Chapter 20

"What the fuck is that thing?" Alex screamed as she jumped behind Izael. The monster that lumbered out of the woods was something out of a fevered nightmare. It lumbered on six legs, standing some ten or twelve feet tall. And it was composed entirely of bones. Corpses of humans, of animals, of things she couldn't identify, all merged into one horrifying monstrosity.

"We mean you no harm!" the monster whined, its voice the combination of dozens all speaking at once. "We simply wish to be friends. We can help you."

Izael hissed at the creature. "Begone, Nameless. Before I make you my lunch."

The creature shrank away like a scared dog. "Human, we can guide you. We can aid your quest. Simply name us, and we shall serve you."

"Fuck, no!" Alex stayed behind Izael, peering around the duke's arm to stare wide-eyed at the thing. "Go away!"

"She is too smart for your tricks. Leave now." Izael held out his hand toward the thing. "Or I will reduce you to slivers and specks of bone before I devour what's left."

The monster whined again, letting out a plaintive wail before retreating into the darkness.

Izael sniffed dismissively. "Nameless. Annoying things. To give it an identity is to join it."

"Eewwuh." She cringed at the thought of getting rolled up into it. "That's terrible."

He shrugged. "Honestly? There are far, far worse ways to go. Especially here in the Maze. We should keep going. We likely don't have much time left."

They had been walking for half an hour or so. But they were making progress. The instrument that sounded like a pipe organ if it were made from the structure of the deepest cave was growing louder. But whether they'd make it in time, she didn't know.

She doubted it.

But there was still a tiny bit of hope. The smallest amount, but it was there. Taking Izael's hand, she led him deeper into the woods, following the source of the sound.

When they left the thickness of the trees to step into a clearing, she froze. The trees had suddenly given way to ruins. An ancient stone structure that reminded her somehow of Stonehenge, if it had been trying to build walls. Crude, barely carved stones were stacked in whatever order had made sense at the time with no mortar to join them. Moss and vines covered their surfaces as nature worked to reclaim the structure.

"This is it. The center of the Maze." Izael let out a breath of relief. "You've done it—we're close, now!" He laughed. "I would fuck you right here and now, but we don't have time. Later. Later, I will definitely fuck you for this."

"Thanks?" She took a step inside the structure. It stretched off in both directions. It was a Maze within a Maze. Great.

But that wasn't the only reason she felt her heart sink.

They weren't alone.

"Uh oh." For a moment, she was terrified the figure in front of them would be Valroy—that the jig would already be up, and they'd be splattered all over the grass a few seconds later.

In some ways, who was there to greet them was worse.

It was Anfar, leaning against one of the stone structures, his arms crossed. He had been waiting for them.

"Hello, Father." Izael sneered. "Come to wish us well? Help us on our way?"

"I have come to save your life, though it may be too late." Anfar shook his head. "You are a fool, Duke, to think this mad gambit of yours could possibly succeed."

"Yeah, but we have a secret weapon." Izael took Alex's hand in his and squeezed it gently.

With a huff, Anfar stepped away from the wall. "Her power to change the music of life? Yes, I am certain it is quite a power to reckon with. If she wished it, I am certain even I would cease to be as I am now."

Izael's back straightened as he went rigid. "How do you know? Who told you?"

"I find myself in the interesting situation where I am a confidant to both the king and the queen. I cannot tell you how exhausting it is." Anfar smirked briefly, before his expression faded. "Each knows your witch's secret. Each believes the other does not. Each works to either take advantage of, or undo, the mess you have made."

"Great. What a lovely chat. I appreciate you stopping by, Dad." Izael pulled Alex in the opposite direction of where Anfar was standing. "But we're busy. We have a tree to murder."

"Clever plan, convincing Goodfellow to distract him. Even more clever, knowing Puck would go to Bayodan for assistance in such a matter. But you will not succeed," Anfar called after them. "Do you truly wish to die here, Izael?"

Izael muttered something unkind under his breath but ignored the other Unseelie. When they ducked around a corner and were out of the line of sight of Anfar, he turned to her. "Which way, songbird?" There was panic in his expression, however—the window of opportunity for their success was rapidly shrinking right in front of their eyes.

Shutting her eyes, she listened. It was hard to tell which direction to go, with that great and terrible organ filling the stone halls from both left and right. Was one way louder than the other? Was it even possible to tell?

Holding out her hand, she tried to quiet the rest of the music. Tried to single out that deep bellowing roar.

Rocks had no music. They were not alive. The stones around her couldn't help her at all. But the vines and the moss could. She tried to picture them like the instruments in an orchestra. All arranged in their sections, all obeying the commands of the conductor.

And that conductor was the pipe organ.

Show me where. The vines and moss around her weren't sentient, not truly. They were all connected, though. And listening to the trace of one whispering flute as it merged with another gave her a sense of the whole. She tried to picture it in her mind's eye. Tried to lay out the sections and follow them all back to the center.

Left.

They should go left.

Opening her eyes, she headed that way at a jog—there was no wasting time. Izael trailed behind her.

They reached a small courtyard-like area in the stone structure. It broke off in six directions around them.

Anfar was once more waiting for them. "What is your game, Duke? What are you after? You know you cannot win."

Izael sighed. "Nice of you to finally care about my decisions. A little late, isn't it?"

"Perhaps." The sea monster masquerading as a man shut his all-black eyes. "You think she can destroy Valroy, once and for all."

"Either that, or we die."

"But why? To spare the Seelie? To spare the humans?" Anfar turned his attention back to Izael, his expression bemused. "This is not like you."

"Funny how love can change us." Izael grimaced. "Ask that selkie of yours."

Anfar's expression smoothed as he looked at Alex. "He is willing to be destroyed in your name. For what reason? So you do not feel the burden of the deaths of others? It is not the nature of the Unseelie to care about such things."

"Don't think I don't feel guilty about all this." She shook her head.

"Do you love him?"

"Doesn't matter right now." She pulled Izael down one of the six paths, letting the music guide her. "Sorry," she said to Anfar as they passed him. "This isn't how anybody wanted this to work out."

Nobody except maybe Valroy. And even then, the whole point of this misadventure was to deny the Unseelie King what he wanted. Everybody was going to lose—just some more than others.

She supposed the innocent lives they were sparing were getting a win out of this, but they'd go along blissfully unaware of how close they were to supernatural war.

A third crossroads, and Anfar was there, once more waiting.

"Oh, for fuck's sake!" Izael threw up his hands in exasperation.

"Listen, Anfar." Alex rubbed a hand over her face. "I don't want to die. Neither does Izael. Nor do I really want to kill Valroy. But I will not let myself get turned into a bazooka. I will not let him wage two wars because of me. If you have another suggestion, I'm all ears."

Anfar just kept staring at her blankly. Whatever was going on in his head was impossible to discern.

"And if you give me some bullshit line about how I'm a human and therefore I don't get to decide these matters, I will absolutely turn you into something extremely stupid."

Anfar stepped in front of them, blocking their way forward. "I could stop you."

That was it. She'd had enough. She stepped toward Anfar and fixed him with a hard stare. "I like you well enough. I don't have a fight with you. But if you like being whatever-the-fuck-you-are-now, I suggest you get out of our way."

"Would you do such a thing? Are you truly capable of that?" Anfar stood his ground.

"Dunno. Why don't we find out together?" She smiled beatifically.

The sea monster watched her, his expression flat and empty. "I see why you love her, Izael."

Izael draped his arms over Alex's shoulders, resting his chin atop her head. "I have no problem letting my girl mop the floor with you. I, personally, would love to see it."

"I am certain you would." Anfar sighed. "Very well." He stepped out of their way. "Pursue your deaths if it pleases you both."

"Love to know if you have an alternative suggestion. Otherwise—nice meeting you." Alex walked past him. Her heart was racing as adrenaline flooded her body. They were close.

A left turn. Followed by another left. And another. Then…they were there.

The path dumped out into a larger clearing than all the others. Ringed by stones on all sides, she felt the air rush out of her lungs as she took in the sight in front of her.

It was an enormous tree. It stretched up above them, its bare branches like dark fingernails scratching at the sky. It grew from a circle of stones that was intricately carved in writing and shapes she didn't recognize. The stone was centered in a pool of blood that reflected the light of the moon in a pale, ghastly red.

And from its base flowed out its roots, not buried in the ground, but spreading out like the capillaries of lungs.

They pulsed with the beat of a heart.

The thick and knotted bark that covered the massive trunk of the tree was peppered with weapons embedded into its surface of every kind and nationality she could imagine. Spears, swords, axes, arrows—even a rifle that looked like it was from World War I, its bayonet stuck deep in the tree's surface.

All the weapons were rusted and degrading to the sands of time, in various stages of decay. She wasn't the first person to try to destroy Valroy.

Whether or not she would be the last still remained to be seen.

The sound of the pipe organ was almost deafening now as it filled the air around her with a furious dirge. Angry and lashing out at its defilers, even as it sang of death and retribution.

"This is it. The true form of our charming King Valroy," Izael murmured to her. Even he seemed to be in awe of what stood before them. "His beating heart."

She took a careful, tentative step forward. She couldn't help but step on the tendrils of roots that spread from the tree in a thin membrane. There was no way to avoid them. She tried to stick to rocks as much as she could.

When she had to step into the mess of blood, she groaned at the way it squished and squelched beneath her weight. It was disgusting.

And it was warm.

When she was a dozen feet from the tree, she stopped. It was only then that she realized she was shivering. Could she do this? Could she really destroy Valroy? Was she powerful enough to warp something that was that loud? That old and that strong?

There was only one way to find out, she supposed.

"I have faith in you." Izael kissed the back of her head. "Do it."

Swallowing the rock in her throat, she took a deep breath, held it, and let it out. "Here goes everything."

Lifting her hands in front of her, it took everything in her to keep them from shaking. Taking another deep breath, she shut her eyes and forced herself to truly listen to the music the tree was giving off.

All she had to do was stop the song.

And it would all be over.

It was right there. Beneath her grasp.

All it would take would be?—

A slow clap broke her concentration.

Whirling, her heart crashed through the floor.

"I have to say, I am impressed."

Valroy.