Lost in Time

Volume 3: Fiendish Foe Part 2

Fiendish Foe Part 2

"Of course we were sent here because we are women." Yilda intoned as she brushed her fingertips against the blooming marigolds of the meadows.

"By God, whatever do you mean? Pray tell." Nia was on edge. The low-hanging star in the sky was boring through her like the bits of a drill. The flower-infested paths with petals of all colors littering the way in a soft carpet seemed to go on forever.

"Yeah, do pray tell." Zulu said stoically, looking up from her map and giving Yilda a fake smile before returning to her hologram. Nia was stunned. Did Zulu just make a joke? The bizarre air of this world must be working its magic.

"The Federation has had ill fortune with the Qiquia. All the emissaries we have sent, who happened to be men, by the way, still have a pending mission status." Yilda explained, throwing the side of her fuchsia scarf over her shoulder. The fields rolled elegantly into the distance. The castle they saw at first when they entered the empire was not visible anymore. So this was how the labyrinth drew people in...

"What does that mean-pending?" Nia queried curiously, levelling her gaze on the slightly shorter woman.

"None of them ever returned." Yilda's voice trailed at the end. Zulu arched an eyebrow, matching Nia's surprise.

"And so they sent us?" Nia's words shot out of Zulu's mouth.

"Okay, I don't know what you think I am. I'm just another quester like youse." Yilda blinked away a wave of unease.

"Yilda, you know something. Why did the Federation send us?" Nia stopped, turning to Yilda. Zulu formed a second wall of feminine presence in front of her, blocking her way. This was happening, there was no way in hell...

Something stung-or slapped Zulu's ankle. She turned swiftly, cursing vehemently.

"Fucking alien plants." She moved away from the side of the path, holding up her leg.

She palpated about her ankle through the tough fabric of her pants. Her Achilles hurt, but not from an open wound. Perhaps just from the whack of the damn thing that just attacked her.

"Did it break the skin?" Yilda asked, drawing her gaze closer to Zulu's lifted foot.

"How the hell am I supposed to know...?" Zulu started, but Yilda took a stride towards her and grabbed her foot, lifting up the fitting pant leg.

"Hey! That's my foot." Zulu whined as Yilda put the foot on the ground and examined it.

"I'm aware." Yilda started. "There doesn't seem to be bleeding." She said, rising and sighing, almost as though in relief.

"Of course not. I'm made of steel." Zulu said as she returned to her tecnopad.

A lash of wind blew through the meadows, swaying the round heads of the flowers, rustling through the grasses ferociously. A sudden sense of dread befell Nia. She rubbed her arms and looked around. There were orchards dead ahead, a few hundred yards if distance even worked in the same way here.

Something told her it wasn't just an orchard. And these weren't just meadows. If the whole empire was a labyrinth, then these were pieces of a puzzle. They were in a game, and everything they met was a meant to be solved.

The whip of the insidious plant came again, this time at Yilda. She hopped up, a whimper escaping her gut. She quickly, if frantically, palpated her shin to see if there was a wound. Nia observed her keenly. Something weird was going on. Well, two things. The plants, or whatever the hell they were, started attacking them when they stopped. And Yilda was very careful, if jumpy, about them breaking the skin.