Reflections of a Runner by Tiffani Collins

Author:Tiffani Collins
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: magic, wizards, fairies, alternate universes, shapeshifters, alternate history, fey, enchanters
Publisher: Tiffani Collins

Chapter 20

Dragon Slaying

For the record, being carried like a sack of grain across someone’s shoulders as they run through the woods is extremely uncomfortable. There are definitely better ways to travel. Thankfully, the Labyrinth was not far from my quarters, and as soon as we had made the first few turns, Kindra swung me down and set me on my feet.

Rubbing my ribs where they’d been bruised by all the jouncing, I followed her as she led the way deeper into the maze. “You live in here?” I asked, surprised. Aneirin had never shown me where he lived though I’d asked him any number of times. That he lived inside the Labyrinth and I’d never figured it out was a little embarrassing because I thought I knew every nook and cranny.

“It is the one place where the Chieftains do not have any eyes or ears. The Labyrinth is a haven where they cannot interfere. They cannot even trace the locator on your collar or detect it when you perform magic.” Kindra cast a glance at me. “You never realized this?”

“I…didn’t know there was a locator on me,” I said slowly, a hand rising to finger one of the charms dangling from the bottom edge. My necklace had been a part of me as long as I could remember. The magic crafted into the links of silver and the charms were like omnipresent background noise. I didn’t even notice them most of the time. One of them allowed Auntie Lina to always know where I was. When she let me go off on my own when I was younger, it wasn’t trust she was showing.

Hurt sucker punched me in the face and made my eyes tear up, but I didn’t have time for that now. I needed to think about how to help Keezheekoni.

As I trailed after Kindra, I began to recognize the path we were on. We were heading for the center of the Labyrinth. I’d been there a time or two but preferred the Labyrinth’s other chambers. All that was at the center was an old ivy-climbed well at the top of a small grassy hill. The well had a shingled roof and a bucket on a winch system. There was no indication that anyone lived there.

When we entered the clearing at the heart of the maze, I looked around. It appeared much the same as when I had been here previously. Then I watched as Aneirin, Keezheekoni still asleep and slung across his shoulders, walked straight into the evergreen wall of the Labyrinth. The shrubbery parted and then flowed back together around him as he passed. Kindra looked back and motioned me to come after her.

I assumed it couldn’t be any worse than traveling through a mirror, and so I walked up to the seemingly solid wall of yew. Just as I was about to smack into it, the branches parted again with a rustling sound and I stepped through into a dimly lit rustic cabin. Aneirin was

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