The decisive words were spoken quietly but with a chilling finality that brooked no argument. Gamon stared at the small woman who stood before him, wrapped in a richly embroidered cloak, and then he looked dumbly back at the magnificent maze that stretched before them.
"I wish it torn to the ground and burnt. I want all signs of the maze to be gone by the time I wed." Janessa's dark hazel gaze lifted from her impassive survey of the thick foliage to meet the astonished eyes of her Head Groundskeeper, and he noticed that a small, desolate smile twisted her rosy lips.
"But�Your Majesty�" Gamon protested unhappily, rubbing at his forehead as he realized what a daunting task the young queen had set for he and his men. Fondly dubbed "Green Thumb" around Castle Molentia, the groundskeeper was known throughout the Isles as a builder, not a destroyer. "The maze has stood here for more summers than you've known. You played here as a child, hid from your scholars�Why, I remember the time you�."
His words were bitten off as Janessa lifted one small, delicate hand to stay his argument. A white bandage was wrapped around her palm, pristine and pure - and while none recognized its significance, she understood it completely. Hiding the long, smooth cut upon her hand, it symbolized her penance, the blood oath extracted by one who did not trust her words alone.
"The past shall remain in the past as it should. Dead and buried," Janessa said flatly, and her lips pressed together tightly as she returned her brooding gaze to the huge maze. She tried to hide the bitterness in her voice, had tried valiantly to hide it these past few days by remaining closeted in her bedroom with none but her newest lady in waiting in attendance - but still it slipped forth. The look upon her exquisite face was bleak as she silently remembered the many joyous times she'd taken flight to hide in the maze, its cool shadows and hiding places untouched by those who didn't know its secrets.
Now she would bury those secrets, and be the stronger for it. She no longer wanted to see the maze from her bedroom window, its dark shape rising in the moonlight to haunt her. It would soon be naught but ashes, and for one brief moment - she thought she could smell ghostly smoke, its scent acrid and harsh in her throat.
"Plant the scarred earth to grass. It should take easily, and who knows? The lawn may be lush and green by the time our visitors arrive for the wedding." Giving Gamon a faint nod of her mahogany head, the young queen turned to begin the short walk back to the castle.
It was with a deep sigh and
a heavy heart that Gamon Green Thumb, Head Groundskeeper for Castle Molentia,
lifted his axe and began to destroy what had taken so long to create.
