"Wait― please― don’t do this!" Drusilla cried out, but it was too late. Two of the guards Prince Nathaniel claimed would be patrolling the area immediately swooped in front of Drusilla, as though they were waiting for something like this to happen.
"Take her away. Quickly," Atticus said, waving a nonchalant hand, "I’m staying."
The guards merely nodded and grabbed Drusilla’s arms.
"No! Don’t! I want to stay! Ahhhhh!"
The guards didn’t care for her protests; they immediately vaulted her into the air. Atticus was mildly impressed at their speed and strength. Prince Nathaniel did care enough about his fellow guests to assign competent guards after all!
Either that, or he purposely got individuals that moved so quickly so that the contestants wouldn’t have time to second-guess their decisions or change their minds. Atticus would put his money on that.
Drusilla’s scream of fear gradually grew fainter. He kept on watching until they finally disappeared in the air. Atticus heaved a sigh of relief; the annoyance was finally out of the maze for good!
When he reunited with Daphne, he was going to have a talk with her about saving ungrateful menaces.
***
Meanwhile, Daphne was scolding herself for not listening to Atticus’s words. In her arms, was one ungrateful menace. The baby griffin had looked so pathetic when he was huddled against the wall, crying for help, but now that it received aid, it behaved like an entitled squalling infant, albeit one with a taste for human flesh and wasn’t above using its sharp beak and talons on Daphne’s arms.
"Stop that!" Daphne scolded, holding the baby griffin at arm’s length to protect her tender flesh. She shushed it, trying not to let go even as she felt a talon rake her skin. "Stop making noise! You’ll attract monsters!"
She looked around frantically. Her heart sank as she realized that not only was she separated from Atticus, she had arrived at a part of the maze she had no recollection of. Daphne took a few deep breaths, trying to calm herself down.
"It’s fine... it’s fine..." Daphne repeated to herself like a mantra. She simply had to avoid all the dangerous creatures living in the maze. If she met any she couldn’t outrun, she would simply use the clear quartz and get out of the maze.
Daphne bit her lip, mentally praying to any god out there that she wouldn’t meet anything more dangerous than an earthworm. She didn’t want to break the clear quartz and leave the contest, not when Atticus had entrusted her with his bag of kills. If she left, no matter what else Atticus slayed, they wouldn’t be counted.
She couldn’t ruin his chances. She had to find him first.
The baby griffin squawked as it found itself unceremoniously squashed between two hands. It tried to flail around to escape, but Daphne held it too firmly.
"Sorry," Daphne whispered, relaxing her hold minutely. She looked into its large golden eyes. "But you have to keep quiet. If you attract a monster, I’ll throw you at them as a distraction. They’ll eat you. Understand?"
The baby griffin let out the tiniest squeak, ruffling its feathers anxiously. Good. Daphne didn’t know how intelligent griffins were, but at least this baby had felt the danger in the air and promptly stopped screaming to the heavens. At least it still had some form of survival instinct to get the gist of what Daphne had just said.
Daphne began walking around the maze, warily looking over her shoulder every few seconds.
Then, she heard a howl echo in the surrounding area. The griffin began to cry again in fear, loud screeching filling the air.
"Shush! I’m also scared, but you don’t see me crying!" Daphne scolded as she started to run in the opposite direction of the howling, tucking the griffin in her arms like she was a farmhand transporting a chicken.
The howls seemed to grow louder, and when Daphne turned around, she screamed at the sight of several dark blue foxes leaping into the air, right at her!
She ran like the wind, her feet flying across the grounds. Yet the foxes seemed content on merely biting at her heels, as though they knew Daphne wouldn’t be able to outrun them eventually.
Daphne’s heart raced, her eyes frantically darting around to look for a safe place to hide.
"There!" Her eyes lit up when they spotted a sign of hope.
Daphne spotted a tree large enough for her to squeeze through the tiny crack in its trunk. She only needed to climb a short distance up. She darted straight towards it, accidentally kicking some of the foxes who were in the way. They howled in anger and began to bite her legs.
Daphne winced as she felt sharp teeth dig into her calves, but fear overrode her pain. She flung the baby griffin through the gap before she clambered up clumsily and squeezed herself through the narrow space.
"Let go!"
One of the foxes was particularly stubborn, so Daphne had to reach back and grab it by the scruff of its neck, flinging it away before sequestering herself within the tree trunk for good.
Miraculously, it was hollow inside, allowing her a chance to catch her breath as she peeped outside. Meanwhile, the baby griffin let out several outraged squawks, pecking at her feet, as though protesting its rough treatment.
"Keep complaining and I’ll throw you outside," Daphne warned. "Do you want to be fox food?"
The foxes began to howl and the baby griffin wisely kept silent. Daphne checked her legs. Thankfully, the pants were sturdy enough that the bite had not drawn blood, but it did rip away some of the fabric. Small mercies.
The foxes continued to circle the tree, determined to wait Daphne out.
Daphne frowned. If she stayed in this tree trunk, there was a chance that she would be squashed inside it if the walls shifted. But she could not leave either, not when there was a skulk of foxes waiting to feast on her, and she only had a dagger on hand.
There was no way she could fight her way out of this. Instead, Daphne took the chance to rest, trying to think of a plan. As the minutes ticked by, Daphne grew no closer to a solution. After fifteen minutes, Daphne was contemplating breaking her clear quartz or beating the foxes on the head with the baby griffin as a weapon, when she finally heard something new.
It was the sound of flying arrows! Daphne quickly peered through the gap, trying to see what was happening.
The foxes were scattering! She saw the arrows hit their mark, felling their comrades. Did Atticus find her already?
"Uncle, I told you I had it," a familiar voice grumbled. "I’ll be perfectly fine on my own. I was the one that tracked these foxes after all."
"And you managed to shoot these foxes so easily because they were already distracted by something in the tree. What if it’s a creature more dangerous than them?" A man nagged. "If something happened to you, how would I explain things to your aunt?"
Daphne’s eyes widened as she saw the speakers stroll into view, with one party quickly collecting the fallen foxes.
It was Cordelia and King Calarian!