Page 114 of A Light So Blinding
“I’m aware. We’ve got a problem.”
“Which is?”
“The king himself,” Rabbit growled. “He’s here, and he’s got your woman.”
Bjorn’s entire body went cold. What did he mean the king had Astrid? No, she was supposed to be tucked away somewhere safe by now. Clearly, she had some reason to come into the labyrinth itself, but she should have left by now. Shouldn’t she?
Breathing hard, he stalked toward Rabbit and headed down the hall his friend was in. “Where is she?”
“At the front entrance with the rest of the women. The king isn’t letting any of them leave.”
“She tried to go out the front?” he swore. “Why would she do that?”
“Probably because she got it in her head to save all the other women who were trapped in here. Brave but not entirely smart.” Rabbit shook his head, darting ahead of him and leading the way. His friend had always had a better hold over the patterns of this labyrinth. Sometimes he’d thought if Rabbit could have just gotten out of his cell, then he would have been able to go anywhere.
He should apologize for leaving without Rabbit. His old friend didn’t deserve to be left behind. None of them did. They were all good men and women who had been trapped here for horrible reasons, and he should have released them all when he’d been freed.
He should have fought to come back here, but Bjorn had been such a coward it had been hard to return. He hadn’t wanted to come back to the labyrinth, even though he’d known they all needed him.
“Rabbit,” he said as they stalked through the halls. “I should have taken you with me.”
“There wasn’t time.”
“No, but I still should have tried.”
“You couldn’t have. If you had taken me with you, then you would have been caught. Then we all would have been stuck here forever, or one of us would have died by now. You did what you had to do.” He peered around a corridor and then headed down it. “Focus on what you’re going to do to save her.”
“Rabbit. Can you stop for a second?”
“We don’t have time for this!” Rabbit’s shout echoed through the halls, startling Bjorn into silence as the yellow troll went on a rant. “You started all of this, Bjorn. You helped the others escape. You got out yourself. No one is mad at you for doing so. It’s a good thing you were able to get out of here and a very good thing that you came back. There is nothing you need to apologize for. We all know where we are, what happened, and how hard it is to get out. So just be thankful you were one of the few who managed.”
They were still charging through the halls, with nothing to bother them other than the trail of blood that made the stone floor slick. “I didn’t want to come back. Not for you. Not for anyone. I feel guilty about that, my old friend.”
“None of us would have blamed you for leaving us here. You got out, and your life started again. That’s the best thing that could have happened. If you hadn’t come back at all, I would have gone on assuming that you just... lived, Bjorn. That’s all any of us want. Just to live and allow ourselves to live while forgetting this whole place ever existed.” Rabbit kicked a wall as they headed out and then paused. “We’re getting close. What’s your plan?”
“Kill them all.” He stalked forward, ready to do exactly that until Rabbit’s hand landed flat on his chest. He froze, looking down at his much smaller friend. “What?”
“You can’t go into it like that. The king brought his best, and you are not up to the same standard. Bull, you have fought a lot of different people and creatures, but you haven’t fought the king’s best with far more of them at his beck and call than we have.”
“What would you suggest then? Try to bargain with the man who trapped us all?”
“No, of course not. I would suggest that you think about this plan before you hurt yourself.”
There was nothing to think about. He could barge into all of them. It didn’t matter if they injured him or hurt him. He would fight as no one else had ever fought before because Astrid was there.
If he heard her scream, heard her call out to him for even a moment, it would all be over. Bjorn wouldn’t be able to control himself, not in the slightest.
“Rabbit,” he snarled. “You only have a few seconds to convince me of another plan.”
“She’s your troll wife, isn’t she?”
“Yes.”
“Then use her magic.”
He couldn’t use her magic. They amplified each other’s magic. That was all. “She has the amplification. All I could ever do was talk to animals, Rabbit. That’s it. I’m not good with magic anyway. It all gets jumbled up in my head.”
“If she can do it, so can you, old friend. What I need you to do is use whatever that is.” Rabbit pointed across the hall to another that split off from the main area. He could see there were other trolls there.
