AaBack's Grimm: Dark Fantasy Fairy Tale #2 Friends Reunited: The Janus Beast, The Rose Beauty, And The Cursed Duckling

by Michael D. Britton

  * * *

  Jane felt a little better since speaking with Sun Beast and soon found herself nearing the gate of the Hedge Labyrinth. She started in when she bumped into one of the servants.

  "I'm sorry, I didn't see you," Jane said, then thought her comment rude, and added, "I didn't mean to make fun of your curse."

  The servant said nothing to her, and when she heard them walk on, she entered through the gate and soon found herself standing in front of the giant rose.

  Jane didn't wait for any sort of greeting from the giant rose, not that she ever offered one, and Jane blurted, "Erosa, I passed Sun Beast's test and have taken on the job as a Hex Breaker. You and I talked about me taking you on as a client also, and I would really like to take on both of your jobs at the same time. I have a feeling that the two of you or is it three of you are somehow linked?" She paused and when the giant rose said nothing, Jane asked, "Have you decided whether or not you want to hire me?"

  Erosa realized the foolhardy female elf was more cheerful that she expected her to be after encountering the master who roams the night, and she couldn't let that delicious encounter go unspoken, so she demanded, "Before I answer your questions, answer a few of mine."

  "Fair enough."

  "What do you think of the master who roams the night?"

  "I don't like him. I don't like him one bit."

  "What are your impressions of him? Is he worth saving?"

  Jane hesitated answering such personal questions, but then she considered if she wanted personal answers from the giant rose, she'd also have to confess all. She replied, "My first answer would be that he isn't worth saving, but he is part of Sun Beast, so can I abandoned that side of him just because I don't like that part of him?"

  "Sun Beast? Did you name the master who monopolizes the light?"

  "I did, and I gave the other side of him the name Moon Beast," Jane replied, peered at the giant rose for a second or two, and then stated, "I guess I also gave you a name until you tell me your real one."

  "You did give me a name. You gave all three of us a name," Erosa spoke somewhat concerned and then she demanded, "Tell me more about what happened last night."

  Jane started to catch on to what the giant rose really wanted to hear. She didn't want to hear about how Jane succeeded or that she might be able to break her curse, all the giant rose wanted to hear was how horrible the experience with Moon Beast had been. Jane's belief that they were friends couldn't be farther from the truth, and she realized that they may never be friends. If Jane was going to help both Beasts and the giant rose, it had to be because it was the right thing to do and not because they may be her friends from the recurring dream.

  "Do I have to tell you?" Jane asked, embarrassed by what had happened to her.

  "Yes," Erosa answered. "Tell me all the details or we have no deal."

  "You'll answer all my questions if I do?"

  "I will," Erosa replied. "Now tell me before I change my mind."

  Reluctantly Jane gave in and told the giant rose all that transpired the night before and how cruel the Moon Beast had been to her.

  "What secret does he know about you?" Erosa questioned her once Jane finished.

  "I don't know. He would never tell me, and he acted like I should know," Jane replied and then she asked, "Have I met your terms? Can I proceed with my own questions."

  "After I have teased you a bit, you may," Erosa stated. "Now come closer, so I can witness your humiliation as I toy with you."

  "You are very honest about your teasing, and I don't think I like this kind of teasing. Is this what makes you happy?" Jane questioned her as she moved forward and stood in front of the giant rose. She glanced around the dead garden and stated, "You're surrounded by misery. Are you sure you want to fill it with my shame and embarrassment or wouldn't you rather fill it with my optimism?"

  "Do you believe you understand me, female elf?"

  "It's Jane, and I probably don't. I can't understand what it's been like to be trapped here, but I do understand giving in to despair. You can't be happy here, and you seem to enjoy sharing your gloom or enjoy seeing other people miserable. Can't we just talk about things that..."

  "If you mention friends again, I may vomit," Erosa told her.

  "I wasn't going to," Jane told her. "I was only going to suggest we talk about both your curses."

  "You do not know anything about me."

  "You're right, so tell me one thing you'd like to do once your free of your hex," Jane told her, trying to get her to focus on the possible life ahead of her.

  "One thing... I can manage that. I would like to sit in a chair and eat cheese cake and drink coffee."

  "How do you like your coffee?"

  "Cream and sugar unless I am having something sweet to eat and then I like it black."

  "I also like cream and sugar in my coffee. Now we know one thing about the other. Our status as acquaintances is growing stronger."

  Erosa laughed as she said, "I believe you tricked me into wanting to have my old body back more than I want to tease you. You win this round. Go ahead and ask your questions, would-be Hex Breaker."

  Jane was pleased to hear the giant rose laugh and so she went ahead with her investigation. "From our earlier discussion I can guess that you're a sorceress. You seem very bitter towards both beasts. I hope that didn't offend you to hear that. I would like to know if you're the one who cursed him?"

  Erosa considered how close the female elf had gotten in the short time she had been there. Erosa decided that she couldn't wait anymore and that she needed to eliminate the female elf, but how did she know that she was a sorceress? There were many types of magical users, but the female elf spoke her class by name. There was also the curse the female elf had upon her that protected her. Erosa would have to strike without thinking about how much she wanted her dead.

  "The question you just posed is worth quite a bit," Erosa stated and then she questioned, "What sort of reward would I get for answering it?"

  "Reward? Oh I get it... A different type of game. I can play. What sort of reward would you want?"

  "You will have to tell me," Erosa replied. "What sort of..." The female elf's face lit up in horror and distracted Erosa as she continued, "...reward is worth..." She continued to watch as the female elf's jaw dropped in astonishment. Erosa finished with, "...the answer to such an important question?"

  "Worm," Jane replied.

  "Worm? Not exactly the reward I was thinking of," Erosa told her.

  Jane lifted her arm and pointed at her in terror as she repeated, "Worm! There's a worm crawling on one of your vines."

  "Pest do on occasion crawl on me there is nothing..."

  "It's huge!" Jane uttered, then spread her hands apart showing her, as she told her, "It's two feet long!"

  "What?" Erosa shouted, then turned and saw the giant orange black striped budworm making its way up one of her vines towards her face. This particular budworm had teeth like a tiger and chomped them up and down as it inched its way towards her. "Get it off! Get it off!" she shrieked. "It is going to eat me!"

  Jane removed her backpack, dropped it on the ground, then drew PapyrKut, and charged in to save her friend. Erosa whipped her twelve vines about as she frenzied in terror. She tried to whip the worm off of her, but it held on like a hungry tiger holding on to its kill. Erosa tried to grab the budworm with her other vines, but she couldn't pry it off. Jane shielded her face in fear of getting hit herself by one of the thorn covered vines.

  "Erosa, hold still! I'll get the bug, but you have to hold still!"

  "Get it off! Get it off before it eats me!"

  Realizing her friend was too terrified to hold still, Jane proceeded into the tunnel of angry vines with her short sword at the ready. She reached the vine with the budworm, and she prepared to stab the bug, but the vine thrashed about too much for her to hit her target, so Jane grabbed the vine with her left hand and
felt something stab her palm, and then she attacked the budworm with PapyrKut, piercing it through its side. The bug wriggled about on the end of her blade, and Jane shrilled like a B-movie scream queen, turned, and swiped the sword down, flinging the budworm far away.

  "Is it dead! Is it dead?" Erosa questioned.

  Jane crept over to the budworm and when it wriggled again on the ground, she stabbed it several times with her short sword as she shouted, "Die! Die! Die!"

  "Is it dead?" Erosa asked.

  Jane stared at the creature in a hundred pieces and replied, "I think so." She stabbed it once more and said, "Yes, it's dead." She walked back over to the giant rose and said, "I was so freaked out! That bug was huge!"

  "I was more terrified. It was crawling toward my face to chomp it off," Erosa told her.

  "No, I was more scared. I had to navigate your thorny vines and hit the bug with my sword while you wiggled about like some crazed octopus."

  "I was more scared. Did you see the teeth on that thing?"

  "No," Jane told her. "I only noticed an ax mark on its back, but the thing did keep squishing as I repeatedly stabbed it with my sword. I thought I was going to be sick."

  The two of them stared at one another for a few seconds and then they both started laughing.

  "You should have seen you," Erosa started. "You were screaming like a deranged banshee and stabbing the dirt so hard, I thought you had killed the ground more than it already was."

  "Me? What about you? You were all get it off me! Get it off me!"

  They laughed about it some more.

  Jane looked at her palm as she said, "You even got me good with one of your thorns."

  "Come here. I will heal it for you."

  "Thank you," Jane spoke as she approached. "I don't think I've ever screamed so hard or laughed so hard."

  "I also can not remember a time when I was so terrified and then filled with such delightful cheer and laughter. You are a peculiar female elf, and one I would gladly call an acquaintance."

  "You're going to make me blush going on like that," Jane told her as she saw a few of the fairies fly into the dead garden from their hiding places among the maze. She smiled at seeing them and then told Erosa, "If you're not careful, someone might accuse you of liking me just a little." She lifted her left hand to the giant rose just as the fairies began to sing. Jane thought they would sing Saah'Mee, but their song was different, but one she did recognize.

  "I will be careful. I have a reputation to keep," Erosa spoke as she tenderly took her hand with one vine and then raised another to cast a healing spell. The female elf... Jane... Jane didn't need to die, she decided. Erosa would simply mislead her on her investigation and then they would remain as acquaintances and have more of these enjoyable times together. It had been too long since she felt so happy or full of joy. Erosa paused before casting the healing spell as she stared at the cut on Jane's palm. Red blood ran from the cut her thorn unintentional inflicted, and the crimson liquid triggered a reaction within Erosa, a reaction that all cursed with the monstrous curse were inflicted by.

  Within the castle...

  "Master," one of the servants bided out of breath.

  "Yes, what is it?" Sun Beast inquired.

  "I ran into Mistress Jane near the Hedge Labyrinth."

  "Why bring this to my attention?" Sun Beast questioned him. "I told you all, she may go wherever she wills."

  "She went into the Hedge Labyrinth."

  Panic set in as Sun Beast uttered, "It is locked! How did she get in?"

  "I do not know. Only that she entered the cursed place."

  "I have to save Jane! Guards! Guards!" Sun Beast yelled as he rushed for the Hedge Labyrinth.

  The Hedge Labyrinth...

  Erosa continued to stare at Jane's palm as an enchanted terror weaved it spell upon her and struck Erosa with fear that unsteadied her entire being. The one who created happiness and joy in her only brought deception. She wanted to lift her roots out of the ground and flee from the creature before her. Erosa froze like a rabbit before a giant troll as she lifted her gaze to Jane's face. Did this monster realize she knew what it was? Jane still held her short sword in her other hand. Did she plan on hacking her into pieces just as she had done the budworm? Erosa needed to act quickly, so she uncoiled the serpent vine from around her stem, and it snaked its way towards the ground.

  "What's wrong?" Jane asked. "You look pale. Are you feeling sick?"

  "I am fine," Erosa told her in a nervous tone.

  Jane realized her tone was the same as the head maid had been each time she spoke to her.

  "Something's wrong," Jane insisted. "Did the worm frighten you more than you let on? I didn't mean to make fun of you if it did."

  Erosa had to think of something to keep Jane in place while she prepared to strike with her stinger thorn. She also needed to gauge the intension of this monster, so she told her, "I am very frightened, but not of the budworm."

  "What are you afraid of?"

  "Have you ever heard of a yeahmun?"

  Erosa watched her, but Jane never flinched or gave any indication Erosa had discovered her secret. Jane went on as if they were having a simple conversation.

  "I saw the name on the sign as I entered AaBack, and the witch who lives in the gingerbread house claimed one attacked her home," Jane told her and then she questioned, "What is a yeahmun? Everyone seems to be afraid of them, but no one can tell me what they look like. Are they really that frightening?"

  "They are more frightening than you can imagine," Erosa told her as the serpent vine rose up behind Jane.

  "I'll protect you," Jane told her. "I am a knight of the realm after all and a very good acquaintance of yours. Call my name, and I'll come save you." Jane glanced around the tunnel of vines she stood in as Erosa had yet to pull them back to her, and Jane felt very close to the giant rose. Memories of her time with the girl sorceress flashed through her mind and at that moment, she was so sure the giant rose was the girl sorceress. "Erosa..."

  "Yes."

  "I have a secret I want to tell you, but I don't know if your ready to hear it or that you'll believe me."

  Erosa was so sure Jane would blurt out her horrible secret right before she swung her sword and chopped her in half. She raised up her stinger thorn, aiming for the base of her skull and prepared to strike before Jane did.

  "What sort of secret?" Erosa questioned.

  "I don't have a contact who told me about you and the Beast. I know that you're a sorceress and that he's a prince because..."

  "Jane!" she heard her name called from a distance. It was the voice of the Beast.

  Erosa realized he might try to stop her from killing the terrible creature if he didn't know what she was yet, so Erosa lifted a barrier that surrounded the entire maze. The Beast couldn't enter, and she could finish what needed to be done.

  "I think Sun Beast may have found out I came in here. Why don't you go ahead and heal me, and I'll go out to him? If you two don't get along, maybe the discussion would go better if just the two of us talked."

  "I better heal you fast," Erosa told her as she stared at the creature of her nightmares.

  Jane was no female elf nor was she any of the other races that dwelled within the World of Grimm. She was a monstrous creature who only claimed friendship to get close to her so that the creature could murder and then devour her. Erosa needed to act quickly, so she pulled back her stinger thorn to leverage her strike with more force. She felt her entire being quivering from fright as she stood before the hideous creature of old. Never in a thousand years did she ever think she would come across another dreaded yeahmun. The fears Erosa remembered from her childhood raged back, and all she wanted to do was scream and run away, but she couldn't. The creature stood in striking distance and even if she managed to flee, the creature was terribly fast and immensely powerful. She didn't stand a chance against it. Erosa had to act, and s
he had to act now, so with all the fear and strength she could muster, she flung the stinger thorn forward, and it hit its mark.

  The End- Click here to read AaBack's Grimm #3

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