His resolve was galvanized when he belatedly saw who was next to Elowen. Once again Lord Bertrand had been faster than Theo in reaching the stands and had placed himself alongsidethe princess. Theo was too far away to hear whether the viscount was minding his father’s rebuke, but by the twist of the other man’s face, he doubted it. Theo strode past, annoyed with the flare of jealousy he felt, and uninterested in joining them. His memory threw before his eyes a flash of blonde hair as it whipped in the wind while he and Elowen rode out of the city, followed by an image of striking blue eyes, brimful of emotion as she looked up at him after he steered her from the flood.
Theo tried to push sentiment away. Maybe he’d been as guilty of romanticizing their situation as any daydream Elowen might have had. That version of the princess seemed out of reach, perhaps not even real. And the polite distance between them now shouldn’t bother him so much. That was weakness on his part. He had no need for impatience. They would have a lifetime to get to know one another.
The afternoon brought the much-anticipated maze race. At the appointed time, Theo made his way to the huge space at the very back of the tournament fields. Since he’d last seen it, many hands had been hard at work rearranging the hay bales. Walls of hay rose in front of him, above the height of his head, and judging by the hugely elevated stands that ringed the area, the maze stretched for a reasonable distance. Spectators on the stands would likely catch only glimpses of whatever was happening within. Theo took his place beside the other challengers, impressed as he considered the walls of hay. The scope of the task was enormous—Theo suspected magic had been involved to arrange it in such a short time.
His eyes moved to the stands, drawn at once to a splash of pure gold on the highest level. Elowen was accompanied by her brother in a roped off section of stands, and she looked as fascinated by the hay maze as Theo was. His heart jolted ever so slightly, even though it was absurd to feel nerves over her watching him. At least Lord Bertrand wasn’t with her this time.
The master of events stepped with a flourish onto a raised dais in front of the hay maze. He looked pleased with himself as he explained the rules of the event, and Theo suspected he’d been the mastermind. The buzz of curious excitement that pervaded the crowd suggested this was a new event. Theo listened as the nobleman explained that it was a timed event, with contestants completing the course separately, one after another, competing for the fastest time.
“The maze will test our brave competitors on much more than their sense of direction,” he said at the end of his explanation. “While many of our events at this tournament test strength and skill with weapons, this challenge also requires strength and quickness of mind. Contestants must display their ability to detect and face danger, to solve problems quickly, to employ strategic thinking, and to prove their strength of character.”
That seemed like a lot for one medium-sized hay bale maze, but Theo clapped politely along with the riotous cheers from the spectators. He was halfway down the line of contestants, but the order must have been determined by rank, as he was called forward first.
With a beaming smile and a low bow, the master of events waved him toward the entrance to the maze. Theo had just stepped up to it when a loud blast sounded from a bugler nearby. His time had begun.
Curbing the instinct to sprint into the maze, Theo paused to examine a wooden box placed on a stand right next to the entrance. Written on a paper next to the box, in the flowing script of a royal scribe, were the words, “To aid in your quest.” A second glance showed that what he’d taken to be intricate carvings on the box were actually joining lines between different pieces of wood.
He’d seen items like this before. It was a puzzle box, cunningly designed so that only the right sequence of movements would open it. He and Xavier had been given one each by a nobleman from the island kingdom of Pulau on a rare diplomatic visit. They’d spent hours figuring them out, and then spent too many afternoons tormenting their tutor by hiding essential items inside.
The box in front of Theo was larger than the ones he’d seen before, but it was clearly a similar concept. He picked up the box, coming to a stop in front of the stand. Impatient murmurs grew in the crowd as he twisted it around, testing one section, then prodding another. He could hear some muted jeers from his fellow contestants as one minute stretched into two. He ignored them beyond angling his body to block their view so as not to give any advantage.
It took maybe three minutes before he found the secret, and the box came apart in his hands. He heard an admiring whistle from a squire nearby, and a flash of boyish triumph swept over him as he scooped up the contents of the box. These were a fresh apple and a few gold coins. Pocketing them, Theo turned and moved into the maze. It proceeded around a corner without offering him options, presumably so the other contestants couldn’t see which turn he would take. The hay rose up around him, obscuring most of the stands, although he could still see the pennants that rose, fluttering, from the spectators’ boxes. He avoided touching the walls, not eager to be itchy and dusty for the rest of the day.
When he reached the first fork, he chose a direction at random, proceeding down it for only a few paces before he paused. Straining his ears and trying to block out the noise of the crowd, he heard it again. A rumbling growl, like a tiger but too high in pitch. The hair stood up on the back of his neck in an instinctive response. From the descriptions he’d heard, itsounded like the distinctive growl of the pantherine, the winged snow leopards found only in the mountain range in the north of Carrack, right at the point where the Peninsula ended and the continent began. Legend was that the Dust created by the movement of the reclusive creatures’ wings emerged already formed into enchantments that a person of even the most rudimentary skill could simply harness.
Legend also had it that they were swift and vicious, swooping on their prey from above before their presence was detected. Very few had seen one and lived to tell of it.
It seemed unlikely to Theo that the Torrenese had managed to catch one and bring it here for the tournament, but he’d prefer not to find out. Perhaps rushing headlong in to investigate was what the master of events had meant by showing his “ability to detect and face danger”, but it seemed foolish to Theo when there was an alternate, growl-free route to explore. Retracing his steps, he proceeded the other way. He moved quickly through the maze, encouraging him to think he’d chosen well. A couple of times he met a dead end and had to backtrack, but never very far.
He estimated he was halfway across the expanse of the maze when he turned a corner and found himself faced with a small swamp. It was quite ingenious, really, how contained it was while still clearly deep and boggy, and emitting a smell that would be familiar to anyone who lived near swampland. Stretched over the surface of the swamp were a series of small wooden platforms, in various shapes. They were rigged up to a clever pulley system, and Theo discovered that by manipulating the ropes that lay on his side of the swamp, he could shift them. He pulled one close to the edge and stepped onto it, only to quickly jump back as it listed wildly. He looked carefully over the platforms again, and suddenly understood. He was supposed tofit the shapes together to form a path, and once in position, they would stabilize each other enough for him to cross.
He let go of the rope, resisting the temptation to start pulling them into place at once. Instead he studied all the shapes, trying to fit them together in his mind. If he’d had paper and a quill pen, he would have sketched them out, but as it was, the best he could do was scratch a few shapes into the dirt. It took several minutes to solve the puzzle and several more to maneuver the platforms into position, but at last he had his path. It held steady for him as he crossed quickly over, wrinkling his nose at the smell issuing from the bog with a burping sound.
Soon after the swamp, he once again heard an animal sound, although this one wasn’t a growl. It was the angry whinny of a horse, and Theo instinctively hurried toward it rather than away. When he rounded a corner of hay bales, he was confronted with the sight of the beautiful roan he’d seen that morning, tied to a stake on a lead that was far too short for its size. Scowling disapprovingly, Theo moved toward it, only to pause when it shied and reared.
He would need to be careful. It was no flying leopard, but those hooves could do plenty of damage if the horse decided he was a threat. Theo once again wished he had a cube of sugar in his pocket, then suddenly remembered the items from the puzzle box.
“I doubt you want the gold, do you?” he said to the horse, a smile in his voice as he tried to speak soothingly. “But an apple might be just right.”
He moved forward slowly, offering the apple in his outstretched hand while continuing to speak kindly to the nervous creature. Behind it, he could see the path twisting on, and was sure it was the route he needed to take. It was tempting to rush past the horse and take his chances, but he forced himself to instead take the time needed to soothe it, for its ownsake as well as for the competition. He would have liked to untie it, but he knew that was overstepping, so he contented himself with waiting until the horse was calm enough to take the apple from his hand.
“You’re not so wild, really, are you?” Theo said, smiling as he ran a hand down the horse’s flank. “Just wild enough, hm?”
His movements still slow and predictable, Theo slid past the horse, calmly explaining his intentions as he moved. He stayed at the head end, continuing to talk gently until he was fully clear. He knew time was slipping quickly away, but he hovered one more moment.
“I’m sorry about this ordeal, my friend,” he told the horse frankly. “I hope you’ll at least get plenty of apples out of it.”
The horse gave no reply, and Theo hurried on through the maze. He’d barely rounded the next corner when he became aware of something strange. Everything had gone very still, and Theo thought for a moment that the spectators had stopped making noise altogether. He paused, straining his ears and wondering what dramatic incident outside the maze had silenced a whole crowd. But once he focused on it, he realized that the hum of the crowd was still there. Following some instinct, he reached out instead with his under-developed magic sense.
Something definitely seemed off. He waved his hand in front of his face, focusing on the movement. Even with all his concentration bent to the task, he could sense no Dust being stirred up by the motion. The air felt empty without it, everything off balance and wrong. Uneasy, Theo looked around him, wondering if it was part of the competition. But then, as he started cautiously back into motion, the sensation of Dust returned to the air with a whoosh that was almost audible. Once again, his mind faintly sensed the comforting cushion of magicthat followed on every movement of his body, and the air no longer felt empty.
Unnerved, Theo hurried through the hay corridor more quickly now, eager to be done with the challenge. He reached another fork, and glancing to the left he felt his heart thud erratically as something small flashed through his vision. Surely they could no more have gotten a carbuncle into the maze than a pantherine. But he’d seen the flash of light hitting the forehead of the small canine.
Any reference to carbuncles always engulfed Theo in a wave of discomfort so potent it turned his stomach. But the sighting felt especially eerie after whatever had just happened with the magic. Turning resolutely away, he took the other path. He wouldn’t get distracted from his purpose.
A moment later, he wondered if he’d chosen the wrong way when he found his route blocked by three burly men holding clubs. Theo came to a standstill, eyeing their threatening posture. Surely they wouldn’t actually be allowed to beat the visiting prince with their clubs. But judging by the size of them, they wouldn’t have to do more than defend in order to stop him proceeding.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen,” Theo said pleasantly.
