On Midsummer Day in my nineteenth year, I completed my Rites of Adulthood and gained thus the right to leave the comfort and security of the Farm, which was all I had ever known, and to brave instead the shadows and uncertainty of the Maze.
Few chose to exercise that right. What lay within and beyond the Maze, no one knew for sure, for none who left ever returned, but the tales we told at the fireside suggested great oceans of water and grand cities full of powerful wizards. The tales spoke of monsters too, and it was often said the Maze had been built to keep them out.
"Are we really doing this?" Ana asked, peering through the thick iron bars of the Gate.
I clasped her hand tightly in mine. To stay was unthinkable. The Elders had husbands chosen for us, as if we were no more than animals to be bred. "Together," I said. In the dark unknown there was at least hope.
Ana smiled. "Together," she echoed, and together we pulled the Gate open, sufficient to squeeze through, each carrying a backpack with food and drink and spare clothing.
The Farm was far more than just a farm. It was a town, a community, home at the last census to a population of over three thousand. The old church was so old that no one living understood the secret of its building. Ana and I had grown up together, gone to school together, and worked and played in the fields and orchards together. We had even, on occasion, slept in the same bed, stealing furtive kisses in the dark.
Ana, unlike me, was popular with the boys. Her blonde curls and blue eyes, her infectious grin, the eye-catching curves... The men too, watching her with possessive hunger. Her father was fiercely protective of her - which suited me. In their eyes, I was a safe companion for her. Just a girl. In time we would both be married off in the way of tradition.
Except I had no wish to marry any man, and Ana's betrothed - the mayor's eldest - was a man she despised. Her father, ignoring her complaints, insisted on the union nevertheless, just as my father refused to hear my pleas for mercy. So in the dead of night we packed our bags and slipped out, following the path by the River to the river's end and the Gate, our one possible route to freedom.
We were adults now, and the Gate opened for us - and then, with a great, ominous clang, the Gate shut behind us, and the home we knew, our families, seemed suddenly so far away.
We stepped resolutely forward, into the shadows between high, ancient walls built of stones no mortal man could possibly lift. Rough-hewn blocks of granite. Walls twice our height or more. The Maze was the work of gods, or perhaps those fabled wizards, but time had done its damage. The ground was soft with moss, the stones green with lichen, and bushes stretched up towards the light, their thick roots anchored between the stones, their branches often a thick canopy above our heads.
We knew the way - to begin with. Climbing the first wall was a popular dare as kids, but the paths beyond were quickly obscured by the vegetation. At first it didn't seem much of a maze at all, but after the first few obvious turns the narrow paths began to twist and disorientate, and the choices became many.
With each branching of paths, with each decision made, our certainty in being able to return diminished. Above us, the late morning sun rose, breathing life and colour and optimism into the narrow, high-walled paths. Yellow-winged birds and fat bumblebees and pale pink butterflies were our companions, but for the first time in our lives we were alone, no friends, no family, just the two of us and a seemingly endless maze.
I loved it, because I loved being alone with Ana. I loved being able to watch her and hold her hand and to not have to worry that I would be seen and judged by others. In the Farm, there was no possibility for men to be with men or women to be with women.
"I don't like this, Mia," Ana said. "Maybe we should go back."
I wasn't about to give up, though. "Look," I said, pointing ahead. A section of wall had tumbled, making an easy climb to the top. Ana and I hurried up.
The inner wall about the Farm was only a stone's throw away. We had walked for hours, and yet achieved so little. Charlie and Adam, our assigned, future husbands, stood not far away, on top of the wall near the Gate, no doubt searching for their errant, future wives. We ducked down again before being seen.
"You want to go back to that?" I demanded, shuddering at the thought of Charlie's hands on me, of having to kiss him and more, every day. He worked with my father, tending the cattle, muscular and handsome - a good man, but ultimately still a man.
Ana laughed. "No." Sighing, she added, "But we've hardly made any progress at all. What if we get lost in here?"
"Then at least we'll be lost together," I said, and kissed her, and for a second or two she returned the kiss. We were alone, and in that precious moment we were free.
And in truth we were lost, although the choices we made took us gradually away from the Farm. Sometimes there were breaks in the walls that provided a more direct route, made by storms, perhaps, or maybe even earthquakes. "Or monsters," Ana said, squeezing through a narrow crack.
I had gone through first, without problem, and Ana had passed the packs through, but as she herself squeezed through, she cried out, "I'm stuck!" She clutched at me desperately with her arms and I could feel her struggle to free her waist and legs.
She screamed, and with such terror it set my heart racing. "There's something in there, Mia!" I pulled on her with all my weight and strength, and suddenly she slipped free. We tumbled together, panting, and scrambled away from the dark crack.
Ana burst into tears as I stared at her bare legs and feet. Whatever had grabbed her had stripped her of boots and trousers. There were muddy hand prints on her skin, even as high as her underwear, which was soaked through. I wondered if that was why the creature in the wall had released her in the end.
"You're safe now," I soothed, holding her tight.
Boots were one thing we didn't have extra of in our bags, but Ana was quickly back in trousers with fresh underwear and looking thoroughly miserable. "I want to go back," she said.
My heart hurt to see her so unhappy. I loved being alone with her, but I wanted to protect her. Daring the Maze had been my idea, and I had persuaded her that we could do it. I was no longer sure about that. I couldn't deny her wish, but we were more lost than ever. Climbing the walls no longer gave us a clear view of the Farm to orient ourselves, and retracing our steps would have meant braving the creatures in the wall. "That way, I think," I said, pointing.
Ana nodded and followed wearily, studying the ground carefully to see where to put her bare feet. The carpet of moss was soft, but there were branches and sharp stones, and the shadows were deepening as afternoon turned to evening.
We turned a corner and came face to face with a man - or what had once been a man. At first I thought he was merely imprisoned by vines, but as I studied his misshapen limbs, I saw that the vines sprouted from his flesh.
Most astonishing, however, was his swollen penis that throbbed and twitched, a gooey, creamy stream dripping from the head onto the mossy ground. Testicles the size of oranges swung beneath. I had seen men naked before, but never in such an aroused state. "Dear gods," whispered Ana. "It's Eric."
Perhaps it was at the sound of his name, but his eyes opened and I screamed, as much in recognition that it was indeed Eric, as at the shock at seeing he was still alive, still conscious. "Stay away," he croaked.
For a moment I thought he was struggling to be free of the capturing vines, but Ana gasped. "He's coming," she whispered, and indeed the trickle of oozing fluid had become a wild spurting as his penis jerked. It splashed onto the ground at our feet, making Ana squeal in disgust, and we retreated quickly. "Yuck!" she hissed, cleaning it off her bare skin with a clump of moss.
