Labyrinth Wall (9780991531219) (8 page)

We pace ourselves, walking through certain areas, avoiding pocket eruptions. Having seen so many others blown to bits, I keep my distance from the red dirt that indicates an explosive area.

“Watch out for those red dirt patches” I warn Korun. “The rock wall fumes should be avoided as well. For that matter, it’s better if you just follow my lead in general.”

The heat is starting to weaken me. Using my dagger, I pin my red hair back up in a side knot. Korun healing my leg and beginning to heal the guard’s arm replays in my head. I’ve never seen anything like it. My mind isn’t wrapped around the rippling wall he magically fell through.
Magically
. I shake my head. There must be rational explanations on the other side of the wall.

Though his entry through the wall and his healing abilities are astounding, unexplainable things aren’t completely foreign in the labyrinth. The Darktouch flowers twirl through my mind. They move like they’re alive. They grow from the walls as if from soil. Their tiny size enables their stealth. Coming in contact with one is lethal. Most things in the world are explainable, but Darktouch flowers elude me.

Fortunately, the first time I saw one, someone else ventured up to it first. She was a Mahk probably aged to about twenty, at that time only a few years older than me. The woman pranced right up to the thing, her expression glowing with amazement to find something so lovely in our dark world. Her eyes took in its dark purple center, adoring its pale gradient dancing petals. I was as transfixed as she by the liveliness of the flower. She reached out to touch the twirling floret. The ashen-tipped petals wrapped around her finger. She began screaming as her finger then her hand turned to stone. Within a couple minutes, she was transformed into a stiff statue.

My mind envisions her tearful face, sending shivers through me. Like so many other Mahk deaths, I desperately wish I could erase the memory from my thoughts.

Abruptly, a piercing sound fills the air. Our hands swarm to cover our ears and muffle it. Paralyzed and dizzy, I drop to the ground fearfully. The ringing is coming from the direction of the castle. The sound diminishes as quickly as it came.

The ground shakes, causing the walls to seem as if they waver. Grinding and hissing noises unexplainably overcome the labyrinth. I shrink cowardly to the wall, bracing myself defensively against it for support.

As I turn to check on Korun and Rase who were a few feet behind me, the sounds subside. Before my eyes settle on them, sudden pain engulfs me. Horrible anguish consumes me. It feels like a thousand swords submerge into my back and under my legs all at once. That’s the last thing I remember or feel.

Chapter 8
Am I Still Alive?

A weightless sense of existence carries me. Time has no meaning, and everything is dark. I can’t feel my body, can’t hear or see anything at all. Is this death?

“Araina? Stay with us,” someone pleads.

The stabbing pain in my back and legs comes back. I want to scream, but I still can’t see anything or move. I focus on trying to make sense of my body. I tell it to breathe.

“That’s it!” the voice encourages. “Keep fighting.”

Crippling pain is still shooting through me. I’m drenched in some kind of liquid. As I gasp for breath, my eyes pry themselves open. The slimy substance is my own blood.

My chest is tight, and every breath is painful. The entire back side of my body feels like one giant open wound. For a moment, I wish I was dead. Despite my pain, I tell myself to keep breathing and not to worry about all the blood.

Korun is kneeling beside me. “Let’s see, you’re going to be okay,” he assures. His hand moves down my back then across the underside of my legs. The pain is subsiding. Once again, I witness his remarkable gift. Unfortunately, his effort is draining his own strength rapidly. He continues helping me until he starts to turn pale. Everything still hurts, but not like it had before. My body is no longer on the brink of extinction, so I motion for him to take a rest. It would be ideal to thank him, but not even my mouth will move.

Long breaths draw air deep into my lungs. As I stare at him for a moment, warmth sweeps through me. Not only has he healed me, but now he has saved my life. My eyes trace the soft curves of his face and take in his dark features, but then they shut tight with shame.
He must have some selfish motive for what he does
. After allowing my body a few more moments of rest, aggravation fills me that I ever trusted Darith and that I venture to think Korun is any better than the rest of us.

You offer obsidian, you eat, you kill and you
survive
. It’s time to quit hoping for a new reality.

“He should have let you die,” a venomous female voice whispers. Rase is standing a few feet away, tied to a tall black tree.

“If he let the blades do their work on you, we would have been minus one more Mahk. You’re all heartless and savage creatures.” Her tone screams remorse for my survival.

I want to tell her how much I hate her and all the Creators. Her words are so ironic. The Creators make us the way we are. I’m still too weak to vocalize anything, but my eyes shoot daggers at her.

“Think you can breathe now?” Korun inquires as he adjusts himself against the wall near me.

Unable to verbally respond, I nod.

“You’re really lucky to be alive. You were at the brink of death.”

He’s able to read the confusion in my eyes. I still don’t even know what happened.

“When the piercing sound started, Rase charged toward the nearby boulders. Swords and blades sprang out of the ground and walls around us just as we climbed the rocks. I’m sorry you were injured so badly. Had I known what was happening” he eyes Rase accusatively, “I would have warned you to do the same as us.” He softly touches my back. “You were pierced through the shoulder with a sword, and several blades sliced into your back and legs. You lost a lot of blood.”

“I still don’t understand.” The words barely fall from my dry mouth. “Where did it all…come from? How?”

Rase rolls her eyes as Korun shifts his gaze up to her. “You want to tell her what you told me?” he presses.

“Look, you aren’t going to make it to the other side of that wall. It isn’t going to be possible. Mahk don’t belong on the other side. I promise, Simul isn’t going to let it happen. He must be on to you. This labyrinth is rigged, Araina. The minute he decided you were a threat, he unleashed precautionary measures to kill you and all the Mahk. He doesn’t need you.” She pauses, as if carefully calculating her next words. “He can create more Mahk that comply with his wishes. This labyrinth has changed. Not one shred of hope is left that we’re going to survive this place now. Good job.”

Glancing around our surroundings, I become aware of the metallic and dangerous blade jungle. Everything does look different. The walls themselves may have even shifted.

An even sharper pain than that of my back and legs swells inside my chest. A small and manipulated puppet, I despise that my strings are in the Creators’ hands again. I hate Simul so much. I want to scream at Rase, telling her I deserve to live, to be free. No evidence supports that argument though. I think of the Mahk killing each other. For a minute, I consider how different we are from Blue. Maybe the Creators treat us this way because we don’t deserve better. What if they have shown pity by not outright killing us before? Every day they’re probably trying to create something better than the time before, something better than themselves or us.

Something else she mentioned bothers me. Rase said that Mahk can’t be on the other side of the wall. Then does that make Korun a Creator? Or is he something else from the other side of the wall? And does she mean I’ll die if I make it there?

My breathing has hastened in my frustration which only causes my body more pain. It’s important to slow down, to take deep breaths. I need food, water, and more rest. My body is so weak from all the fighting in the last couple days. Food and water. My eyes roll at the thought of them. Both are items essential for survival, and the Creators would have kept providing for me, if it weren’t for this venture.
Then again, is an existence of dependence and following demands really living?
Either way, now I’m a dead woman. Everything is falling apart.

Korun avoids eye contact. “Are you still going to help me get home?” he inquires.

“I’m more determined than ever.” I shoot Rase a stare. It might be a long shot, but despite Rase’s claims about the other side of the wall, she clearly can’t be trusted. “We’re going to get through that wall. We’ll find answers. As badly as she wants to prevent us getting there, it’s worth doing just to tick her off.”

He smirks. My sense of humor isn’t completely lost on him.

“Hey, focus on regaining your energy” he lectures.

I ignore him. “What other surprises can we expect, Rase? You knew about the blades, so if you cooperate and get us to the wall, then we’ll let you live.”

Her usual sarcastically helpful demeanor again overcomes our guide as she smiles at me. “Miss Araina, let me show you right to that wall through every obstacle.” She squints at me “For Grol’s sake! I don’t know! I didn’t know about the blades.”

“Grol’s sake?”

“Don’t worry about it. I’m not explaining,” she replies.

“Fine. And you supposedly didn’t know anything about the blades?”

“I knew that sound most likely meant danger, given the disturbance you’ve caused. The boulders seemed like the safest place to be, but I had no idea what to expect and I still don’t. As a standard guard, I’m not really privy to details. I just know this labyrinth is now one giant death trap. Every move could be our last.”

“Well, thanks for being so helpful,” I retort. “Could you both give me a minute?” I motion for Rase and Korun to close their eyes. For extra measure, I step behind a tree.

Withdrawing my Mahk clothes from my tote makes me surprisingly happy. My fingers peel the blood-drenched guard garb from my body. Being so low on supplies, it’s clearly smart to reserve the water rather than cleaning up. At least my body is finally in my own Mahk clothing again. I never thought I was so attached to my outfit, but somehow it does offer me comfort. The guard clothing could be useful in the future, but unfortunately, they’re far too tattered and bloody, so they get ditched.

“Let’s keep moving forward. No reason to sit around here, waiting to die,” I tell them.

As we walk, I’m certain Rase knows more about the labyrinth traps than she lets on. More importantly, she could tell me about the other side of that wall, if she wasn’t so nasty. She could probably tell us who Korun is, and she might even know something about his healing ability. At some point, drastic measures may be necessary to pry that information from her. For now, my goal is to get us all to Blue and that wall.

The completely lethal labyrinth ground around me is anything but comforting. How did they even pull this off? Such intricate defenses seem like the work of magic. Rase’s comments about the power of the Creators hits me harder as I process what’s around me. Her words play through my mind again, “He unleashed precautionary measures to kill you and all the Mahk.” There haven’t been any Mahk bodies yet, but we’re also far off from the most populated area of the labyrinth.

Suddenly it occurs to me that almost everyone is likely dead because of me. Despite the lengths I’ve gone not to kill anyone, I managed to take out almost all of the Mahk as a result of my curiosity, my rebellion. I might not be particularly proud to be a Mahk, but I hadn’t wished them all dead, at least not at my own hands.

Chapter 9
The Rotting Pass

Blue could even be dead by now. Sickness writhes in my core, like parasites eating away at my perseverance. My body moves through the maze of hazardous objects, but my spirit is trapped.

Rase struts beside me, knowing we won’t hurt her. It’s tempting to leave her strapped around a tree to die. She’s so irritating, she and every other Creator.

Commotion sounds behind us in the distance. Korun seems to pick up on the noises as well. We both whirl around in sync to observe their origin.