*"At times, the solution to a maze is to reduce it to embers and walk straight through the ashes." by Mary Doria Russell,*
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Indicy looked at the girl who had kept her head down during their entire interaction. She had almost every inch of her body covered in baggy clothes. Her face was not visible because of the long bangs. He thought for a moment and then gave another signal; Thalia was dragged back as Lendon walked forward voluntarily through the maze without looking back, even once.
The determination in her steps temporarily confused Indicy as he knew what lay ahead of her. Even if all the others did not know what happened in the maze, as 'dead men tell no tales, what was sure was that no one came out ever, whether alive or dead!
Lendon paused briefly at the opening and then stepped inside. As she walked through the first few pathways, everything was as normal as could be, but she still tentatively walked to avoid any surprises.
The whole pathway got suddenly dark as there was no source of light at all when she rounded the first corner, so she paused her steps while she tried to get adjusted to the sudden darkness.
Lendon started thinking back to the preceding events that led her here as she stood still. She did not understand her actions any more than the people outside the maze did. She felt at that moment when she saw Thalia being pushed to the maze that this was the right thing to do however, now that she was inside, she started to slightly regret her actions. She was never one to do as others did to her, but she couldn't help but ask herself,
"If the situation was reversed, would Thalia even entertain the idea?"
Smiling to herself, she shook the thoughts out of her head and raised her head now not with as much confidence to face what was ahead.
She now realised why the attendant had screamed; he was standing in the middle of the path right in front of her but seemed to be dead and was anchored by what looked like twigs that had pierced his body at several parts. The sight was so goring that she silently thanked the oracle for the scarce light.
Lendon, not wanting to meet the same fate as the attendant, picked up some pebbles from the ground and threw them ahead of her along the path. With a stricken expression, she screamed at what she saw…
Outside the maze, Indicy turned to look at Thalia who was now sprawled on the ground.
"You have such a good friend who is willing to die for you" Indicy stated while looking at her.
"But I wonder if you feel the same way as your friend because you have not shown any remorse for your actions, neither did you try to stop her" he added,
"Do you consider her your friend?"
Indicy realised that was a silly question to ask as the answer seemed obvious so without waiting for the answer, he turned to leave but thought of something, so he paused.
Something about the girl that had just entered the maze seemed familiar and had been nudging at the back of his head, but he had no recollection of ever meeting her.
"What is your friend's name?" Indicy asked,
"L..le…nndon.., Lendon" your majesty, Thalia replied
"Lendon", Indicy repeated the name to himself as if savouring it on his tongue. The girl, he had observed stood out of any crowd because of her interesting way of dressing. He guessed she was trying to be inconspicuous but failed miserably at it. He smiled slightly and turned to leave as the girl had already signed her death sentence when she opted to enter the maze.
He paused again when he heard what he thought was a scream, "Was it?" he asked himself as from the expression on the faces of the others, no one had reacted to it.
*** *** ***
Inside the maze, Lendon watched with a terrified expression as long twigs that looked like snakes and had sharp-looking ends shot out of the maze on both sides of that path when the pebbles rolled across the floor.
She now understood how the attendant had died here. Lendon thought to herself,
"I am not going down without a fight".
With renewed determination, she rolled another set of stones along the path, but the snake-like twigs did not come out. She repeated this several times and noticed that it came on her odd-number count. So, taking a risk, on her even count, she run across that path and as predicted, she was unharmed.
She made sure that she was very cautious going forward as she saw several skeletons and body remains of people who looked to have starved to death and some attacked by unknown animals based on the injuries on the bodies. None of them dying the same way was perhaps the only pattern she saw.
After walking for what seemed like hours when it was just a few minutes, she squatted to take a rest but let out a small scream and wondered why she decided to take on the stupidity of Thalia. Staring at her on the opposite side was a giant spider and Lendon detested those creepy crawly animals. Throwing caution to the wind, she run back towards the entrance but stopped short because the pathway she came through looked like it had been sealed. The opening was not there anymore, it now had turned into a wall.
"Am I hallucinating?" she asked herself
"I just came through here", Lendon asked again
Panic and anxiety briefly flashed in her eyes, but she maintained her resolve and walked back deeper into the maze again.
As she walked on, she noticed that some of the pathways seems to open and close on their own and then it clicked!
"It's the same", she whispered.
The innards of the maze looked so familiar. It was the exact place …. the maze was designed like the one in which she played with Elcaro in her dreams. It was a dynamic maze which she called magical as the pathways were never the same. It kept re-arranging itself to forever keep anyone who entered there permanently.
But this one had the extra complexity of reality and strange things designed to kill anyone.
Lendon judged that it was a miracle that she was still alive to realise this.
Armed with this new knowledge, she had an extra bounce in her steps but was still cautious because she did not want to become any animal's meal when she had not eaten that day herself.
She was now in a sorry state as she had lost her shoes and not even realised it as she was running earlier. Her clothes were torn, and she had visible small wounds on her arms and legs as her clothes were torn in different places.
Navigating the maze was no small feat and Lendon quietly thanked Elcaro for their 'play sessions'.
Trusting her memory, she followed what she thought was a sure path to the exit and made sure that she did not look back. She also used some more pebbles to mark her progress, so Lendon was now sure of the paths she had already used and the ones that got closed after she had passed them.
Finally, she saw it! The path that led to the exit! Lendon almost jumped but contained herself as she was dragging her feet by now. She was so tired, but she could see a glimpse of sun-rays occasionally piercing through the thick foliage that was overhead that affirmed her hunch.
When she rounded what she thought was the last corner, she screamed in frustration as she met…another wall!
At this point, Lendon was ready to give up. She slumped down and felt helplessness she had not felt before.
As she sat there in a daze while fighting to stay conscious, she heard Elcaro's voice,
"Trust yourself and take the step"
Lendon was not sure if she heard the voice, or if she was just having delusions. Deep down, Lendon had formed a strange bond with the girl from her dreams, so using her last ounce of strength, she got up. Sizing up the wall in front of her, she closed her eyes and took the step of faith toward the wall…
Outside the maze and in the garden, it had been quite a while since Lendon had entered as the sun was almost up high by then. Indicy did not know why he had stayed there that long. When he turned to leave earlier, something just held him back, so he stayed.
Finally, Indicy took one last look at Thalia and gave another signal to his guard and this time, he resolved to leave despite his strange feeling of not wanting to do that.
As he turned to leave, he heard a slight noise behind him and a gasp from Alan. As he turned towards the maze, his gaze and reaction also mirrored that of his guard…
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