Silver Hooves in the Darkness

Chapter Seventeen

A gallop to Dome Erba, no matter the unusual circumstances that had set her on her newest Carry, filled her with joy. Paola took a running leap through the portal at Dome Biblia's edge. The exertion swiftly initiated the change to her form in the darkness of the Maze, and she flew on four legs once more.

Down the first Run, a crossover to another, and finally a long, straight, exhilarating stretch, the pulsing signals from her gem guided her as they were meant to do.

After some easy running, the gem suddenly urged her to take five quick turns. As she came out of the last turn, the guiding signals completely stopped.

The abrupt cessation made Paola halt too quickly. As she transformed, her momentum caused her to fall forward and roll. Alone in the blackness, her gem pulsed wildly with odd sparkling colors that it had never shown before until it went to a barely luminescent green-grey. The equina heard only the sounds of her heartbeats, her labored breathing and the workings of the Maze.

She slowly shook off her shock and rose. A sharp pain stabbed her right side, and she clutched the spot where she had landed hard. She flexed her hands and walked a few steps to test her feet, grateful that her torso had taken the brunt of her fall, and not her limbs.

She stumbled down her Run hoping that her gem would once again blaze. But it had turned a darker shade, more grey than green.

Portals continued to pop into and out of existence, but no guidance came from her gem. With terror, Paola realized that the intimate navigator had lost the ability to guide her through the Maze. She tapped its hard surface in the hope that it would at least flash a pink Lost signal at a frequency so high that she could not hear the tone that would summon a Patroller.

But as the moments passed, nothing happened. She sat down on the floor of the Maze, pulling close to herself, and waited in misery, uncertain of what would happen next.

Down the Run she currently occupied, she could occasionally hear the passing of another equine, and at those times, she shouted down into the darkness, her calls punctuated with the desperate tinkling of her bracelets and anklets. But she knew that her chances of being heard were slim. In the fleeting moments, all she could see in her mind was the face of Petronella grinning in wicked triumph. Yet the person who had keyed her Carry had been Annunciata. She refused to believe that the little librarian had betrayed her. Clearly, someone had tinkered with the diamond ring, which somehow had effected her gem during their exchange of information.

In her waiting, her fatigue grew, fear draining whatever sustenance the gem had left in its unresponsive state. Paola rolled onto her left side and began to weep. She would not know the comfort of being rescued by her brethren who searched the Maze for those who were lost. Without the signal, no Patroller would find her. Instead, the Death Bringer would come. She closed her eyes and prayed for the oblivion of a dreamless sleep and a swift and painless ending.