An Abundance of Dragons

Chapter 20

So far, the most annoying thing about the Labyrinth was the fact that everything looked exactly the same.

"We're going in circles," Fen complained, dragging her feet. Sabra avoided laughing at her, studying the path of the map as the golden lines shifted. "What? I thought you would like this, Doctor."

"I don't like being lost. I don't do the whole 'let's walk around in the dark with all the booby traps'."

"Fair enough."

"And there's nothing down here that would forgive the lack of scenery. There aren't even pictures."

Chao was watching the ceiling. "I think there are, they're just painted over. Upsetting."

Fen groaned. Sabra rolled her eyes. They'd been walking for a few hours.

So far, the plan was to take a break every two hours to eat, sleep, and rest their legs. Ben was complaining after ten minutes. The way Sabra saw it, it was better to get through the Labyrinth as soon as possible. There was something about this place that just gave her the creeps. She wasn't sure if it was the fact that everything looked the same or the fact that the place was overrun with old forgotten magic. Either way, she wanted to spend as little time as she could in that place.

Ben immediately went to sleep when they stopped. Mack cuddled him, sitting down on the smooth ground. Sabra stretched her legs out and Roman pinned the map down with four big rocks. Xiu joined him, and they talked in soft voices. Ohtli studied the other younger dragons, then curled up and fell asleep.

Fen crossed her legs. "So, how much farther?"

Xiu snorted and pointed to a small speck on the map. "We're here. We have to get to here." She pointed to a speck halfway across the map. Fen groaned. "But we've been walking forever!"

Chao patted her shoulder. Mack fed Tresor before messing with the bandages on her fingers.

After resting for a short period of time, they climbed to their feet and started walking again. Sabra hummed to herself as she navigated. She didn't mind the walking or the atmosphere. She had a friend in school named Emilia Sosa whose father was an environmental scientist. He was always taking Emi camping and usually gained permission to drag Sabra after them. She grew up camping; this wasn't that new to her. What she didn't understand was how an archeologist was so uncomfortable in an ancient tunnel system underneath half of Europe and Northern Africa. Shouldn't this be some amazing breakthrough for Fen? But here she was, complaining endlessly.

The hours stretched on. It wasn't long before Sabra forced Roman off her shoulder. He wasn't that thrilled by the idea of walking or flying, so he spent the next hour trying to get a ride from either Ohtli or Chao (with no success). Xiu spent most of that hour smoking and laughing until Fen took her cigar and threw it.

"How rude!" Xiu scoffed.

"It's already stuffy in here. Stop being a pain."

Ohtli was the only one who didn't really have anything to say. They seemed content to just observe and listen with a wry smile.

There was, Sabra realized, something stifling about the tunnels. Something that made her party want to argue. Something dangling in the air, like bait for an argument. For Roman it was that no one wanted to give him a perch; for Xiu, it was that she couldn't smoke; for Fen, it was that the halls were boring; for Ben, it was the unfamiliarity; for Mack, it was the lack of vegetation or any life whatsoever, even deceased life; for Chao, Ohtli, and Sabra, it was everyone else's arguing. Tresor was oblivious, but, then again, he was oblivious to everything.

Sabra wanted to snap at the others. She wanted to say, "Stop complaining and we'll get there sooner!" and less mature variants. That wasn't like her. She didn't snap. She never snapped. And that was when she decided that there was something not quite right about the Labyrinth.