Beast in Shining Armor (10 page)

The
kiss only lasted a second, but that was long enough to feel the heat beckoning
her deeper.  If they kept going it would be even better than it had been the
last time.  Belle felt the barely suppressed passion and it made her pull back
in alarm.  Getting close to the Beast of the Northlands would be a huge mistake.

No
matter how much Belle longed for him, she would never be important to Avenant.

Belle
jerked away from him, feeling dazed.  “Thanks.”  She blurted out, because what
else could she say?

Avenant
stared at her, his chest heaving.  “You drive me insane.”  He whispered and
gave his head a sharp shake.  “Come on.”  He got to his feet, dragging her with
him.  “Stay behind me.”

Belle
looked around and realized the fireball had seared its way straight through four
walls, revealing the monster on the far side of the holes.  The guy didn’t look
exactly like a bull, but he sure didn’t look normal.  The horns Esmeralda had
talked about jutted out from the sides of his head like curved spears.  His massive
chest was covered in chainmail and bloody spikes.  Best of all, he was
absolutely, positively
ginormous
.  Like
patting-giants-on-the-head-as-he-stomped-passed
ginormous
.

“I
hate witches.”  He growled, his yellow eyes fixed on Esmeralda.

“This
witch isn’t real fond of you either, buddy.”  Ez retorted.  “Watch it with the
ice melting stuff, huh?  Water and my kind don’t mix.”

Avenant
raised a hand and tried to freeze the minotaur with his powers, but the frost
seemed to melt before it touched his
ginormous
body.

“Immune
to magic.”  Esmeralda snapped.  “Pretty sure I mentioned that.”

Lancelot
let out a panicked curse and ran away as fast as his armored legs could carry
him.

The
minotaur kept coming.  He must have been used to creating shortcuts through the
labyrinth with his fireworks.  He casually climbed through the large holes he’d
blazed for himself as if he had all the time in the world.  “Christ, the
trespassers get dumber every century.”  He muttered to himself.

“Fucking
hell.”  Avenant grabbed hold of Belle’s arm.  “Move.”

Then,
Avenant foreclosed on my shoe.

Testimony
of the Old Woman who (Formerly) Lived in a Shoe
- The People of the
Northlands v. Prince Avenant

Avenant,
Lancelot, and Belle raced down the icy corridor.

“Want
me to try the flute again?”  Esmeralda asked, dashing along after them.  “I can
play first seven notes of
The Alphabet Song
and the first six of
Twinkle,
Twinkle Little Star
.”

“They’re
the same goddamn tune!”  Avenant roared.  “No wonder the minotaur wants to kill
you.”  Avenant really did detest children’s songs.  Mother Goose would never
get her show back, if he had his way.

Esmeralda
rolled her eyes.  “Hey, the minotaur wants to kill you,
too
, buddy.”

“Maybe
we can try talking to him.”  Belle suggested.  “He seems like an intelligent…
Jesus!
” 
She plowed into Lancelot’s back as he skidded to a stop.  “What are you doing?” 
She touched her nose, making sure she hadn’t broken it on his armor.

“I
shall not run, anymore.  Cowards flee from danger.”  Lancelot hefted his sword. 
“Men face it, eager for death.”

“We’re
all eager for your death.”  Avenant assured him.

Lancelot
slanted him a glare.  “I’m about to win the kingdom from you, Beast.  Look on
in awe as I force the minotaur to reveal the location of Excalibur.  Neither
you nor this woman will sit on the Icen Throne a moment longer.”  He waved a contemptuous
hand at Belle.  “In fact, it should have melted long ago with you two claiming
it.”

“But,
it
didn’t
.”  Belle shot back.  “Both Avenant and I were accepted as
rightful rulers by the throne.  Weren’t we, Avenant?”

“Of
course we were.  You might be a usurper, but at least you’re legitimately part
of the royal line.”

Belle
frowned, not understanding that calm statement.

Lancelot
didn’t care enough to even listen.  “Now is the time to claim my due.”  He was
fixated on his kamikaze mission, psyching himself up to do something stupid.  Which,
honestly, didn’t take too much psyching.  “DIE MONSTERRRRR!”  He screamed as he
barreled towards the minotaur, his helmet gleaming in the eerie light.  “Now
you face a
man!
”

Avenant
shook his head in disgust.

Esmeralda’s
eyebrows soared as Lancelot rushed off.  “Should we go after him?”

“No.” 
Avenant intoned.

“I
think he’s about to get slaughtered, though.”

“It’s
fine.  I’m his next of kin.”  Avenant assured her.  “Being a distraction is
probably the pinnacle of his abilities, so let’s just celebrate his brief
moment of purpose.  I’ll buy him a nice memorial statue after we get out of
here.”

Belle
hesitated.  She wasn’t Lancelot’s biggest fan.  Still…  “We can’t just let him
get fried, Avenant.”

“Sure,
we can.”

“No,
we
can’t
.”

“Why
not?  He’s an asshole.”  Avenant sounded confused by this entire argument. 
“You
know
he is, Belle.  He called you a floozy.”

“That
was like sixteen years ago!”

“What
does that matter?”  Avenant crossed his arms over his chest, refusing to
budge.  “He still said it.”

Belle
made an aggravated sound.  “But, this is a perfect opportunity to help
someone.”  She pointed out.  “The journal said that’s how we’re going to get
through this level of the labyrinth, remember?  Princes should be
helpful
.”

“This
prince doesn’t do ‘helpful.’”  He retorted.  “This prince enjoys
not
helping the assholes around me.  Everyone knows that.  You testified to it at
my trial, as I recall.  In excruciating and perjurious detail.”

“I
did.”  She allowed, staring up at him.  “But, I dare you to prove me wrong.”

Avenant’s
gaze snapped to hers.

Belle
smiled at him…  And that was all it took to win.

“Son-of-a-
bitch
.” 
Avenant turned back the way they’d come.  “Wait here.”

“Okay.” 
Esmeralda agreed readily.  “Hey, if you die, is it okay if I try to claim your
kingdom for real?  I think I’d make an awesome princess.”

Belle
ignored that.  She also ignored Avenant’s command to stay put.  “What are we
going to do?”  She asked, hurrying after him.  “We can’t fight the minotaur
with our bare hands.”

“I
know.”  He sifted in his backpack to pull out the flare gun.  “God, this is
such
bad idea.  If I’m alive when the encounter’s over, I’m getting a much longer
kiss, understand?  You owe me.”

Belle’s
insides took a pleasurable dip, even though she knew it was a huge mistake.  “How
long?”

“
Long.
” 
Avenant put up an arm to halt her progress as the sounds of a fight reached
them.  “Wait here.”  This time his voice was firmer.

Belle
had no idea why he thought it would work.  She’d never listened to him before
and she wasn’t about to start now.  When Avenant stepped into the minotaur’s
sights she was right behind him.

The
monster had Lancelot’s unconscious body lifted over his head, preparing to
heave him through a wall.  Avenant’s cousin was a big man, but the minotaur
hefted him like he weighed nothing at all.  Yellow eyes narrowed as he spotted
Avenant and Belle.

“I’m
going to have to ask you to put that asshole down.”  Avenant requested in a
long suffering tone.  “Apparently, it’s important, for some reason.”

“You’re
all trespassers.”  The minotaur growled angrily.  “You deserve punishment.”

“Technically,
this land belongs to the crown and the crown belongs to me.”  Avenant argued. 
“
You’re
the trespasser.”

The
minotaur wasn’t interested in the finer points of property law.  “If you’re the
prince of these lands, then it was your ancestor who put my kind in this maze.” 
He threw Lancelot’s limp body at them.  “You know what happens to those who
enter my home!”

Belle
ducked to the side as Lancelot flew overhead and went careening down the hall
like a rock skipping on a lake.  He was definitely going to wake up with a
headache.  At least, he was still alive, though.

Avenant
let out a sigh.  “Alright, let’s try this another way.”  He pointed the flare
gun at the minotaur and fired.

The
red projectile zoomed towards the monster’s
ginormous
chest.  It arced
through the air, a trail of red sparks igniting as it soared along its path. 
The minotaur reared back, but it was too late.  Nothing could stop the
collision.  The flare slammed into him…

…And
promptly bounced right off, again.

The
red tube plopped onto the icy floor, still burning.  All three of them stared
down at it for a beat.

“Well,
that didn’t work.”  Belle said.  The minotaur looked healthier than ever, only
now he was even more eager to kill them.

Avenant
shrugged.  “I told you it was a bad idea.”

“You
shoot flames at me, I shoot flames at you!”  The monster pulled back a
ginormous
palm, preparing to blast them with one of his fireballs.

“Fucking
hell.”  Avenant muttered again and glanced at Belle.  “Close your eyes, I’m
about to do something insane and I don’t want you to see me change.”

That
didn’t sound good.  Ignoring this order, too, she took a deep breath and
stepped forward.  “Hi!  I’m Rosabella Aria Ashman.”  She told the minotaur,
moving on to Plan C.  “Honorary Princess of the Northlands.  And you are?”

“I
am
pissed
.”  He retorted, but he didn’t blast them into ashes.  Instead,
he watched her warily.  Apparently, not many victims took the time to introduce
themselves.

Avenant
cursed and grabbed for her, but Belle shook him off.

“And
you have every right to be pissed.”  She assured the minotaur.  “I completely
understand how upsetting it must be to have people wander into your house like
this.  To be honest, I don’t blame you for wanting us gone.”

“Good. 
Then you’ll leave.”

“Absolutely
we will.  And I truly apologize for the inconvenience we’ve caused you.”  She
nodded.  “But, we’re on a contest of valor.  So, we really
can’t
go
anywhere until we find this magical sword.  We have to track it down before we
can get out of here.  I don’t think the labyrinth will let us just quit.  It’s
like a whole ritual deal-y.”

The
minotaur’s eyes narrowed, his gaze cutting between Belle’s encouraging
expression and Avenant’s tight features.  “You seek Excalibur?”

“Yes. 
Have you seen it?”

The
minotaur didn’t answer that.  His attention locked on Avenant.  “Does your
woman speak the truth?”

“Always.” 
Avenant said simply.

Belle
shot him a surprised look, touched by the compliment.

Of
course, then he went and ruined it.  “Honesty is one of Belle’s most irritating
habits.”  His hand gripped her tight, preventing her from getting any closer to
the minotaur.  “The little oddball has
a lot
of others, though.  She
talks too much.  She never fucking listens.  She has even worse ideas than I
do.”  Avenant dragged her behind him.  “She’s hopelessly and irredeemably Good.”

Belle
made a face.

“You
are not Good.”  The minotaur told Avenant with utter certainty.

“No.” 
Avenant allowed.  “I’m not.  I’m exactly like you.  I’m a beast.  If I could
think of a way to kill you without frightening the woman, you’d already be
dead.  See that sword?”  He nodded towards Lancelot’s fallen weapon, which had
landed a few yards away.  “I am currently running scenarios on how to get it
and stab you in the eye.”

The
minotaur’s head tilted, intrigued now.  He slowly lowered his hand and the flames
that had been building between his fingers flickered out.  “Others have tried
to kill me.”  He gave a smirk.  “My kind don’t die easily.”

Avenant
didn’t look impressed.  “A lot of monsters have told me that right before they
died.”

“You
are just terrible at diplomacy.”  Belle lamented.  She tried to take control,
again.  Left to his own devices, Avenant would be cooked to a cinder in no time. 
“Look, Mr. Minotaur.  All we want to do is find Excalibur.  You should really
be helping us.  If we free the sword, we free you, right?”

The
minotaur no longer looked angry.  Now, he looked amused.  It was somehow
worse.  “You won’t free the sword, woman.  You are destined to lose
everything.  Both of you.  You aren’t fit for this challenge.  You don’t even
understand what it’s testing.”

Belle
felt a chill.

“So
far it mainly seems to be testing my goddamn patience.”  Avenant snapped.

The
minotaur shook his head.  “Others have come seeking the sword over the years.  All
have failed, because none of you see the truth.  To possess Excalibur means
surrender
. 
When you enter this labyrinth, you must surrender yourself.  All you thought. 
All you wanted.  All you
were
.  You must begin anew.”

Avenant
rolled his eyes.  “Let’s skip the Zen shit and just get back to the killing
each other part.”

The
minotaur chuckled, the sound echoing off the ice walls.  “Oh, I never bother to
kill those who seek Excalibur.  The labyrinth will do it for me and with much
greater… imagination.”  He stepped back from them.  “The sword lays two levels
below us, trapped in stone.  I look forward to seeing you try to claim it.  Really. 
You questing morons are my only real source of entertainment, so I’m hoping you
don’t perish
too
quickly.”

“Thanks.” 
Belle deadpanned.  “Hey, one more thing.  Can you
not
kill that witch
who was with us, either?  She’s not really questing for Excalibur, but she’s
harmless.”

Avenant
slanted her a sideways look.

“Fine. 
Mostly
harmless.”  Belle allowed.

“I
will spare the witch if she stops that God awful music.”  The minotaur’s gaze
met Belle’s, again.  “You truly aren’t like the others who come here, are you? 
None of them have ever asked mercy for another.  Why did you enter to this
place?”

“Honestly? 
I just wanted to beat him.”  She pointed at Avenant.

The
minotaur gave a snort of surprised amusement.  “That’s actually good reason.” 
He allowed.  “The first I’ve ever heard.”

“I
thought so, too.”

“I
am Knoss.”  The minotaur told her.  “You interest me.  You’ll die on this
journey, of course, but at least it’ll be
interesting
.  That counts for
a lot when all I see in here are the same endless walls.”  He nodded as if
coming to a decision.  “I think you’ll go farther than most, Rosabella Aria
Ashman.  If you survive long enough, I’ll find you at the water.”

“Okay.” 
Belle said, looking baffled.