Kendra glanced at Seth. He shrugged.
“Your lives depend upon a truthful answer,” the dragon said. “I possess little patience.”
“The hidden scepter,” Seth said. “We are the caretakers of Wyrmroost. We’re looking for the scepter that helps protect Blackwell Keep.”
“So I presumed,” the dragon said. “I am Burelli, guardian of the labyrinth that leads to the scepter. And I have a problem.”
“What?” Kendra asked.
“I should kill you,” Burelli said. “But you just protected my offspring. At least one of them would have perished without your intervention.”
“So you won’t kill us?” Seth asked.
The dragon considered them for a long moment. “I will give you a sporting chance. Five minutes. Enter my labyrinth and I will wait five minutes before giving chase. Find the scepter and you are free to go. Otherwise, I will do my duty and devour you.”
“But we’re the caretakers,” Kendra said. “It belongs to us. Why not just give us the scepter?”
“I guard the scepter,” Burelli said. “My orders come from the founders of Wyrmroost. You have my offer. The time starts now.”
“Which way?” Seth cried.
Burelli turned, looking back the way she had come, where the cavern continued to widen. “Hurry,” she said. “I’m fast.”
Hand in hand, Kendra and Seth started running. “How about a little more time?” Seth called out. “We’re tired from fighting the scorpion.”
“Your time is counting down,” Burelli warned.
As Kendra and Seth raced across the smooth ground, the cavern continued to expand—the ceiling soaring higher, the walls growing farther apart. Up ahead, a twenty-foot wall made of stone blocks spanned the width of the cavern. The wall had a single gap.
“That’s the labyrinth?” Seth complained. “The dragon can fly above it! How is that fair?”
Seth was right. The ceiling of the cavern only continued to rise beyond the apparent start of the maze.
“At least we’re not dead yet,” Kendra replied. “We better be quick.”
Beyond the breach in the wall, the way branched to the right and to the left. Periodic cauldrons of fire provided light. “I wish we could get up top,” Seth complained, looking up.
“The walls are too high,” Kendra said. “And much too steep. Which way?”
“We should split up,” Seth said.
“We’ll get paralyzed when the dragon comes,” Kendra said.
“How many extra steps do we get by not freezing?” Seth said. “Like ten? And she can’t attack both of us at once. Splitting up turns four minutes into eight.”
Kendra didn’t want to do this alone. But the argument made sense. “Okay,” she said, letting go of his hand. “Hurry!” She took off to the left. Seth ran to the right.
Strangely, Kendra still felt like she was holding his hand. After she let go of Seth, the invisible hand inexplicably returned.
“I still feel you!” Kendra called.
“Me too!” Seth replied.
Kendra ran as fast as she could. There was no time to methodically explore the maze. She had to rely on instincts and luck.
With each intersection she passed, Kendra lost hope. There were too many alternatives. She rounded corner after corner, choosing without pause at every junction.
Kendra clung to Seth’s unseen hand. Maybe it meant the dragon would not be able to paralyze her. She tried to think positive. If she was fast and lucky, she might find her way to the scepter. It could be around the next corner. It might appear at any moment.
The first dead end disappointed her. By the third she was starting to feel disoriented. After hitting the fifth dead end, for all Kendra knew, she might be heading back to the start.
She began to regret not being more methodical. She should have turned right every time, or taken some measure to reduce the chances of backtracking. Too late now. She was sweating, but she kept her legs pumping. How much time remained? Five minutes might have already gone by.
She had an ache in her side. Her legs were getting rubbery. Out of necessity, she eased down from a full sprint.
And then the dragon roared.
Seth raced around a corner, found an intersection, turned left, then right at the next fork, and rounded a corner to face a blank wall. He ran back to the previous juncture and went the other way.
This was going to be bad. They didn’t have enough time.
“Seth!” piped a little voice. “Down here! Seth!”
Seth skidded to a halt. Sure enough, looking down, he found Calvin running toward him, waving both arms above his head.
“Calvin!” Seth exclaimed with relief. “You’re all right!” He scooped up the Tiny Hero. “There’s a dragon coming.” Seth started running again.
“I found the scepter!” Calvin cried. “It was just too high up! I couldn’t reach it. Turn around!”
Seth stumbled to a stop. “You know where to go?”
“That way,” Calvin said, pointing.
Seth ran as directed. “Can you really get us back there?”
“Left!” Calvin shouted. “I wouldn’t be very useful if I forgot. Keep going straight.”
“There are lots of turns,” Seth said, hesitant to hope.
“Twelve more turns,” Calvin said. “Go right. Eleven now.”
“Kendra!” Seth called. “If you can hear me, follow my voice! I found Calvin! He knows the way.”
“Straight,” Calvin said. “Did you see the dragon with the big horns? Left!”
“You saw her too!” Seth exclaimed. “She gave us a five-minute head start.”
“Go right. Really? At least she gave you a chance. Straight, then left.”
“Not much of one until I found you. How long have you been here?”
“Keep going. Not too long. My legs feel like rubber. Lots of running. Up ahead turn left.”
“This labyrinth is enormous for somebody your size,” Seth said.
“You’re telling me! Go right. I had some help getting to the scepter. Now left. Sprinting back to the entrance was exhausting.”
“You made it to where I found you?”
“Left,” Calvin said. “This will double back on itself. First this corner. Now that corner. It keeps winding for a bit. I’m so glad you found me! I was trying to get to the entrance so we wouldn’t miss each other in the maze. Okay, now right.”
“Who helped you get the scepter?”
“Now go left,” Calvin said. “It’s a long story. We’re almost there. I’ll tell you if we make it. Now right.”
A gargantuan roar reverberated through the cavern. Seth’s legs and lungs burned, but the mighty bellow helped inspire him back to a full sprint.
“This will be close,” Calvin said. “I see her!”
“How?” Burelli exclaimed incredulously. “Impossible!”
“Left,” Calvin urged. “Run hard! That’s it!”
Up ahead Seth beheld a covered dead end—the only roofed portion of the labyrinth he had seen. Two cauldrons burned within. And between them, mounted horizontally on the wall, hung a golden scepter sparkling with jewels.
Not risking a glance back, Seth sprinted with everything he had. He could hear enormous wings flapping and the ominous whistle of air rushing over a tremendous body.
Fifteen more yards.
“Halt!” Burelli called.
Ten yards.
“Here she comes!” Calvin warned.
Seth dashed into the roofed portion of the corridor.
Five yards.
He heard a whoosh of dragon breath and felt a wave of blistering heat flooding his way. The light of the oncoming fire brightened the end of the maze, glaring brilliantly off the scepter.
Seth jumped.
His f
ingers closed around the scepter just as the heat became unbearable.
Race to the Keep
Kendra heard Burelli exhale and saw the volatile glow of her flames brighten the cavern overhead, and then everything went momentarily dark. When she opened her eyes, Kendra was on the floor in the room where they had started. The green smoke was gone. Three bottles still sat on the table at one end of the room, two corked, one unstopped.
Seth lay beside her, his shirt and hair a little singed, smelling faintly of smoke. They were still holding hands. With a smile, he held up his other hand to display a golden scepter roughly three feet long. The top bulged into a knob crusted with jewels.
“You got it!” Kendra said, sitting up. “Were we really there? Was it a dream?”
“I’m not sure,” Seth said. “It seemed real. I felt your hand the whole time.”
“Maybe because we were really just lying here,” Kendra said, giving his hand a squeeze.
“Wherever we were, it left marks,” Seth said, showing her some circular bruises on his arm. “Those were from zombie fingertips. They barely touched me. Those creeps were worse than zombies. I’m not sure what they really were.”
“Probably liches, if their touches bruised,” Calvin said. “Zombies wouldn’t leave a mark from a touch, and a revenant would have withered the area more.”
“Calvin!” Kendra said happily. “You’re back! We were worried about you!”
“He saved the day,” Seth said. “He really is the Tiny Hero! He had already found the scepter and led me straight to it.”
“I was about to tell Seth the story,” Calvin said.
“Let’s hear it,” Kendra invited.
Calvin looked pleased to have an audience. He used his hands a lot as he spoke. “So, running into the smoke didn’t turn out so well. I got dizzy really fast, and suddenly I was in a room with big people clomping around. Wizards never design places like this with tiny adventurers in mind. Since when do fairies hunt treasure? Or brownies? Or leprechauns? Doesn’t happen.”
“Leprechauns have treasure,” Seth interrupted.
“Having and hunting are two different things,” Calvin said. “Leprechauns get their gold through magic, inheritance, or trickery. Not adventuring. Anyhow, I ran for the door, squirmed underneath, and ended up in a really dark place. Then I was in the glittery dragon cave. That huge dragon with the big horns was in there, sitting on her nest. Climbing the dragon took some time.”
“You climbed the dragon?” Seth exclaimed.
“No problem,” Calvin said. “Very furry. Lots to grab onto. I was too small for her to notice.”
“Why climb her?” Kendra asked.
“So I could get close to her ear,” Calvin said. “I was following a hunch, because the cavern looked enormous. I kind of covered my mouth and tried to make a faraway voice. I’m sure my size helped.”
“What did you say?” Seth asked.
Calvin covered his mouth and demonstrated how he spoke. “Hurry, grab the scepter. Let’s go.”
“What happened?” Kendra asked.
“The dragon’s head jerked so fast I nearly fell off,” Calvin said. “And I was holding on tight! What do you suppose the dragon did next?”
“Went to check!” Seth exclaimed.
“She flew up over the maze,” Calvin said with a wink. “I made a mental map. I’m good with spatial thinking. Kind of a specialty. The dragon swooped down by the covered portion of the labyrinth and stuck her head inside. I slid down her head, hung from her lowest whiskers, and dropped. Amazing how well you can take a fall when you’re tiny and fortified by magic. I didn’t even twist an ankle.”
“She took you right to the scepter?” Kendra asked.
“Straight to the main prize,” Calvin agreed, barely containing a laugh. “Then she flew around investigating the maze, making sure there were no intruders.”
“That must have been when we came in,” Seth said. “The nest was unprotected.”
“Probably,” Calvin said. “The scepter was too high for me to reach. So I used the map in my head to run back toward the entrance. I went as fast as I could and was getting close when Seth found me.”
“Then Calvin directed me back to the scepter,” Seth said. “When I snagged it, I woke up here.”
“It brought me back too,” Kendra said. “Right after I saw fire brighten up the cavern.”
“It was close,” Seth said. “I got a little singed.”
“At least we made it,” Kendra said, standing.
Seth got up too. “Well, I wouldn’t go that far. We got the scepter. I’ll feel like we’ve made it when we get it back to Blackwell Keep.”
“A correct sentiment,” came the voice of Dromadus from well beyond the room.
“Do you hear everything we say?” Seth asked.
“If your voice carries, I’m going to listen,” Dromadus said.
“He has good ears,” Kendra whispered.
“No visible ears really,” Dromadus replied from afar. “Unsightly things, if you ask me. But excellent hearing, yes.”
Kendra gave Seth’s hand a squeeze. “Let’s go.”
“Are you sure you don’t want to try another bottle?” Seth asked.
She pulled him out of the room, though he pretended to be reluctant. They went up the long flight of stairs, then climbed out of the depression to find Dromadus waiting where they had left him.
“Impressive,” Dromadus said. “I did not realistically expect to see you again. Perhaps Agad and Marat have better judgment than your ages suggest. I believe I underestimated your Tiny Hero as well.”
“We still have to get the scepter back to Blackwell Keep,” Seth said.
“A vulnerable predicament,” Dromadus said. “You will either hasten your destruction by losing the scepter or else postpone it by succeeding. Either way, congratulations on taking decisive action. I wish you well in your efforts to promote peace.”
“Thanks for your help,” Kendra said.
She and Seth exited the cavern into the long tunnel. At the far end Henrick awaited with Mendigo and the two horses. A glowing stone held by Henrick provided illumination.
Kendra and Seth rushed to him.
“Is that what I think it might be?” Henrick asked, indicating the scepter.
“The scepter was hidden here,” Seth said. “We got it!”
“That is . . . incredible,” Henrick said. “To tell you the truth, I believed it was a long shot that we would ever find the scepter. Of course, now we have a new problem.”
“I guess you brought the horses down those stairs for a reason,” Kendra said. “Hi, Glory. Hi, Noble.”
The horses stamped and tossed their heads.
“I confirmed that a dragon has been spying on us,” Henrick said. “Mobando. A member of Celebrant’s personal guard, and one of the most dangerous dragons in the sanctuary. He is strong, fast, stealthy, and intelligent. You were inside this lair for a long time. Eventually Mobando got curious and came too close. When I became aware of him, I led the horses down the stairs. Otherwise he may have tried to kill us or run us off. Though I do not believe Celebrant wants you dead yet, he would not hesitate to make your journey back to Blackwell Keep as miserable as possible.”
“But now we have the scepter,” Seth said.
“Which changes everything,” Henrick said. “The Dragon King would gleefully kill us all for that scepter. He doesn’t have to endure a co-caretaker anymore if Blackwell Keep falls.”
“We’re pinned down,” Kendra said.
“Perhaps not as badly as it appears,” Henrick said. “Nobody knows what you found here yet. Not for sure. I expect that Mobando will sense the scepter’s powerful magic. It will be too potent for him to miss. But he may not know what it is at first.”
“So what do we do?” Seth asked.
> “They probably assume you wanted to counsel with Dromadus,” Henrick said. “I’m not sure if they will guess why. They could presume you just came for general advice. So we leave together as if our mission is accomplished. We don’t rush. We head back toward the Winding Way. I’ll carry the scepter.”
“You?” Seth asked.
“I’ll do my best to hide it,” Henrick said. “Whoever carries the scepter is in great peril. I’m fast, and I have some evasive tricks. I know this sanctuary like nobody else. I have eluded dragons before, though I have never been hunted as I will be hunted if they figure out exactly what I have in my possession. If Mobando strikes before we get back to the Winding Way, you continue to the road and then return to Blackwell Keep through Terrabelle and along the High Road. Maybe I can make it to a road too. If not, I’ll invent a route through the wild. If I have the scepter, Mobando will chase me and you’ll have a reasonable chance of surviving.”
“What if we let Mendigo transport the scepter?” Seth asked. “We could leave Mendigo behind. Leave without him. Then, after we leave, maybe he could sneak the scepter back to Blackwell Keep.”
“Not a bad stratagem,” Henrick said. “But Mobando is subtle and smart. He will probably notice if your wooden puppet suddenly disappears. It will raise suspicions. And if Mendigo is discovered by the dragons, he won’t have a chance of evading them. I realistically could.”
“I wish we could shrink it,” Calvin said from Seth’s pocket. “Dragons have a hard time tracking me. Burelli didn’t even notice I was there.”
“We’re a long way from Blackwell Keep on fast horses,” Henrick said. “That distance is a lot greater when your legs are an inch long.”
“I’ve gone much farther,” Calvin said. “Tiny people learn to travel in a variety of ways. Not just on foot. But wishing I could make the scepter smaller won’t make it so.”
“Your plan sounds good, Henrick,” Kendra said.
“Should we go?” Seth proposed.
“How are you horses?” Henrick asked. “Was this enough of a rest? There could be a lot of running before you get back to your stalls.”
Both horses reared up slightly, then gave single stamps.