Cascade

To Bite The Hand

My shoulders felt a touch stiff as Sil's tone elevated a touch. He rumbled something out, fast and even.

I flicked my gaze back to see Ash give a huff, growling in a flat tone.

Sil visibly swallowed and I raised an eyebrow at that. He mumbled back, his spine stiff.

We both flinched as Ash snarled, the sound like grating gravel. He spat something long out, eyes hard and his jaw set.

Sil winced, a sigh following as his shoulders sagged. He grumbled, briefly flicking his gaze to me. His brow was furrowed and his lips curled in a concerned grimace. He'd wanted to stay...

I gave him my own frown and shrugged. Ash was radiating distaste, his posture stiff and his back slightly arched. He stood abruptly, stalking off and throwing a snarl over his shoulder. He really needed Sil to do whatever it was he did, I guess...

Sil watched him go, but his gaze soon settled back on me, a whine leaving his throat.

I bit my lip. I guess it was left to me then.

I cleared my expression and made a shooing motion. "Go, I'll be fine. No sense in making your boss mad."

Sil gave me an incredulous look, but I merely held his gaze. Slowly, he turned and followed after Ash, stopping to look back after a few steps.

I mustered up a smile that was more of a grimace, and gave him a little wave. His frown deepened, but he nodded and bounded off to catch up with Ash.

I waited till they were long gone, before standing. This was the perfect opportunity to try and leave.

My heart tightened, but I swallowed it down. It didn't matter.

I marched my way to the hedge maze and dove between the dark leaves. A strong wind sent the walls into a flurry of shifting green, the clatter dizzying.

A touch of fog curled up my ankles as I walked, a slight chill running up my legs. How did one traverse a hedge maze? Wasn't it, follow the left wall when in doubt?

Well, worth a shot.

I wandered, the twisting paths all looking the same. A dead end here, a larger square with a pond there, a statue of Aquarius, a four-way intersection. A ... random vending machine?

Take a left, rest on a stone bench, right, right. No, other way. All these are dead ends... Going back, I guess. Did that turn take me back to where I had been?

Why couldn't the map have shown the layout? Had that bush spread to cover a path? Was I lost? Weren't these places required to have maps? Like a you are here sign or something? Yes. Definitely lost.

Oh, well there's one. I glared at it for a few minutes. What wasn't run through with jagged claw marks, was too faded to make sense of. Rain creatures.

Wander, wander, wander. Why did that wall have pink flowers? Roses? Another left, Had I been here before?

I meandered on for hours, stopping to take breaks and eat. It was late in the afternoon by the time I caught sight of something that could have been an exit. At this point, I didn't care if it was what I was looking for or not. I'd had enough of hedge mazes for a lifetime.

I was a foot away from the gap in the hedge when I heard growling. I froze, heart thudding. Great. I spend a day lost in a hedge maze and now I have to deal with cannibals too?

I slowed my approach and leaned to peer around the hedge. Oh, this was the meadow I'd ended up at the first time I'd gone through the maze. Huh, figures.