The more times I attempt this, the more energy and time I’m wasting, neither of which I can afford. Maybe I should try something else… I shake my head hard. No. This is the best option. I’ve never let a little thing like failing once get in the way of my goals, and I’m not about to start now.
I retrace my steps back down the path and inhale slowly. I’ll make it this time. I have to. My fingers hit the top of the wall and I concentrate on firming them up so I don’t fall back to the ground. It hurts. Gods, it hurts. But I muscle past the pain and pull myself up until I can loop my leg over the top of the wall and drag my body the rest of the way up. At the top, it’s about what I expected. Six inches. Plenty of space. If not for the differing wall heights, I wouldn’t even bother taking off my shoes. As it is, it will be slow going, but I have the advantage of being able to see my path clearer than the other champions.
Around me, the sudden roar of the crowd feels like an almost physical thing pressing against my skin. It’s hard to push it away, to not let it affect me. I force myself to take a moment and survey the maze. It’s a twisty motherfucker, the pathways winding back and forth without any apparent rhyme or reason. I turn carefully and there it is.
The center.
I can follow the path with the foresight of seeing the way through…or I can take a shortcut.
The maze paths are about five feet apart. Not an insignificant distance but not so far that I can’t easily jump it. The center is right there. Maybe fifty feet away. I can get there, get the key, and take the same path back to the perimeter to find the door. The walls might be different heights, but it looks like if I can get up to the higher section next to me, I have a clear shot to the center.
Against these competitors, I can’t afford to be cautious.
More, I’m better suited than anyone to accomplish this with my gymnastics background. Five feet is nothing to cross, and the six-inch top of the walls might as well be flat ground. I can do this.
The screens shift above me and I take three seconds to watch one of the other champions try to run up the wall. He’s quite a bit taller than me and manages to haul himself up, but when he tries to get his leg over, something goes wrong. I wince as he falls back to the ground with a dull thud I can almost feel, even if I can’t hear it over the roar of the crowd. “Maybe I’m the only one who can do this,” I murmur.
There’s no more time to waste. I leap to the next wall and then use my momentum to leap to the third. Again and again, flying over the top of the maze. I vaguely register that many of the screens are showing me now, which means I have to hurry. Even if no one else can successfully scale the walls and use them the way I am—which is a big if—they will all know my location. I might as well have painted a target on my back.
The center of the maze isn’t particularly large, maybe a twelve-by-twelve space. In the center is a steel beam crafted to look like a tree with five branches sticking out. On each dangles a skeleton key.
The center of the maze also contains another champion. Theseus.
He hasn’t seen me yet, but he will as soon as he turns around. I don’t need to take him out. I just need him to stay down long enough for me to get a key and flee. I can climb another wall further into the maze once I’m alone. I don’t stop to think of all the ways this could go wrong. I throw myself at him, using my momentum and a healthy dose of gravity to drive him into the ground before he can reach the tree.
The impact jars me down to my bones. He’s a big guy, but jumping down ten feet hardly makes for a soft landing. Can’t stop. Doesn’t matter how much it hurts. Keep going. I shove off his back and stagger to my feet. The tree is only a few feet away, but I barely make it a step before he grabs my ankle and yanks me down.
This time, when I hit the ground, it knocks the breath from my lungs. I don’t let that stop me, though. Not with Theseus crawling up my body. If he pins me, he might actually kill me. He’ll definitely incapacitate me to ensure I don’t pass this trial.