The End Of The Curse #AtoZChallenge

Read previous parts here: one | two | three | four | five

The words of the sorceress hung in her head, specially the last words that she had said scared her. “Keep this just to yourself”
They ran back to the kingdom with double the speed with which they had come. On the way back, Alfred filled her in what had happened with Agatha years back. She was banished for using magic to save her ailing mother. Though he had been in love with her, it was out of his power to save her. The only thing he could suggest was banishment over death. But Agatha hadn’t seen hislove but only his suggestion. She wasn’t aware of the facts and he never told her.

***

Mary was looking for her daughter everywhere. It was time for the crowning ceremony but Alice was no where to be found. But in her heart she knew where she had gone, but she hoped she returned empty handed. After all, she had always known the answer to the puzzle Alice was trying to solve.

“Mom!” Alice broke her reverie and ran to hug her. Tears started flowing freely from both pairs of eyes. It will be alright mom, Alice wanted to say but couldn’t.
Mary spoke instead, “Alice, my daughter, don’t cry. This is not the time to be sad. You have a kingdom ahead of you now. You must think about it before yourself. And I will always be there to guide you.”

Few minutes later, they both walked into the Great Hall, holding each other’s hand tight. They walked to face their destinies, their fate. It easier to face whatever Life offers you, it only gets tougher when you already know what’s already in store.

Queen Mary crowned her daughter the Queen of the kingdom and let her hold the reign of the vast empire. Alice instantly felt what it felt like to be majestic. This was no time to savour the feeling. With great power came great responsibility. She knew what would follow next, still her heart wasn’t strong enough to take it.
After the chants ended and Alice was now lawfully the Queen of the kingdom, Mary burned into ashes. There was the similar reaction of chaos in the Hall but everyone knew nobody could do anything about it. After the chaos has settled, Alice sneaked out with the ashes of her mother in an earthen pot.

***

She called out for Agatha, loudly and firmly. Agatha came out instantly. She was a frail old woman now, but her sharp features told Alice that she would have been once a very beautiful young women.
“I did as you said”, Alice spoke first.
“You are really brave”, spoke Agatha. It was new to her that someone like the Queen herself has shown her such trust.
“Put the ring into the pot and bring your forward”, she said.
As Alice did what she was told, Agatha scratched the wrist with her sharp nails. The blood started to ooze, initially drop by drop but then like the stream. Soon, before Alice could make any sense of what was happening to her, she fainted. Meanwhile, Agatha kept on chanting some words of foreign language with eyes closed. As her chanting grew loud and fast, the blood  drained faster from Alice’s body. In no time her body was devoid of all the blood and the pot was full of it. Suddenly the pot caught fire and the chanting stopped. The fire bigger and voluptuous and then vanished all of a sudden.
Mary stood now there where the pot burned few seconds ago, full in flesh. It took her a minute to come to her senses and understand what has happened and then the hell broke loose. She immediately bent down to her daughter’s body which was now lifeless.
” what have you done!” She exclaimed. She then turned to the witch and asked the same question.
“This was in her destiny, you knew it!” Came the reply.
“That’s why I never told her this ever before!”
Tears filled her face. She didn’t care about the broken curse but her broken heart. She didn’t know what to do and shouted her misery to the sky.
Cupid watched the whole scene unfold and was touched by the act of true love just like he had been ages ago. He came down next to Mary and touched Alice’s heart which with a sudden jerk started pouring blood to the body. She came back to life, clueless of what had actually happened.

Years and centuries have passed since then, and the curse is broken forever but the legend of the Queen’s bravery lives on. The kingdom of curse has now become the city of love.

~The End~

Written for A to Z Challenge 2016

Theme this month: A story A week