Page 19 of Goddess of the Broken

“You don’t want to be the first to enter. Letthemwalk into the traps and trigger them. We will follow after.”

Sylvia only nodded as they took less-hurried steps through the gate’s large opening. Another wall stood only three giant steps in front of them, creating a tall and narrow alleyway.

Tempest was already on high alert. She found it very concerning that no rules had been laid out for this. This wasn’t right. Usually, the trials began with a long speech and regulations.

“Which way should we go?” Sylvia asked.

Nothing in either direction suggested which was the correct way to go. To the left, an opening in the wall led further into the maze, while the avenue to the right split off in several directions.

“This way,” Tempest said, motioning left.

“Are you sure?”

“Not in the slightest, but we only have one decision to make if we go this way,” Tempest pointed out, “compared to several if we head the other way.”

Deciding that was reason enough, Sylvia caught up to Tempest, and they walked together into the maze.

Tempest chose to continue going left at every turn, only changing course if they could hear the other competitors in that direction. The loud roars of beasts, clashing of metal on metal, and screams grew more frequent the further they went. To their surprise, they didn’t encounter any of the challenges that the other women appeared to have stumbled on.

Tempest’s gut turned. “This is too easy.”

“You think so, too?” Sylvia asked as she peeked down an alley they passed by.

“Either your god has made you very lucky—a possibility, considering your sponsor is the god of time—or something perilous is waiting for us, possibly even hunting us.”

Sylvia grasped Tempest’s sleeve. “Do you really think so?”

Tempest nodded as they made their next turn.

Sylvia stopped suddenly, pulling Tempest to a halt as well. “Do you see that?”

“See what?”

“The shadow.”

Looking around, Tempest didn’t notice anything unique about the shadows.

Sylvia let go of her sleeve and walked back to the turn they’d last taken. “I’m right. It’s different.”

Tempest joined her and compared the two. It appeared the shadow of one wall had grown longer than the one on the other side of the alley. Looking up the length of the walk, it seemed to beckon them forward.

“There's something over there.”

“Maybe where one of the tokens is hidden?”

They smiled at each other.

“Sylvia, maybe you are lucky. There’s only one way to find out. Let’s go.”

They picked up their pace and chose turns that took them into alleys with longer shadows. Eventually, a tile roof began to show above the top of the walls. They had to be getting close to whatever it was, and Tempest really hoped that Sylvia was lucky after all. Despite knowing that competitors rarely died, she did not like the chances that they could be very, very wrong about what was at the end of the path they followed. With Sylvia by her side, she didn’t dare call for Soulshadow; it would give her identity away.

Suddenly a tall building appeared, tucked inside a courtyard through an opening in the alley. The sound of grinding stone immediately came from behind them as the two women stepped through the opening. Tempest whipped around to see the stone wall close off the last of the gap that had been there only moments before. A quick look around the courtyard revealed no other openings. They were trapped.

Chapter 12

“Whatdowedo?”Sylvia’s voice trembled as if she was near crying again.

Tempest walked cautiously towards the building. “I’m not sure yet.”

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