by Jody Hedlund
“Someone needs to return to the center,” the king said from where he stood plastered to the wall a few paces away.
“I’ll do it.” Emmeline jolted free before I could grab her back, and she stalked across the floor.
“Emmeline.” I jumped to follow her. “Let me test the safety of the floor first.”
She didn’t slow, and I knew I wouldn’t be able to stop her now, any more than I had in the tunnels or with the beast. As much as I wanted to sweep her up, escape from the labyrinth, and never look back, I sensed this was where she needed to be, that this was more a part of her destiny than it was mine.
When the rest of the ground remained secure under our weight, the others, including the king, returned to the hole, attempting to see past the dust to what was inside. One of our torchbearers held his light above the opening, revealing a winding stone stairway.
“Are there any more traps we should be aware of?” the king asked, his eyes alight with the excitement that came whenever he spoke of the hidden treasure.
“I cannot guarantee we’re out of danger,” Emmeline said. “But I pray we have suffered the worst.”
“You must lead the way.” The king waved toward the stone steps.
“Your Majesty.” I stepped forward. “Please allow me.”
“Your wife will go first and determine our safety.”
Was this still part of proving my allegiance after disobeying him? With Emmeline in the labyrinth, I’d swallowed my fear time after time. And I’d swallowed my frustration with the king for disregarding my need to protect and cherish Emmeline.
But how could I let her put herself in danger yet another time? I couldn’t. And yet how could I defy the king again? He’d punish me severely, perhaps carry through with his threat to give the throne to Magnus. I couldn’t let that happen. The land would suffer with a man like Magnus on the throne.
Just like the land has suffered under my father . . .
The thought came unbidden and unwanted.
Quickly, I shook it away. I couldn’t allow myself to analyze his methods of leadership. Not now. It would only stir my growing discontent and dislike.
As Emmeline descended onto the top step, I resisted the urge to jump ahead and lead the way. Maybe with this descent, I’d finally prove my loyalty to the king, and he’d permit me to take Emmeline to the surface. After all, she’d finished guiding us here. She’d done above and beyond what the king had wanted. In fact, if not for her, we wouldn’t have survived this far.
I took a torch from one of the guards and followed after Emmeline, holding her arm to keep her from stumbling and from getting too far ahead. As we moved past the dust from the rubble, a damp, musty scent enveloped us.
“Test the step carefully before putting your whole weight on it,” I instructed as we navigated the narrow, cracked stone slabs.
Thankfully, Emmeline followed my order and climbed down cautiously. Nonetheless, my heart pounded so hard that my chest ached from the pressure. This search wasn’t worth Emmeline’s life. In fact, she was more precious than all the treasure in the world. I’d gladly give it up to make sure she was safe.
Did I dare stop now and abandon this cause?
With a gasp, she halted abruptly. I was glad for my quick reflexes that I didn’t bump into her and send her toppling.
“Look,” she whispered.
I stretched the torch out over the abyss below and drew in a sharp breath. A chamber twice as large as the one above spread out in a circular shape, and it was filled with chests, goblets, relics, and artifacts I couldn’t even name. Layers of dust and cobwebs covered everything, turning the room a dusty gray from centuries of lying undisturbed, but there was no denying the vast riches.
“It’s here,” I called to the king, unable to keep the wonder and excitement from my tone.
“Is it safe to descend?” he asked.
Anger pricked me again, rapidly deflating any sense of thrill. As Emmeline moved down the stairs, I had to bite back my retort and force myself to continue, though everything within me resisted, my loyalties tearing so that I feared I might never be able to respect the king again.
Behind me, his footsteps tapped against the stone, and more torchlight filled the cavern, driving away the darkness and revealing the immensity of the treasure that spread out in all directions.
After two dozen or more steps, we finally reached the bottom. A single narrow path led through the center of the room lined on either side with mounds of priceless items.
I studied the ceiling and floor, searching for any signs of peril. “What do you know of this room and the dangers that lie within?”
Emmeline was examining the ceiling and floor as well. “Saint Bede left no further clues beyond the tunnels.”
“Then we have nothing to fear here? No knives, pikes, or shards?”
“I cannot say.” Emmeline took a tentative step down the path.
I gripped her arm to hold her back. “You have gone far enough. I shall test the path.”
She shifted to look at me with her wide brown eyes. “I’m not afraid, Rex.”
Her expression reflected the same confidence she’d had when facing the beast. I didn’t understand it or even like it, but I could grudgingly admire her determination. “Stay here. You have put yourself in harm’s way long enough.”
Before she could argue with me, I strode down the path, observing everything and trying not to miss a detail. When I reached the opposite end without any problems, I pivoted to find the king on the bottom step watching me. Several soldiers were also on the stone stairway, holding their torches above the room and illuminating the treasure.
Their eyes, like the king’s, reflected the same exhilaration that had filled me only moments ago. But I couldn’t muster it again, not even after traversing the length of the chamber without triggering any deadly traps.
“Have the princess open one of the chests,” the king ordered.
“I have proven my allegiance,” I blurted before I could stop myself. “Now I would leave Emmeline out of any further danger.”
The king met my gaze. “I am the king, and you will do as I say.”
Would he have me kill my spirit to uphold his desires? For that is what would happen if I obeyed him rather than my conscience.
“She will open one of the chests,” he said again, this time his voice ominously low, daring me to defy his order.
My anger kindled hotter, along with something much more painful. But before I could protest again, Emmeline grasped the lid of the nearest chest and started to lift it.
“Emmeline, wait!” My footsteps slapped against the floor at the same time the creak of rusty hinges echoed within the chamber.
She had to use two hands and heft it hard. By the time I reached her, she’d pushed it all the way up. We stood silently, watching the chest, waiting for disaster to spring out upon us.
After several tense moments, I allowed myself to breathe again. Before Emmeline could do anything else, I pulled her to my side. “You are finished here,” I said harshly.
As she sidled against me, I found no relief from my internal war. And I could find no joy as the king descended the last step, walked safely to the open treasure chest, and smiled at the contents—thousands of gold coins, untouched by the elements and age. They were polished and smooth and engraved with an ancient writing. The torchlight refracted their brightness, making them glitter.
The one chest would provide more than enough to pay hundreds of mercenary soldiers to come to our aid in defending Delsworth. Adding in the dozens of chests and mounds of other items, the king would easily become the richest ruler in the world.
And the most powerful.
As the next in line, I’d stand to inherit it all. The prospect sent a tremor through me—one I didn’t understand, one that filled me with doubts. Could the king or I really be trustworthy stewards of such wealth?
The king picked up a handful of the coins and let them slip through his fingers, the clinking a tempt
ing sound. As if needing to touch the gold to reassure himself it was truly real, he removed his gloves and with bare fingers dug deeper, stirring and reveling in the riches, his royal onyx ring dark against the gold.
“You see.” He smiled at me, his eyes alight. “This is why I needed to push you to remain strong and do the task no matter how difficult and no matter the sacrifice.”
I bowed my head in acknowledgment of his statement, although I disagreed completely. If I had to do everything over again, knowing I would reach the treasure, I still wouldn’t have brought Emmeline down into the labyrinth.
The king stepped to the next chest, opened it, and laughed with delight. The gold was piled even higher, the coins as gleaming and bright as the previous chest. This time, he dug deeper into the treasure before tossing the coins into the air so that the clinking sounded even louder.
I wished I could be happy for him during this long-awaited and long-hoped-for moment. But though he was rich, I felt strangely impoverished.
“Your Majesty,” came an anxious voice from one of the soldiers at the hole at the top. “I believe the beast is returning.”
Chapter
22
Emmeline
“Go!” Rex propelled me toward the stone steps.
“We cannot leave without the treasure.” The king held handfuls of the gold coins, his fingers curled tightly around them.
“The beast will trap us down here if we linger,” Rex said.
“Send Emmeline up to deal with the creature.”
I paused in my scramble up the steps. I may have helped us avert danger once with the beast. But when it came back, I wouldn’t be able to use the same tactic to divert it. It would no longer find my courage fascinating or honor Maribel’s scent—if that’s what it had smelled.
No, when it returned, it likely wouldn’t be dissuaded until it killed every living thing in its periphery. “The creature won’t go away this time,” I said. “Rex is right. If we remain, it will trap us here in this room, and we’ll never get out.”
Still the king hesitated, his gaze unswerving from the gold coins heaped before him.
Rex approached his father. “Please, Your Majesty.”
“We’ve come all this way and endured so much to find it.” The king ran his fingers through the coins again. “I cannot leave it behind.”
“We know where it is now,” Rex said more firmly. “We shall be able to return, and when we do, we shall bring more men and greater weapons so we can defeat the guardian of the treasure.”
From above came the faint roar of the beast as well as the shouts of the remaining soldiers. I guessed we had a minute, maybe two at the most.
“Make haste,” I said to Rex.
His anxious gaze urged me to keep going, to take myself to safety. But he surely knew I wouldn’t leave him behind.
As though sensing my resolve, Rex closed one of the chests and hefted it, his arms and body straining under the weight. Two of his men picked up a second chest of gold and toted it between them. The king’s awed gaze swept over the treasure room again, before he finally followed Rex and the soldiers to the steps.
“You must vow you will come back and retrieve the rest of the treasure,” he called to Rex.
“I vow it.” Rex climbed behind me with surprising speed in spite of having the chest.
I didn’t know how we’d possibly outrun the creature with so heavy a load, or how we’d traverse the deadly tunnels that had been difficult enough without anything slowing us down. But without the two chests, I doubted Rex would have been able to persuade his father to leave.
I scrambled out of the gaping hole to the ferocious roar of the creature as it reappeared from the black depths of the dark tunnel it had gone into a short while ago. Crawling on its stout legs, it moved faster than I expected, slinging its deadly tail back and forth.
The guards who remained were already approaching the beast, raising their swords and maces. In one swipe of its tail, it took out two men, killing them instantly.
“Follow me!” I sprinted toward the tunnel we’d used previously.
Behind me, the clank of the gold in the chest told me Rex wasn’t far behind.
A tortured scream was followed by a crash and the jangle of a thousand coins hitting stone. I glanced over my shoulder to the sight of the second treasure chest overturned and the two men who’d been carrying it lying lifeless on the floor, their blood staining the coins crimson.
The beast’s tail rose and swept around again, this time aiming directly for Rex. My heart jumped into my throat, but I managed a warning. “Rex! Watch your left!”
He shoved the chest ahead of him, then dove, rolling out of reach. Meanwhile, two other soldiers took hold of the chest and continued with it. As they approached the mouth of the tunnel, I waved them ahead. “Remember, run as fast as you can! You have to sprint and can’t slow down for even a second.”
The king had stopped only feet from the arched entrance and was staring back at the gold coins scattered in every direction. He bent and scooped up several.
“Run!” Rex shouted, racing toward the tunnel.
Seeing the spiked tail sweeping our way, the king finally bolted forward too, stumbling into the entrance.
“Faster, Emmeline!” Rex called. “We shall follow!”
I began my sprint through the corridor. When I crossed to the other side, Rex was directly behind me with his arm around his father’s waist, having risked his own life to aid his father across.
Even now, the king paused and peered back the way we’d come. “We cannot leave the treasure behind. Not when we are so close to having it all.”
Heavy breathing filled the bend that separated us from the next deadly passageway. The glow of torches showed only eight men left in addition to Rex and the king. We’d lost so many already, and we couldn’t risk anyone else.
“You must go back for more,” the king insisted, turning the gold coins over in his hands and rubbing them.
“I shall return,” Rex said. “But only after I have additional men and weapons.”
“Now,” the king demanded. “Go back and get more of the treasure, now!”
“We have enough to aid the war efforts.” Rex nodded at the chest the soldiers still carried.
The king’s eyes were almost feverish in their intensity. “If we can get one chest out, we can get more.”
“It is too risky—”
The sharp edge of a blade pressed against my throat, pricking my skin so that I cried out from the shock and pain. It took me a moment to realize the king had unsheathed his sword and held it against my neck.
“Leave her be,” Rex said harshly, his expression turning fierce.
“Go get the treasure.” The king’s reply was equally harsh.
Rex stared at him, his eyes sparking with fury. “Very well, Your Majesty,” he said after a moment, his voice calm.
“Now,” the king demanded, the blade wavering, causing more pain and the warmth of blood to trickle down my neck.
Rex’s gaze flickered to the blood, which only seemed to add fuel to the fire burning in his eyes. He took a step back toward the tunnel.
No. I couldn’t let Rex expose himself to danger yet again. Though the beast hadn’t yet followed us into the tunnel and was likely distracted by the dead we’d left behind, the creature wouldn’t hesitate to attack once more.
Deftly, my fingers found the hilt of my knife. I’d kill the king before I allowed him to send Rex back to the beast and his death. I’d kill him and be rid of him forever.
But even as I closed my hand around the handle, a terrible ache formed in my chest. Could I really take a life in order to save one?
I squeezed my eyes closed, already knowing the answer. Killing the king would be the easy way to save Rex. I’d need more courage to do the hard thing . . . the right thing.
I had to let Rex go. I had to trust God to keep him safe.
With a silent prayer for courage, I released my knif
e. In the same instant, the blade fell away from my throat and the king stumbled backward, hitting the wall before sliding down to his knees. His sword clattered to the ground, as did the coins he’d been holding.
I stared, unable to comprehend what had happened. No one had attacked the king that I could see. Why had he fallen?
Two of the king’s guards quickly knelt beside him. But without a glance at the king, Rex tore off a piece of his tunic beneath his chain mail and reached for me. As he lifted the linen to my throat his hand trembled for a second before he pressed the cloth against my cut to stave the bleeding.
On the ground, the king cursed and then attempted to rise, his guards each taking one arm and assisting him back to his feet. “What are you waiting for?” His voice rasped. “Go get the treasure.”
Rex didn’t take his eyes from my neck, continuing to put pressure against my wound.
The king uttered another oath and started to reach for his sword. But his hand was shaking too hard to make his fingers work.
His black fingers . . .
I blinked to make sure I was seeing correctly. The torchlight could often cast strange shadows. But another look revealed the same. His fingers were as black as if he’d dipped them in an inkpot, with stains running up his wrists and disappearing beneath his sleeves. In addition, his face was pale and his forehead wet with perspiration.
“Rex?” My thoughts returned to the young soldier Rex had sent out of the labyrinth. “Do you think the king is poisoned?”
The king jerked his arms free of his guards and slid down so that he was sitting against the wall, his breathing labored.
“Poisoned?” Rex released me and knelt beside the king. “Your Majesty, what ails you?”
“What ails me?” The king’s voice rose with a slightly hysterical note. “My worthless son is ailing me. We are here in the heart of the labyrinth. The treasure is ours for the taking. And you have no will to retrieve it.”
“I would see the princess safe first—”
“You will go get the treasure or forfeit your right to the throne.”
Rex stared into his father’s eyes. If the king had ever shown affection or kindness for his son, it was gone. Only loathing remained in its place.