“Run!” Asterollan shouted, and I grabbed Lyre’s hand and ran straight toward the maze. I could hear Asterollan shout something after us, but couldn’t make out what he said. We ran through the darkened hedges at a breakneck pace making several turns before we hit our first dead end. It was here that we paused, attempting to quiet our gasps for breath as we listened for any pursuit.

It was strangely quiet in the maze. Almost too unnaturally quiet. Lyre frowned, the glow surrounding him – he lifted a hand up to the sky, chanting quietly to himself in the elven language. I watched curiously as something in the air above the hedges seemed to glow in response to his gesture, some sort of normally invisible barrier that just barely pushed out like a bubble against his magic. “The maze has been enchanted,” he murmured, his voice barely loud enough for me to hear. “With a barrier of some sort.”

“To do what?” I whispered back, stepping closer to him.

“Some sort of obfuscation.” He was frowning as he allowed the spell to drop. No longer strained against, the barrier disappeared from sight, becoming invisible once more.

“Obfuscating what?” I asked.

“Not entirely sure, but it is muffling sound in the maze. Maybe making it harder to get out once we enter. Or harder to get further in.”

I felt myself go cold as I considered what that could mean. “Have we walked into a trap?” I asked.

“Possibly?” He stared absently for a moment, seeming to consider that, before looking over at me. His expression softened. “Nobody seems to be coming for us though.” I nodded. He was still holding my hand tightly, and gave a squeeze to reassure me. “Remember. I’ll protect you.” I nodded again but said nothing. If they were trying to keep us out, how had we entered the maze in the first place? We backtracked a little, but when we came to the first intersection we paused. “Do we want to try to leave, or to get further in?” Lyre asked.

I frowned, staring up at what I could see of the night sky above the tops of the hedges. “If no one has come for us yet, it might not be a trap. Maybe that king is somewhere further in the maze. Maybe they were trying to keep us out to protect him.”

“And he’d be well protected beyond the maze’s barrier,” Lyre pointed out. I nodded. Sensing my resolution, Lyre sighed. “Okay, let’s try to get through this thing.” We took the opposite path, going further into the maze.

The eerie silence was unsettling. I worried about what was happening to the others – how many soldiers had gone running after them? Would they be okay? I was completely lost in thought as I led the way through the maze, still tightly clutching Lyre’s hand in my own. “How are you doing this?” Lyre asked after a while. I turned to look at him, blinking in confusion. “We haven’t run into a dead end yet. It’s almost like you know where to go.”

I paused and considered that. I realized that in a strange way, I had made every turn with conviction. There hadn’t even been a second thought about running into the maze in the first place. Deep down, I suddenly understood why – I could feel T’Keran’s presence and it guided me voicelessly along my path – the air was alive with something that felt like the energy of a storm, and I could feel the mild prickle of static along the hair of my arms. Feeling a little unnerved at that realization, I shrugged. “I… I don’t know,” I told Lyre. He raised an eyebrow, but said nothing in response, and allowed me to continue leading the way.

Soon, I could hear the clinking of armor ahead and the sounds of voices. We slowed as we crept closer. If someone came towards us, it would be impossible to hide, but we had come this far and there wasn’t any turning back. I could hear a voice saying, “They’re making their way into the hedge maze, your Majesty. Not only that, but the barrier at the palace has dropped and they have captured Yasmin.” Chancing a glance around the corner, I could see that the maze opened out into a wide area with a fountain at its center. The silver-haired elf from the ballroom was holding a mirror, through which I could see the image of the man speaking. The king was staring into the mirror thoughtfully, a hand to his chin.

“Then we’ve failed,” he said. His words hung heavily in silence for several moments. I could see the pained expression of the man on the other side of the mirror. “I will leave first. Stay, and make sure none follow. If you find a chance to complete our mission, then do so. But once I am securely on the ship, make haste to retreat. There is no point in more of us dying now. We have failed a god, but perhaps the renewed seal will save us from its wrath.”

The man nodded as the image on the mirror disappeared, replaced with the king’s reflection. He looked troubled. He started to turn to give orders to those present – a small handful of soldiers and the elven mage. I ducked back behind the hedges to stay out of sight. He was telling the mage to stay put, and ordered the soldiers to follow him. I pressed against the wall of the hedge, and pulled Lyre back toward the nearest corner to remain out of sight – it sounded like they were getting closer. As I had guessed, I heard them enter the maze where I had been spying on them moments before.

I peeked around the edge and watched what corner they turned ahead of us. Dropping Lyre’s hand, I hurried forward to peek around that corner, just in time to see the next way they went. I could hear Lyre following behind, but mostly just hoped that he would keep up, because I was too worried about missing the direction they were taking. A few times, I had to guess by sound which way they had gone. As I realized they’d find the exit soon, a strange panic began to engulf me. What was I doing? Should I attack? Should I call out to them so I could speak to them? Throwing caution to the wind, I dashed around the next corner while they were still in sight, and shouted, “Wait!”

The king and the three soldiers with him turned, all looking surprised to see me. “That’s one of the Graces!” one of the soldiers shouted.

“Kill her!” the King commanded. “We might complete our mission yet!”

Well, shit, I chose poorly. Still, it did answer exactly what they were trying to do – they were trying to kill the Graces. I turned on my heel to run and practically smashed my head into Lyre so hard that I saw stars for a moment. “What?” Lyre groaned in confusion, grasping his head.

Hearing the approach of the metal armor, I blindly swept my hand up, feeling the surge of lightning release from my fingers and blast down the narrow path created by the hedges. I heard the screams of the men, and when I turned to look, still rubbing my own head, I could see that they had been electrocuted and the king had disappeared. Apparently electricity and metal armor was not a fun combination.

“The king got away,” I grumbled.

Lyre sighed. “We should go back and make sure the others are okay. It sounded like there were more soldiers.” Nodding, I led the way back through the maze. It wasn’t long before we heard the sounds of shouting and fighting from ahead. It sounded like it was coming from the spacious courtyard at the center of the maze.

I could hear Lexie shout, “I! Can’t! Catch!” just as I stepped out of the maze. The scene unfolded before me almost like it was in slow motion as I took in all the details. On the other side of the space, I could hear men crying out as the branches of the hedge grew out to engulf them, and I could see Lucas glowing, staring at them in concentration. I could see Peyton turn toward us, her eyes wide with surprise. I could see Lexie, with her hands outstretched, and the silver haired mage in front of her, diving forward bodily, her fingers clutching at what must have been her Focus. She glowed as she reached for her magic, and began to chant, her voice taking on the eerie echoey cadence of whatever spell she was preparing to cast.

Asterollan, only a few steps behind the mage, glowed suddenly, his eyes lighting up like beacons – he swung the sword he held in his hand in a downward motion, and a wave of light sliced through the air with his movement, straight into the mage in front of him, an extended blade of white light.

“Wait!” I cried out, waving my hand in an upward motion against Asterollan’s blade of light. I didn’t catch it in time – she cried out in pain as it began to slice into her. But I did keep it from slicing her in two, which I suspected it would have done. Asterollan’s glow dropped, and he turned to frown at me. Lyre rushed forward and grabbed the Focus from her fingers. She was whimpering and had already dropped her hold on magic. I met Asterollan’s unfeeling gaze and shuddered. “Maybe she has information,” I said to him.

He nodded, not questioning my judgment at least. His eyes flitted over me quickly, seeming to assess me, and when he was satisfied, he turned back toward a gaping hole in the hedge. “We should return to the castle,” he said, walking off without waiting to see if we followed. Lexie followed behind him quickly – she looked ashen and shaken and ready to be done with the night.

Lucas stepped forward, casting a healing spell on the mage. He flipped her onto her back, and she swung up at him with her hands, attempting to claw at his face. Lucas cried out and fell back as she did so, caught off guard. Peyton stepped forward, grabbing the other woman by one arm and hauling her up forcibly onto her feet, then twisted her arm deftly behind her back and pushed until the silver haired woman grimaced and gasped in pain. “Come quietly, or I break your arm. Then he heals it, and I break it again,” Peyton said, her voice a soft growl. The silver haired woman’s eyes rolled in terror, taking in her situation, and she gave a brief nod. Peyton grabbed her shoulder and pushed her ahead, following Lexie and Asterollan out of the maze.

Lucas stood up, brushing his pants off as he did so. He nodded to Lyre and me briefly, then wordlessly followed Peyton. This time, Lyre took my hand and led me from the maze. I noticed that Peyton’s hair was disheveled and her dress was nearly in tatters – she was wearing Lucas’s jacket. I hurried just enough to catch up with Lucas. “What happened to you guys?” I asked quietly.

“Got cornered in a cave,” he said simply, not offering any more explanation – very typically Lucas. I sighed.

We met Zolambi and Greyjon at the improvised maze exit, both glowing brightly with magic, surrounded by dwarven guards. Zolambi walked up, glaring suspiciously at Asterollan, before turning his attention to the rest of us. “I’m glad to see you’re all okay,” he said. “We have another slave mage captured at the palace. Raella is interviewing her now, but she seems reluctant to speak.”

“Some slaves are treated better than others, and have a degree of loyalty to their masters. Especially these two… I’ve heard they’re given a lot of personal freedom by the king.” Lyre spoke quietly, just loud enough to answer my question, but he was apparently heard by the silver haired woman, who glared daggers at him and turned her nose up into the air. I studied the tattoos on her face curiously – looping tendrils of tentacles that surrounded her right eye and extended up into her hairline and down along her neck. She was dressed nicer than Lyre and the others had been, and her hair was longer and had been carefully styled. She even seemed to be wearing makeup, now that I was really looking at her. I wondered how pampered her life had been compared to any other slave in the human lands.

As we passed the first soldier that had attacked us, Asterollan tossed the sword he held onto the body. We were escorted back to the castle and through the now empty ball room. The dwarven soldiers led us out through a set of doors underneath where we had initially entered, and down a lushly decorated hallway. I had the sense we were on the side of the castle that was built into the stones of the mountain. There was something about the walls and the space that felt dense in a way. The soldiers stopped outside one door near the end of the hall, and Zolambi swept into the room without hesitation, the rest of us following him.

It was a spacious meeting room of some sort, with a long table and chairs set around it. At the other end of the room, the dwarven king paced, his arms crossed behind his back. Raella and Chase turned to look up at us as we entered – they were standing in front of a chair, where another elven woman with a face tattoo was sitting. Hers was a solid block shaped like a flaming heart, with waves of flame continuing under her black hair and down her neck. Zolambi and Greyjon walked over to join them, as did Asterollan. Lucas walked halfway down the room, but then pulled out a chair and lounged in it. It was made for a dwarf, and it looked child sized and uncomfortable for him. He looked like he regretted it instantly, but was committed at that point. Peyton pushed her prisoner over, and another chair was provided for the silver haired woman, so that she was seated across from her fellow slave.

Chase, glancing over at the rest of us, looked suddenly very concerned. She stepped over to Lexie and placed her hands on her shoulder. “You look awful, Lexie! You’re shivering! Let’s go get you cleaned up.” She glanced up at the rest of us. “All of you should come with me, we’ll go get some food and rest for you back in your rooms.”

I shook my head vigorously, and Peyton spoke up, saying, “I’m staying for this. I want to know why we were attacked. And we have other things to discuss.”

Lexie seemed uncertain about leaving with Chase, seeing how resolved the rest of us were to stay, until Lucas popped back up from the chair, almost tripping over it awkwardly as he did so. “You know, a good hot bath and meal sound wonderful. Let’s get out of here, Lexie.” Peyton smiled warmly at his retreating back as Lexie nodded wordlessly, and Chase led them out of the room.