The Princess seeing this uttered a piercing cry, but held by the spell of her enchantress she could not stir from her place.
The Wizard replaced the lid of the urn, and the Earth Fairy rushed forward to pounce upon the helpless Prince. Her eyes glittered with joy to see him in her power at last.
She tore back his cloak, sure that the Veil of Disenchantment was hidden beneath it, but as soon as her fingers touched the prostrate form it vanished. Where it had been, she saw only the charcoal floor of the Cave. Puzzled and astonished she struggled to her feet, and stood dazed, peering down at the spot where the figure had lain as though she could scarcely believe her senses. When at last she could no longer doubt that the Prince had indeed disappeared, she rushed to the Wizard, shrieking in fury, “What evil magic is this that you have wrought upon me, wicked one that you are? You have ruined everything by your miserable enchantments. You have destroyed the Veil as well as the Prince.”
The Wizard interrupted her angrily. “How dare you speak to me in this manner,” he thundered, bringing his fist down upon the top of the urn. “You, who have deceived me by pretending to bring a Prince before me? But I will show you that you cannot trifle with the Wizard of the Cave.”
He waved to his Imps. They understood him without a word, and bounded forward with ropes of darkness in their hands to bind the Earth Fairy. It would have gone hard with her then if it had not been for Flying Soot. He jumped down with all speed from his lump of charcoal, and ran to cast himself at the Wizard’s feet. He threw his arms about them, and tried to soothe him. “Sir Wizard, Sir Wizard,” he pleaded, “listen but a moment. There has certainly been some strange mistake. I assure you that we are not to blame. This creature that has so suddenly vanished could never have been the Prince. Someone—I know not who, has tricked us all. I pray you, do nothing rash to the Earth Fairy. She is not to blame.”
The Imps who surrounded the Earth Fairy, hearing this, stood swinging the ropes of darkness in their hands, waiting to see what their master would say, before they ventured to bind her fast. White Flame, weeping and trembling in her corner, checked her sobs and listened breathlessly for the Wizard’s reply.
The Wizard thought for a time in silence. Then at last he spoke. “Since you yourselves have played no tricks upon me, there is but one way in which to explain this matter. My sister, the Shadow Witch, has been at work. She it is who has caused us to see a prince where no prince was. The real prince she has without doubt lured away into the Land of Shadows.”
At these words Flying Soot rose to his feet and turned to the Earth Fairy. “Then we must go to seek him there,” he declared.
The Earth Fairy was but too anxious to set forth. At a signal from their master, the Imps drew back, leaving her free to go as she would, but as she was about to depart from the Wizard’s presence with her companions, an Imp came rushing down the long dark corridor from the Cave entrance, and into the Cave Hall. “Sir Wizard—Sir Wizard!” he panted. “A second prince approaches! Even now he is within the entrance to the Cave.”
Certain that this could be no other than Prince Radiance himself, the Earth Fairy and Flying Soot paused instantly.