Tales of the Onyx Labyrinth

Mischief and Misdirection

'Why?'

'Just do it.'

'Fine,' the young Guardian said and left.

'Hey,' Ruhan said worriedly through the mind-link. 'You okay?'

'No.'

'This has to be better than having to spend all your time with the Princess.'

'Searching for fabric that will make the dress that will bind her forever to our Court isn't exactly better.' She could feel the resentment build in her, it was especially strong after the drama not even an hour old.

Ruhan squeezed her hand before returning to stoic Guardian mode.

'Something's off about that raccoon.'

'Rabies?'

'Colouring.'

Daphne frowned. The animals she'd encountered had all had identical brown fur.

'We need –'

A stoat entered the cavern. The exact brown fur as the other animals.

The two Guardians exchanged a glance before capturing the wriggling creature.

'Talk,' Ruhan commanded.

'About what?'

'You and the other animals: what are you?'

'Faery-hybrids,' it answered promptly.

Ruhan picked up a stone and turned it into a cage – large enough for the stoat to fit and small enough to carry with ease.

'Dinner is going to be interesting,' Daphne said as Henri entered the cavern with the raccoon in a stone cage.

'No! No!'

'You can't eat us!'

'You just said that you're Faery-hybrids. We've eaten plenty of rat. You should make an interesting change.'

'We're not hybrids!'

'Enchanted should taste even better.'

'Maybe. Perhaps with clover?'

'We're Fae!'

Daphne smirked.

'Then where's the baboons?'

'We'll show you.'

'If you promise not to kill us.'

Daphne shrugged.

Ruhan and Henri walked in front with the captives.

Daphne used the mind-link to find the closest Guardians. Clive and Conan – twins – arrived silently. They wore the face covers that only revealed their eyes. Daphne only wore hers when it was cold. But some Guardians, like the twins, wore it as part of their regular attire. It made them look like assassins instead of Guardians.

Feelings that she's been trying to supress for so long tried to escape. She refused to allow them to. She even kept her mind blank like she had to before the Dragon's Curse had been broken. Nothing will interfere with this mission.

Three rabbits were waiting in the cavern. The twins used their magic to bend the earth into a cage around the dark brown furry creatures.

Cries of outrage were stifled when the rabbits saw the other two animals in cages with the five Guardians.

'Where can we find the five baboons that escaped the Onyx Labyrinth this morning?'

'Baboons?'

'What would we know of baboons?'