The Frog Collector

Chapter Three Part 5/5

The princess, who had been quiet until then, fell into tears. The king embraced her and they cried together for a long time.

"In the end", continued the king, "all the optimism your mother had was gone. Before she died, she regretted that everything had come to this point. She pleaded with me to remove all the roots of the flower from the kingdom, and not to let anyone else have contact with this flower or magic, especially you. She also made you and me immune to magic, and told me not to let those people in the dome die there. From that moment on I could go through the invisible dome as she did to take people out and take them away. You also have this power even though you didn't know about the existence of the flower or magic.

But your mother warned me that she couldn't pass on to us the same magic as hers. Her magic she could eat the flower and still not be affected, but with us it would be different. All spells have a weak point that nullifies them. Isra, your mother. All of them had weak point in their spells. And ours is: If we eat the plant we will lose the power to not be affected by magic. I never knew why, I think it is because she was weak and could not do otherwise.

After she was gone, I forbade any use of the flower by people who passed the test or not. All the roots and flowers that existed in the kingdom were burned. Many people who had previously used the flower recognized the evil that the magic produced and abandoned it. I made an agreement with the people that they would abandon the flowers and never speak of it again for future generations. Whoever did not accept would be imprisoned inside the invisible dome. And people accepted, because everyone had some sadness in their family caused by the flower. And so, in a short time, the flower disappeared".

Calmer, the princess asked:

"Are there no more plants in the kingdom?"

"No, all the roots have been extinguished", said the king and continued:

"Those people who were trapped in the dome gradually came out after I went there every month to see if anyone accepted the deal. In time they saw that what they had planned would not work. They burned all the roots and plants that they had taken inside to be cultivated. They also saw the evil that the plant brought and their hearts became pure so that they could leave the invisible dome when they touched me. There were only three women left from the same family. A woman, her daughter and granddaughter. Until the granddaughter died and the daughter left too. Only the woman remained in the dome, alone until today. I went there many times to try to get her out, but she remained adamant that the era of the magic flowers would return. Then I realized that she would not change. So I stopped going there, I forbade anyone to enter that place, which today is a forest."

The king finished the story and the two remained silent. The princess was making connections between what she had heard and what she had experienced the day before. After a while, the king realized that Agatha wanted to say something, but couldn't because she had received too much information. So he said:

"I knew that the day to tell you everything would come, but the time passed too fast... I am sorry that I didn't tell you sooner. Do you know why I told you all this, my child?"

"Michael...", she said.

"Yes... Don't be angry with him. He was just following my orders"

Agatha was silent.

"Coming into contact with that woman, with the magic flowers, if there are any left in the world, can only bring evil to the kingdom. I want you to stay away from that place. I will tell them to look for Prince James wherever he is. Surely his disappearance was normal and not magical, it is not possible that that woman still has those ancient flowers in her hands", he said.

The princess looked sadly at the king e then said:

"All right, Your Majesty. I will wait for the prince to be found... I am tired and I need to digest this whole story. I won't go to lunch if I may. Can I go now?"

"Of course. Everything will be fine, he'll show up", said the king.

They embraced again and the princess left for her chamber.

End of chapter three. Eleven to go.