The Sphinx (Part 4)

We've reached the halfway mark. Jake is on his way, and he seems to be doing alright so far. Will it last?
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The Mountain

Jake exhaled the stale, dry air of the tunnel, the scent of the furry creature at his side, the relief of solving his second riddle, then inhaled the fresh, crisp air of a mountain breeze. He blinked rapidly, realizing suddenly that he could see again, though he had no memory of the first blinding sight of daylight after an extended period in darkness. Rubbing his eyes, he shook his head to clear it and looked around, searching for the first clues of this new riddle. The first two had been relatively easy, though in no way what he'd been expecting. It fed the hope in his chest that perhaps he would be able to rescue Carol after all.

Carol. He felt a stab of concern and patted his pockets automatically for his phone, as though he might be able to check on her. If the phone had come with him on this wild adventure, he'd lost it at some point. And besides, being able to just pick up the phone and call her would have been too easy. Nothing in this new standard would allow such a simple solution to the problem of wanting to know how she was doing.

He remembered a time when they were camping together. Back in high school, or thereabouts. They'd been separated and Jake heard someone scream. Of course, he'd assumed it was Carol and run off to find her, shouting his fool head off. When he found the girl who'd screamed, he learned that it wasn't Carol, and that Carol herself had come running, assuming that he was the one who'd screamed. There had been no end of teasing after that. But at least it had made her laugh. She had a nice laugh.

With a sigh, Jake ran a hand through his hair and squinted around at the landscape again. He stood barefoot on a rocky outcropping, looking out over a steep valley filled with tall old pine trees, as different from the savanna as possible. Slowly, he turned on the spot, examining the bare slope around him and realizing that he stood above the treeline, way above where he would ordinarily have been comfortable. This was the part of the mountain that was covered in snow during the winter. It would be chilly, even in the summer (which it was now, or should have been). Of course, he'd stood barefoot on the African savanna without burning to a crisp, so it wasn't at all surprising that he was standing barefoot on the mountainside without freezing or getting blown off a cliff.

As he rotated slowly on the spot for a second time, he saw something that hadn't been there the first time around. A child sat on a boulder nearby, peering warily down at him. What struck him first was how the child was dressed. A girl of about six or seven years old, skinny and dirty, but dressed in what had obviously been very nice clothing at some point. It was ragged and dirty now, but it didn't quite mask the quality of the fabric.

"Hello." Jake lifted a hand cautiously in greeting, and the child tensed, prepared to bolt at any moment. He lowered his hand again, biting his lip in concern. A child this young shouldn't be out on a mountainside all alone. "What are you doing up here, kid?" He spoke quietly, slowly, trying to show her that he wasn't dangerous. The girl continued to watch him suspiciously, legs drawn up to her chest and arms braced against the stone, ready to slide down the opposite side of the boulder and disappear.

"Same as anyone," she answered at last, her tone stiff with what sounded like rebellion and maybe fear as well. "Tryin' ta keep safe."

"Guess I can't blame you for that. Dangerous up here alone, though, isn't it?" He considered approaching the boulder, but that would probably prompt her to bolt, so instead he sat down on the outcropping he'd been standing on, dangling one leg over the edge and carefully not looking down. Heights made him light-headed. Carol would have laughed at him, if she could see.

"More dangerous down there, where they monsters live." The girl pointed down into the valley, but seemed to relax once he was seated. "Besides. I ain't really alone. Got some of the others 'round ta help get food n' stuff."

Jake felt his stomach clench, imagining a bunch of kids out here without anyone to look after them, scrounging food from the valley when they thought "the monsters" were asleep. He didn't like it. He was about to say so when another voice interrupted them.

"Traveler." There was that dual tonality again that told him this was part of the riddle thing. With trepidation, he turned to look down the steep, rocky slope toward the trees. There was a person down there in a long coat and floppy hat. He could see wispy white hair, but the face was concealed in shadow. "It's a blessing to find you here. Please come. My people need your help." Jake looked down at him but didn't immediately answer. Slowly, he glanced up at the girl on the boulder. She was slipping quietly away, and the look on her face was one of terror. The 'please don't see me, I'm not here' kind of look that folk get when there's a gunman in the bank and they were only there to deposit their paycheck. Not that he'd been in that situation before, but he had a vivid imagination. Their eyes met for a brief moment, and the girl shook her head violently just before disappearing over the back of the boulder.

"Please, traveler, you can save many lives."

But if he left the ragged child here to fend for herself... would he ever forgive himself? ​

"Could I check back with you later?" Jake looked down at the stranger in the coat, trying to do a quick calculation in his head. How much time did he have left? Could he help the child, then go save the people for the riddle?

"Sir, we haven't time. We need your assistance now." The stranger paused slightly, and it was just long enough to make Jake wonder if he was going to say more. "The riddle waits for you, traveler." Something about that struck a sour note in Jake's mind. After all, he wasn't just doing this for himself. This was for Carol. And Carol would take a frying pan to his face if she ever thought he had left a child to die on the mountain so he could solve a riddle - even if it was the riddle that would bring her back from the Labyrinth.

"I'm sorry. I have something else that I need to do. But if you're around later, I'll come find you." Jake stood up, sketched a sort of salute when he realized waving goodbye would be a fine cherry on top of that No Thanks Cake he'd just served, and turned to walk toward the boulder. So maybe Carol would never know... but he'd done the right thing. Right? The man touched the boulder and glanced back down the slope. The stranger in the coat was gone. When he looked around the boulder toward where the child had disappeared, the child was gone, too.

Great. Did I just throw my whole riddle quest on its ear for no reason? Jake started to get worried then, circling the boulder to make sure he hadn't missed anything. When he came up empty, the man muttered an oath that would have made his mother wince. ​

"Is 'e gone?"

Jake almost jumped out of his skin when he heard the child's voice almost directly behind him. Spinning on the spot, he clutched at his chest feeling his heart pound as the girl peered at him out of the bushes with large, dark eyes.

"Yeah. He's gone. I was starting to think you'd run off." Jake gave her a rueful smile, still trying to calm himself a little.

The girl shook her head, emerging slowly from the bushes and standing in front of him, looking up into his face curiously. "You didn't go with 'im. Why?"

"Because... it's not right to leave kids alone in the middle of nowhere. I'm gonna help you and your friends find somewhere safe, if I can." Jake crouched, so his eyes were on her level, and gave her another, more relaxed smile. "Kids are as important as anyone else. Those folk down there, they've got each other to rely on. You and your friends - I think I can do more good up here than down there."

She didn't reply to that. Rather, she stared at him as though trying to decide whether or not he was crazy. Slowly, she shook her head. "You don't make sense, sir," she informed him, but smiled very slightly. "Thank you."

Thank you for not making sense? Maybe. It didn't really matter. He extended a hand to her and, when she took it, gave her fingers a squeeze. "Let's go see what we can do to help your friends, huh?" She nodded, her smile broadening, and turned to lead him away.

Then the figure in the coat from earlier was standing in their path, and the girl was gone. Jake felt the rush of disorientation that came with those moments where reality suddenly changed without warning. He glanced around, reaching for the girl and finding nothing. "What did you do with her? Where is she?"

"She was but a part of the riddle," said the figure dismissively. "Worry not."

"I'm worrying," snapped Jake. "I made my choice, assuming I would actually be able to do some good. What right do you have to take that away from me?"

There was a ​beat of silence, then the figure in the coat laughed quietly. It was an unpleasant laugh, chilling and dry. "She does not exist. None of this exists. Your choice is but a part of the game, and nothing you do here has any purpose outside of the Riddle." When his little speech was finished, the figure laughed again. Jake kept a lid on his anger, but felt his nails biting into his palms as his hands curled into fists.

"Is that all this is to you? A game? You have no right to play with people like this!"

"On the contrary, that is what I'm here for. To play the game. The game keeps the balance, the balance allows fools like you to make their choices and feel important in their own pathetic lives. But that such is life." The figure's coat rose and fell in an expressive shrug. "This was the third riddle, and your answer was correct. You may pass to the next riddle."

Jake felt the words like a 2x4 to the head. He put a hand to his eyes, ran his fingers through his hair and shook his head. "My answer was correct? But how does that even-"

Before he had finished his protest, reality had changed again. Rude.