The Thicket by LilyRose (libby ebook reader .txt) 📖

Gyllain.

Did you? she responded. For me? And what about for her?

But I didn't come for her!, said the Prince. I came to save you.

You chose wrong, whispered Briar Rose.

No, Princess, that cannot be. You truly don't wish to be saved?

Princess, will you help me? I need your help.

There was a long silence. Slowly, the warm golden light began to move again, coming closer through the thicket. Now Prince Gyllain could see that she carried a glowing taper in a silver holder, topped with a glass chimney. She came closer still, the light illuminating her. The Prince looked up into her face, and it was then that he saw the true nature of the fatal error he had made.

Princess Meridian, whose name had been all but forgotten, and was now known far and wide as Princess Briar Rose, moved closer still, until only a scrim of thorns separated him from her. She looked into his face, and her eyes held neither the hardness nor the softness he had seen in them. Instead, they were the cool, flat eyes that had disconcerted him so before. Prince Gyllain was brought to mind of nothing less than a spider. Pitiless.

You were asked for help, she said to him. You were given what you sought, but it wasn't enough for you, and you abandoned it. When you don't know who it is you seek, it's always best to treat strangers well. How sad you won't be able to pass that knowledge on to the next one, though.

Wait, he said, but she had already turned and was now moving away. Wait, he called out, louder, and as she vanished into the dark, he began to scream, and he screamed until his voice was nothing but air. When he could make no sounds anymore, not even grunts, Prince Gyllain drew his sword, and began hacking away at the thicket, cutting, cutting, and cutting again, and for all anybody knows, he may be cutting still. For such is the way that these sort of stories often end.

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Text: (c)2011 October Light Studios
Publication Date: 09-08-2011

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