Secret Novel Chapter 16: Thief (Patreon)

Madeline stared down at her map, following the ever changing paths to find herself pressing further into the Maze than she had gone before. The longer she stayed in the Maze the clearly it became that it was really rare to encounter anything and she could avoid giants if she was careful. Today she was following the paths north of the Garden, finding where those paths might lead. Paths rarely actually lead anywhere. It was more of what kind of area she would find. A place with a low, even hopable hedge. Towering hedge. More curves and bends rather than sharp corners. And maybe, just maybe, she might find one of the highways that she initially traveled through.

Marking down the next intersection in her map, Madeline looked back up in front of her. She had gotten in the habit of peeking around corners first before just turning. Never knew what was on the other side. Ninety-nine percent of the time there was nothing. Not thinking this corner would be any different Madeline casually peeked around the corner, not really being sneaky about it.

As she looked down a path, her eyes locked dead on to a mage’s carriage through an archway at the end of the path. In a panic, Madeline pulled back and tucked herself against the hedge. Her heart started pounding in her chest as her breathing became a little ragged. Marcus flooded her mind. His face as he shocked her. The face of a man who was going to kill her. Then his face right in front of hers, mouthing soundless words with fear in his dimming eyes. The feeling of his last barely tiny puff of blood spittled breath on her face. The tears on his face that came from her. Her knife and hand, sticky with hot blood.

“No,” she whispered to herself. “No. Please…” Her hands shook lightly as the images in her head started to be replaced with reality once more. The blood she saw on her hands was gone, only the smudges from charcoal stained her hands now. Madeline couldn’t fall back into that mind trap of Marcus. Not now. Not out in the Maze. Not with other mages nearby. Once she was home, back in her Garden then she could break down for hours on end.

Taking deep breaths that really didn’t help much, Madeline took a very small peek around the corner again. The carriage was still there. It hadn’t moved. The windows were open and she could see right through. There was no one inside. The carriage was empty. But she could hear voices. Muffled voices that she couldn’t make out. Crouching down to look under the carriage she couldn’t see anyone. They must be off to the sides somewhere.

Wait, this was a highway in front of her. She’d found it. Or at least one of them. This was great. Now she could potentially follow one of these home with enough prep. Maybe, it would be a long journey on foot, and there was no confirmation that the Maze just wouldn’t turn her back around. Also, did mages travel on the Highways when there weren’t offerings? Well since a carriage was there she had to assume that yes they used these to travel. From where and to what she had no idea, but it did put significant danger in her way of getting back home. She had gotten incredibly lucky with Marcus, and she wouldn’t get that lucky again…

She decided she should go back to the Garden and get away from these mages, even if they hadn’t seen her. They might if she stuck around, then she would die. Not dying was a good idea, so Madeline turned to head back but paused. What was in the carriage? Was there something that could be of use to her? No, she had all she needed at the Garden. Well she didn’t have cheese anymore which was quite upsetting to the young woman. Would the mages have cheese in the carriage? Would she really be willing to risk her life to simply see if she could steal any cheese?

Yes.

She was going to do it. When would she get this chance again? She could do this. She could do this! Knowing this was probably one of the worst ideas she ever had, Madeline snuck around the corner and started sneaking her way up to the carriage. Her ears were primed and ready to pick up on the slightest sound that indicated the mages might be coming back. With one foot in front of the other she made her way slowly to the carriage, stepping out from under the arch and onto a Highway for the first time since Marcus hunted her down.

Taking another peek under the carriage, Madeline was now able to spot where the mages were. They were on the other side of the Highway. One of them was sitting down on a blanket with a small pile of food. Another was standing against the hedge, relieving himself. Thankfully the one on the blanket wasn’t looking this way. Though even from here Madeline could see cheese on the blanket and her stomach gave a small growl. Not loud enough to be heard though, thank the Goddess.

“Do you think the alchemy exam will be hard?” She heard one of them say as she stood back up in front of the door to the carriage. The handle was right there. Nothing special about it. Hopefully. Hopefully nothing magical about it.

“Not if you actually studied, Henry.”

Gently Madeline grabbed the handle and pulled it down. Not a single squeak from it. Thank the mages for not having squeaky handles.

“I did, but I heard that Professor Lawson can throw tricks on the test.”

“Don’t listen to any of that nonsense.”

The door swung open soundlessly and Madeline internally cheered as the two mages continued their conversation. Carefully Madeline climbed up into the carriage, making sure to keep ducked so they couldn’t spot her through the window. The inside was a velvet luxury if Madeline had ever seen one. The seats on either side were large enough for someone to lay out and sleep on. Pillows and a couple blankets stored on shelves at the top. What Madeline wouldn’t do for a pillow and blanket. Quickly she snatched one of each from the shelf and continued her search. The only other things in the carriage were two packs. One on either seat. There really was nothing else in here which felt like a disappointment. Maybe they weren’t traveling far? Maybe they just didn’t need a lot of things that couldn’t fit into a simple pack. Well simple was an understatement. Obviously these were luxury made packs with some intricate patterns carved in as well as a few gems encrusted on them. Curious as to what might be in the pack, Madeline grabbed one and lifted the flap to see-

“Hey!”

Looking up in a panic, Madeline found she wasn’t as hunched over as she should have been. Her eyes locked with the mage who had been relieving himself a moment ago.

“Shit, shit, shit!” Without thinking Madeline bolted out the carriage, pillow in one hand, blanket over shoulder, and pack in her other hand. There was a horrible moment of panic as she jumped out and landed, as something flew over her head with incredible force. Not even bothering to try and question what it was, the young woman continued to run as fast as she could back into the Maze and towards the path she came from. In those few moments she could hear more shouts from the mages as they undoubtedly started chasing after her. Six long strides and Madeline found herself at the corner back onto the path she knew, but luck wasn’t on her side as her foot snagged on a root she could have sworn wasn’t there the first time she rounded it. So down she went, luckily with a pillow to break her fall, as she cursed the Maze. Another spell flew over her head, but this time clearly missing her. Only doing so because she was sprawled out on the floor and not standing.

 “Thank you, Maze,” Madeline said with realization as she looked back up to see the mages a lot closer than she thought they were.

“Get back here!”

“Fuck!” Scrambling, Madeline pushed her way back onto her feet and ran back down the path she had come from, but the path was shorter now. It cut off way before where the next left turn should be. The Maze had trapped her in. It was a dead end with no way out. No, this couldn’t be happening. The Maze had just helped her, why would it suddenly turn on her now?! “Oh no, please open!” Then an idea popped into Madeline’s head. It was either a stupid idea, or she would be stupid for not thinking of it before.

Praying to the Goddess and the Maze, Madeline didn’t slow her stride, in fact, she bolted as hard as she could for the hedge’s dead end. This had better work or she was a dead woman.

Just as the mages rounded the corner, Madeline reached the dead end. Closing her eyes, she jumped at just the last second, before the strange feeling of passing through solid hedge washed over her body. Then she was out of the hedge and falling to the ground, unable to stick the landing. Of course, falling after running and jumping at full speed hurt but she paid no mind to the pain. Instead as she rolled to a stop, she just looked back up at the hedge, waiting for the mages to come through.

“Did… Did he just pass through the hedge?” Madeline heard one of the mages say on the other side of the hedge. Why weren’t they following her through? Why did he sound surprised that she went through the hedge?

“I don’t know. Maybe it's an illusion or a prank or something?”

Did they really not know?! They were mages, aren’t they supposed to know everything about everything? Especially the Maze where they live! Slowly, and quietly Madeline stood up, eyes still locked on the hedge

“Maybe. But why isn’t it opening up for us?”

By the Goddess, they didn’t know.

“I don’t know, man. Did he take anything?” Madeline looked down to see a blanket falling from her shoulder, a pillow in one hand, and a pack in the other.

“I didn’t see anything but him in the carriage and running.”

“It has to be a prank.”

The first one made an annoyed grunt. “Yeah. Fuck we need to hurry back. Professor Lawson will be pissed if we aren’t there on time.”

“Yeah. Should we tell someone about this?”

“Fuck no. We’ll look like idiots if we report this and it's just a stupid prank. Let’s just head back and forget that this ever happened. Someone will probably take credit for the prank in a day anyway.”

“Yeah. Okay.”