I stand outside the maze. The day is filled with marvelous sights and sounds. Thundering hooves. Shrieks and groans. Now and again, a splatter of blood is seen spraying up above the greenery, raining down on whoever is below. Meryt... I wonder. She has taken up this challenge. A fearless warrior. She is in there!

Placing my silken wrap down on the ground, I sit amongst the crowd of onlookers, stroking my pet Yngwie, who silently slithers somewhere secluded in my satchel.

" Yngwie, Meryt and Kem have been in there for such a long time. They say the obstacles are many; the dangers extreme.. "

* another guttural wail echoes out from deep within the maze, followed by a series of thuds *

I simply must know what is happening in there, but dare not venture inside. Spying a nearby tree, I rise to my feet, tie the red scarf tightly about my waist, hike up my amira hijab, and commence to climbing.

Through the shower of blood, I can barely make out what is happening. His senses piqued, Yngwie begins to wildly twitch. Clutching the sack tightly agaist my breast, I make a sorry attempt to calm him, but he keeps poking his great gray head out from a tiny opening in the drawstring enclosure.

" Yngwie, you MUST calm down. I don't want to fall! "

Just then, I spot her.. Meryt! Rounding the nearest turn, her black stallion snorts and puffs, pulling Meryt's chariot behind him. Then, from nowhere, there emerges a massive brown bear.

" O by the grace of Wadjet! Green Lady, protect our champion! "

* DRIP ~ SLICK ~ STICK ~ RRRRRRRIP*

" Holy Shesmu! She has pelted the beast with my hot Ha~la~wa, then depilated him as he tried to eat it!"

The bald bear lay, swollen-bellied and pink-skinned, just licking his luscious honey pot in pure pleasure.

"GO MERYT! " I cry out in relief, as she swiftly charges past, only to vanish once more, somewhere within the labyrinth.