Labyrinth Wall (9780991531219) (28 page)

We could be stuck like this forever. We could be dead for that matter. It feels like it’s been a couple minutes. Even if this is the rest of my existence, at least it doesn’t hurt.

Wait, it feels different now
—
weightless. Lacking any grace, we tumble onto the moist ground.

“Run,” a voice screams.

I shake my head and open my eyes.

“Run now, Araina!” the voice repeats. It’s Soll.

I force myself to my feet. As I do, I feel a sudden heat again and then my body being pushed along.

Everything is chaotic. There hasn’t been proper time to take in my surroundings before Soll is speaking to me, “He got Laon!” The strong green-haired man pulls me behind a tree.

“Who? What are you talking about?”

“Simul, he got Laon as soon as we came through.”

I’m blinking now, causing me to barely catch glimpses of our situation. A haze coats my eyes, making everything appear murky. Tall trees surround us, and I‘m ankle deep in water.

Soll has propped me against some very tall tree with a wide base. The rough bark scratches against my skin as the smooth air fills my lungs. Saige and Keelie are with us, but I don’t see Korun.

“Korun?” I shout hysterically, glancing around us.

“He’s still alive.” Keelie points at another tree. He’s located a distance away, on the other side of the wall entrance from us. He’s been further injured but is still with us. Not only is his leg bandaged, but he appears to have taken some fire damage on his upper arm. It looks terribly painful, but he doesn’t show that on his face. He attempts again to heal himself, and it still doesn’t work.

Darith stands beside him. I’m genuinely surprised he hasn’t charged mindlessly into the swamp.

There’s Laon, or what must be Laon’s body. He’s slouched to the ground against the wall. Blood stains and singe marks are scattered through his Mahk garb. Tears fill my eyes uncontrollably. I want to cry.

Korun’s shooting an arrow out into the swamp. His actions are followed by what can only be described as a dark blue fireball whizzing into the tree beside him. Whatever is shooting the fireballs got Laon, but surely that fire didn’t come from Simul?

Peeking around the tree, I spot the one-handed man, Simul, and a group of guards. I’ve had enough. It doesn’t even matter what happens to me. I push Keelie aside before stepping partially out from behind the tree. My hand yanks the Buyu spike from my bag.

Just then as I prepare to shoot it at the enemy, the one-handed man says something that confounds me. “Saige, I know you’re there.”

What? I jerk back behind the wall. Soll, Keelie, and I stare at Saige with wide eyes.

“He said your name,” Keelie comments innocently. “Why? How does he know that?”

Saige is flustered and apparently a bad liar. “He’s a Creator,” she responds, “They know all our names.”

“They hardly acknowledge our names. We’re numbers to them,” Soll replies, a stern look on his face.

The Creator in black speaks again. “Were you able to see our display at the river, Saige? Did you tell your little friends the part you played in that?”

Tears collect in her eyes. “It’s not how it sounds!” she insists.

“You played your part well, leading us straight to them,” he goes on.

Her cheeks start to turn red, and her eyes narrow. Rage overcomes her. She charges from behind the tree toward Korun and Darith, shooting a spear at the one-handed man. It misses.

Then suddenly I realize why I recognized her voice the first time we met. She was in the castle when Darith and I broke Korun out. Saige was the long black-haired woman that piggish man was threatening after he cornered me in the hallway. I’m dumfounded, but there isn’t time to dwell on the revelation any longer if we want to survive. Soll simply watches Saige crossing the swamp, looking like he doesn’t know if he should be concerned for her safety or rooting for her demise. Keelie’s hand is resting on her heart, her face red with anger.

Arrows and blue fire continue to fly back and forth across the swamp. The one-handed man and Simul stand with a group of guards. His hand moves in a circular motion as floating fireballs grow within them.

Resuming my attempt to attack, I once again step out from the wall, preparing my spike for the fight. Simul’s putrid smoky gray eyes get wide when he sees fire begin to spray from the object on my hand. Angrily, he throws the fireball in my direction, but I dodge it. Unable to move quickly enough, Simul’s forearms and one of the guards are burned by my fire.

He and the one-handed man each motion an arm vertically in front of them. Two thick walls of ice appear, one shielding each of them.

I step back behind the tree and look around, checking on the others. Korun and Darith are still safe behind the other tree. Korun is shooting arrows. Then I realize Saige is no longer with them or with us. Has she run away? The coward probably ran off now that we know she was involved in the demise of the colony. Despite my horror at discovering her involvement, I pity her. The small encounter I witnessed between her and the one-handed man was sickening. I can only imagine what they did to force her cooperation.

I’m stepping out to attempt another attack when Vickon and Rase finally emerge from the rippling wall. They’ve taken an oddly long time to arrive. Bursting from the ripples, they’re in combat. Rase has somehow managed to steal his sword and pushes Vickon to the ground. Her hands raise the sword directly in front of her body, and she prepares to plunge it straight down into his abdomen.

Korun sees the altercation so he’s able to shoot an arrow into Rase’s back in time. The unexpected injury causes her to drop the sword, enabling Vickon to gain it again. He stands to face her, his weapon in hand. Fearfully, she turns to run.

Another fireball hits the tree I’m using as cover. I’ve been too distracted, and it almost cost me my life. I whip my head back toward the source of the heat-emitting, deadly element. As I prepare again to shoot flames at the Creators, I notice Simul’s eyes get big. He’s not looking at my spike. He’s looking at Vickon. Slapping the one-handed man to get his attention, Simul points at Vickon, who has now almost reached me.

Before there’s time to process their response to Vickon’s presence, Saige appears again. She’s worked her way behind trees much closer to the Creators. It looks like she’s managed to go unnoticed. I subtly point her out to Soll and Keelie.

She launches her other spear at the Creator group. It misses who she likely intended to hit
—
the one-handed man
—
and instead it soars past him and drills into Simul’s chest. She then ducks behind another tree.

Simul falls into the dirty water stained with his own blood. He reaches up to the one-handed man but receives a cold response.

The man in black appears disgusted with Simul and shakes his head then turns his attention back to Saige. “You’re turning out to be more trouble than I care for, Saige.”

He briefly looks over at Vickon and me, mutters something at the remaining guards, and darts away into the swamp. The guards increase their heavy fire on us. Saige disappears back into the trees as the guards rain arrows on us nonstop.

“I should’ve done this earlier,” I tell Keelie as an idea occurs to me. I aim the Buyu spike high above the swamp toward a large branch. Starting from its tip all the way to its base, fire from the spike engulfs the branch. It crackles a couple minutes before finally the branch gives. A loud swooshing sound rings in the air as the massive thing falls from the tree. Huge flames now separate us from the guards, allowing Korun and Darith safe passage to us.

Darith dashes our direction, but Korun goes the other way. He disappears behind the trees. For a minute, I wonder if he’s running off. Then he reappears quickly, dragging Saige with him. I didn’t see it happen, but evidently one of the many guard arrows made it into her leg. I run to help him carry her along.

We finally disappear behind the tree line bordering the swamp to discover another set of labyrinth corridors. There’s no time to strategize so we pick a route and take it, leaving Laon’s body behind and leaving Rase who apparently seized her chance to escape.

Chapter 29
The Other Side

Since we have a wounded member, the group isn’t moving quickly. Soll keeps urging us to travel faster. We have put significant distance between ourselves and the Creators. He angrily hacks at the trees and moss along our path. We all know his demands are now out of rage and not for survival. He’s barely made eye contact with Saige since the one-handed man called her out. It’s disheartening to try fathoming what Soll and Keelie must be feeling. It was terrible how brutally their colony was destroyed, but the pain must be multiplied knowing one of their closest friends helped in some way.

A gap is starting to form, and Keelie, Soll, Darith, and Vickon have taken the lead in front of us. Korun and I drag Saige along. She begs us to run with the others. “I can take care of myself,” she pleads. “Just go.”

“She can’t keep going like this!” Korun finally announces. “We’re stopping, and I’m going to help her.”

From his position in the swamp, he probably didn’t hear the Creator’s divulge Saige’s secret, but even if he had, he would still insist we help her. We gently prop her against a wall. She’s crying relentless tears and still begging us to go on without her.

Soll has backtracked now and hears her pleas as he approaches. “She said to leave her. Come on! Leave her.”

Korun whips his face up, eyebrows lowered tightly.

Reading his expression, Soll defends what Korun clearly perceives to be a harsh command. “You don’t understand what she’s done, Korun.”

“I don’t care. Don’t you think it’s time for us all to rest anyway?” Korun reaches his hand up and wipes a tear from her cheek. “I don’t know what’s going on with all of you, but she fought bravely with us against the Creators. She’s in pain and doesn’t deserve to be left behind.” He breaks the arrow in her leg and begins to dislodge it. I allow her to grab tightly at my arm. She screams with anguish as the bloody arrow head emerges from her flesh. Korun places his hands gently on the deep wound. She forces herself to hold still. Slowly the injury begins to heal beneath Korun’s fingers. Saige’s tears don’t cease when the wound completely recovers.

“Oh, now you’re going to cry so that we sit around with you until the guards show up? Is that it?” Soll yells at her. It surprises me that Soll’s temper could get this bad. He’s hurt, and his anger with Saige is perfectly reasonable. Still, I do feel badly for her. What exactly happened to her in the castle? And how did she escape alive? Soll’s yelling interrupts my thoughts.

Korun stands to his full height, abruptly pointing his finger at Soll. “Stop! You need to stop now!”

Completely healed, Saige stands up then tries to run away down the corridor, sloshing through the mud. Dodging giant roots and ducking under hanging moss, I chase after her. The tears are still flowing heavily from her eyes, and her breathing is so rough that she can’t even run fast. Chasing her through the foggy marsh environment, I think about how I have exchanged the smoke of my home with the mist of this new place. No matter what, there’s always something clouding my existence. Nothing is ever clear.

“Wait,” I call after her. “Saige, stop.” I grab her arm and pull her around, hugging her to me. Soll and Keelie stare coldly at us from down the passage, but I don’t care. None of us even know for sure what happened. Knowing her though, she never meant to hurt anyone. As much distrust as I’ve had in the past, my time with the group has brought me to see Mahk differently. She deserves a chance to explain herself, even if Soll and Keelie are too hurt right now to recognize that.

She’s still sobbing hysterically in my arms.

“Saige,” I say calmly. “Inhale slowly. Take in deep breaths.”

Her breathing begins to regulate.

“I was at the castle when you were there.”

For the first time since her secret was discovered, she makes eye contact with me. “What?”

“Yes. Darith and I saw the one-handed man harassing you when we kidnapped Rase.”

Another tear trickles down her cheek. She winces at the mention of that man. “Grol,” she responds, “his name is Grol.”

“Okay. Stay calm. You’re with us now, not Grol. Don’t run away from this situation. We’re all stronger if we stick together.”

As much as I attempted to fight them off, Darith’s words back at the hiding spot stuck with me. He said that our actions define us and that’s how he knows me. I realize now he was right. All that time I spent alone in the labyrinth isn’t because all Mahk were terrible and untrustworthy. It’s because I perceived them that way. Sure, the majority probably would have killed me for a meal, but that doesn’t mean everyone would have. He was calling me out because I’ve always been scared to be around other people. I understand his point now.

A flicker of surprise crosses her face. “Does that mean you’re not leaving the group then?”

I didn’t think I was so transparent, but maybe she and the others know I planned to bail as soon as we crossed the wall. “I guess I’ll stick around with you guys for a bit. Clearly you can’t get along without me,” I spout sarcastically at her.