Free Unhonored by Tracy Hickman

frowned.
    â€œYes,” Mrs. Crow chuckled through her malicious grin. “And it will destroy them both.”
    Mrs. Crow turned and stepped back into the servants’ hall.
    Merrick followed after her.
    Neither of them noticed a third figure slip into the garden maze behind them.

 
    8
    THE GARDEN
    Ellis looked up at the leaden sky. It had gotten lighter as the morning progressed but there were no breaks in the clouds. It had been dark when they first entered the garden but that now seemed ages in the past. What had at first appeared to be a simple garden maze had proven to be more devious and convoluted than she had imagined. The neat, trimmed hedges they had first encountered had slowly and increasingly given way to hoarier shrubs. The carefully trimmed grass beneath their feet now reached up around Ellis’s knees. What had looked like a simple and brisk walk across a small garden was turning into a wilderness expedition.
    â€œThis is ridiculous,” Jonas said through clenched teeth as he pushed past the rough corner of an overgrown hedge. “What was Mrs. Crow thinking? Asking me to dress in this footman’s livery. Did she think we were going on a picnic brunch?”
    â€œI’m sure that I don’t know what Mrs. Crow was thinking,” Ellis said in return, her reply perhaps a little more brusque than she intended. Ellis reached across her jacket, lifting her small pocket watch into view. She frowned at its face. “It’s ten before nine in the morning. Just how far can it be to the other side of a courtyard garden?”
    â€œThat depends,” Jonas said, “on how far it needs to be.”
    She could see the gables and ridgelines of the roof of the house on the far side of the garden court but little else. The hedges of the garden maze obstructed any more complete vision of the Ruins. Even the clouds overhead had lowered to obscure the topmost spires. What was worse, despite being able to see their destination, the increasingly unkempt hedges were twisting their course. Although they could see the slate tiles of the roof, it seemed to her that they were no closer to reaching them with every step than they were before.
    â€œAre you certain this is the way?” Ellis asked.
    â€œYes, this is the way,” Jonas replied at once, as though daring anyone to defy the statement.
    â€œHow can you be certain?” Ellis pressed him to answer as they were confronted suddenly with another intersection of passages to the left and the right. The two paths before them both led into trellis tunnels on either side that twisted into even darker regions beyond. The vines covering them were overgrown, making both directions dark and forbidding.
    â€œBecause this is a different kind of garden maze,” Jonas said, considering which direction to take. “We don’t solve this maze … the maze solves us.”
    â€œWhat are you talking about?” Ellis shook her head, wondering if she had heard him correctly.
    â€œWhat I mean is that it’s not about going right or left so much as going right or wrong,” Jonas continued as he deliberated. “It’s about who we are, not where we go.”
    â€œThat makes no sense.”
    â€œAnd you’re expecting sense in a place like this?” Jonas raised his eyebrow in the dark, paisley-shaped mark over his eye. They looked again down the two divergent paths. “I think this may be it.”
    â€œMay be what?”
    â€œThe entrance to the maze.”
    â€œBut we’ve been in the maze for hours now.” Ellis shook her head.
    â€œTry to stay close to me.” Jonas turned to face her, his eyes searching her own. “If we get separated, I promise I’ll meet you on the other side.”
    â€œ If we get separated?” Exasperation crept in to color her words. “You’re supposed to be my guide through all of this!”
    â€œPlease believe me, Ellis, I am here to help