The Crown Prince was pacing across the small rock they were stranded on right now.
"I thought you were finally done with your old games. To think that you tried to escape again and this time drag me with you. You really are an inexorable person"
Julie sighed getting the dirt out of her hair. They had fallen for a long time in that pitch black darkness only to find themselves landing in a mud pool. Julie had barely managed to crawl onto a nearby rock, the weight of mud clinging onto her body like a second skin.
Not to mention she had no idea what the Crown Prince was talking about right now.
"What do you mean, old games? And how exactly am I responsible right now? You were the person who wanted me to recite and break the seal. I did as you said and now I'm the one in trouble?"
The Prince took a few steps towards her, his muddy face inches from her nose. "Oh sure. Like you hadn't planned for this to happen?"
Julie wanted to claw at his face. "Why would I try to hurt you and open a god knows what blood seal and drag you into an underground tunnel land?"
"Oh why indeed when, you're already familiar with the tunnels and the underground folk here. It seems that Sir Reeland's threat last time wasn't enough for you to stay away from them, was it?"
Julie blinked. Underground folk? Sir Reeland? What on earth was he going on about?
A sinking feeling suddenly crept through her stomach.
Oh. So this was what Lady Emore wanted her to forget.
Lady Julianna was infiltrating the underground folk.
The underground clans were folk that never made their appearance under the sun. They were rumoured to have grey eyes and hair color and were generally considered as cannibals with unknown magic which could prove to be a threat to the Empire.
The council strictly forbade them from entering the surface world or any of the members of the surface world to have any contact with them at all.
"What happened? Suddenly remembered your master plan? Tell me for how long did you think you could fool me with that crap about the forgetting potion and all?", The Prince drawled on, his face getting inches and inches closer. Julie saw his golden green eyes lined with mud, gleam dangerously.
"I have seriously no idea what you're talking about right now Prince. But you don't want to be fighting with me at the moment", she reminded him.
"Oh?", he mocked. "Showing your true colours now, are we?"
Julie swore under her breath. She then swung around angrily and suddenly a chunk full of dirt stuck in her dress splashed at Kale's chest.
The Prince looked stunned for a moment.
Then he bent down dragging fistful of clay in both of his hands.
"You....are so going to pay for that"
Julie felt a sudden feeling of impending doom run down her spine. She quickly darted a few feet away eyeing Kale's muddied hands warily. "Listen, I'm sorry. But can you please just listen to me without accusing? I really have no idea what's going on here"
Kale lifted his chin, giving her an arrogant look before his lips curved down in a mischievous smile. He raised both of his hands ready to spill mud.
"You better confess Julianna, if you don't want your face to become my target"
Julie grimaced. She really really did not want to deal with the Prince right now. Not to mention how he was absurdly acting like a toddler at the moment.
"I think we are somewhere beneath the maze. I think I remember my father talking about the lower levels of the maze built before the war but I doubt even he would be able to help us if we got stranded way too deep. Please calm down and listen to me", Julie pleaded.
She looked up at the endless darkness where they fell from. The floor of the birdcage had tipped over like a coin and she guessed that they had fell somewhere directly below it. But the fall time had been too long. She had felt like they were falling for almost half an hour or so.
"Call your underground friends then Julianna. Maybe they can help you", Kale said with a mock smile.
"How many times do I have to tell you? I have absolutely no memory of ever visiting this place. And even if I did, do you think I would still be wandering around here like this?", She shouted. "I...I need some time. Let me try to remember"
"Maybe some cooling mud to your face can help", Kale muttered and then threw the chunk of clay at her face. It wasn't even aimed properly and Julie easily dodged it.
Julie looked at the Crown Prince, worried now. He seemed to be in shock, which would explain him acting like this.
"Where's Wrel?", she asked hoping that would distract him.
The Prince paused for a moment, his hands lowering slowly, mud dripping from his fingers. "Wasn't he with you?"
"The bird flew from my hands as soon as we fell", Julie said oddly worried for the phoenix's safety now.
"You let him go at a time like this? Do you even have any idea what the bird is worth?", He scolded her sounding more like the Crown Prince she knew. "If any of the hunters get their hands on the bird it will be over for all of us"
"Why don't you try the Phoenix's whistle?", she suggested feeling guilty.
The Prince looked at her with a disappointed look then moved over to the small stream nearby washing his hands. Whatever, she was glad that he came back to his senses atleast.
Julie took one of the hanging mana torches on nearby walls and gave it to Kale who lit it up for her. She then took the torch from him and slowly walked around their surroundings.
They seemed to have landed in some cave-like place attached to the maze. She could see a pathway up ahead on the right side of the cave which wasn't surrounded by rocks.
A low whistle filled the empty air of the cave. Julie was suddenly startled at the sound of the noise. She looked at where Kale was standing over a high rock, his eyebrows scrunched in concentration, his fingers over his mouth, whistling in tune.
The phoenix whistle. Only members of the Royal family and her father was allowed to use it.
The whistling went on for a while and Kale then sat down on the rock tired. She was about to join him but then suddenly was relieved when she heard the sound of a mimicked bird cry coming from the dark hole above them.
A small spark of red blazed through the darkness the same time Kale jumped from the top of the rock landing his feet in muddy water again. Julie tried her best not to laugh at him as he walked through the water like a penguin and the Phoenix suddenly appeared on the top of his head.
"I think I have to be soaked in disinfectant for a week after this little trip", he muttered picking up the bird from his head and handing it over to Julie. She gave him the mana torch which lit up brightly at his touch again.
"I'll try to navigate. If the lower levels of the maze are just like the upper ones we won't be having a problem", Julie said touching the bird's feathers to see if it had any wounds.
"Lower level, upper level I don't care. You are taking me outside", Kale commanded.
Julie sighed. "Yes your highness"
**************************************
They must have walked on for two hours and no matter how much Julie tried to navigate through the maze, she only seemed to be getting further and further away from the surface. Not only that, she could also hear small tremors rocking the maze walls as if someone or something was trying to break down the maze.
She stopped at what appeared to be the 5th crossroad since their exit from the cave and pursed her lips in annoyance. This had never happened to her before, and as far as she could gather from 'Julianna's' instincts, she never had trouble locating places through the maze either.
Julie wondered whether the hidden memory in her mind would know how to navigate through the maze.
"Well?", Kale asked looking grim.
She was worried about him too. Julianna was a noble who didn't do much work, but the duties of the Crown Prince were a whole other level of work. She remembered how the Prince used to leave for the Palace at dawn and come back late at night, he sometimes even stayed back at the palace which made her wonder why on earth he insisted on coming to stay at the Emore mansion in the first place.
"I think we're getting closer to the surface", she lied hoping not to panic him.
Kale inspected her face carefully. "That's the fifth time you're telling me that. Then tell me why do I feel like we're getting away from the surface and why are there sudden tremors in the walls?"
"Whose instinct do you prefer better, a novice on mazes like you, or an experienced guide like me?", she challenged hoping to shut him up. Damn the Crown Prince and his stupid brain.
"You're not a very good liar Julianna", he muttered.
She ignored his comment and went through the maze again taking the pathway towards the South hoping that maybe this way would lead them the way.
"We're not going to last long if we keep going on like this", The Prince murmured again. He then stopped in his tracks suddenly and leaned against the wall.
"What now?", Julie asked really not wanting to stop. This pathway seemed to show presence of mana which was a good sign. Mana meant that an energy source was close.
And wherever there was an energy source around, there would be people too.
The Prince had one side of his face pressed against the walls. He motioned with his fingers to follow him and Julie followed pursuit, sighing.
"Listen", he said closing his eyes.
Julie did the same as him and listened. Through the wall, she could hear the sound of flowing water and a synchronised dripping.
"Do you hear that?", he said his face gaining a bit colour now. "It sounds like a pipeline"
"It's probably the stream from earlier", Julie told him knowing what he would ask for next.
"Tell me Emore", He said scowling now. "We're obviously not going to be able to go back on our own. It's as you said, the lower levels are hard to locate and we might as well as get trapped here forever. In that case, wouldn't it be better if we find out a place with water first and wait for reinforcements to arrive?"
"You don't know what might be here in these tunnels your majesty. We are tired and we don't even have a weapon to defend ourselves with", Julie warned, but Kale had that look on his face which said that nothing she said was going to change his mind now.
"We have someone who knows the underground folk. We also have the Liere phoenix and I'm used to barehanded duels with Reirs. We can manage this Emore", The Prince said confidentially.
Julie bit her lip thinking it over. The mud stains on her clothes had solidified now and she was having trouble walking. Not to mention that her throat was feeling a bit parched. Maybe this idea of the Prince won't be so bad after all.
"Fine", she muttered but the Crown Prince had already walked ahead of her trailing the sound of water through the walls.
"Your highness, please refrain from acting on your own. We might get separated", she worried but Kale blew her off with a wave of his hand annoying her.
He followed the pathway keeping his hands on the walls while Julie followed feeling more and more useless by minute. The sound of water kept getting louder but so did their vision dim by a notch. They somehow seemed to be going deeper into the maze than before.The single mana torch was apparently not enough for lighting up the hallway and Julie desperately wished that she had mana at that moment.
"Stay close", Kale told her when he found out that Julie was walking slowly now. "The waterway is somehow nearby. All we need to do is find out our next clearing."
Julie sighed holding the bird closer to her chest. The bird nicked at her chin playfully in response. She was about to try plucking one of its loose feathers when she felt the bird suddenly go still in her hands.
Julie stopped walking.
Kale walked a few feet ahead. Then, noticing that she wasn't following him he turned around with an annoyed look on his face.
Julie wasn't looking at him. Right now, her whole attention had shifted to the bird's eyes which turned red. It suddenly darted from Julie's hands and flew ahead of them, into the dark pathway ahead.
"Wrel!", The Prince cried out and followed the bird with a run. Julie dragged her stiff skirts and followed slowly, tired of moving around.
The Prince was fast as he ran with the mana torch in his hand. Julie worried that she was going to lose him at this rate and picked up speed, but fatigue got the better of her and she slowed down after a while, panting. The walls of the cave seemed to be spinning and she was soon left in the darkness as the mana torch disappeared around the corner.
"Your highness!", she called out in between deep breaths.
No Reply.
Julie began to panic.
Never mind her life. But if something were to happen to the Crown Prince then she would have no choice but to hope for another soul transfer or something. The Emperor would hunt for her at every corner of the world.
She ran through the narrow passage in darkness which seemed to be getting stuffier than usual. It was a bad sign, indicating that this place had the least mana exposure in the tunnels. The other parts of the maze were relatively clean with no hint of cobwebs or dust.
As Julie ran, she got caught amoung a rather large set of cobwebs. She shrieked loudly grabbing at the invisible threads on her face. From somewhere in front, she heard the Prince call for the stupid bird again. She ran in the direction of the sound blindly holding her hands as her shield.
Julie stopped running when she felt a small gust of cold her strike her face. When she opened her eyes again, she was in another clearing, very much like the cave they had been in earlier. But this one had high steep walls unable to climb and the roof opened to the night sky somewhere very very high.
Thankfully for her, the moon was right overhead and the clearing was lit up by its light, the silvery glow shining against the black rocks.
Julie found the Prince standing in front of the passage on the opposite side of the clearing. It led to a other tunnel, continuing the maze.
He was just standing in front of the tunnel holding the torch as if he was frozen mid-air.
"Your highness!", Julie called out loudly. She desperately wanted to kick him for his runaway stunt from before.
She approached him hoping that maybe they'll be able to rest here. She was way too tired to walk now. And she was way to afraid to leave the Prince again.
"Julianna don't move", The Prince commanded without turning around.
"No, not again. I'm not dealing with your childish acts and tantrums. You may think that you can do whatever you please but if anything happens to you, I'm the one who gets in trouble. Not my mother, not my father, Me! So just don't leave me like that again-
"Stop walking Julianna, can't you see it?", he hissed slowly. His head was still in that direction, looking at the entrance on the other side of the tunnel.
"See what?", Julianna asked looking over his shoulder.
She couldn't see it at first but when her eyes got adjusted to the moon's light, she felt the ground in front of the tunnel entrance move slightly.
Julie blinked a few times.
The sand near the tunnel was moving as if it was alive.
Julie wondered whether she had gone mad for real.
But then again that wouldn't explain how Kale could see it too.
"Did you find Wrel?", she asked slowly taking a few steps towards him. Once Kale was in her proximity she grabbed his shirt and pulled him slowly taking a few steps backwards.
Kale's golden green eyes were transfixed on the ground forming small humps in front of him. His legs didn't seem to want to move so Julie had to practically drag him through the ground.
"Y-Your Higghhness", Julie drawled in a low voice. "Plleease moovve", she said pulling him backwards with all her might. He easily slipped from her grasp and started walking the way they had come from.
He walked for a few steps before stopping again.
She turned around and found out that the ground in front of the tunnel lined with cobwebs was now moving too.
"What on earth is that thing?", he asked, disgusted now.
Somewhere in front of the tunnel in the opposite direction a bird's cry was heard.
"Wrel...", the Prince said absent mindedly looking in the opposite direction again.
Julie on the other hand began to panic. Both their exits were blocked by the moving ground now. And she really didn't want to take the risk to check out what was underneath the ground.
Julie turned around to grab Kale again and found him moving towards the opposite exit again.
She swore loudly and ran after him grabbing his shirt by the arm. He raised his hand in a swift move and got rid of her grip and didn't stop walking.
"Seriously?", she shouted getting in front of him. "What on earth are you doing? Do you want to get yourself killed so badly?"
The ground beneath them trembled at the spike in her voice.
"Move aside Julianna. I need to get Wrel", he said flatly, his eyes determined.
Julie spread out both her hands in a lame attempt to block him. "I am not letting you get in danger"
He ignored her and tried to move around her, but she blocked him with her hand shield, not letting him take another step.
Kale glared at her. His eyes seemed to etch on the void nature of submission that his father used and he commanded again.
"Move aside Julianna"
Julie stood rooted to her spot.
Kale rolled his eyes dramatically.
"Fine then warrier woman. Go fetch my bird for me", he mocked, his eyes gleaming with anger.
Julie paused her heart quickening at the sound of the increasing tremors underground.
"If it makes you stay here, I will go", she said turning around without a moment's pause.
She didn't wait for his reply and started walking towards the crumbling ground in front of the tunnel. Her heart threatened to leap out through her chest and she wobbled on the sand ground hoping that she won't fall down from exhaustion.
"Julianna wait!", she heard him call after her when she got dangerously close to the rumbling ground.
Julie ignored him, giving him a taste of his own medicine and didn't stop walking, hoping that some miracle will let her cross now.
But then when she was about to cross the moving sand, the ground came alive.
Julie could only grab onto the sandy soil as it suddenly rose upwards. Her grip faltered and she rolled over from the sudden sand mountain. Kale caught her halfway, his eyes trained on the sand mountain which was rising as tall as the black walls around them.
And then, Julie heard it. Not one or two but the sounds of hundreds of hearts beating. The very ground underneath was coming alive and breathing.
The sand hill turned, forming an arch above them, spilling threads of sand on her and the Prince.
She saw the sand circle round and round at the circumference of the clearing with them at its centre. The edges seen to sink with the rising sand hill which was endless and coiling.
Julie let go of the Prince's grip and looked upwards to find herself face to face with a round mound.
The mound had a small cresent in its middle, forming a peculiar shape as the sand spilled from its surface.
An eye suddenly popped open.
And with it, hundreds more followed.