The first thing Maxum tried was to find an entrance. They rode to the north down the right side of the wall for a mile until it stopped in a corner and began to go in an eastern direction. They followed this for two miles until the next corner and began to follow the wall to the south. Eventually they made it all the way around the wall and there was no entrance that they could find whatsoever.
“All right then, this is our first challenge,” Maxum said as he drew his sword and dismounted. Using Weysa’s Champion he began to slice through the bramble between the trees. The sword cut through the bramble easily, but within a minute the severed ends of the bramble began to grow and thicken and become part of the wall again.
“You’ll have to do it hard enough and fast enough to create a gap we can all pass through quickly before the bramble grows back in together. It’s an impossible task,” Airi said. “There must be a way in—we just haven’t found it yet.”
“Where do you suggest we look, since you’re so full of bright and shiny ideas all the time?” Kilon asked.
Airi bit her lip and thought about it, as she walked Hero back and forth in front of the wall. “Well,” she said looking up the wall, “we haven’t tried climbing over it.”
“That would mean leaving the horses and all of our gear behind,” Doisy said hesitantly. “In this forest the horses would be dead in a day without someone to watch over them.”
“Then someone has to stay behind. Someone who can protect them on his own,” Maxum said. “Dru.”
“Me? Alone here? How do you figure I’m the best one to protect them?”
“You could make them invisible to the eyes of prey. In a fight you could make someone see multiples and not know which one to attack…enough to help you get away maybe. You can blur an attacker’s sight, making it nearly impossible for them to find a target. All of these things can protect you while you wait for us here.”
“No,” he whispered. “I can’t do it.”
“You can,” Maxum said firmly. “And you will. If we aren’t back in say…four days, you can consider us lost, take our horses and go.”
“He can leave my horse behind. And my gold. I’ll be making it out of here just fine,” Kilon barked.
“All right, Dru?” Maxum asked.
“I guess so,” the mage said reluctantly.
“Good. Come on, let’s gear up and get up over this thing.”
They prepped themselves, taking with them the essentials for survival. Airi turned her saddlebag into a pack, strapping their food supplies to her back. There was no telling if there’d be anything worth hunting in the labyrinth. No telling anything at all about it. They were going into this blind.
Being the lightest and the fastest, she was the first to try the wall. It was actually easy to grab on to the vines and branches that made up the wall and she climbed steadily to the top. When she reached the top she threw one leg over to the other side and took a moment to look out over the top of the labyrinth.
The maze was staggering. It was contained within a couple of square miles, but the intricacies of it were boggling. The first thing she noticed was that while the outer walls were made of living branches and such, the inner walls were all stone and mortar with ivy growing in some places. They wouldn’t be able to climb the sheer walls to look out over the top of the maze unless there was some sturdy ivy growing, and it didn’t look as though there would be much of that the deeper into the labyrinth they went.
As she had sat there looking, Maxum had climbed up beside her. Together they looked out over the maze.
“I guess we’re heading for the center,” he said, clearly as overwhelmed by the convolutions of the maze as she was. “It’s impossible for us to map it from here. We can’t even see it.”
“I guess we’ll have to find it the hard way,” she said.
“Not so hard. You just have to mark your way so you don’t double back. I happen to have some chalk. We’ll make it to the center and back by following the marks.”
“You make it sound so damn easy,” she said with a sigh. “But it won’t be.”
“I know it won’t be,” he told her, meeting her eyes. “None of this will be easy.” He called down to the others. “Come on!” Then he began to climb down the other side. She followed him, the nearest part of the map already plotted out in her head. She was blessed with a good memory, so hopefully it would serve them for some of the way at least.
When they were all on the ground on the other side, Airi said, “Let me lead this first part. I saw enough to start guiding us to the center. Hopefully there will be ways for me to climb up and map out the next sections as we go.”
Maxum knelt down on the stone slate that was beneath their feet and drew a large circle with an X through it.
“We find this we find Dru. Now let’s go.”
They plodded along through the first part of the maze with nothing of note happening. The labyrinth appeared to be abandoned of all life, save a few birds that flew over the top of it. Whenever he saw one, Kilon would shoot it and retrieve the body and his arrow. He tied the game to his belt for later.
As they went, Airi began to question something in her head. She looked at Maxum and quickened her step, hoping he would as well, putting some distance between them and the others. It worked and soon she was able to whisper, “What will happen at sunset?”
“I imagine the same thing that always does. The ground will swallow me whole and then spit me back up later on. I’m usually returned to the same spot I was taken from.”
“And if you’re not? You’ll be separated from the rest of us.”
“We’ll have to hope that doesn’t happen.”
“And it’s not as though you can simply walk off like you usually do. Go too far and you’ll get lost. Stay too near and…”
“And you can all be sucked down with me. I have my marking chalk. I won’t get lost unless I’m brought back somewhere else.”
“There’s going to be a lot left to chance. There’s a chance you’ll be exposed. When the ground takes you it will destroy parts of the labyrinth.”
“If it can be destroyed. It might repair itself just like the vines did. This labyrinth is magical. Anything is possible. I’m definitely worried that come sunset things will get bad for us.”
“I don’t want you to get lost or separated from us.” She lowered her voice further. “I don’t want to be left with Kilon to manage on my own.”
“You’ll have Kyno and Doisy. You won’t be on your own.”
“Kyno and Doisy are followers. They will follow the strongest personality, the one they think can get them through or get them wealthy. As strong as I am, I’m not strong enough to go head to head with Kilon. He’s bigger than I am, meaner than I am, and he hates me with a gods-given passion. I don’t know why, but he does. Has from the moment he set eyes on me.”
“Don’t take it personal, he’s like that with every woman. That’s part of the reason why we haven’t had one in the group until now.”
“Gee. Thanks. I feel so special. You should have warned me about him. Maybe I would have gone my own way.”
“You were destitute. You didn’t have many choices.”
“I could have figured something out.” She relented. “But I’m glad I joined you overall. I’m a much wealthier woman and now I have this lovely dagger.” She patted her boot near the side of her calf.
“Sounds like a winning situation so far.” He leaned a little closer, his arm brushing hers. “And just think how many more benefits you could have if you’d only let me in your bed.”
It had been such a long time since he had made any attempts to get there that she was taken aback by the suggestion.
“We’re in the middle of a deadly labyrinth and you’re trying to get me in your bed?” she asked incredulously.
“What better time? We could die tomorrow. Why put it off?”
“You’re…you’re…”
“Incorrigible? Undeniable? Charming beyond your wi
ldest dreams?”
“An ass! I was going to say you’re an ass!”
“And here I thought you couldn’t lie with that dagger strapped to your leg.”
“I’m not lying. It’s the truth.”
“In your eyes maybe. But admit it, you find me undeniably attractive.”
She dodged the question so she wouldn’t have to tell him the truth. He was arrogant enough as it was.
“The only thing I’ll admit is that you’re an ass.”
“That was a dodge,” he said with uncanny instinct. “So you can’t lie, but you can dodge the question.”
“That wasn’t a question,” she pointed out.
“Hmm. Interesting. Let’s try this then. Do you find me undeniably attractive?”
“Yes,” she said, even though every part of her wanted to scream a protective “no!”
“Aha! So things must be formed in a question. All right then…do you want to—”
“Stop it!”
“…sleep with me?”
“No!” Sleeping had very little to do with what she wanted, she admitted to herself. But it allowed her to tell him a truth. That meant she could interpret certain questions the way she wanted to if she thought carefully about them.
“Hmm. Very interesting” was all he said. But he didn’t look at all disappointed. Or deterred. He looked like he was thinking about it. Thinking about a way to change her mind.
They went a little farther along the labyrinth when she reached the end of what she had mapped out in her mind. She searched around for the next few turns until she saw a wall with a growth of ivy climbing up it. She grabbed hold and scaled the wall, grateful for her light weight that allowed her to scrabble up without the entrenched ivy breaking and sending her spilling back down to the stone floor. She struggled up until she was on top of the wall and could map out the next part of the maze. To her disappointment there was still a great distance to go and she still couldn’t see the center of the labyrinth. The path they had to take was so intricate that even though they had walked for what seemed like ages, they hadn’t made much progress. They wouldn’t be reaching the center by sunset, that was for certain. And, as she looked, she noticed something else. In a little while the walls would no longer be flat on top. There were what looked like razor sharp spikes clustered along the tops. It would prevent her from looking over the top of the labyrinth in the future. So she forced herself to remember every bit of what she could, grateful she had always had the ability to recall a picture of something in her mind once she had looked at it.
She dropped down to the ground and grimly told them what she had seen. Maxum did not visibly portray any anxiety, and she didn’t know for certain, but she could imagine he felt anxious about being caught in the labyrinth with no way to map their progress.
“We’ll worry about it when the time comes,” he said instead, and indicated she should lead the way. He fell into step beside her silently, occasionally stopping to mark their path so they would have a much quicker exit than they would an entrance. It was hard to tell what would happen once they reached the center, and a hasty escape might be necessary.
They were still walking a couple of hours before sunset when they turned a corner and suddenly, there on the ground was one of Maxum’s chalk markings.
“We’ve gone in a circle!” Kilon said angrily.
“That’s impossible! I have the map in my head!” Airi said, completely perplexed as to how it had happened. She’d led them through all the right turns. She knew it.
“What are we following her for anyway? She’s an idiot,” Kilon said.
“Hey! Say that again and I’ll knock your teeth in!” Airi snapped.
“I’d like to see you try cun—”
“And call me that again and I’ll cut your balls off!” she threatened, pulling her dagger from her boot. She was so tempted to break his skin with it, to see what power the dagger really had. To see what the power of all of his lies come back to haunt him would really be like.
“Let’s see how far back we’ve traveled,” Maxum said before the altercation could get any worse. It cut off Kilon’s broiling reply to her. Good. She didn’t want to hear any more from him. She’d be happy if someone would cut out his tongue. Preferably herself.
They followed Maxum’s markings a short distance before they realized they were back at the marking again.
“That’s impossible,” Maxum said. “We haven’t traveled far enough to come full circle. Something odd is going on.” He walked ahead of them and went around the bend, all the while studying the wall. Airi found some ivy and scrambled up the wall, grateful there were no spikes yet. She watched Maxum’s progress and suddenly he disappeared and reappeared at a point distant from where he had been and close to where they now were.
“It’s some kind of portal! A…a door of sorts that’s jumping us from one part of the maze back to where we have been already,” she said as Maxum came around the bend. “We have to go another way.”
“That’s so odd. It’s utterly seamless to me as I’m walking. Do you know where the portal is so we can avoid it? Is there another way around?” Maxum asked.
“I know where it is and there’s another way around but it’s going to take longer. And we better hope there’s no more of those portals because I don’t see another way to go after this change.”
Airi glanced toward the setting sun then shot a look at Maxum. “Maybe we should stop for the night? We can use some of these dried vines to make a small fire.”
“Not much of a fire,” Doisy said. “Just enough to cook with. Not enough to last the night. It’s going to get cold.”
“We’ll all sleep close together to conserve warmth. We’ll put Airi in the middle since she’s smallest, me and Doisy on either side of her then Kyno and Kilon on the ends.”
Kilon grumbled something about “special treatment,” but he shrugged out of his pack and threw down his bedroll. Maxum used Weysa’s Champion to shear off vines from the walls in several places and Doisy built a fire using his flint and stone.
Maxum sheathed his sword and pulled Airi aside.
“How many turns to the portal?”
“A right, a left, then another right. Don’t go past the end of the wall.”
“All right. I’ll see you in a few hours.”
She nodded. “Don’t get lost.”
“And miss sleeping tucked up against you? Not a chance.”
She laughed and punched him playfully in the arm. Damn him anyway, he really was a charming ass. When he wanted to be. And somehow that was far more appealing to her than Doisy’s endless amounts of charm and good nature. She liked the differences in him. The fire and unpredictability.
Maxum had carried her bedroll for her and now, as she watched him go, she rolled his and hers out side by side. Then she took off her pack and sighed with relief. It had grown heavy these past hours.
They propped the game birds over the fire using metal rods to skewer them and after a while they were ready for consumption. Airi made certain to save some aside for Maxum. She had expected to feel something, some kind of rumbling to indicate Maxum’s having been drawn beneath the surface of the soil, the destruction of the labyrinth happening in the wake of it. But there was nothing.
When juquil’s hour came and went, she began to grow anxious. Would he be able to find them again? It was dark now. He hadn’t been able to take any kind of flame with him. It wouldn’t have done him any good. It was turning into the second hour after juquil’s hour and none of them had gone to bed save Kilon. The rest of them sat anxiously waiting for Maxum.
He arrived several minutes later. Airi was so relieved to see him she threw herself against him, into his arms. He hugged her to himself with a chuckle.
“It’s all right. I got turned around a little, but I did your trick of climbing the wall and saw the light from the fire.”
“We kept it burning as long as we could just for that reason. It’s almost cold now. We’re lu
cky you made it back at all.”
“Lucky indeed,” Doisy said grimly. “It would be nice to know why you find it necessary to leave every night…including under these circumstances. You can’t tell me it’s to go off and meditate. I used to think that was what it was. Now I’m pretty sure it’s not.”
“You’d be right about that,” Maxum said grimly. For a moment it looked as though he might share the reasons why with the others, but in the end he didn’t. He went to the waning fire and to his food. He ate in silence and finally the others went to bed, doing their best to sleep close to each other to conserve body heat.
“Go on,” Maxum said to her. “Go to bed.”
“Not without you.”
“See. You do want to sleep with me,” he joked. Then understanding dawned on him and Airi saw it happen. Her belly clenched as he said, “I asked the question wrong, didn’t I? I asked if you wanted to sleep with me but what I should have asked was—”
“The answer is yes, all right?” she said quietly, looking away from him and grateful for the darkness the dying fire left. “But that doesn’t make a difference here and now. This isn’t the time or the place.”
“No. It isn’t. But the time will come,” he vowed. “And it will come soon. Make certain you are ready for it.”
“I already am,” she confessed softly.
The admission surprised Maxum. As had his fear when he’d found himself unable to figure out which way to go when he’d been returned to the labyrinth. As he had suspected, the labyrinth had repaired itself…but it had not repaired itself in the same way as before. He had arrived at a totally different landscape. If not for seeking out the fire, he would have lost them entirely. It had been a close call.
Now he got up and crossed to her, holding out a hand. She took it and he helped her to her feet and, for a moment, he drew her up against his body. The feel of all of her soft curves coming against him was grounding. They had to make it to the center of the labyrinth tomorrow. They couldn’t afford another close call like this. He couldn’t afford it.