“Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Because outsiders are not supposed to know the Ellel Dorei are there,” Raithe said. “They are the ghosts of the Maze, invisible yet seeing all. They are the first line of protection for the city—their effectiveness comes from people not knowing they’re being watched.”
“Oh.”
Raithe sighed. “There are many things I cannot tell you about Irrikah, Sparrow,” he said. “We are a very secretive people, and the queen wishes for us to remain that way. For now, trust that everything I do is for the safety of the group. Once we get to Irrikah and you meet the queen, you’ll understand.”
I nodded. I still didn’t like it; Vahn had told me the same thing once: There were things about the guild that he couldn’t share. I’d accepted it back then; the Guildmaster had his secrets, and it wasn’t any of my business. Except, it was. He’d been lying to me my whole life, and when his secrets had finally come out, the Deathless King had destroyed the city.
We returned to the others, and found that Kysa had already saddled both Rhyne and Ratuk. Solasti had finally moved on, leaving the skies to her sister, Namaia, who was casting long shadows over the cliff walls.
“We are ready to continue,” Kysa told Raithe as we ducked beneath the rock ledge. “However, I don’t believe it is a sound idea to fly inside the Maze. From what I can see, the passages arenarrow, and there are many sharp turns. Walking will be slower, but I would rather do that than have either of our mounts slam into a wall or clip a wing on a sharp curve. Crashing your beetle is not a pleasant experience.”
“Ah.” Halek grimaced. “I can imagine. Not that I’m suggesting this, but I’m guessing walking along the top of the Maze is a no-no.”
“You’ll never find Irrikah if you go that route,” Raithe said. “The magic over the city makes it impossible for anyone, even its citizens, to enter from above. Not to mention, you’ll draw the ire of certain people who might see such actions as an attack. To reach Irrikah, we must go through the Maze.”
“No shortcuts, then.” Halek sighed. “Fair enough.”
“Also,” Raithe added, and his pale eyes flickered to me, “once we’re inside, it is vitally important to stay together. The Maze is dangerous on many levels. Not only is it easy to get lost, but there are things in the labyrinth that you don’t want to run into. Generally, the paths we’ll be taking are safe enough, but I want you to be prepared in case we do meet something wandering the Maze.”
“Just out of curiosity, what type of ‘something’ are we talking about, exactly?” Halek wanted to know. “Are we talking angry ghosts, the souls of those who became lost in the Maze and are now cursed to wander it for all time? Or are these more flesh-and-blood-type creatures with large fangs and claws, who love to snack on lost travelers?”
“I have never met a spirit within the Maze,” Raithe answered, much to my relief. “However, there are stories of iylvahn whoswear they have seen figures in the passageways or following them through the labyrinth. There is a rather famous story of a kahjai who met a wounded brother lying against the rocks not far from the city. He offered help, but the wounded man begged him to first retrieve his ancestral blade from a creature he had killed. He had struck the creature a mortal blow, and it had fled with his sword between its ribs. Its lair was just around the corner, but when the kahjai went to retrieve the blade, he found the sword lying in the skeleton of some massive beast. And when he returned with the blade, the wounded man was gone. All he found of him was a long-corroded dagger lying in the rocks.”
Raithe paused, as if he knew his story was causing my skin to prickle, before a faint smile crossed his face. “But, like I said, I have never met any kind of spirit within the Maze. The things we have to be worried about are the ones with large teeth and claws. But we shouldn’t see them. The most dangerous creatures wander the deepest parts of the labyrinth and are never seen except by those unlucky enough to become lost. We won’t have that problem. Still, stay together and be on your guard. We should reach Irrikah by nightfall.”
We entered the Maze, Raithe leading, the rest of us on foot as well. Rhyne and Ratuk plodded quietly behind us as we slipped into the narrow, looming corridors of stone and rock. More often than not, the passages were large enough to allow the beetles to traverse them side by side. Sometimes, however, we had to walk single file through tight crannies and crags that scraped the beetles’ shells. At least it was cooler in the Maze than out on the steppes. The walls were so steep, the light rarelypenetrated to the ground, cloaking us in shadows that grew darker the farther we traveled into the labyrinth. I kept my eyes trained on the cliff faces, searching the walls for movement. But if we were being followed or tracked by mysterious lizard riders, I never saw them.
“You know, when I was in the village of Jihbel, there was this popular pastime called weasel running.” Halek’s voice bounced off the cliff walls and reverberated through the passageways. “Two handlers would send their sand weasels through opposite ends of a maze, and there would be a dead chicken or a piece of meat or something in the very center. People would bet to see which weasel reached the center first, and when they did, they would bet on which weasel would tear the other apart. It was a rather bloody sport. Sand weasels are vicious.”
“Barbaric,” Kysa said flatly. “And pointless. Training an animal for battle is one thing. Exploiting their pain for wealth is the mark of a coward, not a warrior.”
“Well, I never bet on those fights,” Halek said with a shrug. “I’m just saying I feel a bit like those weasels now. Hoping there’ll be a dead chicken in the center of the maze. Or, in this case, a city.”
The Maze went on, winding canyons feeding into narrow, claustrophobic crevices. More than once, Raithe paused at an intersection, looked back at the rock beetles, then took us in another direction. Namaia sank lower in the sky, and the shadows grew longer, darkness falling over the lowest parts of the Maze.
As we were pushing our way through a corridor of waist-high weeds, Halek suddenly let out a yelp and pitched forward. He vanished into the long grass, making me gasp and rush over to where he’d been.
“Halek, are you all right?”
“Yep.” He popped up, grimacing and brushing at his clothes. His golden hair was full of grass and seeds. “I’m fine, I just... tripped over something, I think. What is that?”
He nudged something in the grass with his foot, and it made a strange clinking sound as it turned over in the weeds. Frowning, I bent down to peer at it more closely, and my stomach clenched.
A bleached skull grinned sightlessly up at me from the tangle of long grass, and I straightened quickly.
Halek peeked over my shoulder, and his brows shot up. “Oh, it’s a skeleton, how lovely. That’s something you want to see when wandering a dangerous labyrinth with vicious beasts roaming around.”
By this time, Kysa and Raithe had turned back as well and gathered with us around the clump of weeds. Kysa shoved the end of her spear into the skull’s eye socket and pulled it out of the grass, revealing half a rib cage with a single dangling arm attached. Many of the ribs were cracked and broken, as if the chest had been caved in by some tremendous force. The lower part of the skeleton was missing completely.
“I thought these routes were supposed to be relatively safe,” Kysa said, glancing at Raithe, who was observing the skeletongrimly. “This was not a clean death. Whoever this was, something mauled him.”
“They are usually safe,” Raithe said. “At least, the well-traveled routes are. But as I said, many creatures wander the Maze, and it’s not impossible for them to find their way here. Let’s hope this is an isolated incident.”
“Who do you think this was?” Halek wondered, watching as Kysa almost reverently lowered the skeleton to the ground and let it slide off her spear. “Another iylvahn?”
Raithe shook his head. “The bone structure around the jaw and cheekbones is wrong,” he said. “I would say this was a human.”
