Secret Novel Chapter 10: The Giant and the Wolf (Patreon)

[A second chapter in just one night?! Well, your going to get two from now on for a little while till we start getting to the longer chapters.]

The Maze was a pain in the ass. It appeared that with every turn that Madeline took, the Maze tried to turn her back east, away from home. Still she pushed on and did her best to keep heading in the right direction. Towards Lexford. Towards Sophie. Towards Neila. Towards Lyr. Towards the only home she has ever truly known. As she made her way Madeline did try to think of a way to get through the gate when she reached it, because she was going to reach it. There was no other choice.

She probably couldn’t open the Gate because she wasn’t a mage, so that left either going through it, as in making a hole in the Gate Hedge, or over it. Since there is no way the Maze would let her damage it without killing her, climbing the Gate was the best option. Not that climbing the hedge didn’t go well for her before. She’ll just have to deal with the pain and wrap some thick cloth around her hands. The other goal for this trip home was for Madeline to find the highway paths through the Maze. That would allow her to travel pretty much in one direction unimpeded. The issue would be finding the highway.

The day passed rather slowly for Madeline. There wasn’t much to do or think about besides looking at the sky to make sure she was going in the right direction. However, she did come across some interesting sights along her way. For one she had seen a couple of rabbits running through the Maze and into small tunnels in the hedge. She even saw a fox at one point. Madeline had no idea that normal creatures besides birds lived in the Maze but apparently they did. Maybe she could hunt something if she needed the extra food. Not that Madeline knew how to hunt at all, or how she would even cook the meat if she ever managed to catch anything.

Closely after seeing the animals, Madeline came upon an opening in the hedge wall. Thinking it was just another turn she didn’t need to take, Madeline almost walked right on by it. But when she passed she couldn’t help but look within. Through the opening was a forest. An actual forest! Joy surged through Madeline at finding an exit out of the Maze and Madeline rushed through it. The forest was big, and not like any forest Madeline had seen back home. Sadly Madeline’s joy was quickly crushed as she walked a little ways into the Forest and discovered a hedge wall at one side, that curved around in one big circle. A massive circle probably the size of her whole town, but a circle nonetheless. This forest wasn’t outside the Maze. It was in the Maze… Disappointed that she hadn’t found an exit, Madeline made her way back to where she came in from and continued on her way.

As the day went on Madeline also discovered some other strange areas of the Maze. There were a few open areas with stone benches, similar to the fountain square, but with no fountain. Though most did have a large central tree in the middle of it. One of those squares she came across had a pair of loveresque statues. They were large things that depicted people with animal like features. Though they were strange looking it was nice to see what looked like a gentle moment between lovers in this scary place.

Sometimes the hedge walls would become so incredibly tall, that it nearly blocked out the sun high in the sky. Other times the hedge became so low and small that Madeline could easily hop over it into the next path in the Maze. Normally these areas of low hedge were decently sized, so it became more of a garden Maze that one would walk through without fear of getting lost as you could easily see the pattern. There also tended to be flowerbeds in these more garden-like areas. Wild flower beds of course. They were still beautiful, however. Vibrant colors that Madeline wished she could capture in cloth to make beautiful clothes.

Night came eventually and Madeline placed herself in the corner of two Hedge walls. Her cloak was brought around and made to fully cover both her and her pack, hopefully keeping her from sight of anything out there. It was risky she knew, even if she hadn’t seen anything in the Maze besides that one giant creature over a week ago. She couldn't count the river being as it was in the river. It was strange that the mages had told her the Maze was far deadlier than them, but Madeline hadn’t seen or heard anything yet. Maybe it was because for most of her time in the Maze she was on a highway and not the Maze propper. Still, tucking herself into a corner with her cloak fully enclosing her felt like the best option.

Day came and Madeline set out for another day of walking. Much like the day before, there wasn’t much to see besides the different areas of the Maze like she had come across before. Eventually Madeline found herself lost in thought about home as she wandered the Maze, just paying attention enough to make sure she was heading in the right direction. She barely even noticed that up ahead it looked like the Maze opened up into a larger path. A path where a low gentle wooden groaning sound came from.

She did catch herself however. The sound did finally pull her out of her deeper thoughts. Madeline paused as she listened to the sound, her eyes focused on the opening. The path opened up into a large path by the looks of it. Larger than the paths Madeline had been taking so far. Maybe it was a highway, or at least a larger path that might lead to a highway. The young woman bit her lip as she contemplated what she should do. Any chance of getting on a highway would drastically improve her chances of getting home. It would be so helpful, but the groaning up ahead meant that there was something out there. Something that could most likely kill her. Something that would most likely kill her.

She decided fuck it. She was dead if she stayed in this Maze. She was dead if she never found a way home. Up ahead laid a chance of getting home, she couldn’t pass up on that. Even if it meant sneaking around whatever lay ahead.

With great care the young woman snuck her way closer to the edge of the opening. The closer she got the more she could tell this new path wasn’t a highway like the one she had been on with the mages, but it was still far larger than the normal paths she had been following so far. It also looked as if one direction was going east. So maybe not a main highway but a smaller one. Taking a slow and quiet deep breath, Madeline calmed her nerves as she stood at the corner. She could wait out whatever was around it. Wait for it to move along in thankfully the opposite direction of where she needed to go. Still she couldn’t help but have a morbid curiosity as to what lay around the corner. As carefully as she could, Madeline peered around the corner.

Giant.

Giant was the first word that came to Madeline’s mind as she stared up at the massive lumbering beast, not more than ten meters from her. Its body was covered in plants and greenery. Much of it even looked to be made of hedge itself, if the wooden groaning the creature made with its large but delicately slow steps was anything to go by. The giant hunched over as it gently swayed from side to side, taking one slow step after another. For how large it was Madeline was surprised at how quiet the giant’s steps were. It barely even left a footprint in the dirt floor. Without thinking Madeline took a step out into the small highway, trying to get a better look at the lumbering giant.

A clear wooden snap popped out under Madeline’s foot as she broke a twig under it. It was quiet, barely even a sound, but both her and the giant froze. Suddenly the giant turned to peer over its shoulder at her. There was no face to speak of really. At least not a face in the human sense. Though roughly human shaped there were no features to the creature’s face, except for eyes. Though they weren’t really eyes, but bright blue flowers where one’s eyes should be. Still Madeline could feel them peering at her as she stood frozen. This was the creature she had seen before. Maybe not the same one, but the same kind of giant.

“HEgnkUabasfoiuh  JKABfbaskJUbfas.” The noise that came from the giant sounded almost like speech, but far too low and groaning. As if it was turning the sound of tree branches in the wind into almost human speech. The giant stared at her for a second, before turning around much faster than Madeline would have thought it could. “HEgnkUabasfoiuh  JKABfbaskJUbfas,” the creature repeated itself more forcefully now. This was bad. This was really bad. She needed to run. She needed to get away from this thing.

A rumbling growl grew suddenly from behind Madeline, down the path which she wanted to follow. Slowly the giant shifted its gaze from her to the source of the growling, that was only growling more intensely.

Madeline wasn’t sure what possessed her to turn to look behind her. She should have started running away as fast as she could. But she didn’t. In some madness she turned and followed the giant’s gaze till her eyes fell upon a massive white wolf. A wolf far larger than Madeline thought they could get. Far larger than Madeline knew a normal wolf should be able to get. Large enough to rival the giant with its head at the top of the looming Hedge. As she stared at the growling beast she realized the wolf’s fur wasn’t just white, but transparent. Its body was transparent in the same way a fogged up piece of glass was. It was a ghostly shape of a wolf with eyes that showed green. Maybe the only parts of the wolf creature that looked fully corporal. Then she notices the grand pair of antlers adorned on its head. Between them strung vines that looked more like decoration than natural growth. They too were transparent. There were also what looked to be leather straps around the wolf, and a harness but the young woman wasn’t able to get a good look before the beast suddenly charged.

This was the end. Again.

Fear boiled up inside Madeline as she simply curled up into a ball on the ground, waiting for death. The wolf’s footsteps were silent, but the giant’s shook the ground now as it charged at her from the other direction. It wouldn’t be but a second before the two monsters rip her apart.

Then there was the sound of the two creatures crashing together above her, and then falling to the side. The sounds of fighting pulled Madeline’s attention away from her curled up self. Looking over she found the two monsters fighting one another, ever so close to her, but entirely ignoring her.

This was it. This was her chance! Not wasting another second the young woman bolted up and ran back down the path she came from. She never looked back as her feet pounded into the dirt floor.