Here's my entry for task three :) I won team effort, along with sarsar14 and her character Sparrow, and I received a score of 11 :) Enjoy!

When Sartan woke, his side was throbbing. He sat up and leaned against something cool and hard behind him.

"You lost a lot of blood, but I had some gauze and string, so I sewed up the wound in your side," a high-pitched voice said.

Sartan was disoriented. He flicked his thumb and index finger together, trying to gain a sense of where he was, or what was going on.

"I'm Sparrow."

"Why did you help me?" Sartan's tone came out shorter and more clipped than he intended.

"You needed help." She said it matter-of-factly, as if the answer was that simple.

"I'm a killer. I'll probably kill you the first chance I get," Sartan said. He was surprised that she had left his spear lying on the floor beside him. Grabbing it, he pushed himself to his feet and pounded it on the ground. The sound bounced off the walls, telling him that they were in a small room. An echo in the middle of the wall to his right revealed to him that there was an open doorway there.

"Why do you want to work alone?"

"I don't need anyone," Sartan replied. His confident tone belied the deeper emotions raging inside him. All the trials and trouble he had gone through just from being blind...

Even as he said it, he wasn't sure who he was trying to convince more: Sparrow or himself.

His legs shook, but he gingerly placed one foot in front of the other, heading for the doorway. Don't show pain. No weakness, he chanted inside his thoughts.

"Everyone needs someone," Sparrow said. Her voice was soft... small.

Pausing inside the doorway, he opened his mouth to reply, but no sound came. He wanted to say that it wasn't true, he never had needed anyone, but he knew that was a lie. I spent so much time trying to find the right door earlier. If she had been there to help me, it would have gone so much faster.

As much as he hated to admit it, he needed her help.

"Maybe you could be my eyes. At least for now."

Much to his surprise, she hesitated.

"Don't worry, little one. I won't kill you. It'd be a little hard for you to be my seeing-eye dog if you were dead."

He heard her gulp. "Um... R—Right."

"Come on. We should keep moving." He opened the door wider and heard her footsteps pattering quietly behind him. He repeatedly pounded the bottom of his spear against the floor, using echolocation to tell him that they were in a narrow hallway once again.

"Do you see anything up ahead?" he asked.

Her voice replied from just beside him on his left. "Just a hallway with a bunch of doors. I think we should just pick one and go inside."

Nodding, he reached his left hand out and felt along the wall until he felt a doorknob. He turned it and walked on inside.

The noise from inside the room was so loud it made him want to wince, but he forced himself to remain still. Buzzes and thuds, bangs and thumps, clangs and wizzes resounded inside the room, bouncing off the walls. The noise had nowhere to go but the other side of the room, making it sound louder than it was.

He pounded his spear against the floor, but there were too many sounds for him to pinpoint the one his spear made. "What's inside here?"

"U—uh, I don't.... It's just a bunch of metal... All these smashers and clamps and sawblades and pistons and sharp pointy things.... and I think I might pass out..." Her voice trailed off, but he didn't hear a thump so he assumed she stayed on her feet.

"You do realize you're supposed to be my eyes, right? What kind of seeing-eye dog are you?" he muttered sarcastically.

He could practically feel her eyes glaring at him. "Shush it! It's not my fault I'm not sure how to describe it!"

Chuckling, he turned back toward the door. "Yeah... Let's just go a different way."

The next room they found wasn't any better.

There were stomps on the ground, telling Sartan whatever it was inside the room, was massive and heavy. It bellowed, making Sartan's ears ring. "What kind of creature is that?"

"It's... um... a giant bull with horns? Carrying an axe around? But it looks like a man too? Uh...?"

"Sparrow! What is it?"

"I don't remember what it's called! Men—min-ah... Um..."

"Do you mean minotaur?" Sartan asked.

"Yep, it's a minotaur!"

Sartan would have chuckled, but was too focused on the creature. "Sure... mess with the blind guy. Seriously, though what is it?"

"No, seriously it's a minotaur!"

Sartan tapped his spear against the ground, trying to get a sense for what it looked like. It snorted loudly, and the ground shook.

"Look out!" Sparrow shouted.

Sartan felt for the vibrations carefully. As they became stronger, he jumped to the right and jabbed his spear to the left. The blow jerked his hands backward.

"It didn't penetrate the skin!"

"Yes, thank you for the commentary!" Sartan shouted back.

"Just trying to help!"

"I need to hear!" He clenched his spear tighter and turned around to face the direction the footsteps came from. Darting toward it, he slid on his knees across the floor and stabbed upwards when he felt the air around him close in, which told him he had slid underneath it.

His hand jerked again, and he cursed. My spear won't penetrate its' skin no matter where I try to stab it, he thought. He forced his breathing to stay calm.

Suddenly, pain flared in his arm. He hissed and turned, but something slammed against his chest.

"Sartan!"

As he crumbled to the floor several feet away, gasping for breath, he tried to open his mouth to tell her to stay away, but he couldn't breathe.

Its' hot breath fell against his skin, but he forced himself to a fast crawl. "Stay back!" he screamed at Sparrow, hoping she listened.

Forcing himself to his shaky feet, he gasped, finally able to catch his breath. "What kind of weapon does it have?"

"An axe," came Sparrow's frantic reply. He guessed the blade must have grazed his arm, and then swung back around to crack him sideways against his chest, or the minotaur could have kicked him. He wasn't too sure.

A loud bellow echoed from behind him. He turned, and barely had enough time to jump out of the way as the thundering footsteps neared him. The air whooshed by in front of him, so he ducked, and lunged toward the harsh breathing.

Once again, his hand jerked, telling him his spear still hadn't stabbed it.

"Watch ou—"

Ignoring Sparrow's warning, Sartan twisted to the right, avoiding where he thought it would strike next, but agony rippled through his side. He collapsed on the ground, and distantly heard Sparrow scream.

He slid forward, crawling as far as he could.

"Over here you big oaf!" The heavy footsteps thundered away from him.

He pressed his left hand against his side, and it felt wet and sticky. Hearing Sparrow's light prattling footsteps, followed by the faltering steps of the creature, he forced himself to his wobbly legs.

Only to hear the pinging clank coming from the hallway behind him.

The hole. Sartan inhaled sharply. The minotaur's skin is too tough to penetrate, and it's a lot faster than I thought... He thought desperately.

Clenching his jaw, he mentally surrendered his pride. He was going to need help.

"Sparrow! It's losing its' footing! Ram it as hard as you can when I say!"

"Alright!" she yelled back.

When he heard the pinging clank again, he screamed, "Now!" He darted in the direction of the minotaur's footsteps as quickly as his legs could carry him, and slammed against its' chest with a grunt. He pushed it back, sliding across the floor, as he heard Sparrow grunting with effort from his right.

His feet slid across the floor, but he could hear the minotaur's do the same. They pushed it in the direction he heard the pinging clank come from.

As he heard the whoosh from the hole opening up, his feet began sliding across the floor uncontrollably, making him curse. He let go of the minotaur, and heard its' bellows grow softer and softer as it slid into the hole.

He and Sparrow couldn't stop sliding.

With a grunt, he jammed his spear into the ground to try and stop himself.

Sparrow screamed.

Instinctively, he reached his left hand out and grabbed her ankle as she fell into the hole with it. His right hand clutched his spear furiously.

There was no time.

He swung her back, underneath the hole and then used the momentum to pull her body out of it.

There was a whoosh and a painful grunt as Sparrow slammed into the ground facedown beside him. Sartan collapsed onto the ground on his back, breathing hard as he let go of her ankle.

Sparrow was breathing just as heavily to his right. "Th—that.... Th—was.... Close....! Th—thank you... thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you so much!" Sartan couldn't help but crack a smile as Sparrow continued screaming and freaking out.

She collapsed onto his chest, panting. "I—Never, ever, ever want to go through that again!"

He chuckled, and sighed in silent relief. It was over.

Feeling her small body against him made him think back to his own younger sister. Emotions burst inside his chest, feelings he hadn't experienced in a very long time...

He ached with nostalgia—not for his home, but for his sister who had been dead for years. Knowing he would never see her again sent a newfound grief spreading through him.

Deep inside, there was a lightness pulsing and flowing through him.

For the first time since her death, he was content.

I will protect you, he silently vowed to the young girl in his arms. Protect you like I should have protected her. The last thought came with a profound twinge of bitterness.

"Why did you save me?" Sparrow whispered, as if she was afraid of shattering the silence that stretched between them.

He hesitated, unsure of how to answer. "Why did you save me?" he questioned her back in reply.

Her breathing was the only reply for a moment. "... All life is worth saving."

"Even a killer like me?" He held his breath, as if desperate for her response.

"Even you. But that doesn't answer my question," Sparrow pointed out.

He thought about it for a moment, trying to pinpoint exactly what he'd been feeling when he had saved her.

"Nothing, really," he answered honestly. "I grabbed your ankle on pure instinct."

If you're really a killer at heart, why was your first instinct to save her? a voice whispered in the back of his mind.

The answer rattled him to the core.

Maybe I'm not really a killer.

Suddenly, there was loud snorting, followed by the clomping of hooves on the floor. Sartan groaned. "What now?"

Sparrow sat up for a moment, and he heard her gulp, followed by a groan. "You don't wanna know," she replied in a tiny voice right before she collapsed back onto his chest.

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