The Desert Labyrinth

Note: This story also includes emotional abuse

Marenith swirled the sword in a circle around her head. She had lived here her whole life. She had never known anything different than the walls of stone and hedges. She knew every pattern they made. She had traced them over and over and over with her eyes, with her fingers. She had made her own patterns in the dirt with her toes.

Boredom often set in. Aside from the Witch, it was Marenith and the Minotaur. She didn't know if the Witch was truly a witch, but the woman who had given birth to her never came to visit or sent word. The Witch was all Marenith had now, seemingly making the hedges thicker with each passing day, making it harder and harder for Marenith to escape, but Marenith dreamed of what was beyond the grey stone and hedges and ivy.

She wanted to know about the world she only knew through rumour. She wanted to know what the world was like on the other side of the walls she knew backwards and forwards. Her life was a boring blur with only visits from the cruel Witch to make any difference to her days and the roar of the Minotaur as it tried to break free.

***

The Witch came as she did every six or seven days. Marenith knew she didn't keep track of time like most. She counted the days between the Witch's visits and watched the sun as it passed overhead. She had learned to get by with what she had. It was what had helped her stay alive, sane for so long.

The Witch walked in and stood there in her swirls there in her swirls of black and grey and dark purple fabric. Her light ash blonde hair was stark against the dark colours she was wearing.

Every time the Witch came, Marenith decided she was going to face her, that she was going to be strong and be standing when the Witch came. She was going to glare at the Witch when she walked into Marenith's "suite".

But every time the Witch came, Marenith cowered in a corner.

"You have nothing to be scared of," said the Witch.

That's what you think. "I don't know why, Mother."

She called the Witch "mother" because she knew no other word for it. The Witch was the woman had raised her.

"You don't have to be afraid of me. You were never afraid of me as a child."

That's because I didn't understand. "I didn't know you were coming."

"I come every week on this day."

It had long been what Marenith had believed, that there was a pattern to the Witch's visits. This was one of the first hints of truth she'd gotten from the Witch.

"What do you want from me?"

The Witch smiled and stroked Marenith's hair. "The same thing I want every week. A couple soft words to let you know that I do care about you."

You don't care. You leave me locked in here like a dog. It may be giant, but it's still a prison. "And I am grateful for you."

Marenith gritted her teeth. She would never say a word against the Witch to her face, but Marenith dreamed of the day when she would be able to leave this place. She had been making plans for months. It didn't matter what the Witch lashed out at her. She would escape.

"I know you are. You show it in your words and actions. You do good deeds whenever you can."

Because I have plenty of time. Because you don't give me anything else to do. "It's my duty to help the people of Crete."

"You always did know what was best for the people of this island. You always wanted them to have the opportunity to leave."

Because you took that away from me. "Because they deserve the chance to have a better life."

Inside, Marenith was yelling her thoughts, outwardly she was calm, acting like nothing bothered her, like she was the perfect daughter who had the perfect life.

"I knew I was making the right choice."

"And what would you have me do today?"

"I would have you finish the knitting project you've been working on. It's going to help keep a family warm this winter."

You should allow me to keep it. I'm the one who's going to be outside for much of it. Marenith smiled. "Of course. You always know what the villagers need the most."

"And there's word that a creature wants to eat the children of the village. That he demands sacrifice from those he lives near."

"And what should I do?"

The Witch ran a hand through Marenith's again, like she was silently telling Marenith to tie it up. "Nothing. You don't have to do anything. You have nothing to worry about. The monster will not find you have."

Marenith forced herself to melt into the Witch's side. She hated these tiny moments of care the Witch gave her. They always made her hair stand on end and her body want to flinch away. She forced herself to stay until the Witch moved.

"And what if it does?" She forced her voice to go soft.

"You know I won't let anything happen to you."

Marenith didn't believe the Witch's words. The Witch might say them, had told Marenith the same things her whole life, but she believed the Witch couldn't wait to throw her to the Minotaur. Marenith smiled internally. The Witch didn't know that she had pulled the Minotaur into friendship.

The Witch kept her hand on Marenith's head. "You aren't going to have to leave this place."

The way she said it sounded soothing, but there was a current of threat to it. The same as every other sentence the Witch had ever spoken.

***

Marenith walked the familiar path to the center of the labyrinth. She didn't need the directions anymore; she knew the way now. She knew the paths of ivy and hedge and stone. She could find her way by the patterns that were hidden; the ones that the Witch had created with her magic, but didn't notice. Marenith wondered if it was the Witch's magic helping her to find the tiny bit of comfort she had found in this place.

She walked around a corner and found the Minotaur lying on the ground, one hand curled around its nose. She walked toward it. She didn't want to startle it or anger it. She laid a careful hand between its horns. The Minotaur shifted and nosed her leg.

"She's being cruel to me again," said Marenith. "She says things in the sweetest way, like she doesn't know I can see through her lies."

"You're going to get out of here."

"Crete is an island, and there's no one who can help me from the outside."

"You cannot know that. There are people in this country who would do anything for you."

"They don't know I'm here."

The Minotaur nudged Marenith's leg again. "You need to give yourself the time. You need to make sure everything is set and then you are going to escape."

"What about you? I can't leave you here."

"I will do what I have to. If I have to sacrifice..."

"No!" Marenith didn't want to think that it was going to be an option. "You are not going to become a part of Gaia so I can plead to Poseidon to cross the ocean and live my dreams on the mainland."

"That's the life I want for you."

Marenith sighed. "Why are we talking about this? We both know we're going to stay trapped here forever. We will survive in this place. We will grow old in this place. We will die in this place. No one is going to save us. Escape is not an option."

"It could be."

"And I'm not leaving you behind."

"And the Witch will never let you go."

"The Witch will talk to me as if I am a child even when I'm a grown woman."

She hated the soft voice the Witch spoke to her with; hated the soft voice the Witch pulled out of her. These moments with the Minotaur were the only moments could let go of some of the layers in her mind. The rest of the time she had to hide them behind layers of mindless thought, things she didn't care about, but also things that would make the Witch leave her alone for long periods of time. She didn't want the Witch to know she and the Minotaur had become friends, that they were in constant communication and they could speak to each other through their minds.

The conversations always ended up in the same place though. The Minotaur wanted her to escape and she didn't want to leave the Minotaur alone with the Witch. She knew she was the only reason why the Minotaur wasn't the abused animal she had first seen. She was the reason the Minotaur had something of a life these days. He no longer suffered the welts streaked along his back and sides. She didn't want to leave him. She didn't want to leave him. She didn't think she'd survive out there. She didn't remember anything of the outside world, but the Minotaur would return to the curled, abused animal that he had been. His cries in the night still echoed in Marenith's mind.

She buried her fingers in the fur between his horns, and she let him keep his nose on her thigh. They were each other's protectors and maybe that was alright.