He flung seeds and chaff into the air. They bolted across the path as the mixture drifted down, shimmering like sparks around them, and tumbled panting into the scant cover of the trees beyond. Agalleos and his companions ran onward, eager to get out of sight of the road, but Alain turned to look back.
No footprints marked the path where they had crossed.
He saw no sign of their passage at all. Even the seeds and chaff had vanished. A last drifting flower petal, as light as down, spit brightness as it burst into flame and, a finger’s breadth from the betraying chalk trail, winked out of existence.
They traveled all that day overland, resting that night in a ruined town, long abandoned although soot still streaked the tumbled walls. Here they ate a meal of smoked venison and crumbling way-bread, flavored with aniseed and very sour.
“This road is longer than I thought,” said Alain as he reclined on a bed of leaves. Clouds hid the stars, although no rain fell. “How far have we come? How far have we left to go?”
Agalleos knelt beside him, constructing a hidden fire pit with stone and tiles. Shevros and Maklos had gone out to set snares. Birds were easy to catch in the wilderness that the war had made of these lands. “Queen Shuashaana’s magic is too powerful even for the Cursed Ones to defeat. That’s why she’s stayed here when most of our people, those who survived, have walked away to find new homes. The hills of this part of the country have many caves and tunnels worn into them, because of the soft rock. The queen sealed the labyrinth with her magic. There is a gate there, that she wove, where you can step from the land of the Cursed Ones into the loom outside her camp. But to walk is a path that takes many days. We must go north, and then cut back south and west.”
“Except for the worm’s path you spoke of.”
Agalleos grinned. “Truly. The worm’s path cuts back through the underside of the hills into the labyrinth. That saves three days’ walking. But the worm’s path is for young men.” He sat back from his work and patted his midsection. He hadn’t much fat on him, but certainly he was stockier than his young companions, having an older man’s girth. “I fear I’m too round to crawl on the worm’s path any longer, although I knew it well when I was a boy.” He picked up a few tiles. “Nay, friend. Rest your hand. I can do this myself.” A quail’s whistle sounded out of the dark, and he answered it, low and sweet. Shevros appeared carrying a string of partridges and two pheasants. “Be patient,” said Agalleos as he built a fire. “Caution will serve us well. Three more days.”