“I don’t know that your wings could support everyone’s weight Zev,” said Millicent. “Not to mention our gear.”
Zev shook his head. “I can make it work. Give me some time.” He picked up a small branch and started writing in the dirt. Quickly drawing out diagrams and runes, his tail whipping back and forth in the manner I’d seen many times before he made some new breakthrough with his inventions.
I gestured to everyone to move aside. “Let’s let him work.” So far, everything Zevrack had said he could do, or would so, he’s done. I saw no reason to question him now.
The party moved away and let Zevrack work. We started a small fire and huddled around it. I ate a piece of bread I warmed up over the fire before spreading a small amount of honey on it. Once I was done I brought some food to Zevrack, who tore into it wordlessly without looking up from his work. He called Millicent over a number of times, and each time she came back looking a little paler and more exhausted.
“Are you okay?’ I asked.
She nodded. “I’m helping him to power his runes. It takes a lot of energy.” She shivered and I pulled a spare blanket from my pack that I draped over her shoulders.
Patience grabbed a handful of small squares wrapped in a kind of wax paper and handed them to her. “Here, eat these.”
She eyed them questioningly but unwrapped one and popped it into her mouth. It looked to me a lot like a Jolly Rancher. “It’s sweet.”
Patience nodded. “It’s candy. Thought it might perk you up a bit.”
“Thank you. Zev said he shouldn’t need any more slots from me. Though he may need my help with a bit of runework.”
A couple hours later, when Millicent’s color was starting to return and the fire began to get low, Zevrack walked back to the group. He had a wild look to his eyes and his tail was bouncing back and forth in excitement. “I’m ready! Please follow.”
We all looked at each other and stood up. Tib threw some snow on the remains of the fire, and we fell in line behind Zevrack who led us, not to where he’d been working and diagramming, but up onto a large, steep hill. He climbed it quickly, his cave experience and claws to bound up to the top quickly.
At the top of the hill was a platform made of wood with a piece of wood on the top that looked like it was meant for gripping.
“On the platform,” said Zev motioning for us.
We all filed on, with Tristus looking very wary as he moved onto it. Tib began testing the sturdiness of the structure with his foot, and Millicent looked closely at the wood and examined the runework across large sections of it.
As we were all examining Zev’s handiwork, he climbed onto the top pole above us. He activated the extending claws he’d shown us and they gripped into the wood of it. After that he began muttering to himself and the runes both on his dragon suit and the platform we stood on, began to glow.
I watched as he extended his wings, feeling a knot in my stomach as I compared their dimensions to those of the platform. That’s when they extended again, doubling in size, and then did so a third time. I could feel heat building from him.
Tristus grabbed onto one of the poles at the end of the platform and looked down the hill. “I’m not sure that this is such a good idea.”
“Hold on tightly please,” said Zevrack, and I dove down to grab the edge of the platform.
Everyone else complied quickly, with Patience grabbing onto me, Nica wrapping an arm around the pole opposite of Tristus, Tib grabbing the edge as I had, and Millicent jamming her staff into a gap in the platform to make a handhold. The heat built from Zevrack a bit more, and suddenly stopped. We all loosened our grips and opened our eyes, looking at one another.
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“Ignition!” yelled Zevrack, and the jetpack portion of his gear roared to life, blasting out a larger flame than I’d ever seen before and throwing us wildly into the air. The wind whipped at my eyes. I heard Tristus, and surprisingly, Nica scream as we rapidly gained speed and altitude.
After a few terrifying moments, our flight stabilized, and I was able to peek over the side of the platform and down at the maze. It was massive and complex. I saw monsters, roaming through it, sections that were entirely submerged in water that seemed to float in the air, and even what I thought were the snobolds, looking up at us and pointing as we flew over them. I tried to glance at my companions, but wasn’t able to get a good look at anyone, though I felt Patience hold onto me even more tightly, which I found not at all unpleasant.
We were getting near the end of the maze when I heard a sputter. It jolted me, and we lost some altitude, then stabilized. Then there was another, and this time we lost more altitude. I couldn’t look up due to the wind hitting my eyes, and my need to hold on, but I tilted my head as much as possible. “Zev! Is everything okay?” I yelled.
He didn’t respond, either too focused on what he was doing, or unable to hear me. Suddenly, his jetpack went off completely. Everyone screamed as we began to fall. I could feel Zev doing his best to use his wings to slow our descent and angle us into a decent landing, but there wasn’t much he could do.
We found ourselves over a large empty section of the maze covered in snow, and that’s where Zevrack dropped us. I braced myself for impact even as I watched him struggle to correct his flight so that he could land with us. I saw him pass over the walls of the maze ahead of us and that’s when we hit the ground.
Everything from then on was a blur of snow, limbs, and wood. We hit at an angle, and so we all rolled almost into the far wall of the maze. I heard screaming, and cursing as the motion stopped, and I briefly lost consciousness.
…
Consciousness returned, along with a shooting pain in my side. I pulled myself up onto my knees and looked around. I saw Tib slowly pulling himself to his feet using the wall of the maze for support and just a short distance from him I saw Millicent dusting herself off. I looked around a bit more and realized that the sharp pain in my side was from Patience’s grip. I turned my attention to her and saw that she had her eyes squeezed closed still, though she appeared to still be breathing and conscious. I gripped her hand and gave her a short shake to her shoulder. She opened her eyes and began to look around, loosening her grip a bit. She gave an embarrassed cough.
I looked around a bit more and saw Nica helping Tristus to stand. It seemed like everyone was okay. Beaten and bruised, but okay. Everyone, but Zevrack, who I couldn’t see from where I was. I felt my stomach turn to knots in concern for him, but took a deep breath to untangle them. I checked my character sheet menu and found him still listed as my companion. That meant he was alive. I moved toward the wall I’d seen him fly over. “Zevrack!” I yelled. “Zevrack can you hear me!?”
My companions followed suit. Each adding their voices to my own as we yelled, hoping our voices would reach our kobold companion. We all stood silently for a moment, but heard no response.
Millicent's eyes were watery and she was shaking. I placed a hand on her shoulder. “He’s alive. He still shows up as a companion for me.”
She took a deep breath and nodded. She was easily the one closest to Zevrack after myself. They’d spent countless hours working together on one another’s projects and I knew she found him to be excellent company, and that the feeling was mutual.
I waited for everyone to gather themselves and regain their senses a bit before speaking. “Well, he carried us over the majority of the maze. I’d say we only have about ten-percent left.”
“We can assume he’s going to head for the exit as well,” noted Nica.
“So, we continue forward and make our way out the other side?” asked Tib.
“Yeah. If we don’t see him by the time we come out, we turn around and start down any paths we didn’t take.”
We all moved to the exit from this section of the maze. “Tib, you lead the way with your right hand. I’ll mark places we’ve been with my chalk. Millicent, any chance you can still create those climbing stones?”
She shook her head. “I gave Zevrack too many slots. I can only cast minor magics at this time.” She smirked. “I’ve been brought down to your level.”
I smiled back. “Hey, don’t be that hard on yourself.” That got a little chuckle from the group, and we all entered the maze, Tib leading the way with his right hand.