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“Can I ask a favour?” Sam asked Allias the next morning during breakfast. The King nodded, so she continued. “Can we have access to your grandmother’s maze?”
“Of course you can, but why?” he replied, curious.
“I just thought it might be of some use to practice going round a maze. I know each one is different, but it may give us some ideas on the best way to approach it.”
“Good idea,” Tor said approvingly. “From what I can see of it, it is overgrown, but the aisles should be passable, especially if we take some sharp axes with us.”
“I promised Selene I would have the gardeners fix it up for her,” Allias said, a smile creasing his face. “This way, you do most of the hard work and I get the credit for keeping my promise.”
“It’s the least we can do. Take it as a thank you for being such a gracious host,” Sam commented lightly before standing up and heading out of the room to change into her gardening clothes.
“That is easy for her to say,” Seth groaned. “She will not be the one carrying the axe.”
“From the look of you,” Tor observed, “nor will you be. Good night last night?”
“What little I remember of it. May I be excused gardening duty? I think I am going to throw up.” He exited the room without waiting for an answer.
Tor managed to suppress his laugh and turned to Dal, who looked full of the joys of spring. “Next time I let you go out with Seth, remind me to instruct you to keep him out of trouble not the other way round. Where is Patrick by the way?”
Dal coughed uneasily. “I think he is still in jail. The woman he chose to seduce turned out to be married to a man with a jealous streak a mile wide and a vicious temper. A fight broke out and it took nearly a dozen guards to drag them both to the jailhouse. Patrick was only defending himself, I swear.”
Tor put his head in his hands and groaned. “Why me?”
“Tor, my friend,” Ban said in his usual good natured manner. “You decided who should join you on the quest. You cannot blame anyone else. Of course, you can always leave some behind.”
“Tempting, very tempting.”
“Stop worrying,” Allias joined in. “I will have Patrick released as soon as I have finished the morning court session.”
“Is it too much to ask that you leave him there for a while?” Tor enquired. “Just long enough to give us a couple of days head start, for example.”
Allias stared at him, not sure if he was serious or not.
By the time Sam had slipped into her gardening overalls and made her way down to the start of the maze, a small group of helpers had arrived. Dal was full of enthusiasm, axe in one hand, sword in the other. Ria had also volunteered her skills, in case climbing was needed. Ban’s help would be invaluable, judging by the size of the double bladed axe he had over his shoulder. If that could not clear a path for them, nothing could. Oak and Brin had decided not to join them. Although it was bushes that were going to be chopped rather than trees, neither could bring themselves to partake. Sam had tried to point out that it was good for bushes to be trimmed back, but her comments fell on deaf ears. Modo had joined Seth, Patrick and Dal on their night time excursion, the result was that he had to promise to lend a hand as soon as his head stopped throbbing; Sam was not expecting to see him any time that morning. Selene wanted to help out, but her midwife had thrown a fit when she suggested it, so they compromised on a stroll around the maze once the hard work had been done. Rupert and Tallon were both waiting for Sam’s arrival, swords in hand, though why everyone was waiting for her, she could not work out. She was handed a pair of shears and entered the maze.
The hedges were not as overgrown as they first appeared and the group made fast progress, splitting up whenever there was a junction. The paths went in so many different directions that almost everyone found themselves alone for a while, though often it was not long before they were rejoined by one of their colleagues who had hit a dead end. At midday, Mrs Hubert organised drinks and sandwiches to be delivered to the workers, but it took the serving boys so long to find everyone that it was the middle of the afternoon before everyone had been fed.
No decision had been made as to when they should stop, but they were all smart enough to head out of the maze well before the light failed. Everyone except Dal, who needed to be rescued by a search party and looked deeply embarrassed when led out by Ria. They discussed their progress during the evening meal and the general consensus was that, although they had cleared less than a quarter of the paths, they were heading towards the centre in a methodical fashion and would be unlucky not to reach it the next day.
The next morning the progress was both faster and slower. Having spent an entire day surrounded by greenery, the enthusiasm had gone from all of them, even the ever eager Dal, resulting in them working slower. This was offset by the extra recruits; both Seth and Modo managed to make it out of their rooms without too much grumbling. Progress was made and it soon turned into a competition as to who could reach the centre first. Sam knew she was getting close and she excitedly turned a corner, only to find it was a dead end. She swore loudly. She swore louder still when she heard Modo’s triumphant cheer a moment later from the other side of the hedge that was blocking her path. Everyone immediately stopped work and backtracked, trying to work out which path Modo had taken. It took nearly an hour of calling to each other over the hedges, but eventually everybody made it to the centre, which turned out to be rather disappointing.
It consisted of a large open area with a statue of a naked woman in the middle and absolutely nothing else. No-one was quite sure what they were expecting to find, but it was certainly more than one statue. It wasn’t even a particularly good statue. It was rather plain, made from a dull grey stone, and it was severely weatherworn.
“Is that it?” Sam exclaimed when she eventually made it to the centre. As she had been so close, she had further to backtrack than anyone else and was the last to arrive. This annoyed her greatly. “One sodding statue. It could at least have been male.”
Ria grinned at her. “I was thinking exactly the same thing.”
“Two days of hard work and all we get is a naked stone woman,” Sam continued. “Definitely not worth the effort.”
“You seem to be forgetting your reason for doing this,” Tallon pointed out, a little too reasonably for Sam’s liking. She still had the shears in her hand and was sorely tempted to use them. “I thought you wanted to get some practice going round a maze.” Sam growled at him.
“Mission accomplished then,” Rupert joined in. “Have you learned anything?” Glum looks were exchanged. They had all been so carried away with their race to reach the centre they had not been taking much notice of exactly how the paths were laid out. “Maybe we should all be more observant on the way back.”
“I vote we head back now,” Sam said, rubbing her back. “I could do with a long soak.”
“Not so fast,” Modo interrupted. “I did notice one thing that you all seem to have overlooked. Take a close look at the chain the statue is wearing.” They did as instructed, jostling each other out of the way for a better view. Ban leaned over them all and removed the necklace from the statue, holding it close to his face so he could inspect it. It was a thin chain holding a plain gold locket with no pattern or markings except for a single word.
“It says Sam on it,” he announced before throwing it to the startled young woman, who only just managed to catch it. Mystified, she turned it over in her hands but could see no other markings. She tried to open it, but it was shut tight and she broke a nail in the attempt. Ria handed her a knife and she managed to prise the two sides apart without stabbing herself, allowing a slip of paper to float out. Dal grabbed it as Sam closed the locket and placed the chain over her head. It had her name on it so she intended to keep it until someone else laid claim.
“Always turn left then right,” Dal read. Puzzled he turned the paper over, but there was nothing more written on it. “What is that supposed to mean?”
“I have an idea,” Ria said. “Come on, time to start back.” She headed towards the gap in the hedges through which they had entered the central area, followed by a confused group of people.
Ria immediately turned left. At the next junction she turned right. She continued the pattern whenever she hit a fork in the path. If the choice was right or straight, and she was due to turn left, she simply continued straight. The same applied to only a left turn being available when she wanted to turn right. Once, when she was due to turn right, her only options were left or ahead and ahead was a dead end. She simply walked up to the end, turned round and continued with the pattern. The left now became right so she took it. It was the only dead end she hit and soon they were out of the maze.
Once free of the greenery, Sam stared at Ria in amazement. “How did you know that’s what the instructions meant?”
“I did not, I just thought it was worth a try.”
“I wonder if it works the other way round,” Sam continued as they made their way back to the palace. “I’ll give it a try in the morning.”
That evening, during dinner, the not-so-eager hedge trimmers recounted their tale to Allias and his family, who listened carefully to every word that was spoken.
“I guess this is yours,” Sam said, removing the chain from around her neck and handing it to the King.
Allias took it, turning it over in his hands to inspect it closely. “I have never seen this before,” he finally announced. “My grandmother never wore anything remotely resembling this. It has your name on it,” he continued, handing it back to Sam. “Maybe she meant for you to keep it.”
“Maybe the message was meant for you as well,” Selene joined in. “She seemed to be able to see the future so maybe she knew you would go in search of clues on how to solve a maze.”
“Do not get carried away,” her husband said affectionately, taking her hand. “You appear to be suggesting that your great grandmother left instructions from beyond the grave on how to navigate a maze she may never even have heard of, let alone seen.”
“Stranger things have happened,” Bellak said, taking them by surprise. Having decided that no more clues to an exact location for Ukland maze existed in the library, Liselle and the wizard had decided to join the others for their last evening meal at the palace, making it the first time they had all been together since arriving back in Vada.
Conversation turned to their departure, which was scheduled for the following morning. Everyone was instructed to get a good night’s sleep as it would probably be the last time they would be sleeping in beds for quite a few weeks. Arrangements had already been made with Mrs Hubert, who had organised the kitchen staff to start work extra early in order to prepare plenty of food to take with them.
They retired to one of the sitting rooms for nightcaps and watched the sun set. It seemed to have only just disappeared below the horizon when they were disturbed by the door opening. As Hawk glided into the room, Brin subconsciously moved closer to Sam.
“I got your note,” Hawk said to Tor.
“There is something I need to discuss with you,” Tor explained. “We leave in the morning and I think it would be a good idea if you stayed here.” Sam started to protest, but Tor held up his hand to silence her. “Hear me out,” he instructed.
He took a seat, indicating that Hawk should do the same, before he continued. “We know nothing about Ukland maze other than the fact that it has some sort of magical spell covering it to prevent anything flying in or out and nobody has ever come out alive. We do not know if the paths will be wide enough to take a cart or so narrow even Ban will have trouble squeezing through. What I am trying to say is that we may not be able to take your coffin in.”
He stopped talking and looked at Hawk, assessing whether the vampire had understood the importance of what he had said. Hawk nodded. “So if I come with you, I may end up having to stay outside the maze, probably alone.”
“We have no way of knowing where we will come out; if we ever make it out that is. I feel it is better for you to stay here, where we can easily get a message to you, letting you know where we are heading.”
“But you said yourself that we don’t know anything about the maze. We may be able to take Hawk and his coffin with us.” Hawk was the nearest thing Sam had to a best friend and she did not want to leave him behind.
“I understand how you feel,” Tor assured her, “and I feel the same way, but it is a risk and only Hawk can decide whether to take it or not. I do not relish the thought of him being left alone outside the maze. I will need all who are willing to enter the maze with me. I do not think we can afford to leave anyone with Hawk, guarding his coffin during the day.”
Hawk sighed. “What you just said makes sense, unfortunately. I will have to think about it and give you my decision in the morning.” He stood up, but before he could leave the room, Allias forestalled him.
“You are more than welcome to stay here for as long as you like,” he said. “I may even make use of your rather unique skills to help train some of my soldiers in night combat, if you are willing.”
“Thank you,” Hawk replied, genuinely grateful. Not many rulers would invite a vampire to stay in their city, let alone their palace. “Good night. Will I see you before I go to sleep in the morning?” The question was posed to Sam, who nodded, ignoring Brin, who had tensed slightly. Hawk left the room and conversation turned to the pros and cons of having Hawk with them on their journey. There was a trace of excitement in the air. It would be good to be on the road again, heading towards a new destination and a new clue. Nobody thought about the dangers that awaited them in the maze; they would face those when the time came. Though everyone turned in early, sleep was a long time coming. Those who were not sleeping alone found ways to occupy their minds and exhaust their bodies. As Grimmel finally drifted off, River already sleeping peacefully in his arms, he couldn’t help thinking how glad he was that she had moved into his room.
Sam woke while it was still dark and quietly slipped into her clothes, trying not to wake Brin. When she leaned over to gently kiss his forehead, he grabbed her and pulled her onto the bed, kissing her passionately. It took her a while to catch her breath when they pulled apart.
“You can come with me you know.”
“I know, but I trust you and I need to learn to trust him,” he said, his hand sliding gently down her face.
“Go back to sleep,” she instructed, slipping off the bed. This time he allowed her to kiss him goodbye without demanding more and she slipped out of the room. She headed to the stables where the wagon was kept and waited patiently by Hawk’s empty coffin.
She began to drift off to sleep and did not hear Hawk approach. “Thank you for coming,” he said quietly, just loud enough to startle her.
“Jesus Christ,” she exclaimed. “You scared me.”
“Sorry,” he said, not meaning it.
“Have you decided to come with us?” she asked, hopefully.
“No, I will be staying here.” Disappointment was evident on Sam’s face. She had been expecting him to go with them. “How are you?” he asked, indicating her shoulder.
“Better,” she replied, glad of the change of topic. “It still aches sometimes and will for a few more weeks yet, but other than that I am fine.”
“And are you happy?”
“Yes, I really am.”
“Good. Tell your elf he had better look after you while I am not around.” They talked for a while, making the most of their last few moments together. The sun began to rise, but the stable was well protected from the light so Hawk was not affected.
“Shit,” Sam said loudly, suddenly noticing how light it was getting outside. “I was supposed to meet Brin at the maze at daybreak.”
“You had better get going then.” He kissed her cheek. “See you in a few weeks.” His face was unreadable as he lay down in his coffin and pulled the lid closed.
“Sleep well,” she said, not sure whether he could hear her or not.
Brin got up early, rising with the sun. As soon as it was light enough to see, he made his way down to the maze, meeting Oak at the entrance. Now that the path had been cleared so no more destruction was needed in order to get to the centre, they had both asked to accompany Sam as she tested her theory that the turn left then right advice would get her into the maze, as well as out. They were just beginning to wonder where she had got to when she came running round the corner.
“Sorry,” she said breathlessly.
Brin regarded her carefully. “He is not coming with us, is he?”
“No. He’s decided to stay here. I guess it’s the right decision.”
“But you will miss him.” Brin took her in his arms. “You can always stay behind as well.”
“No. I may be needed.” She extracted herself from his embrace and took his hand. “Come on, let’s see if we can get to the centre by turning left then right.”
The elf and the tree sprite enjoyed being in the maze, surrounded by the sight and smell of the hedges, though they did wince occasionally when they saw how haphazardly some of the pruning had been done. Sam assured them that Allias’s gardeners would trim everything off properly when they were let loose in the maze, but this did nothing to diminish their displeasure.
In a remarkably short time, they arrived in the centre of the maze without taking one wrong turn. If their method of navigation worked so successfully for one maze, would it also work for another? There was only one way to find out. They would try it as soon as they arrived in Ukland. They made their way out again and were seated ready for breakfast before anyone else made it to the dining room. When Tor arrived, Sam informed him of Hawk’s decision and everyone agreed it was for the best. He would be sorely missed, and not only for the fresh meat he supplied while they travelled. Breakfast was leisurely, as nobody was in a rush to finish their last decent meal and they knew packing would not take long. When it became obvious they were just staying at the table to delay their departure, they all headed to their rooms, agreeing to meet outside the stables thirty minutes later.
Everyone was on time. Unfortunately there was one big problem. The wagon was so laden down with supplies, there was nowhere to store personal belongings, even without the coffin taking up half the space. Allias came to the rescue by loaning them a small cart and a pony. Seth took up his usual post of wagon driver and Grimmel hopped into the driver’s seat in the cart, closely followed by River, who snuggled under his arm. Samson leaped onto the wagon seat and started to make himself comfortable, but Seth was having none of it.
“I do not think so,” he said, looking down at the wolf. “You have done nothing but laze about and eat too much since we got here. You are beginning to look fat. You need some exercise. Get down and walk.” Samson demonstrated what he thought of that idea by baring his teeth. Seth, not the least bit intimidated, gave him a shove with his foot. Samson reluctantly jumped down and walked away, head and tail down. “I did not think it was possible for an animal to sulk,” Seth commented to Ria, who was mounted on her horse next to the wagon.
“Try telling that to him,” she replied, smiling. She looked around. “Where is Patrick?” she asked.
Seth smiled wickedly. “Still in jail. At Tor’s request, Allias organised for him to remain there so he could not get into any more trouble. Ellen packed his things and we will pick him up on the way.”
“Oh dear,” Ria replied, slightly concerned. “That means he is going to be travelling all day in clothes he has slept in. That will not make him happy.”
“That is the general idea. Punishment for not staying out of trouble. Maybe he will find out more about a woman before seducing her next time.”
“Do you really think he will?” she asked doubtfully.
“Not a chance.” Laughing, Seth called for the donkey to start moving forward and they made their way out of the palace gates and into the streets. The next stage of their quest was beginning and it was going to be a long and hopefully uneventful journey.