She had three choices. She could go to her troop and get some use of Elias orb, but then, that would be too obvious, and Elias would probably have someone waiting. Or she could pass the wall, looking for her sister, which was what she wanted. That would be insane as the situation was looking at the moment. She really ought to go somewhere completely different.

Somewhere not even Isaak would find her. Too bad it was quite the travel and too far away from where she needed to be to get used to the orb. And some part of her didn’t want to see Greg just right now.

Therefore Sasha turned left at the road, cursing low and going for the city. There was nowhere to hide better than in plain sight. No one told her what to do, not Isaak, and certainly not Elias.

The wall was not high, it could fool anyone who has not tried, but Sasha knew. She knew the magic, and she knew the shortcuts. One of them was standing not far away from her. He would have less use of his uniform than she had.

“Let moonlight be daylight. Lay down your head in the grass and let the sun caress your skin”, she whispered, just softly touching the man from behind the shadows. Letting her fingers transfer the magical heat from her stomach to the man’s skin. The vision she planted would harness his mind, alter his thoughts.

He lay down, took off his coat, and smiled. It was summertime and he was enjoying the end of his shift. Sasha smiled and sang him a lullaby. When he woke up he would be too embarrassed to report the theft.

She went over the wall in moonlight, clear for everyone that looked in the faint light, still totally invincible, in a coat of one of the king's men. The protective magic of the wall didn’t touch her. Now it was time for the king’s castle. This would be much worse though. The main entrance was locked for her, and the next wall even deadlier. There was one other option though, the basement labyrinth. No one ever went down there to reach the castle, it was inhabited with monsters. But there was also a hefty chance of picking up some juicy herbs and treasures in the underground maze.

It was time to get some help. Sasha took off her coat and went into the rusty doors of a pub. You wouldn’t believe it, but the area belonged to one of the fancier, even the king took a hint here once in a while. The pub looked quite shabby, the building is old, and the windows were never cleaned. Inside was not much better. The tables shine, but the floor was covered in dirt. It grew some plants inside, directly on the floor.

She let her way inside the kitchen, the pub is empty this time of the night. The last customer had just about to left, but here, there was still some noise.

“Darling!” an older woman exclaimed and hugged Sasha tight. “Long time, no see.”

“Esmeralda”, Sasha hugged the woman back. “I’ve got something useful for you”, she said and handed over the coat.

“It would cost me a lot to get rid of this one”, Esmeralda said with a mischievous grin. “I think it would be enough for a bed and breakfast for at least a week. How long would you stay?”

“It depends”, Sasha said. Knowing the piece she had just handed over would bring Esmeralda an extra income, worth far more than she was offering. “I´m going to explore the king’s labyrinth. In need of anything?”

“Oh, brewing the best beer in this country always calls for some extra ingredients.”

“I’m all for the extra ingredients mam”, Sasha said. “What if I spare you the room and you get me two of your best explorers instead? I promise it will be worth it.”

“You want company? What happened to my lonely wolf?”

“She needs company this time Esmeralda. Ask no more.”

“I will see what I can do.”

Esmeralda did outperform herself. She got Aiden, and no one knew the dungeon better. Being a loner like herself, mysterious and always keeping his secrets, she was intrigued.

“I bet Esmeralda’s errand must be something if she sends you?”

“She didn’t tell you?” Aiden asked and stepped down the ladder. From here on, the complete underground was a maze. Sasha followed Aiden down the ladder, knowing each step, carefully avoiding the broken ones.

“Nope.”

“So you just willingly steps down this maze, with me, and you don’t know what I will ask for?” Aiden was downstairs at the labyrinth entrance and he looked disbelievingly at her.

“As long as you help me reach the flowers of winters and take some back to her, I don’t care”, Sasha said.

“The flowers of winter? That's quite a challenge.”

“Yes, nothing one does by oneself”, Sasha added. “You’re getting second thoughts?”

“I’ve been there and I’m looking forward to it”, Aiden said and he turned left, crawling on all four to take a shortcut through a small tunnel. It was damp, filled with the smell of earth and mold. “I don’t need a partner to reach the garden.”

“I would have guessed as much.” Sasha was not the slightest surprised. Aiden had a reputation like no other. He was close to his fifties, and the rumours said he was born in the underground, the labyrinth itself is the one that fostered him. Of course, a story always became better with some extravaganza.

“So, what was Esmeralda’s request?” she asked and was happy to be able to stand straight after the claustrophobic tunnel.

“The flowers of winter.” Aiden chuckled. “What a coincident.”

Sasha stopped and looked Aiden straight in the eyes.

“She told you to help me no matter what?” Esmeralda would never care for the flowers. Aiden was pulling a leg.

“Yes”, said Aiden. “And since am prefer walking these paths alone, I suggest we take the shortcut.”

“The shortcut didn’t know there was one.” Sasha was curious, she had walked these paths a lot, she thought she had tested every dead end. Obviously she had missed something.

“There is, but I would not recommend you to walk it on your own.”

The shortcut was going down another ladder. Sasha shuddered. Deep down there, at the bottom of the maze where the king’s monsters, the snake dragons. If the first floor was full of moisture and spiders, the real big monsters were one step down. She preferred the ghoul and treasures before the heat and dragons.

“No one enters down here. It’s just heat and death”, Sasha reasoned, still, intrigued she followed suit. “It's not a shortcut, just a short life.”

“Heat, death, and mucus all over the floor”, Aiden muttered and put light to his torch. The upper part of the maze was lit by torches, but down here you had to bring your own. “I’ve bred one of these puppets by my own. Do not wander away from my side.”

He walked slowly, keeping an eye on Sasha and whistling a tune she never had heard before. The sound was answered and the hair on Sasha’s arms stood straight up. She knew someone was coming their way, someone, big, entering from the shadows.

“We wait for her here. And when she comes you will do exactly as I tell you. Can you do that?”

“You are calling for one of the snakes?”

“Yes. Can you handle that? This is not your first time down here?”

“No, it’s not my first”, Sasha sighed. She kept a low profile, but just being able to ask Esmeralda of the favour spoke volumes. “But being here with you means putting my life at stake. And I don’t know you that well. I will need a sign of trust.”

“You’re a witch”, Aiden said and he looked back to the ladder. It looked like the old man might think it was wiser going the long distance anyway. “I know which kind you are.”

“So we are going back.”

Aiden sighed.

“I could do this all on my own. Why would I bother with you?”

“Precisely. Why would you? Some may have paid you to let me stay in the maze. It wouldn’t be the first time Aiden.”

“I admire your smartness. I will give you an orb, and you could see for yourself.” The man started coughing, as if he was an old cat, having a real dry hairball. “A little bit help maybe?”

Sasha pulled the magic from within, it was hot in her veins, the blood pouring and pumping in her body, a hum of the sound from her heart to her fingertips. The light of them touched his chin.

“I promise the pain will be quick”, she said and the light struck him.

The orb was small, and it kind of looked like a hairball, a bit grey with strands of green. She studied it and inhaled the essence of it. It smelled bad, like perfume over a rotten egg.

“Thanks for the gift Aiden. I can see that you are wise, the promise very precise.”

“I will take you through the underground. I will make no more promises”, Aiden pointed.

“I got a one-way ticket man?” She chuckled. Well, at least she wouldn’t have to fret the snakes. “Well, bring the dragon. I have never seen a snake, the size of an elephant.”

“Not many have and survived. Keep in front of me, and behind her, no matter what you do, or what you hear. No questions, I will give no answers.”

Sasha wished Aiden had let the light out, because in front of her, in the beam of the torch, she saw something coming.

“So this is the king’s guardians, the keeper of the castle.”

It was a big black thing, moving slowly and in waves, not a single bone in the body, each scale casting reflections on the mud walls. The eyes were magnificent, their yellow irises focused on Sasha, and the tongue coming out, whispering words she didn’t understand, but that resonated oddly within her.

“She wants you to reach out with your hand”, Aiden said. “Stupid snake.”

Sasha chattered, she wanted to keep her eyes shut, but she couldn’t, the snake's eyes pulled her in. The snake let her tongue out, whisking around in the air with it, close to touch her but never quite near enough. Sasha’s body was stiff. All her instinct screamed at her to pull her hand back, still, she stood her ground.

“What is she doing?”

“I don’t know”, Aiden said. “But she seems satisfied. We better move. It seems like more companies are coming our way.”

He needn’t ask her twice. She hurried her steps after the big snake. In every tunnel they passed she felt their presence. Sasha shuddered. She could see them in the dim light, laying still but blocking all other ways, whispering at snake language when she came closer. It sounded as if they were calling on someone as if they whistled a tune for their babies. Somehow it enthralled her as if they were whispering to her.

“Move faster woman. You don’t want to attract the mother snake.”

She stopped still, and the dragon-like creature in front of her stopped as well. Sasha didn’t know what Aiden was talking about, but the sounds she had heard in the background of all the hissing whispers had not been from a mother snake. It had been footsteps, manmade such.

“Sasha, you better move”, Aiden pushed her in her back. “The snakes are behaving oddly and we ought not to ask why.”

Sasha muttered under her breath but figured she was more afraid of the big creatures in the shadows than she was curious.

When they left the snakes domains she let out a heavy breath. She looked down the stairs, promising herself not to enter their domain anytime soon.

“We are almost there. Really, how come? We can’t have walked that far.”

Sasha had been here once before, and it had taken her troop three days, and then she had experienced company of no less than three of the troop's oldest members.

“The underground is an odd place”, Aiden said. “Just a few steps through the path of the dark and then the winter are all yours.”

The arch was black as night but when she went through it the light almost blinded her as she entered the winter garden. The winter garden was an almost empty part of the maze, where all the greenery was covered in white, the flowers were luminous and delicate as thin paper.

“I must say, your company has been really valuable”, Sasha said and turned around to greet Aiden. But she never got to turn the full circle. An intense pain hit her in her head and she sank into the white snow.

“Time to sleep.”

Sasha struggled to keep conscious. She tried her hardest to collect her magic, to defend herself and keep Aiden away from her limb body. Real terror caught her body as she heard a second figure entering from the shadows. Through half-closed eyes, she saw a pair of silver shoes before the darkness overwhelmed her.