Magica

 

Chapter 6

The Truth

 

“Good job!” shouted Flowerah, running to Rose. So Rose picked the little girl up and embraced her.

“But how can I bring my friends back to life?” Rose questioned the baby.

“Use the magical stick and the same word,” the baby told her.

So Rose pointed the magical stick at the Friendly Statue and said the magical word. And behold, he was alive again!

“How did you do it?” was his first question.

But she did not answer him. Instead, she started resurrecting the rest of her friends. So they were finally alive again.

After that, Rose explained to them how she had killed the evil magician, who deserved to die.

“Did I Commit a crime by killing him?” she asked worryingly.

“It’s not against the law of Magica to kill an evil magician,” the Friendly Statue assured her.

“The people of this city were planning how to kill him anyways,” added Flowerah.

“So what city are we in?” was the cat’s question.

“You’re in the city of Wagland,” replied the baby. “Only women and girls live in this city. But we welcome every person who comes to visit us.”

Finally, our friends decided to leave the prison, as they called it. Rose carried Flowerah in her arms. No one sat on the donkey or the horse, because the baby told them that her house was not too far from the magician’s house.

The streets of this city were empty. But the travelers saw many beautiful houses. There were many stores as well. There were many women and girls in these stores.

When they had reached Flowerah’s house, Rose knocked gently on the door.

A young and nice looking girl opened it to them. When she saw her daughter, she took her gently from Rose and hugged her very tightly. They both sobbed for a minute.

“But didn’t the evil wizard murder you\?” the baby asked her mother.

“He only made me fall asleep for an hour,” her mother told her.

Then Flowerah explained to her mother that the evil magician was killed by Rose. So Flowerah’s mother took Rose in her arms and kissed her.

“And these are Rose’s friends,” Flowerah added to her mother.

“Come in and let’s celebrate Rose’s victory against Satan!” the young woman shouted excitedly.

So the rest of Rose’s friends entered the beautiful house of Flowerah and her mother, Gardenia.

Next, they introduced themselves to Gardenia, who was pleased to meet them.

“I love every person who had been a victim of the evil magician,” she told them.

“Go and announce to the city that the evil magician is dead!” Gardenia told her daughter.

So Flowerah dressed in her finest clothes and went outside. She began to shout as loud as she could, “Madman is dead! The evil wizard is dead!”

The people who heard her did not believe her. So she told them to go to his house and see for themselves.

When they had realized that their enemy was really dead, they went around the city, telling the good news to everyone they met.

The queen of this city sent for Rose and her friends, saying, “I want to meet the people who saved my city from Satan.”

“Your wish shall be granted,” your majesty,” replied one of her servants.

Before they went to see the queen, the six travelers changed to better clothes, because they wanted to be respectful.

The city of Wagland was almost like a village. It had only three hundred buildings. However, they were all constructed splendidly. That’s why the evil magician controlled this city.

The population of this city was about two hundred and fifty women, and two hundred and fifty girls. The girls were all babies. The women looked in their twenty’s. These people never grow old. The babies remain babies, while their mothers remain young women.

Queen Beauty of Wagland made a great banquet for the visitors. The whole city had gathered in the palace to celebrate the downfall of Madman, who had ruined their lives for over thirty years.

Rose sat on another throne beside the queen. Many girls were dancing and singing in front of her. She was very important in Wagland that day.

The other five travelers sat on golden chairs very close to the queen and Rose. The queen treated them with honour and respect, even though most of them were neither women nor girls.

The six travelers ate and drank and were all merry. The queen had provided all kinds of food for them through her magic.

The kind queen told the travelers to sleep in Wagland, for it was getting dark. They agreed. Rose and her horse had a room all to themselves. The cat slept in another room. The Friendly Statue, Mr. Good and the donkey stayed together in a third room, where they talked all night long.

The next morning, Queen Beauty gave the six strangers food and water for the rest of their journey. These bags and containers were placed on the horse.

The six travelers rode on Don the Donkey, because the horse was carrying the supplies for their journey.

“I hear music,” remarked Rose after a little while.

So the horse and the donkey drove toward the sounds. They came to a city called ‘Drummia.’

When our friends had entered Drummia, they saw many drums singing and dancing together. Strangely, these drums had arms and legs. They made sounds of many musical instruments all playing at once.

As soon as the drums saw the six friends, they rushed toward them and started dancing with them. The drums danced and made music, while our friends enjoyed themselves.

At last, Rose got tired and said, “Please let me go!”

“We don’t get tired in here,” sang the drum who was dancing with her. “We’re dancing and singing all the time.”

Rose fought very hard until she was released. Then she ran as quickly as she could out of the city. When her friends saw this, they also resisted the Drummians and ran out of Drummia.

“Why didn’t you use your magical stick that would’ve transformed them into stones?” Mr. Hor asked the Friendly Statue. This was the stick that had transformed them into owls when they wanted to flee the wooden army.

“I forgot about the magical stick!” stated the king. “I could’ve used it against Madman.”

“But I’m glad you didn’t use it against him,” laughed Rose. “By letting the evil magician to imprison us and murder you, I was able to kill him and save Wagland.”

“And you also brought us back to life,” added Don, smiling at Rose.

“Do you still have the magician’s stick, Rose?” Caty asked.

“O no!” cried Rose. “I forgot to take it when we left his house!”

“We don’t need it anyways,” Mr. Hor assured her. They all agreed with him.

They presently came to a city called ‘Robbery.’ It was empty. There was neither creature nor any building in it.

“Watch over your stuff,” the Friendly Statue told everyone. “We’re in the city of Robbery.”

“So is it full of robbers?” questioned Rose anxiously.

“Yes it is,” answered the Friendly Statue. “Let’s stay as close as possible to each other. So if we see any robber coming toward us, we’ll fight together.”

When they had finally left the city of Robbery, Rose smiled and remarked, “Well I’m glad no robber attacked us.”

The statue was searching for something in his pocket when he pulled a little paper that read, “The city of Robbery. We steal things from people invisibly.”

“My magical stick has been stolen!” cried the Friendly Statue. “The robbers of Robbery city are invisible. So they stole my magical stick in an invisible way!”

Everybody was horrified at this statement. So they all began searching in their bags to make sure that nothing has been stolen from them. They finally discovered that only the magical stick was stolen.

“Let’s go back and get the magical stick,” suggested Mr. Good.

But when they looked behind them, the city of Robbery was nowhere to be seen. This city did not stay in one place, but it kept moving from place to place.

So the travelers resumed their journey. They were still thinking about the invisible robbers who had stolen the magical stick from the Friendly Statue. This stick was used when they wanted to change themselves into owls.

Suddenly, the Friendly Statue exclaimed in a tone of dismay, “We’re walking in the country of the wooden people!”

“But I don’t see any wooden person in here,” said Rose.

“That’s because they’re in Magica City,” he replied.

“But only their soldiers are in Magica City,” she told him. “And the rest of the wooden people are here in their country.”

“But all of the wooden people are soldiers,” the Friendly Statue told her. “Only their slaves are here. Their slaves are not wooden people.”

Suddenly, about a hundred men ran toward them. They were all carrying swords. They were frightening to look at.

“Didn’t our soldiers invade your city?” one of the soldiers asked the Friendly Statue.

“Yes they did,” the statue replied sadly, for he thought that he had been captured by these soldiers.

“Then how come they did not capture you?” the soldier asked.

The Friendly Statue told him the whole story. He spoke of how they managed to escape by transforming themselves into owls.

The soldier whispered to the statue, “The wooden people won’t know that you were here, because they’re all in your city and in other cities that they’ve invaded. So I’ll let you go in peace. But I will try not to tell them that you’ve been here when they come back.”

“But other people have seen us here,” the king reminded him.

“I guess I’ll have to bear the consequences, then,” he replied sadly.

“Why don’t you join us?” the Friendly Statue asked.

“I think it’s better for me to join you than to stay here,” he replied. “So let’s run at once!”

When the other soldiers saw what was happening, they realized that their captain had changed sides. So they tried to run after him and the six travelers, but they had soon disappeared.

When night had come, the six travelers and the soldier from Woodmania began searching for a place to sleep.

“I have an idea,” remarked the Friendly Statue. “Eat your supper first. Sleepland is not far from here. So after you’re done eating, we’ll go to it.”

Now the Friendly Statue, Caty and Don had visited Sleepland when George and Natasha were with them. This was the place where they slept but could not get up, until the Friendly Statue had made them drink a special kind of juice.

“What!” shouted the cat. “Do you want us to go to that city and sleep and never get up?”

“But last time you couldn’t get up  I made you drink from that special juice,” the Friendly Statue reminded her.

So they all agreed to go to Sleepland. When they had eaten enough, the seven travelers drove to Sleepland. They did not have to walk very long.

As soon as they had entered the city, Rose, Mr. Hor and Caty began to feel drowsy. So they were immediately taken to bedrooms.

But as you already know, the two statues and the donkey did not sleep. So they stayed outside the city, lest they awaken someone by their talks.

Now the soldier who had joined them from Woodmania was not exactly a human being like we are, but he was not made of wood either. He was made of gold. Every part of him was made of gold. So he did not sleep either.

“Last time I was in this city I could not get up,” laughed Don. “But now I can’t sleep.”

Then the Friendly Statue looked at the golden man who had joined them from Woodmania and said, “Could you please introduce yourself to us?”

The golden man smiled and said, “Well my name is Jamil. I’m from the land of Goldia, where only golden people live. But the evil wooden people invaded our city and took us as  captives to Woodmania. We have become their slaves. So whenever they go to war with another country, they leave us behind to take care of their houses.”

“I will help your people as soon as I’ve recaptured my city,” the Friendly Statue assured him.

Now the four sleepless creatures were worried that there would not be bottles of the special juice. This type of juice wakes up any person who is sleeping in this city, because the city is enchanted to make people sleep forever. But when a person drinks from this juice, it awakens him.

So the four friends decided to search and make sure that this kind of juice still exists. When they had finally taken three bottles, they kept them with them. So when morning would come, they would go and give them to the three sleeping creatures.

The four sleepless friends kept talking all night long, because they did not have anything to do. So they sang songs and told stories. The golden man told them more about his city, Goldia. The Friendly Statue told about the adventures he had with George and Natasha and the other friends.

When morning had come, the Friendly Statue, Mr. Good, Jamil and Don went back to Sleepland to awaken their friends. As soon as they opened their eyes, they closed them again. So they were given the special juice to drink. At last, Rose, Caty and Mr. Hor were all awake.

So the seven friends left Sleepland and found a place to eat their breakfast. They still had the food that the queen of Wagland had given them.

“The city of the Young Girls is not far from here,” remarked the Friendly Statue. Now the ‘City of the Young Girls’ was another place that the Friendly Statue, Caty and Don had visited with George and Natasha.

After breakfast, the travelers drove toward Young Girls City. They did not ride on the two animals, because they knew that they would not have to travel too far.

“Hello!” shouted a maiden from inside the city. “Welcome back, the Friendly Statue, Caty and Don!”

So the gate was opened for the visitors and they entered happily. Then the Friendly Statue introduced the new four friends to the maidens of the Young Girls City.

“The queen would like to see you,” one of the maidens told the visitors.

So they went to the queen’s throne room. As soon as the six visitors saw her, they all bowed to her.

“Where are George and Natasha?” asked the queen after she had greeted them all.

“They went back to Canada,” the Friendly Statue explained. Then he told her everything that had happened.

When the queen had realized that he was the king of Magica City, she bowed to him and said, “I’m sorry to hear about the invasion of your kingdom.”

“I’m looking for a magician who will be able to help me to  retake Magica City,” the king told her.

“Well there’s one who lives not far from our city,” smiled the young queen. “But stay with us and enjoy yourselves for a day or two.”

The seven comrades were supposed to eat lunch with the queen. So they all took baths and made themselves fresh and ready.

When lunchtime had come, a maiden came to them and said, “Her majesty, Queen Softy is ready to meet you in the mainland of the city.”

So the happy party followed the young maiden out of the palace and to where the queen had arranged the tables.

Every time a person would say to the queen what he or she wanted to eat, she would clap her hands and the desired food would suddenly appear at their table. When four of the travelers saw this magic, they all marveled for a moment. The Friendly Statue, Caty and Don were not surprised, because they had seen this when they came with George and Natasha.

When the lunch was over, the Friendly Statue told his friends, “I think that it’s better for us to find the magician whom the queen was telling me about. I can’t wait to return to Magica City and save it.”

Queen Softy did not want them to leave her too quickly, but she finally consented. She gave them the directions to the magician’s house. She said, “His name is the ‘Prince of Kindness,’ because he fights the magic of the Prince of Darkness with his own magic.”

The seven travelers thanked her very much and began their journey toward the Prince of Kindness’s house.

The house was not too hard to find, because as soon as they were out of the city of the Young Girls, they could see it.

But before they had reached the desired house, a bird flew after them and cried, “The Friendly Statue! How happy I am to see you!”

The Friendly Statue suddenly looked behind him and saw the beautiful bird who was calling him.

“Who are you?” the statue asked in bewilderment.

“I’m the Prince of Kindness,” replied the bird, as he finally rested on the statue’s shoulder. “I knew you wouldn’t recognize me, because the evil Prince of Darkness has changed me into a bird, as you see me now.”

“And why did he do that?” the statue questioned the bird, feeling sorry for him.

“Let’s sit and I’ll tell you the whole story,” suggested the bird.

So they all sat on the ground. The bird sat on the Friendly Statue’s lap. Then he began: “Well before I was transformed into what I’m now, I was a human being. I was also a powerful magician. But one day, I saw you and Mr. Good in George’s house. You were both enchanted not to speak nor move, of course. But one day, while George was asleep, I transported both you and George back to the magical world. Then I did the same with Natasha and Mr. Good, who was in her room, of course. So when the evil Prince of Darkness realized what I had done, he punished me by changing me into a bird.”

“But I thought I was transported back to this world because George had kissed me,” the Friendly Statue remarked in bewilderment. “I thought that my enchantment was broken because of his kiss.”

“No it wasn’t the kiss,” the bird told him. “But I was the one who had transported you, Mr. Good, George and Natasha to this world. That’s the truth.”