Sapphic Fairy Tales 03: Briar Rose 02

It wasn't all bad, the food was excellent and Rose could see that the kitchen staff had outdone themselves to offer her up her favourite array of treats. Rose just tried to relax and let the formalities wash over her and ignore the whole ridiculous pageantry of it all as much as possible. She would bow and smile for each new person who was led up to her to be introduced. Many of the young men and some of the women tried to be charming by attempting to kiss her on the hand. Rose indulged these attempts to woo her but took an even greater dislike to these individuals. The hand kiss was as sleazy as it was corny at this point.

It seemed that all of these suitors had been well prepared to talk to her as well, as many attempted to engage her in conversations which she may have found interesting. Her mother had clearly been getting the word out in an attempt to ingratiate these suitors to her daughter. Unfortunately these attempts were often as clumsy as the kisses on the hand. She may have once had a fascination with the horses in the royal stables, but she had long since outgrown that indulgence. She liked astronomy, but some of the young men and women who attempted to broach the subject with her clearly needed a lesson in the difference between astronomy and astrology. And some of the female suitors attempted to get into her good graces by complimenting her dress or her jewellery, which Rose had always thought of as needless frippery, and mostly just wore them because it was expected of her.

Overall the attention was stifling and not a little bit annoying. Rose wondered if there was some sort of bet to do with getting her paired off with someone before she turned twenty, and that was why her mother was pushing her to meet someone so hard. Whatever the reason, the royal court and especially the queen seemed hell-bent on making sure that she met as many charming young people as possible this evening.

Occasionally Rose would see Nadya moving amongst the crowd with a tray of drinks or appetisers, which was weird as Nadya had proven that she was a terrible waitress on multiple occasions. But maybe they were short staffed and needed the help? Rose would attempt to break away periodically so that she could speak to her, desperate to clear the air about what had happened yesterday. But she would always be intercepted by some new duke or earl or baron who wanted to meet her and maybe push their son or daughter towards her hopefully.

Every now and then, Rose would also glance back at her mother who was standing on the high plinth up by the throne. She wore her usual neutral expression of royal serenity but Rose, who knew her better, could see that there was a hint of frustration and not a little worry hidden under the minor creases in her mother's mouth and forehead. Even though the Queen's eyes were currently on the ambassador from Felesmere beside her, Rose could feel her mother's attention directed towards her like a sunbeam. Just why was this party so important to her?!

As Rose saw the band at the far end of the throne room beginning to strike up their instruments ready for the dance part of the evening, she knew that she needed to get away, even just for five minutes. Her head felt like it was filled with pressure and the sideways intent eyes of nearly everyone else in the room had started to raise her hackles. She excused herself from the conversation that she had been trapped in and made her way to one of the side doors, hoping for a breath of fresh air. As she walked she thought that she saw a glimpse of Nadya's scruffy dark brown hair disappearing through the door too and she hurried after her.

As soon as she stepped out of the throne room the air instantly cooled and the hubbub of voices was dimmed slightly by the heavy oak doors. Rose knew that her mother would be annoyed with her for missing the first part of the dance, as she knew that she would want her to lead. But at this point Rose cared very little about what her mother thought, if she wanted her paired off so badly then she could have just arranged a marriage, like the nobles from most of the other kingdoms across the mountains. This whole charade of hoping that Rose would find a partner that she desired herself was frankly frustrating, and Rose was sick of it. She just wanted a quiet moment with her friend, and maybe finish the kiss that they had started yesterday.

Rose could hear the sound of Nadya's footsteps retreating quickly away down the stone corridor and she hurried after, picking up her long skirts to try and catch up with her. But strangely as soon as she turned the corner, the corridor was empty again and the only trace of Nadya was a retreating shadow and echoing footsteps leading away again, this time up a set of spiral stone stairs which led towards the balconies.

When Rose reached the top of the stairs as she hurried after Nadya she could have sworn that she saw the tail of her friend's dress disappear once more around a doorframe as the door shut behind her, she called out but Nadya didn't seem to have heard her. Rose hurried down the corridor once more and pulled at the door handle. Inside the room, it was strangely dark. She thought that she knew all of the nooks and crannies of the castle that she had lived in her whole life but for some reason this room seemed strange to her.

The walls were covered in a heavy dark tapestry depicting long sinewy rose-covered briars which curled and grasped at the bodies of princes and princesses. The ceiling was painted a strange pale shade of lilac that she had never seen anywhere else in the castle. In the centre of the room stood a small stone plinth on which someone had placed a small bouquet of roses, and standing beside the plinth was someone that Rose had never met.

She was tall and slender and terribly beautiful. Her high cheekbones and full red lips, combined with the long dark mane of her hair and bright green piercing eyes gave the woman a look of imperious majesty. She was wearing a long dark velvet dress, the neckline of which dropped dangerously low towards her midriff and her exposed skin was pale and smooth like cut marble.

'Who are you?' Rose asked nervously, 'are you one of the guests to the party? I don't know you.'

'No my dear,' the woman replied, her voice low and silky smooth, 'sadly I did not receive an invitation to your little soiree, a terrible oversight on your mother's part considering our history.'

'You're a friend of my mother's? Who are you?' Rose asked, as she cast her eyes around the weird room for Nadya, she didn't see any other exits and the girl didn't appear to be hiding anywhere in here.

'You could say that I am a friend of your mother's yes, Briar Rose. She and I have a... history, I did her a service many years ago, and I am here to collect on my end of the bargain. As for who I am, I have many names in this world and beyond, but you may call me, Maleficent.'

Rose was confused by this mysterious glamorous woman, whatever her name was, and her soft silky words. But whatever it was she meant by them, it could wait.

'Where's Nadya?' She asked, ignoring the woman's strange allusions.

'Nadya? Ahh, the one you followed in here I presume? She is... elsewhere. But she bade me gift you this beautiful bouquet of roses to you, aren't they delightful?'

Something about the way that Maleficent talked was strangely hypnotic, Rose could feel the frustration and need to see Nadya fading away from her as she poke. She felt calmed and safe here in this unknown room with this weird, but beautiful stranger. Her focus seemed to narrow until everything else faded into the background, everything but Maleficent's voice and the bouquet of roses in their simple glass jar before her. She was vaguely aware of a hubbub in the corridor outside of the room, as if someone distant and far away was calling her name. Was it her mother calling out to her? Or was it Nadya? All other voices seemed muffled and indistinct in comparison to the clear crystal clarity of Maleficent's sultry tones.

'Go on Briar Rose, take the roses my dear, they're for you after all, a gift from your love.'

Something about that sentence sounded wrong to Rose's befuddled mind. Nadya was her love? And she had given her these roses? Why hadn't she given her the flowers herself? Where was she? And why did this woman she had never met know her name? Rose's hand outstretched involuntarily, almost drunkenly towards the thorned stems of the roses and her last little spark of resistance to the compulsion broke through.

'Nobody calls me Briar Rose. Who are you really?

For a moment the shroud which seemed to cover Rose's vision seemed to clear and she beheld the true face of Maleficent. The inhuman cheekbones, the blood red lips, the long curved dark horns and sharp teeth. And of course the pupil-less deep dark green eyes, the same colour as her own. Rose made to retract her fingers but in one final moment of desperation, the woman Maleficent lashed out with her own hand and with surprising strength forced Rose's hand forwards to gasp at the sharp stems of the flowers.

Rose cried out in pain as one of the thorns picked her finger and she snatched her hand back, already seeing a bead of blood stemming from the end. And the world began to shift around her, the illusions of the castle room she had been standing in melted away revealing bare walls behind them. The figure of Maleficent seemed to flicker before her, one moment the tall glamorous woman she had first appeared to be, then she appeared as Nadya, then Queen Leah. And then she appeared as the tall, thin sharp-faced woman Rose had glimpsed before, her dress falling away to reveal her bare breasts and long pale legs and arms, that were a little too long and slim to be human. She smiled a victorious smile and too many of her teeth were revealed as she did so, her large green eyes filled with malevolence and cruel lasciviousness.

Rose could feel herself becoming faint before this monster, her vision contracted down to the bead of blood on her finger and she felt her legs collapse underneath her. But before she could hit the floor, the darkness enveloped her and she thought no more.

- - -

The Princess's twentieth birthday ball was a complete shambles according to the numerous lords and ladies who left in a huff even before the first dance had been called. The princess of the hour had mysteriously disappeared as they had been waiting for her to lead the dances. After an hour of waiting the guests had been addressed by a clearly distressed Queen Leah and told that the evening's festivities would not continue as the princess had been taken terribly ill, and that they were all asked to leave.

Nadya had managed to pick up this much from the rumour mill as most of the castle staff came back down to the kitchens where she had been helping to prepare dessert. Rose was in trouble, maybe even in danger. Nadya had done little but think about the moment that the two of them had shared in the orchard since the moment that Rose had left. And now it seemed that her idle wish of some terrible fate forestalling the end of the party had come true. Only it was Rose who had been caught in the mishap!

She sneaked out of the kitchens without being noticed in the hubbub of the party ending early and began to make her way towards the upper keep. She and Rose had spent their childhoods clambering over the rooftops of the castle and even in the dark the walls were no barrier to her. She slid and pulled her way all the way up the side of the north tower which she knew that The Queen's private council chamber was located in. She managed to clamber up the side of the tower using an old drain pipe until she was seated on the overhanging parapet above the window of that exact chamber. Inside she could hear distinct voices of at least three individuals, although the voices had not been raised yet, so Rose was probably not amongst them.

'It's as it was foretold by the nature of the bargain you struck your Majesty',

said an unfamiliar female voice. The voice was tinged with sadness and cracked with recent emotion.

'We knew this was coming from the moment of the princess's birth my Queen,'

This was another feminine voice, although deeper and slower and filled with sincerity.

'Yes, yes I know!' Nadya recognised the queen's voice raised in fear and frustration.

'And I'm grateful for the favour that the two of you did for me after I made that hasty contract with... her. You said that the magic of your Lady would protect my Rose from the worst of its power, but my daughter now lies on her bed in a comatose sleep that she won't wake from. She's everything but dead!'

At this the queen's voice also cracked and there were a few muffled moments of silence and quiet sobbing combined with comforting quiet words from the other two women in the room that Nadya couldn't quite make out. Eventually the Queen seemed to gather herself and stood up once more.

'What I need to know is what can be done now? What has happened to my darling Rose? Can you use the power of your Lady to return her to me?'

There was a moment of silence in the room beyond as if the two women that the queen had addressed were conversing silently between them, before the softer spoken one replied,

'Your Majesty, our Lady's magic was only able to alter slightly the deal that you made with Maleficent. I'm afraid that your daughter's soul is now inextricably bound to Maleficent's service, her body remains here but her spirit has been whisked away to Her realm.'

'Then how do we get her back?! True love's kiss? I remember you telling me that true love's kiss was a sort of trump card for fey magic. That's why I've been trying so hard to get Rose to meet someone these past few years. If we could find someone who truly loved her, then all it would take is a kiss and she'd come back to us right?!'

The desperation in the Queen's voice was clear and Nadya sitting outside the window could only imagine the fear and loss that her face must have been expressing in that moment.

'It's not as simple as that your Majesty,' The deeper calmer voice replied, 'Yes True Love's kiss can break the curse that binds your daughter to Maleficent. But even if there was someone who truly loved your daughter, it would not be enough for them to simply place a kiss on her corporeal body. True Love exists between two souls, entwining them and binding them in an unbreakable link. To break the spell, one would have to journey into the realm of Maleficent herself and place a kiss on the spirit of your daughter. Only then will she be free.'

'Through the tree archway near your cottage? When the moon is waxing, like it is tonight?'

'Yes my Queen, but like you said, there is no-one.'

- - -

Nadya clambered down the side of the tower, was out of the castle and was thundering down the road towards the edge of town within five minutes of having overheard what the Queen's councillors had told her. She knew exactly the archway that they had been talking about, it was part of local legend that it hid a doorway to the land of the fairies. The fact that it sounded like the legends were indeed true was just another thing to add to the list of unbelievable things that had happened this evening.

She didn't know what she was doing, she had no plan in her head other than to go to the land of the fairies and rescue Rose. Maybe she was the only one who could? The thought was as ridiculous as it was terrifying. True love's kiss?! Nadya knew in her heart that she loved Rose more than anyone else in the world, that she wanted to hold her and be with her, to bring her home safely and free her from the clutches of this... Maleficent. She had to hope that that was enough. Nadya didn't know what True Love was, but maybe, just maybe she would be enough.

The little yellow cottage on the edge of town stood empty and lightless as Nadya sprinted past it, the air burning in her lungs. As she looked up she saw that the moon was currently shrouded by a high bank of cloud, she had to hope that the clouds moved away long enough for her to find the doorway. Although she didn't really have any idea where she was going, Nadya let the path guide her through the thin trees at the edge of the forest and entered a small clearing which was dark and shadowed by the canopy above. She looked around desperately for an arch of trees, some kind of doorway, but there was nothing, the moon was still hidden and without its light there was nothing to illuminate anything.

For several minutes Nadya spun on the spot, her heart pounding with the effort of running so fast to get here and the panic of not finding the doorway, and then the clouds above shifted and saw it. A shimmering doorway of silvery moonlight in the space between two trees. The vision was bizarre and difficult to look at directly, her vision seemed to glide off it like water from a duck's back. Nadya looked up and saw that the gap between the clouds would not last for long, she had to move now or maybe lose her chance to save Rose. She took one last look around her and then ran head first through the doorway.

The world beyond the gateway was weird. Huge twisted lengths of thorn and rose covered vines grew on either side of the leaf-litter path. They grew up and curved until they nearly obscured the lilac coloured sky above. Even though the rose's scent was sweet it was also cloying and slightly overpowering and Nadya found herself choking slightly on the heady scent, she gathered her wits and pushed through. As she continued to struggle forward the thorns which pushed in from all sides snagged and tugged at the cheap coarse fabrics she wore and more than once Nadya heard the cloth tear behind her. She ignored it and pressed on, even though her skirt and apron were reduced to rags.

The air in this place seemed un-naturally still. It was like walking through a deep dark cellar where the air has not moved in decades and its stagnant coolness made goose pimples appear across Nadya's now exposed upper legs and arms as the thorns continued to tear at her clothing.

Finally, after an interminable length of time following the path through the vines, Nadya thought that she could see something up ahead. She ducked down and approached more carefully, wishing now that she had brought some kind of weapon, a knife, a long stick or a frying pan, anything. Although, she didn't know exactly how useful a long stick would be in helping her storm the enormous vine-covered castle that she saw before her.

The castle was strangely familiar and Nadya quickly realised that this was because it was a weird reflection of the castle that she and Rose and everyone she knew had spent their whole lives in. But it differed from the castle in the world that Nadya had left in many jarring ways. Its dark stone walls were high and arrayed with spiked battlements. Its wide deep moat was filled with a dark sludgy looking liquid which almost seemed to seethe with some unidentifiable lifeform, and the tall narrow towers jutted up into the light pink sky like jagged teeth.

But despite its formidable appearance, unlike the castle that was her home which always teemed with life, Nadya noticed that this castle also appeared to be completely abandoned. There were no guards manning the walls, no smoke rose from the kitchen chimneys and there were no candle lights at all in any of the windows, none that is except for just one in the highest room of the tallest tower. Her task of infiltrating the castle was also made much easier by the fact that the drawbridge appeared to be down and there was nothing and nobody currently guarding the gate. Nadya took a quick look around to check her surroundings and, seeing nothing, she made her way quietly forwards across the exposed drawbridge and into the castle. Behind her, concealed in the thick thorny vines, a single pair of dark green malevolent eyes glimmered in the semi-light of this strange world, before they blinked out.