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“Well, he’s the only one like him that I have seen.”
My brows furrowed in confusion. What was he talking about? What did he mean?
“Jesper, what is that supposed to even mean? Why does everyone play word games here? Can no one just give me a straight answer?”
His tail twitched again, he did not answer me.
“Jesper.” I pushed.
His gaze flicked over before perking up, his ears coming up. The tufts at the ends moved as they did so. “Oh!” He exclaimed before scurrying off. “Look at those gorgeous walnuts!”
“Jesper!” I exclaimed, chasing after him. But he had disappeared from sight. I had no chance of finding him, not here. The scenery had changed as we walked. Tall hedges towered over me, their leaves in different shades of green. The path split before me, forcing me to choose. The path was no longer straight-forward.
I was in a maze.
My first thought was to wonder why there was a hedge maze in the first place. My second thought was to wonder which direction to go in. I had myself turned around, and while I wouldn’t say I had a knack for directional navigation, it was something I could manage. But I’d lost sight of the castle, the hedges towering over me prevented me from seeing. However, if I remembered correctly which direction it had been in when I entered, I would be able to stay on the right path.
I think.
As I stood there, shivering in the dampness of my clothes, my mind raced with questions and confusion. I couldn't understand why the Goblin King was so concerned about my well-being. What was it he needed me for? Or did he genuinely cared about me? The more I thought about it, the less sense it made. This was a creature that had taken me from Rothnia, trapped me in his realm, and yet here he was, worried about me staying alive.
But as confusing as his behavior was, I couldn't ignore the way my body had reacted to him. The way his touch had sent a rush of heat through me, the way his proximity had left me breathless. I knew it was wrong, I knew I should be afraid of him, but there was something about him that drew me in. Something I couldn't quite put my finger on.
Even as I stood there lost in thought wondering what way to go, the sun began to move farther across the sky, casting long shadows across the ground. The air grew colder, and my wet clothes clung to my skin. I knew I should move, to keep going where I needed to but there was a pull, a sense of something unfinished that kept me rooted to the spot.
Finally, with a heavy sigh, I turned and began to make my way through the hedges. As I walked, my mind raced with questions, trying to make sense of everything that had happened. But the more I thought about it, the less sense it made. It was as if the Goblin King was deliberately trying to confuse me, to keep me off balance.
But why? What did he want from me? And why did I feel this strange connection to him, despite everything he had done to me?
Lost in thought, I suddenly stumbled over something on the path. I looked down and saw a small object lying in the dirt. It was a ring, a simple silver band with a small green stone set in the center.
I picked it up, turning it over in my hand, wondering where it had come from. And then I saw it, etched on the inside of the band, a single word: “Remember.”
My heart began to race as I realized what it could mean. Was this message from the Goblin King, a reminder of something important? Or was it from the voice in the grove?
What was I supposed to remember?
I glanced up into the sky again, hoping to see him flying away before looking back down at the ring that I now had in my fingers, a sense of foreboding washed over me. Whatever was coming, it was going to be big. And I had a feeling that there was more left unsaid between us.
* * *
Over the course of several hours I took turn after turn, weaving in and out of the hedges. Taking one path after another, I was unsure if I was headed in the right direction, but I would not let it deter me. Very little signaled if I was headed where I needed to go but part of me seemed to know. To remember exactly which direction I was supposed to head in here. The thought flickered in my head of the image I saw the first time.
The one of the woman in white, a smile on her lips. She had surfaced so many times throughout the last several days. Her face was a familiar one. It was as if I knew her, she was something to me, but I did not know what it meant or who she truly was. But her smile, her white dress in the green of the hedges had me pushing forward, as if she was guiding me where I needed to go. Helping me through the hedge maze, helping me get through the labyrinth to the end.
It was on the last turn that everything opened up. The hedges falling away to reveal an abandoned garden. The fountain at its center was covered in ivy, the marble cracked and the pond dried up. Marble statues placed strategically around the garden in tiny alcoves watched over it, as if they were the unassigned guardians of the place. The flower beds were long shriveled and died, weeds growing in their places.
But despite the space, despite its abandoned state, it was the mausoleum at the end that caught my attention. It loomed before me, built of white stone marble, the chiseled columns of stone held up the roof. It was surrounded by a barricade of evergreen trees. I worried my lip as I stepped forward, passing the statues, the fountain, the weed covered flower beds. The stone of the path before me had cracked over time.
Carefully stepping over the loosened stone, as to not trip. The mausoleum had seen better days as well, the white marble was covered in a layer of grime and dirt. The steps before it had heaved with ground movement. I only paused once, hesitating before putting a foot forward on the only piece of steps you could climb. The structure was modest in size, the entrance tall enough to let in the natural light. My heart jumped as a fluttering of birds flew out, scared of my being there.
The black and white checkered floor was littered in leaves and old flowers. What was this place? Was it a place to grieve? A place one could go to reflect? A resting place? Scanning the interior my eyes landed on a statue. Carved of solid onyx granite. It stood out against the white of the marble walls. The statue was a pair of fae, carved into a lover's embrace. The love on their faces was captured forever in the stone.
I could not pull myself away from them. My eyes latched onto their features. I knew them, I’d seen them before. But I could not place them. Their names were lost to me, their faces haunted me. My brows furrowed, they were the ones that were in the visions. The dreams I had, memories I shared with someone I did not know. The woman in white, the man with the laurel coronet. While I did not know who they were, they felt like home.
They meant something.
* * *
