hers, though, she put her other arm around him and pulled him to her in a tight hug. "I'm not letting you go," she insisted, "Until I hear you say that you won't let yourself die. I know you're depressed, and uncertain. But you're also loved. I love you. I won't let you give up."

Oro blinked... and returned the hug. "Yeah. Sorry I worried you. Not gonna lie, I did kind of want to for a minute there. Fuck that, though. You're here. My family's here. I'm staying. Anyone that doesn't like that can go fuck themselves, Labyrinth and Gauntlet and Gorgorond included."

His wife sighed her relief into his shoulder. That sounded like her husband. That was Oro's mindset. "Okay," she kissed his cheek, then held him back at arms length and looked him over with a smile, "Put some pants on."

Oro had just finished changing into his spare clothes, and stepped out into the next room with Tuli's pack on his back and the other three following behind, when Sarahi and the other hunters returned through a door on their right. The Sha'khari and Tuli were carrying a mushroom cap the size of an exercise trampoline between them, with Kitt riding on Sonny to bring up the rear.

When Sarahi saw Oro, she almost dropped her side of the mushroom, having to resist the urge to rush over and crush him in a hug. Both groups met in the middle of the room, where the hunters dropped their prize and Sarahi could indulge her urges. "Hey there, handsome," she cooed as she rubbed her cheek against his and felt his arms strong around her again, "Glad to see you up again. You feeling better?"

"A bit," he nodded, "Good enough to kick the bricks out of this place, anyway."

"Good!" the Sha'khari beamed, comforted to hear his aggressive side again, "It feels weird going into a fight without you," she admitted, glancing over her shoulder at the massive mushroom cap behind her, "These things are obnoxious. We have to shoot them from a safe distance, but my spear busts them into a mess, and Kitt's aim isn't what it should be. Three guesses why, and the first two don't count," she sighed, gesturing to the Dog.

She was sitting astride Sonny's shoulders, face buried in his thick fur and knees squeezed tight against his ribs, subtly (and futilely) grinding against one of his shoulder-blades. "I take it back," she whimpered, never lifting her face from the wolf's fur, "This is way worse than when we got separated! Please, brother! I need you!!”

Oro rubbed his knuckles against his forehead, and Nayeli sighed, but bumped his hip with hers. "You should go on. We're going to need her thinking clearly. I know you don't like it, and you worry about my feelings, but it needs to be done. I understand."

"I don't want you to understand," he growled, a familiar, angry fire returning to his eyes, made all the fiercer by their new color, "There should never have been anything to understand."

"Sarahi," the Lioness countered with a single name, "I hope I would have needed to understand Sarahi."

The Sha'khari blushed, biting her lip, then stepped over to kiss Nayeli. Oro rolled his eyes, defeated. "Fine. You," he growled, stepping over and dragging Kitt off Sonny by the back of her neck, "Let's go." The Dog squeaked happily as he tossed her over his shoulder like a flour sack and hauled her back to the hallway. The rest of the family occupied themselves with making lunch using the mushroom cap and some leftover cockatrice meat.

"Alright," Oro growled after he and Kitt rejoined the group, having relieved the curse's fever, "How far to the next gate? You said you think this is the last zone?"

"I think so," Kitt nodded, happily chowing down on the simple stew Tuli and Nayeli had prepared in their little camp cooking sets, "I never got past the guard at the next gate, so I can't say for certain, but The Labyrinth seems to be following the third design paradigm: a central 'zone' surrounded by four other zones, either occupying the corners or radiating in the cardinal directions. What?" she paused, noticing the quizzical looks being given to her from all sides.

"... I'm going to take that as some wizard-stuff from your world," Oro grunted, "Not that it matters. That just means we're in the last of the zones, right?"

"Hopefully," Kitt continued, "If it wasn't made in the fourth paradigm. But there should be stairs or slides in that case, to access the different tiers, and I haven't found any of those. The good news," she hastened back to practical matters, as Oro's patience was growing visibly thin, "Is it's a pretty short route from here to the next gate. Almost like the architect himself was getting tired of laying out the rooms."

"What kind of 'guard' is it?" Kylan asked, "We've seen a giant... what did you call them? Orcs? And a giant floating skull. Is 'giant' the running theme of this place?"

Kitt giggled and nodded. "It sure is. And next is a giant slime."

"Slime?" Oro arched a brow, "Like... a big blob of digestive goo? That kind of slime?"

"You got it!" the Dog nodded, "You're lucky not to have met any of the little ones yet. This one covers the floor of the whole room, and just lets you step right in. It'll probably get more proactive if we get close to the gate, but I never made it far enough in for it to be bothered."

That left the group scratching their collective heads. "How do we get past something like that?" Sarahi wondered aloud.

Oro shrugged, getting to his feet and encouraging the rest of them to do the same. "I have an idea, but let's have a look at the room. Maybe something better will occur to us once we see it for ourselves."

"'Better'?" Nayeli and Sarahi both asked at once, giving him suspicious looks, "What idea do you have right now?" the Sha'khari added.

"Nothing you or I either one will like," their husband snorted, "So let's try to think of something else on the way."

The route was short, but dangerous. They fought a flock of something Kitt called "sky-beasts" that spat literal lightning at them, and which Oro would have described as scaley blimps with dragon heads glued to the front. They fended off a horde of the mandrake murder-carrots... and the orcish summoner that kept calling them out of the ground. That guy pissed Oro off. They absolutely crushed the "bone-caller" Kitt had previously warned them about, much to Oro's relief. The Rabbit deliberately gave that one several opportunities to call forth more of his minions, just to let off steam. And the very next door lead to the gate.

"Careful," Kitt warned as they pushed the door open, "The floor of this room is sunk a little, so it won't flood the hall, but it can move if it decides to, and I don't know how safe this place will be then."

Sure enough, there was a depression nearly six inches deep, just on the other side of the threshold, and filled from corner to corner with what looked like a glossy, wet, blue-green mucus. Oro dipped the back of their hatchet into it to see how potent the thing was. A loud hiss, acrid smell, and smooth chunk melted off the metal in less than a second told him it was plenty dangerous. The room lacked the pillar formations they had seen in the previous guard rooms, along with any other structure they might be tempted to tie a rope to. There was the gate at the center, on a raised dias, and nothing else except yards of acidic slime between them and it.

"You tried to cross this?" Oro grunted, shaking the hatchet clean before returning it to Nayeli, "How?"

Kitt shrugged. "I've got a trick or two up my sleeve. I tried luring the bulk of it to the far side of the room. I tried laying down a material along the surface that would last long enough for me to run on. Nothing worked, and getting back out was a close call both times. After that I decided not to try again without a more solid plan."

Oro nodded, crouched right at the threhold of the door and still looking around the acidic pond. "Good call. Any ideas left?"

"Ummm... maybe tying a rope to Sarahi's spear and shooting it across the room?" the Dog suggested, though clearly she'd come up with that spur-of-the-moment.

"I'm all for it," Sarahi answered gently, "But my spear tends to leave a giant hole where it lands, so I'm afraid it'll just fall loose. And I'm pretty sure we don't have that much rope." Stepping up (carefully) between the two in front, the Sha'khari cautiously dipped the luminous edge of her shield into the slime. There was no immediate reaction, and the shield barely disturbed the surface as she drew it back out, there was so little cling. "Maybe I can make a bigger shield? Big enough to use as a raft?"

Oro rocked his head thoughtfully. "That'd work fine if this thing wasn't alive. The minute it decides to move, though, we're sitting ducks," he growled through gnashed teeth, "Guess that just leaves—"

"... Really do that?" Oro paused, overhearing Tuli ask a question quietly, almost under her breath. She blinked when she realized she'd been overheard, and smiled sheepishly. "Sorry. Nigel says he has an idea. Speak up, dear, so everyone can hear you."

The little green phantom of a tentacle popped out of her shoulder. "I can stretch that far," it said with all the confidence of childhood, "I can lift you across. Just one at a time, though."

Oro arched a brow, and looked to Kitt. "Will it let us do that? What sort of senses does it have, anyway?"

"Oooo, aren't you just adorable?!" the Dog was momentarily distracted by the tentacle on Tuli's shoulder, playfully tickling its spectral form even though her fingertips went right through. "So you're one of her babies, huh?"

Oro snapped his fingers... and couldn't help but be a little proud that Nigel's attention redirected back to him even faster than Kitt's. His "son" was sharp and attentive. "Will it know we're in the room if we don't touch it?"

"Oh, it absolutely will," the little Dog assured him with a bright smile, "I'm not exactly sure how. I suspect it might be heat-sensitive, so it can tell where warm bodies are, but it might be more like me and read olfactory information. So... it might be a question of how high it can lift us. The smaller slimes are hard to deal with, but you do have to get kind of close for them to notice you. If it lifts us high enough, maybe the slime won't know we're doing anything but lurking near the door."

"I can pick you up high!" Nigel promised eagerly, "Very high!"

Oro didn't look exactly happy with the plan... but it was as solid as anything else he could think of, assuming Nigel's confidence wasn't baseless. He gave Tuli a hard look. "Can you handle it? You said it hurts when they use the 'door'."

The Lioness nodded, albeit reluctantly. "If it will get us out of here safely... I'll endure," she promised.

"Okay," the Rabbit nodded, "We'll give this a shot, then. Kitt, you go first, if you don't mind. Drop her in as gently as you can, Nigel, and if that slime starts moving you yank back into this hall as fast as you can, understand?"

"Yes, Dad!" the little tentacle answered with a crisp salute, like it was in the military... then seemed to drop right through Tuli to emerge, physically, from between her legs. The Lioness grit her teeth and groaned, but widened her stance to give him all the room she could. "Sorry, Mom," the emerging tentacle apologized sheepishly, as if it had forgotten what a strain this put on its mother.

"Don't worry about it, dear," Tuli encouraged him in an unsteady voice, hands cupped instinctively around the place where he emerged and speaking each word with some effort, "Just get Kitt across safe. I'll be fine."

It was brave of her to say, and she set her teeth and endured what came next without so much as a whimper, though it was clearly uncomfortable. Tuli planted her feet as wide as her balance would allow, and took a tight grip on what looked to be a root growing in through one of the walls to steady herself. Kitt giggled as the strong tentacle encircled her, and patted the pointed tip. "Oh, I am definitely going to play with you later," she cooed.

"That'd be great!" Nigel cheered, "We never get to play with anyone else!"

Oro rubbed his face, suspecting that word meant completely different things to each of them at the moment, but it wasn't the time to have that talk. Pressing himself against the side of the door frame to give Nigel room to maneuver, the scarlet-furred Rabbit watched warily as the thick tentacle lifted the little Dog out the door and almost straight up. At about fifteen feet, it began to arc over the pool of acidic goo, carrying her toward the gate. "Damn," Oro muttered, impressed, "How big is he?"

"This is the first time I've gotten to stretch out," Nigel's voice came from the length of tentacle nearest Oro, "But I'm sure I could cross the whole room. Wanna see?"

"No," the Rabbit grunted quickly, "Focus. Getting out is our only priority now. You can show off for me when we get home."

"Sorry, Dad," the young demon apologized, sounding both chastised and disappointed.

Oro patted it reassuringly... a surprising gesture from the gruff Rabbit. "It's okay, son. Focus."

Nigel laid some of his length along the floor, thickening it out to take the burden of keeping balance off of Tuli, so she just had to endure the seemingly endless length of his body stretching out from her. Kitt was above the portal now, and Nigel was lowering her carefully. They were almost within reach of the stone arches when the slime in one corner of the room began to withdraw, and rise up in a gelatenous mound in the other corner. In the span of a breath it was as tall as the portal, and spat a large glob of itself at the dangling Dog without warning.

Nigel dropped Kitt before the wad of acid could hit, and she fell through the portal without even a squeak of surprise. A chunk of the tentacle's tip fell through behind her, as the wad of acid slapped into Nigel's side and ate through that portion of him. Tuli clamped her teeth down on a scream, though it was hard to say if it was pain or concern for her child that prompted it.

"Get back... here?" Oro started to bark, but by the second syllable Nigel was already gone, having withdrawn into Tuli with an audible slurp of suction. The Lioness nearly collapsed on her knees.

"Oro, the door!" Nayeli shouted. Looking over his shoulder, Oro saw the slime launching another dissolving glob directly at them, and quickly swung the door shut, kicking Sarahi back against Nayeli, shoving them both back into the others as he braced his back against the wooden barrier. It bucked against him, then cracked, then practically disappeared. But at least it had broken the attack's momentum enough that none of the slime reached further into the hall than Oro's shoulders.

Those shoulders, though, along with the rest of Oro's back, were thoroughly coated in the stuff. It sputtered and hissed as it soaked into him, and his clothes melted away. "Damn it," the Rabbit growled, "That was my last set."

"You... you're okay?!" Sarahi gasped, equal parts shocked and relieved as Oro straighted himself up and shook off what was left of the slime that hadn't been absorbed yet.

"Seems like it. That was my original, stupid idea anyway," he grunted, turning around and taking a bold step through the door, planting his foot directly in the slime like he was issuing a challenge. "Looks like I was right. Gorgorond's bile is stronger than this stuff. I can eat it. Yech... it tastes like plain, cold oatmeal, though," he sneered, taking a second step into the room. There was a wet slurping sound around his feet, and the slime seemed to dip under the soles until it withdrew to a safe distance. He marched defiantly toward the portal at first, but soon turned toward the large mound that seemed to represent the slime's central "body". "Bring it on," the Rabbit growled when that bulge rippled and lobbed yet another glob of itself at him.

The thick wad washed over him, surrounded him, and began to bubble. The main slime surged in behind it, hitting him like a riptide of mucus, driving him across the room and against the wall. Oro covered his mouth to prevent a scream and conserve his air, silently cursing his overconfidence. This was a turn he hadn't expected. Although he could still feel Gorgorond eating everything that touched him, he was clearly at the mercy of the sludge enveloping him, and that impact had hurt. If it didn't manage to beat him to death against the walls and floor, he wasn't sure he could hold his breath long enough for Gorgorond to finish it, or that the demon could supply him with air in some other way.

At least it couldn't seem to eat his eyes, which also belonged to Gorgorond now. That meant he could see through the semi-transparent glob, and realize it could divide its attention every bit as well as its body: a second tall mound had slapped at the door to the hall, and been held at bay by Sarahi's quick thinking and luminous shield. When she saw the wave coming, she'd hastily reformed it with as much reach as she could manage outside the hall, then pulled it back to seal up the doorway like a lid.

They were safe. That was good. They couldn't help him. Normally, that wouldn't matter a whit to him... but as the slime encasing him jerked him away from the wall, he knew he was in trouble this time. He was in literally over his head, and his whole body couldn't eat the slime fast enough to get free before it slammed him directly against the near side of Sarahi's shield. The impact hurt. His lungs were screaming. The shield, apparently similar to her spear, burned every inch of him it touched. And they could all see him dying, just on the other side of the luminous barrier. Oro's fury burned as hot as the shield against his skin as he realized the slime was not just intelligent: it was taunting them.

Sarahi was saying something on the other side of the shield, her face set in a defiant frown as the rest of the family retreated out the other door. Oro couldn't hear her, but he recognized the words on her lips well enough as she rested the tip of her spear beside his shoulder. "—EARTH!" her voice suddenly burst out clearly as she twisted the mirror to dispell her shield on the last word. The spear burst forth, tearing through the slime and dragging the viscious sludge back from the hall for half a second. The blast of it entering the slime pulled Oro's face free, giving him an opportunity to get another breath. More than that, it freed his right arm.

Sarahi grabbed his extended hand, hauling backward with all four paws as hard as she could. Against anyone with feet on solid ground, the slime had a weak grip at best, and she had dragged Oro halfway down the hall almost before she realized he was free. As soon as his toes were clear, Oro tucked his legs up over his shoulder, rolling to his feet and twisting his hand out of Sarahi's grip. "Thanks," he growled through clenched teeth as the slime began to flow into the hall after them, "Now I'm gonna fuck this bastard!"

His quick-step took him right up to the gelatinous wall, which he dove through head-first. His momentum carried him through the relatively thin wall in similar fashion to the spear, as his demon-skin swallowed every drop that touched it on the way through. He landed on the other side in a much shallower pool of slime than had been there the first time he charged in, and it would not catch him again. Whenever it moved, he would quick-step past the bulk, taking chunks out of it with his arms as he passed. As soon as it withdrew from the hall, Sarahi called back her spear, and used it to splatter the "body" each time it tried to rise up en masse. And everywhere he stepped he ate more and more of his enemy, until it was Oro on the offensive and the slime looking for a corner to retreat to. Sarahi sealed off the door again at that point, confident he couldn't be drowned in a blob little bigger than she was. Moments later, the last of the dangerous liquid had been swallowed, and it was safe for them all to cross to the gate. Sarahi dispelled her shield and trotted out to where Oro stood. "You o—!?" he started to ask.

She smacked the top of his head, interrupting him. "I didn't pull you out just to jump right back into it, you idiot!!" she scolded, even as she threw her arms around him in a crushing hug, "Will you please, once in a while, wait for help?!"

The Rabbit dipped a confused brow at her. "Just so we're clear: I am only alive right now because of you, and I am fucking well aware of it. That's true about four times over, and that's just the tally for this run. Sorry I work you so hard... but I do have help, and you haven't dropped the ball on me yet."

After one more squeeze, she let him go with a sigh. "Yeah," she agreed, though she was smiling again, and calmer, "You do make me work hard."

"You okay?" the Rabbit turned to Tuli as the rest of the family joined them by the gate, "How bad is Nigel?"

"I'm fine, Dad!" the little tentacle peeked out of Tuli's shoulder, happy and hale, and the Lioness nodded with a smile.

"He seems fine," Tuli confirmed, "I felt like my leg was burning off when he got hit, but as soon as he went back inside it subsided. They don't seem to carry physical injuries back with them."

"We shoulda helped!" one of the Nicks barked, popping out of Tuli's tummy, and the other immediately agreed from her hip, "We'd've eat it up good!"

"That's good to hear," Oro sighed in relief, having actually been somewhat worried about the helpful little tentacle, "You two will get your chance someday. Don't worry."

"Oh I hope not," Tuli winced, covering herself with her hands again.

Oro frowned down at his own complete lack of clothes... then sighed. "We'd better go see how Kitt's doing. Hopefully that fall wasn't too high for her." Gesturing for them to follow, he stepped through the gate.

The Judge

Kitt was huddled by the wall, peeking through the one and only door out of the new room. Unlike the previous zones, this one did not seem to lead to a hall, but directly into another room. That aside, so far as Oro could tell... they were just in another zone. "Hey, you okay?" the Rabbit asked bluntly as he got his bearings after stepping into the room. She nodded, never taking her eye away from the door. Oro arched a brow, now growing curious. "Good. We're all fine, too, barely. What's got you all fixated?"

"... Bad news," she whispered, gently closing the door back completely before turning her back to the wall. Heaving a sigh, she flashed her bright, habitual smile at him again. "I'm glad all of you are okay," she mused, eying him up and down appreciatively without remarking on his sudden lack of clothes, as the rest of the group appeared behind him, "But I never doubted you would be. That's why I was peeking ahead.”

"Uh-huh," the Rabbit grunted, crossing his arms over his chest, "And what did you see? You said it's bad news, and my guess is it's not just because this isn't the exit."

She tried hard to keep the smile up, but it looked pained, quickly became a grimace, and she finally dropped it entirely. Her head fell in something more like shame. "Well, that is the exit through there. I'd bet my life on it," she nodded to the door beside her, "The problem is... remember how I said it would take a god to kill you? I'm sure I'm wrong, even then, but... I can't help but worry about this one. I'm sorry."

His ears twitched. "Are you saying there's a literal god guarding the exit?"

The little Dog nodded slowly. "I think so. The scent of power is so strong I can't pick up anything else in the room. And I think it knows we're here. It just doesn't care. At least not yet." Oro frowned, and quietly opened the door just a crack, as she'd done, to peek through.

It looked like a castle courtyard. The sandy dirt floor of the wide room was flanked on both sides by tall walls topped with machiculations and decorated with silk banners. Directly opposite the door he was looking through was a tall, arched gate, with a raise portcullis. A little in front of that, framed in the arch and nearly as tall as the gate, sat a hairless, smooth-featured, grey-skinned creature at a desk. He might have mistaken it for a statue if it wasn't patiently writing something in a large book laid out on an equally large desk, both scaled to the size of the giant himself. A gavel as long as the creature's arm laid on one side of the desk, topped with a head of bronze large enough for Oro to stand inside, if it were hollow.

No sooner had he taken all this in than the giant spoke. "Oh good. You're all here now. Come on in," it sighed in a tired, disinterested voice... the voice of The Labyrinth itself, which they'd heard some days ago.

Seeing no reason to pretend they hadn't been found out, Oro pushed the door the rest of the way open and strode boldly into the sunlight of the courtyard. This was the first place they'd found where the sky was not overcast. That much, at least, was refreshing. "Are you the last boss of this place?" the Rabbit grunted when he was just close enough to the desk to still see the giant's face above it. Sarahi stood warily behind him, with Kitt at her side, and the rest keeping close behind them.

"I am... a tad disappointed," the creature answered around a yawn, covering its open mouth briefly before resuming its writing, hardly seeming to care about the little group in front of it, "You explored less than a quarter of my rooms, and didn't locate even one of the secret doors despite passing no less than three. You navigated the trap rooms tactically, at least, but never even attempted to collect a single treasure. Your combat prowess is the only thing remarkable about you." Here it did put down its pen, knit its fingers in front of its brow, and sighed deeply as it frowned at them. "Really, as adventurers, you're something of an embarrassment. Have you anything to say for yourselves?"

Oro's brow was still frowning, but his chin was slack. "We're getting a fucking performance evaluation?! Fuck you! We didn't sign up to be adventurers! We weren't even supposed to be here! We got dumped in this fucking place by The Gauntlet, remember?!"

"Hmmm... well, I suppose that's true enough," the giant sighed, almost as if it had forgotten that little fact itself, "And I suppose, as well, you deserve some praise for reaching the exit without the loss of a member. Your party is only the second to accomplish that." It clapped its hands a couple of times as if contractually obligated to do so. "Very well. I will now render my judgments," it declared, reaching for the book it had been writing in up to a moment ago.

"Whoa, whoa," Sarahi spoke up, "Judgments?! What are we being judged for? Who are you?"

"The Judge," the giant declared, as if the title should have been obvious from the start, "Kittkattarevielle-ketikit: the only true explorer among you. Due to the advantage of time, she explored roughly eighty percent of my rooms before joining your party, including two of the secret rooms. Pass," it gestured toward the wide open gate behind its desk, though the little Dog made no move toward it. "Oro and Sarahi: solid fighters, passable teamwork, physically capable and dependable. Pass. Diya and Kylan: strategic, utilitarian, but heavily dependent on their equipment and companions. Stripped of your mask and writing material, I am dubious you could survive any given room. Pass, barely."

Oro's teeth were grinding at the back of his jaw. He didn't like this one bit. So far it had declared them all a "pass"... but the Rabbit was willing to bet he wouldn't like what it said if any of them "failed". Almost without realizing it himself, he was already widening his stance and plotting the maneuver he would have to make to get up that desk, onto the top, and from there to the giant's face for a strike...

"Similarly: Tuli, Nigel, Nicholas, and Nichole. Had your children not taken action, you would certainly be dead. Yet it must be acknowledge that you have them, and they cannot be separated from you. I will therefore consider you one entity. Pass. Nayeli—"

"Shut the fuck up," Oro growled, hunched low and teeth bared like an animal. The giant's tone had changed when it said her name. This was the moment he'd been bracing for, and he didn't even care to hear it. But the Judge didn't care what he did or didn't care for.

"Dead weight, dragged through my rooms by your party," it declared, "You demonstrate no particular ability. The 'comfort' you sought to provide, as your only contribution, could be given equally well by any other member. Fail."

Sarahi stepped in front of the young Lioness, shield raised and spear at the ready, sharing every last ounce of Oro's anxiety. Nayeli looked rightfully afraid, but managed to hold her ground without bolting or clinging to the Sha'khari. Her mother moved up beside her, holding her shoulder reassuringly, despite looking every bit as frightened as her daughter, and the twins hunkered low on Sonny as the wolf stood protectively at the Lioness' backs, teeth bared and ears flat. Kitt discretely strolled a couple of steps to the side, giving herself room to maneuver around the Rabbit, whom she expected would take the first strike whether it was meant for him or not.

Every scarlet strand of fur on Oro's body was standing on end, quivering with the effort of restraining his first move. "And what the fuck," he growled coldly, "Does it mean to 'fail' here?"

"She will be returned to the center, to navigate The Labyrinth properly," the giant declared, reaching for its gavel, "Or she may choose to be executed here and—"

"Like HELL she will!!" the Rabbit roared. His bones could be heard snapping, his joints popping free, and the next scream to tear out of his throat was equal parts pain and rage. Before his family's terrified eyes, the Rabbit stretched and swelled, briefly tearing his own skin in places before the demon closed up the gaps, until a tall, ungodly distortion of a Rabbit stood at their head, trailing streamers of blood between its twisted muscles. It was covered as much in teeth as skin now, which seemed to have throats behind them reaching impossibly deep into his body. They were sharp, yellow, gnashing things, snapping as his joints moved. His furious red eyes stared out from between two rows that had replaced his eyelids.

Fortunately, he didn't give them more than a second to take in this terrifying sight before he erupted up the side of the desk, reaching the top in two long stretches of his distended arms, and practically threw himself at the giant's face. But for all his speed, his enemy possessed no small measure of ability, himself... and showed it in that same blink. The gavel came across while Oro was still mid-air, hammering into his side with an audible crack. Oro managed to get a grip on the handle just above the Judge's thumb, wrapping his warped body around it and the hand together and biting savagely into the grey skin.

If the Judge felt it, he ignored it well, turning his dispassionate gaze on Nayeli. Swinging the Rabbit right along with the gavel, he first swatted Sarahi aside. The hammer hit her shield hard enough to lift her off all four of her feet and roll her several times across the ground, almost to the wall. With terrifying dexterity, the Judge turned his wrist over, arching the gavel back down in a crushing blow on the now-undefended Lioness. Nayeli raised her arms against it, futily, and instinctively screamed.

Nigel and his siblings erupted from their mother without so much as an apology. Oro's feet hit the dirt, his shoulder braced under the shaft, just behind the crushing head. Somehow, albeit barely, they interceded against that merciless blow.

Nayeli sank limply to her knees, eyes wide and small and staring straight up at the large, flat, metal face above her. Her gaze was distant, focused on something thousands of miles away now, and she barely breathed. She looked half-dead where she knelt, and might have been mistaken for going mad with fear if any of her family could have spared a second to look at her. But they were too busy struggling desperately to save her.

A trio of daggers left Kitt's fingers, striking the giant firmly on one cheek, and even directly in the eye. The Judge didn't so much as blink. "Dad!" Nigel cried as he and his siblings pulled against the heavy weapon with all their might. The twin wolves had locked their teeth on the giant's hand, but could only scrape the skin about as effectively as Sonny, who was likewise attempting to chew the enemy's ankles to no effect. "We can't hold it!!"

"Fist of Heaven," Sarahi snarled, shaking the stars from her eyes as she got her paws back under her and tried to take a good aim at the giant's head, "Punish the sinful earth!!" Even The Judge could not ignore that holy spear, apparently, but intercepted it with the back of his free hand. The blast of the impact left a dark mark below his knuckles, but the giant's attention never wavered from the Lioness he had targetted... and, perhaps, the desperate Rabbit struggling to protect her.

"Na... yel... i," Oro growled, straining against the crushing gavel, practically standing astride her folded knees, "Move!... Please!" They were holding it at bay... barely. They couldn't last. Every second he stood there, the monstrously-transformed Rabbit could feel himself being compressed under the steady pressure, squeezed almost back to his original size, as the face of that hammer crept closer and closer to its transfixed target.

"By the authority which has been given to me... ," Nayeli was whispering barely louder than she breathed, but Oro couldn't make out the rest as it was drowned by The Judges' begrudging admiration.

"Impressive," the giant admitted, sounding genuinely interested for the first time, before he reached down to wrap his spare fist around Oro, forcing the Rabbit to choose between getting trapped and abandoning Nayeli to her fate. Oro made that decision easily enough, and wasn't about to let go of that gavel under any amount of threat or pain. The giant would have to rip him in two before it went about any other work...

Nayeli has finished invoking the authority which has been given to her. Let the door to the House of Death be closed, and those who do not belong to it expelled.

The Judge screamed; a terrible, ear-splitting sound. The wail chased them as they flew with gut-wrenching speed, not through the gate, but up into the sky above The Labyrinth. It was impossible to say when the transition from sky to cavernous halls occurred, but suddenly they were zipping through dark stone corridors, and the scream of the Judge was replaced by that of The Gauntlet. It followed them, unbroken, all the way to the gate, which slammed violently shut as soon as the last of them had been ejected onto the ground. Then the gate disappeared, and every stone in the summoning formation split in two, and the skull crumbled to dust.