Page 31 of Starside

Then Pagnus turns around. I hear him getting further away, until his footsteps all but disappear. I don’t release my breath until a few moments after that.

I look around the corner. He’s gone. The corridor is empty.

Cadoc’s and Pagnus’s houses are now working together. Great.

Still … if they haven’t found their way out of the maze yet, maybe most of the challengers haven’t either.

Or maybe they have. Maybe some have already reached the gates. Maybe I’ve already lost—

Think, Aris.

I try. I walk along the path, considering each entrance, head pounding. So many roads. I barely survived the last one I picked.

The king said the Culling was a test of resourcefulness and ruthlessness. I look around, but I don’t see a solution. All the paths look exactly the same.

I turn in circles, until panic finally roots me in place.

Move.

But I don’t know where to go.

Indecision will get you killed. I can almost hear Stellan’s voice in my head. At night, we would walk down to the ancient graveyard and duel beneath the stars. Instinct is your heart telling you the truth. Listen.

He said it whenever I hesitated. Whenever my mind got in the way.

There isn’t time. Heavy armored steps are approaching. I hear labored breaths just walls away. Far in front, there’s a loud cheer. Someone must have made it out.

If your eyes fail you, then close them and listen, Stellan once told me.

I do now.

I listen, beyond the screaming. Beyond the footsteps. Beyond the rustling of the ever-changing maze.

I listen, until I hear it. Metal against metal.

A familiar sound in a forge. That’s how I know, without a single doubt, that a large weapon just hit something.

And that thing shattered.

It happened immediately. No multiple strikes needed. A far superior sword just bested lesser metal.

I keep listening.

More metal splits apart.

Again.

Again.

Only one blade could break four swords so quickly.

Harlan Raker is near.

Instead of terror, hope rises to the surface. If anyone is making it out of this maze, it’s him.

I take off before I can think better of it. I race right toward the sound, listening. And soon enough, I see his hood going around a bend.

I follow, careful to stay far enough away, running then stopping, making sure I catch him before each corner he turns.