HARDLY had Princess White Flame departed with the Earth Fairy when Prince Radiance returned to the garden.
Great was his astonishment to find the Princess no longer there. Believing, however, that she had gone but for a moment he sat down beneath the flame-red tree to wait for her return.
Many moments passed, and she did not come, and at last the Prince rose to seek her through the garden, calling softly as he went, “Princess, dear Princess White Flame, where are you?”
But none answered him through the stillness, and again he cried, “White Flame, dear White Flame—it is I, Prince Radiance. Answer—ah answer me!” Yet up and down the blooming spaces of the garden he sought her, and called to her in vain. Presently he came to a wide avenue, and entering it found himself erelong before a great and shining palace. It was the Palace of Burning Coals, and through its open doors and windows he could see the Fire Fairies going to and fro about their appointed tasks. Hoping that here he might learn where to find the Princess, he ascended the steps to the bright door, and told his errand to the fairy who guarded it.
“In this palace dwells the Princess,” answered the Fire Fairy. “She is King Red Flame’s daughter.”
“Take me to His Majesty then,” commanded Prince Radiance, “for I would have speech with him.”
So he was brought before King Red Flame without delay. In the great hall of the Palace sat the King. It was that time of evening when the Princess was wont to bear him company, but she had not yet come, and he was beginning to wonder why she tarried.
When Prince Radiance, guided by the Fire Fairy, was shown into the royal presence the King gave him hearty welcome. With transports of joy he learned how the Prince had heard and loved Princess White Flame in her garden, how he had gone to obtain the mystic Veil from the Wise One, and had been successful where countless who had come there before him had failed. Great was the King’s surprise, however, when he learned that Prince Radiance had returned to the garden, only to find the Princess gone.
“It is not like my daughter to break a promise,” he said, “especially one of such great moment. Why she has done so, I cannot even guess, but I will send for her at once, and she shall speak for herself.”
A messenger was dispatched immediately to summon the Princess. He was gone for some time, but at length returned to say that nowhere in the palace had he been able to find her.