Excalibur Rising

Entering the maze

Chapter 11

Colton blinked a few times as they arrived in a huge arena and as he fully grasped what he was seeing it was an exact replica of the coliseum in Rome except this one looked like it had only just been built. He took   a tentative step forward only to recoil when he walked face first into something, his hand coming up to cover his nose as the air in front of him rippled. He reached up and patted where his hand had made had come in contact with something invisible only to recoil when he felt warm flesh.

His hand that had been stretched forwards was suddenly trapped in a strong unbreakable grip that only tightened as he tried to pull away. A moment later the air glittered before the a hand appeared, a tough, scarred hand that as he followed it upwards, belonged to a tough and scarred man that looked like he could be one of the original gladiators. He grunted and tugged Colton forwards causing the rest of them to follow meekly behind their friend.

The man stopped at the edge of the arena and with a grunt and a sweeping gesture he instructed the teens to line up against the wall. They exchanged looks with each other before doing as the strange man gestured and it was lucky that they did too because a moment after they stepped back, a maze came into existence right before their eyes. The top of the hedged border at least two foot taller that the tallest out of the group. Everyone gaped before looking completely horrified when the warrior let out great open mouthed chuckles which revealed that he had no tongue.

Emily and Lila covered their mouths with their hands as they gagged at the sight before them. They then turned to each other looking slightly green with their eyebrows raised, silently questioning why the man had no tongue.

He caught their expression and just cackled more, his clean shaven head glinting in the sunlight as he shook it back and forth. He looked up at the sky just as there were two sparks of red that flared bright for a moment before dissolving into nothing. He grunted, turning serious once more as he headed towards the opening in the maze. He glanced back and saw that none of the teens had moved so he grunted once more and nodded his head whilst beckoning with his hand.

Colton gulped and looked between the man and the maze before nodding his head and after taking a deep breath, he stepped forwards, his hand still clasped firmly around Lila’s so that she followed behind him like a lost child. Once they reached the entrance the tongue-less man nodded his head for them to enter the maze. Colton looked over his shoulder at his friends and tried to smile at them but his face only twitched as the corners of his lips tilted up slightly before his face fell back into a frown. Then with a deep breath he stepped forwards, one foot after the other in a slow and deliberate walk until he was 10 feet into the maze and he was faced with a turning. He closed his eyes trying to decide which way to go before he inhaled deeply and did what his gut told him to do; he turned right and dragged his friends along behind them.

The sound of rustling reached them a moment before the maze closed up behind the last of the group. The only light was the dim sunlight filtering between the top of the hedges meaning they were overshadowed by the looming walls of green.  Colton turned back to the group as they shuffled closer together, uneasiness plastered on all of their faces as they tried to find a way out.

“Everyone, keep hold of each other’s hands and don’t let go no matter what. We are going to get the totems and get out of here. All of us.” He waited for them to nod that they understood before peering down his chosen path. It looked just as unsettling as the other path but his gut instinct told him to go this way so that was the path he chose.

They walked for what seemed hours, the girls squeaking and huddling closer to the guys for protection when they heard unnatural groaning and howling, like something was evil was lurking out there somewhere in the maze. They came to intersection in the maze; they could continue straight or turn of their current path. Colton was at a loss, he had followed his gut this far but now he was nonplussed at the fact his gut wasn’t telling him anything.