The long passage comes to an end with a side door that leads out to the herb garden.
Abs shudders, “What a relief to be outside and away from the icy stare of Rumex!” And I totally agree!
The herb garden is behind the castle in a sheltered courtyard with a hedge all around it. Lupa takes us round to the gate leading into the herb garden. I feel a funny sort of shiver go down my spine as I realize this is what I was looking for when I first landed in Gardinia. Herbs, and how to grow them. There should be some powerful clues here I think.
The gate to the herb garden is impressive and as we get close to it we hear some funny sounds. I whisper to Abs, “Can you hear that, it sounds like giggling.” Abs nods her head, her eyes glance around us.
Someone is watching us and they seem to be amuzed. I wonder who they are. Lupa does not seem at all worried. He opens the gate and we walk into the herb garden.
We are greeted by a rush of little people all wanting to give us hugs! Every little person only comes up to our waists and they are dressed in very funny old-fashioned clothes. I smile and wave at Abs and try to ask who are these little people when Lupa comes to the rescue.
“Ahem, aaargh um,” he clears his throat and gives everyone a chance to calm down.
“Allow me to introduce you all to...The Gnomes of Gazania’s Herb Garden.”
There is a general sound of laughter and chuckling about the introduction.
Lupa continues, “Gnomes are very modest and as you can see, sometimes they can be a little over-friendly!” They are passionate about gardening and keeping gardens in just the right way to make sure plant, animal and insects are living as they should. Alive and free.”
Abs and I squeeze past Lupa into the herb garden. The gnomes are so excited to see us. We look at their garden and can see how great they are at gardening. All the plants are in neat rows. Little signs tell us what each herb is in the garden. At the end of the garden is a greenhouse and sign up that says ‘Do Not Disturb’.
I am left wondering how so many gnomes came to be here in Gazania. I turn to ask Lupa and he tells me, “A few years before this day, the gnomes were released from their urban garden duties. People all over the world felt that gnomes should not have to stay in gardens and so they were sent back to the forests and woodlands that they came from. This family of gnomes specially loved growing herbs and using them for medicinal purposes to help woodland animals. When they were released from their country gardens they choose to come to Gardinia to help with growing herbs.”
I saw Abs look sideways at Lupa but he nodded his head and said, “You can check for yourself, but it is true and we love having our gnomes. They are a real help with our gardens.”
Lupa calls us over, “Samuel and Abs, this is our head gardener, Herbie.” He is an old and wise gnome gardener with a very long beard. We feel very privileged to meet him.
“Welcome to Princess Gazania’s herb garden and center for the protection of wounded and hurting animals,” says Herbie. “We are her humble servants and are deeply stressed that our beautiful Princess is not here with us today.”
I felt sorry for the gnomes, they all looked so sad. “Don’t worry Herbie, we will find her. We will need your help to work out where the Princess is and who kidnapped her. Can we talk to the gnomes and find out if they have any clues to the disappearance of Princess Gazania.”
The gnomes nod their heads and their little red hats bob up and down. The mutter among themselves and shake their heads.
Herbie explains, “The Princess was working with one of the most talented gnomes called Basil. He was in charge of the Greenhouse and the development of medicines and healing potions for the birds and animals in Gardinia.”
Herbie signals us to follow him to the Greenhouse.
“The Princess and her gnome assistant, Basil were busy with top secret work,” says Herbie.
“On the day that our Princess disappeared, her assistant, Basil, did not come to work either. Now all our experiments have had to stop. They were close to finding a special potion to help with night blindness in some of our nocturnal animals.”
Abs and I go into the Greenhouse. We are followed by a crowd of eager gnomes but they stop at the door. They are not allowed into the secret lab where meds and potions are being made. Abigail is taking notes as we walk around. She is particularly interested in a plant has beautiful purple flowers on it and is labelled ‘Deadly Night Shade’.
She nudges me to look at the plant but doesn’t question the gnome. On her notepad she jotts: Need to research this plant! I nod and agree.
It’s actually time for us to leave as we have to get back to the library before it closes. There is just time for one more question. I bend down and look into the gnome’s eyes and ask, “Have you noticed anything else that is unusual?”
He nods his little head and tells us, “The bees seem to have disappeared in the garden and we need them to pollinate the herbs. The bees have abandoned their hives and as summer is nearly at an end, there is not enough honey to feed the bees in winter.”
This is very worrying news and I don’t know what to say. Could this be connected to the disappearance of the Princess?
We thank the gnomes and explain we will be back again to investigate further. We leave with Lupa to walk down the path back to the library. It is always a bit scary walking along the path as the dark side of Gardinia stretches to the left of us. Every time I leave this land I feel the shadows growing larger. I am hoping the giant moths don’t appear as I am sure Abs will be terrified.
I take a closer look at the spikey plants to the left of me. It looks as if they are covered in orange flowers.
I am just about to say something to Lupa about this curious crop when he says,“Our potato crop this year has been taken over by a plague of huge caterpillars. They have devoured all the leaves and left the plants unable to produce any fruit. They seem to have arrived from nowhere and within a few days have destroyed our crop that we need for winter food. The plants have totally changed, they no longer even look like potato plants.”
I take a closer look at the creepy caterpillars!
A shiver runs down my spine. I nudge Abs, “Look Abs, it is the same caterpillar as the one Miss Sorrel has in the library!” This is another clue to add to the crime scene.
Is Miss Sorrel connected to Gardinia and the missing Princess?
There is no time to speculate as the sun is setting. “Hurry Abs! We have to get back now.” We wave farewell to Lupa and suddenly find ourselves sitting in a heap beneath the Botany shelf.
I motion to Abs to say I will call her. We leave in different ways and I rush home as fast as I can to put as much data on the crime scene board as I can.
Diary of a 6th Grade Spy - Book 1 - Zero to Hero Page 7
