Chapter 107

After a while, Hotch and Copper slowed to a walking pace. Even though Hotch had thought the beast would eventually pick up their trail after it got done doing whatever it was doing with Tucker, neither one of them thought they were being followed, so they'd relaxed a little.

Hotch was lost in thought as he mindlessly followed the faun hoping that he at least had some idea of which way to go, but he was pulled from his thoughts when he walked into the goat hybrid's back. "Sorry," he muttered and took a step back.

"Am I so boring that you've tuned me out?" Copper asked with a grin.

"Huh? No."

Copper huffed. "That's funny cause I've been talking to you for a couple minutes, and even asked you a question, but you haven't responded."

Hotch sighed. "Sorry. I was just thinking."

Copper started walking again. "About what?"

Hotch's brows furrowed as he looked at the faun. "I'm new to all this."

"Yeah?"

"Can an inanimate object be sentient?" Hotch asked him as he stopped.

The faun's look told Hotch that he didn't understand, so Hotch rephrased, "Can this labyrinth be aware?"

Copper snorted and almost laughed, but then his ears wilted. "You think this massive stone maze is alive?"

Hotch shrugged. "I don't know. Is that even possible?"

The faun fingered his goatee as his eyes roamed over the stone walls surrounding them. After a deep breath he shrugged. "I don't know. I know there are many things that are alive that humans seem to think are inanimate, some rocks and trees can move around like a human, for instance, but for this whole place to be aware?" He shook his head. "I wouldn't think it is naturally."

Hotch's inhale was deep. "Could magic make it be alive?"

The faun's eyes grew as he considered it and his mouth hung open a bit. "That would take some very powerful magic, my friend. Why are you even thinking along those lines?" he asked as he started walking again.

"Because it seems to me that this maze is aware of what we do, and it's done whatever it can to separate us," Hotch continued as he caught up with him.

Copper's eyes were full of doubt. "No, one of us was responsible every time something happened."

"Yes, but. . ." he stopped as he pulled the faun to a stop beside him.

"What?"

Hotch pointed down the passage he was standing beside. "Is that light?"

Copper's eyes squinted as he looked down the dark passage. "Possibly." He looked at the vampire. "You don't think we've gone is some big circle and that's the torch you dropped, do you?"

Hotch winced. "I don't know. I thought it was hard enough to keep track of where we were going in the beginning. After running around frantically and being without a light, we could be back at the entrance for all I know."

Copper sighed as his eyes slid shut. "I pray to the gods that we're not."

"Only one way to find out," Hotch offered and then started down the passage towards the flickering light.

XXXXX

Kahlan had gotten up, gotten dressed, and then went down to get the boys up. She'd only been able to get a couple hours sleep, but it had been better than nothing. When she got to the main floor, she frowned as the smell of coffee wafted out of the kitchen. She took a deep breath and walked towards the smell figuring that Chuck, Cam, or Rossi must have let themselves in, so when she saw Jack pouring the coffee in a mug she did a double-take.

He noticed her and smile. "Morning, Mom," he offered with a bright smile as he handed her the mug.

Before she could respond, Wyatt walked passed the kitchen with a laundry basket full of folded clothes. He stopped and also gave her a smile. "Hey, Mom. Good morning."

She looked back and forth between them and then shook her head. "Not that I don't appreciate it, but what are you guys doing? You're not even supposed to be up yet."

The boys looked at each other and then Wyatt shrugged. "We told you we'd take care of the house."

"And you, too, when you're here," Jack added.

Kahlan went to comment, but Jack took her shoulders and steered her towards the table. "Since Dad's not here, we have to step up and be the men of the house."

She sat down and sighed. "And Dad would appreciate that, but. . ."

"But nothing!" Wyatt told her as he sat the basket down on the table and fixed her with a serious look. "We're going to do it, and you're not going to argue with us about it. Understood?"

She smiled. "Yes, sir."

He chuckled as he grabbed the basket and headed for the stairs.

"You guys can be too stubborn for your own good, you know that?" she told them.

"Yep," Wyatt agreed as he stopped and looked back to her with a massive grin. "We get that from Dad."

"Exactly!" Jack agreed as he went back to the kitchen. "I'm gonna start breakfast, Wy. Once you get those downstairs, you better go get Joey."

"I'll get her," Kahlan said as she stood up, and when Jack looked about ready to argue, she huffed. "She's my daughter. I'm allowed to wake her up if I want to."

Jack laughed. "Yes, ma'am."

XXXXX

Hotch squinted as he looked at the torch lying on the ground. His eyes had adjusted to the deep darkness, and the torchlight was blinding him even though he was still several feet away from it. He and Copper had stayed hidden behind the wall as they checked the area out because the thought of it being some sort of trap had crossed both of their minds.

Hotch looked at Copper. "How long do you think we've been in this damn place?"

Copper shook his head as he shrugged. "More than a day, for sure, maybe a couple. Why?"

Hotch frowned as he watched the flames dancing. "I'm no expert on torches or anything, but I would think the one's we lit when we first got in here would be burned out by now."

Copper shrugged. "Not if they're fueled by magic. I know of some flames that never need any kind of fuel."

"Oh," Hotch said. There's so much I don't know. He took a deep breath.

"So, are we going out there to it or just stand here staring at it some more?"

"Do you think it's safe?"

The faun shrugged again. "I don't know, but I do know I'm tired, and I either want to find our way out of here or find a corner where I can get a little sleep."

Hotch studied him. He certainly looked tired, even his ears were drooping. "Alright. Let's get that torch, and then we'll find a place to lay down. We can sleep in shifts so one of us can keep an eye out."

Copper nodded. "Sounds good." He moved to the torch on slow hooves as his eyes constantly roamed over the area.

Finding the area clear, Hotch went to pick up the torch, but stopped.

"What?" Copper asked him.

"That's not the torch I dropped."

"How do you know that?"

Hotch pointed to its side. "That's the one Therry ripped a piece off of for Lenny."

"The dwarves were here?"

"Unless something or someone else got ahold of it," Hotch told him and then picked it up. He held it up and studied the ground. He suspected the heeled, short prints belonged to the dwarves, but their erratic pattern told him that they had not only been running, but dodging something, too.

Copper waited for the vampire to do is thing for a few moments. "What do you think happened?"

"I don't know," Hotch admitted. "I can pick out their prints, but I don't see anything that might have been chasing them."

Copper groaned. "Then that means it was flying, right?"

Hotch ran a hand down his face. "And we know that wraith is too big for these narrow passages, so that means there's something else in this damn maze, too."

Copper shook his head as he started walking. "Cause we didn't have enough to worry about."

Hotch moved to join him.

"Well, at least we know they're still alive. That's a good thing."

"At least they were when they dropped this torch."

Copper wilted. "You just had to point that out, didn't you?"

Hotch winced. "Sorry."

Copper just shook his head some more.

XXXXX

Kahlan shivered as she watched Joey's bus drive away. It was an unusually cold day, but knowing her husband was out there, somewhere, made it seem even colder.

She was about to head back in when she noticed Chuck's Jeep coming down the road. Is this just a good morning type of thing, or does he have something he didn't want to share over the phone?

Once he got close to the driveway, she could see the massive smile he was trying to hide, and her heart sped up. Please let it be something good!

He opened his door as he frowned. "Why are you standing out here in the cold?"

"Because I was trying to be nice and wait for your dumbass."

He chuckled as he followed her to the front door. "You love me."

She nodded as she took off her coat. "I do."

"And you're gonna love me even more as soon as I tell you why I'm here."

She gave him a discerning look. "I'll be the judge of that."

"But can I grab a cup of coffee first? I haven't had one yet this morning," he told her and then started for the kitchen but then stopped as she held her hand up.

"Sure, if you think you'll be able to move."

He frowned. "Be able to move?" he asked in confusion.

She nodded. "Yeah, cause if you don't tell me why you're here, I'm going to beat it out of you."

He choked on his own breath and then nodded with a quick head. "Yes, ma'am."

She smiled. "I thought you'd see it my way."

He took a deep breath. "The harvester finally called me back."

XXXXX

Hotch and Copper followed the dwarves' footprints, but they soon came to a stop, right in the middle of one of the walls. Hotch sighed. "The wall shifted."

Copper nodded. "Yep, so we can't keep following them. Which way do you want to try, left or right?"

Hotch shrugged. "I don't care. You pick."

"I've been leading the way for a while now, and it hasn't gotten us anywhere. How about you pick?"

"Alright, but don't get mad at me when we end up going in circles," Hotch told him and headed to the left.

"I don't care where we go as long as we can find a nice dead end to take a nap in."

Hotch turned to him and then shook his head. "No, not a dead end."

"But we'd only have to worry about something approaching us from the one way," Copper argued.

"And we'd be trapped."

Copper's mouth hung open for a second and then he winced. "I didn't think about that."

"A nice 90-degree corner would be perfect."

"Then lead the way."

Hotch did, and it took them a little while to find one that he liked, but he did. He motioned to the ground. "Go ahead. Sleep; I'll take first watch," he told the faun as he placed the torch in a wall bracket.

"That's why it took you so long to find a corner you liked. You were looking for one with a holder in it," Copper told him with a smile.

Hotch nodded. "It will be easier to see anything coming, and besides, my arm's tired, too."

The faun chuckled as he moved to the ground and then laid on his side and curled into a ball. "Wake me up if you need me."

"I will," Hotch told him and leaned back against the wall, but not until after he inspected it very closely.

Within minutes, the faun was snoring softly, and Hotch sighed. Red said some never found their way out. He winced as he considered that. While he was pretty sure that he couldn't die of dehydration anymore, he really didn't want to witness the faun going through it. We've got to be getting close, right? Lenny made it seem like the exit wasn't that far away. He huffed. But that was before the damn walls moved on us.

He kept glancing back and forth between the two passageways, but before he knew it, he'd fallen asleep, too.