Author's Note: Thanks to Jimli, Akora17, and J Luc Pitard for their review.
THE WIZARD'S PRICE
CHAPTER 12
The fairies left and barely had they gone when a clock struck midnight. The noise was so loud that the four people left in the garden had to cover their ears. The strange thing was that Artus and Carl didn't know where it came from. It was the first time ever that time was measured in the garden in any way. All the time they had been in the garden, the sun had come up and had gone down, always at the same time. And as daytime was never shorter or longer than twelve hours and night-time was always the same length as well, the days did not measure the year. With everything in the garden flowering or blossoming and bearing fruit at the same time, it was as if spring and autumn equinox were the same day and that day was repeated over and over again.
Nothing else happened though, so the strange occurrence was soon forgotten. Artus kept on telling his friend that he should go; that it would be safer; that he should take both girls with him.
"I'm not at all sure what I would do to another creature with me in the garden. I might very well injure or even kill all three of you."
"Shut up already, Artus. We're not going and that's that. Besides, with the fairies gone we'll have to stay anyway. So don't spoil this night with nagging us."
Carl did his best to be cheerful, telling the girls about all the tricks he and Artus had played on unsuspecting courtiers and teachers. For a while the mood did become lighter, they laughed and joked but the realisation that at break of dawn Artus would still be cursed dampened their spirits. They withdrew in their own private thoughts.
Carl and Julietta had but one thought; the love that had overpowered them. Like an avalanche it had swept them along. They felt as if they'd known each other all their lives and even longer; as if their lives up till then had only been leading to the moment of their meeting.
Artus was wondering about the long days as a beast. How long would it last? Would he lose the person he was? Would he become so totally a beast that there was no way back? He wasn't happy that Carl and the two girls had decided to stay. He worried that he might hurt them.
Zita did not worry about changing into some kind of beast. She was not afraid that she would forget what being human felt like. Something in the peaceful atmosphere of the garden seemed to preclude violence of any kind. She just knew that Artus would not harm her, and was equally sure neither she nor Artus would harm Carl and Julietta.
When the sky turned lighter, Artus got up and voiced his fears.
"I'm going now. I don't want to be here when I change into the beast. Be careful when you see me, Carl. Up to now, I have always been able to control the animal inside me and our nightly meetings have helped me in this. Without these hours of being human I fear I will become entirely animal; I fear I will lose myself."
Then he left and Zita quietly followed him, just as she had promised.
Carl and Julietta remained alone in the house. They wondered about staying there, but none of the doors could be locked. Anyone, anything, could come in easily. Carl felt the temple where he had spent so many days as a statue kept playing on his mind, as if it was calling to him. He decided to follow his feelings.
"Come, let's go to my fountain. My sixth sense is telling me the water there will protect us," he said, half mocking, half serious.
They walked to the little temple and stepped on the platform.
"I am afraid, Carl." Julietta was nearly crying.
"Don't be afraid. I'm here," said Carl and put his arms around her.
At that moment the first ray of sunlight struck the temple, the curtain of water started flowing, and on the dais stood a statue of two people in a loving embrace.
Meanwhile two strange looking animals arrived at the little dell with the grotto. They entered and went to sleep. The garden lay undisturbed in the sunshine all day, quiet as always. When the shadows in the dell merged with the darkness of the coming night, the creatures came out of the grotto, drank from the well next to it, and left to prowl among the trees. It was fully dark when Artus and Zita emerged from the miniature wilderness. When they realised that they had indeed become human and this was not a dream, they ran to the white house where Carl and Julietta were waiting.
"We've become human again!" cried Artus.
"We were statues all day," said Carl. "It seems that it is business as usual, my friend. You won't lose yourself in the beast after all. Whatever the cause, the magic of the garden still protects us."
ooOOoo
Life in the magic garden continued as if nothing had happened except that four instead of two people were wrapped up in its magic. Day after day Artus and Zita turned into beasts and Carl and Julietta became statues. Night after night the four young people changed back to their human form.
They spent the time from dusk to dawn mainly together but the arrival of the girls had changed something. They had all their meals together, laughing and talking but as the love between Carl and Julietta grew stronger, they, like all lovers, liked to spend time together, just the two of them. Artus and Zita were aware of this. They would leave the house for a stroll in the garden or would take a little boat out on the lake near the house. Sometimes the lovers would leave them the house, preferring a stroll in the constant moonlight. They valued this time together to learn about each other, to talk about the future though nobody could have told them when that future would actually happen.
Because they spent so much time together when Carl and Julietta were enjoying their young love, Artus and Zita learned a lot about each other. More than they would have done if they'd met at some royal ball. They agreed on a lot of things but could equally have heated discussions when their opinions differed. The subject could be anything, though mostly it concerned books and music.
From certain things Zita said, Artus deduced that a lot of time had passed since he and Carl had entered the garden. He wanted to know how much.
He asked Zita, "How is Queen Kalanta of Peratha? Is my mother well?"
The look in the girl's eyes told him everything before she even said, "I'm so very, very sorry. Queen Kalanta died … so very long ago."
The death of his mother wasn't a total shock to Artus. Somehow he had known the day he had said goodbye to her that it would be goodbye forever. It didn't make the pain any less for him even though in a way he'd mourned her already.
What did surprise him was the fact that Zita said Kalanta had died long ago.
"Long ago? We haven't been in the garden that long. How long is long ago?"
Zita had difficulties thinking how many years ago Queen Kalanta had died.
"Not … not in my memory," she said, unable to come up with a more accurate answer.
"Who's in charge in Peratha now if the queen has died and I am here."
"The regent, Bernard du Montagne. At least I can remember that."
"And the wizard? Is he still at the court?"
"The wizard left in … in … a long time ago," Zita finished lamely, annoyed that she couldn't recall the year in which the wizard had left Peratha either.
Artus knew Zita was not a simpleton. Perhaps being from Eburon she hadn't been taught Perathian history. He decided he might get a better answer on the history of Eburon.
"Zita, didn't you say that Julietta is the crown princess of Eburon?"
"Yes, she is," Zita answered, wondering what Artus really wanted to know.
"How is her father related to King Gustav, Carl's father?"
Zita realised all of a sudden why Artus was asking so many questions.
"Are you trying to work out how long you've been here?" she asked.
"Yes, and I may get an idea via the royal line of Eburon."
She could understand. She started to name the kings and queens that followed King Gustav, starting with Carl's brother, also called Gustav.
"After King Gustav came his son Gustav II, then his son Gustav III. That Gustav was followed by his daughter Queen Annafriede … or was it Queen Berta who followed Gustav III … No Berta followed Gustav V. Who followed Gustav III then?"
Zita could not name the kings and queens of Eburon, something she'd never had problems with.
"It's as if my brain gets all muddled," she told Artus. "I can't even remember the dates of their reign. We'll have to ask Julietta."
"Don't worry about it," Artus said, seeing the girl was agitated.
Artus had been living in the strange, timeless garden for … he'd forgotten how long … a very long time. An idea had come to him.
"When were you born, Zita?" he asked.
"The third of Sunmaan," she answered, wondering why he'd changed the subject.
"I meant in what year."
"Oh! I was born in … in … I'm nineteen years old and this year is … is …"
Zita's eyes opened wide in shock.
"I can't remember the year I was born in, or what year it is now."
"It's the garden. There is no time in the garden. You were born today, I was born today, we have lived our lives today and everything else happened a long time ago as you put it."
To prove he was right he questioned Julietta in the same way when she and Carl joined them.
She couldn't remember anything either. Time was as dead for Zita and Julietta as it had been for Artus and Carl since their first night in the garden.
Carl, always more optimistic than Artus, had never considered the possibility that they would be in the garden for more than just a few years. It came as a shock to him that generation after generation of his family had come and gone. Even though he had called Kalanta 'mother' and saw Artus as his brother, he felt the loss of his family. He'd always been the odd one out among his siblings, the unwanted prince. His older brother had been nearly an adult when Carl was born, and his sisters had just been a gaggle of giggling geese to him, but to hear that they were all long gone was more painful than he had thought possible.
The realisation of Kalanta's death was hard on him as well. He mourned for her, for his parents, and for his brother and sisters. Julietta was there to listen if he wanted to talk, or to sit with him quietly when he needed silence.
What Julietta's presence did for Carl, Zita did for Artus, and the magic of the garden did the rest. It eased the pain, and brought peace to the mind until the memories no longer hurt but brought pleasure.
