Assassin's Maze

by Everly Frost

  Vlad stays at the back of the group while we step through the forest at the edge of the cliff, pressing our palms to the invisible shield as we go. Every now and then, but only when there is a large enough break in the trees, I spread my wings and fly, testing the height of the boundary. Toward the top it curves over in an arch. Still no way in.

  When I return to the ground, Archer surprises me when she asks, “What is it like to fly?”

  I smile. “It feels like freedom, but you will know for yourself one day.”

  She gives me a doubtful look but it carries a spark of hope.

  Finally, we reach the bridge. Or, at least, we reach the large tree blocking the bridge.

  Archer plants her hands on it, standing in its shadow, studying its bark and curves.

  The trunk is easily seven feet wide—as wide as the bridge—so enormous that the lowest branches hang high above us, leaving the air clear on either side. The closest tree to the left is another seven feet away, not as close as it previously appeared, although there is a closer one on the right hand side—the side with the waterfall.

  Tansy hovers behind us. “This place has strong magic. I can sense it in everything around us: the trees, the moss, the light…”

  The sun hangs low in the sky now. When Archer moves out of the tree’s shadow she squints into the light, turning to me with an expression of disappointment. The sound of rushing water here is so loud she has to shout. “I was hoping something would happen when I touched the tree.”

  The sunlight glints off her eyes as she turns into it, and for a brief moment I am completely blinded by the reflection.

  My hand shoots out. “Stop.”

  She jolts and gives me an alarmed smile. “What is it?”

  I study her face, her eyes, the way the setting sunlight gleams off her skin. I’m blocking half of her body, but the half that is doused in sunlight… gleams.

  She side-eyes me when I say, “Do me a favor and take off your contact lenses?”

  She gives me a frown. Cain looms behind her. He asks, “What is it, Hunter?”

  “I have a hunch… I don’t know exactly—humor me?”

  Slade and Vlad stand further back. Slade leans against a nearby tree and Vlad is a quiet force on the other side, avoiding Tansy at all costs.

  Archer dips her head, carefully removing each of her contact lenses, crouching to return them to the case in her bag before she rises into the sunlight again.

  I inhale. Catch my breath. Release it. “Oh.”

  Without taking my eyes off her, I signal for Cain. “Look.”

  Archer’s lips purse into an uncertain expression as Cain joins me. His sudden stillness tells me I’m not imagining it.

  Sunlight glints off Archer’s eyes, reflecting back so strongly that the moment she pins me in her gaze, I have to shield my eyes. Her gaze passes to the right and her pursed lips drop open. I can’t hear her gasp beneath the roar of rushing water but the quick movement of her chest tells me she’s surprised by something behind me. Slade also jolts upright and Tansy steps forward, their focus on the tree.

  Sunlight glints onto it, reflected from Archer’s eyes. Where the sunlight hits the tree, the tree doesn’t exist. Within those small patches of light is clear blue sky.

  Archer closes her eyes and the patches of sky disappear.

  Without her body reflecting it, the sunlight would never reach this part of the tree. The thick canopy on its eastern side prevents morning sun from reaching it and its trunk blocks the afternoon light from touching this location. The mossy undergrowth tells me this side of the tree is forever in shade.

  But not with Archer reflecting the sunlight.

  I inhale a breath of hope. “You have to release your wings. They’re copper. They will be like a golden mirror…”

  She keeps her eyes closed, squeezing them shut. “But I can’t.”

  I say to Tansy, “Please tell me there’s a way to help Archer release her wings without hurting her.”

  Tansy’s response is grim. “The only way is if I continuously heal Archer while she accesses her power. I can keep her alive while she forces her wings to release.”

  I smother my frustration. “That’s too dangerous. She will rip herself to shreds.”

  “I’ll do it.”

  “No, Archer. It could kill you. Let’s figure out another way—”

  She levels her gaze with mine. “I need that feather as much as you do. Neither one of us has a choice here.” She steps back from me. “It’s not just my eyes, is it? It’s my skin, too?”

  I nod, fear settling into the pit of my stomach. “It is.”

  Tansy says, “It must be the magic here. Your body is reacting to it.”

  “Okay then. It’s time to wear my birthday suit.” Archer’s serious lips lift into a smile when she looks at Cain.

  She is trying to lighten the mood but he is having none of it. He says, “I’ve always supported your right to make your own decisions but this time Hunter’s right. You can’t take this risk.”

  She presses her finger to his lips, grazing his bottom lip in a way that turns him into a statue. His arms rise as if he would wrap them around her but he stops himself.

  She gives him another smile. “I’m doing this, Cain.”

  I swallow my fear. If Archer is going to strip naked as the day she was born, then Slade and Vlad need blindfolds. I stride to the back of the clearing and rummage around in Slade’s bag for a moment before I drag out one of his shirts and hand it to him.

  He takes it with a worried smile, pausing to catch my arm and lean in close. “Don’t push her, Hunter.”

  I draw close so he can hear me without shouting. “I won’t let her continue if it’s too much for her. No matter how determined she is. Clear conscience, remember?”

  He presses a kiss to my cheek and another on the corner of my lips, stopping the breath in my lungs. The way he tucks the hair behind my ears tells me he will always have my back.

  Vlad has already retrieved a shirt and wrapped it around his own eyes, both men calculating the distance to the bridge before they cover their eyes and lean against a tree to keep their bearings. They fold their arms across their chests to wait.

  Archer quickly pulls off her outer shirt and pants, and carefully peels off her protective suit. Cain focuses on the horizon, the tense edge of his jaw telling me he’s beyond worried.

  I figure it’s up to Archer to ask him to put on a blindfold, so I leave him alone.

  Sliding off the last of her clothing, Archer’s skin sparkles and her hair shines, its pale blond color catching the light and reflecting it. She is dazzling and completely determined. Her hands form into fists, her fingernails pressing tight. “Tansy?”

  “I’m ready.” Tansy takes up a position at Archer’s back. Her power glows, her own hair a golden flame in the light, as she directs it toward Archer’s spine.

  I locate myself on the other side of the clearing, my heart thudding.

  This has to work.

  Archer focuses on a spot in front of her. “Let’s do this.”

  Her focus is pinpoint, but also far away, unseeing of the things around her. Within moments, it’s as if she is in another place. Copper light spills from her shoulder blades, the light emanating from them making me gasp.

  Her wings become visible, the delicate shape of her feathers pushing outward but they are clamped beneath her skin, stretching against her rib cage. She hunches, a moan on her lips, audible enough to tell me she’s already in pain. She bites her bottom lip hard enough that blood trickles from it. Her fists turn white and her face drains pale.

  Her wings writhe against her spine.

  I can see the damage they’re doing inside her body.

  Fear fills Tansy’s face as she digs in her heels, her fingers spanning out, her power a growing force. She shouts, “I can’t heal her fast enough!”

  I immediately stride forward. “Archer, stop.”

  “No.” Her eyes fly open and her h
and shoots out to stop me. I leap backward from her power and its biting sting, unable to go near her.

  Archer’s shout turns into a scream. Her back splits up the middle in a single horrifying moment, but even then her wings remain locked, writhing beneath the surface. Tansy heals the wound but another crack appears in Archer’s back and all I can do is shout, “Archer, enough!”

  Cain flinches on her other side, backing away to thump his fist against the nearest tree, over and over again, until his fist is bloody, releasing his fear into it. “Archer! Listen to Hunter. You tried!”

  Archer’s outstretched hand swivels past Cain… to Slade.

  “Slade,” she screams. “You have to pull out my wings!”

  Slade freezes, his hands turning slowly into fists, but he relaxes them and shakes his head, still blindfolded. “No.”

  He turns his head, indicating that he won’t reconsider.

  Sobs tear from Archer’s throat. “Cain?”

  Cain stops pacing, his gaze flashing from her outstretched hand to her face. He closes the gap between them, three powerful strides taking him to her.

  He sweeps her up into his arms, both hands pressing her shoulder blades, trying to ease the pain in them. His head dips. He is seconds from pressing his lips to hers.

  She melts into his arms, her whole body pressing forward, her head tipping back, the tension fading from her body for the first time. I shouldn’t watch, but I can’t tear my eyes away. I need to be ready in case she needs me. Tansy, too, maintains her focus, her power glowing, healing the cracks that appear in Archer’s back.

  Cain whispers something to Archer, and this time I read it on his lips.

  He asks, “Remember?”

  She gives him the smallest smile before she rises on tiptoes and presses her lips to his. “Always.”

  His hands flex against her back before his palms press along her spine, smoothing down her back. Under her skin, her copper wings respond to his touch, moving toward his palms, following his touch, and then…

  Out.

  Cain draws his hands away from Archer’s back and her wings unfold, spreading slowly while she kisses him. Her copper feathers glisten like suns, her golden wings extending all the way across the clearing. She leans back under their weight, but Cain supports her, his arms folding securely around her.

  Tansy steps away from them, cautious, but casts me a look of deep relief. Her power is still glowing, still healing. Archer isn’t out of danger, but… Archer did it.

  Cain opens his eyes a little, his mouth still pressed to Archer’s, his lips curving into a smile. He murmurs against her mouth, drawing apart just an inch. She smiles up at him, her hands tangled in his hair.

  He says, “I won’t leave you.”

  Without removing his hands from her, he glides around her body, ducking under her wings, wrapping his arms around her from behind, dropping a kiss against her neck. Now that he isn’t blocking her body, the sunlight hits it fully, the glow across her wings blinding.

  I can no longer look at her. Ahead of us, the tree disappears in the light that Archer’s body and wings reflect. Instead of the tree, a bridge stretches into a misty sky, but it is a different bridge, not the wet stone that exists in the ravine. There is no waterfall beside it, only mist that swirls around its white marble edges.

  Tansy’s urgent call compels me into action. “The sun is setting. Archer can’t keep her wings open for long. We need to hurry.”

  I run to the back of the clearing. “Slade! Vlad! The gate is open.”

  I freeze, my hand inches from Slade’s arm. His blindfolded face jolts in the same direction as mine.

  He senses it, too.

  Roses.

  Putrid… damn… roses.

  Chapter Twenty-Five

  The time for blindfolds is over. I rip Slade’s off his face, calling to Vlad at the same time.

  Vlad’s lip curls. “I smell her. Gareth will be with her.” He fought Amalia briefly on Saber Lane, as well as on the night of her attack on the Horde because he was there for Cain’s ceremony; he knows what her presence feels like.

  He pulls off his blindfold, draws a dagger and gun from his arsenal of weapons, and scans the forest behind us, weapons ready. “Go! I’ll hold them off.”

  Backing toward the open gate with Slade, I try to sense Amalia’s location. She and Gareth must be blurred, not visible, but there’s so much magic in this location and the power streaming around Archer is so intense that it’s difficult to focus. Amalia’s presence was always a war of contradictions to me—forceful because of her power but reduced by her state of health.

  A flicker to my right snatches my attention, already past Vlad’s position. He senses it at the same time as I do, spinning and hurling his dagger. I follow the knife’s movement, sprinting in that direction. If the dagger disappears for even a second, it means it entered her blur…

  The dagger spears through the air, disappearing before it reappears and thuds into a tree. It must have nicked her.

  She is moving fast, must be running for the open gate, and judging by the dagger’s arc, she is closer to it than I want her to be.

  I chase after her, running along the only path she could travel around Cain and Archer. They stay where they are, but I catch the alarm on their faces.

  Bullets and knives won’t stop Amalia. I have to get to her.

  The air shimmers ahead of me; her blur fails for a moment. She stumbles—she must be injured so she has to draw on her power to heal herself. It gives me the time I need to catch up before she blurs again.

  Slade powers toward her location from the other side, leaping in front of the gate to block the path at the same time as I launch myself into the space where I pray she will be.

  My fist closes around something solid. Material rips. At the same time, Slade ducks his shoulder and barrels toward me, his arms closing around the solid shape I’m holding on to.

  Amalia appears, squeezed within Slade’s grasp, but just when I think we’ve succeeded, she releases her wings. Raking metal forces Slade’s arms apart. He falls back as she rises into the air, her fist shooting out to catch him on the chin.

  My hand brushes her wings… and her feathers slip through my fingers.

  She sails through the gate into the mist.

  “No!”

  My frustrated shout is swallowed in the roaring water and the sound of Tansy’s scream behind us.

  Her voice washes over me in one terrified shout: “Vlad!”

  A wash of power charges the air and Tansy’s scream ripples through the clearing with so much force that it buffets me to the side. I collapse and crawl across the ground, making it beneath Archer’s wings before I see what happened…

  Archer and Cain turn toward the back of the clearing, their faces filled with shock. Tansy stands behind them, one hand palm out pointed at Archer’s back, still healing her. Tansy’s other hand stretches toward Vlad…

  He kneels on the ground at her feet. Blood bubbles up between his lips.

  The front of his protective suit is full of holes that quickly fill with blood.

  Gareth materializes behind him, dropping a rifle to the ground. It must have contained armor-piercing bullets. His gloating eyes are as cold as glittering gems.

  Gareth jeers, “He wasn’t my intended target, but he’ll do.”

  Vlad’s shoulders slump, he sags, but his gaze remains on Tansy, whose eyes are wide with fear and pain.

  “No…” A sob tears from her lips. She can’t help him while she is healing Archer.

  Vlad’s lips part. He says to her, “It’s okay.”

  That’s when I realize… he took the bullets intended for Tansy. It must have been Gareth’s job to kill Tansy and ensure that Archer would die, stopping us from following Amalia into the maze.

  Rage spears through me, burning my heart and soul like ice, a burn that I can’t put out, can’t extinguish, because Vlad is my friend. My true friend. No matter what he says about logic and strate
gy, I know his heart. He has comforted and supported me. He has been there by my side every step of the way, steering me in the right direction.

  Gareth darts to the side, using our moment of shock to run toward the gate, his arms pumping.

  I move faster.

  I launch myself over Archer’s wings, spreading my own, sailing into the air. Just as Gareth reaches the gate, a smile growing on his face, I crash into him, tumbling across the leaf-strewn ground with him.

  If he had chosen to blur like Amalia, my task would be harder. She knows her own weaknesses, but Gareth’s arrogance is his downfall.

  I smash into him, my power rising into my hands. He falls to his stomach, kicking up leaves and twigs. He manages to scramble forward and twist onto his back before I drop my knee onto his chest, constricting his lungs, my weight bearing down on him. I dodge the first fist he aims at my face but I don’t bother avoiding the next. The Valkyrie power in his assassin’s ring has no impact on me as he tries to strengthen the blows he lands on my shoulders and ribs while I tower over him.

  Every time he thumps me, he shouts, “You. Can’t. Kill. Me.”

  I don’t care about the Code.

  I don’t care about the consequences.

  And I sure as hell will not let him live.

  My voice rises up. “Gareth, former Master of the Legion, you have killed another assassin and broken the first rule. Your punishment is death!”

  I have no feeling in this moment.

  I am empty.

  My mother’s voice fades into the darkness of my heart. Just because you’re born into darkness… There is no escaping the darkness for this man.

  My killing power is a void that sucks life into it, but is never filled. It is an endless cold pit into which Gareth’s soul will sink and never return.

  I clutch his face in my hands, squeezing my fingers against his temples. He shouts and struggles, trying to get up, trying to dislodge me, desperation fueling his movements.

  Leaning down close, I whisper, “This is for my mother.”