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By the Goddess, I hoped there wasn’t anything from the Desolate Forest in there.
“Has anyone else died?” Merden called excitedly to a group of guards. My heart stopped for a moment, then started beating again when they shook their heads. Merden tutted her disappointment. The nobles who had followed their queen booed lightly, and she sniffed.
“Perhaps a few harpies?” she asked the guards instead, and several of them scurried away.
I sidled closer until she noticed me.
“What do you think of my labyrinth, Saint Laurent?” she asked, showing her fangs at me.
Every now and then, I had the distinct idea that she knew I was a fae and was simply toying with me. But she’d never said a word, and Merden was not a patient woman when it came to letting you know what power she held over you.
“It’s quite something. How do the guards know if a competitor dies, with all those corridors?”
She smiled and nodded toward the returning guards. I kept my expression carefully neutral as I saw them leading four male harpies toward us, bound in chains and wearing some sort of leather harness that had a place for someone to stand on their backs as they flew.
“See for yourself,” Merden offered, and I wasn’t able to suppress my shudder at the thought ofridingon another Haretian against their will.
“Sorry. Fear of heights,” I lied.
She laughed in a way that let me know she was filing that information for another time. “Well, most of my nobles have tried the flight and find it quite enjoyable. It’s very entertaining to look down on the competitors, scurrying around like rats in a maze and fighting each other over bits of cheese.”
“Do you drop food for them?” I asked, and she looked at me like I was an idiot.
“Of course not. The teams were each given a different reference book. They can gather food as they see it, but it has to be carefully done. Plenty of poisonous things in those walls.”
“You should... make a game of dropping them items. I’m sure people would pay, especially sponsors,” I suggested, my mind already filling with ideas for what I could drop to Kana to help her. She would need blood, maybe weapons and medicine, too.
Merden made a noncommittal noise, wandering away to speak to another group.
I turned to one of the nearby nobles, about to ask more questions, when Merden clapped her hands.
“Gather around and be the first to hear my next plan! Anyone who pays for a harpy ride can donate an additional sum to be able to drop food and other items down to their favorite competitors! Remember, the poor things were brought straight into the mist with no warning at all. Many of them don’t even have proper shoes. Come choose your favorite and help them live another day!”
I suppressed a roll of my eyes as she blatantly stole the idea I’d given her and simultaneously barred Saint Laurent from doing it be stipulating that it went with a harpy ride.
It didn’t matter - I’d glamor myself as someone else and drop things to Kana anyway.
“Does it have to be food, or can it be blood?” someone called, but a chorus of shouts drowned out Merden’s answer.
I backed away, drifting closer to the wooded area. When I was certain nobody was watching, I glamored myself invisible again and set off to explore the outside of the labyrinth.
I’d use the harpies soon enough, but there had to be a way in, too. I had to warn Kana about the gobbelins, and I couldn’t risk dropping a note that another competitor might find.
