If There Be Thorns
By: Maggie Griffin
CHAPTER 3: One Price For Another
"I still can't believe I did that!"
Aini said glumly, perching herself on one of Sadira's man-made sand chairs. They had retired to the caverns beneath the desert some time ago. Sadira stood a few feet away, watching the smaller girl with sympathy.
"I told you, stop beating yourself up about it! So you lost control of a little storm, big deal! You sent it flying away from Agrabah, so nobody got hurt!" She argued, "Besides," she added with a snort, "you don't think I've made some bad decisions in the past? I mean, I'm sorry for it now, but I did it on purpose back then. At least what happened earlier was just an accident." Her words, though genuine in their sincerity, did little to calm Aini's nerves. Since the fiasco with the storm, the girl had taken to silently punishing herself for what she had done.
Sadira couldn't really blame her for that. The storm had been violent and grand, a bad combination. She didn't want to think that some poor, unassuming traveler may have been caught in its thrall. Still, she thought, the chances of that were slim.
Slimmer than what may have happened had it made its way to Agrabah, she reminded herself. In that, at least, Aini could find some comfort. Unfortunately, Aini had been feeling sorry about the entire ordeal for the last hour and a half, and now continued to mull over the events even further.
"What if there's a chance someone did get hurt? Then it was because of me...," she trailed off.
Sadira resisted the urge to give her a good shake. "Would you just stop! There was nobody out there. The desert is huge, and besides, how long could a storm go on for anyway? It probably died down the second it crossed into the horizon!" She tried to reason.
Aini said nothing and continued looking down at the floor.
"Look Ai, I-," Sadira started, but was cut off as a rumbling sound filled the air. "What...is that?"
Aini looked around and shrugged. Moments later, she was following Sadira down the caverns towards the exit. The walls and ceiling shook around them as they went and Aini feared that at any given moment, the entire place would come crashing down on their very delicate skulls.
They made it out into the desert safely, and stood side by side, trying to locate the source of the rumbling. With each moment, it grew stronger and stronger, putting a new fear into Sadira's head.
"It's coming towards us," she muttered under her breath, the realization hitting her with due force.
"I-Is that the storm?" Aini squinted, trying to see into the distance. "Is it coming back?"
Sadira said nothing, unwilling to fill Aini's head with any further notions of destruction. Still, the sound deepened as it came closer and despite the heat, Sadira felt a chill travel down her spine. If it was the storm...if it was heading for the city...She put a comforting hand on Aini's shoulder when she saw the horrified expression on the younger girl's face. It was as much a calming gesture for Aini's sake as it was for her own.
"Don't be afraid, Ai! Whatever it is, I can handle it!" She gulped, not sure she even believed herself. After all, she had not done a particularly stellar job of stopping it last time, had she? Never the less, she pursed her lips in determination and stated in a calm, confident voice, "I'm a Witch of the Sand. I can handle this!" Doubt laced her voice.
"I BEG TO DIFFER!"
The thunderous voice scared Aini so badly, she yelped and backed away from Sadira's side, pulling at the witch's hand in an attempt to get her to follow. At that moment, Sadira was considering dropping any pretense and doing just that. She looked around for the source of the rumbling voice but could find nothing to trace it back to. There was nobody around them. Still, the earth continued to shake violently, piles and piles of sand shifting around their feet, threatening to bury them if they weren't careful.
"S-S-Sadira, wh-what's happening?" Aini cried as the noise grew louder. She found herself falling suddenly as the sand at her feet rippled, opening a crevice in the earth and sending her flailing backwards to the ground. The crevice groaned and expanded until Aini was forced to scuttle backwards where she lay, avoiding falling into the opening by mere seconds. It was only Sadira, pulling on the back of her collar to drag her away further that saved Aini from perishing underground.
Then, everything became still. Silence settled around them and Aini was able to get to her feet shakily. Standing beside her, Sadira leaned over the crevice gingerly, despite Aini's protests and weak attempts to pull her away. There was something down there, the young girl felt. Something that had caused all that noise and trembling and wind. Something that she knew, knew, Sadira had heard as well. A voice in the desert.
From within the depths of the crevice, there was something of a soft sound. Aini strained to hear it, like the sound of dry leaves underfoot. Like the sound of-
There was a flicker of movement. Aini moved backwards just in time to see a pair of dark green ropes snake into the bright desert sunlight. They slithered towards the two girls, whom, upon closer inspection, could see that these were not ropes at all, but rather a pair of crawiling--really, crawling, Aini gasped--living vines. They watched, horrified, as a tall, willowy tree followed closely behind. Upon emerging from the crevice, the tree stretched itself to its full height, blotting out the sun behind it.
It loomed over them both, casting a shadow that seemed to engulf everything it touched. They stood in that shadow now, trembling. Despite her terror, Aini squinted her eyes in an effort to see clearly. Eventually, her sight adjusted and allowed her to see what was really glaring back at them. Glaring? She took a deep breath. The realization that this was no tree at all, but rather some form of living creature caught that very breath in her throat. For a moment, she forgot to exhale and found herself gasping for air moments later.
The visage stood a good seven feet high, towering over them with a look of hatred on its face. Shaking her head, Aini tried to dispel the illusion, but it remained. She came to realize that what she saw was no trick of the light. No hallucination. Indeed, even at that very moment, the creature was spreading its limber arms, its hands clenching and unclenching at its sides. Each delicate finger ended in a wicked looking claw, and when it opened its mouth in a snarl Aini could see the pointed teeth within.
Despite the terror of its countenance, the creature wore a magnificent red robe. Around its slender shoulders was a dark green armor shield from which sprang a number of large, wicked-looking thorns. The bottom half of its body seemed wrapped in-
Leaves? Aini wondered, growing curious, despite her terror.
Then it opened its mouth and spoke. "YOU! THAT MAGIC WAS YOURS!" His voice boomed, a deep, rich tone that demanded immediate attention. Sadira looked back at him, trying to keep brave, for Aini's sake. She only vaguely knew what she was looking at, remembering a scroll she had once come upon and a story Jasmine had told her. Something about a garden hidden deep in the desert and a creature that lived within it...
"You, witch! I can sense that magic," his voice resonated all around them. "You destroyed my beautiful garden!" He pointed an accusatory finger at Sadira, "You burned by children!" Sadira blanched, too lost in the vision before her to properly register what he was saying. "NOW PAY FOR YOUR CRIME!" Arbutus stretched his arms high above him and Sadira watched, her fear growing, as his body grew several more feet in height, towering over them.
The realization of what Arbutus was talking about hit both Sadira and Aini at the same time, shock registering on both of their faces.
"Oh no...," Aini whimpered, holding Sadira back. It was all wrong, she realized. The creature before them sought punishment, she thought. The storm, she knew for certain now, had hurt someone. The error of the creature's words caught up with her suddenly and she took a few steps forward, desperate to placate the creature's anger before he wrong party suffered for what she had done. She opened her mouth to protest, "NO! I..." she started, but Sadira cut her off, wrenching herself free from Aini's grasp.
Arbutus! Sadira recalled suddenly. That was the creature's name. The one from Jasmine's story. She remembered it now, bits and pieces coming back to her. She remembered her skepticism at the time, a creature like that? Too far fetched for her tastes. Not so much, it would seem. She remembered the story. Remembered the trouble taken to ensure vengeance on Arbutus' behalf. She couldn't let that happen to Aini. The girl was her responsibility, she realized. Sadira had lacked the proper preparation as far as her magic went. She had introduced Aini to that hidden world far too quickly. The girl had lacked preparation also. My responsibility, she thought. My fault.
"I DID IT! I KNOW I DID IT! PLEASE, IT WAS AN ACCIDENT!" Sadira hollered, seeing that Arbutus had finally taken full note of Aini and was not glaring down at her. The girl could only quake under his discerning gaze. He leaned closer, a fluid motion that caught Aini by surprise. Instinctively, she backed away a few paces.
"And who is this little witch?" Arbutus hissed.
"NO, PLEASE!" A cold wave of fear spread through Sadira and she cried out in desperation. "PLEASE, DO ANYTHING YOU WANT WITH ME, BUT DON'T HURT HER! SHE'S NOT RESPONSIBLE!"
"Sadira, t-that's n-n-not-," Aini tried to intervene once more, determined to set the record straight. But her stutter, coupled with Sadira's determination to accept responsibility, stopped her short. She could do nothing as Sadira stepped between them. Every time Aini tried to open her mouth to speak, her stutter was simply too great. Biting into her knuckles in a desperate attempt to focus on something besides the fear, she tried to speak once more.
"SHUT UP, AINI!" Sadira intervened. "PLEASE ARBUTUS, LEAVE HER OUT OF THIS!"
Arbutus glanced back and forth between them. His eyes narrowed momentarily, as if recalling something from the past.
"Aini...flower! I once knew someone whose name represented the very things I love, and she betrayed me...," his words were bitter and it took Sadira little time to realize he was speaking of his encounter with the Princess, Jasmine. "Why would the rest of your kind be any different? Why should it matter, if I take you...," he gestured to Sadira, "...or the little one!"
Sadira's eyes widened in horror as she saw the decisive look in his eyes, and watched as he turned to Aini, who could only whimper in fear as one leafy, large hand came snaking down out of the sky, crushing her painfully between its fingers. She cried out, squirming to no avail, and positive that her death was imminent. Surely, any moment now, Arbutus would tighten his fist and extract his revenge. Or perhaps he would simply send her falling back down to the earth, with nothing below to ease her descent.
"Why should I punish you directly?" Arbutus smiled. It was not a smile that promised good intentions. "Why, when I can take from you, like you took from me, and punish in your place?" Arbutus hissed.
"NO!" Sadira screamed. "YOU CAN'T, SHE'S JUST A KID!" The last word came out a strangled choke as a vine whipped tightly across her mouth, sealing in her voice. Her muffled protests were to no avail. A second pair of vines snaked themselves tightly around her body, cocooning her to the ground.
Arbutus ignored her sealed pleas and protests, setting his sights back on Aini, who was whimpering in fear but standing her ground none the less.
If I don't, he'll hurt Sadira. She thought. This way, I'll get punished like I deserve, and she'll get to go free!
"I can sense your fear...commendable that you stay despite it," he spoke to her, pursing his lips. His expression changed suddenly, boredom hinting on his face. "I expected you to at least try to run away. Doesn't it bother you, that you should be punished for what the witch did?" Arbutus asked, his tone having lost the hiss and resumed a more gentle, although still frightening tone.
"I...I don't c...care! She...she's m..my friend!" Aini managed to gasp.
"Touching, but worthless! No friendship is real, and no trust, certainly...," he trailed off, that same bitterness returning to his voice.
"Th...th...that's not true!"
Arbutus sneered, then brought her closer to his face. So much so that Aini was able to see into his eyes, and momentarily marvelled at the strange colour. A clear mix of brown and green, interweaving naturally around his black irises. It was mesmerizing.
"We shall see how you feel about the value of your friendship when you endure the witch's punishment" Despite his voice being barely above a whisper, Aini could hear each word clearly. With a wave of his other hand, the tight vines that had held Sadira captive loosened and moved away from her, leaving her bruised and winded on the hot desert sand. She coughed violently, rolling over to her side and trying to catch her breath. There was a horrible ache in her chest and ribs.
"This is your punishment, witch! Live with the guilt of knowing you caused your friend's demise!"
Sadira cried out, more from his words then from the pain wracking her body. She raised her hands, preparing to call upon the sand to try to retrieve Aini from Arbutus' grasp, but before she could do anything, Arbutus made a motion with his other hand. The crevice they had watched him emerge from moments ago widened further still. Sadira could only watch, helpless, as both figures vanished deep into it. The crevice sealed behind them.
"NO!" Sadira screamed, knowing her attempt at self-sacrifice had been in vain. Arbutus, thinking himself clever, would take Aini as punishment for what Sadira had supposedly done. "She doesn't deserve to die...it was an accident, I should have stopped the storm myself!" She cried to no avail. No amount of screams or tears would reopen the crevice. No amount of apologies would return Aini. The pain in her body lessened but she could do nothing to assuage the guilt.
Time had lost meaning to Aini the moment Arbutus re-entered the earth. He continued to clutch her in his hand and she could see nothing as they traveled. The journey seemed to last only seconds, yet when they re-appeared back on land, they were somewhere Aini had never seen before.
They stood on green land, not a trace of the desert around them. Directly before them were pair of immense gates. It was there that Arbutus set her down on the ground, but peered at her in such a way that Aini knew there would be nowhere to run if the urge took her. So she obliged, unwilling to anger him further.
Now back in the familiar vicinity of his home, Arbutus saw no further reason to keep up pretense and allowed his body to reduce in size to his original seven feet. Still, even at seven feet he towered over the girl. The way he hovered over her now only stood to make Aini feel more self-conscious and afraid.
When she summoned the courage to look into his face and saw he was staring back at her, she closed her eyes, tensing her body for whatever horrible punishment that was sure to follow. It sounded like nothing short of certain death, torture at the very least.
She waited in silence for a moment, until she heard Arbutus speak once more.
"What are you doing?" He asked, the bored tone retained in his voice.
Aini opened one eye cautiously, then the other.
"Well?" She asked timidly, still frightened.
"Well what?"
"Aren't y-you going to..." she paused, wondering if she really wanted to be in the position of reminding him that he had wanted to hurt her, "...uh...p..p..punish me?"
Arbutus raised an eyebrow, then sighed and shook his head. He turned away and walked to the gates, once more motioning with his hands to command them to open.
"Come little one, I'll show you where you may sleep!" He muttered. Aini stared after him, completely confused. However, she chose not to bring the subject up again. If Arbutus had changed his mind about killing her, she wasn't going to start pushing her luck by asking why.
She trailed behind him, becoming immersed in studying him further as they walked. There were tiny details she had failed to notice previously that caught her attention. The way he moved, for one, was something that had her curious. He seemed to glide over the floor. She vaguely wondered if he had feet. She became so immersed in watching him walk, that she stopped paying attention to where she was walking.
Arbutus stopped suddenly, catching Aini off guard and causing her to walk right into him with a jolt.
"Would you at least keep your sights on where you are going?" Arbutus' voice dripped with annoyance, and Aini felt herself shrink even further.
"S..sorry!"
Arbutus sighed, feeling his irritation ebb as he looked down at the girl.
She really doesn't seem that bad, He pursed his lips, but she must be terrified. It was no wonder. She was a small thing. It was little wonder the witch had been so protective of her. Like her name, she was as one of his flowers. Certainly they were in the same position, both in a place of danger, and both too weak to do anything about it.
He shook his head, shaking away the remnants of sympathy that had started to crawl into his mind.
"Just be more careful!" He snapped. Another hand gesture parted a curtain of foliage masking their path. When they entered the land behind it, Aini felt herself freeze, the sight before her so overwhelming.
Arbutus, noticing the expression on her face, felt a rush of pride. It had been a long time since anyone had seen his garden. Even before the unpleasantness of time past. The healing had completed as he had estimated, only bits and pieces of the attack remaining, mostly a scorched leaf here or a bit of sand lying about there. Otherwise, the garden had reverted back to its original beauty. Flowers and plants made up the world all around them.
There was a small stream that snaked through large garden, and in one corner a stairwell of interconnecting vines which led up to an overlooking point high in the sky, a sort of tree house hidden high above them.
"Do you like my home?" Arbutus asked. "It is said to be the most beautiful garden in the world, and I should know, I have seen them all!" He said with some haughtiness.
Aini nodded, her eyes traveling from one place of wonder to the next, unbelieving to the beauty around her.
"It's wonderful!" She whispered, her stutter gone.
Arbutus felt a corner of his lips twitch. Pride resonated through every part of his body. Compliments had a way of doing that to him. His home was, after all, his most beautiful masterpiece. It was nice to have someone present to appreciate it.
"It is your home now, and I expect you to respect that!" He said firmly.
Aini glanced at him shyly and nodded.
"Good! Come then, let me show you all there is to be seen!"
Next: Sadira seeks help from Aladdin and Jasmine, while Aini struggles to see Arbutus in a more favorable light.