I looked at the entrance to the maze. “You really want to do this?”
“We have to, John. This is our path to the Sun King.”
I glared at him suspiciously. “There’s something you’re not telling me, isn’t there?”
“There’s a lot I’m not telling you. But I need you to trust me on this, John.”
And all I could do was shrug because he was Julien Advent, the Great Victorian Adventurer, and if I couldn’t trust him . . . I couldn’t trust anyone.
“Only those of the correct spiritual frame of mind can hope to navigate the maze successfully,” said Sister Dorethea. “Only the pure of intent will obtain access to the Stones, and Green Henge.”
“Yes, well, you would say that, wouldn’t you?” I said. “Come on, Julien. Catch you later, Druid.”
I strode forward into the maze, and Julien was immediately right there at my side. I can’t say I’ve ever felt safer with Julien beside me because he doesn’t do safe; but I’ve always felt more confident. Julien’s a good man to have at your side or your back, because you know you can depend on him to fight to the last drop of his blood; or, more usually, his enemy’s. I suppose that’s why we’ve so rarely partnered up. Not only because he so loudly disapproves of me, and my methods, but because I’ve always felt the junior partner. Julien Advent is the kind of man I always wanted to be and knew I never could be. Because he was a genuine hero, and I’m not. I’m just a man who gets things done.
We took a left and a right and a left inside the maze, and, immediately, I was hopelessly lost. Hadn’t got a clue where I was, or where I was going, or even where the entrance was. When I looked back, all I could see were hedgerows, exactly like those in front of me. I’ve never been any good at mazes. Or crossword puzzles. I’ve never liked games where you can’t bend the rules when you’re losing. But when I hesitated, Julien immediately took over the lead, making his choices confidently, as though he was following some trail only he could see.
“I worked my way through any number of mazes, back when Victoria was on the Throne,” Julien said calmly. “They all follow the same basic pattern. I think they were only fashionable so young ladies could get lost in them and cry pitifully to be rescued by brave young men. Not a good place to canoodle, though; you never knew who might come round a corner. But this . . . is not a usual maze.”
And he stopped dead in his tracks, looking from one way to another, unable to choose.
“I can . . . feel the centre of the Maze,” he said slowly. “I could point to it. But I can’t seem to go any further. The choices don’t make sense any more. It’s like looking at a map and finding all the symbols have suddenly taken on new and unfamiliar meanings. It’s like something else is required of me, other than logic. A very uncomfortable feeling. How does the maze feel to you, John?”
I shrugged uncomfortably. I did feel something, but it wasn’t anything I could put my finger on. “It’s only a maze. First rule of the Nightside: when you’re playing a game, and the rules say you’re losing, change the rules.
“You’re going to cheat, aren’t you?” said Julien resignedly.
“Of course,” I said. “It’s what I do best.”
I raised my gift, enough to add strength and power to my Sight, and immediately I could sense the exact location of Green Henge. And, more importantly, how to get to it. I plunged forward, darting through one row to another with complete confidence. Julien had to hurry to keep up with me. It was invigorating, racing through the hedgerows with defiant ease, while Green Henge called to me like a great voice in the night. It wasn’t just a Circle of Stones, it was a place of power, and Destiny. It was a place where things happened, things that mattered. And the moment I realised that, I slammed the brakes on and came to a sudden halt. Julien stopped with me and looked quickly around.
“What is it? Did you hear something? I thought I heard something . . .”
“No,” I said. “It’s Green Henge. This was never a folly, Julien. The man who brought the Stones here may have thought so, but the Stones were using him. To transport them to a new place, where they could draw on new energies, to become a greater power than they ever were before. And you knew this, didn’t you?”
“I suspected it,” said Julien. “How do you know all this, John?”
I scowled. “Just being in the maze, I can feel things. But you knew before we ever came in here.”
“I told you Green Henge was an interest of mine. I’ve done research. The Circle of Standing Stones is a meeting place. It draws important and significant people to it, when the time is right. The Sun King will be there, John. Trust me.”
“I do,” I said. “You know I do, damn you.” I looked slowly about me. “Hold everything. Did you say you heard something?”
“Yes,” said Julien. “And I’m pretty sure I heard it again.”
“We’re not alone in here,” I said. “Something else is in the maze with us.”
“The Sisters?” said Julien, looking around vaguely.
“No,” I said, looking quickly this way and that but seeing only more hedgerows and shadows. “Whatever’s in here with us, it’s not human.”
Both our heads snapped round sharply, as a slow rustle of movement ran through the hedge wall on one side of us, then the other. Julien and I moved immediately to stand back-to-back. My hands had already clenched instinctively into fists. We stood, waiting, listening, ready for an attack from any side . . . but it never came. Nothing emerged from any of the hedgerows. The full moon surrounded us with its shimmering blue-white light, and none of the shadows moved. The maze was deathly silent.
“It’s still out there,” murmured Julien. “I can feel it . . . It’s close. Watching us.”
“Yes,” I said, quietly. “I think . . . it’s hunting us. But my gift can’t find it, and my Sight can’t detect it.”
“Can you still find the way to the centre?”
“Yes. The way’s so clear it’s like a straight path to me.”
“Then we should press on,” said Julien. “Get to the centre and Green Henge.”
“You think we’ll be safe there?”
“Probably not. But that’s where the answers are. That’s where we’ll find the Sun King.”
“Still not telling me everything, Julien . . .”
I headed forward into the maze again, taking lefts and rights without even thinking about it. Julien strode along beside me, frowning with deep concentration. Thinking about whatever it was that he wasn’t ready to tell me yet. I made myself stick to a steady pace. Whatever was after us might attack if it thought we were fleeing. I could hear movement in the adjoining rows, soft, padding footsteps, drawing nearer, then falling away as I constantly changed direction. And there was a feeling on the air, on the clear, quiet air; of something powerful and very patient, following a ritual as old as Time itself. The maze wasn’t simply a maze. It was a testing ground, a proving ground . . . Only the pure of intent will reach Green Henge . . . I stopped when I saw the first body. It was human once, but that was a long time ago. It hung suspended, half-in and half-out of the hedge wall. So withered and desiccated, every drop of moisture sucked out of it, that I couldn’t even tell whether I was looking at a man or a woman. No clothing, no possessions, nothing to identify the body. One mummified hand thrust out of the dark greenery as though begging for help that never came. The face was a dry mask: no eyes, lips drawn all the way back from the dusty teeth. Thorns from the hedge were thrust deep into the body from all sides, holding it in place.
“There’s nothing we can do,” Julien said quietly.
“They left him here,” I said slowly. “The Sisters. The Very Righteous Sisters . . . They had to know he was here, but they left his body in the hedge. As punishment, or an example, or a warning . . . Because if he wasn’t worthy, he wasn’t worth bothering about. It isn’t right!”
“She,” said Julien.