Chapter Thirty-Five
Aisling
I had no idea where we were in the labyrinth. We’d been wandering for what felt like hours, but it could’ve been minutes or a day. All I knew was my feet hurt, the humans were exhausted, and the minotaur had returned to its cave.
I didn’t know how long ago that return was, but the bushes in the labyrinth had shaken like an earthquake was rattling them. No screams accompanied its return. I didn’t know if that meant its victim or victims were unconscious like Tusks when taken, or if the beast decided to eat them already. Either way, the minotaur was back, and it didn’t know we were here or else it would be hunting us.
“Do you think the horsemen could have hidden their army in here?” I asked to distract myself from my surroundings. “It’s big enough, and if they teamed up with the minotaur and came and went out of the other exit, no one would have known they were here.”
“I don’t think the minotaur would let anyone in its domain that it didn’t plan on eating,” Corson said.
“And it doesn’t strike me as the type to share its territory,” Bale said.
“With as big as this place is, it’s not big enough to house the kind of army the angels and horsemen came at us with,” Lix said.
“True,” I muttered.
A sudden breeze caused the bushes over my head to sway; the rustle of their leaves reminded me of the cornfields I’d play in as a kid. My friends and I would laugh as we plunged through the rows, losing and finding each other in a game that was a mix of tag and hide-and-seek.
“That’s new,” Wren said.
And it was new. Up until now, the only thing moving the bushes were our arms brushing against them as we walked and the stomp of the minotaur’s feet. I gulped down the lump in my throat.
It was difficult to remain calm when every twist and turn had me feeling increasingly claustrophobic. I kept waiting for the fifteen-foot-tall bushes to uproot themselves, close in, and suffocate us beneath their shiny, green leaves.
Or maybe they would uproot themselves and twist all around until we had even less of an idea of where we were going.
“Maybe we should have let Caim come,” Lix said. “At least he could have flown over the top and told us which way to go.”
“It’s too late for that,” Bale said. “And we couldn’t risk him getting trapped in here too.”
I tilted my head back to gaze at the dome as I tried to figure out our position by the change in the light. When we first entered the maze, the light was dimmer, but as we got closer to the center, it grew brighter, but I still didn’t see anything to explain it.
“What if I torch the plants?” I asked.
“And if the fire gets out of hand?” Hawk inquired.
“Or if it alerts the minotaur to our presence,” Corson said. “We know its back, but it doesn’t know about us.”
I had no answer for them, but my frustration mounted as row after row of endless green stretched before me. Usually, I loved plants, but I wanted these things out of my way so I could see more than five feet ahead and ten feet to the side of me.
“We know there’s a way out,” Bale said. “Otherwise the beast couldn’t have returned to the town when the mining exit was blocked. Right now, that’s what we have to focus on finding.”
I didn’t ask her how we were supposed to find it when we had no idea where we were. I’d never been pessimistic before, and I wasn’t about to start now. I glanced back at the cave leading into the minotaur’s domain. Going by the light and the distance to the cave, we were in the center of the labyrinth. We were also about two hundred yards to the right of where we first entered.
That information didn’t do me any good when I had no idea if the exit was ahead or to the left or right, or nowhere.
Just keep going.
Because that was our only option.
I turned a corner and smacked straight into a row of hedges. The branches and leaves knocked me back a step but not before it also added insult to injury by shoving a stick up my nose. “Motherfu…”
My words trailed off as I wiped at my wounded nose and came away with a smattering of blood. Fire filled my clenched hands, but I smothered the flames instead of unleashing them on these awful things.
I rubbed at my nose as I tried not to scream in frustration. We’d tried shoving our way through the plants, but though they were made up of sticks and branches, they were as unyielding as a concrete wall and would not let us pass through.
In the magical light, the green leaves shone, and I took a couple between my fingers to rub their silky texture. Releasing the leaves, I stepped back to survey the plants. It was impossible to see over the top of them or through them.
I glanced up at the dome; where was that light coming from?
Before I could think about it too long, a shrill scream pierced the air.
My heart lodged in my throat as I spun back toward the mountain. At the entrance to the labyrinth, a man and a woman came into view as they burst out of the cave and sprinted down the path toward the maze.
I didn’t know if they’d seen us, but I had no doubt the minotaur would as soon as it arrived.
“Can we hide somewhere?” I whispered frantically.
“This whole place is somewhere to hide,” Corson said, “and nowhere to hide.”
The cryptic words only escalated my anxiety. My heart was pounding too fast, and my palms were so sweaty I kept expecting water to drip from them. If I wasn’t immortal, I’d be a little concerned I was about to have a heart attack.
That thing was coming, and we were surrounded by row after row of green bushes, and I’d been the one to suggest this stupid plan. I was the one who led all these people and Oliver into the heart of the minotaur’s labyrinth, and now it was coming.
Deep breaths, Ash; panicking isn’t going to get anyone anywhere.
I tried to regain control while examining the wall ahead of me. I wanted to torch all the plants, but Hawk was right; there were too many of them, and the fire could easily get out of control. Because I was a fire demon, I could withstand the flames, but the others couldn’t.
“Come on,” Bale said.
She started back through the maze. I stayed close to Hawk as we navigated our way through the plants once more. I brushed my fingers against his and closed my eyes when a small thrill ran through me. We’d get out of this; I would not lose him.
When we came up against another dead end, we headed back only to walk smack dab into the middle of more bushes. Pure frustration almost caused me to kick them, but I managed to restrain myself as we headed in a new direction. We’d turned around so much that I was at the back of the pack with Hawk.
“Dead end,” Randy said from ahead of us.
We were back at the head of the pack as everyone turned back toward us. When I glanced at the mountain, the man and woman were off the pathway and in the labyrinth. Any minute now the minotaur would arrive, and I suspected once it realized we were here, it would make us its priority.
“Are we going in circles?” Wren asked.
“It sure feels like it,” Nadine said.
I looked at the dome again and craned my head to see where the light was coming from, but it remained a mystery. I had no idea why this mystery obsessed me so much; probably because it was easier to focus on something outside the maze than to remain centered inside it. I suspected most people who survived for any length of time in the labyrinth went mad from the sameness and hopelessness of it.
And then, I felt the vibrations beneath my feet.
I didn’t have to look to see if the minotaur had arrived, I felt its insidious yellow eyes boring into the back of my head.
* * *
Hawk
Aisling’s arm brushed against mine as she faced away from the cave to focus on the maze. The minotaur stood at the top of the mountain with its shoulders hunched up and its head lowered. Its nostrils flared as its yellow eyes glowed.
Then it scuffed its feet again
st the ground like a bull about to charge and launched itself straight off the cliff.
“Run!” Bale shouted as the minotaur hit the ground with a thunderous crash.
Though it was at least a hundred yards away, the impact caused the bushes to sway around us, and I was sure it dented the ground. Aisling gripped my arm, and I hugged her against me before she pulled away to survey the sea of green surrounding us.
“This way,” she said and plunged down another corridor.
Everyone ran behind us, but there was nowhere to run as we rounded a corner and smacked into another dead end.
“Son of a bitch,” Corson snarled and unleashed his talons.
He hacked at the bushes, but as the leaves fell around his feet, more regrew on the plant. He couldn’t cut through them fast enough to keep them from regenerating. Loud cracking noises filled the air along with the thunderous thumps of the minotaur’s hooves.
The high bushes blocked my view of what was happening, but I didn’t have to see to know the minotaur was plowing through the hedges it created. Discovering us inside its lair had caused it to throw all rules out the window, and now it was hell-bent on destroying us. But if it was charging through the bushes at us, that most likely meant it could not change the labyrinth around us. Otherwise, it would have pinned us in.
“It’s coming,” Aisling whispered.
“Aisling,” Bale said as the noise grew closer. “Torch them.”
“What if it gets out of control?” she asked.
“If we don’t get through this maze, that thing is going to squish us,” Wren said.
“What if the fire doesn’t work?” Randy asked.
We all knew the answer to that. The minotaur had found us in its nest; it would not make our deaths pleasant.
Aisling gulped and stepped forward to rest her palms against the hedge. I settled my hand on the small of her back, in the hopes of calming her while offering her strength. Small tremors raced up her spine as flames encircled her wrists. I held my breath while I waited to see what the fire would do; would it be like Corson’s talons and the hedge would regrow as she was setting it ablaze?
The leaves crinkled and shriveled as smoke streamed from beneath her palms. I could see the hedge trying to regenerate itself, but unlike Corson’s talons, the fire ate through the leaves too fast for the bushes to completely regrow.
A strange, almost keening sound emanated through the air, and I realized it was coming from the bushes as smoke wafted in the air. The bushes swayed in an unseen breeze, and the minotaur’s bellow bounced off the dome until it echoed around us and filled the rows. The hedges swayed faster as the keening rose to meet the bellow before silence abruptly descended.
The unnerving stillness was broken only by the crackle and pop of Aisling burning through the bushes. If those hedges could come alive like the calamut trees, they’d go for her first. But if they were anything like the calamut trees, she’d be dead already. Still, I wanted to rip her away from the hedges, tuck her against my side, and…
And what? We were trapped in this place with that monster and nothing but endless green before us. There was nowhere for us to go and nowhere for me to take her. This was our only option, and I had to let her do it.
“What the fuck?” Lix muttered when the strange wailing started again.
I had no idea what was happening, but as the fire spread over the bushes, the inhuman keening increased until it drowned out the sound of the minotaur’s approach. I recalled the hounds once covering the noise of Kobal trying to break free of a trap and wondered if these bushes were doing the same. However, it was impossible to mask the minotaur’s approach as its heavy steps caused my teeth to chatter.
The leaves crumpled and fell around Aisling’s feet; then the branches burst into flame and smoke filled the air.
“Go!” Bale yelled when enough of the bushes burned away and the fire arced like electricity across the top of the plants.
Chapter Thirty-Six
Aisling
When the next set of hedges fell apart, I staggered through them and out the other side only to come across another row of hedges. I set my fiery palms against the next set of bushes. That awful shrieking noise grew louder as the fire spread, and I burned my way through the next barrier.
“The fire’s going to get out of control,” I whispered.
“We don’t have any other options,” Hawk said. “We’ll get out of this.”
A roar resonated behind us. When I looked back, I couldn’t see the minotaur, but the sound of the hedges came from a different direction than before. The spreading flames had caused it to veer off course, and it sounded like it was coming up on our left now instead of heading straight for us.
“Hurry,” someone urged from behind me.
I gritted my teeth against an angry retort; did they think I was about to order a margarita and sit down to enjoy the view? I placed my hands against the next set of hedges and watched as the leaves crumpled before falling away. Did they think I was taking a stroll through this place?
“There!” someone shouted.
I looked where they were pointing to discover a row of hedges toppling over. If we could see the bushes falling, then it was too close. The fire lancing across the tops of the hedges was heading toward the minotaur, but I didn’t know if it would be in time to head the thing off.
“Stay here.” Bale removed the bag from her back and shoved it into the arms of a human.
“Where are you going?” Corson demanded.
“To lead it away.”
“You can’t do that; the fire is spreading,” Randy said. “You’ll be trapped in here.”
“I’m part fire demon,” Bale said. “I have no fire, but I can withstand the flames. I’ll be fine.”
Before anyone could reply, she vanished into the thickening smoke.
* * *
Bale
I pulled my sword from its sheath as I sprinted through the rows of hedges. I had no intention of fighting the minotaur, that would be useless, but I would irritate it and keep it distracted while Aisling worked to get the others free of this place.
Flames arced over my head and sparks rained down on me, but I didn’t feel them and they didn’t burn me. To me, the fire was freeing, and I thrived on the power it emitted as I ran faster.
I dashed through a group of burning bushes and burst out the other side where I almost collided with the minotaur. I managed to skid to a halt before I crashed into the beast, but it caught my movement from the corner of its eye. As it turned toward me, I swung my blade against the creature’s ankle and sliced it open before plunging back into the maze.
This time, I stayed away from the burning hedges; it would be less likely to follow me through the fire. I glanced back to make sure it was coming after me. It bounded down the passageways with more grace and speed than I would have expected from the monstrosity.
And it was rapidly closing the distance between us.
I made a left and crashed into a wall of bushes.
“Shit,” I whispered as the impact knocked me back.
I spun and doubled back ten feet before plunging down another corridor, but the move brought me closer to the minotaur, and it was only twenty feet behind me. I compelled my legs to move faster as my feet thudded across the ground. I had to buy the others enough time to get free, which meant I couldn’t stop moving. However, that was probably impossible in a maze filled with dead ends.
But dead ends didn’t prove to be the issue as the minotaur burst through a row of hedges only five feet in front of me. My feet skidded on the ground and slipped out from under me; I got my right hand down in time to keep from hitting the ground. A breeze blew over me as the beast swung out a massive hand, missing my head by mere inches.
With my toes digging into the rocky ground, I scrambled away from the beast and into another corridor. My sword swung in front of me and my heavy breaths filled my ears as I pumped my arms while sprinting toward the flames. The fire might
deter the minotaur from pursuing me, but if I didn’t make it into the flames, it would flatten me.
I was almost back to the flames when the minotaur burst through the bushes again. It blocked my way toward the fire as it charged into the corridor on all fours. I recoiled as its horns sliced through my shirt, skimmed my stomach, and caused blood to trickle from the cut it delivered to my flesh.
Gripping my sword, I leapt up and sliced off the tip of its ear. The monster let out a bellow that blew my hair back from my face and filled my nose with the rancid stench of decaying flesh. I didn’t bother to attack it again but ducked the claw it swung at me, threw myself forward, and rolled into the fire on the other side of it.
The flames enveloping me turned my clothes and boots to ash. Orange and yellow snapped in front of my face; my hair billowed out as the inferno whipped air currents around me. I rested my hands on the ground and pushed myself to my feet as the flames parted to reveal an opening.
I stepped into another corridor as the minotaur exploded out of another section of hedge. Before I could retreat into the flames, it slammed a claw-tipped hand into my back, and I hit the ground.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Aisling
Everywhere I looked, fire surrounded us. I didn’t feel the heat of it, but sweat poured down the faces of the others, terror shone in their eyes, and burns marred their skin and clothes. I had to get them out of here; I couldn’t be the one who destroyed all these people.
Tears from the smoke burned my eyes, but I didn’t dare let up on my onslaught against the hedges for fear they’d regenerate. I’d never used my power so much before. I’d trained with it for the past two years, learned how to keep it leashed, but I’d never set it free for so long. I didn’t feel depleted; instead, the inferno fueled my ability as did Hawk’s hand on my back.
Kiss of Death: Hell on Earth Series, Book 3 Page 22