They stopped only to sleep and only slept for a few hours. Each time Miriam dreamed she was in her mother's mirror and woke up not feeling like she had slept before. The dreams were getting worse.
In the last one she had been alone in the room, but she could hear her mother and father arguing. She could barely make it out, it sounded like she was under water. The door was slightly ajar and she could see people pass by it.
One of those people was her teacher, Mr Smith. He was wearing the clothes he wore when they went on a class hike. There was a flashlight in his hand. Then she had heard another voice.
Aaren was there. He was at her house. His college was at the other side of the country. It was in the middle of the semester.
He was placating her father, energising her mother. She might not have been able to hear what he was saying but she could hear the tone in which he spoke to them. There were other people there too, not just them and Mr Smith.
Many people walked passed the door, but none of them looked into the room.She wanted to yell, to tell them that all they had to do was open the door to the bedroom and they would find her. But in the dream, she couldn't even open her mouth.
When she woke up, Davis was sitting next to her. He eyes scanned the night, looking for any movement. Echo sat up suddenly, turned to Miriam and caught hold of her hand. Davis didn't even flinch.
"Safe," she said to Miriam. "All safe."
"Awake? Get up, then. We move," said Caleb.
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He stretched his legs out and then jumped on Echo's lap. She picked him up and got up a lot faster than Miriam and Davis did. Davis at least had the satisfaction of groaning.
They moved slowly, but they didn't stop again. Davis held Miriam's hand and pulled her forward when she began to fall behind.
None of them spoke. Even Caleb seemed to have to put all of his focus on putting one paw in front of the other.
Miriam looked at her feet, trying her best to ignore how loud her breathing was. Davis stopped, and she didn't notice until she was pulling his hand slightly. She turned in question and he pointed ahead, too tired to answer her.
In front of them, a large building rose up from what looked like walls that spread out from it. No, not walls, but hedges, grown higher than any she had ever seen before. Unlike every other building she had seen, this one was well maintained. It looked like a new building fashioned to look historical. The architecture was old, all of it connecting towers and domes and spires.
Outside the walls were countless, identical tents. From the many lights of the many people passing between them, Miriam could make out that they were all colourless grey, with a green and red mark on all of them.
"The Bleeding Field," said Caleb. "It seems Kain has brought his army here."
"It does explain why he has your poster up. He wants a guide to get through the maze," said Davis.
"Pointless. None may pass through the moving maze save those with no ill feeling to the Queen."
"So you can't lead us through it?"
"We cannot lead, but we can be lead if she wishes to see us."
Davis looked at Miriam sideways. Miriam raised an eyebrow. He looked away.
"She'll see us. She'll be too curious not to."
"You have our agreement on this. However, before getting through the maze, we must pass through the army. And we are both wanted by them."
She looked down and tried to see all of the moving lights at once by un-focusing her eyes, but it just made her feel dizzy. They illuminated the tents, appearing in front of them and disappearing behind and inside them as well.
There had to be hundreds of tents, and who knew how many soldiers in each one. And each and every one of them would be looking for them.