CHAPTER 4 — SHADOWS IN THE MAZE
The Labyrinth was alive. Not in the breathing, thinking sense — though Kael suspected some of its stone might have remembered the centuries of blood spilled on it — but alive in the way a predator's den was. The air carried the thick tang of damp and iron, torches guttered in sudden gusts, and the walls seemed to lean inward when no one looked directly at them.
They had been moving for ten minutes. Already, the noise of the other contestants was fading, replaced by the hollow drip of water and the low, distant rumble of something very large shifting in the dark.
Ryn's voice was pitched low. "Three arches back there. You didn't even glance down them."
"I glanced," Kael said.
"You didn't—"
"I did."
Ryn let the subject drop, but not the suspicion in his eyes.
> Side: "Two heat signatures ahead. Four-legged. Fast. They've stopped moving… now they're circling."
Kael: "Ambush."
Side: "Correct."
The tunnel bent sharply left. As Kael turned the corner, two shapes lunged — low to the ground, fast, their hides a mottled black-and-gray that made them vanish in the half-light. Gloom hounds.
One came for Kael's throat. He dropped his shoulder, let it pass over, and drove his sword upward through its belly. The second went for Ryn — and found itself slammed into the wall as Kael pivoted, pommel striking with bone-breaking force.
The first hound snarled, claws scrabbling for purchase on his breastplate. Kael twisted the blade free, blood steaming in the chill air. The second whimpered once before going still.
Kael waited until Ryn's heartbeat slowed. Then the bodies melted into the shadows at his feet — unseen, unheard.
> Side: "Assets stored."
Kael: "Keep counting."
---
They pressed on. The corridor sloped downward until it opened into a cavern vast enough to house a fortress. A black river cut across its center, the water reflecting the torchlight in shattered glints. On the far bank, another group of contestants argued about whether to cross.
Ryn frowned. "They're blocking the only bridge."
"Not the only way across," Kael said.
---
Above, in the royal viewing platform, the masked adjudicator of the Black Crown leaned forward.
"Number Thirty-Seven," the man murmured to an aide.
"Cromwell, Kael," the aide replied, consulting a glowing slate. "Commoner entrant. Exceptional reflex scores. Weapon proficiency: sword and polearm. Magical affinity: untested."
"Untested?" The mask tilted. "Interesting."
---
Back in the cavern, Kael motioned for Ryn to follow. They hugged the left-hand wall until they found a fallen pillar stretching halfway into the river. Kael gauged the current — fast, but not enough to drag him under if he chose the angle well.
"Hold onto your boots," he said, and leapt.
The water was shock-cold. It bit through his clothes instantly, but he surfaced in silence, pulling himself onto the far bank downstream from the bridge blockade.
Ryn spluttered beside him. "You… could've warned me."
"That was the warning."
---
They moved quickly. Footsteps echoed somewhere ahead — not human, heavier, dragging. The smell hit them first: rot and wet fur. Then came the shape — a hulking crypt troll, skin the color of grave-mud, eyes sunken pits.
It bellowed. Stone dust rained from the ceiling.
Kael stepped forward.
> Side: "Target strength: high. Armor: dermal layer. Weak points: eyes, throat, spinal ridge."
Kael: "Noted."
The troll swung a club the size of a tree trunk. Kael slid inside its reach, blade flashing. Steel bit into the tendons behind its knee. The beast roared, collapsing to one side. Kael's second strike opened its throat, black blood spilling over the stones.
For a moment, silence — then the corpse sank into his shadow, gone as if it had never been.
Ryn blinked. "You're… efficient."
Kael sheathed his sword. "I'm adequate."
---
Far above, one of the Five Crowns murmured, "That one kills like a soldier."
The masked adjudicator of the Black Crown said nothing, but his gloved fingers drummed slowly against the arm of his chair.
---
The Labyrinth wasn't done yet.
By the time Kael and Ryn reached the next chamber, the sound of steel on steel was already ringing in the air — and in the center of the chaos stood Seren Veylan, blue robes shredded, wand snapping arcs of frost into the air.
She glanced at Kael as he stepped into view. "Took you long enough."
Kael smirked. "I was sightseeing."