Chapter Five

The Maze

"Get off me!" Catherine shouted as she quickly scrambled off Bran.

"Me get off you?" Bran demanded. "You're the one who was on me!"

"It's not like I meant to!" Catherine retorted. She stood and dusted off her jeans.

After a few seconds of silence, Bran stuck his hands under his head and said meditatively, "I guess it couldn't get any worse."

"Excuse me?" Catherine demanded. "You think this is as bad as it can get? Do you want me to make it worse for you?"

"Can you?" Bran said sleepily.

"I could make your life an absolute hell if I so desired."

"You talk a lot for someone who has nothing to say," Bran observed. He yawned, closed his eyes, and sighed peaceably.

"Oh, you are awful," Catherine said. She thought about kicking him in the ribs, did it, and walked away to sit down and pretend she didn't know him.

* * *

"Ow!" Will said as something touched his head.

Jane immediately yanked her hands away. "Sorry. You were woozy. You really hit your head hard, you know."

"I figured."

"Here. Bend your head down." Jane tilted his head forward, and Will didn't bother protesting. He could remember all too well how his mother and sisters had behaved when he'd gotten sick with the illness that had sent him to Wales in the first place. He felt something cold run through his hair.

"Is that blood?" Will asked, alarmed.

"No," Jane laughed. "It's water. We've got a pool in here now."

"Oh." After a second, he said, "You're getting me wet, you know."

"You know, neither one of us can get any wetter."

Will studied his jeans in the dim light. It was true, now that he noticed it. They were soaked.

"Now what?" Jane said as she wrapped the driest piece of cloth she could find around his head.

Will shrugged. "We have to find a way out, of course."

"Can you magick us out?" Jane asked. "Fly, or something?"

"Afraid not," Will said. "I'm afraid that took a lot of strength out of me, and even if it hadn't, I'm not sure they aren't waiting for us up there."

Jane nodded. "True. So what else?"

"We'll have to find another way," Will said. "The sooner, the better. You may have to help me at first, though. I think I'm still a bit woozy."

Jane cupped Will's chin in her hand and turned his head so she could see his eyes. It didn't take him nearly as long for his eyes to come back into focus this time. She nodded, pleased. "You're doing better. Come on." She stood, helped Will to stand, and helped him walk into the darkness of the mountain. "Not even light?" she asked tentatively.

Will shook his head and said, apologetically, "Not for a while, sorry."

"It's okay, I guess," Jane said. "It's just that I'd rather see what's around. In those stories about King Arthur, did he ever fight any demons or monsters in hollow mountains?"

Will stopped walking. "You'd have to ask Bran or Barney about that. Or Merriman. They're the experts. Why don't we rest here, and when I'm feeling better, I'll whip us up some light and we can go on?"

Jane shook her head. "No way," she said emphatically. "At least forty minutes, you've got to stay up. If you fall asleep, you might slip into a coma."

Will sighed. "I don't have a concussion, Jane."

"I'm not risking it. And I will not be left in here, all alone and defenseless, looking after a boy in a coma whom I have no idea how to take care of, if you make a mistake and actually do fall asleep when you do have a concussion." She grabbed Will's arm and started walking again.

"I don't have a concussion," Will muttered.

"Hush up about that. Talk to me about something else. Your home. Or the weather. Anything else. Just keep talking."

"I don't have a concussion," Will repeated. All the same, he did what she asked and told her about his home and the farm, his family, his friends. By the time he was done, the two had slowly but surely realized that the mountain wasn't just hollow- it had a maze in it.

* * *

Bran rubbed his sore ribs. "Violence doesn't answer everything, you know."

"Hmph," Catherine said, crossing her arms.

"Listen, we need to get out of here," Bran said. "We still need to find Will and Jane, and then we have to catch up with the others."

"And you have to get back to your angel, Isabella de Francis, don't you?" Catherine said sweetly.

Bran stopped and looked at her. "You don't like her?" he asked.

"No. But she thinks the world of you. Really. So far I know how rich you are, how powerful, the value of several things she saw in your house, and a few other things."

"I suppose the few other things would be about..."

"She's stringing you along for all you're worth," Catherine said simply. She stood and dusted herself off. "Another reason we have to get out of here is that I have to make sure the girls are all right. You should have seen them at the inn," she said proudly. "Two started bouncing back immediately. If they haven't been caught yet, they should get the others to be back to normal in no time."

Bran nodded and stood. "So how did you get away from Daniel this time?"

"Luck and being on the track team," Catherine said. She elaborated as they walked. It didn't take long, and Bran waited until they were away from the light of day before he used Eirias to make light. Once Catherine saw it, she asked about it, and she pestered Bran about it until he explained.

"Can you fight with it?" she asked as they came to a turn. They followed it and quickly took another turn after that.

"Of course I can fight with it."

"Well?"

"Not very. I was just learning different styles before you came."

"Sorry I interrupted," she said dryly.

"Apology not accepted."

"Excuse me?" Catherine asked, shocked. She'd meant it as sarcasm, and here he was, taking her seriously!

"Well, seeing as how you did it a second time and are bound to do it again, I don't think you're truly sorry."

"Oh, this does top all," Catherine said slowly.

They reached a dead end and turned around. Now they could go either left or right. Catherine looked at Bran, hiding her anger behind a deep look of suspicion.

Bran nodded. "It's a maze."

"A maze inside a hollow mountain," Catherine said with a laugh. "Whoever designed this, I'm just going to have to beat them to a pulp and eat them. No, maybe not eat them. I think I'll become a vegetarian."

Bran sighed, accepted this as just talk (or blabber), and steered her to the left. They had to find a way out.

* * *

"Well," Barney said, squinting to study something only he could see, "they're all okay. Jane and Will are near water, in darkness, and Will's a bit... a bit... I don't know. He's weaker, though. Jane's fine. He'll live. Bran is in the dark, too, but he isn't alone, sir. There's a girl with him."

"Cat," Clara said, nodding.

Arthur stopped pacing and studied Barney while Barney studied Clara. "I knew I shouldn't have let him go off on his own," he said at last.

Clara shook her head. "No, sir. It was meant to be like this. And besides, I heard he was against bigger odds at school."

"Don't you mean better?" Arthur demanded. "He's against full-fledged Dark Lords, and you think he's fine because he's had tough times at school?"

Clara shrugged and said again, "It was meant to be like this."

Barney nodded to Clara. "Why don't you help me?" he asked. "You handle the listening, I'll take over the Seeing."

Clara looked at everyone around her nervously, swallowed, and sat down in front of Barney, who spoke softly to get her to relax. Right before she could listen to the Voice, a loud voice cut through her thoughts from up, way outside. Clara came outside of herself again and looked at Barney, who was glaring furiously at Isabella.

"What do you mean, with Cat?" Isabella demanded. "A cat? A feline?"

"You're psychic," Clara spat at her. Isabella was the one who had almost gotten them all caught by Daniel and his soldiers, what with all her clothes and hair things and luxuries. "You figure it out." And immediately, before she could notice Barney's look of approval, she sank inside herself and listened.

"They're in the mountain," she said slowly, in an oddly monotonous voice. "Continue on. They will follow. The paths cross."

Clara's eyes fluttered open, she grinned at Barney, lay down where she was, curled up, and promptly went to sleep.

* * *

Once he'd gotten through telling her about one of his trips to London, Jane let Will rest against a wall. Before she could protest, he'd made a bright ball of light and was grinning at her.

"I'm feeling better now," he said simply. He rested a few minutes longer, Jane rubbing her shoulders silently, and then stood up and collected the light in his hand. He offered his other hand to Jane and helped her up. "Come on. I think I can smell fresh air."

Jane stood and walked with him. After two more rights and three lefts, they found themselves in blessed sunlight. Even better, Will could see that the horizon was farther of here and with a gentle curve. Farther down, when they'd been with Merriman and the others, large trees had made the horizon look slightly bumpy, and there had been on island out on the sea (when you could see it) that made even the ocean look bumpy. But here, everything was smooth. It was also darker.

"We'll rest here," Will said, seeing that Jane was half asleep already. "In the morning, we'll go down the path. I think it will take us to Merriman."

Jane nodded, rolled onto her stomach, and slowly feel asleep.

* * *

"All right," Catherine finally said. "You've proven your point. You're stronger than I am, and you have much more stamina. So can we just stop now and rest? Haven't you worn your boots out yet?"

"Nope," Bran said cheerily, whistling.

Catherine muttered evil things to do to him in his sleep as they walked.

Finally, at the edge of a pond, Bran stopped. He cupped his hands, dipped them into the water, and tasted it a little before drinking thirstily. Catherine fell beside him and helped.

"Think we can drain the whole thing?" she asked Bran pleasantly enough a few seconds later.

"Probably not, but I don't see any reason not to try."

They started drinking again.

It was Catherine who simply dove into the water, laughing. Bran stayed at the edge, watching her. Finally, he shook his head and went on drinking. When Catherine resurfaced, she asked, "Why aren't you swimming? The water's great. Very cool."

"I'm sure," Bran said. "After all, I've been drinking it for a while now. But haven't you noticed that you'll have to air-dry, and it's going to take a long time to air-dry without the sun? I'm not that crazy about freezing and coming down with frostbite, thank you."

Catherine frowned. "Hold on. I just kicked something." She sucked in her breath and dove beneath the water. Bran looked up through the hole in the wall, far above them, at the dark velvet sky with the pale light of the stars and silver light of the moon illuminating the waterfall.

"What in the world is harp doing here?" Catherine's voice cut in. Bran jumped slightly and looked at what she was holding up. It was indeed a harp, a small harp, and a golden one. It was one Bran had played so long and so few times before...

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Hey, it's Dleet again, leaving an author's note. For one: Copyright 2001. Two: It occurred to me that I don't think I've done this as of yet. The characters you recognize from Susan Cooper's "The Dark is Rising Sequence" belong to Susan Cooper. Not me. I don't possess enough genius. :) Third: I want to thank everyone for their comments about this story, including Alan, who hasn't left any reviews because he hasn't read it yet. I told him about it, and so he borrowed the books from his friend to familiarize himself with the books just so he could review my fic. Isn't that sweet? Five: I've toned down certain things because they're too dark or things along that line. When Catherine cusses, I've substituted it with something along the lines of "What in the world." Susan Cooper wrote five entire books without having to cuss- I'm determined to do the same. Six: This story can be found at my website, along with many other stories (not all by me). If you want to check out the site or want to donate fanfiction or suggest things along that line to me, my site address is Anything and Everything, and my email address is CougarLover_Am_I@yahoo.com.

Last but not least, THANKS!