Secret Novel Chapter 40: Not All Bad (Patreon)

Madeline sat upon Carver’s shoulder as she and the groundskeepers made their way towards the mage’s campus. After the first few minutes of sitting on his shoulder, Madeline became confident enough to not be grabbing onto him for support the entire time. Though every once in a while he might take a step that threw her off balance and she would grab onto his head. Every time she apologized profusely, but Carver didn’t mind. Looking out over the Maze, Madeline was still stunned by the garden that lived on top of the hedge. It was just as stunning as it was the first time she saw it.

“Do the flowers live on top of all the hedge in the Maze?”

“No,” said purple eyes, who’s name was Toiler. “Towards the far edges of the Maze there are no flowers. Those who live outside the Maze can build buildings tall enough to see the tops of the hedge, and the gardens are not for them to see.”

“Around the campuses the mage’s have made throughout the Maze there are no flowers on top. They, too, have built buildings and torn down much hedge for their growth that the Maze does not deem them worthy to see the hidden gardens,” Carver added

Madeline nodded. It made sense since when she used to climb up the old watchtower all she would see from the Maze was green, no other color. Madeline was also happy to know and see that there were flowers above her own Garden, when Carver picked her up. Though she was sad she wouldn’t get to see them without the help of the groundskeepers. Then a question popped in her head. “I read that the sylvins live in massive homes built into the towering trees of the forests. Are they able to see the flowers from their trees?”

Trimmer, the groundskeeper with white eyes, spoke up. “They can, though their trees tend to be more centered in the forests than close enough to see the hedge. The Maze does let them see, though, as they have respect for the Maze that surrounds their homes.” He paused before adding. “I would recommend being very careful when interacting with sylvins. Their ways are strange and misleading.”

“I already found that out the hard way,” Madeline said with a chuckle. “Almost practically sold myself to them, but Victor saved me.”

“The beyonder?” asked Trimmer.

“Yes. Also scared them a good deal because they assumed he was chained.”

“It is wise to be scared of a beyonder who is not chained,” Toiler added. “They are beings with power beyond that of this world. It is no wonder why they are mistaken for demons.”

“Are they really that scary? I’ve only had pleasant experiences with them. Well except when Victor and I fight.”

“You fight a beyonder?” Harvester, the groundskeeper with one yellow and one green eye, asked with clear shock in his voice.

From the group Madeline also heard quietly, “She is truly the right choice,” but she couldn’t place who said it.

“Yeah…” Madeline admitted. “We used to fight a lot, but things have calmed down now. If we do fight anymore it's mostly misunderstandings instead of actually being pissed with one another.”

“So not physical fights?” Carver asked, almost sounding relieved.

“Oh no! It's really just screaming matches at one another. Though Victor is helping me train to fight and defend myself, so we do that.”

“Trained by a beyonder. I have missed witching flowers,” said Toiler.

“If a beyonder is teaching you to fight him, I believe you have little to worry about from mages, Madeline.” Carver sounded a little proud. Madeline didn’t feel like ruining his improving mood at the thought that she could probably hold a little while against a mage, but a whole campus full was another story. Still, it felt nice to have people that felt confident in her.

The journey was slow going, but so much faster than it would have taken her by herself since the Groundskeepers could just move through the hedge at will. Madeline ate the lunch she had packed for herself as they got nearer to the Campus. The sylvin cheese had lasted her almost a week, but today was sadly the end of it. Still not her real cheese, but a bit closer than the cheese Victor brought over. After her meal it took another hour or two before the entire group stopped.

“This is as far as we can go before they sense our presence,” Carver said, turning his head to look at her.

Looking around Madeline couldn’t really see anything. Well the flowers on top of the hedge were growing sparse, and with her beyonder eye she could see things poking up over the hedge in the far distance. “Really? But it's still so far away.” She really couldn’t make out anything other than blurry shapes in the distance.

“Yes, and while sensing one of us would not raise their alarm too much, sensing all of us approaching would draw their attention. So this is where we must part until the task is over, little witching flower.” Reaching up, he grabbed at her waist and lifted her off of his shoulder.

“But it’s still so far away. I don’t know the Maze in this area, and I can’t see the buildings.” They were finally here and Madeline felt her heart start to pound in her chest. The mages were so close now. She was right outside their home. Or one of them at least.

“The Maze will guide you the rest of the way,” Toiler said. “And it will guide you back to us when you are done returning Planter.”

The Maze would guide her. It had guided her before, and helped her enough that she didn’t doubt Toiler’s words, but the fear still nagged at her. It was one thing to say she would do it, another to travel with them, and something entirely different to actually do what they asked. Her shoes felt like they were filled with lead. Her heart felt like a drum, and her mind filled with thoughts of Marcus. She couldn’t do this. These were mages, and she was going into their home! Going in there to destroy one of the horrid creations they had made. They would find her. They would take her. They would do such horrible things to h—

“You can do this, Madeline.” Carver knelt down to her, his blue eyes looking back into hers. “You are the first witching flower to return to the Maze. You have made friends with beyonders. You are a friend of the Maze. You are stronger than you know.” He reached a giant hand out to place on her shoulder, dwarfing her with its size. It still felt comforting. “The Maze would not have led us to meet, if it did not think you capable of helping it.”

She felt tears brimming up in her eyes, but she didn’t know from which feeling they originated. They believed in her. The Maze believed in her. She was the first of her kind to return to the Maze. She had survived this long in the most dangerous place in the world. For fuck’s sake, she befriended an entire family of beyonders! She could walk into their campus unknown to them. They weren’t looking for her, nor would they ever think that someone could get this close to them. She had the advantage here. She could do this.

“Thank you,” Madeline said, wiping the tears from her eyes. “I needed that. Okay. I can do this.”

“You can,” the group of groundskeepers said in unison.

“When the time is right, and you wish for our distraction, all you need do is tell the Maze you are ready. We will know.” Trimmer added.

Madeline nodded. “Alright, then I guess I should get going,” she said with a chuckle that was more nervous than laughter. Carver nodded and pulled his hand away. Before she could turn to leave she asked, “Will all of you be okay?” She hadn’t thought much about what they would do, but it dawned on her that they might be putting themselves in harm's way as well.

There was an uncomfortable silence before Carver spoke again. “We will do what needs to be done to make sure you are safe in returning him.”

“Is that worth it?” was all she asked.

“It is,” Carver said.

“The mages should not control any of us like a slave,” Toiler added.

“We make our own choices for what we do, and we choose to do this so that the mages can no longer choose for him,” Harvester said.

“This is our choice, little witching flower.” The conviction in Carver’s voice was an impenetrable wall. This was their choice, and nothing would change that. Even if the worst came to worst.

“And it’s my choice to help you.” Madeline gave them a smile, and hoped she would see them all again. “I’ll see you all again in a little while,” was the last thing she said before turning around and heading in the direction of the campus.

The last leg of the journey was a lot slower than riding on the shoulder of giants, but thanks to both her eye and the Maze, she was getting there pretty fast. Madeline did her best to hold the conviction she heard in their voices deep inside her heart to carry her through this. The fear was alive in her, and it only grew the closer she got to the campus.

“You can do this, Madeline. You can do this,” she repeated for the hundredth time. “You are a witch. A witch with magic. A witch who is friends with beyonders. A witch who has been trained by a beyonder. You can do this.” Repeating that over and over was the only thing that kept her mind off of thoughts about how horribly wrong all this could go.

After what felt like over an hour of travel, whether it was actually that long or just Madeline being scared she didn’t know, the witch took a turn and found the hedge opening up into a large wide area a little ways ahead of her. Stepping back behind the turn, Madeline felt like her heart had stopped. She was here. She was at the campus, and mages were right there. She looked down at her hands and found them shaking in fear, but remembering the confidence and resolve the groundskeepers had in her gave her strength to ball up her fists and keep them steady.

“It’s time.” Taking a deep breath, Madeline did her best to steady herself. She knew what she had to do. The only question was how, but she knew she would have to figure it out as it happened. Taking another deep breath Madeline rounded the corner and started heading for the opening. However, just as she was about to step through it, she remembered something. “Shit,” she whispered before hurriedly ducking back a bit. With care not to hurt her cloak, she pulled it off and placed it in her pouch, before pulling out the mage’s one and putting it on.

It felt horrible on her ears. Forcing them to bend down when all they wanted to do was stand up tall and alert. She couldn’t stop them from flicking under the hood, and she knew it had to look strange to anyone if they saw it. With as much will as she could muster she forced her ears to stop flicking at the uncomfortable feeling. Next was to check on how her tail looked under the cloak. It was a long lump starting from her ass and going down to her feet. Luckily she was so nervous that her tail wasn’t likely to do anything other than stay between her legs as much as it could. But it was noticeable, at least to her.

“Please let this work,” she prayed before walking back around the corner and down through the opening.

Stepping out into the clearing Madeline found herself at the edge of a small field. It held no plants since it was winter but was clearly a field. It even had a fence going around it. Madeline was a little surprised by the fact that there were no plants growing here, since her home allowed her to grow plants year round without stopping for the colder seasons. Maybe the mages weren’t the best with plants. Or maybe they didn’t need to produce wheat year round since they get offerings from outside the Maze. Carrying on, Madeline followed a clearly laid out path towards a set of buildings at the other end of the field. In the distance she could see other buildings and groups of them, but they all appeared to be spread out as if they were their own tiny villages.

It didn’t take more than five minutes before Madeline found herself at the first small cluster of buildings, and in that time a somewhat gentle snow started to fall. She stood on the outside edge of the buildings as her shoes filled with lead. Her heart wouldn’t slow down and she felt lightheaded. She was on their campus. She was here. Reaching up she pulled the hood down a little more over her face, hopefully hiding her red eye. There really wasn’t much she could do about hiding the bottom of her nose without blinding herself.

Looking down the path and between two buildings that flanked either side, Madeline could make out what might be a small square. Even from here she could see a few mages moving about in the cold weather. All of them were bundled up in thick cloaks with hoods up or hats on. Gloves often covered their hands and the boots and shoes they wore were overflowing with thick socks. It was a little surprising to see that the mages had to almost deal with the cold as any non-magic user would. She knew their cloaks were heated but still. Would she stand out now since she wasn’t in a thick winter cloak? Maybe her ears might just look like she's wearing a hat under the hood. Well there was only one way to tell if she would pass as another mage or not.

Shaking the imaginary lead out of her shoes, Madeline forced herself to walk forward. Though it was only a few strides until she was in the square, it felt like hours before she finally stepped into it. Glancing around nervously, none of the few mages about gave her as much as a second glance. She didn’t stand out. Relief flooded through her and in that pure moment of joy that she wasn’t immediately caught, she felt her tail give a very noticeable wag. Cursing herself, she willed the fluffy thing to be still, hoping nobody saw. But one person did, and when Madeline looked around to find him looking at her, he took a moment before realizing that she was looking back. She could see with her eyes that his already red face from the cold got even redder as if he were embarrassed that he had been caught. With haste Madeline started walking away, where she was going she had no idea. Just away from the person who had been staring at her.

Wait. Had he actually been looking at her tail? If he was he wouldn’t have looked embarrassed, but why else would he have been looking at her? Then Madeline looked down, and noticed that yes, while the cloak covered her fully, it still showed just how large her once flat chest had become. He was looking at her body. He was looking at her breasts. A man was looking at her with sexual interest. Elation and disgust washed through her in a strange combination. Luckily the combination kept her tail from wagging even more. At least she knew people might find her attractive. Even if she was taller than most men. Human men that was, since she was shorter than every member of Victor’s family.

Walking away down a random road and up a small hill a realization came over Madeline as she looked out over the massive opening in the Maze that was this campus. She had absolutely no idea how she was going to find Planter. It would take her hours if not days to search everywhere for him. She couldn’t do that. Well she could, but the longer she stayed in the campus the more likely she was to be discovered. So finding him fast was what she needed to do, but how? It's not like she could just ask someone where he was. Right?

Madeline stopped in her tracks. Why couldn’t she just ask someone? They would all think she's just another mage. It wouldn’t be wrong or strange for a fellow mage to ask such a question, right? She could just go up and ask someone. What if they don’t know either? Anxiety dug at her as she debated turning back around and heading back into the small square to find somebody to ask, or if she should just keep walking until she got somewhere new.

“Are you lost?”

“Ahh!” Madeline screamed and jumped at the sound of someone talking to her.

“Sorry!” a feminine voice chuckled out. “Didn’t mean to scare you.”

In a flurry that almost had her hood falling off of her head, Madeline spun around to find another woman around her age standing before her. Clutching at the hood to keep it on, Madeline cursed that she hadn’t heard or noticed the mage coming up to her. Whether that be because of the hood muffling the sound or just her own carelessness she didn’t know. Taking a closer look at her, Madeline had a strange sense of deja vu. She had seen this woman before, but where? She wasn’t one of the mages that she stole from. Nor did Madeline get a good enough glimpse at any of the mages with the groundskeeper to recognize them. How could she know her then? Then it dawned on her. She was the woman accepted into the mages when she was with the offerings.

“Are you alright?” The woman leaned in and down trying to get a better look under Madeline’s hood, but the witch just pulled it down more. Also why did the woman bend down? She was already a head shorter than Madeline. There was also a strange upsetting feeling that she hadn’t felt in a long time. This girls height showed just how tall Madeline still was, and she didn’t like it.

“I-I’m o-okay,” she managed to stutter out. Madeline realized this was her first time speaking to another human in months, and that also felt strange. “Sorry for yelling.”

“It’s okay,” the mage said with a cheery giggle. “You really must have been deep in thought, huh?”

“Uh, yeah a little bit.” Madeline realized her heart was still pounding and the fear that she would be discovered was growing again. She had no Maze to quickly escape into here on their campus. Funny how she felt so out of place not even too far from the hedge.

“I can understand that. I really get caught up in my head when I’m studying. I swear someone could set my quarters on fire and I wouldn’t know until the book I’m reading caught on fire.” The mage laughed a little too hard at her own joke. Madeline found it a little cute at first then a little horrifying when she realized she was studying to become a mage. “My names Sarah Duran,” she said, holding out her gloved hand. The edge of her glove pulled away just enough for Madeline to see a band of crystals set in her arm.

Not really sure what to do, and too paranoid to shoo her off, the witch reached forward with her ungloved hand. “Madeline Farways,” she said without thinking first.

“Did you lose your gloves?” Sarah asked, looking a little concerned down at Madeline’s exposed hand.

“Oh, no.” Quickly she pulled her hands away and put it back in her cloak. She had gloves on this morning in the garden but when lunch game around she took them off to eat. She never remembered to put them back on since she didn’t need them. “I’m fine. My cloak is, um, plenty warm for me.”

“Really? It doesn’t look like a very thick cloak.”

“I’m fine,” Madeline said, feeling like the time to run away was creeping up on her.

“Well okay,” Sarah said, giving her a smile. “Wait, did you say Farways?” Dread filled Madeline. She shouldn’t have given her real name. “Like Flora Farways?” Sarah leaned in to get a better look at Madeline’s face. The witch ducked her head and closed her beyonder eye so the mage wouldn’t see. “Oh, you look just like her! Are you related?” Sarah sounded even more excited now.

“Y-yeah. We’re sisters,” she blurted out. Then panic started to take Madeline’s mind. She shouldn’t have said that. They would know. They probably know Flora had a sister. Wait. No, they would think she had a brother, not a sister. They wouldn’t be looking for her. She still shouldn’t have said it. Then again if she tried to lie it would be incredibly obvious to the mage, as it was to anyone that Madeline had ever lied to.

“I didn’t know she had a sister.”

“We aren’t on the best of terms… We haven’t talked in years.” It wasn’t a lie, and it hurt to say out loud. She dearly missed the sister she knew back in Lexford. Reguardless, she shouldn’t be entertaining these questions. She needed to get away.

“Oh that’s sad. I’ve only met her once for a short time. She was really impressive though. All the professors say she’s a natural. I kind of wish she was my mentor and not Delvin.”

“No.” Madeline said in a gut reaction far too strongly. Sarah looked at her confused and Madeline quickly tried to explain herself. “Sorry. Like I said we aren’t that close and she isn’t really as nice as she might seem.”

“O-oh. Okay.” Sarah looked rather disappointed, and Madeline wasn’t sure what to do. She looked back up at Madeline. “Oh, um, just to let you know, you’ve got some ink on your nose. A lot of it actually,” the mage said, mimicking wiping the underside of her nose.

How did she have ink on her nose? Madeline hadn’t been writing anything in the past few hours so what did she have on her no— Madeline realized what Sarah was talking about. “Oh, um, thank you.” Not knowing what else to do, the witch reached up and wiped at the bottom of her ‘ink covered’ nose. It was a little surprising to find that even with her warming potions her nose still felt cold and wet. Knowing that the ‘ink’ wouldn’t come off, Madeline looked down at her hand and said, “I guess it dried in the cold. Have to wait till later to get it off.” She tried to give a friendly chuckle, but she was sure it came out more anxious because of her bad lie than anything.

Sarah giggled. “Kind of makes you look like a dog,” the mage said, buying the lie, shockingly. It's also a fox nose so she wasn’t too far off. “Don’t worry, it’s actually kind of cute.” Madeline felt her cheeks start to heat up. She had thought it was cute on herself too, but none of the people around her had confirmed that, besides Victor that one time. That moment had a habit of repeating itself in her head a little too often. Still, it felt really nice to know it was more than her and Victor. Even if it came from a mage. “Though I wouldn’t try and make it a fashion statement,” she said, still giggling.

“I’ll keep that in mind,” Madeline said with her own chuckle, though it came from knowing that she wasn’t going to get rid of her nose. Not only was it cute but it was also really useful. This conversation was going better than she had feared. She hadn’t been caught right away, and somehow she managed a tiny lie. Maybe Sarah was the person to ask about Planter. “You asked if I was lost earlier.”

“I did. You look very lost.” Her smile was sweet and kind.

“I am. Um. Would you know where the groundskeeper is? I’m trying to find him.” She really hoped Sarah would know, then she could head straight there and avoid as many mages as she could.

“The groundskeeper? Uhhhhh.” Sarah put a finger on her chin as she went into deep thought. Madeline wondered how hard it would be to forget something like an enslaved groundskeeper. Sarah’s eyes went wide in realization before she reached into her cloak. After a moment of fumbling around Sarah pulled out a heavily folded piece of paper. “I think the groundskeeper and all that is…” she opened the paper and Madeline leaned in close to find that it was a map of the campus. After a second of looking Sarah pointed to a spot on the Map. “Here! I think.”

Madeline stared at the map trying to figure out where that was. She couldn’t even find where she currently was on the map. “Uh… Which way is that?”

“Oh, it’s,” Sarah looked up and around. It took her a solid few seconds before figuring it out. “That way. If you have your map you should be able to find it easily.”

“I don’t have a map,” Madeline admitted. She might have successfully lied once, but she didn’t trust that working a second time. She even wondered if she could convince Sarah to give her hers.

“You don’t have a map? But they give every student a map,” Sarah looked at the witch confused.

“I’m not from this campus,” Madeline said in a rush to explain why she wouldn’t have one. “I’m just visiting for the day. I have some work to do with the groundskeeper.” None of that was a lie. She needed to thank Victor for helping her wordplay while playing Rinent.

“Oh! Well then why don’t I show you around and take you to the groundskeeper?” Before Madeline had time to answer Sarah had hooked her arm around hers and started pulling her along.

[Things are happening! Finally we get to see mages again and I hope you are enjoying it.]