Authors Note to Jimli: I'm sure you know how much I appreciate your reviews.
THE WIZARD'S PRICE
CHAPTER 8
The years passed quickly. King Xavier and Queen Henrietta had become used to hearing their daughter's happy laughter and seeing her running around with her friend. The girls had grown up to be good-looking young women. From the moment they were allowed to go to the royal balls, they had been surrounded by suitors but so far none of them had impressed the girls.
On midsummer's evening the King and Queen had their annual garden party. The feast went on till the morning. Julietta and Zita danced all night, so it was no surprise that the next day they felt very tired, but a week later Princess Julietta still felt exhausted. Her parents, who were worried, called the doctors. They prescribed all sorts of restorative medicines, none helped. Cook prepared the nicest and most nourishing food but the Princess barely touched it.
Soon it became clear to everyone that the illness that had troubled Princess Julietta when she was a child had come back – only worse. Zita stayed in her friend's room day and night, nursing her, feeding her, cooling her down when she was hot, making her warm when she was cold, and occasionally reading to her when she needed some distraction. Meanwhile the whole country was looking for a cure; most made no difference and some made Julietta feel worse. King Xavier and Queen Henrietta feared for their child's life.
One day a man asked to see the King and Queen, saying he had important news for them concerning the Princess.
He told them, "In my country I am a well-known astrologer. People come from everywhere to ask my advice. I have made few mistakes in my work. That is because I always combine astrology with other divination techniques to come to my answers. I wanted to do a simple astrology report on your daughter when she was born – a service I render to all royal houses – but I came to some unusual results and did more research. "
"We don't believe in astrology and that sort of hocus-pocus," the King interrupted him. "What we want is a cure for our daughter's illness."
"That it what I bring you, Your Majesty. Your daughter's astrology chart puzzled me and I have been searching for the answers since she was born. I can now give you the result of my research. The solution to your daughter's problem lies in a mystic garden in your neighbour's kingdom. If she goes there she'll be cured of her illness."
"How dare you mock our sorrow with your inane ideas? My daughter needs more than a walk in the garden to get better."
"I'm not mocking you, Sire. The stars predict that the Princess will find health and happiness in this garden. My scrying bowl shows the Princess in the same garden as a healthy woman in the arms of a man. Several other methods that I have tried all point to the importance of the presence of the Princess in the mystic garden."
"Supposing I believe your nonsense, where is this wonderful healing garden? What is so special about it that it can cure her?"
"That was the most difficult thing to find out, Sire. I still don't know what the cure consists of, herbs, healing water, the garden itself, I don't know. All I know is that the Princess has to go to your neighbouring country. The garden is somewhere in the hills, but it seems to be hidden from view. I travelled all over the country but never found the one that was shown to me in my scrying."
"So my daughter is to go wandering in the hills of my neighbour's country, looking for a garden that doesn't exist except in your imagination. I suggest you leave immediately and don't speak another word unless you care to spend the rest of your life in a dungeon. GO! NOW!"
The astrologer was frightened by the King's anger, so he went away but left his papers on a table in the hallway.
ooOOoo
The King didn't want anybody to know about the astrologer's visit or about the things he had said but somehow within days the whole country seemed to know. Suddenly the palace was besieged by soothsayers, astrologers and gypsy fortune-tellers, as well as storytellers and historians who claimed to know more about the garden. The King wanted to set the army on them but the Queen had read the astrologer's notes. She convinced King Xavier that it would do no harm to hear what all those people had to say.
"As you wish, Henrietta," the King said. "As long as I don't have to listen to their waffle they can talk all day long if they want to."
Then the King appointed six secretaries. They had to make sure that each person at the gate would be heard, and they had to sort the nonsense from the useful knowledge. In the evening they had to report to the King whether they had heard anything interesting.
Most of those who claimed to foretell the future only repeated the astrologer's words; the rest didn't make any sense at all. Only two claimed that death awaited the Princess if she should go to the garden as they had seen a monster crawling around in it.
The storytellers talked about a legend they had heard about a magical garden. Unfortunately they couldn't agree what the actual story was. Some said a terrible monster that devoured maidens was forever locked up there, chained by the magic of a powerful wizard; others claimed that there was a golden palace and treasures beyond anybody's imagination waiting for the person who could break the magical lock. Three talked about a prince although they couldn't agree whether he was changed into a statue, held captive by a monster or turned into a beast himself.
The King wasn't at all surprised that nothing useful had come out.
"Thank the Powers," he thought, "that I haven't wasted my time listening to this drivel."
Then the historians came and they had the only proof that there might have been a garden. They had looked in the archives of hundreds of years ago and there they had found the following entry:
Today, the 27th of Flormaan, King Gustav and Queen Margaretta returned from their unexpected visit to Queen Kalanta. The Queen was crying and said that at least the garden was beautiful. The King replied that Prince Carl was a very brave young man.
When I asked when the Prince would return I was told he would in all likelihood not be coming back. At that the Queen cried even more.
Two of the historians had gone abroad to see whether they could find anything about this mysterious garden. In an antiquarian bookshop they had found a book called 'The Reign of Queen Kalanta'. In the last chapter they found:
It was at this time that Prince Artus disappeared and the Queen never recovered from the loss. I tried to get information on the disappearance but nobody at the court was willing to talk to me. Eventually a groom told me that Prince Artus had become a raving madman. He also said that our Queen did not want to lock him up in a lunatic asylum and had a house built for her son surrounded by a walled garden where he still lives with his friend Prince Carl, son of King Gustav and Queen Margaretta, to look after him.
I confronted the palace with this information. First they told me there was no comment then they suggested that I should prove that the garden existed, and then we could talk. No need to say that so far I have found no trace of it.
When King Xavier heard this he said, "Is this all the proof you can come up with? I'm not sending my daughter, who's ill, on a wild goose chase looking for a garden that either doesn't exist or is really part of a lunatic asylum."
And that was that. The only problem was that Princess Julietta was still ill and seemed to be getting worse rather than better. Zita wished she could go and find this garden with the cure for her friend but she knew that Julietta would miss her too much if she did. Queen Henrietta, fearing that she would lose her only child, was often seen crying. King Xavier on the other hand went out riding whenever he felt down, sometimes staying away for two or three days.
One day the King was riding in the forest close to the border of his country. Suddenly he saw somebody standing in the road, blocking his way. When he came nearer he saw it was a woman, a beautiful young woman. She was dressed in a deep green dress, covered with pearls like dewdrops; her hair was loose with here and there a strand of pearls woven into it. She reminded him of his daughter's playmate but he decided that was because of the dark hair and eyes of the woman. He found it strange that somebody dressed so richly would be standing in the middle of a forest and no carriage in sight.
"Good afternoon, King Xavier, I'm glad you're in time for our meeting."
"Who are you? What do you mean 'in time for our meeting? I'm sure I arranged for no meeting, and definitely not here."
"It was Fate who arranged our meeting, Majesty. My sisters and I live in the forests of Peratha. We have important news for you regarding your daughter."
"What do you know about my daughter?"
"We know about her illness and we know she can be helped. All she has to do is find the hidden garden."
"I've heard about as much as I can take about this garden. It is a myth, a fairy tale; it does not exist. And if it ever existed it's probably totally overgrown or dead. I'm not sending my sick child on a hunt for a mirage."
"The garden does exist, Majesty. It was created and hidden by magic and only the right person can enter. In the garden is a fountain with the statue of a young man; its water is life-giving and can cure your daughter's illness. Send Julietta and her friend on this quest. They will succeed and more than your daughter's health may be restored."
"Magic? I don't believe in magic. How can I risk my daughter's life on a quest for magic?"
"Can you do nothing and let her die, then? Take this," said the woman, and handed the king a small phial with a thick syrupy liquid. "It can't cure the Princess, but it will give her the strength she needs."
As soon as the King took the phial the strange woman disappeared. For a moment he thought he'd been dreaming in broad daylight or, even worse, hallucinating, but in his hand he held the proof of her existence.