There were hands upon my shoulders, shaking me. Then I felt myself pulled into a pair of arms. “Don’t weep, Aurore. I’m here,” the voice said.
And at that, I woke up, and knew where I was. I was in la Forêt, at the base of an apple tree, held tightly in Ironheart’s arms.
“I wasn’t weeping,” I said.”I never cry.”
“Well, at least I know you’re awake now,” said Ironheart.
I tried to sit up, but he pushed my head back down against his chest. “Stop fussing,” he said. “I’ve had enough conflict for one day. Just lie still, Aurore. Try relying on me for once. Think of it this way: I owe you for building five nights worth of fires.”
Part of me was tempted to argue. I hated to seem weak, but he did have a point. Besides, the dream had left me shaking and Ironheart felt solid and warm.
“I’m sorry I was so disagreeable,” I mumbled against his chest.
“I’m sorry you were too,” said Ironheart. At this I tried to lift my head again, but he held it firmly in place with the back of one hand.”Shut up and go to sleep, Aurore. We can argue again in the morning, if you still want to.”
And so I gave up and went to sleep in the shelter of his arms, my head pressed against the rhythm of his heart. All through the night, it seemed to me that it pounded out his name. One I was beginning to believe was his true one after all.
Ironheart. Ironheart. Ironheart.
FIFTEEN
When I awoke the next morning, I was alone. My head was resting on a great tree root instead of where I thought it would be, which was Ironheart’s shoulder. I had a crick in my neck I was sure would remain for the rest of the day, a thing I certainly intended to mention in no uncertain terms.
Just as soon as I found him.
I stood up and stretched, then shouldered my knapsack and wrapped both cloaks around me. He’d left me his, which I had to admit was very considerate. The air was sharp, though the sky was clear even in the early morning. It was the kind of day Nurse always said reminded her of the one on which I had been born. A day like a beautiful wild animal with a glossy coat and a mouth full of teeth. The kind of day where anything could happen, so you’d better watch out.
The sixth day since I’d come to the Forest.
I found Ironheart standing at the very edge of the apple orchard, staring straight ahead and frowning.
“Oh, good, you’re awake. Come and tell me what you make of this,” he said as I moved to stand beside him.
I studied it.
“Whatever it is, it’s green,” I said.”And yes, thank you, I did sleep well. Except for the crick in my neck that I’m sure is all your fault. Good morning.”
At this, he gave me his full attention, turning to me with a smile and slinging one arm around my shoulders.”Good morning, Aurore. I can see that it’s green. But what else is it? That’s what I really want to know.”
We stared ahead in silence for a moment.”Well,” I said.”It’s obviously a hedge of some sort.”
It was taller than either of us and extended in both directions as far as my eyes could see. Even from where we stood, some distance away, I could see that its branches were filled with both buds and thorns. As we watched, the sun struck the section closest to us, causing it to suddenly burst into bloom. Blossom after blossom of a pink as pale as the first flush of light in the sky.
“Roses,” Ironheart exclaimed suddenly. “It’s a hedge made of roses.” I could tell by the sound of his voice that he was relieved. More than that, he was delighted. Roses and sleeping princesses were the sorts of things that almost always went together.
“It’s in our way,” I said, my own voice grumpy.
He chuckled.”How can it be in our way when we don’t really know where we’re going? Besides, I should think you’d be happy about something like this. You were the one who wanted a challenge.”
I didn’t have a particularly good answer for that remark, as he happened to be right, so I decided to ignore it. Instead, I took off his cloak and handed it to him.
“All right,” I said.”Let’s see if we can go around it.”
After some debate about which direction to go, we went to the right and walked for several hours, the sun inching ever higher in the sky and the rose hedge blooming as we moved along it. There were white roses, then lavender, and then a gold that Ironheart said exactly matched the color of my hair. And finally a vivid red that reminded me of the fate that awaited me. The prick of a finger, followed by one bright drop of blood. As we walked along, we munched apples and the last of Ironheart’s cheese, until the sight of the red roses made me lose my appetite.
“Do you suppose this was here last night?” Iron-heart mused as we halted about midday. With the sun directly overhead, the rose hedge was a riot of color. “And we just couldn’t see it because of the mist?”
I nodded. “It’s too tall to have just sprung up overnight.” I watched a branch move as if stretching in the sun, an action I swear made it taller.”Though, considering where we are, I suppose anything is possible.”
Ironheart cocked his head.”I don’t think it’s just a boundary,” he said.”I think there’s something inside it.”
“You mean your princess,” I said.
He shrugged as if what I’d said wasn’t important, but I saw that his face had colored.”Why not? You just said it yourself: Considering where we are, anything is possible.”
“Well, if there is something inside, there has to be a way in,” I said. “I don’t think we can just climb over it.”
“I’ve been thinking the same thing,” Ironheart nodded. He fell silent, studying the hedge.”I wonder when we’ll find it.”
“Probably when the Forest wants us to,” I said. Or when we wanted it enough. “Come on. Let’s keep going.”
We found it about an hour later, though the opening was so small we almost walked right by it.
“Ouch,” I heard Ironheart suddenly exclaim. He stopped walking abruptly. A long branch of roses whose blossoms were the same color orange as the sun when it set had become entangled in the hood of his cloak.”Help me, will you please, Aurore?”
I eyed the branch, specifically, its thorns. They were small, but I knew better than to assume that meant they weren’t sharp. I took off my pack, fished out my leather gloves and pulled them on. A moment later, Ironheart was free, the branch bobbing above his head as if laughing at some secret joke.
“Thank you,” Ironheart said, as he turned around. “I can’t think why—” He stopped speaking as abruptly as he’d stopped walking, his eyes growing wide. I think I knew what it was before I even turned to follow his gaze.
Just below the branch that had snared his cloak there was a break in the hedge, so subtle that if I hadn’t been staring straight at it, I would never have noticed. The hedge still continued as straight as ever, but one section was offset, as if it had taken a step backward. If you were careful and turned sideways, you’d be able to slip in between the two sections of hedge.
“What do you think?” asked Ironheart.
“I think it’s what we’ve been waiting for,” I said. Whether I was ready for it or not.
“I’ll go first,” said Ironheart.
He pulled his hood up over his head, gathered his cloak in close to his body, then stepped to the hedge, turned, and scooted sideways. A moment later, I heard his sharp intake of breath.
“Are you all right?” I called.
“I think you’d better come and see this,” he said.
I followed his example. A moment later, I was standing by his side. In front of us was another series of hedges, moving off in different directions. Branching every which way like a series of corridors.
“It’s a maze,” I said.
“I knew it,” Ironheart whispered, his eyes shining. “I knew there was more to that hedge than met the eye. We’re almost there, Aurore. Can you feel it?”
Oh yes, I thought. I could feel my skin prickle, the way it did when danger appr
oached. For, no matter how long it took to solve them, all mazes had one thing in common: They had a heart. And, in that moment, it seemed plain to me that the heart of the maze and the heart of the Forest were one and the same.
Now all we had to do was to find it.
SIXTEEN
As it turned out, it didn’t take nearly as long as I thought it might, which is the way things sometimes go. The anticipation takes longer than the actual event. In this case, it was as if even the Forest was in a hurry to get things over with, now that we’d gotten so close. Perhaps it feared that we would change our minds at the last moment. Decide to turn around and go back home instead of heading forward toward the goal.
Ironheart went first, insisting we go to the right as we had first thing that morning, his voice happy and excited when I asked him why. This wasn’t a mysterious puzzle, like la Forêt itself. This was a puzzle he knew how to solve.
“Because that’s the way a maze works,” he said, as we reached the first intersection. Without hesitation, he moved to the right once more. “Or at least, some of them. The ones constructed the way this one is. I can tell just by looking at it. The royal gardener and I once made a series of studies.”
We came to a second intersection and he turned right yet again, walking so close to the hedge he almost brushed it with his shoulder in spite of the ever present thorns. After that, the maze became more complex and he picked up the pace, weaving through a series of twists and turns so swiftly I practically had to jog to keep up.
“For heaven’s sake,” I said.”Whatever’s waiting for us isn’t going anywhere. Slow down.”
“The hedge on our right is continuous,” he called back over his shoulder, continuing his explanation of how he knew how to get where we were going.”There are no breaks in it anywhere. All we have to do is follow it, always keeping it on our right, and it will lead us to the maze’s heart. It’s really incredibly simple, once you know the trick.”
I suppose I don’t have to tell you that this was the moment that disaster struck. Never say a thing is simple, even if you know it is. Because as soon as you do, things get complicated. You might as well just come right out and invite something you’d rather not meet to rear its ugly head and bite you. Or in this case, scratch you, which is what happened next. As Ironheart turned back around, he turned a corner at the same time and one long cane of thorns, hidden by the turn in the maze, slashed across his face.
He gave a cry that had my heart leaping straight up into my throat. I sprinted toward him, already shucking off my knapsack.
“How bad is it? Let me see!” I said.
He had one hand—his left hand—pressed against the same side of his face. As if, even in wounding him, the maze had deliberately left his right side unimpaired. I could see bright drops of blood leaking out through his fingers—the same color as the blossoms covering the bushes all around us, as the thorns on the cane that even now arched above us, still quivering with the force of their contact.
“It’s all right. I’m all right,” he gasped.
“You’re not all right,” I insisted, dragging on his hand.”Ironheart, I can’t help you if you won’t let me see.”
To my amazement, he jerked back. “Not yet,” he snapped.”Not until we reach the heart.”
“That’s crazy,” I said.”You’re hurt. You have to let me help you now.” But I was talking to his back.
“When we reach the heart,” he said again as he staggered off. “Not before that.”
And so we completed our journey to the heart of the maze, the heart of the Forest, with Ironheart weaving like a drunkard and me trailing along behind him, following the bright drops of blood that slipped from his fingers and fell to the grass like so many scarlet bread crumbs. To this day, I can’t tell you how long it took, though he was right about the way the maze worked, of course. After what seemed like endless twisting and turning, we rounded one final corner and there it was. I’m not sure quite what I’d expected. Something stately and royal, I suppose. Or at the very least something that reeked of storybook magic. A smooth square of perfectly green grass with a pavilion made of crystal in its very center and a fountain splashing water as clear as diamonds. Or perhaps a woodland glen inhabited by both a lion and a unicorn.
La Forêt being what it was, the thing it held within its heart was neither of those things. It was simply a garden, and a practical one at that, with herbs and vegetables planted in tidy rows. The only structure I could see was an old wooden potting shed. The closest thing to a fountain was a brick-lined well. And the only place where a princess might have slept for a hundred minutes, let alone a hundred years, was a bench with a flowered cushion for her head at one end. On the other end lay a straw hat with a bright blue ribbon tied around the crown, as if whoever tended this place had just taken it off and gone for a morning stroll.
But of the gardener herself, there was no sign.
“No,” I heard Ironheart choke out. His steps faltered, and he came to a halt. “No.”
My heart was knocking against my ribs so hard I thought it might break. With his sorrow, not with my own.
“Sit down,” I said, putting my hands on his shoulders and pushing him downwards. “Let me see your face.”
His legs folded like a house of twigs, his hands flopping useless in his lap. “She’s not here. She’s not here, Aurore.”
“Don’t be ridiculous, of course she’s here,” I said, making my voice as brisk as I could.”You don’t think a princess is going to sleep for a hundred years outside. She’d catch her death of cold long before her handsome prince could even set out, let alone arrive.”
Not so bad. It’s not so bad, I thought. Though it had bled fiercely during our sprint, most of the bleeding had stopped by now, and the wound had somehow missed his eye. It started midforehead, then slanted downward across the left side of his face. I was pretty sure the thing that had saved his eye had been the bridge of his nose. But the cut was deep, especially across his cheek, and would need to be cleansed and stitched.
“Sit there,” I said. “I’ll get some water from the well.”
“No,” he protested, trying to get to his feet.”I can’t just sit here. I have to find her, Aurore.”
“And so you will,” I said.”But you can’t do it looking like you’ve just been attacked by brigands. You want to bring her the kiss of true love, not scare her half to death. Wouldn’t you say she’s already been through enough?”
“You’re right. Of course you’re right,” he said.”It’s just—”
“Sit still,” I commanded, making my voice as stern as I could.”The sooner you let me do this, the sooner you can get on with your quest.”
But as I started to rise, he caught my hand. “She is here, isn’t she? I will find her, won’t I, Aurore?”
“Of course you will,” I said, though I felt the pain of doubt close like a vise around my heart.”Isn’t it the thing for which you were born?”
“That’s right. It is,” he said. And then he smiled, a thing that caused a sluggish line of blood to ooze from his cut at its deepest point.
“I’ll be right back,” I said. I made for the well. After returning with most of a bucket of water, I knelt down beside him, then rummaged in my knapsack for my extra shirt and the healing supplies I had brought along.
“This will probably hurt,” I said, as I used my knife to hack one of the sleeves off the shirt. “I’m sorry, but I don’t think it can be helped.”
Ironheart attempted a smile.”It’s all right,” he said. “Really, I’m tougher than I look.”
I paused in the act of dunking the sleeve in the water and met his eyes.”No, you’re not.”
He opened his mouth to protest, then closed it again as he realized what I’d meant.”Thank you,” he said. “I think that’s about the nicest thing anybody’s ever said to me, Aurore.”
“Just don’t let it go to your head,” I remarked. “There’s nothing worse than a man who thinks too well o
f himself.”
Then swiftly I laid the damp cloth against his face while he was still chuckling. He jerked once, his eyes telling me he knew exactly what I’d done, then calmed. Carefully I washed the dried blood from his face, working slowly and patiently until I felt sure the wound was as clean as I could make it.
“I’m going to have to stitch your cheek,” I said.
Somehow, he managed to make a face. “A thing you’ve no doubt done a million times before.”
“A million and one,” I said, as I deftly threaded my needle, grateful for the first time for Maman’s insistence that I learn to use one properly.
He chuckled and reached one hand out to grasp mine at the wrist, holding it still.”I like you, Aurore. I just wanted to say that—before whatever else is going to happen happens.”
“I like you, too,” I replied.
“All right,” he said.”Let’s get this over with.”
Though the first instance of needle going through flesh gave us both a bad moment, in a matter of minutes I was snipping off the thread and the deed was done. I wove the needle through the thigh of my right pant leg, desperate to get it out of my hands before they could begin to shake, then turned to dip a fresh piece of torn shirtsleeve into the bucket.
“Here, take this,” I said, leaning forward to hand it over.”The water is cold. It will help keep the swelling down. Why don’t you rest for just a moment before you—”
I felt a small, bright spear of pain, for all the world like the sting of a bee, shoot through my right hand as I sat back upon my heels and my hand brushed against my thigh. Turning it over, I could see something exactly in the center of the pad of my right forefinger.
One bright drop of blood.
My eyes dropped to where I’d tucked the needle into the top of my pants. You great idiot, Aurore. And so the fate I’d been waiting my whole life for was upon me, and of course I’d brought it on myself.
“Ouch,” I said softly. And then, “I wonder what happens now?”
Ironheart took the cloth down from his face. “What is it? What’s the matter, Aurore?”
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