The Maze

by Trudie Collins

  A short time later, Tor called for him to stop and bent down to examine the ground in front of him. “What do you make of this?” he asked, waving Seth and Dal over to him. Brin, Sam and Modo also approached. To Sam it just looked like some flattened grass, but Brin obviously saw more.

  “Definitely footprints,” Seth confirmed. “But I have no idea what creature made them.”

  “They look almost human,” Brin observed.

  “But why would anyone be walking around this mountain in bare feet?” Dal asked.

  “I was thinking exactly the same thing. The indentation in the ground is also too shallow to be human, unless it was made by someone who trained as a tracker. Elf?” Tor asked, looking up at Brin.

  Brin shook his head. “The toes are too long.”

  “Do we follow it?” Modo asked.

  “I think we have to,” Tor confirmed. “Besides, they appear to be heading towards the watch-tower. Do you think you can follow them without my help?” he asked Seth. The young man nodded. “Then take this opportunity to give Dal another lesson. We will follow your lead until it gets too dark to see clearly; then we will make camp.”

  Their progress was slow. There were places where Seth and Dal completely lost the trail they were following and the group had to stop while the two young men went on ahead to try to find it once more. Secretly Sam was pleased with easing off the pace. They had been walking relatively quickly, despite the fact that they were constantly going uphill, and her muscles were beginning to protest. She commented to Ellen, who agreed with her. Bellak was also struggling to keep up. For an old man he was coping well, but would have fallen farther and farther behind if they had not slowed down.

  The only one of them who seemed unhappy with the slowdown was Samson, who kept running to the front to spend a few minutes with Seth and Dal, then running back to where Bellak brought up the rear, yapping at him as though telling him to hurry up.

  By mid-afternoon the grass became sparse and the terrain a lot more rocky, though the odd tree could still be seen growing here and there. “Now things become more difficult,” Tor explained to the group as they watched Seth and Dal examining the few weeds and plants that grew on the rocks. “Brin, Patrick, Modo, we are going to need extra eyes if we wish to continue to follow the trail left by this unknown creature.”

  “This way,” Seth called out, having spotted a crushed flower. Walking on rock was much harder than walking on the soft grass and the mountain was becoming steeper. Tor called for rest breaks more frequently and their water supply began to diminish rapidly. As predicted, they were staying relatively close to the river, so there was no danger of them dying of thirst. Ellen, Sam and Bellak were told to rest for a while longer while the men refilled the water containers. Ria had also been told to remain behind, but ignored the instruction and started to follow the men.

  They had not moved far when Tor spotted her. His eyes were filled with anger when he approached her. “What do you think you are doing? I told you to remain behind.”

  “I do not need extra rest,” she retaliated, her own anger flaring up.

  “I never said you did. I was relying on you to protect the others in case anything attacks before we return. Sam needs a lot more training in both bow and sword before I would feel safe leaving her to defend herself and Ellen and Bellak need time to cast a spell. They would be useless against a surprise attack.” Tor was shouting so loudly that Ria was sure those who had remained behind could hear him.

  She visibly deflated under his onslaught. “Sorry,” she said, pouting a little. “I did not think of it that way. I will go back now.” She turned around and headed back the way she had come before he could respond.

  “That was quick thinking,” Seth said, making Tor jump. He had not heard the young man approaching.

  “What was?” he asked abstractedly as he watched Ria’s retreating back.

  “You lied to her,” Seth accused. “You did not leave her behind to look after the others. You have a lot more faith in them than you made out.”

  Tor grinned. “You are right. I had not expected her to be so angry when I yelled at her and if I had told her the truth then I think she would have flattened me.”

  “Your secret is safe with me. Come on. Let us get this water and get back quickly. I am getting hungry and will want to stop again soon to eat.”

  They soon resumed their journey, though progress was slower than ever. They had not been walking long before they were brought to a halt by a sharp whistle from ahead. “Stay here,” Tor whispered. “I will see what the problem is.” He crept forward, keeping as low as possible behind the rocks in case the whistle had indicated a creature which might see him as dinner had been sighted. He rounded a corner and found Seth crouching behind a rock.

  “I thought I saw movement behind that tree,” he said, without looking round to see who had approached. Tor looked over to where he pointed, but could see nothing. Dal, who was to his left, was a little closer and could see the tree from a slightly different angle.

  “Dal,” he called out as quietly as he could. “Can you see anything?”

  “No,” came the reply. “No. Wait. Hold on. Yes. There is definitely something there.”

  The three men continued to stare at the tree as something emerged from behind it. It remained in the shadow the tree cast, making it difficult to make out its features. All that could be seen clearly was that it was tall, probably taller than Tor, and very dark. It turned to face in their direction, revealing long thin arms. It cocked its head, as though listening, with its eyes closed. When it opened them they glowed yellow.

  Tor signalled to Dal, who quietly made his way towards him, making sure he did not expose himself to the creature’s gaze. “It knows we are here,” Tor whispered when they were close enough. “I want you two to try to get the other side of it without being seen. I will send some of the others upwards to approach it from above. If we manage to get it surrounded, Sam will be sent in.”

  Both young men nodded and moved away in the direction Tor had indicated, Seth in the lead. Tor crept back to the others and quietly outlined his plan. Patrick, Brin and Ria headed upwards, making sure the rocks kept them hidden from view, while Tor and Samson followed after Seth and Dal. Cirren positioned himself behind the rock from which Tor had seen the creature, but was looking at the surrounding mountain instead of the monstrous animal in the distance. It had not moved, but was continuing to listen for movement, moving its head to one side then the other.

  “I think it can hear us,” he whispered back to Sam, then fell silent when the creature turned its gaze towards him. Either it was coincidence, or it had exceptional hearing. Cirren decided not to take the risk of speaking again. Bellak and Ellen took up their positions, accompanied by Modo.

  After a wait that felt like an hour, but in reality did not even reach half of that amount of time, Cirren heard bird calls from ahead, then left and right. The others were in position. He risked raising his head and saw Tor behind another tree, farther back from the one the creature was standing in front of. He signalled that everyone was ready. It was time for them to approach.

  Simultaneously everyone stood up from their hiding positions and began to slowly move forward. Patrick, Cirren and Tor had their swords drawn. The creature looked round in alarm as it heard movement from all around it. As they slowly drew closer, it began flexing its fingers, its long nails glinting in the sunlight. Brin drew an arrow from his quiver and loaded his bow. The creature saw the movement and let out a low growl. Everyone continued to move slowly forward, decreasing the size of the circle they had formed. They gratefully held their positions when Tor signalled. They were still a safe distance away; at least they felt they were. Without knowing the animal’s speed, they had no way of telling how quickly it could attack.

  Sam alone moved closer. The creature watched her for a moment, then crouched down on all fours as though ready to spring. Brin pulled back the bowstring, ready to let the arrow fly. “No
wait,” Sam called, moving so that she was between Brin and the creature. “I think it is frightened.”

  “It is not the only one,” she heard Ellen whisper to Cirren. She nervously took a step forward and the creature took a step back.

  “We mean you no harm,” she said in a soft calm voice, though to everyone else it just sounded like a series of grunts. She took another step forward and this time the creature did not move, but regarded her uneasily.

  “Be careful,” Brin called out to her. She waved her hand at him, indicating he should remain silent. She took another step forward. She was now close enough that the creature would be able to reach her if it outstretched its arm. She looked down at the length of its claws and could not stop herself imagining the damage they could do to her flesh. She shivered and forced herself to raise her gaze, looking the creature in the eyes.

  “We mean you no harm,” Sam repeated.

  “Then why is he aiming an arrow at me?”

  Sam heard a loud intake of breath, coming from in front as well as behind her. She looked round, a frown on her face.

  “We all understood what it just said,” Tor explained, looking at the creature in wonder. “You can understand what we say?” he asked it.

  “Evidently,” it replied. “My name is Yafen,” it added nervously.

  Tor took a step forward. “I am Prince Tor of Remeny, and these are my friends and family.” He swung his arm behind him, indicating that he was talking about everyone in his party. “If you do not mind me asking, what are you?”

  Yafen glanced down at his body then looked at his hands and his long nails. He then grinned, revealing two rows of pointed yellow teeth. “Is that not obvious? I am a skelk.”

  Chapter 30

  “Frack,” Seth exclaimed.

  Tor apologised for their surprise, explaining to Yafen that, up until that moment, they had all believed that skelks were a myth. He moved his hand away from his sword, indicating that everyone else should also relax. Brin lowered his bow, but did not remove the arrow. Being able to talk did not mean that the skelk was friendly and it was still too close to Sam for his liking.

  Looking around him, Tor decided they were in a good enough place to stop for the night. The sun would not provide enough light for them to continue their climb up the mountain for long and inviting the skelk to join them for dinner would give him the opportunity to question the creature. Nobody seemed happy when he suggested they make camp where they were and have something to eat, but none of them verbalised their disapproval; their faces said it all. Yafen was uneasy about staying with these strange humans, but his curiosity got the better of him and he agreed to eat with them. It suddenly struck Tor that he had absolutely no idea what a skelk classed as food and was relieved when Yafen said that some of the dried meat they were serving with bread and cheese would be adequate.

  Samson slowly walked up to the skelk, who froze when he spotted him. “It’s okay, he is with us,” Sam explained as Samson sniffed him all over, but her words did not calm Yafen, who remained stiff until Samson walked away. “I take it you have had some bad experiences with wolves?” she continued, when Yafen had relaxed his stance.

  “Yes,” he replied, but did not explain further. During the meal, Tor and Sam, who seemed the only ones prepared to speak with the skelk, told him their reason for being on the mountain and explained their initial hostility towards him. While they spoke, Yafen remained silent and showed no reaction to what he was hearing. When Tor got to the part about the group of young men being attacked and some of them killed, he became very animated.

  “That is not true,” he shouted, jumping to his feet. “They attacked us. We merely defended ourselves.”

  “I would not call what you did defending yourselves,” Patrick cut in harshly. “Why did you not just injure them then send them back home?”

  Yafen’s eyes went cold. “We did. Their reaction was to try to harm our females and young.” He spoke slowly and deliberately, trying to keep his anger under control. “Tell me human, what would you have done?”

  Patrick was unable to answer. He had not known that the skelk had brought their wives and children to the mountain and, from the look on the faces of those nearest to him, he was not the only one who was disturbed by Yafen’s words.

  “It looks like there is more to the story than the villagers have told us,” Tor said in a placating manner. “How many skelks are in the mountain and why have you come?”

  Yafen sat down once more and answered Tor’s questions. He took his time and his whole audience listened to his words avidly, their uncertainty about him pushed aside by their curiosity. Never before had they met an ‘old wives tale’, let alone heard one describe his life.

  He told them all about his tribe, which had lived peacefully on the other side of the mountain. Their homes were caves; some were natural and others they had carved out themselves, and they mainly only left them at night. A skelk’s eyesight was far superior to even an elf’s in the dark, but during the day the light was too bright for them, greatly affecting their vision. This enabled them to hunt effectively and also to avoid contact with other species, especially humans.

  “That was before the dragon came,” he said quietly. He stopped talking, expecting to hear horrified exclamations, but there were none. Many pairs of eyes looked at him expectantly when he did not continue.

  “And?” Ellen eventually asked, leaving Yafen completely nonplussed.

  “Have you ever met a dragon?” he eventually asked, completely baffled as to why these people did not seem sympathetic towards his people’s fate.

  “Brin and I have ridden one,” Sam said casually. “So has Dal.”

  The skelk stared at her incredulously, his mouth hanging open. “Are you sure we are talking about the same thing?” he asked when he managed to find his voice.

  “Big scaly thing with enormous wings and long tail? Breathes fire?” Yafen nodded. “Then we are talking about the same thing. Please go on with your story.”

  Yafen was not sure whether he should be feeling admiration towards these people for their bravery or scared to be in their company due to their stupidity. He continued with his tale, though he had lost all his enthusiasm. He had been hoping to demonstrate what a noble and brave race the skelks were and how unfairly they had been treated by an evil monster, but now he was wondering whether they would actually be on the dragon’s side. He had never personally had dealings with humans, but these were not acting anything like the stories he had been told about them. Even the vexen seemed to be behaving contrary to what he had been expecting.

  He explained how the dragon had set up home next to them and found it easier to eat skelks than to hunt for other food. The tribe had no defence against such a huge predator and decided that the only way for them to survive would be for them to pack up all of their belongings and move to the other side of the mountain. The old and the sick had to be left behind to fend for themselves, as they would not be able to make the long trek. The journey was difficult. Some parts of the mountain proved to be impassable, making the tribe retrace their steps and seek out an alternate route. Food and water were scarce in places and some of the terrain was treacherous. Many died on the trek, some from lack of nutrients, others from falling down crevices or even off the side of the mountain, in one instance. By the time they reached the watch-tower, less than half of the tribe were still alive, and all were exhausted. The decision was made to travel no further and to make their home in the ruins until they could excavate some caves. They rounded up some of the wild goats and built a pen for them, feeding their young with the milk and killing them for meat only when no other source could be found. The mountain proved to be abundant with wild game, so food had not been a problem.

  The humans, vexen, wolf and elf were all moved by the tale. By the time Yafen had finished speaking, they no longer saw skelks as monsters to be afraid of, but more like a race of people that could be befriended.

  “Why did you not jus
t talk to the dragon? I am sure he would have stopped eating you if he had realised that you were intelligent creatures he could converse with.”

  Patrick choked on the piece of meat he was chewing. “Sorry Sam, but until you developed a friendship with Salabine, no race, as far as we are aware, knew that dragons were more than just mindless, ferocious, beasts, let alone that they could talk.”

  “Oh. I never thought of that.” She went on to explain to the skelk the circumstances surrounding her relationship with the dragon, starting with her ability to talk with animals. This was why she had tried to communicate with Salabine instead of running from her in fright. Yafen’s eyes filled with hope.

  “You mean we may be able to go home?” There was a hint of desperation in his voice.

  “I will make a deal with you,” Tor said. “If you will guide us to the ruins you have inhabited, and convince your tribe that we are friendly, then once we have obtained the next clue, we will make a detour to the other side of the mountain and speak with this dragon on your behalf.”

  Yafen grinned, displaying his razor sharp teeth, but this time the smile appeared friendly rather than intimidating. He nodded his head in happy agreement.

  As the next day was going to be another long and tiring one, they decided to get to sleep early that night. Each of them found as comfortable a spot as they could on the ground and covered themselves with their travelling cloaks. Yafen assured them there would be no need to post a guard and they took his word for it, knowing that he was probably the most dangerous creature in their vicinity. Also, each of them would need to get as much rest as they could.