Melissa Barker-Simpson

EPISODE 7 

PHANTOM GAMES 

Previously on Labno and Carter: Unable to put it off any longer, Kate readies herself for the tournament; a series of games she is committed to after making a deal with a god. Before she can take her place in the line-up, she is attacked by their main suspect and only lives to tell the tale because of her duty to the games. The episode is told from Kate’s point of view. 

I’ve heard of people puking their guts up directly after a teleport. For me, it kind of feels like the brief period of disconnection when your body reacts to certain stimuli. My sister used to call it a reaction to someone stepping on her grave, in the future, obviously. Given what I’d just experienced I didn’t want to think too deeply about being in the ground. Besides, it was likely the skill of the wielder that made the difference. Being transported by a god of Eris’s power was as effortless as sneezing and just as quick. 

She was so fast I didn’t have time to even draw in breath before I was alone and standing at the entrance to her arena. 

The sounds inside hit me like a cold blast of water as soon as I stepped through the archway. The place was packed; row after row of seats circling a staged platform.  

Each event was different. The current tournament, or gauntlet, consisted of an enormous obstacle course. It was monstrous; a variety of challenges to test mental and physical endurance. The behemoth had to be thirty feet tall. The first section a maze which was built to either make a break a contestant. If you got lost in there, who knew how long you’d suffer or where you’d end up if you found your way out at some point. 

Tearing my eyes away from the visual reminder I was about to be put through my paces, I glanced at the audience. 

Rahim was hard to miss, given that his seat was slightly elevated to accommodate his wings. But it was the pom poms I spotted first and felt a bubble of laughter escape. 

Grinning I waved an imaginary pair, feeling a little less ridiculous when I saw his body shake with amusement. 

“I’m glad one of us is having fun.” 

The surly remark came from behind me, so I spun that way and came face to face with my opponent. 

Eris isn’t an idiot; she wouldn’t pit contestants against each other if there was an unfair advantage due to power deferential. She wouldn’t pick a vampire to compete against me, for example, because vamps can move; I’d blink, and the contest would be over. 

That said, the man opposite me was not human. I knew this because the arrogant prick was actually levitating a few inches from the ground.  

Perhaps it was an effort to intimidate, and he’d sensed enough about me to know his build wouldn’t do it. He was a least 6ft 4, with wide shoulders and a muscular physique. Whatever his reasons, he’d given away his advantage.  

The guy was a sorcerer, or witch, or whatever label he chose; he could wield magic and wanted me to know it. 

 “This is how I get my kicks, humiliating dickheads like you.” Harsh perhaps, but I wasn’t here to make friends. 

Thinking on my feet, I turned back to the audience to catch Rahim’s attention. Since I couldn’t write him a request without the materials to craft something together, I settled for gesturing. I learned sign language a few years ago, so made it as visual as I could.  

Tapping the bridge of my nose, I made two c shapes with my thumb and index fingers, held the two shapes together in front of my eyes and slowly pulled my hands apart until they reached my ears. 

That done I held out my palm, then pulled it back towards me in a ‘hand them over’ gesture. 

A second later I had a pair of wraparound shades in my hand. Unfortunately, they weren’t the ones he’d been wearing so I still couldn’t see his eyes, but I gave him an enthusiastic thumbs-up, like an over-exuberant children’s TV presenter. 

Rahim shook his head, grinning at my antics. 

At the sound of a gong, I turned to see Eris, perched on a platform which hovered above the arena. 

I tuned out her welcoming speech as I walked over to the starting line; donning the shades to ready myself for the game. I knew the glasses would probably hinder my view, but at least they cut out any distractions, like my opponent trying to distract me with illusionary magic. 

The instant the starting bell sounded we were off. I made a show of diving in with gusto, but inside the maze I slowed to a walking pace to get my bearings. 

Without the benefit of an aerial view, I couldn’t see the design layout, but I knew Eris and her penchant from tricks, so cleared my mind. 

An image of her popped into my head from earlier, the yellow suit, aura of power and self-possession. She’d been wearing a necklace, one she favoured because I’d seen it more than once. 

It was a large gold disk with a series of lines and curves engraved into the metal. It appeared random, but what if it wasn’t? What if it held personal meaning? Wouldn’t someone unconsciously lean towards a favoured design when creating something new? It was worth a shot. 

Calling up the image I studied the lines, trying to determine a starting point. 

Following my instincts I began to walk. Each time I came to a diversion in the path, a choice between left and right, I followed the map in my head. 

I was expecting to see something hovering above my head; my opponent using magic to work out the route, but I saw nothing. It either meant my decisions were taking me further away from where I needed to be, or the witch didn’t have much juice. 

The real surprise was the absence of obstacles. This wasn’t the only challenge, and there would certainly be a few surprises to come, yet I felt oddly disappointed when I rounded the last corner and stepped out of the maze.  

Then I saw the next challenge, and kind of wished I was still in there. The wall in front of me was around twenty feet. There was a rope, which was the only way to scale the wall; hard enough given the slick, shiny surface, but to make things more interesting, sharp spikes punched out of the wall at intervals. They followed a pattern it could take days to figure out. 

I still stood gawking at the thing like it was going to share its secrets. The only pattern I could determine was that the spikes activated every ten seconds and were retracted to a count of three. Since it was the only thing I had, I got busy. 

Taking a good grip of the rope, I waited for the next blade to make itself known then hauled myself up. I got as far as I could in ten seconds, then kicked off the wall with my feet, swinging out until I saw the telltale sign of metal. 

I might have made it to the top using the technique, and sure my arms might have been screaming but at least there would be no puncture wounds in my flesh. But then the tempo kicked up, distracting me so much I almost found myself skewered on one of the damn things. 

To make things worse, my opponent appeared, scaling the wall so fast he was at the top before I’d registered the advantage. Cursing, I began to scramble up the wall even while praying my luck would hold out. I could have done without turning into a human pin cushion. 

A collective gasp from the audience only fuelled my fire. I was afraid to look behind me for fear I had something nasty on my tail. 

It turned out the sound effects had nothing to do with my progress. As I pulled myself to the top and glanced over, I saw the way down was littered with the same traps. My opponent had discovered that the hard way. One of the spikes had caught him right in the neck. It was stuck, so he was hanging like a fish on a hook. 

When a gong sounded to signal the end of the game, I hesitated, unsure what to do because if the poor guy wasn’t dead already, pulling him off the thing would certainly seal the deal. 

I didn’t have to dwell on it too long because he vanished, like the scene had been a figment of my imagination. The bright crimson he’d left behind was proof enough. 

After another long pause to judge safety levels, I slid to the ground. The next challenge looked even less appealing than the wall; a long winding tunnel, barely big enough to crawl through, snaked its way to the finish line. I couldn’t see what the final task involved, but I knew I had to continue regardless. I’m no quitter and there was no way I was going to leave a game unfinished. A deal was a deal. 

Dropping to my knees, I crawled to the entrance of the tunnel to push my way in. 

Panic almost sent me over the edge more than once, especially given the level of sensory deprivation and whatever little fuckers were in there with me. I tried not to think of the TV show I’d watched as a kid; these creepy crawlies were probably a hell of a lot worse. Though, at least they weren’t eredytes. 

I’m not sure how long it took me to get to the other side, but when I poked my head out like a tortoise from its shell, cheers erupted around me. 

I was filthy, but strangely optimistic as I faced the final hurdle. This one was easy enough. I had to work out a sequence which dropped a drawbridge to cover the pit between me and the exit. I didn’t want to know what awaited me if I failed, nor did I care. I like puzzles, so I decided to enjoy it. I would soon be home free. At least until the next time I was called up. 

Studying the two rectangular columns, I realised there was an additional trap because, to reach them it meant standing on a grate. Presumably, if you made the wrong choice you would drop; an extension of the pit. 

There were three engraved squares, which sat horizontally on each of the columns, and they looked identical. 

I had to bite my lip to prevent the smirk because a spot the difference challenge seemed pretty tame for a game of the gods. Then again, it beat turning into a living pawn in some giant chess set and being moved across the board at will. Okay, so I watch too many movies. 

I spotted the correct square in under a minute, so made a show of considering my choices. Unlike a god, I don’t showboat. Then I started to worry it was too easy and I was missing something. By the time I hit the square I wasn’t sure if the ground would remain stable beneath me, so I was no longer feeling so smug. 

The draw bridge slammed into place and, like it was the starting shot of a new race, I got the hell out of there. 

Eris was waiting for me on the other side, her hands bumping together in a silent round of applause. 

“Well done. I would have given you the win regardless.” 

“How’s my opponent?” I asked, watching amusement dance across her face. 

“Do you care?” 

“Of course. I might be competitive, but I’m not completely heartless.” 

Eris smiled. “He’ll survive.” She dipped her head to study me. “Why the shades? You could have requested anything.” 

I’d actually forgotten I was wearing them. No wonder Rahim lived in his; they were just that comfortable. 

“I didn’t want any distractions, so it seemed like the way to go.” 

“I like you, Kate. I’m glad Raul didn’t paint your walls with-” 

“Me too,” I rushed out when I spotted Dan approaching. He didn’t know about my surprise visit and his bear was showing. 

Inclining her head, Eris flicked out a hand and I was back to where we’d started, in my humble abode, with the sound of Eris’s amused ‘you’re welcome’ swirling around my head. Clearly, she’d been aware of Dan because she’d sent him along for the ride. 

“Sunny-G told me to congratulate you on the victory. He had to leave,” he said, as though the scenery hadn’t changed. 

I grinned. “Did he show you the pom poms?” 

Dan’s laughter rang out around us, making my home feel normal again. “He didn’t.” 

“Yep. He’s hiding a pretty good funny bone underneath all that muscle.” 

My partner gave no response, except to study the room. “How close did I come to working solo?” 

“Not close enough, Danny-boy, and I got a little pick me up to boot.” 

Dan shook his head. “That’s probably the adrenaline talking.” 

“Probably,” I lied. He didn’t need to know about Eris’s healing energy, or how close I’d come to dying. 

Walking into the kitchen area, I spotted a large white envelope on the counter. “So, that’s what she was talking about,” I muttered, mostly to myself. I thought she’d been referring to the lift home. Instead, she’d left me a gift. 

“What’s that?” Dan fingered the envelope suspiciously. 

“I don’t know,” I said, making a grab for it. “Why don’t we find out?”