THE CRISTAL STATUES
Written By - Prabir Rai Chaudhuri
© All Copyright Reserved By Prabir Rai Chaudhuri- 2023
It all started on the first day of vacation, the best day of the
year according to Alex and his sister Linnea. They went by train for a
week or two to their grandmother's house, in the countryside, in the
Ardennes. They were lucky to be accompanied by their best friends, Ethan,
in sixth grade like Alex, and Celeste, in fifth grade, like Linnea.
Here are
two very different girls. Celeste tends to very long blonde hair, which
she likes to style in cute artistic braids. She has a collection of
beautiful dresses in bright colors. Linnea, rather athletic, with short
brown hair, adopts her brother's old jeans, preferably well faded and torn.
There is
no risk of confusing the two boys either. Alex, a tall blond with light
eyes, and Ethan, shorter, and whose brown hair tends to red.
As the
train sped them out into the countryside, they chatted hard and created a whole
series of plans. The most interesting of them, the one they were looking
forward to the most, concerned the prince's castle.
Alex and
Linnea described to their friends this magnificent construction, located in the
middle of the woods, in a huge clearing, near their grandmother's
village. A castle built in gray and blue rock and surrounded by
moats. It is accessed by a stone bridge preceded by high gates. This
castle looks more like a palace than a feudal construction. It has a
ground floor and a first floor, pierced with many beautiful large windows.
Alex
spoke at length about the three flute players.
-The
first, very large, is in the entrance hall, he said. It welcomes you, like
a giant almost three meters high. The second, very small, is located in a
living room upstairs. The third, sinister, drags at the bottom of the
cellars. According to legend, there is a fourth, the treasure.
While
they were talking and planning their plans, a man sat on the bench opposite
them, reading his newspaper. Specifically, he was pretending to
read. He hadn't turned a page for a long time. Hidden behind these
large sheets of paper, he listened carefully to the chatter of our
friends. Ethan, always very observant, having noticed the game, nudged the
others and they changed the conversation. Soon they were talking only
about the rain and the good weather.
When
they got off at the little station, the man who was reading the newspaper
folded it up and left with them. Someone was waiting for him. After
shaking hands, they both got into a car and drove off. Our four friends
took a bus and soon arrived in the grandmother's village. She was waiting
for them impatiently.
The kind
old lady received them with open arms, with a mountain of pancakes on the
table, which helped to make this welcome very warm. Then she showed them
their rooms, the boys' and the girls', right next door.
"I'm
looking forward to going to the chateau," announced Alex.
-Oh,
yes, added Linnea. I hope that no one lives there, like last year and
previous years, and that we can have fun there.
"Don't
think about it, my children," answered the grandmother. The palace
gives the impression of being busy.
- The
prince is back? Linnea asked.
-No. We
don't really know what's going on here in the village. Walkers have seen
lights at night it seems. However, access to it does not seem to be
prohibited. I'm not preventing you from going to see.
At the start of the afternoon, Alex, Linnea, Ethan and Celeste set
off. They first crossed fields by a small dirt road with ditches filled
with multicolored flowers. Then they passed through a fairly dark pine
wood and came out into a huge clearing in the center of which was a
lake. In the middle of the lake, which serves as a moat, stood the
castle. Monumental gates barred access to the stone bridge that spans the
water. These gates were open.
Our
friends passed them, took the bridge, and then reached the main gate of the
castle. It wasn't locked. They opened it. She squeaked a
little. They found themselves in a sumptuous entrance hall. The
floor, paved with white and black tiles, resembled the checkerboard of a game
of chess. In the center of this checkerboard was a very well sculpted
white marble statue representing a flute player almost three meters high.
-Number
one, launched Linnea.
To the left and to the right, sumptuous staircases, also of marble, led to the
first floor. Before climbing up there, Alex and Linnea showed their
friends the reception rooms, the large salons, and, above all, the splendid
ballroom whose large windows overlook the moat and the forest. Marvelous
gallery, which has three marble fireplaces, one on the left, the other on the
right and the third in front of the French windows.
Then
they climbed the monumental staircase. They walked through a series of
empty rooms and came to a small living room. There was a dark wooden piece
of furniture, quite heavy, the only piece of furniture still existing in the
castle. It consisted of two large empty display cases, linked together by
a kind of wooden bridge. On this wooden bridge, there was a small
chessboard, with only one piece of the game: the white king, in wood, stuck on
the checkerboard. The second flute player.
Then,
our friends went down the sumptuous staircase and took other much darker steps,
leading to cold cellars. In the last was a rather sinister, human-sized
third Pied Piper. Sculpted in gray stone, it seemed to come from a block
of cement. He seemed to be sulking in a corner. He had his back to
our friends. The flute touched a blind spot between two walls in the room.
As the children watched this Pied Piper, they heard footsteps. They
hurried back upstairs but arrived too late in the entrance hall. They met
two men there. They had seen one of them on the train, the one who was
pretending to read his newspaper.
When the children were back home, Alex and Linnea's grandmother gave them good
news. It was announced that in three days, on Saturday evening, the
village ball. All the inhabitants go there, the youngest as well as the
oldest. During this festival, a tradition continues. The dean or dean
of the hamlet has the privilege of opening the ball.
On
Saturday evening, our friends went there with the grandmother, of
course. Surprise! Aunt Rosa, Alex and Linnea's grandmother's sister,
was honored this year. Aunt Rosa uses a wheelchair. The neighbors
present at the party made a semi-circle around her. She spoke.
-
Unfortunately, I cannot open the ball, my friends. My legs prevent
me. But… instead of doing that, and to respect tradition, I'm going to
tell you a story.
"I
am eighty-eight years old. At the time of which I speak to you, I was eleven.
My mother was a cook at the castle. At that time, the prince still lived there.
More than once , mother told me about this noble, a man it seems of great
beauty, very rich, very cultured, and of extreme sensitivity. His palace was
tastefully decorated. His collections of paintings, sculptures and instruments
precious music, from auction houses around the world, adorned the walls and
shop windows.This prince gave very many sumptuous parties in his castle.
“One
summer day, I had the pleasure of accompanying Mum in the kitchens. One evening
at the grand ball. From time to time, I half-opened the door of the village
hall. long haute couture dresses, displaying their jewels, tiaras, necklaces,
rings and precious brooches. I observed these gentlemen in clothes or military
uniforms. But above all, I saw the prince. What a handsome man! I was only
eleven years, but I immediately fell in love with him.The musicians, a string
orchestra, the dazzling lights of the chandeliers, the fires illuminating the
park and the moat, all contributed to the success of this celebration.
“Around
midnight, the prince silenced the musicians. He spoke.
- My
friends, I acquired a quite extraordinary object during my recent trip to
Italy. A splendid piece made at the famous Murano crystal works, near
Venice.
"He then took a flute from his pocket, a golden flute. He played a simple,
repetitive little tune of music, like a chant. Slowly, two panels opened in the
central fireplace, where no fire had been lit. Everyone saw a crystal flute
player appear. He was the size of a ten-year-old child. He reflected and sent
back the lights of the chandeliers and his crystal, by turning on itself,
projected these blue or red lights, like rainbows, over the people, the walls
and the ceilings of the grand ballroom.
The old
lady was silent. The whole village, gathered around her, remained hanging
on her lips.
"I'm
going to play you the tune the prince sang that night," Aunt Rosa
added. I held him back. This will open tonight's party.
She took
a recorder out of her bag and played the musical tune. Everyone
applauds. The ball began.
Just
then, our friends spotted, in a corner of the party hall, one of the two men
they had met at the prince's palace. He was wielding a
smartphone. They carefully avoided him. They had fun for a long time
and came back chatting around one o'clock in the morning to Alex and Linnea's
grandmother's house.
-What a
pity, remarked Celeste, that we can't go back to the castle.
-Alas,
sighed Linnea. I was hoping that the four of us would find the treasure
there, the fourth Pied Piper.
-Completely
agree with you, girls, added Alex. And I don't think we should let
ourselves go, he said after a moment of deep reflection. Let's go back to
visit this palace.
"You
need a stratagem, a ruse, to get in there without being spotted by the two
people hanging around there," Ethan calculated.
This boy
is the brains of the band. He often lays out the best plans.
"Here
is what I propose," he said. If we could play Aunt Rosa's flute tune
in the village hall, the fourth player, the one in crystal, could appear in
front of the fireplace, as in the time of the prince.
"Yes,"
enthused the other three.
-For
that, Veronique, you would have to learn to play the air on the flute that Aunt
Rosa played last night.
It
didn't seem very difficult, their friend can play the piano, the organ and the
flute. She could easily memorize this simple, repetitive little tune.
The next day our friends went to see Aunt Rosa. She received them very
kindly. She offered them cups of chocolate and excellent
cookies. Then, Celeste took out her recorder and learned to play,
alongside Aunt Rosa, the piece formerly performed by the prince in his castle.
The old lady took the opportunity to tell them a second story.
-Some
time later, she said, one night, a month or two after the one when I had the
pleasure of seeing the prince through the half-open kitchen door, I woke up in
my room. I felt the ground vibrate and heard a rumble. Looking,
curious and worried, through the window, I saw riders followed by two
carts. They were going full speed down the road. I didn't know at the
time what it was. I only learned of it the next day. The prince and
his friends left the castle, leaving it empty. The prince was of Russian
origin, and at that time a lot was happening in his country.
Celeste,
certain that she knew the flute piece, thanked Aunt Rosa for her patient
lesson. The four friends returned to Alex and Linnea's grandmother's house
and, on the way, they decided to try a nocturnal visit to the castle.
At 11
p.m., the grandmother seemed to be asleep. Silence reigned in the old
house. They got up and found themselves all four, in the corridor,
upstairs. Above all, there was no need to make any noise. Dressed in
dark jeans, black t-shirts and gym shoes, they descended the stairs. They
were carrying two flashlights. One found in a cupboard, the other belonged
to Linnea.
They
walked along the banister to avoid creaking the steps of the staircase and left
the house. At that moment, Celeste noticed that she had forgotten to take
the flute. She crept back up to look for her in her room and joined her
friends.
They
walked under a moonbeam in the direction of the fir wood. The place seemed
sinister to them in the night. You could hear foxes and owls
howling. Finally, they came in sight of the castle.
No
light. It raised its dark, menacing mass.
Arrived
in front of the gates, an unpleasant surprise awaited them. They were
padlocked. They looked up. No question of climbing them. They
ended in points raised towards the sky.
-Let's
go through the moat, suggested Alex.
"Yes,
by the moat," repeated Linnea. I see no other solution.
A gray
stone stairway led down to the water's edge, below the bridge. On the
other side of the large arch, a few steps made it possible to go up along the
facade of the castle. Our friends entered the cold water. The bottom
was muddy. It came up to their chests. They advanced in this black
and dirty water and went up, dripping, by the other staircase.
Without
difficulty, they reached the main door. It wasn't locked. They
entered and crossed the flagstone hall, observing the huge Pied Piper,
motionless in the moonlight.
They
quickly reached the large party hall. Celeste took out her flute and
played in front of the third fireplace, the one in the center of the other two,
facing the windows. Unfortunately, nothing happened.
Ethan
then suggested that Celeste play the flute tune in front of each of the other
statues. The girl performed the same song in front of the big marble
player in the hall, but without result.
Our
friends then went upstairs and Celeste started her little game again in front
of the chess player. Alas, without success.
But, the four children did not know that in the next room, the last of the
castle, were the camp beds of the two men. They awoke to the sound of the
flute.
-You
hear? one says.
"Yes,
I understand," repeated the accomplice.
-A ghost
?
-I have
never met a ghost who plays the flute.
- No, me
neither. Come on, let's get up. Lets go see. Someone has entered
the castle.
The four
friends went back down the main stairs. They entered, after the long
corridor, in the last cellar and went towards the third flute player. The
one who turns his back when you enter. It is in a corner at the corner of
two walls.
Meanwhile,
the two men arrived in the hall in turn.
"Look,"
one of them whispered. Traces of mud on the ground. Ghosts don't do
that.
-And if
it was the children, those of the other day? said the other.
"Well
done," replied his sidekick. Let's follow them quietly and try to
surprise them.
Coming,
our friends had crossed the moat in the silt and mud. They had taken it
under their shoes and left it behind them, on the tiled floor, without
realizing it.
Arrived
in the last cellar, Celeste again played the air on the flute.
From the
last notes, a click was heard. The statue, dark and sinister, turned
slowly on its axis, and, before the astonished eyes of our friends, crossed the
cellar diagonally and went to the diametrically opposite corner. There the
flute entered a tiny hole, smaller than a keyhole, and turned ninety degrees to
the right. Another click occurred and a wall opened, revealing an endless
underground staircase that plunged into darkness. The four friends rushed
there, flashlights on.
As they
descended, a third click occurred. Turning around, they noticed that the
section of wall was closing.
Alex
rushed to try to go back into the cellar, but awkwardly, fell on his sister and
rolled on the ground. Ethan, alone, was able to slip in time and found
himself out of the way. The other three remained locked in the
underground.
Hearing
noises, the boy rushed after the Pied Piper who had returned to his
place. Bad hiding place. He changed places and risked standing behind
the front door of the room. He heard the two men approach and enter the
cellar in turn.
-Person! Go
get the recording. I bet you the Pied Piper worked and our visitors are on
the other side of the wall, one of them said.
"Okay,"
whispered the other.
He left
and came back with the smartphone which, we remember, he had used to record the
sound of the flute during Aunt Rosa's performance on the evening of the party.
During this time, Alex, Linnea and Celeste emerged in a vast underground
crypt. The place was full of riches: precious paintings, antique
furniture, rolled Oriental rugs, earthenware, silverware. All the prince's
furnishings and collections were stored there.
Our
friends saw three doors. They chose to open the middle one
first. They thus passed through a narrow corridor, followed by a new
staircase. Cautious, Alex retraced his steps, opened the two other doors,
to deceive any pursuers, then joined the two girls, closing behind
him. They went down the stairs.
The two
men played the air of the prince recorded to the third flute player, without
suspecting the presence of Ethan. They watched as the statue crossed the
cellar diagonally and opened the underground passage.
Ethan
remained hidden behind the door.
The two
individuals entered the underground. No doubt they knew a way
out. The door closed behind them and the third Pied Piper returned to his
place in his corner.
When the two men reached the crypt where all the prince's furniture was, they
immediately saw that the left and right doors were open. Suspicious, they
slid a heavy piece of furniture in front of the middle one.
Then
they went to explore the two corridors. They took a few careful steps on
the dark flagstones, having not yet visited this place. On each side, one
of them swiveled under their feet. They fell at the same time into an
oubliette four meters deep which closed above them.
Alex, Linnea
and Celeste arrived in a new crypt, smaller than the previous one.
In its
center, on a round piece of furniture, was the fourth flute player, all in
crystal. Under the beam of their flashlight, it appeared to them
scintillating and of an indescribable beauty.
Our
friends turned around, went up the stairs, but found, when they reached the end
of the corridor, that they were locked in there. The door was
blocked. They couldn't come out.
The
situation was becoming quite dramatic. Alex, Linnea and Celeste were
waiting with the fourth flute player to come and free them. The two men,
each fallen into oblivion, were also locked up now. As for Ethan, he was
waiting in the cellar of the castle, near the third statue. And Celeste is
the only one of the four friends who knows how to play the flute. So the
boy couldn't do anything to help his friends.
After
waiting for them for a good hour, he decided to leave the castle and go back to
Alex and Linnea's grandmother's house. As soon as he arrived, he woke the
old lady and told her about their adventure. She called the police and the
parents. It was three o'clock in the morning.
Meanwhile,
Alex, Linnea and Celeste sat patiently in the cold cellar. They were
shivering in their wet clothes. They smelled of slime. In addition,
they were afraid, very afraid.
How were
they going to get out of where they were?
They observed the round piece of furniture on which the crystal Pied Piper was
fixed. They found several drawers there. In one of them lay a big
notebook. The prince had written the story of his life on it by
hand. The two friends sat down on the floor against the wall and started
reading it, to occupy themselves.
Alex
suggested that the girls save the flashlights and only light one at a
time. Sitting close together, shivering and trembling with fear, they read
together the adventurous life of this prince of Russia.
At
times, exhausted, they closed their eyes. The boy, placed between them,
put his arms around the shoulders of his sister and Veronique to try to
reassure them a little.
The
parents who had arrived quickly did not remain inactive. They accompanied
the police to the castle. The latter immediately blew up the padlock of
the large gates. They searched the building, but found no one. They
discovered, on the other hand, the camp of the two men: their sleeping bags,
their camp beds and their documents and belongings.
Ethan
led them into the cellars and introduced them to the third flute
player. Alas, no one managed to move it. There was, however, a very
simple solution.
Have
you thought about it, you who read this story? Yes, of course, go and wake
up Aunt Rosa, take her to the cellars and ask her to play the Prince's tune.
They
waited until six in the morning to go to the old lady's, out of respect for her
sleep. As she did not answer their calls, a neighbor came out and
explained that an ambulance had taken Aunt Rosa to the hospital that
night. She had just suffered a stroke. And of course, she couldn't
perform the flute tune that our friends so desperately needed.
The
police, on Ethan's proposal, then summoned workers, who, equipped with
jackhammers, could try to drill a hole at the place where the flute player
opens the wall. They did not arrive until about nine o'clock. They
immediately declared that the hardness of the stones and the thickness of the
walls posed problems. The job required special tools and was going to take
time.
The
police, the parents, as well as the grandmother set up their headquarters in
the large village hall of the castle.
The
hours passed slowly. Linnea, Alex and Celeste were still shivering in
their damp clothes. Sometimes they got up and moved their arms and legs
around trying to warm up a bit. At other times, they held each other
tight. Celeste played the air of the prince several times, but without
success. The fourth flute player seemed stored in this crypt for eternity.
Speaking
of eternity, our friends wondered with anguish if someone would manage to
deliver them in time, or if they were going to die of hunger or cold in the
hole in which they were locked up. One of the flashlights went out, the
battery already flat. The other lamp still gave off a little light.
The girls had almost finished reading the life of the prince. A pleasant
surprise awaited them on the last page.
“I
acquired this fourth flute player from a crystal blower in the lagoon of
Venice. A pure marvel. I had it placed in a crypt and I installed a
device, a kind of elevator which allows me, when I play the flute inside the
castle's village hall, to make it appear. The very complex mechanism only
works when wound up with the help of a key. The statue then rises to stand
behind the panels of the fireplace. The flute air triggers the opening of
these panels.
Ethan, Linnea
and Celeste shook each other, full of hope. Taking advantage of the last
gleams of the flashlight, they searched the cabinet again and found a golden
key in the corner of a drawer, stuck at the very bottom of it. They
introduced it into an orifice which they discovered under the crystal statue
while groping. Their second flashlight had just gone out. They turned
the key, winding up the mechanism.
As soon
as it was done, a humming sound was heard. The fourth Pied Piper slowly
rose with the thick wooden tray he was attached to. The three children
rushed onto this plateau, and, surrounding the fourth flute player, they
climbed with him into an old well in the castle. They reached behind two
metal plates, through the slits of which they saw some lights.
Celeste
then, seizing her recorder, played the Prince's tune.
The
panels opened. The fourth flute player came forward, propelling our
friends inside the village hall, under the amazed gaze of the police, the
grandmother, the parents and Ethan. Everyone kissed.
Our
friends explained how the Pied Piper works while biting into a sandwich. Celeste
played the air of the prince again in front of the third statue, that of the
cellar. The small group formed by children, parents, policemen and workers
listened to our friend in silence. The third flute player crossed the room
and opened the section of the wall.
They
blocked the mechanism with a steel bar, then went down the stairs. They
walked through the main crypt, admiring the prince's riches. The police
discovered the dungeons and brought out the two men who were locked up
there. Everyone explained.
The two
individuals were not bandits. One is a history professor at the university
and the other his assistant. Both discovered interesting and unpublished
documents while studying the life of the prince. From old plans concerning
his castle, they hoped to find the furniture and the treasure. They would
probably have arrived there first if the four friends had not preceded them to
the crypt where the crystal statue was waiting.
The
fourth flute player and the precious furniture never found their
owner. They are waiting on display in the village where Alex and Linnea's
grandmother lives. The prince, who returned to his country, then in the
midst of a revolution, never reappeared.
A party
was organized for the inauguration of the museum. Our friends, and the two
researchers from the university, fair play, took part in it with a good heart,
in the company of Aunt Rosa who was recovering little by little from her health
problem.
© All Copyright Reserved By Prabir Rai Chaudhuri- 2023
