He flicked his axes and sheathed them. Vedikus swiped the gore from his face. It was better on his hands where it couldn’t blind him. Vedikus found the first fork and quickly disposed of several hobgoblins skittering throughout. He chose the left-hand path this time. His tail slapped against the leather loincloth at his back.
He looked up.Daylight will be upon us soon.
But he’d have the female long before then.
***
Aldora fled down thepath, following the wall. She swiped vines away that reached for her and jumped over corpses. Heavy steps sounded right behind her.
She drew her sword to her chest and searched for a place to hide. Her breaths came out in spurts, and sweat poured down her body.
She knew almost nothing about what really dwelled within the labyrinth and Aldora wasn’t sure if the stories she’d been told could be trusted; except for the monsters with teeth made for crushing bones.
Ghouls, beasts, ghosts, and goblins.
Her fingers clenched around her weapon. At least she had that.
Aldora dove back into the vines at her side and slipped in as far as the hedge would let her. She’d barely made it within before the beast was upon her. A thousand thorns pricked and sliced into her flesh on all sides, worse than those that had punctured her at the barrier. A whimper escaped her lips before she drew her hand up over them. The air was hot and heavy against her palm.
The shadow hovered, stilled and looked at the split trail like she had. The thing was massive, far more so standing so near, and Aldora was certain he toyed with her.
Please keep going. Don’t hear my heart.She prayed.
Something slithered across her scalp, burrowing through her hair and a screech caught in her throat. It took all her willpower not to tear out of the brush and claw it off.
“Minotaur! You lost her?”
Aldora eased back as the speaker approached from the left path. Its form was blocked by the horned beast directly in front of her.
She did not want to draw his attention, did not want him to find her. He may have caught her and protected her from the other fiends, but she otherwise had no idea what he had in store for her. Only hours ago they had spoken with a wall between them and his voice—with its seductively dark cadence—had enthralled her enough to keep her in place.
What he planned to do with her—to her—now that he had won was something she refused to find out. The only people she trusted were her family. The thought of them filled her with sadness and she quickly pushed them from her mind.
I will see them again...
I have to try.
The beast shot away and the centaur went in chase of him. Her hand remained poised over her mouth until she could no longer hear them, and when nothing else appeared, she tore out of the clinging vines and dropped her weapon, streaking her fingers through her hair.
She writhed frantically, leaning over to dislodge the critter on her head and the feel of its many, tiny legs. It tried to scurry away but she caught it under her boots as she stamped it into the ground. Aldora didn’t stop until nothing remained. The feel of it lingered on her raised flesh.
She picked up her shortsword and dashed to the left, sprinting a dozen yards down a veering path that led farther away from the barrier. It sloped sharply and brought her to a halt. The canopy had thickened to block whatever small amount of light shone from the moon, but she could still see the pile of small, broken bodies that were clearlynothuman below.
Their smell was sour and fresh. Aldora drew closer, an eye on her surroundings until the corpses were at her feet. One held a dagger stretched out in front of him and she snatched it up to slip into her boot. She pushed the body over, she found a bag attached to its belt. In it were items she couldn’t see but she took it anyway.
Howls arose in the distance and she shot to her feet.
Barghests.
Aldora looked around once more but she remained alone.It won’t be for long even if everything nearby has been killed. I need to hide.She glanced up at the canopy. She had no idea what awaited up there but she’d confront bugs over monsters any night.
She made quick work stashing her sword and finding a grouping of vines against the wall strong enough to hold her weight. As if barghests snapped at her heels, she climbed using the last of her rapidly diminishing energy. The hedge wall tapered at the top and she clenched her jaw, refusing to let it deter her. She hauled herself over it to find a shallow hollow. The foliage thickened and the vines were tangled in mass where it had collected within.
Aldora wasted no time as she crawled inside, forcing the mass to the sides and then in front of her to hide behind. She drew her legs to her chest.
The thorny vines twirled like slow-moving snakes around her frame and penetrated her flesh. She squeezed her eyes shut.
I’ll endure it. Endure it. Just long enough until the horrible sounds go away. I’ve climbed trees my whole life, I can climb the wall.
