Chapter 102

Hotch and his companions had found two more torches, so they had more light, but the brighter it was around them, the darker the rest of the maze seemed to be. When they found themselves at a 'T', Hotch and Copper looked at each other; they weren't sure which way to go.

"The quickest way through a maze is over the top," one of the gnomes offered.

Hotch looked at him. Yeah, but I can't use my abilities, so I can't scale these walls. He mentally sighed. "And how would you suggest we do that?"

"You could throw me up there, and I could lead us to the exit," he suggested. "These walls are about two feet wide, so I could walk up there with ease."

"No, Lenny! You can't do that! It's too dangerous!" one of the other gnomes yelled as it grabbed Lenny's arm.

"Your friend is right. We should stay together," Maxin put in.

"But he'd be able to see the whole maze from up there," the collared man argued.

"He could be our navigator," Dag offered.

"We could get out of here a lot faster, and we wouldn't have to worry about running into any more dead-ends," the other gnome said. They'd already wasted a lot of time having to back-track four times from the dead-ends they'd found themselves in.

Lenny looked at Hotch. "You could throw me up there, right?"

Hotch looked at the wall in front of him. It was about twelve feet tall, and he studied it and then the gnome as he ran a hand along the back of his neck. He figured the gnome couldn't weigh that much, and with his reach it was possible. After a couple seconds, he sighed. "I could, but I don't like it."

"Why not?" Copper asked.

"Because once he's up there, he's alone. If something were to happen, we couldn't help him," Hotch reasoned.

"Nothing's happened so far, and if something does, he could just jump down. One of us could catch him," the collared man suggested.

"But these torches are too big for him to carry, so he wouldn't have a light," Hotch pointed out in hopes that it would deter the gnome. Just because nothing's happened yet, that doesn't mean it won't. He'd gotten a bad feeling as soon as he'd seen the labyrinth, and it had only gotten stronger with the longer they were stuck in it.

"A light won't be a problem," the female dwarf said and then ripped off the side of the torch she'd been carrying effectively turing it into two torches, and the smaller one was the perfect size for the little bearded man.

Hotch's brows rose in shock at her strength.

"If he won't throw you up there, I will," said the collared man.

"No, Aaron's taller, he should do it," Copper insisted.

Hotch studied the group. He knew they were going to do it even if he refused to help, so he sighed and nodded. "Alright." At least he knew he would be gentle with the gnome; he wasn't sure the collared man would.

"You go up first, then we'll toss up the torch," the female dwarf instructed.

Lenny nodded and took a step toward Hotch as Hotch turned and handed the torch he'd been carrying to the collared man. Before Hotch could pick him up, though, the frantic gnome slammed into Lenny. "Please be careful!"

"I will, Jenny," he assured her and then looked to their companion. "You'll watch out for her, Benny?"

The other gnome nodded as he put his arm around Jenny's shoulder. "Of course, I will."

"Ready?" asked Hotch as he leaned down with his hands out.

"Yep," Lenny said and smiled. "Just don't throw me too far."

Hotch mentally huffed. If he had access to his abilities he'd throw them all over every wall until they got to the exit. "I'll be careful. You just make sure you don't slide off the other side."

After trying to get his aim just right, Hotch tossed the little man who only weighed about twenty pounds up and onto the wall. Lenny smiled as he got standing and then gave them a thumbs-up to let them know he was ready for the torch. The female dwarf was about ready to toss it up, but the male dwarf went to her side. "Why don't you let the vampire toss it, too, Therry? He did a great job with the gnome."

She shrugged and then handed the torch to Hotch. Seeing the gnome ready, he tossed it straight up. That way if the gnome missed, Hotch could catch it before it hit the ground or anyone else, but Lenny caught it with ease.

He held it up with a smile and then looked around with it. "Wow, I can see the exit!" he exclaimed as he pointed straight ahead.

"Of course. That's the one direction we can't go at this juncture," Copper whined.

"Give me a second. I'm trying to trace it back," Lenny told them as he went along the wall to the right.

Hotch moved to follow him from below.

"It looks like we need to head right, and then left, left, and then right. . ." Lenny was telling them as he visibly traced their way through the maze.

Hotch felt a breeze on his bare back before he saw anything, but once he turned, what he did see made him yell, "Jump Lenny!"

"What? Why?" Lenny asked as he frantically looked around while waving the little torch, but a scream escaped him as he was snatched into the air by a fast-moving black mass.

Hotch ducked involuntarily and tried to track the mass, but it disappeared into the dimness of the space above the maze just as quickly as it had appeared.

"Lenny!" Jenny cried as she ran off in the direction the mass had gone, and Benny yelled for her to stop as he chased after her; and they were both swallowed up by the darkness of the passageway.

The rest of the beings silently stared in their direction, but none of them moved to follow.

After Hotch got his breathing and heart rate back under control, he moved to Copper. "What the hell was that?"

A shiver ran through the faun and then he took a deep breath. "If I have to guess, I'd say that was a wraith. I've never seen one before, but I've heard stories."

"We need to go find it. We need to save Lenny," Hotch insisted as he started down the passage.

The collared man grabbed his shoulder, though. "If that was a wraith, Lenny's already dead, and those other two are probably long gone. We need to keep going."

Hotch shook him off. "He was only up there to help us all get out of this damn maze, so we need to help him."

"We need to get out of here before it comes back," Dag suggested.

"It can't come into the passages," Maxin started, "they are too big to fit down here. That's why it waited until someone was up there out in the open."

"So we're going to do nothing?" Hotch asked and the shock in his tone wasn't missed.

Copper placed a gentle hand on the vampire's shoulder. "Which way would we even go, Aaron?" After a second, he pointed to the right. "Let us use the information the gnome was able to give and try and get out of here before our party gets even smaller."

Hotch looked back towards where the gnomes had gone and then sighed. He knew if he tried to go alone, he would just get lost, too. I'm so sorry, Lenny.

XXXXX

Once Kahlan and them had landed back in Virginia, Cam called her, and she put it on speaker so they could all hear. "We're still running down those hunters, but Pen found that Riley Lincoln does have a blue, Chevy cargo van registered to him. It matches the partial we were able to get, and we've put out an APB on it."

"Is he the only one with a vehicle?" Chuck asked.

"Yeah, and that harvester has yet to call back," Cam informed them.

"Maybe the number was wrong or maybe the whole thing was bogus," Chuck offered, and the disappointment shown in his eyes.

"Wait, did he just say 'harvester'?" Sebastian asked wide-eyed.

Kahlan nodded. "The hunters told Chuck about them."

"There's no way," Sebastian started as he shook his head.

"You know what they are, then?" Kahlan asked.

"But it's an archaic practice; they haven't been around for centuries," Christian explained.

"What do you mean?" Chuck asked.

"They were around, and they wreaked havoc on supernatural beings by capturing them and making a profit off them, but that was a long time ago," Sebastian told them. "In today's world, dealers handle supernatural items, and the beings are paid for whatever they sell."

Kahlan's eyes narrowed as she studied him. "You mean like the sperm bank where guys get paid to drop a load?"

Christian coughed back a laugh as Sebastian nodded. "Yes. For instance, if a witch needs a claw of a troll for a spell, a troll clips its nails then sells them to the dealer, and the dealer sells them to the witch. It's all handled openly, and no one gets hurt."

"But just because there are these dealers around that doesn't mean someone isn't resorting to the old ways," Chuck offered. "I mean, I can go buy a gun at the store, but that doesn't stop the asshole on the corner from selling me one illegally."

"But they were wiped out by the supernatural world because of how horrific they were," Christian tried.

"But these harvesters are connected to hunters. I thought their sole purpose in life was to eradicate monsters. They wouldn't give a shit that they hurt supernatural beings," Kahlan argued.

Sebastian ran a hand along his chin. "I just can't believe that a harvester is back in business."

"Not 'a' harvester, several, by the sound of it," Chuck told him.

Christian sighed. "That would explain why Aaron is still alive."

Kahlan huffed.

"If this is true, we need to get the word out," Sebastian said.

"Do what you must. I'm going to Hotch's team and give them an update," Kahlan told them and then started to talk to Cam privately as she walked towards Chuck's Jeep.

"Please don't do anything without us, Charles," Sebastian pleaded. "Harvesters are nasty business, and you will need all the help you can get should you find one."

Chuck nodded. "I'll call you as soon as we have anything."

"Alright. We will go make some calls. Maybe someone will have something that will help us," Sebastian told him and then started to turn.

Chuck grabbed his arm before he could take a step. "Tell me the truth, Sebastian. If Hotch is in the hands of one of these harvesters, will he still be alive when we find him?" he asked in a hushed tone.

"He's worth more to them alive."

Chuck studied his eyes for a moment, nodded, and then ran to his Jeep.

Christian's eyes locked with Sebastian's as they moved toward their vehicle. "He may still be alive, but he may not be whole."

Sebastian took a deep breath. "I know that, Christian, but he didn't need to."

XXXXX

After getting through all the turns that Lenny had been able to give them, Hotch and Copper tried to stay on a course that would lead them to the exit that the gnome had seen, but they weren't sure about it. When they heard scratching from somewhere ahead of them, they all froze.

Knowing none of them really wanted to go see what it was, Hotch took a few more steps. He realized that there was a huge open area ahead of them, but he couldn't see into it enough without actually going in; and everything in him was warning him to not go any further.

The rest of them squeezed beside him to get a better view, and he could tell none of them wanted to enter the clearing, either.

"I say we make the short dwarf go out there and see what happens to him," the collared man suggested as he grabbed a young dwarf by the arm causing him to cry out.

Maxin grabbed Dag's other arm and tried to pull him away from the man. "That's my son!"

"I don't care if he's your sire, he's the smallest, so. . ." the collared man started.

Hotch's stared bloomed to life as he advanced to the man. "Let him go," he ordered with a harsh tone.

The man shrank back a little, but he didn't release the smaller being. "We wouldn't be losing much if there is something in there, and when it comes out to grab him, we'll get to see what it is," he continued.

"Or how about I just throw you out there? Whatever it is might not think something that small is worth the effort. You, on the other hand, would definitely draw it out," Hotch told him without backing down.

The man studied him a few more seconds and then loosened his grip letting the dwarf get pulled away from him and into the protective arms of his parents.

Hotch took a deep breath and then turned to face the opening again, but before he could say anything, the young dwarf spoke up.

"Why can't you just go out there and take care of whatever it is?" he asked as he looked at Hotch.

"Dag! None of us are worth sacrificing above the others!" his mother scolded.

"But look at the way he healed after that beating he got last night. Even if he got hurt, he'd be alright. We wouldn't," Dag insisted.

"I vote we just double back and try to find another way around," Copper tried.

"How about we try to see what's out there first?" Hotch asked and then tossed the torch he'd been carrying into the opening. I have no idea how I healed like that, so I doubt I'd be able to do it again.

The lit torch landed about ten feet away. The small circle of light surrounding it didn't reveal anything, so they all remained silent as they waited to see if anything would show itself.

After about a minute, the collared man huffed. "Well, now what are you going to do, bloodsucker?"

"I'm still considering throwing you out there, actually," Hotch bit back. That was pretty stupid, Hotchner. Fire scares most things away, not draws them in. Use your damn head.