As soon as Amerie took that next step, the tile directly in front of her crumbled apart, revealing some sort of pipe jutting out from its inside. This pipe then proceeded to blast out a huge jet of flame, scorching the air in front of her. She gasped in shock, moving slightly backwards away from it. She had no way of telling what set these traps off... or did she? Breathing heavily, she tried to calm herself as she looked around the area she was in for anything that looked like it would set something off, a wire, perhaps? Or maybe a switch?
But she could see nothing, nothing at all.
Above her, the others watched nervously, shuffling and fiddling, unable to speak somehow. Edmund had hold of Emilese's hand, who smiled gratefully at him, before looking back down at her sister with a look of unmistakeable concern in her eyes. Amerie was now taking slow steps forward, occasionally dodging a poison dart or jet of flame. She may have been moving slowly, but at least she was okay, that was the most important thing.
As the others watched, Amerie was beginning to realise something. There seemed to be a distinct pattern in this maze, a certain order in which the traps revealed themselves. Following her instincts she moved quickly forward, dodging when she thought she must and always moving. She was right. Not one trap touched her, but now she had come to another problem.
Siobhan watched Amerie dodge the traps with a sense of admiration, then confusion as she noticed her stop. Then she realised, her sister had come to a turning point in the maze. From her current angle on the ground, Amerie wouldn't be able to see which turn to take in order to keep moving. 'Amerie! Turn left!' Siobhan shouted quickly.
Amerie heard this and turned round the left corner, where a large, bloodstained dog paced up and down, up and down in a steady rhythm, patrolling this part of the maze, which just happened to be completely straight, with a right turn at the end. She watched the dog as it moved, then realised something. It didn't walk, it dragged itself along the ground, or rather just one leg. Its dragging leg was badly mangled and very unpleasant-looking, dripping blood occasionally.
'I guess it must have got into a fight? Or maybe... maybe someone else has been here already?' Amerie said aloud, causing the dog to suddenly fix its horrible gaze on her, staring with cold, black, almost dead-looking eyes. Why had it had taken it this long to notice her? Then, it dawned upon her. This beast was blind. It was also angry at the moment as well.
Addie, who was watching this situation take place with a mix of wonder and disgust and quite a lot of fear, suddenly noticed something in the group. She looked over at Sheldon, who seemed to be almost... crying? She widened her eyes in shock. Why on earth would he be close to tears? Well, she would have to find out afterwards. 'Amerie!' She shouted, 'Throw something! Make it turn its attention somewhere else!'
Hearing this, Amerie picked up a conveniently-placed rock and chucked it hard behind her. The dog leapt after it, with suprising speed considering its dragging limb, and ran straight into a jet of flame. It howled horribly, then fell silent, as a rotten stench filled the air.
Bethany, who had looked away at this point, shouted to her. 'Hey! Around the next corner there doesn't seem to be anything! It looks like you're clear to go! So go already!'
Amerie heard this and responded by quickly turning the corner and walking confidently down its path, which seemed perfectly normal,
just as Bethany had said.
Suddenly, a huge, ugly and extremely angry troll crashed through the all of the maze behind her, waving its arms madly and snorting at her terrified frame.
Amerie hesitated, then turned around and simply ran as fast as she could. The troll followed, bellowing and stomping, leaving large,
obvious dents in the ground as it lumbered after her.
Grace watched this in shock, then proceeded to shout out which turns Amerie would need to take.
'Left! Now right! Right again! Left! I SAID LEFT! No not there! Yes-NO! Right! I mean LEFT! GO LEFT!' She screamed at her, jumping around like a kangaroo on a bouncy castle.
Eventually Amerie stumbled into the clearing where the dagger floated, then she grabbed it. Her whole hand seemed to glow, then suddenly the troll exploded into nothingness, leaving only the echoes of its horrible roars behind. Amerie floated upwards, and was pulled through the air, back towards the rest of the group, who proceeded to rush at her, hugging and stammering.
Sheldon remained on his own, wiping his forehead, sighing thankfully. 'Come on then! No time to wait right? let's go!' He jumped back into the portal, suprising the others.
'Well... what's wrong with him? He's gone all jumpy all of a sudden!' Said Emilese, laughing.
'In all honesty, who cares?' Said Siobhan, raising her left eyebrow first, then sticking her chin out sligtly.
She then followed the rest of the group back into the swirling, twisting portal.

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