AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Kaleb was the one now tugging on Shaw, knowing she was morefocused on listening to the squawks of excited laughter and the pounding ofapproaching booted feet that rang weirdly flat, thanks to the eerie purple fog.
Shit. Shit. More of the fucking hedge, there, an opening, but nowthey had ten foot dense green hedges on either side of them. Thankfully thevisibility got a little bit better, the fog failing to dip down, giving them aprecious three feet radius of visibility. But even as they were running allKaleb could see was hedge. Fuck. Oh, shit, he knew what this place was. “Maze.”He muttered low under his breath taking the next left turn they came across.Pulling Shaw along in his wake, as she protected their rear.
“You’re kidding me.” Shaw whispered back, magically decreasing thelength of the halberd in her hand so the pole was a mere two feet in length.Much more manageable and useful in this tight space. “You navigate, I’ll-” Shethrust the halberd through the hedge on their right. Rewarded with a loud angrysqueal of pain. The spike on the head of the halberd stained a dark red colourwhen she retrieved the weapon.
No time for a second thrust as Kaleb kept them moving forwardfast. A right. Two lefts. A straight run. Shaw didn’t baulk. Agreeing that theyneeded to move deeper into the maze. Force their followers to separate in orderto pursue them.
Then they’d start hunting the hunters.
It wasn’t hard to guess that the clones had done this before.Perfecting communication sounds. No doubt they knew the lay out of the maze byheart. But that just made Kaleb’s job navigating them through the hedgeseasier. They weren’t trying to reach the centre. Thankfully the sounds of theirpursuers, though flat and echoey in the dense fog that writhed above theirheads, still gave him an idea of where everyone was currently positioned.
His biggest challenge remained that he only had three feet ofvisibility. Never knowing whether there were more turn options ahead every timehe made a decision. Aware that any moment he might be leading them into adead-end kill trap zone.
Fuck, the entire maze was a kill trap zone. Which made him feelslightly better as there was no correct path to choose as they ran onwards,turning according to Kaleb’s instincts.
Their pursuers were like wise hamstrung by the visibility factor.Which became immediately apparent as they raced around a left turn and fourfeet down a straight stretch, a figure abruptly looming out of the fog. Theredhead. Luckily Kaleb was ready, the foot long blade of the almost steampunklooking flick knife he’d pilfered for himself from Zuri’s warehouse slidinginto the clone’s gut. The redhead reared back in surprise. Too shocked to cryout.
They never slowed down their forward running momentum, so Shawonly had a split second as they passed the redhead to swing her halberd outbehind her. She made contact, this time there was a cry of pain and the slightestfeeling of resistance as the blade impacted with something. But no follow upsound of a body or even a major limb hitting the ground. Damn.
Then they were out of range, the maze and fog swallowing them up.
Fuck. They should have taken a moment to stop, so she could finishthe redhead off. Shaw was just about to tell Kaleb they should retrace theirsteps when two trilling sounds echoed dully out of the darkness, one off totheir right and one immediately behind them and approaching fast.
Shit. Okay. Maybe there had been a good reason Kaleb hadn’t wantedthem to slow down. She’d appointed him navigator, perhaps she should just lethim do his job. Except one turn later he halted abruptly, hissing out a lowbarely audible curse. Dead end. Shit.
He turned to look at Shaw, they needed to retrace their steps butshe was holding up a hand, signalling him to wait. She’d heard or sensedsomething. Shrugging off his hold, she gestured for Kaleb to back up and crouchdown.
Okay, he got it, he wasn’t helpless but she was the killingexpert. These paths were too narrow and claustrophobic, any fighting that tookplace would be messy and close quarters. He was just as likely to get in theway as he was to be helpful. Although understanding didn’t make the fact thathe was basically reduced to sitting on the sidelines, wringing his hands, anyless frustrating.
Shaw was aware of Kaleb behind her, kneeling down, pressing asdeeply into the hedging as he could to provide her space to fight. Freyja, lovehim. A lot of males would have bitched, moaned or tried to push her aside. NotKaleb. He trusted in her skills, though she appreciated that he was holding hisblade up and ready in case she needed help. She wouldn’t of course, but it wasa rather sweet gesture.
She would reward him, later. But now it was time to kill someone.She’d heard a noise just before they’d halted, ground shifting under a bootedfoot. The heavy layer of fog made sounds travel weirdly, but Shaw trusted hergut. Someone was closing in on their trail and being smart about it. Movingslow but steady. Perhaps trying to discern from the churned up pathway thefreshest footprints. Which would mean they’d be bending over. Shaw adjusted howshe was holding the halberd accordingly.
Luckily she had done so, as mere seconds later a sword slammedinto it hard. Shaw parried on instinct, the bloody fog, her halberd blockingsix successive quick blows. How many clones were attacking? Just one it seems,the blonde, as she moved in closer, the fog swirling away. She was grinning.Enjoying herself. Huh, somehow appearing to be holding up four swords. What thehell?
The blonde had two extra arms protruding from the middle of herrib cage. Bartius never did explain what other DNA had gone into creating theclones. But he had claimed they were extra special. Shaw was only justbeginning to suspect what he’d meant by that as she blocked three more quickblows and sidestepped a thrusting follow through.
“Hah.” The blonde’s eyes glittered with savage delight, yellingover her shoulder. “They’re over here.” Her four short swords slashing in acomplicated pattern. Shaw ready for the attack. Magically calling her secondhalberd, keeping the staff short, and windmilling the two weapons to keep theblonde’s blades at bay. This was not her first time fighting someone with morethan two appendages. Freyja, it wasn’t even her thousandth.
Continuing to windmill her halberds, Shaw took a step forward.Yeah, Blondie hadn’t been expecting that. Backing up. Eyes widening slightly insurprise. Her grin disappearing, clenching her teeth in concentration, now shewas the one doing the blocking.
Shaw didn’t know the position of the other clones in the maze.Worse, there was nothing she could do to stop the noise of their weaponsclashing, acting like a repeating beacon, pinpointing their exact location. Theonly thing she could do was end this fight quickly so she and Kaleb could shiftlocales.
Deliberately Shaw kept up the steady windmill pace of herhalberds, allowing the blonde clone to settle into a rhythm of blocking. Thenjust when her opponent was lifting two of her swords to block the next expectedblow, Shaw magically extended the spike at the end of her halberd and jabbed,right through the blonde’s defences. From the look of sheer surprise onBlondie’s face she hadn’t been expecting that. But then no one expects a footof Elven steel to be buried into their brain via an eye socket.
Shaw gave the halberd a vicious twist left, then right. If theclone could produce four arms, then maybe she had more than one brain.Withdrawing the spike Shaw sliced her other halberd through the air,decapitating the clone. Unless Blondie could regrow her head, Shaw was puttingthis fight down in the win column.
No time to celebrate though, disappearing a halberd, reaching downto grab Kaleb’s free hand and lever him to his feet. “Book it.”
Kaleb jumped over the corpse, Shaw right behind him, disappearingher remaining halberd for a moment as she bent to scoop up blondie’s head by thehair. Kaleb ignored the first option to turn on their right. Shaw bringing himto a halt at the next offering on their left. Holding up the head she waited aheartbeat, listening for the approach of any other clones. There, the slightestof breaths. Hauling back Shaw threw the head in the same direction. GivingKaleb a small nudge to communicate they should start moving again. Even as amuffled shriek of surprise that shifted abruptly into a scream of rage rent theair.
Kaleb’s whispered words of amusement so low they only reachedShaw’s ears. “We should totally form a bowling league.”
They ran straight for the next minute, then took a turn left,straight for a little bit more and then right. Kaleb slowing them down to awalking pace. The two of them listening intently, trying to get a bead on wherethe remaining clones were. For a few more minutes they traversed the maze,Kaleb following his instincts regarding when to turn. He could only guess thatthey were continuing to move deeper into the maze.
A minute later he abruptly froze in place, looking down, someonehad strewn light gravel across the pathway. The sound of his shoes scrapingagainst it loud. He pressed back against Shaw, letting her know they needed toback track, surprised when she gave his shoulder a push to indicate to keepgoing. Turning, this close, he noted her green eyes were glittering withalertness and no small measure of anticipation. Her expression indicating sherealised they were heading into a trap and she was completely on board with theidea.
Shrugging, Kaleb started walking once more, slowly, Shaw grippingone shortened halberd, her other hand now resting lightly on his shoulder.
