I never thought I'd end up having coffee with a crazy girl pointing a bow at me. I guess there's always a first time for everything. To be honest, we'd been very nervous because of the condition we'd left the bakery in. Broken display cases everywhere, overturned wooden shelves, biscuit ashes everywhere, and perhaps most chillingly, an oven that seemed to roar on its own.
I wondered how the residents would react to the destruction of their favorite bakery. Perhaps they would throw rocks at us, or perhaps they would be kind enough to burn us at the stake, as if we were a simple piece of bread. Perhaps the police would even come, though I wasn't so sure about this statement. What I was sure of was that we had to leave the place as quickly as possible before anyone discovered the damage, and judging by the prying eyes cast by passersby, the place would soon be surrounded by the authorities.
My worries faded when Clare Vess arrived, shooting a bow. She had informed us that she was a Seeker and that she was looking for the Chalice. Now, we were sitting in a café on the other side of town, glancing at each other as Clare watched impassively. It took a lot of convincing to convince them to put down their weapons, but I finally managed to get everyone to put aside their differences and join us at a table.
The name of the café was "The Cozy Corner," and it was a few blocks away from the bakery. When we walked in, the bell on the door rang cheerfully, and we were greeted by the owner, Cassandra.
"Good morning, guys," she said in a cheerful voice. "You're foreigners, right? Maybe from England?"
"June and I are from England," I said. "Ivy and Rex are American. She…" I pointed at Clare. "I don't know, maybe French?."
Clare looked at me contemptuously but didn't say anything. The owner just nodded and went to make us some cups of coffee. We took a seat in one of the corners of the café, with a view through the large windows.
"So," Rex asked Ivy, "how do you know her?"
"She was a classmate of mine for quite a while," Ivy said. "Then something happened, and I never saw her again."
"I think you know exactly what happened, Ivy Whitemore." Clare murmured, "After all, you knew about the maze before you came in here, right?"
"WHAT—?"
"Well…" Ivy seemed nervous. "Not exactly, I just… read something."
"What exactly do you read?" Rex raised an eyebrow. "You're saying that now?! You had the answers this whole time and kept them locked up?"
"Really?" I chimed in. "What do you read?"
Ivy's eyes flashed with a strange nervousness. "Because someone in my family has been here before."
The entire café seemed to go cold all at once. "What?" I blurted out. "Your family signed a contract, too?"
She didn't reply, just stared out the window again, as if the orange tree in front of the antique shop held all the answers we didn't.
"Like, someone in your family," Rex blurted out, his tone louder than usual. "And you just thought you'd keep that little detail to yourself until we were cornered in a cafe?"
"Hey," June interrupted. "Hey! We can't afford to fight. If Ivy knows more, that's an asset. Is it better for us, right??"
Ivy finally looked up. "My grandfather disappeared here. Over twenty years ago. No one knew how or why, he just left a journal with sketchy notes about the Labyrinth. I… I found those notes months ago."
My breath caught in my throat. "So… are you telling me that you were half-prepared for this the whole time and didn't say anything because…?"
"Because I didn't think it was real," Ivy interrupted, rueful. "Not until Mr. Garland... and the monsters in the Labyrinth"
"Fine," I said. "We have other matters to attend to now, but we'll talk about this later, okay?" Everyone glared at Ivy, and she just nodded. We turned to Clare, who was still looking at us with an amused expression.
"The story was quite entertaining," she said. "Now, hand me the map, and I'll help you out of the maze. Hand me the map, and I'll reward you."
"What kind of reward?" Rex played with the possibility, but didn't want to step back either. "What could you offer us that would be worth losing our only safe ticket?"
"In the first place," Mrs. Vess, "The map is not a safe ticket; it is a death sentence. You're holding a piece of paper that half the world is hunting for. You have no idea what you've stumbled into"
"Yeah… sure," I replied.
"What do you want? Money? I heard that the chamber where the chalice is located has mountains and mountains of gold; this could be all yours. Imagine all the amazing things you could do with all that wealth."
Ivy seemed offended. "We're not here for the money or the gold"
"In that case," the chocolate-haired girl continued, "You want information? I've got some stuff that may interest you."
We looked at each other. Nothing Clare could say could convince us to hand over the map, and this was heading for a direct confrontation. Even if it was 1 vs. 4, Clare was clearly more experienced. I didn't like the odds of that fight.
"I'll cut to the chase. You don't understand what you have there. That map isn't a prize, it's a judgment. What you're hunting in Bavaria isn't treasure, it's a trap. And believe me... others are already on the way."
"Who?" Rex asked aggressively. "Your allies?"
Of all the reactions I expected from the seeker, laughter wasn't on the list. "I have no allies, at least not in this place."
"If you really knew something we didn't, you would have said it instead of threatening with a bow. What are you supposed to be hiding from us?" Ivy asked, arms crossed.
Clare's brown eyes focused on Ivy's blue ones. "You know what he talked about. Tell us what the diary said…"
"She's right," she murmured. We all looked at her in surprise. "There's something I didn't tell you before... about my grandfather's diary."
She took out the small black notebook and opened it carefully, flipping through old pages until she stopped at a fragment with an image of a golden chalice as a symbol.
The Chalice of Frost,
that golden cup that many call the symbol of greed...
and at the same time of hope.
They say that if you manage to free it from its owner,
It grants a simple wish.
But the secret is this: the Chalice is not gold or silver.
It is a key disguised as a cup.
Suddenly, the silence of the café was interrupted by a loud bang that echoed throughout the place, causing several coffee cups to fall to the floor and shatter.
As soon as we turned around, we saw the small street in front of the café surrounded by black SEK trucks, and dozens of armed men wearing black vests surrounding the café. A group was already at the door.
"Miltenburg Security Department," a voice shouted, "we have an arrest warrant for Rex Greenworn, Ivy Whitemore, Miles Stuttgart, and June Merrily."
"Let's get out of here," Ivy muttered wildly.
"What have they done now?!" Clare Vess exclaimed, jumping out of her seat with a blink. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the other diners escaping through the back door, among them the owner, Cassandra.
"This way," Cassandra exclaimed. "Everyone out of my coffee shop."
I looked at Clare. "A long story, there's no time to explain. We have to get out of here, now!"
At that moment, the wooden door exploded into a thousand pieces, its fragments flying like deadly projectiles throughout the cafeteria, piercing furniture, cups, and people.
The men entered, their black vests glinting in the golden sun's rays. As soon as one saw us, one of them yelled, "Commander, them!" and they began firing their rifles. The bullets left their cartridges and flew through the once beautiful place.
"Run, here!" Rex yelled, pointing to a hole in the wall in front. The exchange of orders between the police officers began to increase in volume and get closer and closer. I had no doubt that the whole cafeteria would be on fire in the next few minutes. We'd better get out of here.
We had a few seconds before the soldiers caught up with us, so we didn't lose a second. First, Ivy came, then Rex, then Clare, June, and I, as always, I was the last to leave.
"Stop there, criminals," an officer shouted, raising his rifle.
"We won't hurt you if you surrender peacefully," the second offered. I didn't wait a single moment and sprang out from under an armchair; the hole in the wall was only a few feet away.
"Hurry up, Miles," I heard Ivy shout from the other side of the wall, while a deep voice behind me yelled, "There he is, kill him!" What followed was a hail of bullets that blew the wall into the air. When I heard the BAM of the bullets, I dove through the hole and barely managed to dodge two bullets that grazed my shoulder. I landed on the other side, in the small, European-style street.
"Come on, get up," Rex shouted. "There's no time to waste."
The five of us ran down the narrow street, turning into alleys a few times while the sound of footsteps and gunfire continued to echo behind us. The usually lively streets of Miltenburg were empty. No, the best word to describe them was chaotic: people running everywhere, taking refuge in nearby stores, and searching for their loved ones amid the chaos.
This couldn't have been a huge problem, as it was a small town. Still, the chaos that ensued was something I'd never seen before, not even in the demonstrations I'd seen on television.
We stopped in a small alley, hiding behind an old stone column. We were exhausted and out of breath, and we couldn't run any further. At that moment, two officers entered the alley.
"Ich dachte, ich hätte etwas gehört." The man who entered had a deep accent. Translated to English, it would be something like: "I thought I heard something,"
"I didn't hear anything," replied the second soldier. "It must have been a stray cat. You're too paranoid, Oliver."
"Anyway," said Officer Oliver, "we should inspect. You know the commander wants to capture those kids at all costs. We can't let them leave through the city."
They advanced across the rocky pavement, their boots echoing in the bustle of the small German town. They began to get closer and closer to our position, and all we could do was squeeze our eyes shut and hope they didn't see us.
"Do you really think they're in this alley?" asked the other officer, and at Oliver's shrug, added, "Do you even know why the commander wants these kids so much?"
"I received the same information you did, Liam," Oliver replied. "We shouldn't question the chief's orders. He must have a reason for all this."
"Yes," Officer Liam agreed, stopping three steps in front of the column. "We'd better finish the search here and go get some donuts at Mrs. Rosmerta's."
Officer Oliver nodded, and the two of them, to my relief, turned and started walking toward the exit. "Sounds great to me. Anyway, I'm sure the intruders won't get very far, and someone else will catch them."
With that, the two officers left the alley and headed, most likely, toward the donut shop. Rex released the breath he'd been holding, Ivy stared at the end of the alley with wide eyes, and June looked the same as always. Clare began to put away her bow, which was already knocked with an arrow. I hadn't realized she'd taken it out.
At that moment, we heard a metallic roar coming from the alley exit, and I immediately pulled out the dagger I had in my pocket. We all had one thought: A monster was just around the corner. We were wrong: It was just a purple double-decker bus with a panel hanging from it.
"This is our lottery ticket," Ivy murmured.
"That's right," Clare Vess said. "Our transport to the chalice."
TOUR GUIDE
Supervised tour of Weistenkein Castle
For only 20 euros
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