Chapter 185

Lyle was awake and it was not the groggy kind of awake that Adam had first exhibited, but he was alert and ready to move. Adam on the other hand was surprised by one of the hedge walls moving and changing the pathway. He was redirected from his original path which would have brought him straight to Lyle. He had to move down a different path that took him away from Lyle and the start of the maze. The King chuckled with delight. "Oh yes! I really must remember to thank to warlock who built this maze for me. He did an astounding job in just three days!" He said while reaching over and patting Amaris' hand. Amaris turned her head to him. Did he say warlock? There were warlocks? Well I guess if Gran can be a witch, then there can be warlocks too. Really nothing was a surprise anymore. Amaris yanked back her hand leaving the King to pat the arm of the chair. The King took his hand back and clapped instead. Amaris looked back at the maze to see what it was that the King was excited about. Adam had come to the first challenge in the maze. It was a harpe. She was chained to the ground so she was not able to fly out, but she did have enough to be able to move and get around ten feet into the air. It would allow her to see just over the top of the hedges. Adam had come around the corner and clearly was not expecting something to be in the middle of the path. He skidded to a stop just in time so that he landed backing up on his bottom like a crab. The harpe tried to stretch the chain to reach him, but to no avail. Adam looked back the way he came but the hedge had already melded and closed off the way he had just come from. He know had a choice. Try and get past the harpe to move on, or wait and see if the maze changed again so that he could get out. Adam knew that if he was awake Lyle must be also, and that meant that he needed to move quickly. Adam tried running forward a few times to see what the harpe would do. She waited to see if Adam was committed to making his move, and then she would move with him. Adam climbed the hedge that was standing next to him. The vines and huge thorns leaving hand and foot holds. The harpe took to the air to try and stop him from going over the top of the hedge. The hedge sprouted vines that went higher. Once the harpe was at the top of her chain Adam dropped down at an angle and rolled to get out of the reach of the harpe. The harpe dropped out of the air as fast as she could and reached out and grabbed hold of his ankle. She started dragging him back toward her. Adam used his free foot to kick out at her with both panic and determination. His foot connected with the harpe's face and she let go. Adam scrammbled back out of her reach. He had managed to make it past her. The harpe screamed with rage. The sound was ear piercing. Amaris and many of the other people watching covered their ears from the sound. Adam got up and started to run to get away. He also had his ears covered. He half ran half stumbled down the path and took a left at the next intersection to get away. Amaris turned her gaze to Lyle since Adam was out of danger for the moment. He was cautiously walking through down an empty path that can to a T at the end. Amaris let her eyes scan the other parts of the maze to see if she could see another challenge, or the menotaur that was also lurking in there. It was almost as if the dangers in the maze did not show themselves until one of the men were right on top of it. Amaris felt the lightest tap on her right arm and slowly looked over at Jason. He was right up close to her now. She faced forward as he whispered very softly. I am not sure how we will get you out of here without the king noticing since we are the only three left. Amaris gave an almost imperceptible nod. She knew he was right. With Adam in the arena, Sveta had left after she rejected Adam and Persia Jason's mate was gone if I were to leave there would be no way to do it without being obvious. They would be caught immediately.

Amaris heard a mighty roar from the arena and looked down to see that Lyle had turned the corner to come face to face with a hydra. It's three heads were bobbing and weaving and snapping at him. Lyle looked back the way he came. He decided that he would take his chances going the other direction and turned back the way he came. The Hydra let out a roar as it was not able to move beyond the spot that it was standing either. Lyle broke into a jog, and made his way do to another intersection. This time he turned right to run along the outer edge of the maze. Amaris shifted her gaze to Adam. He was also running along the outside wall of the maze. He now had a bloody gash on his arm. Amaris was not sure how he got that. She turned to Jason, "How did Adam get that gash on his arm?" Her eyes fell on his chair, but he was no longer there. Her heart fell. He had left her there because he could not get her out without the King noticing. She was going to be left here to watch all these people die, and then to have to mate and mark the King so he could take her power. Amaris suddenly felt very alone.