The Hearts of Goblins

Chapter XI

The sun hung high in the center of a cloudless sky, beating down on the Earth relentlessly. Anything caught in the sun's light was bathed in sweltering heat. The air was thick and heavy with moisture, making it difficult to breathe.  

Gwen felt out of balance as her upper body was assaulted by the hot sun, while from the waist down she was kept cool in the shade of the vines that trapped her in place. A few feet away Lee inspecting the wall of thick green trunks. Sweat shone on his face, glimmering in the harsh light. His hair was damp and had begun to curl and cling to his temples in the warm moisture of his perspiration.  Every few moments Lee would sway unsteadily as his eyes would seem to glaze over. Only for him to jerk back into alertness and quickly catch his balance once more. The heat was doing a great deal of damage on Lee's already deteriorating health. 

Lee was sick. So obviously so that Gwen would see it even if she were blind. There was no common illness or injury that afflicted him. It was the labyrinth. The endlessness of the stress that such towering walls and dizzying turns had caused was wearing down on Lee's mind. Whatever curses that plagued the land covered by such a gargantuan maze were destroying his vitality and turning his stomach to rot. 

Gwen's heart swelled with both guilt and worry. Despair rising in her throat for the loss that she had not yet even known. Lee would crumble under the pressure of such a place, in body and especially in mind. If they had no help then they had no hope. 

"What time is it?" Lee asked. 

"You have the watch." Gwen reminded him. Lee took the pocket watch from his pocket and held it out to her. The silver reflected the sunlight and blinded them both for just a second. Gwen blinked and opened the watch. Gwen frowned at it. It was 5:15 A.M.  Gwen glanced up to the sun that still stayed in the center of the sky, hesitant to leave from it's height.  She recalled once again the words of the strange person that had trapped them there. The sky will do as it pleases whenever it pleases.  She wished that the sky would choose a different time of day to replicate. She wondered if time moved the same in the labyrinth as it did at home. If it did, she thought of what might happen if her parents returned early to find that their daughter and Lee were both missing. Gwen grimaced  as she remembered that her uncle was supposed to check on them sometime that day or the next. In a few hours he would walk into an empty house with two kids having vanished without a trace. Would the police get involved? How would they explain what had happened when they returned.  If  they returned. 

"It's five fifteen.... In the morning." Gwen said without even the smallest hint of emotion in her voice. 

"Fantastic." Lee said, glaring up at the sky. He turned and examined some lichens on the wall beside him. The lichen sprouted several boggling eyes that stared back at him curiously. When Lee turned his head the lichen eyes mirrored him with the same movement. Lee blinked, a dozen tiny eyes blinked as well. He smiled a bit then winked at the wall-dwelling creature. The eyes all went wide and looked at each other in confusion. They all turned back to Lee and the left half of them blinked, creating a gesture of what would have appeared to have been winking. Lee turned back to Gwen and pointed out the strange creature to her. 

"It's kinda cute." Gwen said with a faint smile. Lee looked again at the many eyed lichen. 

"Yeah, I really like 'em." Lee said. The eyes of the lichen wiggled around excitedly at such a wonderful compliment. Lee and Gwen giggled and observed the little eyes in adoration. 

"Wanna be friends?" Lee asked the wiggling eyes. The lichen only got more excited and squirmed around furiously. The eyes moved in a nodding motion. Lee grinned. Then frowned. Then grinned again. "Do you have any idea how to get through the labyrinth?" he asked. The lichen eyes looked around at each other then nodded again. "Which way should we go next?"  The little eyes began to turn.