Page 42 of Quarter Labyrinth

Clark jabbed me with his elbow, but I went on. “It was. The daggers are nice but they can’t guarantee you a win—not even close. Both the bad chalices would set you so far back, you’d have no hope of reaching the center. You shouldn’t have drunk any.”

She studied me as if deciding I would be receiving one of those daggers in my chest soon. “My brother had just died, and I was defenseless. So no, it wasn’t a bad deal. It likely made the difference between me walking out of here alive, and my body becoming food for the Labyrinth Wolves.”

That silenced us. Astrid cleared her hoarse throat before lifting the pant leg of her trousers. A small tattoo of a fish stretched over her ankle bone.

“She’s marked me. I’m her champion.”

I glanced to Clark for an explanation. He leaned closer, letting the warmth of his breath rake down my neck.

“Lady Luck picks two competitors to aid along their journey. Astrid must have impressed her by choosing right. She’ll be the lesser champion, no doubt. Lady Luck likes to pick one obvious winner and one underdog.”

Astrid watched us whisper with narrowed eyes. I glared back.

Maybe we should leave before autumn. Spring hadn’t even ended and I didn’t know how to get along.

“We met a Stone God,” Harald said before the tension could crack. “The Archer.”

I’d just looked to Clark again when Harald continued. “He didn’t mark Tove and I, but he showed us his secret path that led deep into the labyrinth, and filled our bellies with food. We’d still be miles back if he hadn’t helped us.”

“What was the cost?” Clark asked before I could.

“Nothing.” Harald grinned at his little sister, huddled close to him for warmth. “He also gave us a hint on how to find the center, so I know we travel the right way.”

His brown eyes flickered upward. He spoke of the star in the east.

“So, anyone else meet a Stone God?” Harald asked. A stretch of quiet followed. I didn’t offer up our meeting Aurelia Brightspire, and oddly enough, neither did Clark.

Come to think of it, he never told me what she’d offered him.

I didn’t care about the other Stone Gods much, but one had piqued my interest. “What do you know about the one called Dimitri?”

Harald’s brows dart up. “The king of the labyrinth? Plenty. He created this place with magic to impress a girl, and offered a wish to whoever reached the center of the labyrinth first. A knight won, and used his wish to bind Dimitri to the confines of his labyrinth, and he went on to marry the girl instead. Their bloodline went on to become Lord of the Isles. To this day, none of the Lord of the Isle’s bloodline dare to enter the labyrinth for fear of Dimitri’s wrath.”

“I thought the labyrinth was Callahan’s doing?” One of the young boys in our group asked.

“Just for this one time every four years. Dimitri loses his grip on the labyrinth long enough for Callahan to have his fun, then the maze goes back to Dimitri who vanishes with it.” Harald took a swig from the dregs of his flask. “I’m impartial to most of the Stone Gods, but Dimitri is untamed and as wild as the labyrinth. He’s the one to stay away from.”

We all stared at him. Harald had a way with his words as if they were silky threads of magic and he were weaving a spell over us as he spoke. The spell broke as he smiled. “Relax. Dimitri doesn’t often show himself. And with Lady Luck having marked one in our group, we all have good odds of making it out with a bit of magic in our pockets.”

The conversation drifted away from anything interesting such as Stone Gods or slices of magic. Families we came from, lives left behind, what we planned to do after leaving. Most didn’tintend to go home. All the while, some of the kids would shift skeptical gazes our way, or slide them to each other, giving me the constant reminder that we couldn’t trust any of them.

Nothing interesting came up again until Gunnar pointed to me and Clark.

“I’m surprised you’re still alive. This one especially.” He poked his dagger at Clark’s leg. “He’s made of two left feet.”

“Leave him alone.” I sent Gunnar a glare.

Gunnar snickered but stopped prodding Clark.

“We’ve been lucky,” Clark replied, giving me a look as if I were the one who needed to stop. Clark would let the whole island walk all over him before saying a word. I would rather kill them all than let them hurt him. “Our home island is close by, and we followed someone who had a clue. Since entering the labyrinth, we’ve only encountered one other group besides you.”

Plus Leif. And the girl who ran. But I didn’t correct him.

They accepted this happily enough, and conversation went on.

Occasionally, the crack of boughs snapping against one another would cut the night, or the bristle of wind pulling through the maze. The rain covered most sounds. When the heat of summer came, we’d all need to step lighter.

But sometimes, all other sounds would hush as the cry of a wolf’s howl drowned all else out.

---