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The entrance to the grotto was hidden behind a cask in a wine cellar. Once Andre opened the door at the top of the path he had to figure out how to unlatch the hooks holding the cask in place before he could roll it to one side and get into the building proper. Before he crossed the threshold he stopped to fold up his new hat and shove it into his bundle of costumes. He considered changing clothes but decided against it.

It was doubtful there were permanent acolytes of the Heralds on station in the citadel, assuming that was where he was, but the Heralds of Scars did visit most military camps semiregularly, at least in tales. Hopefully the citadel worked the same. So Andre stayed in costume and closed the entrance to the grotto behind him, latching the cask back into place and taking in his surroundings.

The wine cellar was an unremarkable chamber of worked stone, likely molded out of the rock by someone with the stonetender’s gift. The finishing was too smooth for anything else. He did wonder why the path had been so rough in the cellar by comparison, though perhaps the builders hadn’t wanted to pay the stonetender for the extra work. The room was cool and dry. One side of it was lined with casks of wine, the opposite side with racks of bottles. That gave Andre an idea.

The Maestro was always telling him to think ahead, write a script or at least consider his words before he said them. Andre had never taken that seriously because he always struggled with lines. Props, on the other hand, were something he knew a lot about. There were four Kings at the Corners of Eternity and each had an order of Heralds desperate to gain the attention of their chosen monarch via devotion and ritual. Andre knew very little about how they went about it but he did know one thing.

The Heralds of the King of Scars liked to use wine in their rituals.

He wasn’t sure if there was a difference in what kind of wine was used so he grabbed a smaller bottle off a nearby rack and tucked it under one arm. Then he looked around for the exit. There was a small set of stairs leading up the far wall and that seemed like as good a place as any to start. Andre put one foot on the bottom step and froze, startled to hear a sudden scrambling sound coming from under the wooden slats. 

There was a surprised squeak, more sounds of scrabbling paws, then a ghastly snapping sound. After that things were quiet. Andre tried to peer through a gap in the stairs but all he really caught was a glimpse of a yellow eye staring back at him. 

“Enjoy your rat,” he muttered to the citadel’s cat, then continued on his way.

Andre hesitated at the door at the top of the stairs, breathing deeply and doing what he always saw the Maestro do before he went on stage. He ran his hands over his costume, checked his props and muttered his line under his breath. He could do this.

He pulled the door open and stepped out into a small courtyard. He’d emerged from under one of the citadel’s outer walls and his ears told him the ocean was not far beyond it. A large stone tower rose up in front of him, the fortress’s main keep. There was a door into the tower a dozen feet away but Andre also had the option of following the inner wall through an archway into a place with bushes. 

The day was growing late and Andre suspected there would be fewer people in an open garden or courtyard now that the sun was behind the fortress walls. Besides, he was well and truly sick of being indoors for the moment. It was as good a place to start looking for Bella and Ragi as anything.

The place proved to be a hedge maze. At first Andre thought he was just on a path lined with bushes, it wasn’t until he reached a third junction in rapid succession that he realized it was a labyrinth. His sense of direction wasn’t good but Antonio had once mentioned always following the right hand wall would get him through any maze. He instantly started following that advice. Four or five minutes later he rounded a corner and found himself in a clearing about ten feet across.

There was a bench there with a boy about his age seated on it, whittling the end of a staff with a small knife. They stared blankly at each other for a second, then the boy said, “Good omens, Herald. What brings you to Citadel Fionni?”

Still off kilter, Andre held up his bottle and blurted out, “Wine. The Harbinger needed wine. The Captain…” He hesitated, brain working frantically to recall the right name. “Captain Phillipe sent me to fetch some and told me to meet them back at the prison cells?”

The boy gave him a skeptical look. “Why would the captain want a Harbinger to go to the prison cells? We’re not planning to execute anyone.”

That was a question that was tough to answer, since Andre didn’t know much about the captain and Phillipe hadn’t sent for a Herald regardless. So Andre just shrugged and said, “How should I know? Harbingers don’t usually feel a need to explain things to me.”

“And the Captain didn’t say anything to you, either? I’m shocked.” His wry grin suggested he was much the opposite. “The cells are in the tower, though, not under the Citadel walls. You should have gone back in there.”

“Sorry,” Ande said, looking over his shoulder at the tower looming overhead. “I’ve never been here before. To the city, much less the citadel.” 

“Don’t worry about it.” He blew a few flakes of wood off of his staff and got to his feet, tucking his knife into a sheath on his belt. “I’m Massimo Echoes, by the way. And you?”

“Ragi.” Andre blurted the name out before he could think better of it. He hadn’t bothered to come up with a fake name for himself and in a panic he didn’t give his own, though he instantly regretted it. “Ragi Conjuror.”

“I’ll take you out and get you to the tower, Ragi.” Massimo started towards one of the clearing’s other exits. “It’s faster this way.”

Andre hurried after him, relaxing enough to gawk a little more. “Why is this place here? All the mazes in stories are for trapping things but this place looks more decorative than anything else.”

“They tell me that’s what it’s for.” Massimo pointed up towards the top of the tower. “Back when the Prince of Torrence built this place it was a plain old fort but once they started digging canals so the ships could get in and out of the Gulf in safety things changed. The city’s important now. There’s no formal lord of Fionni, yet, but the current Magistrate has ambitions and they say he’s trying to turn Citadel Fionni into a proper castle.”

“Well this is not exactly what I’d picture in a proper castle.” Andre paused to stare at another clearing down a path to his right. A large statue of a man with a golden half circle around the top of his head stood there, one hand raised to point to the east. “Is that…?”

Massimo followed his line of sight. “The King of Dawn, yeah. The other three are around here, too, if you’re interested in seeing yours.”

“No, I think I’d rather not.”

“The Magistrate had Heralds come in and consecrate them, if it makes you feel any better.”

“They’re death, you know,” Andre murmured. “I understand that you have to give your journey into Eternity some thought before it comes. But inviting it in and dwelling on it constantly doesn’t seem healthy.”

“Surprising words from someone in your line of work.” Massimo looked him over then glanced away, uncomfortable. “Then again, maybe not. Were you Returned?”

He’d been caught scratching again. Frustrated, Andre yanked his hand away from the old scar on his neck and shoved it under his arm, wrapping the wine bottle there in a death grip to keep his hand from wandering. “I don’t remember. It happened when I was very young.”

“What -”

“Burned.” He bit the word out with more force than he’d intended. “I got burned, that’s all.”

“Oh.” Massimo cleared his throat and pointed down the path to the left. “We can detour that way. Otherwise we’ll go through the clearing with the Dreams statue.”

“Lead on.” Andre followed the other boy in silence for a few minutes, trying to keep track of the many twists and turns in the maze. It was harder than he anticipated. In the growing dusk the place was beginning to feel alien, all narrow paths and strange rustling noises as unseen animals moved through the brush. The hedges were mostly broad leafed bushes of an unremarkable type. Every so often a rose, hawthorne or similar flowering bush showed up at a corner and Andre eventually realized Massimo was using them to navigate somehow. There must have been a trick to it. Unfortunately, Andre was so turned around by that point he had no hope of figuring it out for himself.

So he turned his scrutiny to his companion. Massimo was pretty nondescript, roughly the same height as Andre was, with a medium build and an average face. The only remarkable things about him were his nose, which was a bit lumpy, and his hair, which fell to just above his shoulders and hung straight as a pin. He wore a gray tunic with yellow slashes held in with a belt of woven thongs. He didn’t have any tools on him beyond his knife and staff nor was he wearing heraldry or an insignia.

So, after following him for another few minutes, Andre asked, “How is it you were out here so late in the day, Massimo?”

“My father tends the gardens for the Magistrate,” Massimo replied. “I’ve been his apprentice the past two years, though I don’t know if the Magistrate plans to add enough greenery for two full time groundskeepers. I may have to leave here once it’s time to begin a journeyman’s work.”

“Do you -” A strange shadow passed over the two of them and Andre spun, eyes going up to the top of the hedge. The top edge of the fortress’ outer walls was barely visible over the bushes. Other than a pennant with the emblem of Fionni and Torrence on it there wasn’t anything to see on the walls.

“Ragi.”

Andre took a step to the left, standing on tiptoes to try and see over the top of the maze.

“Ragi.” Massimo grabbed him by the arm and gently tugged him down the path. “It’s getting late. We should get inside.”

On the one hand, he wanted to figure out what had just passed by on the walls. There was a good chance it was the real Ragi and Bella. On the other hand, if it was those two they probably weren’t going to make themselves known while Massimo was around. “Of course. Lead the way.”

In another minute or so they were out of the labyrinth and heading for the tower. Andre stole a few furtive glances back, hoping to catch sight of either of his companions in the gathering shadows filling the maze. Sadly, by the time Massimo was ushering him into the citadel proper, neither one had appeared.