Page 12 of A Monarch's Fall

It opened more and more as we walked. Dylan walked to our side and, for once, stopped speaking.

We moved with speed and purpose; the maze had answered me, and it was releasing us.

It wasn’t long before the long stretch came to a dead end. At the end, the wall before us, blocking our exit, began to shake and groan, then cracked in half, and the noise of the outside world flooded in: the sound of fire and panic, and the erratic, slow pop, pop, pop of gunfire. Night had fallen entirely. Only the cloudless sky, stars, moon, and orange-red fires provided light.

“How long were we in the maze?” I asked. It felt like I had lost the entire afternoon. Daylight had been fading faster and faster each day, making it difficult for me to keep track of time by daylight alone. I wondered, with worry, if at some point in the deepest of winter, Ardens became like an eternal night.

Chapter four

Sweet Escape.

Percy Flores

The sound of dying battle, the smell of smoke, the gloom of the evening — it was unlike anything I had ever experienced and so disorientating, to go from the eerie quiet of the maze to being released into a new type of chaos.

Fredrick bundled me close to him. I was grateful for his kindness. He didn’t struggle with my weight, though I thought he was likely mostly human, as there was no glow to his brown eyes.

“Listen to me, this isn’t going to be easy. We’ve got ground to cover, and I can’t promise that it won’t get bumpy,” Fredrick told me, eyes locking with mine in seriousness. “Keep your head down and don’t make this more difficult than it has to be.”

His instructions were given in a no-nonsense manner. He reminded me of my father and of Remy, of all the men from home like him who felt like it was their responsibility to takecare of the people around them. If I didn’t believe that he was coming from a place of genuine care, I would have been offended at being spoken to like a child. Instead, I gripped tighter to him, trusting that he had me.

“I’m not going to get in the way,” I told him as we exited the maze. I looked around and saw that the maze had opened for us at the opposite side of its entrance. I was even further away from Ardens’ mansion, further from Selene.

“Just checking,” he laughed, a slight apology in his tone.

“Shh,” Dylan commanded, pulling his rifle into his grasp from across his back.

I looked at Dylan as he stepped ahead of us. As his boots made contact with the mowed lawns, the earth directly in front of his toes erupted. Quick sputters of gunfire blew mini craters into the earth.

“Dylan!” I screamed in fear for him.

He jumped back, swinging his arm out to push Fredrick and me back also.

“Where’s it coming from?” Dylan asked as we crouched down using the open maze wall for cover.

I could feel the maze rumble, the ground beneath our feet unsettled.

“High ground,” Fredrick answered. “The angle of the shot, from what I remember of the land before being swept into this nightmare maze, I reckon from the lip of the orchard hill.”

The ground rumbled beneath our feet again, like the maze was losing patience with us. It felt like it wanted us gone, and I worried for a moment that it would change its mind, if it had a sort of mind, and sweep us back into its belly.

“We’ve got to make a run for it,” Dylan decided.

“And hope they can’t hit a moving target?” I asked incredulously.

“Percy’s right, they have the advantage, got us in their sights,” Fredrick agreed.

“We can’t stay here either,” Dylan protested.

“This witch here controlled the maze once; she can do it again,” Fredrick argued.

I wasn’t sure I entirely agreed. I was becoming so tired, a bone-deep tiredness, even holding my own head up was something that required effort.

“I’m not so certain that’s true,” Dylan said, looking at me, “I’m sorry, Percy, no offence. It’s just, you’re not in the best shape right now. Anyway, we can’t stay here; it’s only a matter of time before they come to us if we don’t make a move.”

“You want to make a run for it?” Fredrick asked.

“Yes.”