Page 7 of A Monarch's Fall

He stopped spinning but shook his head.

“It’s already decided what it’s going to do with us. It’s just a matter of time,” he said quietly, shaking his head, defeated, and he looked pointedly behind me.

I turned back to see Fredrick trying his best to apply a tourniquet. But it was obviously too late.

Andreas was lying motionless, pale as the stone, his chest still.

“He’s gone,” I told Fredrick. The man looked at Andreas and leaned over him, shaking him by the shoulders.

“Wake up, boy,” he commanded, but there was no response, and there never would be.

“He lost too much blood,” I told Fredrick. “There was nothing you could have done. Not for an injury like that. Not with the supplies and training we have.”

Fredrick stood up but didn’t reply to me. His stare said enough, though. This was my fault. I had brought him here, and I was just a stupid kid who should have stayed at home, not played at being a commander.

“Right,” I said as the crow cawed again. “Idonea is going to show us out,” I stated, hoping.

I hoped she would see what was happening and use her crow to guide us from the maze.

“Ha!” Micky laughed, “Your girlfriend isn’t going to be able to help us,” Micky mocked.

I was going to lose my temper with him. I couldn’t deal with him losing his mind. Not now. I needed to get Percy out of this enchanted death trap.

“Micky, shut up and follow my commands,” I told him.

“Or what? We’re as good as dead already,” he countered.

“Or, if the maze doesn’t get you, I’ll kill you myself,” I warned.

“Right, boys, that’s enough from both of you. You can’t lose your head and turn on each other in a time like this. We need to stick together, keep calm and think our way out of here,” Fredrick commanded.

I didn’t like him taking control, but Micky seemed to sober at his words; at least he didn’t argue.

The crow cawed again.

“Right, we follow the crow,” I said and began to walk further into the maze, as the ground shifted beneath our feet, and the maze turned us a new direction every twenty feet or so.

“All we’re doing is prolonging the inevitable. How long was your second girlfriend in here for? Look at her, all banged up. It was having its way with her before we interrupted, and all we’ve done is offer ourselves up too,” Micky continued, his voice grating.

“Micky, give it a rest. Please,” I nearly begged, hugging Percy tighter to myself. We had walked the maze for what felt like an hour, but I didn’t know. I couldn’t look at my watch to check, not while I carried Percy. And she needed a healer. How long had she been unconscious?

“I see the way you’re looking at her,” Fedrick said, and I looked up from Percy to him. “You love her?” he asked.

“Entirely. It’s why I’m here. She’s not just an asset to me. This war is necessary; I’m fully behind it, I’d give my life for it, and I’d give my life for her. But I won’t let her die for the likes of Selene Borealis, the noble scum that are using her, lying to her, deluding her. The quicker we get her back to base, the quicker she can be de-brainwashed, unbugged, whatever the psych squad have planned,” I told him.

“I was told she was the key to all this, that the higher-ups have a plan for her. Way above my rank or pay to know the specifics. What about you, Lord Viridis, are you in on the secret?” he asked, glancing back at me as we were forced to turn around again, and I looked up to the cawing crow telling us to turn back where we just came from.

“It’s above me, too,” I answered.

Percy was special, I always knew that. I didn’t know just how unique and important she was to The New Foundation cause until recently. But that was still a need to know, and Fredrick wasn’t a need to know.

“We’ve been walking in circles,” Micky complained. “Should we really be following that crow?”

“How do you know we’ve been walking in circles?” I asked.

I had no idea which direction we were even facing anymore. The smoke of the burning Ardens Estate had at first given me our direction, but as the sun set, the smoke seemed to be all around, and I couldn’t identify where it originated from.

“That star,” he pointed, “It’s the little bear, see it looks like a ladle, the last star on the handle is the north star. We started north, because the mansion was at our southeast. Now we’re north again and have been over and over,” he explained.