Secret Novel Chapter 14: Rest and Branching Out (Patreon)

For the next three days Madeline enjoyed the comfort of a roof over her head and a fire to keep her warm in the colder nights. After weeks of being out in the open elements this small hovel felt like a true paradise, even if the loose straw for a bed felt only marginally better then the hard floor. Still for the first time since she entered the Maze, the young woman slept soundly, finally feeling safe to close her eyes and not worry whether she would ever open them again.

The inside of the hovel also contained a few surprises that Madeline found interesting as she sat waiting out the rain. The back of the Hedge-like door was actually old and slightly rotting wood, which was interesting but not the most shocking thing about the back of the door. The shocking part was that there was a small round window on the back that looked out over the garden. A window that from the outside didn’t exist. Madeline spent a somewhat embarrassingly long time trying to figure out how in the world that worked, and came to the conclusion that she had no idea. She wasn’t complaining however, as it did allow light into the small room.

She did venture out once however, to get the other pack she had left outside in the square. Of course everything inside was soaked, which was the same for the pack she had brought in with her. Though nothing was too heavily damaged, except for the book and the small journal in the packs. Madeline set those out by the fire, hoping to dry them off before attempting to open them again. She really didn’t want to hurt them, though the journal wouldn’t be the worst thing to be damaged. The book on the other hand was going to be her one source of entertainment for the foreseeable future and that was something she didn’t want to lose.

Eventually the rain stopped and the young woman did spend more time exploring this sprawling garden. One of the first things she explored was the other entrance to the garden on the far side. Like the one coming in from the fountain, it took a good few seconds of walking through the strange fake hedge before she came out on the other side. What she found was a forest, much like the one she had found before, maybe even the same one just from another side. Maybe not, as this one seemed to go on endlessly, and as much as Madeline wished this was an exit out of the Maze, she doubted it. It might span leagues and leagues, but eventually she figured you would hit hedge again. Still it was good to know. There was also a large pile of chopped logs not too far from the fake hedge, though it looked like many had rotted away long ago, but still some looked as if they were almost freshly cut. Had someone or something cut them recently, or was it some sort of strange magical thing that the logs didn’t age and rot? If so, how long had they been there? The garden seemed quite unkempt if the weeds and overgrowth were anything to go by, but still, with magic that could have been a few months or years and Madeline would never know. Nothing in this Maze ever seemed to play by the rules that she understood, and maybe she should just accept that. It might help her survive longer if she stopped trying to think of everything in terms of what she was used to back in Lexford.

The plots that Madeline expected to be vegetable, were in fact vegetable. They were full of weeds and random flowers that had spread over the months or years. Gardening was never Madeline’s forte so determining what was actually meant to be in the plot in the first place was hard. Of course there were vegetables that she knew, like some cabbage, carrots, onions, pees, and garlic. Which was all good, though she knew that some of the plants shouldn’t be in season, but apparently they were here somehow. Well, the somehow was obvious: magic. There were also plants that seemed to be vegetables that she had never seen before. One looked like a tiny tree with a green trunk, another had these weird red bulbs that hung off the plant. Weren’t vegetables supposed to be in the ground not hanging from a plant? Also there was one she was sure was just a weed, so she pulled it out and found these large brown bulbs attached to the plant, so she guessed it was a vegetable. Maybe. She also found what appeared to be a herb plot as well, but that was so much harder to figure out what would be actual plants and weeds.

On the third night, Madeline braved opening the journal, still sure that it was partly damp inside. The book she would have to take her time with and spread the pages out slowly in order to not rip or smear the ink, and she wasn’t ready to do that yet. The journal opened fairly easily, and only a few of the already used pages were stuck together. There was an odd part of her that wanted to read over what had already been written in the journal. To find out more about this person who the mages readily and hypocritically accepted, but there was also another part of her that said fuck it. Fuck him and what he would become. That part of her won out and the used pages were used as kindling for the fire when it got low. There was also no sign of a writing tool in the pack, so she wasn’t sure how he was writing in it. Though she could use some charcoal from the fire for writing.

On the dawn of the fourth day Madeline set about clearing out the weeds from the plots for the morning. It was a bit laborious, but it was something to do. She did decide to leave the flowers in the plots, because she didn’t know if they had something to do with why the plants were all growing during their off season. Though she could just be an idiot with literally no understanding of how magic worked. That was how she spent most of her morning before using the small iron pot that was almost hidden behind the wood pile in the hovel to boil the strange brown bulbs that she had picked the other day. She had tried washing them and eating them like that, but that ended poorly. She knew at least stewing them might achieve a better result. She also used the water from the fountain as she surmised that it might be cleaner than the pond and stream water. The vegetables were alright after boiling, though she wished she had peeled the skin off first. Overall it was slightly mushy, but nice. Nice in the sense of having variation from the sweets and dried spicy meats she had. Though maybe next time she should try adding some of the herbs and maybe some other vegetables in a sort of stew.

With the afternoon free since she had no real need to do anything, Madeline found herself sitting on the large flat rock taking a bit of a break from weeding. She still wasn’t sure why she was weeding, really. It was just something to do. Still a question popped up in her mind. She had gone out of the Garden and into the Maze to get water, but what would happen if she really went back into the Maze? Would it still lead her back here like it had been doing before? Or would it not, now that she’s found the place it seemingly wanted her to find? The Maze was a dangerous and scary place and getting lost in it wouldn’t be a good idea, but a little voice in the back of her head said that she should try to understand it. If she is going to stay here in this Garden, at least for a little while, maybe she should try and understand the Maze just outside of it. Maybe if she could learn something it might help her find her way home eventually.

The young woman sat and debated this for quite a while. The fear of what was out there was scary, but the Maze had helped her before so maybe it would still be kind to her now. Maybe it wouldn’t be upset by her learning how it works, at least to some degree around the Garden. Taking a deep breath Madeline made up her mind and headed back to her hovel. She had saved a decent piece of charcoal from a previous night’s fire and wrapped it in a small piece of cloth from the already ripped shirt, so that it wouldn’t dirty her hands. Grabbing it she also took the journal and headed out into the fountain square.

Walking through the fake hedge was always a little nerve wracking as she couldn’t see what was on the other side until she was fully out. Thankfully there was nothing on the other side. Not that she really expected there to be. She had only ever encountered the hedge giant and the wolf once and that was out of a three weeks of being in here. Well, she had seen another giant at least a week's journey from here, but that wasn’t anywhere nearby. Still, it never hurts to be cautious. Once outside, Madeline opened the journal to the first page and drew a box in the center.

“Alright,” she said out loud to the Maze. “I think you can hear me, so if you don’t want me exploring or trying to understand you, make my first path a dead end. I’ll turn right back around and stop.” She waited to see if there would be any kind of acknowledgment of her words, but the Maze just stayed still and quiet. Taking that as a sign that it heard her, hopefully, she set about following the path that walked alongside the edge of the Garden hedge. Not being immediately met with a dead end seemed like a good start, so she continued down the side. When she saw a path branching off of the one she was walking down, she marked down a passage on her crude map. She walked for a ways, with the Garden side never opening, but many openings on the other, before she came to a turn in the Maze that she couldn’t avoid. With a nervous nod, she took the turn and followed it until she met another.

“Alright, I think that’s enough,” Madeline let out nervously, hoping the way back would still be there for her. Then she turned around and followed the path back. The path was still open all the way, thankfully, but there were differences in the openings she walked past. Some were still there, some closed, and then there were new ones as well. She made sure to note the changes on her map, using crosses and dotted lines where she could. Then she found herself back in the fountain square.