The Wolf's Den

Path 2: Ryland, Chapter 4: Part 1

        The first door she knocked on hand a bare space without thorns, and as she watched it open, the thorns dissipating and a woman with long blond hair, not quite as long as Rapunzel's, standing before her, a smile gracefully. "Oh, hello... You must be lost. Come in, please, I just woke up from a rather long nap. You do seem nice enough."

        "Thank you, there were footsteps behind me, and I just needed to, well, to---"

        With a sweet laugh, the lady allowed her to sit down and closed the door, the sound of the footsteps gone. "Well, whoever it is, they can't hurt me, not when I just woke up and have no idea what's going on. Tell me why they might be coming to find you and we'll work that out."

        "I... I don't know why they'd be looking for me, I just want to find my sisters, even though they parallel each other so much. Tilli's... She's sweet, innocent, so good at helping others, and Adrieve, well... I suppose she's Tilli's opposite, really. All I want is to save them and get outta here."

        "That's a start, then. Perhaps meddling with other people's stories ruins the balance, that is, after all, a rule my mother always told me to follow. And, speaking of mothers, we ought to know each other's names, right?" A sweet smile, the lady, sweet and caring as Rapunzel, but less naïve and cold than the first door she'd come to, she gave a deep, respectful curtsy. "My name is Briar Rose, might I get yours?"

        "It's Ryland," she murmured, a smile shakily. "You're the first person I've met in this hallway, The person I met just before you, she was so helpful, told me about this rule... It sounds so familiar to what she said. But she's... So high up, much higher than we are now."

        "You mean that tower? Yes, it's been there for so long, we all live so long here, longer than we'd like to. It's a curse, you know, living here, but we have to do it." After a pause, Briar Rose gave a soft sigh before smiling brightly. "Tell me about your sisters, where you come from, your background together."

        "Oh, we promised not to... Well, I can say my bit, I suppose. I'm the middle age between them, you can say. Adrieve, she's... She's 25-years-old, and Tilli's 19. I'm somewhere in the middle, I suppose, but that's hardly relevant. We grew up in an orphanage, only Tilli knew her family before they left her behind for a new baby in the family. She was 11-years-old then, and she just latched onto me. Not so much Adrieve, but she respected her for taking care of her, too. I mean, we live in a city apartment now, but it's hard to get by so far. Tilli just started college."

        "Tilli sounds so lovely. Do go on, I love stories."

        "Okay." After a deep breath, Ryland continuing. "Adrieve did something... Bad, pretty awful, really terrible, and... And Tilli told them she was sorry, this mob, you see. They chased us out, and we found this alley and then---"

        "The Wolf's Den. I understand why you wish to leave with them. Even so, you couldn't leave if you wanted to, you need all members of your party or the owner's approval, whomever that is. I'm not sure, the lady in the tower might not know, but you can ask Red or the seven shaking brothers, they can roam free just like you."

        "Wait... Roam free like me? What does that mean? Do they know where my sisters are? Can they find them?"

        "I believe so... But you'd have to ask, and, well, from what I know, they can be rather scary if you approach them wrongly. Perhaps if you had a light source... Oh! I've got it, I know where one might be in this room, if I can find it."

        "Won't that get you in trouble, break the balance?"

        With a pleasant hum, she stood, searching for the light source she mentioned earlier. "There are other rules I can't tell you, but you'll learn to ask questions, that much I can promise you."

        "Mr. Wolfe said that earlier, what does that mean? I don't want to ask questions, I want answers!"

        "And answers you shall get, but for now, take this light source with you, I think it's a flashlight, and find one of the brothers, they're usually too afraid to be alone or without their six other brothers, or Red. Red knows more, so try for her, look for the color of her namesake. If this Mr. Wolfe found you, well... Tell him that you need answers and there are questions you need to ask, alright?"

        "I'll try, thank you, Briar Rose."

        "And be safe, Ryland. You might just get out yet."

        When Ryland left, she turned the flashlight on, only to run into someone smaller than herself and clearly with more confidence than herself. When she looked down, she saw Red.