Kayla’s mouth tasted like blood. Then she noticed she was the one with blood at her waist. Then she felt pain. Extreme pain. It hurt like glass pieces stabbed onto her vulnerable body at every direction. But it didn’t matter now. She knew how to heal herself. Before she could use her magic, however, a dark cloth covered her fuzzy mind. She knew she was unconscious.

Her heart tensed, as she awoke. Blood blinded her sight as she tried to crawl towards the sound of voices.

Two men sat on a stool opposite of each other playing cards on a wooden table. Kayla groaned as her blood soaked through. Her thigh hurt. Her eyes blurred. She was losing consciousness. But before she went unconscious, she heard the men talking. And it was important.

“I think the Lord should give us a thousand bags of gold for getting these rascals. Wait until they get to the Maze!” the man with ruffled golden hair lazed around, placing another card.

“Maze…Only one escaped before. But Lord says no more. They are going to die by the Beast’s shadow, from fright!” his friend laughed openly.

“Give—me—more—beer—Nick!” the golden-haired man wheezed. “More!”

Maze. Only one escaped. Lord. All would have been the king.

Then she heard no more, for she fell back.

~

She had been awakened by the one called Nick, who didn’t really shake her but kick her in the stomach. She had been tied and unfed, feeling hungry and low. Just as they were to get to Dunce, everything went wrong.

Across her, Ashwa sat, still as a stone. Kayla could feel her feeling; low and scared. But there was no time for that right now, for she couldn’t see Asco anywhere. Asco must’ve been tied somewhere else. Then a disturbing thought came into her mind. What if these two men wanted to sell her? She didn’t have time to think, because before she could say anything more, she was dumped out of the cart, facing the village she’d never wanted to see after what happened when she was younger. Her home. Her family. Now her enemy.

Dumped on the ground hadn’t done anything better to her and Ashwa, however, their tied legs struggling.

“To the Maze!” a crowd had formed around them. “To the Maze!” they yelled.

Tears stung at her eyes. There had been a memory long hidden before. She held the urge to kick and scream, saying they were cowards and fools. That wouldn’t do anything. But were they about to be dumped into what was called the Maze?

Pushed around, the one named Nick called the golden-haired man, who was called Flek. The crowd roaring with laughter as she and her friend was blindfolded in black cloth. Their binds were cut, and being pushed again one last time, they were left in the Maze alone, with heavy doors slammed behind them. Hearing the locks turning, their hearts sank. Where would be the way out?

“Well, we’ll have to find out, and not get ourselves killed then,” Ashwa said, thinking of the same thing.

“I guess so. Looks like this adventure going to be like forever. Asco gone, food gone. No more things to follow, because even I had not heard of this “Maze” before.” Kayla looked straight ahead.

“They call it the Maze of the Beast. I knew you heard those men. But I stayed awake longer. I’m sorry they had hurt you. Now… Shall we?”

Stepping one step at a time, they turned and ran. The maze was alive. It could move as it wished, as Kayla thought it would. But they would do anything for freedom now. Anything.