The Adventure of A Curly Haired Girl

Amor Omnia Vincit

Chapter 8: Amor Omnia Vincit

The noise from the gun shot still rang in her ears as her eyes snapped open and met the Doctor's as he leaned over her.

"Where's Sherlock?" She asked hurriedly as she sprang up and was expecting to see him out of his bonds and standing in front of her. Instead she was faced with the Sphinx who was watching her carefully.

It was never real.

She reminded herself as a sinking feeling dropped within her chest.

The Sphinx slowly bent herself in a deep bow when she realized she had capture Emily's attention.

Emily gawked at the creature; she had no idea why she was bowing before her.

"You woke up almost immediately after you went down." The doctor whispered in her ear.

It had felt like a whole day to her, not a mere matter of minutes.

"You have proven yourself to be worthy of what lies ahead." The Guardian said as she gracefully straightened herself up to her initial position.

The respect in her eyes almost shocked Emily when she realized that it looked quite a lot like Sherlock's.

"The ministry has instructed me to kill anyone regardless if they pass my tests or not." The Sphinx said and watched Emily's reaction.

Emily narrowed her eyes in thought as she studied the sphinx, she showed no inclination of killing her and the Doctor, "But you won't."

"No." The sphinx smiled exposing her pointed teeth. It wasn't threatening, but it was still terrifying all the same. "I have been inside your mind and I am certain you are capable of keeping it safe."

"You may pass." The Guardian bowed again before spreading her large wings and flew away, leaving Emily and the Doctor staring in awe.

"Well that was..." Emily trailed off.

"Interesting?"

"Yeah."

"You wanna..." The Doctor gestured toward the path behind with his thumb.

"Go?"

"Yeah."

They sprinted off onto the path, hoping to not run into anything else strange.

Emily half expected the Sphinx to be stalking them and to appear at any moment and eat them anyways. But the Guardian was true to her word and she let them pass and explore the maze.

After quite a lot of sprinting and backtracking, they finally arrived to their destination. It was a dead-end, but the corridor was lit up more than any of the others that they had sprinted down.

Close to the wall stood pedestal with a small rectangular black box resting upon it.

Emily and the Doctor shared an excited glance with each other before rushing up to the base of the pedestal. They both reached out and grabbed one end of the small box. Whatever would happen, they would finish it together.

They simultaneously raised the top and Emily gasped in delight at what gleamed inside. 

A shining silver flute rested inside the black velvet case.

Emily picked up the instrument carefully and felt its light weight in her small hands. On many of the pieces it was gilded with gold and a small yellow stone in the shape of a tear was embedded in the mouthpiece.

She softly ran her finger over the stone and three words appeared underneath it

Amor omnia vincit.

"You know how to play." The Doctor stated. He didn't have to ask from her loving gaze and tender touch she directed toward the beautiful instrument.

She only nodded, not believing her luck.

The smiles on their faces, however, dropped when they heard the sound of heavy wings above them. The guardian had indeed returned, but she landed hastily and there was not hunger in her eyes – it was panic.

"You must leave. You've set off a secret alarm that the ministry enforced without my knowing."

Emily and the Doctor hesitated; they still remembered what they had to endure inside their minds.

Could someone so cunning be trusted?

"We must go NOW!" She demanded and the urgency in her voice sprung them into action.

By her request they climbed upon her back and held onto her soft sandy fur as she leapt into the air. Emily closed her eyes as The Guardian's large wings lifted them into the air and the maze became smaller and smaller bellow them.

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Flying on the back of a large Sphinx was new to Emily to say the least. She had often wondered what it would have felt like to fly, but she never imagined she would, much less it would come about through impressing a Sphinx.

The Sphinx flew with great speed and the wind blew against Emily's face as she looked on ahead of them. She had a strange urge to spread her arms out and embrace the feeling of flying, but the Sphinx took a sudden dive to the ground which caused Emily to hold on for dear life and the silly thought was abandoned.

The Guardian landed softly on the ground and allowed her passengers the get off by laying herself down on the ground once more.

"The only way back is from whence you came." She purred. "But be careful, I do not know what lies beyond those doors."

Emily and the Doctor nodded solemnly and gave her their thanks. Before Emily turned Copperton's knob she watch the Sphinx once again take off into the air and she wished she could have enjoyed the fly for a while longer.

She opened the door and her and the Doctor stepped inside the little circular room and found they were sill alone.

"They're waiting for you outside the door." Copperton's squeaky voice whispered.

"Which door Copperton?" Emily asked in a whisper.

"The one across from you."

"How many are there?" The doctor asked.

"I don't know," Copperton paused, "I can just sense them."

The whole door shuddered like he had just experienced a chill.

The Doctor nodded and went to the door that Copperton suggested. Very carefully he open the door so that he and Emily could peek. From the little crack they were able to see three huge dementors flying about the room looking for their next victim.