The soggy land, predators, and marsh fever deterred even the most tenacious patrollers and adventurers.
Those that journeyed to Thetras afterward loved to boast of their courage in surviving the swamp people. Thetras, thankfully, had not been affected yet, and had not received criminals.
They had not made a sacrifice since the last harvest, several months prior, and they had never, in her lifetime, had an issue with the mists spreading.
She’d never been more than several hours outside of Thetras, and even then, Aldora hated leaving it. Travel time was wasted time as far as she was concerned, and having to journey days to get someplace seemed absurd. Everything she could ever want was right here.
She shifted her bag onto her other shoulder, rolling the previous ache away. The sun was moving below the horizon now, and the chatter of nocturnal creatures quickly filled her ears.
I still have a distance to go.Her eyes drifted to the rising moon.If I run, I can still make it before full dark. Her tired muscles and clouded head argued otherwise, so she settled on expending her last threads of energy with a brisk walk.
A gut-wrenching roar filled her ears, and dozens of birds shot into the sky,squawkingwith fear.
Aldora startled, stepping back, feeling the blood drain from her face. She clutched her bag to her chest. One hand dropped to the dagger strapped to her hip and jerked it out, brandishing it in the direction of the sound.
She fell back another step, and then another until she was off the path and in the shade of the trees. The grunting, hollering, and shrieking sounds continued and she lowered down into a crouch. Her heart thundered, and she felt the pounding in her chest right down to the soles of her feet. Sweat slickened her palms.
She stared in the direction of the noises, where the trees looked different from those that covered her. Their leaves were half-withered and their trunks covered in vines. The walls of the world labyrinth stood beyond, casting an even deeper shadow.
Even now as the ruckus lessened, she knew it came from behind the thick hedges and crumbling walls. They were bestial, and all bestial things came from one place:the mist.
Aldora lowered her dagger and eased her breath. The quieter the noises became, the quieter she became. Soon, what had been the rage of battle became the screams of the dying, and the rasps of the victor.
She squinted as the sunlight dimmed and tucked her dagger back within its sheath, quietly rising to her feet.
Aldora gingerly stepped back onto the path. A grunt sounded and she stilled again. It continued into gruff words and hissed out breaths, all of it husky and deep. Her ears pricked, and she approached the wall to hear it better.
It was the first time she’d ever heard anything remotely sentient so close to the barrier. The usual noises that ascended from the maze were animalistic.
This was still animalistic but...different.
She slowly crossed to the other side of the path until she stood at the treeline, peering through the shadowy brush to the wall of the labyrinth hidden behind.
She placed her hand on a nearby trunk and ducked under a branch, moving steadily closer to where the racket originated from. Needles from the vines scraped her skin, protruding twigs snagged her clothes, and the soles of her boots sank down into the moist pile of leaves beneath her feet. Threads of her brown hair were pulled from her braids to tangle in the winding shrubs.
The wall was a living, ever-changing entity but the one thing that was consistent throughout its entirety was the mist that seeped from above and below. It spread like smoke and silk across the barrier, and over the ruins and hedge-growth that made it up. It wasn’t dangerous, being so close to the wall. Nothing but the mist could pass through it, but it rarely reached farther than the edge of the path. At least, never near Thetras.
But they sacrificed a lot to the maze. A lot. Hoping it would never try to expand and consume them.
A shiver raked up her spine.
“May your spark reach the light and your body remain untouched.”
Aldora stopped.A voice?She cocked her head, straining to hear more, her braids falling forward to rest loosely on her shoulders.
“May your blood nourish the ground and find new life. Blood guard us, blood sustain, until the day that only blood remains.”
A breath escaped her as words—rough and deep, but as clear as day—filled her ears.Someone in the labyrinth is still alive!
Her satchel landed on the ground with a heavy thud, snapping several sticks under its weight.
“I can hear you!” Aldora shouted, exhilarated, forgetting her fear. “I hear you!”
The rustling noises came to a sudden stop.
No one ever hears voices from the labyrinth. Her eyes widened at the prospect.Not unless it’s during a day of sacrifice.After that, it was the braying of the terrified, the cries of the innocent, and even those pleas of the guilty rose up like a wicked storm for all to hear.
“Can you hear me? Please hear me.” Her eyes darted around. “Are you all right?” She looked for leverage, for something, anything, to use to help her get the man out. It had to be a man. The voice she’d heard was far too harsh and low to be a woman’s.
