Chapter One: Briar
Deep in sleep, Briar Rose dreamed. Nothing in particular, she didn't even know that a Prince would come. But he did.
Phillip cut his way through the thorns and entered the castle full of sleeping royalty. He made his way to a tall tower where the princess slept, threw open the doors, and kissed her.
Briar woke up.
And that's how that story supposedly ended.
Let's continue...
Briar awoke to find a young man leaning over her. She sat up groggily.
“What's going on?”
“You were asleep for a hundred years,” the man said.
“What? How is that possible?”
“Do you remember the curse that was cast upon you?”
“Yes,” Briar replied after a moment. “But it wasn't supposed to happen. I suppose it did?”
“It did,” the man confirmed. “I kissed you. I am your true love.”
“What?”
“Is that surprising? When I kissed you, you woke up, just as the curse said.”
“It seems a bit lucky that you happened to just find me and kiss me.”
“Oh, but that's not what happened. Many people have been searching for you, and many people have found you. But the castle was heavily protected. Only I was able to get in.”
“Thank you, I suppose.”
“You are welcome, dear Princess.”
“Do you even know my name?”
“No,” the man admitted.
“It's Briar. And yours?”
“Phillip. Prince Phillip.”
“Fitting. If it has been a hundred years, is everyone dead? My parents?”
“A king and a queen are asleep downstairs. I guess that they are your mother and father. They look undisturbed.”
“Are they still asleep?”
“I haven't checked.”
“I'm going to go down now. You can come if you wish.”
“Of course I'm going to come. You're my true love.”
“We just met.”
“Are you rejecting me?” Phillip was shocked.
“No,” Briar said. “Not exactly. I just... Need to get to know you before I decide that I love you.”
“Very well,” the prince said. “I will accompany you downstairs. Shall I help you up?”
“I've got it, thanks,” she replied and got out of bed, refusing Phillip's hand. “What time is it?”
“7,” Phillip said.
“Just in time for dinner. I suppose that Father will want to prepare some grand feast.”
“Would that not please you?”
“I prefer to be alone,” Briar admitted. “I like people and my friends and family of course, but solitude is special.”
“When we're married-” Phillip began, but Briar cut him off.
“Wait, what? Married? What are you talking about? No one said I was going to marry you.”
“Don't you want to be wed?” he asked in confusion.
“No!” Briar said. “Not right away. If I do decide to marry you, then I must know you for a few months first.”
“Months?!”
“At least, if not a year. I've been asleep for a hundred. I can wait a bit longer.”
Phillip was baffled and speechless. This was his true love. He had proven that when he broke the spell. Why was she refusing him?
The pair continued down to the throne room, Briar a few feet away from Phillip, who seemed upset about that fact. He walked sullenly behind her until they reached the doors, where Briar stopped suddenly. He almost walked into her.
“What is it, why have you paused?”
“What if my family is dead? What if that wasn't them on the throne, and a different king and queen?”
“You're talking nonsense, love. I'm sure that it is them.”
“Don't call me love! And it might not be. They could be dangerous imposters.”
“Not to worry. Even if they were, I have my sword,” Phillip tried to reassure her.
“That won't be enough! I need my own weapon!”
“You own weapon?” Phillip scoffed. “Do you know how to use one?”
“Yes!” Briar snapped. “I need a knife.”
The prince silently handed her one, which she tucked hidden into her belt. She put a hand on the door, braced herself, and threw it open.
Everyone in the room looked as she entered. At the throne, the king and queen stopped talking with each other and stood up.
“Briar?” the queen called. Briar stepped forward and replied, “Mother? Father?”
“It is you!” the queen sobbed, and she and the king raced forward and embraced their daughter. “We were so worried when you pricked your finger. We didn't know if you would ever wake up again! And then suddenly, everyone woke up and there was a horse in the hall that had not been there before.”
“Oh, that's my fault. Sorry,” Phillip said.
Everyone looked at him and he fell silent. “And who might you be?” the king asked.
“Briar's true love,” he replied.
“What is this?” the king asked, looking at his daughter, who struggled to keep from rolling her eyes.
“He woke me up. He kissed me.”
“Like the fairy said,” the queen murmured.
“How is the fairy?” Briar asked.
“The last I saw of her, she was well,” the queen said. “Although, that was a hundred years ago. I don't know if she is still alive.”
“I am,” a new voice said. The doors opened once again to reveal a beautiful woman in a long dress who Briar recognized as the fairy that saved her. “I have been keeping an eye over Briar.”
“Melinda,” Briar said and ran to hug her. “My friend, it has felt like eons!”
“A hundred years,” Melinda reminded the young princess. “I watched you sleep, and guided Phillip to the tower. I was hoping that he would find you.”
“I did,” Phillip said.
“I'm glad to see that you passed the tests.”
“Tests?” Briar asked.
“The castle was surrounded in thorns,” the prince told her for the second time. “I fought my way through. Stone gargoyles also came alive and fought.”
“All part of the bad fairy's doing, I'm afraid,” Melinda said. “I tried to clear the thorns and disenchant the gargoyles, but I could not.”
“What did happen to the bad fairy?” the king asked.
“She is dead now,” the good fairy said. “Another young woman, who the fairy did wrong, fought her and she was accidentally killed in the struggle. All is well now. Everyone may continue their lives as they did before.”
“Except for Phillip. Phillip is here,” Briar reminded the fairy.
“Yes,” Melinda said and turned to look at him. “You may marry him, if you desire.”
“Hold on,” the king protested. “We don't even know who he is.”
“Nor do I,” the princess said. “I don't intend to marry him anytime soon.”
“What?!” Phillip heard this and was outraged. “After all I did for you? I fought my way through stone and thorn, kissed you and broke the enchantment, only to be scorned and declined by you. Did I do all this for nothing?”
“Not for nothing,” the queen said. “You saved our daughter. And for that, we will be ever thankful.”
“I am her true love!”
“I don't know if you are,” Briar said.
“He was able to break the enchantment. He is your true love,” Melinda said gently. “But you don't have to marry him,” he added when the prince looked smug. His expression fell.
“I shall go then, and leave. It was for nothing.”
Phillip stalked out of the throne room, and Briar was pulled back by her parents.
“I want to talk to you,” her mother insisted. “Don't mind him. Come and sit.”
So she did, but as her parents led her away, she wondered about Prince Phillip, and if she would ever see her true love again.
Phillip:
After he angrily left the throne room, Phillip stormed over to his horse, who was still in the front hall, and mounted him swiftly.
“Go!” he shouted, voice booming, and his horse obeyed, cantering through the palace doors.
Phillip was angry, obviously. He had done everything that he had done, on the off chance that the girl sleeping inside the thorns might be his true love. He saw that she was when he kissed her, and instead of joyfully embracing him, she had turned him away. He had practically been cast out.
All right, Phillip knew that wasn't true. But he was in love with her, and she was confused. She would come around in time. But the prince was already riding away.
Perhaps I should turn back, he thought. In case she changes her mind.
But no. He could not do that. He had his pride, and he was sure that she had hers. If it was meant to be, then they would meet once more, and this time fall in love.
But then again, true love had been tried before.
And it had failed.
So maybe it was meant to end this way after all.
Miranda:
The good fairy left the castle soon after Phillip did, heading in a different direction than he had. She did not know where he had gone off to, nor did she know why. She was on Briar's side, the girl just needed some time to think. He could have stuck around until she had come to her senses and married him. True love would always win through, everybody knows that. And one would have to be blind to see that Phillip did not love Briar.
Still, the fairy thought. She did not seem welcome to him. She cast him away.
Maybe she was on the prince's side, after all. He must be hurt. Perhaps she should try to find him.
Or she could go back to the castle, but she wanted to give Briar and her parents some time to catch up. After all, it had been a hundred years.
Thinking back on it, Miranda had done the best she could. The king and queen would be dead, Briar would wake up with only the prince, in an unfamiliar place, with a new king and queen who might not be accommodating to her.
Phillip would come back.
And Miranda would help him.
Half an hour later, she found his horse tied to a tree.
“Phillip?” she called gently. He poked his head around a tree.
“Oh. It's you.”
“You don't sound too pleased to see me,” Miranda noted as she came around the tree.
“It's not that. I'm just in a bad mood.”
“I can see that. Why are you upset? You should not have left.”
“I wasn't going to wait around until Briar makes up her mind.”
“But that's what you do for the one you love. You wait for them.”
“I have my pride.”
“Pride comes and goes, but true love is the only thing that will really last.”
“Do you really think so?” Phillip asked. Miranda nodded. “Then I suppose I will go back. But not just yet. I want to give her time to think of me.”
“Fair enough,” Miranda said and settled down next to him in the grass. “This place is very pretty.”
“I know. I've been coming here for a while, since I was a little boy. I was hoping to share it with Briar, but...”
“Fear not for Briar. As I said, she will come around, so long as you go back to the castle soon. But you don't have to just yet. Do you want to talk?”
“Yes, I find that I do,” Phillip said in surprise. “But not about myself. How long have you been a fairy?”
“Many, many years,” Miranda replied. “A couple hundred.”
“Do you age?”
“No, I am immortal,” she said. “But if I choose to, then I can give up my magic.”
“Why would you do that?”
“I do not know.”
“What did you do in these last hundred years?”
“Besides waiting for Briar to wake up, I went about my normal business as usual. Casting spells, helping people.”
“Do you fight evil?”
“No. I can only use my powers for good, and I prefer it that way.”
“Can you make someone fall in love?” Phillip asked.
“No,” Miranda said, but she was lying. She could make someone fall in love, if only for a short time. But she didn't want to do that for Phillip and Briar. “I can't help you like that with Briar Rose.”
Phillip blushed. “I actually didn't intend that, I was merely curious.”
“Sorry,” Miranda replied. “I shouldn't have assumed.”
“No, it's not your fault. I'm asking too many questions. But I will ask one more: have you ever been in love?”
“No,” Miranda replied. “It is not common for fairies to love another.”
“Why?”
“It's just not in our nature. My mother always said that we have more important things to do.”
“If I may ask another question, how were you born? I hope that it's not too personal, but...”
“Oh no, I do not mind. I was born from thoughts and magic. My mother wanted a daughter, so she thought of one and planted a flower. I was born a month later, fully grown.”
Phillip was silent, as if thinking about it. Miranda was studying his face, looking at his high cheekbones and strong jaw. How Briar could not love him on sight, Miranda did not know.
“I think I'm ready to go back to the castle,” Phillip said finally.
“Of course.”
“Thank you for talking with me, and taking my mind off of Briar.”
“It was my pleasure. What are you going to tell Briar when you see her?”
“I will say that I apologize, and ask if I could stay in the castle for a short period. Her parents will hopefully not refuse me, and then as Briar gets to know me, she will love me.”
“An excellent plan,” Miranda said, though she felt a strange twinge that she had never felt before. “Let us go, then.”
“How did you get here?”
“I walked.”
“All the way from the castle?”
“It is a pleasant walk through the forest, one that I have taken many times, though I never stopped where we are now.”
“Then I shall walk with you, and lead my horse behind me. Unless you would prefer to ride him?”
“No, I shall walk, thank you,” Miranda said. “It is only a half an hour walk back to the castle, which by then should have given Briar enough time with her parents.”
“Is that why you left?”
“Not the main reason. I did want her to see them, but I needed to find you as well. So come.”
Phillip helped Miranda to her feet, and once he untied his horse, took him by the reins and walked away with Miranda.
They reached the castle more quickly, it seemed to Miranda, though in reality it had taken the same amount of time. They were let in through the castle gates once the guards saw Miranda, and were escorted into the throne room.
“Good fairy!” the king called when he saw her. “You've returned!”
“Yes, and I have Prince Phillip with me. Where is Briar? I wish to speak to her.”
Miranda entered the room where Briar had been asleep to find the princess standing at the window, staring.
“How fare thee?” she asked quietly, and the girl whirled around, a hand to her heart.
“Oh! Miranda! You frightened me!”
“I apologize. I didn't intend to scare you. I came to check up on you.”
“I'm fine,” Briar said, and continued staring out the window.
“Are you sure? Why don't you go out?”
“I don't want to.”
“Why?”
“I'm thinking.”
“About what?”
Briar hesitated, unsure to tell her friend. “About the other people that this spell affected.”
“What about them?”
“I heard, as I was coming back to my room, one man tell another that his wife, who was not in the castle, must be dead by now. And the second man replied that his children had grown up and died as well, and now his grandchildren are very old. His house was taken by another, so he has no home.”
Miranda was silent.
“That is not your fault, Briar.”
“Yes it is,” Briar replied sadly.
“No, it is mine,” the fairy said. “I cast the spell, and I didn't think of others beyond the castle. I only thought of you, and pleasing you. I'm so sorry.”
“Yo-you did this? Why didn't you cast the spell on the whole town?”
“I didn't think of it at the time,” Miranda admitted. “I should have thought of it a few years later, but I did not. I was traveling, and only returned every ten years or so.”
“You should have extended the spell,” Briar said. “I shouldn't have woken up. These people would have been able to continue their slumber peacefully, without knowing what had happened to their loved ones.”
“I cannot turn back time, but I will apologize to the people that this spell affected. The entire town must be handling this difficultly too. I should have thought of them. But don't wish that you had not woken up. Only good things can come from that. These people would have continued resting, not knowing, true, but sometimes it is better to get the truth over with than live a lie. Even if you don't know it. It would have been much more of a shock to them if they had woken up in another hundred years, when their entire family line might have been wiped out. They can start again, in time.”
“I suppose,” the princess said. “But I still won't leave this room. I don't want people to see me. If I hadn't been born, then none of this would have happened.”
“And your parents would have died years ago, miserable because they had never had a daughter.”
“Why did this have to happen to me?” Briar cried, dismissing the fairy's words. “I feel terrible, but there is nothing that I can do! I can offer these people homes, but that is it. That won't bring their families back. I hate the evil fairy! I hate her! What did you say happened to her?”
“She died, when she tried to kill another girl. She nearly took over a kingdom.”
“Why didn't you do anything to stop her?”
“She is much stronger than I am, and the other girl needed to do it herself.”
“I wish I had never been born,” Briar repeated sadly.