Page 63 of The Chosen Fae

Rune was so excited to reach the end of the logs and did a little jump at Stone, knocking him over. He had been watching Vesper's team, and he hadn't expected her pouncing on him. He licked her, and she nipped him back.

She loved him. He pinned her down and nipped her neck in playful fun, just like they had done when they were in their glens visiting each other.

She had missed that special time with him, just the two of them together, playing, carefree, then fishing together for dinner. It had been such a change from when they were just in their own glens, catching their own fish, spying on each other. They were meant to be together.

Vesper and Xena's team finally reached the other side of the logs. They were all getting worn out, and because Vesper and Xena had been delayed finishing the ball balance challenge, it was getting dark, and it was time to eat dinner.

The Game Master said, "Rune and Stone's team has won the challenge: the log mission. We have one more obstacle course for this challenge, then we go home to dinner. For this trial, two of you will pair up and walk through a rope maze. One person in each pair will be blindfolded. The other will give instructions to the person wearing the blindfold so he or she can make it out of the maze as fast as possible. You must give good directions to your partner."

"Again, we have an extra person on our team," Vesper complained.

"For this competition, Lolita will join Stone and Rune on their team."

Lolita glanced at them to see if they were okay with it. Everyone had shifted into fae, and Rune held out her arms to Lolita to give her a hug. Lolita ran toward her, and they hugged.

Then they decided who would be blindfolded, but since there was an extra person, they blindfolded Rune and Lolita, and Stone would tell them which way to go. Since the Game Master hadn't given them special rules on how to navigate the maze with an extra person, they figured they would do it their way.

It also gave them the opportunity to make decisions for themselves when faced with a complication.

"Are you ready?" the Game Master asked.

The blindfolded participants stood at one end of their maze, and their partners at the other. So it would be a lot of chaos as the partners were shouting to the blindfolded fae to meet up with them.

Everyone said yes, and the Game Master said, "Once the first competitors reach the end of the maze, they are the winners. Get set, go!"

The partners started hollering for their blindfolded companions, and Stone said, "Rune, Lolita, take a left, walk four steps, and turn right."

Rune took hold of Lolita's hand, and they moved together.

"Now go straight about eight steps and then stop. I'll tell you where to go from there, once I know the distance you've actually moved."

They counted eight steps together and then stopped. "Two more steps and then turn right and go, five steps."

They followed his command. Rune and Lolita's hands were growing sweaty. But so far, they hadn't run into the rope so he must have been guiding them fine.

Nobody seemed to be getting to the end of the maze yet. They hadn't been able to see it when they were first brought to the maze, so they had no idea how long it was or how to get through it, especially blindfolded.

Rune smelled Lolita's anxious scent. "We've got this."

They continued following Stone's commands verbatim. They heard someone trip over a rope and swear at her partner, who was giving her directions. “You took a left instead of a right, Xena!” Caspian said.

Xena had tripped and fallen with a thud, and she was cursing Caspian.

Rune was glad that she hadn't had to work with her. Xena would have probably run her into every rope there was, even if she had known she and Rune would lose that part of the challenge. Then Rune wondered if Caspian had done that on purpose.

Stone's voice was nice and commanding, and of course, totally recognizable over the other voices. After hearing only men calling out directions, Rune realized that the women were all the ones who were blindfolded. She didn't know who Iris was partnered up with. But she suspected that the guys thought their voices would carry better. Maybe they thought they would be better at giving directions. Which she didn't believe.

"You're almost here," Stone called out, encouraging them.

Rune wanted to run to him, but she didn't want to trip over the rope. She had to be patient, and she for sure didn't want to drag poor Lolita over the rope with her if she went the wrong way.

Stone kept giving them directions, his voice steady, loud enough, perfect. Vesper, meanwhile, was exasperated with Iris and was yelling at her. "No, Iris! I said three steps to the right."

Rune felt sorry for Iris. But Rune also wondered if Iris was trying to make Vesper lose. Or was she really just confused about the directions that Vesper was giving her?

"You made it, Elon!" Silas said.

Rune was so glad they had reached the end first.