Porcelain Princess (19 page)

‘
The
prices for even the simplest piece, however, were completely out of
the reach of even the richest of the townspeople. Not that they
didn’t think the prices fair; everything he’d made was a work of
art in its own right. Of course, not a single piece was sold. And
so, even as night fell, they remained in place around his caravan,
the townspeople having reassured him that nothing would be stolen
as everyone would be safely in their beds.

‘
As
he took to his own bed, he wasn’t bothered that he hadn’t sold
anything. Knowing that a busy and important man like the
Illuminator wouldn’t just see anyone who turned up in his town, he
had been creating these wonderful pieces over the years simply to
create a sensation that the Illuminator would find impossible to
ignore.

‘
Now
naturally, this was still the time when – when the town’s darkness
was at its most complete – the gates within the tower’s high walls
would briefly open, and the black carriage would thunder across the
square. It had only one purpose; to deliver the latest story to the
rest of the world. As far as the black horses were concerned,
anything in their way that wasn’t alive (and, some people were
sure, even anything that
was
alive!) clearly shouldn’t
be
in their way! They charged through the display of white
porcelain, shattering everything they touched, smashing everything
they didn’t as the shards flew around the square like glistening
pieces of ice, shattering their sister pieces.

‘
Woken by the terrifying noise of pounding hooves and cracking
porcelain, the father leapt out of bed, rushing to the caravan’s
door and flinging it open. His priceless collection of porcelain
had vanished, replaced by nothing but oddly shaped pieces scattered
across the dark ground.

‘
Now
he had nothing to offer the Illuminator!

‘
How
would he grant his poor daughter life now?

‘
He
had never felt so helpless in his life. His whole body sagged. His
head dropped low. He wept and wept.

‘
In
fact, it was such an incredibly low point in his life, a time of
utter dismay like he had never experienced before, that we can
never be sure what he might have done next. Fortunately, his
daughter was close by. And he distinctly heard her say to him that
night, “Don’t worry father; you
will
give me
life!”

‘
And
so, the next day he knew what he had to do; he would put on a
show!’

‘
A
show?’ Carey asked, amazed.

‘
A
puppet show! Didn’t I say he was a puppet master?’

‘
But
all the ceramics, the porcelain!’

‘
He
and his wife had learned its secrets only to give their daughter
life!’

‘
Still; it’s a bit of a coincidence, isn’t it? I mean, with me
also owning a puppet theatre!’

‘
The
world is full of them, Carey; puppet theatres, I mean!’

Cary shrugged.
That was true enough.

‘
Which show?’ she asked out of professional curiosity, not
really sure if the Princess would have an answer.

‘
Well, what else Carey?
The Porcelain Child
! And what a
show he put on, by all accounts. His audience recognised the story,
naturally; they’d even seen other shows of it, played by both real
actors and puppets. Yet, they had
never
seen it being played
with such incredible emotion, such empathy – and of course, now
we
know the reason why. It was a story of his own life,
after all. Yet the most amazing surprise was to come at the very
end – the revealing of the porcelain child herself!

‘
They
weren’t to know that this was the
real
porcelain child; and
yet, somehow, everyone who saw her that day instinctively knew that
she had to be! She was everything the Illuminator’s illustrations
had promised. Every previous show had ended in disappointment; the
puppet porcelain child being quite obviously another puppet, the
actress being just another child rather than anything unusual or
magical. But
this
porcelain child – why, it was just how
they’d all imagined her, a child existing between two
worlds!’

‘
Surely,’ Carey blurted out unsurely, ‘
surely
he didn’t
put his…well, his
daughter
on stage as a
puppet
?’

‘
She
was
off
stage, but yes, she was
part
of the show; as
if, once again, she existed between two worlds! He didn’t have
strings, making her move, if
that’s
what you
mean!’

The Princess
pulled a face, as if she also found such an idea
distasteful.

‘
And
yet – afterwards, countless people would swear that they saw her
move! That she smiled. Moved her eyes. Even gave a little
wave.

‘
As
soon as the curtains had closed on her, her father walked through
the ecstatically clapping crowd towards the gates of the walled
tower. There was the most amazed gasp from the crowd as the gates
opened – and he calmly walked inside, the gates instantly closing
behind him.

‘
He
mounted the stairway outside. He entered the palace through the
great doors. He almost froze in fear as the floor began to move
beneath his feet. He stared in wonder at the rooms he was being
swiftly carried through. And he almost wept in agonised
disappointment once again when he found himself dropped off here,
in the porcelain room!’

‘
So
this was already here, even then? Despite his skill with porcelain,
he wasn’t the one who created it?’

‘
Hah,
wait; you’re jumping a little ahead of me, Carey. But what was
he
to think when
he
saw this fabulous room? What hope
did he have of offering the Illuminator anything special when he
already possessed such a wondrous room? He trembled with fear and
dismay.

‘“
I’m…I’m sorry,” he said nervously, intending to apologise for
wasting the Illuminator’s time. But then he stood tall; despite his
fear, despite having nothing to offer in return, he must still try
to fulfil his promise to his wife and grant life to their daughter.
“I
know
it’s such a ridiculously incredible thing to ask
for, but–”

‘
The
Illuminator stopped him with the simple raising of a
hand.

‘“
I
know why you’re here. And I know you think you have nothing you can
offer me in return for granting your request.”

‘
The
girl’s father nodded miserably.

‘
The
Illuminator picked up a particularly ornate vase.

‘“
Perhaps you could cast your expert eye over this beautiful
piece…?”

‘
Taking the piece, the man observed it curiously.

‘“
Why, I think…think it looks
surprisingly
like one of
mine, one I–”

‘“
It
is
one of yours. Quite, quite remarkable; and I thank you
for this room.”

‘
Bewildered, the man stared around the room

‘“
I
never made so
many
pieces! And everything I made is outside,
smashed beyond repair!”

‘“
You
made at least one of each – which was more than enough for me, for
this room. I know what you intended to offer me; a whole room of
porcelain, like this one. But you would have had to spend years
creating it; and it would have been such a waste of your time,
creating something I could so easily have created for me. Besides,
it wouldn’t have been fair – as I can’t grant you what you
want.”

‘“
Then – there’s no hope for me or my daughter after all?’ the
man asked forlornly.

‘
Once
again, the poor man felt crushed by life. The Illuminator reached
out to consolingly touch him on his shoulder.

‘“
Please, think of what you were asking for; even if I could
grant such a thing, how would it look that I granted only you this
incredible favour? How many others would seek me out, demanding
that I grant it to them too?”

‘
The
man nodded sadly, but managed a wry, understanding
smile.

‘“
Yes, yes; I should have realised.”

‘“
There’s still the matter of payment, I believe?” The
Illuminator indicated the room with a glance of his eyes and a
flick of his fingers

‘“
I
don’t need payment – I just needed–”

‘“
Unfortunately, although it may not be
quite
what you’d
hoped for, the payment I have in mind will, I think,
still
be of interest to you; would you accept a
semblance
of life
for your daughter? Such that she will talk, walk, move, see, hear,
breath; but she will not yet be truly alive.”

‘“
Yes, yes!” The man was suddenly overjoyed. “It’s more, I
suppose, than I could have ever
realistically
hoped
for!”

‘
Of
course, they both knew that this wasn’t entirely true; but they
also recognised that this was an acceptable compromise for them
both.

‘“
It
will also require something more of you, I’m afraid; a sacrifice on
your part, but one that, if I’m being frank, you would have
eventually made anyway, in the circumstances.”

‘“
I’m
not sure I understand.”

‘
The
Illuminator quietened the man’s worries with a smile and the slight
raising of a hand.

‘“
I
will explain some more, of course, before you finally agree. But to
help you come to terms with your sacrifice, I will enable you to
initially grant this semblance of life to
seven
of your
chosen creations!”’

‘
Seven? Seven puppets?’ Carey was startled, abruptly
recognising the connections. ‘Not just his daughter, but also
six
of his puppets? No, no! This is
more
than
coincidence, this is–’

This is what?
She wasn’t at all sure. Her head whirled. What was the Princess
saying? The six puppets could only be her friends, couldn’t
they?

The Princess was
holding her firmly by the shoulders, as if she’d had to stop her
falling over in a daze.

‘
Carey, please, yes, you’re
right
; it’s
not
a
coincidence, I’m afraid. I’m sorry, but…I’m going to have to
disappoint you.’

She stepped
back, deftly unbuttoning a small section of her bodice to reveal
perfectly white porcelain underneath. Just as swiftly, she opened a
tiny flap where her heart would be.

And just inside,
a bright flame flickered above a small spirit reservoir.

*

Carey ran from
the room. She ran even though the moving floor was already carrying
her along at a terrific rate.

She rushed down
the staircase outside. Refusing to wait for the carriage, she ran
towards the gates, even though they were closed. As she approached
them, they opened however; and she sprinted out into the
square.

Out in the
square, surrounded by their little groups of admirers, her friends
saw her running towards the caravan. Realising she was upset, they
quickly excused themselves to their disappointed followers and ran
after her.

‘
What’s wrong?’ each of them said anxiously as they clambered
into the confines of the caravan where everyone was swiftly
gathering.

‘
The
Princess,’ Carey explained bitterly, almost tearfully, ‘isn’t
really
alive after all! Like you, she’s just kept alive by a
flame!’

‘
Oh,
so this really is as good as it gets?’

Peregun said it
in a way that was hard to interpret as either disappointment or
contentment.

‘
We
do
have a life that no other puppet can dream of; literally,
in fact,’ Durndrin pointed out with a more definite sense of
resignation.

‘
We
can’t complain I suppose, Carey.’

Grudo placed a
consoling arm around Carey’s quivering shoulders. He wasn’t quite
sure if she was shaking with anger or anguish.

‘
We
can
complain if we spent all of our lives trying to find an
answer to something that all turns out to be a mechanical trick!’
Carey spat out, raising her head with a hard expression of
determination on her face, her eyes glaring with fury. ‘If we’d
known the truth, we could have all saved ourselves an awful lot of
trouble; and the false raising of hope!’

Grudo gave her a
reassuring hug of the shoulders.

‘
Carey, please; just calm down for a minute so
we
can
work out what’s going on here. You were with the Princess for an
awful lot longer than it takes her to show you her flame; so what
else did she exactly say?’

‘
She
told me the story of
The Porcelain Room
.’

‘
Ah,
so it really
is
called that.’ Ferena couldn’t resist a smirk
of satisfaction; she had frequently insisted that it seemed the
most likely title to the second part of the series.

‘
Yes;
and we could have saved ourselves all this trouble if we’d only
found that story ages ago! We’d also know that you and the Princess
are, well; more or less brothers and sisters!’