Labyrinth Wall (9780991531219) (17 page)

“I feel a little better. Can I have a few more minutes by myself?”

“Of course.”

As I exit the shelf, my heart hurts for Keelie, but it’s also warmed after comforting her. I haven’t felt this rested in a long time. Sleep must have kept me for quite a while. Making my way down the ladder isn’t the daunting task it would have been when I first entered the den. The astounding stone and wooden carvings along the walls again hold my fascination.

I cross half the room to join the group by the fire. After our encounter with the lava, the cool air in the cave is refreshing. Deeper and smoother breaths flow through me here in this place than anywhere else in the labyrinth. Regardless of the burning fire, there’s enough of a chill that some goosebumps raise on my neck. The fire feature lights the cave surprisingly effectively. Then I notice small fire pits lit along the edge of the room.

My closer perspective of the strange lit fountain structure makes it even more intriguing to me. The sheer number of metallic flowers is overwhelming. It’s curious that the colony came to possess enough metal they felt some could be spared for such a decorative display. Various round rocks, small boulders, and long benches are placed around the large fire for seating. Despite being distracted by the details of my surroundings, hunger forces itself on me. My stomach feels swollen, but somehow empty, as I plop down on a boulder near Korun. By the time I sit, Soll has left the pit and disappeared toward the back of the cave.

“Where’d he go?” I inquire.

“He thought you might be hungry.” Korun shoots me a cheerful glance.

“You look like you’re feeling better.” Saige pokes at the stone base of the fire fountain with her long spear.

“I am. It feels like I could have been sleeping for years. How long was I out?”

“Almost twelve hours,” Korun answers.

In this place, that’s more than a fair amount of rest to hope for. Usually naps only last a few hours before disruption.

“Thanks for the soft bed,” I offer to Saige.

“Not a problem.” She smiles, but like Keelie, sadness resonates from her. A twinge of melancholy dances on Saige’s face. She’s the most mysterious of the group. Sensing the unknown in her is what I’m used to among the Mahk. That quality makes her the most relatable. She’s probably consumed with the same worries as the rest of us, but it seems other issues are tugging at her.

“They aren’t here,” she answers my body language.

Faint traces of sweat reside on her forehead as she reiterates her point. How in the world is she sweating in the cool cave?

She goes on to repeat the same information Keelie already conveyed. Saige points out personal possessions the colony left behind. “Why would they have gone without any extra supplies, or their personal items? They didn’t leave us. Simul must have done something to them.”

“Right, killed them all.” That may have been in my mind, but I didn’t intend for it to come out so bluntly. Soll is approaching to offer me food as the words finish falling out of my mouth.

Her face looks like stone as her eyebrows tighten. Korun looks at me shamefully.

“I’m sorry. I just hope you’re wrong. I think we know their fate in Simul’s hands would not be promising. There could be some answer we haven’t thought of yet. They could have found a safer place,” I say, trying to redeem myself.

“It seems to be best if we don’t dwell on that subject,” Soll announces as he passes me some crackers. Despite his efforts to push the conversation along, he’s clearly disheartened by the situation.

My eyes must be huge when he hands me an entire baked potato.

“We have stores in the back. You can eat it all and more.” He smiles at me.

The cooked potato is warm in my hands, soothing my spirit. Every flavor awakens in my mouth, and my stomach growls. They’ve managed to season it somehow. It’s so good.

Reacting to the enthusiasm in my expression as my mouth absorbs the flavor, Saige mentions the colony has been experimenting with extracting and cooking leaves from Thorn Patches Valley.

“More like mastering not experimenting,” I compliment. “Surprising to hear of anything good coming from the valley.”

Soll hands me some water. “Now there isn’t much of this to go around, so this is all I can offer you for now,” he cautions.

It’s a full flask. I drink it like an animal, appreciative of its healing touch on my scorched throat. The conversation goes on in a new direction, but I’m too preoccupied with my meal to join in.

“All right, the point is,” Soll speaks, “they aren’t here. That’s the fact of the situation, and we need to decide what’s next with this change of events.”

Everyone is quiet for a second.

“I may be speaking out of line,” Korun says, “but we still need to get to the other side of the wall near the castle.” He glances over toward Rase. “That plan hinges on her being able to get us to the other side, but we don’t have much of an option.”

“You’re right,” Soll agrees. “This labyrinth is determined to destroy anything within its walls. Our best chance is to head for that wall and hope we can get through it.”

I’ve managed to inhale the entire potato in a few minutes. Now I’m ready to chime in. “What about the lava?”

“That’s right,” Korun responds. “You’ve been in dream land. We’ve been keeping an eye outside. The surges let up about five hours ago. We think it’s done, at least for a while.” The smoky air has transformed his garb from white to an ashen color. The man is such a conundrum. His abilities and origin make him so mysterious, yet his friendly and caring demeanor make his personality so transparent.

“For a while?” I question skeptically.

“Hopefully for good,” Saige jumps in, “but either way, it’s not like we can hang around here. If Simul did find the den, the guards are likely to sweep back through to check for survivors.”

“I didn’t say we shouldn’t keep moving. Trust me, I want to get back to that wall as much or more than the rest of you,” I say.

“Good. You’re going to want to visit our back room first though.” Soll motions for me to follow his lead.

Soll, Korun, and I walk farther back into the cave. Just as I’m observing the layer of boulders lining the edge of the circular cave, we stop in front of one that’s been moved slightly out of place, revealing a small tunnel.

“It’s a bit long,” Soll warns. “We found crawling all the way through to be a waste of time.” He maneuvers onto a long canoe-shaped wooden object with wheels. Korun and I join him. He pulls at a rope and hands us each a portion to tug on. We pull our way through the long tunnel until it finally opens to a small room.

I’m so impressed by the collection a sigh seeps from my lips.

“In a colony, we all help each other out.” Soll points a finger around the room. “And when our members pass on, they always leave their supplies to us.” He continues speaking, but I’m busy being overwhelmed so I briefly tune him out.

Weapons rest along one wall. Swords, daggers, axes, spears, and even crossbows hang from hooks and are lined neatly across a couple tables. Unable to resist the urge, my pale fingers explore several of them curiously. Shields fill another table. Shields are something the Creators don’t even supply the Mahk.

“These were all handmade by the colony?” I inquire.

“Every last one,” Soll replies proudly.

Piles of rope are at the end of one table. Beyond that rest a couple crates of clothing. In another corner is a tall stack of fire wood.

On the other side of the space are shelves of food. Even some bread sits on a tall shelf next to a collection of cheese.

“For special occasions,” Soll says when he sees my gaze wander up to that shelf. “Although I guess we aren’t going to be around here much longer, so take all you want.” He smiles at me.

Near the shelves of food stand two barrels of water. Even as a group, it amazes me the colony was able to collect so much fresh water.

“All right,” Soll interrupts my aimless wandering and observations. “Here’s what I want you to see.” He points toward a table in the back.

On the table are a couple clean shirts and pairs of pants, along with a few small bags and canisters.

“For you,” he offers. “Both of you go ahead. Pick what you like. I tried to pull out some clothing that looked like your size. Fill those bags and canisters up.”

It’s thrilling to be offered a new, practically unused outfit. The bright color of the pants is a noticeable contrast from my dirty green bottoms. The Creators only allow Mahk a new set of clothes once a year. My favorite thing about unworn clothes is pausing to take in their clean smell. Usually I don’t get all that excited about what I’m wearing, but having spent time with Keelie, I’m inspired. She creatively reworked her Mahk outfit. My boring attire could definitely benefit from her artistic touch.

This doesn’t compare at all, but it occurs to me that access to so much food and clean clothes is daily life for a Creator. This is the closest experience to their existence I’ve ever had. Where does one even begin with such a buffet of food or clothing options?

“Take as much of anything as you think you can carry,” Soll reminds us. “Don’t know when you’ll have options like this again.”

“Speaking of that topic,” I say as I start to load one of my bags. “We still don’t have a plan.”

“I thought the plan was to head for the wall,” Korun responds.

“Yes, but I’m guessing it’s going to be heavily guarded.”

“That’s true,” Soll responds.

“And we also need to make sure we can force Rase to cooperate when we get through the guards,” I explain further.

“Also true,” Soll replies again.

I hoard supplies into one of my bags. “So what’s the plan?”

They look at each other blankly then back at me in silence.

“That’s what I thought.” I pause. “Before we actually head out of this place, I think there needs to be a plan: an intelligent route to the wall, supplies for anything we know we’re going to encounter, and a promising way of forcing Rase to get us through the wall. Now you two turn around.” I motion with the twirl of my hand, reaching with the other for a clean shirt on the table.

“She always this authoritative?” Soll quietly questions Korun, as if turning away made them inaudible.

I whirl around to face the wall and change my clothes.

“Think that and a couple times worse.” Korun chuckles.

“I resent that,” I chime in, causing them to jump.
 

Chapter 18
To the Wall Or Nothing

Another half an hour passes. Soll, Korun and I brainstorm in the weapons room. The rest of the group must be wondering what’s keeping us, but no one comes looking.

The labyrinth is as engrained in my mind as my own name, so my brain travels the best possible routes to the wall from our current location. “We have really gotten ourselves into a bit of a bind backtracking toward the mountains. Now that Simul initiated the labyrinth attacks, there isn’t any way to know what other obstacles may pop up whichever direction we go.”

Korun nibbles on cheese.

“However,” I continue, “we can make some smart decisions based on the normal labyrinth conditions. A fairly fast way to Blue’s spot exists, if we swing around toward the castle in an open space. But we’d be facing a lot of guards through there. It won’t be wise to take a route with such high visibility.”

Before running into Soll and the group, I was headed down the easiest route. From here, going back that way will add at least a day to our trip. Wasting time could be to our detriment. Given that our other options aren’t very practical, the snake pit route may be the best option. It sounds terrible to them at first.

“The snakes are easily avoidable since a bridge leads over them. The snake pit route is fairly quick and offers the most boulders and trees, which will come in handy if there are more lava surges,” I explain. “What of the guards that are likely to be posted by the wall?”

“I’m confident that challenge is manageable. With all of the guards focused on killing the Mahk, it might not be that heavily guarded. Even if it is, I’ve got a good plan. Let’s be clear, strategy and wit are my strengths,” Soll says.

“You mean aside from your muscles?” I laugh. It was really meant to be a joke but probably came off flirtatious. How embarrassing. “That’s all you’ve got?” I rush past the awkward moment.

He stares at me as if I’ve just bared his insecurities to the world.

“Think that’s enough for me,” Korun interjects, breaking the silence.

“Me too,” I concede. Who knew the man had so much pride in battle tactics? Forcing details out of him would make me feel better, but he clearly doesn’t want to divulge more.

“Okay, that leaves Rase,” Korun points out.

“I’ve had that figured out for days.” A smirk hangs on my face. “I enjoyed keeping you on your toes about her.”

Both men scowl at me with their arms crossed. Milking the advantage of knowing something others don’t gives me gratification.

“Yep, I’ve been saving something for her,” I reiterate. My revealing of the two stolen tubes in my bags is accompanied by a dash of pride. These things are handy. I dangle them at eye level as the liquid within them sloshes.