The Labyrinth *editing*

Chapter 17

Hey sorry if this one sucks. I've had a really bad day, so I hope this doesn't reflect it -_-

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My face was pasted down and red with tears, and my eyes were impossibly red and puffy the next morning as the sun greeted us, shedding light on the scene. My hair was soaked with my own tears and Maya's blood; and plastered to the side of my face.

I lifted my head from the ground, and saw the group sleeping all around in a tight-knit group. I saw Maya next to me. I reached over to wake her up, but a split second later, I remembered what had taken place the night before. A sob rose in my throat, and it was painful to see her mangled body in the light.

"Maya," I whispered with my bone-dry lips, and my eyes swelled as the tears gathered.

I turned my head away from her, to avoid screaming in pain for her life taken.

I was met by an equally-gruesome sight-- three dead wolves, rotting and stenching before my eyes. It was about 10 time worse to actually see their bodies in the sunlight rather than the dark. Their fangs were long, white, pointy ones, and I could now see that their eyes were once a dark black color, rimmed with blood-red coloring on the edges of the pupil. One very nearby still had the knife in its back, the other two lay in their dying postitions. The other one, I assumed, had fled. I needed to retrieve my knife, so I crawled weakly to the one nearest to me. I tugged on the handle of the kinfe, but I had no strength left in me. I slumped down against the beast's body, exhausted. I put my hand on it's fur, running my fingers through it, thinking of how nice these pelt would be on my bed.

As I rubbed my hand back and forth in a mezmerizing fashion, my hand came across something unexpected. A hard, stone-like object attached to the wolf's neck. I sat up with as start. Leaning over in wonder, I examined the object that had caught my attention. Ar flat, circular stone, threaded carefully onto a peice of fine golden thread, was hanging from the dog's neck, like a necklace almost. I held the stone up for closer inspection. In the thin, early rays of light, I was able to make out a careul, microscopic inscription on it that read--

                                        Carpos. Homing Group #4. Trainer- Nikias. Knossos.

The words spoke to me in a creepy way. Who was Carpos? What was homing group? And who was this trainer, Nikias? Of course, the only thing that gave me a clue was this-- The word Knossos. I sucked in a breath. Knossos-- where Minos' palace lay-- was the most important Cretan city. It could only mean bad news if theses wolves were form Knossos. But it still didn't make any sense. I stared at the words, mulling over them curiously,and they began to make sense. A homing pigeon, I knew, was a bird that you could set free, but it would always come back to the set location, like machinery. That meant that someone had trained this dog to always come back to the designated place. It was suspicious to me, as people usually bred homing pigeons, not homing wolves.

I stared at the beast for a moment longer before it began to make sense. I glanced at the words again in wonder, and I realized what it meant. My theory began to take shape. These dogs were from the palace of Minos. The king must have sent these dogs to find us. I suddenly noticed what that meant. They were trying to find us, and they were going to the extremes of it. No sending armies to capture us. No sending scouts. Just these filthy, rabid beasts. I pushed myself away from the dog in disgust. This dog's name must have been Carpos. And I assumed his trainer was called Nikias.

I groaned. If these dogs had found us, then surely we would be found again before long. Come to think of it, one of the beasts had even escaped. The tag said "Homing Group #4" That meant there was at least three other gorups out there, hunting us down. It was only a matter of time before we were found again, and this time, we might not be a s lucky.

The breeze rustled through the trees softly, causing someone to stir in their sleep. The weight of what I'd just peiced together, turned me into a worried mess. I kept throwing suspicious glances behind me shoulder, shivering in the light of the new day. Every time I tipped my head to look behind me, I fully expected to see four pairs of glowing eyes in the shadows. Silent tears continued to leak down my cheeks for Maya. I ripped the stone from the dog's collar and fingered it to ease my stress. When I turned my head again, I saw there was something behind me. I jumped, emitting a mild shriek of surprise...but it was only Paris, who had come up quietly to Maya's body, looking somber indeed.

He hung his head over her cold body, and tears began to hit the ground as fast as wildfire. I crawled up to him in dismay. Putting my hand around him, I allowed silent tears to trickle down too.

"Paris..." I began, not knowing of any way to comfort him properly. He turned his tear-stained face to me fitfully.

"She healed me. On the ship when I got sick. She took a death blow just to save us. But when she gets hurt...I can't help her. I didn't repay my debt. I couldn't do it. Now I feel very bad. Like it was my fault she died. I should've done something to save her, Xenia. But I failed," he said sadly.

I sighed. "Paris, there is nothing that was humanly possible for any of us to do that would've saved her. She chose her path...she wanted to save us. And that is how we know she truly cared for all of us. We can do nothing now but honor her memory."

He nodded, knowing the truth in the statement.

Slowly the other began to wake after a restless sleep. Soon enough, everyone was awake and accounted for. I showed them the stone, waiting for an explination.

"They're hunting us down," Theseus murmured slowly as he examined the stone up close. "This is bad."

"We're in danger. Grave danger," I reminded them dully. Even as I said this, the danger came upon us. Before I had even finished speaking, a dry, rattling, echoeing howl came from afar. I froze in terror. I imagined the wolf pack fleeting down upon us and tearing us to shreds as they did to Maya. After recovering from the shock, I made a rash decision.

"RUN!" I screamed. Without wainting for any other words, everyone began to flee the scene, scattering in any way the could think of. I grasped Paris' hand and followed him. Someone was running along with us, but I couldn't look back to see who it was...but at this point, it really didn't matter. Racing along the branches and undergrowth, I felt my heart beating wildly in panic. I ran as fast as I could possibly go on my weakened legs, all while keeping a tight grip on Paris. I screamed as the howling came again, but closer. I groaned inwardly. We'd been running toward the dogs. We skidded to a halt, and turned aroudn to race off in the other direction. The perpetual howling grew louder as the wolves picked up our scents and zoned in.

"Paris! RUN FASTER!" I screamed in desperation. We neared a clearing, and I felt all hope was lost. I could hear the dogs crashing through the underbrush after us. We crashed into the clearing, but before we could take another step, a gaint wolf leaped in front of us, blocking the way to freedom.