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“ Give me your wishes and I’ll give you three wishes, ” that monotone voice creaked, painfully, given the number of numb enchantments that were placed over it. Cedric glared at the well’s mossy surface. Why was he here? He knew that the well was trouble . Because he was desperate. Right.
Cedric knew the basics of how the well worked - the more valuable the object you offered was to you, the more potent the spell became. He rolled the family wand between his hands, contemplating the delicacies of the wording he would use. The well was silent. Somehow, that made it worse. He held his breath and pinched the wand between his thumb and index finger, dangling it over the wells mouth.
He dropped it. He never heard it hit the bottom.
“I wish that Roland loved me.”
A sound reminiscent of a celestial triangle sounded, “your wish has been granted.”
“Hm,” Cedric made an upbeat noise: perhaps it had worked. The well didn’t always twist its wishes, it did give Princess Amber her new tiara without complication. He reached for his wand in the sleeve of his robe, then remembered. Huh . Well, everything had a price. Still, he felt oddly light without the pressure of the wand against his forearm, like the wind could just pull him away.
As Cedric neared the castle, a guard ran up calling his name, “Cedric! Sir! The king has called for you - says it is urgent! Few, ” the guard rested his weight on his knees, “I haven’t run that fast in a while.”
“Oh~” Cedric found himself giggling. This was all so exciting! So, the wish had really worked. “And where shall I meet the king?”
“The dungeon,” the guard puffed.
“D-Dungeon?” Cedric stuttered, his heart faltering. He bought his hands up in a defence-like pose, that didn’t sound terribly romantic.
“Yes, in private.”
“Hm,” Cedric tapped his foot. It did have a certain Shakespearean quality, didn’t it? The king and the uncaught criminal, meeting behind bars, in the dark, in secret. A shudder ran down his spine, “I’ll be there.”
“Mr Ceedric,” Sofia made Cedric jump as he entered the castle, “sorry, Cedric - I did mean Cedric. James wants you to do a magic show for him and Zandar!”
“I’m a little busy right now,” he sidestepped the princess.
Sofia frowned, “well… later? Zandar is staying for a sleepover, so there’s no rush.”
“Very well,” Cedric laughed, “later it is.”
The Dungeon was dark and cold, and damp, and overall quite scary. It was empty too. Criminal activity was rare in Enchancia. The sorcerer moved forward, feeling the end of his robe grow filthy from dragging against the stony floor. Every Time he saw his reflection in the bars of a cage, or a glimmer of light escaping through the ceiling, Cedric felt his heart jump. This was really happening .
“Cedric,” an iced voice sounded from behind him. Cedric whipped around - a little too suddenly, because he fell backwards and hit the floor with a thud . Roland stood in the shadows before him, eerily tall.
“Ouch,” How mortifying.
“So you got my message?” Roland said. Cedric nodded, too starstruck to find words. “I ordered you down here because I was thinking, just how dedicated you were.”
“I would give my life for you!” Cedric blurted. Roland walked up to him. The sorcerer’s heart thrashed against the cage of his ribs. The king reached for the back of his neck…
“So you won’t have a problem with the arrangement,” Roland mused. He yanked Cedric into the air, so suddenly that it made his blood freeze. What was happening?
“Sir…?”
Roland tossed Cedric into a cell, the fall should have stung when his side hit the stone but Cedric didn’t feel anything at all.
“You will stay here, in the dark,” Roland’s eyes gleamed with something wicked, he knelt down to lift Cedric’s quivering chin, “I want to see what that does to you. I want to see you starve, cry, grow pale and weep - all at my whim… because I love you.”
“That isn’t love,” he just managed to croak. The pain in his side was becoming apparent.
“Oh yes it is,” Roland smirked. He leant in to kiss Cedric, but the sorcerer grimaced trying to turn away. In any other situation, he would have jumped to the occasion - but this all felt… wrong. “Mm,” the king frowned, “you’ll give in, eventually.”
He left Cedric alone in the cell.
Quietly, softly, his tears began to pool on the tiles. He had given everything, absolutely everything to that darn well. And what had it given him in return? A curse . If he still had his wand, he would be able to break out of this cell easily! The well’s monotone laughter rang through his ears.
All he had wanted, ever since he was a child, was Roland’s affection. And now he had it in a way, he supposed. He would rot here. But he would have Roland - could he live like this? The thought was tempting: be the king’s pet, think few thoughts, do what was asked of him.
But then Cedric remembered the cruel light at the back of Roland’s eyes. That wasn’t love. How could he expect an enchanted well to understand what love was? He was such a fool.
“Mr Cedric? What are you doing down here?” Sofia said. He looked to her, purple dress casting an angelic light over the dark stone, “what happened?”
“Oh princess! I have done something terrible…” Cedric sighed, picking himself upright, “the… do you know of the wishing well?”
“Amber’s wishing well? The one that turned me into a cat?” Sofia queried.
“That one!” Cedric snapped his fingers, “it made Roland imprison me… he’ll only let me go if the wish is broken.”
“The only way to undo the wish is with more wishes…”
“And with an offering of equal value!” Cedric pulled at his hair, “ Oh! What could possibly be of equal value!”
“What did you give the well?”
“My family wand.”
“Oh, Cedric,” Sofia shook her head, “why did you do that?”
“...” he paused, why had he given his family wand, that he worked so hard to acquire? “I really wanted this wish to come true.”
“Well… nevermind,” Sofia sighed, bringing her hand to her amulet, “do you think this will be valuable enough?”
“Gah!” Cedric made an involuntary shriek, “princess, whatever you do, do not give that thing the amulet of Avalor!”
“What else can we give?” she said. Cedric saw that Sofia’s cheeks were wet, “I can’t leave you here!”
“...up in my tower,” Cedric closed his eyes, the words were heavy on his tongue, “in the second draw to the right, you will find the golden star.”
“The one I made for you?”
“Yes, that one.”
“It meant that much…” Sofia said, softly, before steeling her voice, “alright! I’ll be back once the wish is made! But then, you’ll have to give Zandar that magic show!”
“Deal,” Cedric laughed a little. This was the point of having friends, he supposed: they helped you out when you messed up.