Princess Aurora's Arc

Chapter 3 of 4

Aurora climbed the hill beyond the gates to get a better view. The sun was coming up over the eastern ridge, throwing pale light across the castle below. She could see the thorns clearly now. They had broken through the east wing's outer wall during the night, splitting the stone like rotten wood. The vines were spreading east, away from the castle, toward the fields where the village began. She counted the distance in her mind. If they kept moving at the speed she'd seen yesterday, they would reach the first houses before midday. She needed to warn them. The village had no reason to believe the thorns were dangerous until they'd already arrived. She opened her leather case and pulled out the wand she'd taken from her aunt's old chambers, the one with the flower carved into the handle. It still held a trace of magic, enough to send a signal if she used it right. She pointed it toward the village and whispered the words her aunt had taught her when she was young. A pale yellow light shot up from the tip, arcing over the fields before bursting into bright sparks above the rooftops. The villagers would see it. They would know something was wrong. But warning them wasn't enough. She needed to see how fast the thorns were actually moving, and whether there was a pattern to their spread. She walked along the hillside until she found what she was looking for: a stone formation half-buried in the earth, arranged in a circle with symbols carved into the flat surface. She'd seen it marked on one of the old maps as a summoning site, though she didn't know if it still worked. She stepped into the center and looked down at the castle and the fields beyond. From here she could see everything. The thorns spreading toward the village gates. The speed of their movement. The way they avoided certain areas and consumed others. She watched for an hour as the sun climbed higher. The thorns reached the village gates just before noon, wrapping around the wooden posts and climbing the frame. But they stopped there. They didn't push through. She could see people gathering on the other side, keeping their distance but not fleeing. The curse wasn't trying to destroy the village. It was marking a boundary. Aurora pulled out her journal and sketched the line where the thorns had halted, noting the gates and the position of the houses beyond. She didn't know why the curse had drawn this line, but now she knew where it was. That was something she could work with.