Kip propelled himself toward Davorin. Such a direct attack caught Davorin enough off guard that he looked up from his book as he jumped backward to avoid being touched. The large hole to the floor below was to Davorin’s right. The North entrance was further down, to Davorin’s left. Kip stayed on Davorin left, pressing him on the side of the hole until Davorin was against the room’s north entrance, then Kip dove closer to the side of the hole, this caused Davorin to evade out of the Exit Room and step into the hallway. Kip smiled. His plan was working..
Kip veered left toward the door and approached him at a -30 degree axis. It pushed Davorin further right, into the North’s 700th corridor, which was approximately three twists and turns from it. Kip ran toward him and even leapt toward Davorin, he landed on his belly with his arms stretched out. Davorin daintily stepped back onto a false tile. The floor crumbled beneath Davorin’s feet revealing a metallic grinder whirring as the two cylinders crushed the plastered tiles. Davorin was up in the air before the tile fell, he turned into a series of bats and reconvened on the other side of the trap. Kip and Davorin watched as the book Davorin was carrying with him did not survive the trip. The little red square dropped into the spikes, eaten by the mechanical teeth.
“My favorite book,” Davorin hummed, slightly annoyed.
“I’ll get you another when I’m lord again,” Kip jumped over the spikes and struck Davorin, who stepped backward with full attention. Kip pushed harder, occasionally glaring at his wristwatch. Time was running out. He needed to move faster. They reached a four way intersection of the maze, Kip danced with Davorin, who had caught wise to the kobold’s machinations. Kip knew this place much better than Davorin could. Not only had Davorin barely visited, but he had not been topside in fifteen years. There was a familiar feeling that crept up into his throat that he had not felt since the last battle he’d fought. Just for a moment. A dash of… helplessness. Davorin suppressed it instantly. He was a Floor Lord after all. And Kip was a pipsqueak. Davorin knew he was being led, and needed to react accordingly. Wherever Kip would block, Davorin would then go in the opposite direction. Which meant for Davorin, the solution would be to avoid being touched but go in the exact direction Kip didn’t want him to go down.
Kip leapt forward and to the right. There it was. As Kip reached out, Davorin took a step back and front dove over Kip, rolling on the ground and picking himself up. He had not needed to do a roll in a good long while and brushed the dust off his sleeves.
Kip stood there, looking back at him, Davorin noticed the goofy smile on the kobold’s face, “Oh, don’t act like you planned that. This is just some dumb bluff.”
“I thought it was you who was playing a game, ‘Old Chap.’” Kip pushed forward. As Davorin stepped back, it seemed like Kip had gotten taller. Then Davoirn took another dodge backward. Kip had not gotten taller. Davorin was just on an incline. Davorin stared up at Kip. His green eyes shone as they both lost the warmth of the sun above, Kip led them to the subterranean hallway of the labyrinth.
“Looks like they’re going below!” The banshee cried from above, “Up until this point, it seems like we’ve seen the vampire have complete control. Now, I'm not so sure. It seems that Little Kip was leading the vampire somewhere. There has yet to be any contact. But as it stands, the minutes that Kip has are dwindling. With our vampire lord trapped, does Kip have an opening to beat our Floor Lord??”
Davorin scoffedt. Kip approached him, pushing Davorin farther back. Now in a closed hallway, Davorin could not clear a path past Kip. If he tried to race past Kip, Kip could merely reach his hand out and touch Dvaorin by accident. That would not do for Davorin, nor his reputation. Davorin turned and looked at the pathway before him. It was a short stretch of hall with about three doorways on either side, as well as a doorway at the end. He turned to Kip and said, “You’ve fared well, Kit. But alas, my time as an inactive participant is all but over. I will abide by my promise but I shan't make it easy.”
This book was originally published on Royal Road. Check it out there for the real experience.
Davorin turned and propelled forward at such a high speed, all of the wooden doors in the hallway burst open and slammed against the wall. He was gone. Kip’s mouth dropped, Davorin had used his enormous speed to hide in one of the seven doors. It was a one in seven chance.
Kip walked toward the door, starting to panic. His wristwatch told him he had less than a minute. He started shaking, knowing that if he went fully into the wrong doors, Davorin would use that as an opportunity to escape. He needed to think.
Statistical analysis. But most importantly, statistical analysis and then act. Would he be hiding in the door at the far end? Not likely. It was the farthest away, and it would give him the least chance to escape. If he went to that one, he’d be trapped. What next? He thought about the first two doors. They were relatively unlikely. In Davorin’s mind, Kip would likely check one of those two doors with the time remaining. Kip crossed them out as locations Davorin would hide. That left the four between the first row doors and the door at the end. They could be any one of those.
Kip approached, he needed Davorin to go through the first door on the right. Davorin was likely waiting for Kip to choose a wrong room and jump away elegantly. Kip shook his head as he walked up between the first rows of doors, he thought.
The chance of him going in any of the four doors puts his odds at about 25%. But everything after that would be an out and out guess. The wrong door and Davorin escapes. Act. Act. Act. 25% was not high odds but he needed to make a decision.
That was when it connected with Kip. He didn’t have to choose the right door with the option for 25%. He actually had a 75% chance of choosing the right… wrong door.
Kip ran up and chose the first door on the left. He opened it and slammed it. Then he stepped back, still in the hallway and stood close to the first set.
He waited. What was the chance that he chose correctly? If he did, then Davorin would step out and see that Kip did not walk in. Which meant Davorin could just play for time. Kip tapped his foot nervously, staring at the other three doors, commanding all his will not ot turn around and run through the room he had chosen.
But then…
The door to the top right slammed against the wall again. There he was. Or at least… he had announced himself. Kip stood next to a potted plant that had died. He stayed there, covering his body. Davorin stepped out, Kip held his breath. Davorin made notice of the closed door and burst toward the exit. Kip hopped out.
“Yahhhh!” Kip did his best to sound intimidating and while it didn’t work, Davorin was, nevertheless, caught off guard. Kip came from the left, causing Davorin to escape exactly where he needed to go. The first door on the right. Kip ran over, and he stood there at the doorway. Davorin was in his natural habitat. The pure darkness. The only thing Kip could see as his eyes adjusted to the light were those menacing red eyes that Zeke mentioned.
Almost, Kip thought.
Kip stepped forward, “Thank you for the fair fight, Davorin.” He said as he took another step, “You know I couldn’t beat you even if I tried. Even if I had nothing but time and could exercise. So you gave me a fair shake, I appreciate that.”
Davorin’s chuckling gave way to laughing as Kip got closer. There was no escape for Davorin in this position. The walls were too narrow and the ceiling too low for Davorin to run. Kip took another step, wood creaking slightly under him. When Kip’s eyes had fully adjusted, Davorin had a smile on his face. Kip stopped moving, his foot still over the tile.
“Something funny?”
“Kit… you went very far,” Davorin said, “You almost earned my respect.”
“You know my name,” Kip muttered.
“But you’re completely out of time. And it’s like you said, you’re completely outmatched.” The timer Kip set on his wristwatch rang and Davorin used his lighting speed and reached out to touch Kip.
Kip’s reflexes were too slow to stop him.