by John Bierce
“Can we talk more about this demon thing?” Avah said.
“We will,” Hugh said, “this is just really urgent. Actually because of the demon thing. If we can show who the traitor is, we can get out of having to go into the labyrinth. With the demon.”
Sabae had to struggle not to shake Hugh for that. If he was trying to comfort Avah, he was going about it in the worst possible way.
“Midsummer is in two days. We need to get this information to Kanderon now,” Sabae said. She stood up to go.
“That… might be a bit of a problem,” Godrick said.
Everyone turned to look at him.
“Kanderon and over half the full council just left Skyhold a couple hours ago,” Godrick said. “Apparently, some giant volcanic elemental is wakin’ up in the Skyreach Range, and it’s goin’ ta’ take that many mages ta’ put it back ta’ sleep.”
“Jaskolskus?” Hugh asked. “It’s an ash elemental, but it lives in a volcano. Though some people think it created the volcano, which kind of tells you how powerful it is.”
“Ah think that’s what me dah called it,” Godrick said. “The remaining councilors are all up in arms. They’re not supposed ta skip the traditional Midsummer and Midwinter meetings for any reason. Been that way fer centuries.”
“Shouldn’t you be keeping track of Kanderon?” Talia demanded of Hugh.
“It’s more the other way around,” Hugh said. “Still no word from Alustin?”
Everyone shook their heads, except for Avah.
“This is insane,” Avah said. “This is way more insane than last summer. How do you keep getting in these situations? Alustin I understand, he seeks them out, but you all?”
“So we go to your da,” Sabae said to Godrick. Part of her mind inanely pointed out that she’d pronounced da just like Godrick did, which would have been amusing at literally any other time.
He shook his head. “He’s already in the labyrinth. The school sends faculty mages into the labyrinth a couple days early to make sure that nothing too dangerous is in the testing levels.”
“What do you want to bet that doesn’t keep Bakori out?” Talia muttered.
Avah made a whimpering noise.
“What about your grandmother?” Hugh asked Sabae.
Sabae shook her head. “Look out the window, tell me what you see.”
“Her ship’s gone,” Hugh reported.
“She literally just left a few minutes ago while we were talking,” Sabae said. “She made it clear that she’d be a hundred leagues away when we entered the labyrinth.”
“So literally every adult that we could potentially trust with this information is missing right now?” Talia demanded.
“Tarik?” Godrick asked.
Sabae frowned and shook her head at that. “Too much of a risk.”
There was something deeply wrong with all of this. There’d been something deeply wrong with this investigation from the very beginning. No matter what excuses Alustin gave, this wasn’t the sort of thing you entrusted to apprentices. You didn’t just casually leave apprentices at risk of being murdered by a vengeful demon. You didn’t act so casual about it.
Sabae’s frown deepened. The disturbing part was that all of those arguments applied to all the adults involved. Not just Kanderon and Alustin, but to Artur and her grandmother as well.
In fact, it almost seemed like…
“I think Kanderon knew from the start that we’d have to go into the labyrinth,” Hugh said.
“That’s insane. Why would she want a demon to get you?” Avah asked. “Is she insane?”
“I think she’s been planning this,” he said. “At the last lesson we had, she told me that we probably wouldn’t catch the traitor, and we’d probably have to go into the labyrinth again, and that I needed to trust her.”
“And you didn’t say anything?” Talia demanded.
Hugh looked at his feet, turning red. “I didn’t actually want to believe it,” he said in a small voice.
Sabae interrupted before Talia could start yelling at Hugh and send him into a downward emotional spiral. That was the last thing they needed right now.
“I think my grandmother wants us in the labyrinth too,” she said. “When I told her about the situation, she just insisted I not back down from the challenge, which I thought was ridiculous, but…”
“Am I literally the only one taking our secrecy seriously?” Talia demanded.
Godrick made an affronted noise.
“Are Godrick and I literally the only ones taking our secrecy seriously?” Talia demanded.
“I was trying to find us a way out of this whole situation,” Sabae said. “My grandmother apparently even knew there was a traitor this whole time, and even already knew about our investigation somehow, and she still wouldn’t do anything. I think she wants us in the labyrinth too.”
“This is all absurd,” Avah said. “The people that are supposed to be protecting you all are not only forcing you into a dangerous situation, they’re actively removing themselves from positions where they could help you?”
“Sabae’s grandmother, maybe,” Hugh said, “but Alustin had a mission, Artur had his own duties, and Kanderon could hardly help when Jaskolskus decided to wake up. They wouldn’t deliberately abandon us for no reason.”
A part of Sabae couldn’t help but feel a little cynical about that. Still…
“There’s no way Artur would have agreed to us being put in a situation with more danger than he thought we could handle,” she said. “Even if we can’t trust anyone else involved, we can trust him.”
“We can trust Alustin and Kanderon,” Hugh insisted. “And you should be able to trust your grandmother, right?”
Sabae gave him a flat look. “I trust the other three not to actively have it out for us, but all three of them would sacrifice any of us if they thought it necessary to achieve their long-term goals. Artur wouldn’t.”
Hugh crossed his arms and gave her a defiant look. “I can’t speak for your grandmother, but I trust Alustin and Kanderon. I think you’re just letting your cynicism do your thinking for you.”
There was no faster way to pull Hugh out of one of his emotional spirals than to insult someone he cared about. It didn’t necessarily leave him in the most helpful mood, though.
Sabae raised her hands in a conciliatory gesture. “At the very least, I don’t think they’re going to put us in a hopeless situation here. I think that they’re trying to get us in the labyrinth for a reason.”
“I have a better idea that doesn’t get you all killed,” Avah said. “Run away. Come join the Radhan. I can guarantee you’d all be welcome. Please.”
That… was actually tempting. Sabae couldn’t deny that her family’s demands on her were onerous at times, and while she’d learned an incredible amount at Skyhold, it didn’t exactly hold the fondest place in her heart.
Sabae shook her head. “I owe it to my family to keep going.”
Talia snorted. “I don’t run away.”
Sabae knew that wasn’t true— Talia was belligerent, not foolhardy, but the redhead would hardly admit that to Avah.
Godrick patted Avah gently on the shoulder. “It really means a lot that yeh’d offer— ah know how much that means ta the Radhan— but ah can’t disappoint me da like that.”
Avah looked on the verge of tears. “Hugh?”
Hugh looked torn, but Sabae already knew which way he’d jump. As much as he cared about Avah…
“I’d be nothing without Kanderon and Alustin,” Hugh said. “They made me a mage, rather than a failure. I need to trust them. We’re going into the labyrinth.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
Return to the Labyrinth
When you made a momentous, important decision, it should really be followed by important preparations.
Not dealing with your friend’s hysterical girlfriend.
It had taken hours to calm Avah down, and Talia was far from pleased about that. That was time t
hey could have spent preparing for the labyrinth, and now Hugh was sulking instead of focusing.
“She’s going to break up with me,” Hugh was muttering.
Talia rolled her eyes and stared resolutely towards the doors that led into the labyrinth, trying to ignore the conversation that was rehashing itself for the twentieth time behind her. She started double checking her armaments.
Magical dagger that could suspend itself in midair, check. Drinking water, snacks, check.
“You had your first real fight. That doesn’t mean she’s about to break up with you,” Sabae said tiredly.
Clan Castis dagger, check. Newest enchanted dagger, check.
“First fights in a relationship aren’t usually multi-hour affairs revolving around literal life or death situations, are they?” Hugh muttered.
Lock pick hairpins, check. Enchanted pins stuck in the heels of her shoes, check.
“If ah told yeh that she was goin’ ta break up with yeh, would that help yeh focus any?” Godrick asked.
It really said something that even Godrick was getting impatient with Hugh— the big apprentice usually had seemingly endless patience when the rest of them were concerned. Though, admittedly, a lot of Godrick’s current mood probably had to do with pre-labyrinth jitters.
Enchanted gloves, check. Portable ward Hugh had made her, check.
Hugh made an unpleasant noise in his throat.
Throwing knives, check. Bone shards in belt pouch, check. Bone necklace, check.
“Is this really the best time to have a conversation about your dating lives?” someone in the group behind them asked.
Talia smirked a little at that.
The four of them had been placed at the front of the line at this labyrinth entrance, just like last year. The second years, however, entered earlier in the morning, far before the first years did. The third years had entered even earlier, apparently.
A faculty member had covered the rules with them again, but little had changed since last year, other than the fact they were going as deep as the second level now.
“What if…” Hugh started.
Talia turned back and glared at him. “Equipment check, Hugh.”
“I already…” he started.
“Doesn’t matter,” Talia said. “Do it again. You need to know exactly what you have on you going into this, and exactly where it all is on your person.”
Hugh frowned, but he began patting his pockets and belt pouch. His spellbook shifted sleepily from where it was slung over his shoulder.
At least someone was getting enough sleep, even if it was that annoying book.
Talia turned her gaze on the other two. “Equipment check.”
Godrick opened his mouth to say something, but Talia just glared at him. He closed his mouth sheepishly and began going over his own gear, starting with his massive warhammer.
Sabae gave Talia a knowing look, then she patted her shield and her big canteen. “Check,” she said.
Talia rolled her eyes at that. Sabae was a competent enough leader once she was in the thick of things, but if given time to worry beforehand, she was as bad about overthinking things as either of the boys.
This wasn’t, of course, something Talia had to worry about at all. She was utterly calm and prepared, and she had no need to overthink anything. Everything was going to turn out fine.
“First team, it’s time to go!”
As the massive enchanted quartzite doors swung open, Talia began unconsciously patting herself down again in what, if she had been counting, was her eighth equipment check of the morning.
Godrick activated his hammer’s silence enchantment as they strode into the labyrinth. He’d gotten better at using the enchantment more selectively— they should be able to talk fine without it carrying, but it should dampen their footsteps entirely.
He’d gotten some pushback on his choice of enchantment from a few people, but he didn’t need to hit harder or set fire to things when he hit them or anything like that— Godrick was already plenty destructive enough with his bare hands, let alone when he put his attunements behind his blows.
No, Godrick had done enough sneaking around over the course of the last year and change to know its value, and he was quite happy about anything that would make that easier.
Hugh and Sabae summoned lights to guide their path.
No one spoke as they strode deeper into the labyrinth, save for Sabae giving off the occasional direction. Even Hugh’s spellbook seemed alert and ready.
The first attack came fifteen minutes or so into their trek. They’d been trying to head for the center of the first floor as quickly as possible this time— a viable strategy, but one that was noted for attracting more attacks and traps than usual.
Alustin’s explanation of what the labyrinths were answered a lot of questions, but far from everything. It did not, for instance, do a lot to explain the oddities of the floors, the variety of the traps, or even exactly what their purposes were. It also didn’t explain many of the stranger behaviors of the labyrinth, like why it responded differently to people using different strategies to move through it.
When pressed, Alustin just admitted that he didn’t know. Godrick would have preferred it if Alustin did know and was just trying to keep it a secret.
The attack was over before Godrick even realized it had started. Some sort of spined snake came slithering down a nearby passage, and Talia immediately blasted it with dreamfire. The snake rapidly shrank in size, coiled around itself, and then formed an eggshell around itself.
Within seconds, the egg had vanished as well.
Godrick was fairly sure he’d seen dreamfire do something similar before.
He was fairly sure that his hammer enchantment would reduce the number of attacks they’d suffer, even taking the more dangerous route, but even if it didn’t, he wasn’t overly worried about most of the stuff on the first floor. They’d handled it relatively easily last year, and they were far more capable this year.
Honestly, if anything on the first floor made it past Talia, he’d be surprised.
Hugh had thought he’d be stuck thinking about his fight with Avah until he saw her again, but he found the labyrinth to be an excellent distraction.
Somehow, the enchantment on Godrick’s hammer made the labyrinth more ominous. Their clothes didn’t rustle, their footsteps were silent, and their breath hardly seemed to stir the air around them. They could still speak, but they were avoiding doing so to keep from attracting trouble.
So there simply wasn’t anything to hear, save for their own heartbeats. The first floor was, as always, deathly quiet. Something about the spellforms on the walls and the layout of the halls dampened sound. This near complete silence disturbed Hugh more than any noise he could think of— it was what he imagined being deaf must be like.
Something else about the labyrinth seemed different to Hugh. It felt larger, more watchful. He wasn’t sure whether it was because of his fear of Bakori, his knowledge of what lurked in the depths of the labyrinth, or his new knowledge of what the labyrinth was.
Or if it actually was different, somehow.
His spellbook felt alert, but not nervous. It felt… comfortable, somehow. Not the sort of comfort you felt in a safe place, but the sort of comfort Hugh remembered from wandering the woods of Emblin, being in a place where you knew the dangers and could be ready for them.
He’d found the labyrinth stone here, after all. Who knows how long it had laid in the labyrinth, attuning to its aether?
Hugh kept his sling ready in one hand, a warded slingstone in the other.
After the snake, nothing attacked them for some time as they wandered through the labyrinth. This didn’t comfort Hugh much. Last time they’d been in here, they’d been repeatedly confronted by packs of Bakori’s imps— guided by them, though they hadn’t known it at the time.
This time, with Bakori actually out to harm them, the lack of imps was somehow more intimidating than their presence.
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As the group advanced, Hugh abruptly felt alarm from his spellbook.
“Stop!” he hissed.
Even trying to be quiet, Hugh’s voice sounded alarmingly loud after the silence.
The others halted immediately. Hugh carefully crept past Godrick and Sabae at the front, and crouched to look at the floor.
It took Hugh a second, but he found carefully hidden spellforms underneath the dust of the floor. He took a second to study them— like most of the spellforms in the labyrinth, they worked in a fundamentally similar manner to wards.
He pointed out the spellforms to the others. “It wouldn’t have killed us, but it would have hurt. It would have temporarily altered gravity so that the way we just came from was down. Would have slammed us into that wall hard.”
“Can you break it, or should we find a way around?” Sabae whispered.
Hugh didn’t respond, just crouched down. He reached out with his crystal affinity sense to the rock around it and prepared to break it, but then paused. A grin crossed his face, and he carefully made some more complex alterations.
It took less than a minute, then he moved forward and gestured for the others to cross. They got back into formation, Sabae and Godrick at the front.
“I didn’t break it,” Hugh said quietly. “I altered it so that it would let humans past without triggering, and I changed the function of the spell so that it would alter gravity upwards instead of sideways for anything else that passed.”
Sabae nodded at him, looking pleased.
They reached the center of the first floor without any further incident.
“Trying to set a speed record?” one of the mages guarding the entrance to the second floor called as they approached. “We only got the signal that the doors were opening twenty minutes ago. You’re the first team here!”
“How close ta the record are we?” Godrick asked.
“Not even close,” another mage said. “The record is four and a half minutes. A team of third years set it seventy years ago— they were all fliers of different types, and they blasted through the labyrinth at high speed. Half the monsters on the floor chased them to the center, too.”
