The Penultimate Solution (Chapter 9)

'Never give in'

He couldn't remember how long he had been in the pit. His skin was pale and dirty, his cherished cassock was in tatters. It had the memory of his friend Tallow entwined in it's fibres, it had kept his spirits up. Now even his rags gave him no comfort.

He saw only pain, misery and loneliness for the rest of his days. It couldn't get any worse.

He must have fallen asleep as the next thing he knew he was being kicked awake by Krindle, his step dad. His ribs hurt so much he had trouble sitting up. His captor helped him up by grabbing him by the hair on his head, but great big chunks of hair fell out in Krindle's hands.

"Ha,ha,ha! Look Gargamel, you're losing your hair. I think you'll look even uglier from now on" And he continued to pull at the younger man's hair. Gargamel had no strength left to care and just concentrated on not letting his step dad see the tears welling up in his eyes.

Eventually, his tormentor got bored and left Gargamel sitting in the dark once more, with a jug of water, stale bread and piles of hair strewn on the dirty floor.

Back in the hovel;

"At this point I was praying to die. I had nothing left in the world, or so I thought. A few days later Krindle came into the pit and said I was free to go. All charges had been dropped. A witness claimed to have seen the magical snake as well and Balthazar was not able to buy his silence. I so wish that person had not saved me," said Gargamel looking down at his hands.

Flashback to Gargamel's time as a tramp;

Sometimes freedom is harder to deal with than being captive...

Deep snow lay in the narrow lanes between the houses, the gutter used for human waste and refuse was all iced up, so everything that you never wished to see was in plain view. Never being washed away. That meant there was a job for someone.

Gargamel walked up and down the gutters with a large burlap sack. His clothes consisted of an old worn out cassock donated by a local monastery. It had so many repair patches that it was considered too ugly to be used in the service of the Lord. But good enough for a destitute man.

He wore no gloves as such but had wrapped some old pieces of cloth around his hands and feet to give some protection against the cold and the pieces of excrement he had to pick up.

His constant bending over had given him a bad back. The damp and bad food had caused some of the bones in his spine to crumble away, so he developed a stoop. He was a figure of derision in the village and was regularly pelted with mud in the summer and snowballs in winter. In the end he didn't mind them as it meant people could still see him. He still existed, but only just.

Celestyn had heard about her son's arrest and imprisonment. She knew that he was still alive and living on the streets doing the jobs that no-one else would do. She desperately wanted to go and see him, but if she was ever seen, then her life and that of her step daughter would be over. Even as far away as Paris, posters had been put up in the city offering a reward for the safe return of a run away wife and daughter. Krindle was getting close and she and Sally did not know how long they had left before their cover would be blown.

Unfortunately for them, it came much sooner than they thought and before they even had time to pack and flee they were captured by Balthazars men and taken back to his castle to meet their fate.

Meanwhile, in the gutter, life carried on as normal for the stooped young wizard, until the day Krindle came up to him and handed him a letter. He left without saying a word or even waiting for the letter to be opened.

Gargamel opened it up and started to read:

My dear Gargamel,

So sorry to hear of the loss of your wife and son. I know how much they meant to you and I will always be sorry to have never met your little boy.

I write this letter to ask that you never try to contact me or Sally ever again.

Lord Balthazar forbids it and he has threatened to kill us if we talk to you or even see you again.

Please, please, Gargamel. Go to the hovel in the woods, you can make a better living in the forbidden forest. You are better than this. Sally sends her love. But please do not contact us. You will do this if you truly love us...

He must have read it over and over a dozen times. Each time he read it, the worse the pain got. He felt that he had now truly lost his heart soul.

He would go to the forest, but not to live.

A few days later, he was back where he felt happiest and safest. Except that this time he had no-one to share it with. The hovel was in a state of disrepair but he had no interest in sorting it out.

He had made up his mind. He was going to join his family wherever they were.

He had brought along some rope and fashioned a noose at one end. He then found a chair in the hovel. With difficulty he climbed the dead cherry tree next to the hovel and tied off the rope to a sturdy branch.

He half climbed, fell back to the ground. He then tested his weight on the rope. He wanted to do it right.

He then got his blanket and went to sit in the meadow next to the pond. He sat there without moving for the rest of the evening and all of the night. Listening to the sounds of the forest and the sound of silence.

Once the morning birdsong started up, he got to his feet. Not that he could feel them as it had been cold that night and his blanket had a thick layer of frost on it.

He climbed onto the chair under the noose and with cold trembling fingers put it around his neck. He faced to rising sun and without even thinking of anything he kicked it away.

He opened his eyes and found that he was lying on the floor, his neck hurt a lot and he was freezing cold. Strong but kind hands were pulling him off the ground. He wanted to say something but could only croak.

The man brought him into the hovel and laid him on a makeshift bed next to the empty grate. He set to work starting a fire to warm both of them.

Whilst the fire started to burn, Gargamel looked down and saw that the rope was still around his neck but loose, the end had been cut. He started to feel very angry at being saved. How dare someone decide if he lived or died!

He then saw who the man was and he cried from shame.

To be continued...