What sorcery was this?
The air shimmered. A golden spark hovered ahead, no larger than a firefly. Its soft light flickered in time with my racing heartbeat.
“Hello?” my voice rasped with weakness and pain.
“This way.” The glowing spark whirled, then darted down the next tunnel. Whether it was real or a hallucination, I couldn’t say.
A hysterical laugh pushed from my lips, my side aching in protest. Follow a mysterious light into the unknown? Why not? It wasn’t the craziest thing I’d done today.
I hefted my skirts off the ground with shaking arms and stumbled down the path. The light led, and I followed. Left. Left.Right. Left. Right. The golden guide twisted through the hedge-walls, always just far enough ahead to pull me forward.
All at once, I broke free of the twisting maze. Open ground lay before me, moonlight spilling across the world beyond the labyrinth.
“I made it.” The words dragged up my throat on a ragged gasp. Relief shivered through my body, the sensation cut short by the white-hot pain that seared my side. I pressed a hand to my sodden bandage.
Where was I? I knew the labyrinth better than any other servant or nobleman alive. Together, Speck and I had mapped every shortcut and dead end. But this stretch of ground? It didn’t exist on any of my maps.
Branches snapped behind me. Lumbering footsteps pounded the soil.
No! I fought the urge to sob. How did they make it out when even I had gotten lost? Could it be they were following my scent…or something else?
Regardless, they wouldn’t find me docile prey. I’d run until my legs gave out. Fight until my heart beat its final pulse.
I staggered forward, trudged along the path, forcing one foot in front of the other. All I could do was keep going. Keep going. Keep. Going.
As I forged ahead, time stretched out. Screams grew distant.
Keep.
Going.
Each time I slowed, the sound of the cackling creatures grew louder. Miles passed beneath my trudging feet. Or was it mere steps that I’d traveled? Who knew?
Keep…
The terrain flattened, spilling me onto open ground. Moonlight sparkled across water as smooth as glass. The musty scent of moss and lichen hit my nose, and a hoarse cry broke free of my throat.
I’d reached the lake. Of all the places to end up. Being a slave, I’d never learned to swim. Not that I could manage it, hindered by a cart’s worth of ruffles and blood-soaked lace.
Scritch. Scritch. Scritch.
The sound skittered across the water’s surface, echoing like claws scraping granite. My muscles seized.
They were here.
Flark! What was with these things?
I clenched my fists and spun to face them. If they’d come to end me. I would not face death lying down.
One by one, they emerged from the shadows. Their emaciated frames were wiry. Blackened, leathery flesh clung to their lanky bodies. Soulless red eyes peered at me, burning with hunger.
One tipped its head back, uttering those strange popping and clicking noises. Dread turned my guts watery. Fates, how I loathed that noise. More than fire. More than Mortis or Penelope’s demands. More than the chains I wore.
It was the sound of crushed dreams.
Hope’s demise.
The end of a life I’d yet tolive.
