Aurora lay face down on the cold floor of the dungeon, closing her eyes to escape the only bit of light which was beginning to seep through the tiny, barred window.
It had been just under a week since her father had been killed, and even less time since Maleficent had crowned her Queen of the Moors.
And here she was – confined to the dank dungeon of her father's castle, with little hope of ever seeing the light of day again. At least, that was how she felt right then.
It had all happened so quickly. One minute, she was walking the edge of the wall of thorns, collecting wild flowers. The next, she had been bundled up by two of her father's minions and dragged away on horseback.
The two men - both in full armour and carrying more iron weapons than Aurora had ever seen – appeared to be under the impression that they were on some sort of rescue mission, at which they had succeeded.
They returned her to the castle triumphantly, where she found herself standing in a courtyard in front of her father's most trusted advisor, a man by the name of Magnus.
At first, Magnus had appeared kind, as Aurora wished to know why she had been so unceremoniously dragged from her home at the crack of dawn. He explained that, in the wake of her father's death, it was time for her to ascend the throne.
Aurora had told him in no uncertain terms that she had absolutely no intention of doing such, demanding that she be returned to the moors and her Godmother at once.
Magnus told her that this was not possible, and an escape attempt followed, which resulted in Aurora being restrained by several of the castle's guards.
Aurora, Magnus advised, had surely been placed under another curse by the winged witch – one which led her to trust such a creature. And so she had found herself locked in the deepest of the castle's dungeons, with nothing but the mice for company, until such a time as Magnus could determine how to lift the curse.
Opening her eyes and blinking as the first rays of sun lit up the dungeon as best they could, Aurora figured that this must her third day in the stone prison. Twice a day the huge, iron-clad door opened and a plate of food appeared. Aside from this, Aurora had seen nor heard a single soul.
She had long since given up hope of being rescued, for it seemed that not even Diaval had managed to locate her.
For the first day, Aurora had channelled most of her energy into pounding on the door and shouting at the top of her lungs – shouting to be let out, shouting for her Godmother, shouting for anybody.
By the second day, she was exhausted, and spent most of it asleep. She dreamed of the Moors, of mud flinging with the wallerbogs and of climbing to the height of the tallest trees, to see whether she could spot her Godmother in the skies, enjoying the freedom of her recently-returned wings.
And then she dreamed that the iron door flew clean off its hinges, and her Godmother was by her side, wrapping her in the security of her feathers, assuring her that she had come to take her home.
Aurora had awoken from the dream sobbing, devastated to find that the door remained intact and desperate to be held by the closest being she had ever had to a mother.
Today, Aurora had no fight left in her. And so she lay against the cold, hard floor and closed her eyes again.
Ω Ω Ω Ω
Maleficent had spent most of the night in the sky, circling the moors, still with a faint glimmer of hope that she may catch sight of the girl.
Dawn was breaking as she returned to the great tree she called home, and surveyed the nest before her.
Empty.
Although they had only spent a matter of days together before her disappearance, the fairy had grown accustomed to sharing her home and her life with Aurora.
More than accustomed, in fact Maleficent found that she thoroughly enjoyed the younger one's company.
"When I'm older I'm going to live here in the moors, with you. Then we can look after each other."
And they had, if only for a handful of days. The girl's presence had unexpectedly awakened some semblance of maternal instinct in Maleficent, something which had been lying dormant in the depths of her damaged soul.
But now, she was gone.
And the worst part was, Maleficent had no idea to where, or with whom.
All the same, she could not shake the feeling that something bad had happened to Aurora.
Diaval had scoured the countryside at her request, with no sign of the young girl. He'd been to the castle on a number of occasions, finding no evidence that Aurora was there.
After two days of searching, Maleficent could see that the raven was beginning to lose hope. His once determined approach to the search was weakening with every return.
Diaval was giving up. Something which she herself was not prepared to do, at any cost.
Settling back against the trunk of the tree, Maleficent closed her eyes. She would rest, if only for a little while, for she knew that she would be no good to Aurora exhausted.
For a moment, she was at peace.
And then, a positively irritating sound from the ground below – something that sounded almost like an animal.
"Go away!" she called, though to whom, she did not know.
"Mal-ec-i-tunt," came the soft reply.
Opening her eyes and arching her neck to glance down at the ground, Maleficent sighed, seeing the impish, hedgehog-like fairy standing at the bottom of her tree, ringing his hands nervously.
"Shoo!" she hissed, in no mood for Pinto's games.
Wittering in a nonsensical language, Pinto gesticulated wildly with his hands, the quills on his back quivering as he did so.
A flapping of wings overhead, and Maleficent watched as Diaval swooped down to land on the floor beside the creature.
"Oh good. Get rid of the little fiend will you?" she drawled, closing her eyes again.
Within moments, the raven was back on her level, squawking incessantly.
"What is it, you godforsaken bird?!" she cried, thoroughly irritated as she sent Diaval into his human form.
"Mistress, forgive me, you can turn me into a worm later. But right now, we have more pressing matters to attend to," he panted, gesturing down to where Pinto was standing.
"That porcupine is of no matter to me," she responded, flatly.
"You don't understand. Pinto has just come back from the eastern lake. The merfolk there heard from the water sprites, that the tree elves were told by the pixies-"
"Who were told by the gnomes, who heard it from the boggarts, who heard it from the nymphs? Get to the point, or I'll turn you back into a bird!" Maleficent snapped, in no mood for the conversation at hand.
"They've taken Aurora to the castle. Kidnapped her, Mistress," Diaval said.
Maleficent raised her head to look at him – now he had her full attention.
"What?"
"She was on one of her early morning strolls by all accounts, wandered a bit further than usual, mind. And then humans… two of them, rode right up to the wall of thorns and dragged her away," he said.
"But you searched that castle, you would have seen her with your own eyes," Maleficent frowned.
"That I did, Mistress. Several times, in fact. They certainly haven't confined her to her bedroom, or any of the towers. Perhaps she got away?" Diaval suggested.
"If she had 'gotten away', she would be here," Maleficent pointed out, coolly.
Diaval sighed, glancing out over the moors, in the direction of the castle in the distance.
"Then perhaps underground? A cellar, or a dungeon?" he muttered.
"Yes, somewhere that not even a crow can land its droppings," she commented.
"Raven, Mistress…"
"No matter," she said, giving no indication that she had heard him as she flicked a finger in his direction. "Into a mouse."
The tiny black rodent scurried from left to right for a moment, as if finding its bearings.
"Find her," was all the fairy said – and the mouse was gone.
Ω Ω Ω Ω