Chapter 12: The Cursed Garden

Sarah sat at her desk and tried her best to concentrate on the book about the nearby kingdom of Elden. Was she not here to find her magic? Why does she have to read books on other kingdoms, diplomatic relationships with them, spend hours on etiquette class, and wear fancy gowns all the time. Things here were not suited to her usual life as an ordinary teenager who went around in t-shirts and jeans. Worse of it all was -

She slapped the book in front of her and firmly stated, "I am bored. I want to see Jake".

Phileas, sitting at the table in front of her, kept dabbing his pen in ink, "No. Get used to living here first".

Sarah rolled her eyes. She had been stuck in this room for a week now and Phileas would not let her be for a second. She was confined to the walls of the palace and within the reach of Phileas. This meant that she was not allowed to even explore the palace itself, let alone walk out of it. The only other person she knew besides this fair-haired young man was the young maid who had escorted her around on her first day here.

Her name is Ella. She was born in the palace. Her mother was a maid in the palace and her father was a janitor. They both succumbed to illness when she was only ten and left her an orphan. Ever since then she grew up in the palace and the other maids trained her to become one like them, bringing her up like their own sibling. She was the same age as Sarah so they got along well. Whenever Sarah felt lonely, she called her over to spend some time chatting.

The other maids were told to keep to themselves, although they would often follow her around to find out who she was and what business she had in the palace. Rumours had started to spread that Sarah was a noble's daughter who lived a pampered life so had to be taught how to behave, and that she was tasked to spend her time at the study since she was chosen by Sir Hanns to become Sir Phileas' fiancé.

"Sir Phileas?" Sarah exclaimed.

"My lady, were you not aware that he is a royal knight? He is one of the best. Sir Hanns, his father, personally trained him in hopes of serving the princess one day," replied Ella.

"What? I had no idea. And what is this nonsense about me being his fiancé? Who is spreading these?"

"My lady, no one knows who you are. Sir Phileas strictly maintains your case as classified information. But people just love to gossip. I guess this is what they could deduce from their long hours of investigation," she fidgeted a little before asking, "erm, my lady, are you really not his fiancé?"

Sarah stopped in her tracks and looked straight at Ella, "No! Get it out of your head," she flicked Ella in the forehead making her wince in pain.

Ella rubbed her temple after Sarah had stomped off, then quickly followed her again. A few doors down, Sarah stopped again and turned to Ella. Ella felt a little odd at the thought that Sarah had probably come up with some idea that Sir Phileas would not like.

She smiled at the young maid, "Let's explore a little. You will be my Watson".

Her what? Thought Ella. She had no choice but to follow behind Sarah all the while pleading for her to return.

The two walked until they arrived at a garden...or so it was supposed to be, but there was no sign of plant life at all. The entire place was disturbingly barren. The only tree standing in the middle of the ground itself was bald, and the bark looked charred. The ground was black and burnt in patches. Sarah stared at this in confusion and was about to step off the tiled floor when Ella pulled her back.

"My lady, do not step on the ground!"

Sarah turned to her, "What is wrong with this place?"

"My lady, even I do not know for sure, but my parents used to tell me this place is cursed".

"Cursed? By whom? What was this place? What happened?"

"I do not know. I just know that this place is cursed by dark magic. Darkness haunts the person who steps here. No plants will grow here. Everything left here eventually burns or rots. It has been like this ever since I was little. My lady, you must not, absolutely not step into the cursed garden".

Sarah kept staring at the garden. Was this a doing of the evil sorcerer? The entire place was eerie. Darkness hung over the place like a veil. The longer she stood there the more she began to feel a tightness in her chest. She began to hear whispers, a laughter. She shook her head violently to stop the voices from invading her thoughts and turned around quickly to leave only to find Phileas standing there at the doorway. His dark orbs observing her silently. Ella was already in a bow next to her, apologising endlessly for disobeying his orders. Phileas looked a little scary, or was it just the atmosphere.

"Did you step out?" Phileas asked in a cold tone.

"N-no. I just stood here".

"Then why are you sweating and shivering like that?"

Sarah realised from his words that she indeed was breaking into a cold sweat. She replied nervously, "I uh don't know. I think this place is a little scary. I think I heard ghosts or something".

Phileas walked over to them, took Sarah's wrist and dragged her away from the cursed garden and into the palace. Ella waited a little longer before straightening herself and running after them. Sarah kept tripping as Phileas kept pulling her with his long strides. In the midst of it, she took one last look at the cursed garden. She felt like it called to her and mocked her. She did not like it at all.