The Maze - Tor's Quest Book 2

Chapter 1

Sam sat staring into the fire without seeing it, her thoughts lost in another world. Her mind drifted back to her old existence where she had a life, family, friends and it had all been taken away by those now seated across from her. It had been her friend's 30th birthday party and everyone had been a little drunk, so getting out the Ouija board had seemed like a good idea. Everyone had thought it fun until the board started to say things to Sam that only she and Janet knew about and Janet's fingers were not on the planchette. The next thing Sam remembered was waking up surrounded by most of those who were with her now.

She looked at them all in turn, but none of them were prepared to meet her gaze. Prince Tor, the reason for her being where she now found herself, was talking quietly with Ellen. He glanced in her direction, then quickly looked away, his brown eyes showing concern. He rubbed his beard, continuing his conversation. They were obviously talking about her. Tor's father, the King of Remeny, had died, leaving the crown up for grabs. His will dictated that whichever son completed a series of tasks first, won the throne. Clues had been left to lead Tor and his brothers to seek out allies to help locate the next clue, with the last one to reach the location no longer being permitted to take part.

Needing a 'guide from another world', Tor and his party had enlisted the help of Mamma Rose, who cast the spell which brought Sam from her own world to this one. She was told that she was still on her own world and had only been brought forward in time, but she had managed to expose this as a lie. Sam's ability to understand and speak all of the languages of the world she was now in, including those spoken by animals, was an unexpected by-product of the spell.

Ellen was a hearth witch. She took care of the team; cleaning, cooking, healing. She came across as a kind and gentle person, making her betrayal all the more difficult to stomach. The most recent clue had said the cicerone would need to scream in agony in order to open the door to where the next clue was hidden. Nobody had had the decency to warn her that cicerone meant guide and, therefore, it was she who would have to endure the agony. Sam felt betrayed by everyone. She had come to think of them as friends, but it turned out they were all just using her.

Liselle, an ex-pleasure slave, was cuddled next to Torrick, her husband. Though many years her junior, he had rescued her from her owner, whom he served as a soldier, and had married her. They were very happy together, though no sign of happiness was currently evident on either face. They were talking to Grimmel, a dwarf, and River, a water sprite. The light from the fire illuminated River's face as she spoke, but not enough to prevent the darkness from hiding the light blue hue of her skin and making her long navy hair appear black.

Everyone was talking in hushed voices so Sam was unable to make out what was being said, but she knew they, too, were talking about her. It was while she was alone with Bellak that she had found out that he had been lying to her and she had not spoken since her return, making them all extremely worried.

Sam's gaze fell on the last members of the group, who were sitting together to the right of the fire. Patrick and Ban were trying to teach Dal a dice game. Though his features made him seem no more than thirty five, Patrick's eyes occasionally betrayed his real age. Having been cursed by a witch, he never aged and was now over seven hundred years old. He could be killed, and seemed to manage it on a regular basis, but his body always recovered.

Ban was a huge man, standing over two and a half metres tall. He belonged to a race called taymen, who were close cousins to the giants, so he took no offence when he was mistaken for one.

Dallan, Dal for short, was an enthusiastic young man, having just turned sixteen. His pleasant appearance accompanied by his blue eyes and curly blonde hair made him almost beautiful. He was the son of Tor's cousin and had run away to join Tor on his quest in order to avoid taking part in his twin sister's wedding. Tor was not happy about having him along, but at least he was able to keep an eye on him and keep him out of trouble.