He stared down at her. “Are you cold?”
“Yes, a little.” Her teeth were starting to chatter. Her eyes widened in surprise by the action. She clutched at him. “Why am I cold?”
“I don’t know.” He dug into his pack and came away with another thermal shirt, a pair of long thermal underwear, wool socks and a pair of runners that he had stashed. He handed them to her to put them on. “Maybe it means we’re getting closer. Maybe you’re starting to become mortal again.”
As she slid the clothes on under her kimono she seemed cheered by the idea. But Darien wasn’t so quick to applaud. This could just be another trick, another layer to Junzo’s cruel punishment.
Once Koori was outfitted, he took her in from head to toe. His thermal wear swam on her, but she managed to roll the pant legs up a bit. The sleeves also hung over her hands but at least they would provide warmth and protection to her hands. He smiled; she looked like a little girl playing dress-up.
“Why do you laugh?”
“You look—” he chuckled “—interesting.”
She looked down at herself and started to laugh. Darien hugged her to him, and pressed his cold lips to the top of her head. He held her as she laughed, never wanting to let go. It felt too damn good having her pressed against him, sharing a light moment. He imagined they could have more of these times when they finally escaped this nightmare.
Just as they broke apart and were going to continue on, the wind picked up. It had already been blowing; a mild gust at best, but now it swirled around them like an angry tornado. Snow and ice pelted them from all sides.
Darien gathered Koori close again, trying to block the worst of it with his body. But it didn’t matter where they turned, the wind whipped at them. It was as if they had done some terrible deed and the wind was inflicting its bitter retribution down on them. In any case, it came at them like hell’s fury and made no sign of ever letting up.
Darien dug the rolled up nylon tent out of his pack and prepared to set it up, so they could at least have some reprieve from the howling, brutal wind. But just as soon as he had it unraveled, silence enveloped them and the wind died instantaneously as if it never had existed to begin with.
Stunned, Darien looked around them eyeing the surroundings, preparing for anything. Something had changed, something that he wasn’t too sure he was going to like much.
And then Koori pointed to the north through the thin spattering of trees. “Look.”
He followed her line of motion and saw a huge white wall of ice. It had to have been at least twenty-five feet tall, maybe even more. It was hard to tell from his line of sight. Was it the palace? Did they get turned around and walk right back to where they’d started?
Koori moved toward it and, after stuffing the tent back into the pack and hefting the bag onto his back, Darien followed her lead. As they approached, he reconsidered his first notion. It definitely wasn’t the palace wall. It was too high and too long. He looked down the length of it both ways. It appeared to have no end.
“What is it, do you think?” Koori asked as she placed her hand on the wall, sliding it back and forth.
“Your guess is as good as mine. But it’s a roadblock, that’s for sure.”
But it was as if Koori hadn’t heard him. Looking up at the wall with glassy eyes, she ran her hand along the slick surface. Mesmerized, she moved down the wall caressing its surface. Darien wondered why it had enthralled her. More magic?
“Darien,” she called, stopping along the wall only about four feet away from him. “There’s an entrance.”
He moved down to where she stood. Indeed there was an entrance, a wide opening with an arch over top. Looking down the wall, a person would’ve easily missed it, as it was cleverly camouflaged against the generic white of the surroundings.
Clasping hands, Darien and Koori stepped through the opening and into what appeared to be some sort of labyrinth that stretched out like a giant octopus with unending arms. He’d seen one or two in his lifetime but nothing of this magnitude. The first path in front of them was a straight lane into what appeared to be the center. There he saw a huge structure that looked like a sculpture of a woman. Who the woman was he couldn’t be sure, but he had a strong suspicion she was standing right beside him.
“It’s beautiful.”
Darien nodded. It was stunning, but it was also eerie. He didn’t like the dread creeping over him, as if they’d stepped into a trap that was going to snap on them at any moment.
“We should keep moving.” He glanced behind him at the entrance they had just passed through. “I don’t like the feel of this place.”
Dropping his hand, Koori took a few steps forward. “I feel like we’re almost there. I don’t know why, but I almost feel free.” She glanced over her shoulder at him and smiled.
And that was the last he saw of her before the walls moved.
Chapter 14
“D arien!” Koori rushed forward, but it was too late. The thick wall of ice slid in front of her, effectively blocking her from him. Again she shouted, “Darien!”
She received no reply.
Turning, she decided to proceed to the center of the maze and wait for him. That was the most logical course of action. But after taking only two steps another wall moved, sliding in front of her and preventing her from reaching the center.
Now there was only one way to proceed and that was to her left. Just as, she assumed, the labyrinth wanted her to go.
She walked along the path, fingers trailing along the icy wall. Maybe she could sense the next time the walls were about to move again. Maybe she could outsmart it or outrun it. Or maybe she was just thoroughly trapped without a hope of ever escaping.
Despair nearly ripped her in half. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes. She wanted to crouch down on the ground and succumb to it. But instead she wiped at her eyes and continued putting one foot in front of the other. She wouldn’t quit. Not now. Not after all she’d been through, and all that Darien had done for her. To quit would be to quit on him. And she couldn’t do that. She still believed that he would be her savior.
She followed the path through the maze, turning right, and then left. Then she came to a T and didn’t know which way to turn. If she turned left, maybe she could backtrack and find Darien, but if she turned right, maybe she could find the center and stay there until Darien found her, which she knew he would. She turned right, hope making her stride quicken.
As she walked each path, she tried to keep her thoughts positive. But it was difficult. Especially when she made a wrong turn at another T and ended up at a dead end. She had to retrace her steps back to the T and turn the other way. By the eleventh corner she thought that she’d gone in a complete circle.
Dismissing the defeatist thought, Koori continued on. Sooner or later she’d either come across the center or Darien. The maze couldn’t possibly be that enormous.
After another series of turns and dead ends, she had to retrace her steps again. Her feet were starting to throb. Not only from the cold but from the continual walking back and forth. Darien’s runners weren’t the most comfortable footwear, and the wool socks kept rubbing. She predicted she probably had at least three blisters on each foot.
But she pressed on, walking down pathway after pathway, every single one looking exactly like the last. The only way she could tell if she’d already walked down it was by the footprints in the snow. Hours passed without a break in the complicated maze.
Stopping to rest, Koori pressed her hands against the frozen barrier. If only she could feel through it to the other side. Maybe right this second Darien was on the opposite side thinking about her, wondering when he’d see her again and how to get to her.
“Darien!” she called, desperation starting to take a grip on her. There was no call in return, only the sounds of her own ragged breathing echoed back to her ears.
Defeat weighed down on her. Fighting the tears, Koori leaned against the wall and took in some deep breaths. She had to stop and think if she was going to get out of this. She couldn’t let her emotions run rampant. Usually a levelheaded woman, she still couldn’t stop the rush of anger and hopelessness surging through her. What if she never got out again? By the way her body shivered, it wouldn’t be long before she succumbed to the cold and died. She never thought it would ever happen. Her death. She’d been alive for over a thousand years without ever a hope of ending her torment. Over the years she had certainly thought about ending it herself, but she’d always considered suicide a coward’s way out.
But maybe now the day had finally come. Maybe the whole time when she hoped that Darien would free her, this was truly the only outcome that could happen. Actually leaving this world and being with Darien could have never been a possibility. Maybe it would only be a fleeting thought, a wishful dream and nothing more.
With that final thought, she let the tears fall. Her back braced against the wall, she slid to the ground. Wrapping her arms around her knees, she let the anguish take over, and she wept. For the first time in a thousand years, she let Junzo’s curse overpower her will.
Darien didn’t know how long he’d been running along the various pathways, but he figured at least two hours had passed. Every turn he took that didn’t lead him to the center of the maze just propelled him on faster and harder. He had to find Koori.
He had the pack with all the food, the water and the tent for warmth. She had nothing but the few clothes on her back. If she was changing like he suspected she was, she wouldn’t last very long exposed to the cold. The only grateful thing was that they were inside the walls of the maze and not out in the brutal wind.
Using his compass, Darien tried to keep to the north. That was the direction in which he’d seen the sculpture. It was the center of the maze and he knew he needed to get there. Koori would’ve thought the same. She might already be there waiting for him.
That thought spurred him on. Turn after turn he maneuvered through the labyrinth, his heart racing with anxiety. He couldn’t believe they’d come this far to be thwarted by a maze made out of ice. Yes, it moved with a seeming life of its own, but it wasn’t going to stop him from finding her.