"Touch the spindle… touch it, I say…"
The mesmerising voice urged Briar Rose onward. The spinning wheel in front of her looked harmless enough, except for the shining, sharp spindle. It almost looked alive, like it had secrets to tell her if she only touched it. The young princess reached out her hand. The spindle, every bit as sharp as it looked, pierced her skin and tasted her blood. A single drop, red as the rose, seeped out of her finger.
And then the green glow that filled the room popped like soap bubble.
The dark fairy who had been watching with evil glee, collapsed in a heap on the floor, her black and purple robes pooling around her like dark water. Briar Rose stuck her bleeding finger into her mouth and sucked at it as she turned around and stared at the seemingly lifeless creature on the floor. At that very moment the three good fairies - the women she had believed to be her aunts - rushed inside and gathered around her in a protective way.
"What happened?" Rose asked, still slightly dazed from the afterglow of the magic she had been enveloped in.
"My spell worked! I put her to sleep!" Merryweather said triumphantly. "Now it is up to the King to decide what to do with her, but I suspect she'll be burned at the stake. It's only a shame she won't wake up to feel the pain of her punishment before she dies."
Briar Rose, whose heart's kindness was rivalled only by Fauna's, began to weep, silent tears that went unnoticed by her vengeful fairy companions, and gently kneeled before the evil fairy. She reached out a trembling hand and touched the green-tinted skin tenderly. It was as smooth as silk.
"No, no, no, get away from that vile old thing, dear," Flora called out in a scandalised voice. Instead of obeying - Rose was tired of obeying - she leaned in closer and inhaled the fairy's scent. From a distance, it was easy to imagine that Maleficent smelled of mould, dust and decay, but in reality, she smelled of pine, fire smoke, and a sweet, flowery scent that Rose finally recognised as twinflower. The wicked fairy's scent was that of forest and freedom, two things Rose loved and craved. She instinctively wanted to curl up next to the sleeping fairy, bury her face in her robes, and fall asleep too. That would be a far better ending than becoming a princess, as far as Rose was concerned.
Merryweather and Flora dragged her up on her feet and almost tossed her away from the wicked fairy. Rose stumbled into Fauna's arms, and began to cry out loud.
"Don't let them kill her," she pleaded against Fauna's shoulder. "Please. We would be no better than her if we did."
"That decision is not for me to make, dear," Fauna mumbled, clearly distraught.
"What if I forgive her?" Rose said defiantly. "If I was supposed to be her victim, and I forgive her, then nobody else should have a say."
"Rosie darling, she nearly ruined the entire kingdom. We are all her victims. She did a terrible thing and she must be punished for it…" Fauna said, but her already timid voice grew quieter with each word.
"You don't believe that yourself," Rose objected and took a step back while wiping her tears. "I've known you my entire life. You don't believe anyone is pure evil."
"I don't," Fauna mumbled and wrung her hands, avoiding her sisters' angry glares. "I do believe Maleficent is a lonely and deeply unhappy woman. But sometimes people do horrible things when they are unhappy, and…"
"Maleficent is evil!" Merryweather interrupted. "She's even named after evil!"
"Actually, in the old languages it only means 'through magic'…" Fauna said. "And she really wasn't that bad back when…"
"Hush!"
"Not in front of Rose!"
"…sorry," Fauna mumbled and seemed to shrink back into the wall. Rose looked from her to the other two, and then back to Fauna again.
"Back when what?"
"Nothing, dear. Absolutely nothing," Flora said. "Now, Fauna, stay here with Rose and watch that… monster… while Merryweather and I go and fetch King Stefan. He needs to be informed and the decision of her fate is entirely his to make."
A pointed glance at Rose emphasised this statement, but Rose only had eyes for the horned woman on the floor. In spite of all the layers of cloaks and dresses, the woman was so skinny she had nothing to cushion her from the hard, cold stone floor. It looked awfully uncomfortable.
When Flora and Merryweather disappeared, Rose turned to Fauna.
"They have gone. Now tell me. She wasn't so bad back when what?"
"Oh Rosie, it was so sad…. Maleficent had an apprentice. At least that's the way the story goes; but that apprentice could hardly turn rain into bubbles so I doubt there were any actual magic powers involved. They were inseparable, those two. Maleficent was much kinder in those days. Cold to strangers and kept mostly to herself, but she would never willingly inflict pain on someone who hadn't done her obvious harm."
"I see. Were they… lovers?"
"You know, I believe they were. But it was not to last. She was forced to marry someone else."
"Maleficent?"
"No silly! The girl she lived with. Zemi was her name, I think."
"Oh."
"But that must have been three or even four hundred years ago. Ever since Zemi left - and she did leave on her own conditions, apparently a crown in a different kingdom was more important to her than Maleficent's love - The Forbidden Mountain has been a dark and hostile place ruled by a dark and hostile mistress."
Fauna sighed and patted Rose's hand.
"Well, we all have a past and we all build our future from it. It's sad Maleficent has chosen to tear down other people's future instead of building her own. But a broken heart is not to be reasoned with."
She too glanced at the sleeping body on the floor, and then said in a voice so low Rose could barely hear it;
"Truth be told, it would be an act of kindness to execute her."