Labyrinth Wall (9780991531219) by James (EDT) Nicole (EDT); Allen Emilyann; Zoltack Girder Page B
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me.
Korun graciously offers me a potato. My angry stomach would be glad to consume the whole thing, but self-control equals survival. This is going to be an issue though. The three of us are going to have difficulty finding enough food the next few days or, more importantly, water. We could swipe those items from other Mahk, but we have to find some first. My eyes catch Korun watching me, maybe even admiring me. Scrats… He won’t have us stealing even if it would save our lives.
“We’re really going to have to move as fast as possible,” I tell him. “That food isn’t going to last the three of us long. If we can make it to my hiding spot, we’ll have access to some fresh water as well as vegetation.” Our hiding location makes me think of Blue. Who knows if Darith’s on his way to kill her as we speak?
“Sounds like you’ve got a pretty nice setup at your spot,” he observes.
“I didn’t even realize that until a couple days ago. Most water around the labyrinth is acidic, so when I found the water pool at the bottom of the wall, I thought it was too. Blue showed me I was wrong, and it’s all thanks to her I found the food. All because of her I found the wall.”
“You miss Blue? And she’s the bird, right?” he presses.
“My pet.” It shouldn’t be uncomfortable talking about her, but it is. I guess it’s my protective nature.
“I kind of got the impression it would be hard to have a pet around here.”
“It’s complicated.” My lips scrunch together.
Rase scoffs as she makes a point to absently stare into the entangled branches. Clearly our conversation is of no interest.
“I hope I get to meet her,” he comments. “I can tell she’s special to you.”
I allow his words to hang, and it feels reasonable not to respond. He can see I’m starving. Focusing on the food going into my mouth is all I can do. It’s slowly working its way into my system. Trying not to further delay our exit from the wretched pass, I finish quickly.
We climb even higher into the tree, about fifty feet up. The mutts are probably still howling below but can’t be heard from this distance.
Then we start working through the branches, limb to limb. At first, my fingers are sore from the rough bark, but eventually they become numb as their coloring changes to a deep red. Continuing forward, I realize Korun was right about this going faster. Having to look for the fumes and avoid the soft ground had really slowed us down. This canopy is so thick we move tree to tree in a matter of minutes.
“Not a bad idea to travel the canopy,” I compliment Korun as we continue on.
Reaching from one giant branch to the next, I inquire what happened to him and Rase when I set off the poisonous gas.
“I remember trying to pull you two through the gas and losing hold on you,” he says. “Then I searched around but couldn’t find you anywhere. Of course at that point, things were getting very hazy. Then those dogs showed up and tried to attack. We couldn’t run fast, so we ended up in a tree. That’s when I had the idea to climb the rest of the way out of this place.”
I nod. My memory of the time between the fumes and Sir Riddles had been foggy until now, but it’s coming back to me. “That’s right. I tried to climb, but a branch snapped and I fell. I thought for sure those mutts were going to eat me. Then I lost consciousness. Next thing I knew, I was in that awful house. So you made it to a tree?”
“Obviously we were pretty disoriented, but we just kept climbing up as far as we could. We got about as high as we are now before the gas disappeared. It took a good hour for the effects to wear off. After that, we waited a long time for the gas to clear below. Occasionally, we would work our way back down a little, hoping the gas was gone. It must have been a few hours before we finally made it back to the ground.”
“How did you find me after that?” I inquire.
“Didn’t know what happened to you,”
Korun graciously offers me a potato. My angry stomach would be glad to consume the whole thing, but self-control equals survival. This is going to be an issue though. The three of us are going to have difficulty finding enough food the next few days or, more importantly, water. We could swipe those items from other Mahk, but we have to find some first. My eyes catch Korun watching me, maybe even admiring me. Scrats… He won’t have us stealing even if it would save our lives.
“We’re really going to have to move as fast as possible,” I tell him. “That food isn’t going to last the three of us long. If we can make it to my hiding spot, we’ll have access to some fresh water as well as vegetation.” Our hiding location makes me think of Blue. Who knows if Darith’s on his way to kill her as we speak?
“Sounds like you’ve got a pretty nice setup at your spot,” he observes.
“I didn’t even realize that until a couple days ago. Most water around the labyrinth is acidic, so when I found the water pool at the bottom of the wall, I thought it was too. Blue showed me I was wrong, and it’s all thanks to her I found the food. All because of her I found the wall.”
“You miss Blue? And she’s the bird, right?” he presses.
“My pet.” It shouldn’t be uncomfortable talking about her, but it is. I guess it’s my protective nature.
“I kind of got the impression it would be hard to have a pet around here.”
“It’s complicated.” My lips scrunch together.
Rase scoffs as she makes a point to absently stare into the entangled branches. Clearly our conversation is of no interest.
“I hope I get to meet her,” he comments. “I can tell she’s special to you.”
I allow his words to hang, and it feels reasonable not to respond. He can see I’m starving. Focusing on the food going into my mouth is all I can do. It’s slowly working its way into my system. Trying not to further delay our exit from the wretched pass, I finish quickly.
We climb even higher into the tree, about fifty feet up. The mutts are probably still howling below but can’t be heard from this distance.
Then we start working through the branches, limb to limb. At first, my fingers are sore from the rough bark, but eventually they become numb as their coloring changes to a deep red. Continuing forward, I realize Korun was right about this going faster. Having to look for the fumes and avoid the soft ground had really slowed us down. This canopy is so thick we move tree to tree in a matter of minutes.
“Not a bad idea to travel the canopy,” I compliment Korun as we continue on.
Reaching from one giant branch to the next, I inquire what happened to him and Rase when I set off the poisonous gas.
“I remember trying to pull you two through the gas and losing hold on you,” he says. “Then I searched around but couldn’t find you anywhere. Of course at that point, things were getting very hazy. Then those dogs showed up and tried to attack. We couldn’t run fast, so we ended up in a tree. That’s when I had the idea to climb the rest of the way out of this place.”
I nod. My memory of the time between the fumes and Sir Riddles had been foggy until now, but it’s coming back to me. “That’s right. I tried to climb, but a branch snapped and I fell. I thought for sure those mutts were going to eat me. Then I lost consciousness. Next thing I knew, I was in that awful house. So you made it to a tree?”
“Obviously we were pretty disoriented, but we just kept climbing up as far as we could. We got about as high as we are now before the gas disappeared. It took a good hour for the effects to wear off. After that, we waited a long time for the gas to clear below. Occasionally, we would work our way back down a little, hoping the gas was gone. It must have been a few hours before we finally made it back to the ground.”
“How did you find me after that?” I inquire.
“Didn’t know what happened to you,”
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