\5/
The Maze
Rose was stuck within the dark gray walls for the night. His only company being the rude mirror blocking the only exit glowing that putrid green. Rose did not sleep well.
Rose was awakened by a tremendous *BOOM* that shook the entire building. The mirror's eyes bulged as another *BOOM* echoed throughout the castle. One more *BOOM* and the mirror (and the door) came hurtling at Rose who dove off to the side to avoid being smashed by the debris.
As the dust settled down an angelic figure dressed in white could be seen in the doorway in the morning light. "Lily?"
"Lily of the Valley," she corrected him.
"Lily of the Valley?"
"Yes. That is my title now!" She bounced a little in excitement. "You already met Cedric, the Cerulean Sorcerer."
"Wait that was Cedric?"
Lily nodded, "Now, let's be off. Now that I've found you I can assist! Yay! Raven and Rose living happily ever after! Eeeek! I love it!"
Rose blushed.
"Anyway, just follow the blue path. It's reappeared now Raven has moved. I'm going to go and see if I can find Cedric. He should be back by now. I'm sort of worried. But I'll bless your staff for you before we go." She touched his staff with a touch of her finger. "It doesn't do much. I'm still not very good with magic, but it will light up when you want it too!"
Rose smiled, "Thanks, Lily. I best be off though. Raven looked terrible when I saw him here."
Lily curtsied, "Take care, brave hero. The road shall be rough and obstacles shall impede your journey. Raven needs you!"
The two then parted ways. The Lily of the Valley skipping in one while the hero went another.
Rose wandered the blue path alone as he worried about Raven. What had they done to him? He seemed so distant and broken. He seemed to think there was no hope. He seemed to think there was no light. Rose had to save him somehow.
Rose followed the path and frowned as he looked in front of him. The path ended where a large hedge maze began. He looked to the left and to the right to see if it would be better to find a way around. Alas, it seemed there was no way around. Only hedges stretching in either direction.
Rose would be fine. He knew the trick to mazes. The Beauty gardens had a hedge maze that Millicent and he would play in. Millicent would always tell him, if you ever get lost, just follow one wall. It will take you out eventually. So Rose chose the left wall and started to snake around the hedges.
After about five minutes into the hedge Rose regretted his decision. Several times Rose tried to morph into an animal, but magic didn't seem to work in here. He tried to coax the plants to move for him, but they ignored him. So there he was, stuck in a hedge maze with only silent plants for company.
Rose wandered even more. No blue path. No Lily of the Valley or Cerulean Sorcerer. And worst of all no friendly plants or Raven.
Rose continued onward, though. Until he reached a clearing. His heart leapt a little, only to sink again. There was a small little cottage, but it was still in the maze. Rose glanced behind the cottage to make sure there wasn't a continuation to follow the left side, and there wasn't. Rose turned around to find a lanky man that reminded Rose of a scarecrow.
"Lost, are we?"
Rose froze momentarily, but quickly composed himself, "Not at all. Sorry to intrude. Have a good day."
The scarecrow-like man grinned a sharp toothed toothy smile, "Come now, little Rose. Stay for tea, won't you?"
Rose started to sweat at the mention of his name as the man started towards him, "I really should be on my way."
The man reached out for him and Rose dodged out of the way and made for the way he had come. As he reached it, however, a thorny hedge grew up blocking the way. He looked back at the scarecrow-man shambling towards him again. Rose tried to push his way through the hedge anyway.
He did his best to ignore the thorns penetrating his skin and leaving their mark across his body, marring his clothing. Rose was about to break through to the other side when thorny vines wrapped around his feet and dragged him out. Rose cried out in pain as the thorns dug deeply into his ankles as they pulled him out of the hedge. As Rose thudded to the ground he dropped his staff and the vines continued to snake around his body.
The scarecrow-man loomed over him, "Naughty, naughty! I insist you stay for tea." He gave the toothy grin again as the vines dragged Rose across the ground to the cottage. Rose bit his bottom lip to try and ignore the thorns embedded inside of him.
Inside of the cottage, the thorns additionally wrapped around his wrists and mouth as (the scarecrow said) "a precaution." Rose was tied up and on his side near the fireplace and tears streaked his dirt and blood smudged face. He tried his best to not move. Even breathing hurt as the fluctuation of his chest invited the thorns deeper into him.
All Rose could think about for the next ten minutes was the pain he was enduring. Every inch of his body had a pin in it. Every nerve was screaming at him. But eventually he was able to begin to ignore it. He could still feel the blood beading about the thorns, but his nerves had given up trying to tell him to get away. Now Rose was just getting uncomfortable. What was under his hip? A knot in the wood? A stray bead? Whatever it was, it dug uncomfortably into Rose's bone. Rose chose to ignore it, however. The thorns seemed a tad more dominant. Rose glanced around the filthy cottage and winced every time he accidentally moved his head just a little. The scarecrow-man had his back turned to him as he chopped something at a table. There were no windows, only the door where the vines crept in and snaked around the table to where Rose was being held now.
Rose had to get out. He didn't know how. He didn't even know if he could. But he was going to try. He habitually began to bite his lip, and then quickly stopped as the thorny vines wrapped around his mouth protested and dug deeper into his lips. He glanced at the scarecrow-man once more and then decided he could easily take him on if he could just escape the vines.
On impulse, with hardly thinking about it lest his mind visualize the pain he was about to endure, Rose rolled himself towards the fireplace. Rose grunted at the heat and the tightening of the vines as they protested and tried to pull him away, but he remained near the fire place with his feet almost in it until the plant caught fire and snapped away from him. Rose pulled away the vines that no longer was attached to the roots and stood up to find the scarecrow-man looming over him, "Naughty, naughty. And I had always thought you cared for plants."
The scarecrow-man snatched at Rose, but Rose dived off to the side to find the uncomfortable knot digging into his hip again. Rose frowned as he realized it was no knot or loose bead. He dug into his pocket to find Jack's bean, still wrapped in cloth.
Rose grinned and whispered to it, "Serve me well, take this man to the giants and wreck the blasted plant that blocks the maze." Rose tossed it out the door while the scarecrow-man stared at him in confusion.
"What was that, little flower? A stone from your shoe?"
Rose shook his head, still grinning, "It was your demise."
Just then the ground began to shake. From outside the door a sprout shot up and into the house wrapping itself around the scarecrow-man. It then shot through the roof with the scarecrow-man shooting through it with him.
Rose reached up and felt the corners of his mouth. He pulled his fingers away and saw them dripping with blood. He look down at himself to see the rips and tears through his clothes and the slashes the vines had left as he had given their lower parts to the flame. They still stung and he was sore, but he needed to leave. He had to get out of the maze.
He wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and left the building. As he stepped outside he saw one of the roots of the beanstalk had smashed down upon the hedge blocking the way Rose had come and Rose grabbed his staff and crawled over it as he entered the maze again.
