Author's Note: Many thanks to Akora17, Jimli, and Arista Everett June . Nothing is as encouraging as your continued support and reviews.
THE WIZARD'S PRICE
CHAPTER 11
Julietta and Zita started looking immediately for the way into the magical garden. It was quite dark when they stopped. Early in the morning – the sun had barely begun to colour the sky – they continued. Julietta was full of hope, expecting to find the hidden entrance within two days at most, but the search went on without success. Despite their best efforts the last day of the week arrived and they were no nearer to finding the garden. Julietta became very quiet as the day progressed.
In the evening when they stopped looking she said to Zita, "I know that we are supposed to start for home tomorrow, but I want to continue looking. We have another week before my medication runs out completely. That's what the fairies said, wasn't it, that there was enough to get me home in a week?"
"But, Julietta, do you realise-"
"I know what you want to say. Yes, I do realise that I won't be able to return to my parents, but this is my only chance to be cured, and I want to continue searching until I fall down if necessary."
So they continued looking and when the medicine was finished they still went on searching. Julietta tired very easily now. While her friend was resting, Zita kept going, frantically trying to find the way into something that she couldn't even see.
Then one morning, Julietta didn't even have the energy to get up. Zita tried to be cheerful when she left her friend but her eyes were filling up with tears. Suddenly she saw something shimmering, a wall. She ran towards it but it disappeared. Now she cried with frustration.
"Show yourself, you stupid thing!"
There it was, at first a mere mirage, steadily becoming more solid until finally Zita could touch the wall. And there was the entrance, only a few feet away. As fast as she could Zita went back to Julietta, who was still lying down. Apparently she hadn't noticed that the garden had materialized.
"Come, Julietta, come, get up. I have found the garden."
Julietta did not react; it was as if she was no longer aware of the world around her. Zita lifted her up, put Julietta's arm around her neck, and half dragged, half carried her to the entrance to the garden. The garden gate opened when the girls stood in front of it and as soon as they were inside it closed again.
Zita looked around. It was a vast and beautiful garden, but she was only interested in the fountain with the healing water. Still holding Julietta, she started walking down the path that led from the gate. As she turned the first corner, she saw the temple. It had been hidden by some trees. The structure looked like a stone miniature of the fairies' home. The pillars were carved to resemble tree trunks and the roof was made of intertwining stone branches and leaves.
As she came closer Zita could hear running water. A gust of wind blew and carried with it a few drops of the water. It fell on the girls. Zita felt how the water removed all weariness and sadness. Julietta started walking – more like sleepwalking – towards the temple. Someone was inside. When the girls entered they saw it was the statue of a young man, just like the fairies had told them. The sculpture stood on a dais, half hidden by a curtain of water that fell all around it from the ceiling. The platform stood in the middle of a basin that collected the water but never overflowed. Julietta fell down and stared at the statue. She didn't drink the water for which she had come so far. Zita stooped down, filled her hands with the water and made Julietta drink again and again, until she heard a voice whisper "Enough!" Julietta still didn't move. She just sat there, looking up at the statue. To Zita's immense relief and joy, however, she no longer looked ill. A healthy glow was on her cheeks, and her hair, instead of being limp, hung again in ringlets round her face.
While her friend sat there staring at the stone figure, Zita decided to look around the garden. It was magnificent, and gloriously perfect, as if an army of gardeners had only just left. She followed the path down to the centre of the garden. Next to a lake stood a white house with a little turret, all overgrown with ivy and roses. From the terrace in front of the house, Zita looked out over the garden. It suddenly dawned on her why the garden felt so strange; everything was in bloom. Snowdrops and roses, daffodils and dahlias, flowers of every season where showing their best at the same time. She wanted to see this strange abundance and walked up to the top of the bowl-shaped garden again. When Zita came to an orchard, she saw the trees and bushes had blossoms and fruits on them. She went further and further away from the entrance. When she came to the rim of the bowl, opposite the entrance she found another garden there. Here she saw patches with dense bushes in a wilder kind of garden. Toward the far end the garden became really dark, resembling the fairies' forest. In a little dell she found a well next to a grotto. Zita went inside, drawn in by a desire to see what the cave was like. There, sleeping on a bed of leaves was a beast, the most terrifying thing she had ever seen. She managed to stifle a scream and looked more closely at the sleeping creature. With the first shock gone the thing didn't look quite so terrible but when it stirred Zita quickly left the beast's lair and the dell. Her aimless wandering around this wilder part of the garden meant that she had some trouble finding her way out of the forested area now. The increasing darkness didn't help her. She had just found the path to the house again when she heard something in the bushes. A quick glance over her shoulders showed her that someone was following her. She started running towards the light, towards the house and safety. Surely it was the beast that was following her and looking at a sleeping animal was one thing, but she didn't fancy seeing it wide awake and probably hungry.
As Zita came out from among the trees it was dark already but the pathway to the house was lit up. Surrounded by light she felt safe, so she stopped and looked around, secure that the creature would not follow her. Something came out of the wood.
No, someone, a man, a young man, a good-looking young man, Zita thought.
As soon as he spotted Zita the man came running.
"How did you come into the garden?" he asked.
"Through the gate," said Zita.
"Impossible the gate is locked. Besides, the garden is hidden by magic."
"I told it to show itself and it did. Then the gate appeared and it opened. That's how we got in."
"You TOLD it? Are you a witch or a fairy?"
"Of course not, I'm Julietta's friend."
"Who's Julietta? No, don't answer that. There will only be more questions and they can wait. Come, I'm hungry and the evening meal will be ready."
He took Zita by the hand and ran with her toward the white house.
At the exact moment that the last ray of the sun touched the temple, the water inside stopped falling and the statue stepped from the platform and across the gully that surrounded it. Julietta got up. She stood face to face with the man of stone. Then she kissed him and as her lips met his, she realised he was a man of flesh and blood. She started and pulled back. For some time – a few second or a whole eternity, they couldn't tell – they just looked at each other. Then the man put his arm around Julietta and led her out of the temple. They didn't talk but, holding each other closely, they too went to the white house near the lake.
Inside the residence a table was set for four. The food on it looked mouth-watering and as the four young people were hungry they sat down and ate in silence. Afterwards they went to a comfortable sitting area where they could relax and talk. Zita and Julietta told the story of Julietta's illness and their search for the enchanted garden with the magical cure and in turn learned about the curse that had imprisoned Artus and Carl. Of course the girls asked if and how the curse could be broken.
"My bride will break the curse," Artus said. "Because of her love for me, she'll accept to be a beast with me until the curse is broken. That's what I have been told but so far no princess has arrived."
"If the girls who came to your mother's call are anything to go by, you'll have to wait even longer. They wanted to be queen but not if they had to share your fate. They knew your bride would break the curse but none were willing. Instead they accosted me," Carl said, disgust in his voice.
"Don't say that, Carl. I have to keep believing or I have nothing to live for."
Zita felt sorry for Artus. He was waiting for this unknown bride, a girl someone else had picked for him, and he would have to accept her, so the curse could be broken.
She thought that his friend had more luck. Carl and Julietta were so comfortable together. They reminded her of the kind of old friends who, seeing each other after a long absence, immediately get into their old ways as if they last met the previous day. Zita soon became convinced that Julietta and Carl had fallen in love at first sight. She wouldn't be needed for very much longer.
Shortly before midnight, a bright light was streaming through the window. In came the fairies, filling the hall with the strange light. Orelia went straight to Carl.
"Prince Carl, it is time for you to go. You are no longer bound by your promise. You have been freed. Because of your love for Princess Julietta, the garden cannot hold you any longer. But you and the girls must leave now."
"What about Artus? He's coming with us, isn't he?" Carl queried.
"I am sorry, but the curse has not been removed from Prince Artus. He has to stay. Come now, you three have to be gone before midnight."
"Artus can't stay here all alone," protested Carl. "That was never the agreement."
"I'll stay," said Zita quietly. "Julietta no longer needs me, especially with Prince Carl to accompany her home, so I might as well stay."
Orelia looked closely at Zita, as if she was studying a strange specimen.
"You have to know this, Zita. If you stay, you will change into a beast, just like Artus. Only there won't be any changes in the evening. When Carl is gone – and go he must – Artus is doomed to be the creature night and day – and you with him if you stay. Only when Artus' curse is lifted will you be yourself again."
"I'm still staying."
Meanwhile Carl and Julietta had been talking together. Some quick words had been exchanged and now Carl said to Orelia, "We are staying as well. Curse or no curse, I am not leaving my friend and Julietta refuses to leave hers. Besides, we two want to be together; I am staying so she is staying."
Orelia tried to dissuade Carl and Julietta, warning them that there was no protection for them, now that Artus would remain an animal. She told them of the danger; with Zita becoming a beast as well, there would be two creatures prowling the garden and they were bound to see Carl and Julietta as prey. Nothing Orelia said however could deter them. Carl and Julietta would remain as well.
