Secret Novel Chapter 29: On the Shoulders of Giants (Patreon)

Madeline donned her thick cloak as she stood by her front door. She had a beyoner’s eye for all of yesterday and yet she didn’t go out into the Maze to look and see how it was different. After having a ‘little bit of a spat’, as her mom would put it, with her beyonder guest, she had thought spending dinner with him might help them continue past the cultural difference. At first she had been right. While she focused on making dinner for two, which was something she hadn’t done in nearly a year now, the two managed to have a somewhat positive conversation. A conversation mostly about food and the differences between food of this world and the Beyond. It was a little hard since neither had really ever heard of things from either’s homes, but they did find some similarities. Cheese, for instance, was something they both had. Madeline had gotten excited at the thought of cheese, seeing as she finished the last of what she stole long ago. Victor, however, was not a fan of cheese and found her enthusiasm annoying. Or maybe that was just how he sounded to Madeline.

That was where things started to fall apart. After that point Victor, having discovered that Madeline’s and his pallet did not fully align, came over and smelled nearly all her ingredients whilst she was trying to use them, and making somewhat disapproving noises. That had annoyed Madeline, but then he had grabbed a potato from right in front of her to give it a bite. An uncooked potato, too. She had to snatch it away from him, much to his annoyance, like he was a child grabbing at food just because it was there. Then trying to explain to him that it would in fact taste far better then it had raw was a hassle far greater than she expected it would be with an actual child.

Once she finally managed to finish cooking the meal, through his constant ‘inspections’ of putting his fingers directly in the boiling stew, Madeline thought things might calm down. She hoped that once served they might be able to both sit down, enjoy the food and have a conversation. Instead they had another ‘spat’ when Victor stated half way through drinking the stew, like the bowl was a cup, that he did not in fact like her hard prepared meal. Madeline thought it was one of the best meals she had made since being thrown into the Maze against her will, and had enjoyed it very much. It was fine though, as Madeline could accept that not everybody liked the same things, but then Victor said that he thought that she shouldn’t make it again. Ever. Thus ensued another loud heated conversation about how it was her home and that she decided what would be made. The beyonder then told her that he could do better, so she invited him to do just that. He accepted. Then disappeared.

After a solid five minutes of looking around in confusion as to where the beyonder went, Madeline decided to give up and try to have a relaxing night without him. When she was just about to sit down in her chair, she heard a commotion from the kitchen. Preparing for the worst, she went back out into the kitchen to find the blue beyonder standing over the table with a pile of food on it. He looked at her with a smirk before getting to work on cooking a meal with food from another world. Madeline found herself annoyed at how well he appeared to cook, but did come to a realization that he was probably hundreds of years older than her with more experience than even the best cook in the world had.

What he had made for them was beyond something Madeline could describe, and the taste was divine. Madeline felt her anger fall away at the sweet and savory flavor of the meat from an animal from the Beyond. She begrudgingly admitted that he had made a better meal, and the smile on his face made her want to slap him. She still held her ground that the meal she made wasn’t bad, and that she would make it again when she wished it. She also made a mental pact with herself to read over all of the cookbooks and one day prove that she could make something better.

“Back to more garden chores?” Victor asked from ‘his’ chair where he sat reading one of her books on history with a freshly brewed pot of tea.

Madeline made sure she had all that she needed with her while she answered, “No, I’m going into the Maze to see what it looks like now.”

“Well, have fun. It is a dangerous place out there.” Madeline couldn’t discern his tone, but it sounded a little condescending.

“What, aren’t you going to come and follow me?”

“Couldn’t even if I wanted to,” he replied simply.

Madeline found herself going to the doorway to look at him. She had expected her guest to follow her out there since he was here to watch her after all. “What do you mean?”

He looked up at her with an expression that told her to think about it. When she didn’t come up with an answer right away he sighed. “Our pact allows me to visit you, here in your home and Garden. That was the limit we set and agreed upon, remember?”

Madeline thought back to their pact, and there was a flash memory of kissing him that she shoved away. “So you can’t come with me?”

“No,” he said plainly. Then he turned to her and smiled pleasantly, but Madeline could see the tiniest flash of hunger in his eyes. “Unless you wish to alter our pact and not have those restrictions. Then I could come with you, little witch.”

Madeline felt a shiver run down her spine. He was trying to appear nice and friendly. He wanted her to think that because he wanted her to alter the pact. “No,” she said quickly. Fast enough that he appeared to realize she had seen through him.

“Fine,” he said with annoyance and waved his hand at her as if to tell her to leave.

Pursing her lips, the witch asked, “Why do you want to go out into the Maze?” He shrugged his response without looking at her. “Why?” He put the book down and finally turned to look at her now. She could see that hunger in his eyes. The same hunger he had when he thought she was a mage. She came to a realization. “If I let you come to this world with no limits you could just go off and kill mages freely.”

“Exactly.” The smile he said it with was terrifying, and for a second his features seemed less human. Madeline had almost forgotten how inhuman he really was, and that scared her even more.

“Then why were you the one who set the limit?”

“I wasn’t, you were the on—”

“No,” she said, cutting off the anger clearly building in him. “No, you were the one who specified in my home and Garden. I just repeated what you had said.” Madeline was proud of herself that she didn’t step back in fear at the look on his face. It was obvious he was about to go off on her before his slitted eyes went wide in realization. Before Madeline could say anything else, the beyonder yelled out something in a language she didn’t know, but was cut off by him suddenly disappearing. Madeline stood frozen, waiting for something to happen. She didn’t know what she was expecting to happen, but she felt like something should happen. Her home was silent and still.

Finally realizing he wasn’t coming back for now, Madeline decided that she best be off into the Maze. It would give her a chance to clear her head from all the interactions of the past day. It was strange that when she was alone in here for so long she truly missed interaction with people, but having a whole day with someone felt like too much. Though maybe that was just because the other person was a beyonder who continued to find ways to upset her. Regardless, one full day with another person had taken more out of her than she thought, and though her home and Garden were now empty she felt that the Maze would be the better place to be alone. At least in the Maze Victor couldn’t just appear out of nowhere whenever he wished. Maybe Madeline should have made a specification of when he can come to visit in their pact, but what’s done was done.

Closing her eyes to walk through the fake hedge of her Garden, she wondered what she would see on the other side. When she finally walked out into the fountain square she held her eyes closed for a second longer, as if building anticipation. Then when she finally opened her eyes, her new eye didn’t disappoint. The ‘fake’ parts of the hedge were but a faint glimmer of hedge to her beyonder eye. They were like a ghost that was barely there. Still she could see it, and her human eye still saw the hedge as if it was fully real. It gave her a weird double vision that didn’t sit well with her, but she would have to get used to that. She was thankful that it was her dominant eye that could see the truth as that was what she focused on naturally.

Excitedly, the young witch walked up to the closest illusion of hedge and studied it with her new eye in fascination. Up close she could see the clear mist of magic waving and moving inside the illusion, and when she put her hand up close to it, the mist appeared to solidify in the leaves and branches of the hedge and block not only her but also her own magical mist. She couldn’t help but wonder how the mists reacted with her eyes closed, and then an idea came to her mind. You couldn’t pass through the illusions when you saw them, or more accurately as she discovered when you had your eyes open, even if you weren’t looking directly at the illusion. So she wondered: if her new red eye could see through the illusion entirely, could she just close her left and pass through?

Closing her green eye, Madeline saw the solid image of the hedge disappear leaving nothing but the faintest shadow of what the Maze wanted you to see. Biting the inside of her lip, Madeline now pushed her hand forward. This time the mist of the illusion didn’t harden and become a barrier and let her mist pass through. Then her hand reached the edge of the illusion and kept on passing right through as if nothing was there. A laugh of excitement escaped her as she repeatedly pushed her hand in and out of the illusion, just watching her discovery. Now barely containing her excitement, Madeline walked through it herself. She expected the same sensation of hedge passing through her but found that she felt nothing. She did it again, walking right through, and still felt nothing.

With a smile she was sure made her look absolutely stupid, Madeline started to run through the Maze, fully unhindered. She felt like nothing could stop her now. There were no limits to her life in the Maze anymore. She was free to move about as she wished, though she could still see the illusions the Maze wanted her to see that might help guide her with her left eye. She did realize that she really should keep the left eye open when she could, otherwise she might actually get lost in the Maze by losing its guidance. She should also study her map harder, truly trying to memorize the Maze around her home.

Now with her map out, Madeline went around the Maze, finding just how accurate she had been. She had been pretty accurate in her original drawing, but she did find more illusions that she hadn’t known were there. It didn’t bother her though, since she could see it now; and from what she could tell from the Maze it didn't seem upset with her new ability to move fully unhindered.

Time flew by as Madeline furiously added to her map. She forgot about her spats with the frustrating house guest, and no longer worried whether he would show up again or not since he realized his own mistake. She might worry about it later, but now she had Maze to explore, and explore she did. She went further than she had before with little worry of mages appearing around any corner now that she could see!

Eventually she came upon a new square she hadn’t seen before and started marking it down on her ever growing map. Since she saw no mages about, Madeline found herself sitting down on one of the benches unafraid. She was alone, and could see if anything was coming so she would have time to run if something started getting close. Finally finished marking the map, she sighed and looked around to study the square more. It was pleasant, similar to her fountain square, only this one had a small pond in the center. There were flowers on the hedge which was pretty, and there even appeared to be a large overgrown hedge that sat as a large lump in a corner.

She had never seen the Maze do that before. Curious, she stood up and walked over to the large overgrown area. Like the normal hedge of the square there were flowers dotting the lump, but they weren’t the same kind of flowers. Getting closer she studied the flowers with her new sight. Overall these flowers, and hedge for that matter, had far more mist floating around it. Different from how the magical mist looked for the normal hedge. Up on top of the lump there was a large bump that almost looked to be leaning back on the Hedge behind it, and on the front of the lump were two flowers that were closed up not having bloomed yet. With a hand she reached out and touched the large overgrown hedge, wanting to see if that might somehow give her a clue to why this was different. As she touched it, the two flowers on the upper lump suddenly blossomed into bright blue glowing flowers. Then the lump turned to look down at her. This wasn’t an overgrown lump, this was a hedge giant.

With a scream, Madeline tried to back pedal away while the giant started to shift. Unhelpfully, Madeline found herself tripping and fell to the ground. That was twice in three days that she had done that. She really needed to get better at backpedaling. In a mad scramble to get back up and away, she flipped over and threw herself up onto her feet. The Giant behind her groaned its wooden moan as it started to rise behind her.

“Are you a friend of the Maze?”

Madeline stopped her run so suddenly at the words that she almost fell again. Her ears pointed behind her, from where the words had come from. With wide eyes, which her right eye now did far more, she turned to the giant. It stared back at her, still slowly getting up to its towering height.

“You can talk?”

“Of course I can talk,” the giant said with no mouth. Though she understood the words, they clearly didn’t sound like they came from a human. The words sounded like a tree had groaned in the wind. “But so few in the Maze can understand my words since the war.” Madeline was so amazed that she could understand the giant’s language that she didn’t even respond, she just stared up at it. “Since you can understand me, I assume you are a friend of the Maze?”

“I-I-Yes. Yes, I am a friend of the Maze,” she replied in Given since she couldn’t make the sounds for their language. “I think.” She probably shouldn’t have said that, so she quickly added, “The Maze has helped me so much, and I like to think I have been kind back to it.” She honestly didn’t know what she could do for the Maze other than listen to it kindly.

The giant groaned as it took a step towards her, but surprised her at how light the feet landed. Then it bent down, as if trying to get a better look at her. The movements were slow and gentle, and Madeline, oddly enough, didn’t feel threatened by the giant looming over her.

“Are you a witching flower?”

Madeline blinked. “I… I am a witch, yes.” She hoped that was what they meant.

“I have not seen or heard from your kind for so long now. I did not know you still existed.” The Giant sounded almost saddened at first, but then happy at the end. Happy that she was here. “I am glad to see the mages did not rid you from the Maze.”

“I am glad as well,” she said thinking about her few escapes from the mages. “Though, I think I am alone in the Maze.” Though they had no real face to be expressive with, Madeline got the feeling they were waiting for her to explain. Should she? The giant didn’t appear to be aggressive towards her. In fact they seemed almost happy to be talking to her. “Uh, when the Maze led me to my home, the original owner had passed on long ago. It was an empty home waiting to be filled, and I was glad to find it. I will be honest, I wasn’t a witch then, and it took a long time for me to discover magic, which was by accident. I have only been a witch for a little over a month now, and from what a beyonder has told me, I am the only one.”

The Giant didn’t respond right away. “I am sad to hear that, but happy to know the Maze found one worthy of being the first witching flower to return.”

 Did the maze really think her worthy? Madeline blushed lightly at what felt like a compliment. She would say she hadn’t been complimented since coming into the Maze, but admittedly Victor had said some nice things the night they met. “I… Thank you. I’m sorry I woke you,” she said honestly. Though she felt like she was far more shocked than they were.

“It is okay, little flower. I am glad you did, or we would not have met. Might I ask you a question?” Madeline nodded. It felt a little strange to be talking with another person in the Maze proper and not in her garden, but it was also nice at the same time. “Have you seen others of my kind in your time here? I am searching for my brother. He has not answered our calls for some time now.”

“I have actually. Four, though I will admit I don’t believe I can tell if they were really four and not the same one multiple times.”

“That is okay. I have trouble telling you apart from one another as well.”

That did make her feel a little better. Then she remembered the fourth time she encountered a giant… “The first time, the… I am sorry, I do not know what to call your kind.”

“We are called Groundskeepers,” they offered politely.

Madeline nodded. So this was the groundskeeper that Eda’s tome referred to. She hadn’t read into them yet, but the name gave her an idea of what kind of being a groundskeeper was. “The first groundskeeper I saw was only a few days into my time in the Maze, and that must have been hundreds of leagues to the west. The second time I saw one was maybe a few hours from here and they fought a giant, almost ghostly wolf. That was maybe three months ago. The next I saw a few weeks later, but they were just wandering the Maze and didn’t notice me. Then I ran into another about three weeks ago… But…” Why did Madeline feel like this was going to hurt him? “This groundskeeper was wrong. They were with the mages.” An almost angry groan came from the groundskeeper in front of her. “They had no color, like it had all been sucked out of them. Their eyes were gone, replaced by crystals. And there was a giant crystal jutting out their back. It looked like they were controlling them.”

The Groundskeeper’s shoulders slumped, before they gently sat themselves down on the ground. They no longer looked at Madeline and she felt their pain even if they had no face to show it on. Walking up to them, she gently placed a hand on their leg. “I’m sorry.” The groundskeeper didn’t respond, but their eye flowers closed. Not really sure what to do, she went and sat down next to them. “I lost a sister to the mages,” she offered.

They turned and looked at her. “But do they still walk this world, no longer who they were, under the control of those soul stealers?” They sounded angry. Angry that Madeline tried to compare her feelings to theirs. As if theirs was greater.

“You could say that.” She looked up at them with an understanding sad smile. “They turned her into one of them.” Madeline looked down at the ground. “She tried to kill me. Called me a man. Called me a name that isn’t mine… She isn’t my sister anymore.” She brought her knees up to her chest and hugged them. Surprisingly she didn’t feel like crying, but she didn’t feel numb to it either. The pain came and went. It actually felt like she accepted what happened. She accepted the loss. “They killed the kind sweet woman she was, and now a cold heartless killer walks in her body.”

The groundskeeper didn’t say anything for a long time as the pair sat there. Madeline wasn’t sure how long passed before they spoke again, but when they did their words were gentle. “I am sorry, little witching flower.”

“It's okay.” She paused for a second, and when they didn’t respond she spoke again. “Outside the Maze I have never seen the mage’s actions actually affecting someone, besides losing a loved one as an offering. I’ve heard stories of course, from far off cities and countries about the mages using their power to hurt, but I never really knew anyone that had a direct interaction with the mages. In here though, it seems like the mages have hurt all of us.” She morbidly chuckled. “Though, I’ve only met three people in here, and the last two have been in the last three days.”

“The mages have done great harm here. Once there was life all about. One could not go a day without meeting something new. Now, the Maze feels empty outside of the forests, lakes and other far off lands. Everything retreated into those domains after the war.”

“I always heard stories about how the Maze was full of magical beings, but you’re right. It's almost empty now. I have barely encountered anything in my time here.”

The groundskeeper nodded. “The mages have taken and changed much since the fall of the witching flowers. Now though, with your return, maybe life will begin to fill the Maze again.”

“Well, I’m only one, so I don’t know how much I can really do, but I do hope so, too.” Surprisingly she really did hope so. She felt like the air of mystery and myth that the Maze had outside was far grander than what reality was. Maybe it would be nice to have the barren place be filled with life again. “Though I am afraid that might mean more things out there trying to kill me,” she gave a warry chuckle. All the stories really were about how deadly this place was, but still. She felt like the Maze needed life again.

They looked at her in the eyes, but didn’t speak for a moment. “True friends of the Maze and witching flowers have little to fear in the ways of beings that roam. Yes, some will hunt whatever they find, but most will accept you as a part of the Maze. Not something intruding like the mages that take what they wish with little regard for those that call this place home.”

Madeline pondered that for a second. So beings like the groundskeepers now considered her part of the Maze and its life. She was part of this world now, not just a guest in it. She was home here and those that also called it home would recognize and respect that. “I... I didn’t know that.”

“You should make yourself a cloak of hedge,” the groundskeeper said. “It will help the Maze’s denizens recognize you as a friend, for someone who is not a friend of the Maze can not wear such a cloak.”

“I actually think I have one of those,” Madeline said thinking back to her closet where one such cloak hung. “Though I didn’t think wearing it would keep me as warm as this one, but I don’t really need clothes to keep me warm now that I have magic.” The realization came that she could truly wear whatever she wanted and didn’t have to worry about it keeping her warm anymore. That was comforting, now she just had to wait for the right body.

“It will help you greatly, as it did for those who came before you.” They paused only for a second. “I do not believe I have asked your name. What is your name, little witching flower?”

“Madeline, and I use she/her pronouns.” She didn’t normally give her pronouns with an introduction, but it felt right. “Do you have a name?”

“Carver,” the groundskeeper responded. “You may use masculine pronouns, if you wish.” Madeline nodded, and wondered how important pronouns were to his people. She even wondered if they had different sexes. It might not be appropriate to ask him, and she could probably find out all she needed from her books. “Might I show you something, little witching flower Madeline?”

“Uh, sure.” She stood up as he did and waited to follow him, but instead he leaned down and wrapped his hands around her waist. They encompassed her whole waist as he grabbed her like a child with a doll. “Ah, wait!” She yelled out, now scared for the first time since he spoke. He didn’t listen however as he lifted her up high. Before she knew it he placed her on his shoulder, with one hand to keep her steady. She grabbed onto the hand holding her for dear life. A fall from this height would definitely hurt a lot, but that was all that actually scared her about this situation. She still found she wasn’t actually scared of him, which was surprising.

“Why did you pick me up…” The words fell away as she finally looked up. Before her stood the Maze, and not just the walls of hedge she would see anytime she walked around in here. No, now she was above the top. She could look out and see the Maze as he did in its fullness. It went as far as her eyes could see, which was further than she could before thanks to the new eye. The patterns and swirls of the Maze were a wonder to see from this close, and like when she sat on top of the crumbling watch tower she could see it change with just a blink of her eyes. But the part that shocked her beyond belief was the tops of the hedge. She had thought her Gardens were the most beautiful abundance of flowers she had ever seen, but the top of the hedge was so much grander. There was every color she could ever imagine and more she had never seen the likes of before. Though she wondered if that was thanks to her red eye. It was so full of life and beauty that Madeline couldn’t take her eyes off of it. “Wow.”

“The Maze has many secrets. Some which no living creature knows. Then there are some that can only be seen by the birds and us groundskeepers, and of course those we feel worthy to share it with. It has been far too long since I last showed a witching flower the beauty of the hedge, and I am glad to be doing it once again.”

[I want to give a big shout out to my friend Adam who came up with the name Groundskeeper. I was struggling for a long time trying to come up with a name for them and when I asked his advice Groundskeeper was one of the first suggestions and I loved it.]