Page 39 of The Lord of the Labyrinth

“Lord Arun wishes me to go with you?”

“Yes,” Kate lied. But she wanted to believe that Lord Arun would have wanted to save this poor creature if he had been here. He was a dark Fae, sure, but Patch had said thatdarkdidn’t meanevil. It just meant his powers came from the night, from the moon. He wanted to protect his realm and all the creatures in it from the Seelie, so it only made sense he’d want to protect them from each other too, right?

I’m probably just trying to make excuses for him.

The small troll got to its feet and staggered a few steps. It was perhaps only eight or so feet tall, far smaller than the trolls that had been attacking it.

“Magda,” the troll rasped, her voice softer than the others. “I am Magda.”

“You’re a girl?” Kate asked as the ring of trolls still held their council.

“Yes.”

“A girl troll. That’s cool.” She held out a hand to Magda. “Let’s get you out of here.”

Magda and Kate hurried away, reaching a frantic Patch at the end of the long passageway just as the trolls finished their discussion and turned around. The beasts clearly expected to find Kate still standing where she had been. One scratched his head in bafflement before another spotted Kate and Magda, who were now quite a good distance from the group of trolls.

“Here, squeeze through here!” Patch pointed at the narrow rock walls on either side, which formed a somewhat covered roof with a small bit of light breaking through above them. “They won’t be able to follow us through here.”

Kate saw the trolls in the distance, lifting rocks to throw in their direction. If they didn’t get deep enough into this pass, those rocks might hit them.

Magda watched Kate with dark, worried eyes.

“Take Magda with you, Patch. I’ll be right behind you,” Kate said, encouraging Magda to go. She stood and faced the trolls, who were slowly lumbering toward them. From here, she caught a glimpse of the distant palace above the trolls’ heads.

How did I miss that?

“What are you doing, girl?” Patch snapped. “Do you have rocks for brains?”

The kobold’s shout shook her out of her thoughts.

The ground shook from the herd of trolls heading their way. Kate raced behind Patch and Magda through the slender passage between the walls. The trolls hurled rocks at them, which shattered over the top of the narrow passage, causing debris to rain down.

“Keep running!” Kate shouted at the kobold and troll ahead of her.

A fragment of one of the smaller rocks that burst above them struck Kate’s temple in a glancing but painful blow. Kate stumbled, trying to catch herself on the side of the passageway walls as her vision blurred and an intense wave of pain washed through her body.

Magda turned back, her dark eyes searching for Kate in the dim light.

“Kate? Where are you?” Magda called out.

“Here. I’m...here.” Kate tried to breathe through the pain in her skull, but it was difficult. She reached up to touch the side of her head, and her fingers met a warm, sticky liquid.

Blood.

Kate stared at her fingertips. Head wounds usually were superficial, but they bled a lot, right?Please, God, let that be true... because I don’t feel that good.

“Kate, are you okay?” Magda asked.

“Yes, I’m fine.” Kate knew it was a lie, but she had to get a little farther inside, make sure it was safe for her friends before she sat down to rest.

Magda took Kate’s hand as they moved deeper into the tunnel, deeper into the dark. She was thankful to hold Magda’s hand and for a short while to feel that she wasn’t alone, or that someone besides the grumpy kobold might care about her.

“Be quiet, both of you,” Patch whispered somewhere up in front of her. Kate stared into the gloom, trying to spot the kobold. She thought she could make out his dark form just ahead.

The sky vanished above, and they entered a cave-like passageway. No sunlight broke through here.

“It’s too dark,” Kate said. “We can’t go forward without a light. Is this one of the mines your brothers work in, Patch?”

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