CHAPTER 2:

When Clauren awoke, she wasn't quite sure where she was. She briefly remembered that she had been lying in the grass but now it was different. She was on some kind of bed with sheets and she could hear distant voices talking in Patryn language. She now understood that she was rescued. Her powers were still weak but for the first time in her life she felt safe. She opened her eyes and almost instantly regretted it. There was light, probably a sun, that was so bright, that it blinded her. There was nothing like that in the Labyrinth. Still Clauren forced her eyes to get used to the environment and look around. She was lying in a bed obviously, facing a blank white wall from some smooth rock.

Clauren tried to stand up. Her hands at first wouldn't support her but then she gained balance and sat up on the bed. The voices were coming from another room, but there was no door between them so when she stood up, one Patryn- really old with bald head and cold black eyes, headed in her direction. Accustomed to the Labyrinth, the runes on her skin glowed in faint blue, but the glow died almost instantly. She knew the old Patryn would do her no harm.

Before Clauren could say anything, however, the old Patryn grabbed her wrist and pulled her out of the bed. She didn't resist but she shook when she stood on her feet, for she hadn't healed completely. The Patryn was pulling her, urging her to walk behind him. She kept on with him, trying not to fall. They passed through a room, (as they were passing, Patryns were turning to look at her) then another room, and then a thin corridor, then they started climbing a narrow, spiral staircase. After what seemed fifty steps, they reached a tower. The Patryn signed her to go in front of him and look out. She was in a city, an enormous city with a fortress and city gates. Below her there were streets, big and small, with Patryns walking along them, not seeing her. Behind the city walls there were some more houses, a forest and a dark enormous shadow, Clauren recognized as the Labyrinth. She shivered at the sight. The Patryn, seeing the look on her face, pointed the Labyrinth and said:

"We found you there. You were lying ten meters after the Gate. Can you see the blood? It is yours," he said quietly. There really was a blood stain there. Before Clauren could say anything the Lord added "Never forget."

Whatever Clauren was going to say, she swallowed it. She knew what the Lord meant. She also knew that he was a Lord – The Lord of the Nexus. And that was where she was – the Nexus.

She looked him, nodded slowly and only said:

"Never."

Clauren was the youngest Patryn known to escape the Labyrinth. She was seventeen. That was not an age too young to be a Runner, but it was way too young to be a successful Runner. That was not the only strange thin about her, however. She was, in fact, a complete phenomenon among her people. All Patryns were dark-haired with white tips and black or brown eyed. What differed them from humans, however, were their tattoos. Those were inscribed on every Patryn child's skin right after its birth and were the Patryns' main source of magic. Clauren, on the contrary had none of those. Her hair was blonde, dark blonde, unlike the elves, her eyes were clearly green and her skin - blank.

Or at least it was. Whan she was burn, she looked like any human child. Her mother had inscribed the name rune and then the runes around her body almost instantly after Clauren was born. Time had passed since then and for three years Clauren never showed any sign of possessing magic – her runes wouldn't work. Among the rest of the Patryns in the Squatters camp she was considered useless and disposable of, but her mother wouldn't let anyone harm her. Then her mother had died and the Patryns almost left her behind. It was then that she first performed magic. The Squatters changed their minds and put one old man in charge of teaching her how to use rune magic, because she was far behind from the other children her age. She remembered none of those facts. They had been told to her by the old man. He wouldn't speak in front of her about either her mother or her father. All Clauren knew was that when she was born, her mother had given her a medallion with her name, that she would never take off (and even if she tried she wouldn't be able to). She never wanted to know more. She found life much easier without knowing who your relatives were and how they died. All she needed to know is that she caught up with the rune magic very soon and even went ahead of the other kids. She found out that she could use the runes on her body, but she could also remove them from her skin with magic. Nobody ever knew how she did it. She didn't know it herself.

Her Lord was particularly interested on that fact and spent a lot of time researching the matter. This had helped her spend more time with Xar and eventually ask him question about the worlds and the Sartan. She learned that Xar had one of his servants – some Patryn called Haplo - exploring the four worlds that the Sartan created – Arianus, realm of air; Pryan, realm of fire; Abarrach, realm of stone; and Chelestra, realm of water. This servant was currently on Pryan and had already explored Arianus. There, he had found only one Sartan, disguised as a human.

Clauren found that information quite surprising. Ever since she walked, or more accurately crawled, out of the Labyrinth, Clauren was thinking about the Sartan. Walking out of her ancient prison was like relieving her from her burden and if she wanted to live, she would need a new objective to live for. And this objective was the Sartan.

Clauren was quite jealous of Haplo because he would be the first Patryn to face a living talking thinking Sartan, if there were any left. Xar obviously knew that but said nothing. He had chosen Haplo for his quick thinking, power of magic, ability to stay in the shadows, but most important of all, he was chosen for his loyalty to Xar.

That was an interesting thing that Clauren considered on her first day in the Nexus. Every Patryn in it had a special respect for this man. She knew respect for him even before she escaped the Labyrinth, but now she understood why. Xar was the only person among the Patryns, who dared go back to the Labyrinth. Clauren felt great respect for him, but also felt that it wasn't equal to how her brothers and sisters felt about him. They always did what Xar told them without questioning, ignoring whatever they thought and felt. Clauren knew that she would do anything she could to satisfy Xar, but if his will came across her own plans, she would abandon him.

And Xar knew that.