Chapter six: Dodo

Serena's throat clamped around a building scream as the thing took a step toward her… then another… then a few more… It's momentum built steadily as it pursued its new target. She turned and ran as fast as she could the way she had come, dodging down a side passage as she tried to remember a spell—any spell!

The beast grunted as it lugged its great bulk after her. The thick tail knocked over potted plants and crushed sections of the hedge wall, but it didn't seem to notice at all. It was intent on its prey; its tongue flicked from its mouth, tasting Serena's scent.

Why was the creature chasing her!? Did it sense somehow that she wasn't supposed to be here? Serena spotted a dead end ahead and turned aside, trying to keep track of where she was, where she could go, where the boy might have gotten by now…

She turned again, trying to work her way back in a circle. She was most familiar with the stony section of the maze nearest the outer corridor where she slept; that might gain her an advantage. A left here, a right there; don't look back, for the love of the Light, don't look back! Where was the clearing with the statues?

Behind her, the beast groaned as it twisted itself around yet another corner. Its tail snagged on a hedge and tore it up by the roots; the woody claws scrambled for purchase on the stones of the passage.

Serena gasped, then made a few quick turns; the creature began to lag behind. He didn't like corners!

She was nearly out of breath by this time, but she pushed herself to greater speed and began twisting and dodging through the passages, taking every opening that presented itself. Behind her the creature moaned piteously, and she might have felt sorry for it if it wasn't trying to eat her.

Then she rounded a bend and entered a section she recognized, full of freestanding sectional of wall. An idea occurred to her, and she turned back just in time to see the creature enter the passage behind her.

Serena jogged off to her right, running slowly along the first of the hedge islands. The monster gave chase with renewed vigor; he seemed to be catching up at last!

Serena rounded the end of the island and dashed back along it, still going fairly slow. By the time she reached the other end, the hedge creature had emerged from around the corner; she allowed him only a glimpse before darting around once again. She grinned as she saw the thing's tail disappearing around the corner ahead of her. It was working.

Around and around she led the beast, always allowing it just a glimpse of her before she turned. She was gasping for breath again; she couldn't keep even this easy pace going forever. Just a little more…

She put on an extra burst of speed. Now she was only a little behind the creature's tail, and it couldn't see her at all.

She would have held her breath if she didn't need air so desperately. The creature faltered in confusion, tasted the air, and—continued going around the island!

Grinning in triumph, Serena ducked down a side passage and darted as quickly and quietly as she could away from that section of the hedges. Behind her, the hedge monster continued to circle.

Now to find that boy again…

Serena was gasping and holding a stitch in her side by the time she returned to where she'd seen him last. At least, she thought it was the same place. It was hard to keep track exactly; she'd taken so many turns during her flight from the Goblin King's creation…

She looked around carefully. This seemed to be the place. If she remembered rightly, the hedge monster had come at her from around that corner… and the boy had been running toward the castle from there.

She couldn't run any longer, but she walked quite hastily in that direction. How far had the boy gone? What turns had he taken? She looked around for a sign, any sign, of the boy's passage, cursing the snatter goblins who must have carried away the leaves dislodged by his motion. Come to think of it, she hadn't seen any sign of the path of destruction left by the hedge monster; they must have cleaned that up, too.

At the next major intersection, Serena stopped and sat down, leaning against the base of a large statue much like a chess piece she had seen illustrated in a book. She was tired, hot, thirsty, hungry, disheveled, and nearly lost—in short, she was hardly better off than the boy himself at this point. How was she ever going to help him like this?

Serena rested for a bit, still thinking. The boy wouldn't have reentered the stone maze, and she doubted he was in the tunnels—he'd surely not be stupid enough to land himself in an Oubliette when he'd avoided it the first time. In fact, he was probably still in the hedge maze, unless he'd found his way into the forest or the bog. That at least gave her a general area to search.

If she were still in the stone maze she would have asked the Lychen for help. They saw everything, and passed the word among themselves far quicker than mere speech seemed to account for. Maybe there was something like that here…

She could have kicked herself. The hedges! They certainly knew when someone had passed by; they only changed when they thought it would help confuse one of the Labyrinth's 'guests'. She stood quickly and approached the nearest section of hedge. Could it speak to her? She didn't know. And would it want to? She scowled; she would force it.

Serena stretched out her hand and laid it on a branch. It quivered beneath her touch, though from the wind or the passage of some small animal or from its own will, Serena couldn't have guessed.

"Where is the boy?"

Again the quivering, and Serena smiled grimly. Whether or not it actually understood her, the plant was responding; it knew she was speaking to it.

"Show me where the boy went."

The bush shook harder this time, and a tiny suspicion niggled at her mind. "You can move, I know; make some motion! Show me where he is!"

Now the bush was positively quaking, and Serena's suspicion reasserted itself. The hedge was laughing at her! She scowled. As if a glorified weed had any ground for looking down on her…

"You'll tell me where he is, or so help me, I'll burn you to a cinder!"

The entire section of the wall teetered, as though it would collapse; Serena backed away hastily as it bent double, quivering from top to toe with silent laughter. Little branches curled and writhed, and a shower of leaves dislodged themselves onto the ground.

Serena could have screamed. The plants were obviously not going to cooperate with her, and she had no more ideas, except to continue toward the Goblin City and hope for a little more luck.

She turned around and took a step. The ground seemed to fall out from underneath her; she was tumbling downward into the blackness.

This was not her day.