Читать бесплатно онлайн книгу автора  Amaranta’s Tapestry

Natalia Yacobson

Contents

Elf Mask

And here’s the castle at the end of the path! It was not as gloomy as it looked in the picture. Its walls were thickly lined with wattles of red and white roses. Gloria looked closer. Those roses weren’t in the engraving. The engraving isn’t that old. And if they had been planted recently, how had they grown so large? The flowers seemed to be whispering:

«Go away! This is a place for Elves’ sacrifices. Run, mortal!»

The horses snorted. The coachman could barely hold them back. Gloria had once seen a trampled victim of a carried horse and now lived in constant fear of being carried by horses.

No one had ever called her mortal until now. With her waist-length mop of red hair, she herself resembled a mischievous fall fairy. She was the only redhead in her family. No one knows who. And what does her niece look like? She was actually on her way to see her niece. After all, the cousin she needed to visit was supposedly kidnapped by elves.

Legends and legends! Most likely, Amaranta was the victim of jealousy. She loved to provoke men into duels. Someday she was going to get in trouble for it herself.

«Go back!» This time the voice came from the branches of an oak tree, somehow colored in autumn. It was summer! Why were there brightly colored autumn leaves on the tree? They swirled and fell beneath the wheels of the carriage. Gloria saw tiny pixies on each leaf. It was probably just imagination. She’d been frightened by the legends of Amaranta’s abduction by the elves. That’s why she’s imagining all this nonsense.

«Go away!» The insolent voice sounded from the branch of an oak tree where someone was sitting, though you couldn’t see it behind the lush foliage. «The Sea King will let you back through his domain. You won’t drown! But they won’t let you out of here!»

A creature the size of a lynx was dangling its legs on a branch. It was white as snow. The wings behind its back were made of snowflakes. Did the coachman see it? And why had the carriage stopped?

Gloria got out of the carriage. Puddles glistened under her feet, and yet it hadn’t rained. The weather had been clear since morning. The coachman wasn’t on the coach either. Where had he gone? Gloria looked around helplessly. There was no one around but fantastic tiny creatures. But a stately gentleman suddenly separated himself from the thicket of trees and stepped right into the road. He was dressed in all green. Because of this, Gloria almost mistook him for a living tree.

«Don’t listen to them! Don’t go! We need you here! Every beautiful girl here counts! And there are never enough of them.»

Gloria didn’t know what to say. The stranger spoke to her simply, as if he were an old friend. A mask of gold leaf glittered on his face. Behind it, only eyes of an unusual iridescent hue and golden eyebrows were visible. For some reason it felt like the mask was growing right out of his skin.

«Let’s dance!» The stranger wrapped his arms around Gloria’s waist in a frivolous manner. His arms, too, appeared to be covered with gold leaf. It was probably a fashionable piece of jewelry in Ilior.

It was indecent and absurd to dance with a stranger right on a traveled country road, but Gloria had no time to refuse. The gold-masked cavalier whirled her into a dance. The fall of leaves from the autumn tree intensified. Leaves fell on the road, got tangled in Gloria’s hair and became golden in color. Music seemed to be playing somewhere in the distance. Gloria listened. It sounded like a procession of lutes, flutes, and tambourines.

«Is there a festival in Ilior today?» Gloria asked her dance partner.

«No, just an ordinary day,» he replied nonchalantly. His voice was melodious, and his iridescent eyes were mesmerizing.

«It feels like you have a holiday every day.»

The stranger laughed and suddenly lifted Gloria in a dance above the ground. It didn’t seem like it to her. Her feet didn’t touch the ground. For a minute they floated, twirling in a waltz while the leaves swirled around them.

«They say only fairies and elves have a feast every day,» Gloria reminded herself.

The Chevalier’s face darkened. He set Gloria back on the ground and touched his fingers to her cheek.

«Beautiful mortal girls are always at a premium. And there are always too few of them. My lord’s cauldron craves new beauties every day. I’d tell you to run, too, if I wasn’t afraid of losing you. You know how hard it is to suffer for someone for all eternity when that person is no longer alive.»

Gloria was frightened, but the stranger pulled her to him, and suddenly she felt calm and good. He bent down to kiss her. What if he really was an elf? Gloria fumbled for the cape-like wings behind his back.

The cavalcade was indeed coming this way. Gloria saw cavaliers, ladies, unicorns, and even some monsters.

«It is another one!» A lady applauded when she saw Gloria, and then she suddenly frowned. «She’s a redhead! That’s against the law! Elar, let her go!»

Some beasts in the procession roared dangerously and scraped their claws on the ground. Elar wouldn’t let her go. But Gloria was afraid. The breath of the oncoming travelers was fiery. They would burn her! Even the leaves on the tree are on fire. Someone in the leaves is laughing.

«Get out of my territory in the name of Dagda!» Someone shouted.

The marvelous procession vanished as if they were not there. Only curses were heard in the void, where no one was standing. But from the direction of the Count’s castle, a small group of armed knights rode by. They were definitely the guides that Count Angus had sent to fetch his wife’s cousin. And they somehow managed to drive away the unusual creatures. The knights are just ordinary people. The contrast with the marvelous procession was stark. Gloria wanted to howl at the fact that it was humans and not elves. But the procession was dangerous. They definitely meant her harm. So why was she saddened by their disappearance? The wistfulness gripped her heart.

Gloria was alone on the road. Elar was gone, but a single gold leaf from his mask lay in the road dust and glistened. She bent down and picked it up. It could be kept as a talisman. After all, from the looks of it, it was a leaf from the elf’s mask.

Arrival at the castle

«Who were they?» Gloria still trembled at the memory of the monsters that the beautiful ladies and gentlemen seemed to hold on magical leashes. Was she imagining it?

«Who are you talking about?» Earl Angus, who was leading a group of knights, gave a stern look.

«I am talking about those gentlemen and ladies on the road. They were carrying creepy beasts?»

«You imagined it.»

«No,» she almost showed him the leaf as proof.

«This forest is capable of illusions.»

«They only say that about mirages in the desert.»

«Now you know there are mirages in our forests,» Angus flicked a stray strand of hair from his forehead. He was a very handsome brunet. And though his face had a spider web of deep wrinkles, he still looked stunning. It was clear at once why Amaranta had gone to him across the sea. There were no such handsome men at home. Angus handled the white horse skillfully and rode ahead of the troop.

Gloria was flattered that it was not some ordinary chief of guards who had been sent for her. The master of the castle himself had come to meet her. But the coachman had disappeared without a trace, and the horses were gone too. The carriage was left standing on the road. Angus had promised to send one of the stable boys to fetch it.

Something stirred in the foliage overhead. This time it was not a pixie, but a bird with iridescent plumage. It flew swiftly toward the heavens, as if it were a spy in a hurry to report something to the heavenly spirits.

«I once saw something in the forest that still makes my blood run cold,» Angus whispered.

«Then you must all the more believe me that I saw some people on the road.»

«All the people who are here live either in the castle or in the village. And the village is a long way from here.»

«It couldn’t have been ghosts.»

Angus remained silent.

The castle up close was even more magnificent than in the engraving Amaranta had sent Gloria. Even though she had married a foreign ambassador, she often sent gifts home. And now Amaranta has disappeared. How could a young, healthy woman just disappear? Was she murdered? Gloria was suddenly afraid. What if she was on her way to a bandit’s nest? Although all the knights looked decent, except a little gloomy and very silent. You can’t get a word out of them. Angus was the only one who spoke to her, and that was because she was boring him with questions.

The roses at the entrance to the castle, tightly wrapped around the arches and columns, even one of the doors, so that it was impossible to open it. How they had grown! Isn’t there a gardener here to cut them back? And should they be trimmed? They smell so wonderful! Gloria inhaled the fragrance. It was the smell of paradise. So why does Angus wrinkle his nose at the sight of roses, as if he sees a monster in them? Men in Ilior can’t stand roses?

«Here she comes! She is another elf bride!» A low whisper came from the roses, as if there were pixies hiding among them. Gloria looked closely at the white roses. They all seemed to have female faces. She must be having sunstroke to be seeing these things.

«She is a lover, not a bride. Elves should not marry mortals!» This time the whisper came from the red roses. Their buds seemed to be scarlet mouths. «Nothing comes out of the relationships of elves and girls but passion and poisoned fruit. Look at Dagda’s children.»

Gloria has heard that name before recently.

The accompanying knights squinted at Gloria strangely.

«You’re a redhead!» Angus explained leading her into the castle hall through an entrance lined with wattles of red and white roses.

«Is it a crime to be a redhead?» Gloria wondered. In the hall she noticed two figures, a scarlet one and a white one. The ladies themselves resembled roses, but once they entered the lobby, they were gone.

«Red hair color is associated with prancing fairies. They came to seduce and drive mortal men crazy,» Angus explained with a serious look. He wasn’t flirting with her at all. Gloria even felt offended. Usually men were always flirting with her. Angus, for all his attractiveness, was as cold as ice.

«I’m not a fairy, or I’d have wings,» she snapped.

«There are wingless fairies, horned fairies, and even fairies with hooves instead of feet.»

Gloria defiantly lifted the hem of her lush green skirt as she crossed the threshold, showing her slender ankles.

«I’m not a fairy,» she repeated. «Or even a mermaid.»

She found the joke mischievous, but Angus didn’t even smile.

«Why are you a redhead if you’re not a fairy?»

«How would I know? I was born a redhead, and many people think it’s very beautiful.»

«But Amaranta was blonde.»

«She’s my cousin, not my own sister. But there’s a family of baronets in my homeland where the sisters have different hair colors. One is blonde, the other is brown, and I’m friend with both.»

«You shouldn’t have come,» Angus said, turning the coals in the fireplace with a poker. Gloria thought it odd that the fireplace was burning in the middle of a hot summer. It was cooler in the castle than outside, but not so cold as to be freezing.

«Why should it be?»

«The forests of Ilior are full of wild animals, aggressive birds, poisonous insects, and brigands. Don’t go into the forest at dusk. It is no way!»

«Or else I’ll get mauled by wild beasts?»

«Or wild elves,» said one of the knights behind him.

His words sounded like a cruel joke, but no one laughed. How strange everyone was! Gloria looked around, and Angus suddenly put his arm around her waist and put his palm to her forehead as if he were going to peel her skin off.

«What’s matter with you?» Gloria was outraged.

«I’m sorry!» He let go of her immediately. «I wanted to see if you were wearing a mask.»

«Is it a mask? What makes you think that?»

How could he mistake a clean, pale face for a mask? Gloria didn’t even have freckles.

«Fairies wear human faces like masks,» Angus shrugged.

Everyone here is crazy! What fairies are they talking about? There aren’t even any maids around.

«Don’t be so familiar to me again,» Gloria shook off her dress. «Remember that I’m not your wife or even your fiancée. Don’t confuse me with the missing Amaranta.»

For a moment there was an oppressive silence. Gloria looked at Angus. He was young, and there were already strands of gray in his hair. What had he seen in the woods to make him gray before he was thirty? Was it true that sacrifices to the gods of the ancient tribes were made in the forests?

«Gloria!» Angus sank tiredly into the chair by the fire. «I’m not going to marry again. So if you’ve come to take Amaranta’s place…»

«I had no such intention. I’m a relative. How can you marry a relative!»

«Amaranta’s friend Adelina was like a sister to her, and as soon as Amaranta disappeared, she started trying to marry me.»

«I’m more delicate. And I’m not getting married at all! I’m a feminist.»

Angus furrowed his beautiful eyebrows.

«What do you mean?»

«It is a woman who fights for her independence from men.»

«Apparently it’s a new-fangled word. It hasn’t been heard in Ilior yet.»

«You live in the middle of nowhere!»

«And I’m happy here!»

«But there are terrible tales of bloodthirsty elves and sacrifices to the ancient forest gods. I heard on the boat that a certain goddess, Dana, is still honored here.»

«It is enough!» Angus put the sword down on the table with a clatter. The hilt glittered dangerously with some strange symbol that looked like a pentagram. «I’ve had enough talk of elves. They stole everything from me.»

Is it everything? He lives in a castle, in luxury, has an army of his own knights, and thinks he’s deprived!

«I don’t believe in elves,» Gloria hissed. «Some gang of jokers and pranksters hiding in the woods and taunting you.»

Angus only snorted dismissively. Why argue with a fool?

Gloria stomped her foot and went into the library, its doors open. Angus didn’t follow her. She’d have a good day on her own. Gloria pulled the first book from the shelf, opened it, and a rose-blossomed meadow appeared instead of pages. Gloria felt the silky petals under her feet. Was she dreaming or was this happening? Where had the library gone? She walks through a meadow overgrown not with daisies but with roses. The variegated meadow resembles a carpet or a tapestry. But in the middle of the meadow, a deep hole appears. Someone is calling from the hole. Someone’s black clawed hands reach up, grabbing grass and roses. Their touch makes the roses wilt.

«Pull me out, mortal!» A voice hissed from the pit.

Gloria held out her hand, and suddenly there was a clatter, like a shovel hitting the lid of a chest buried in the pit. The vision was cut short. The meadow, overgrown with roses, disappeared. Around again was the library. A sharp bird’s beak tapped on the copper binding of a closed window.

Gloria noticed that a beautiful iridescent bird had flown up to the window. It looked more magnificent than a peacock. But it was shattering the shutters like a woodpecker.

No one even told her that in Ilior there are birds with plumage as seven-colored as rainbows. What wonders there are in the world!

Gloria had been afraid of birds ever since her partner had been pecked by a flock of seagulls that had flown right onto the ship. Michaela was gone. Her pecked corpse was buried at sea. Gloria didn’t want to repeat her fate, so she stepped away from the window. The rainbow bird banged its beak on it in vain.

«Fly away!» She said, but the bird didn’t think twice. It was as if it was waiting for something or someone.

The fairies’ child

Gloria arrived in time for dinner. It wasn’t hard to locate the feast hall. Except that no one was preparing for the feast on the occasion of her arrival, but there were voices arguing. There was whispering and the clinking of weapons, as if they were preparing for battle. Gloria cautiously peered inside. A mountain of swords, maces, and sticks were piled on the floor. All weapons made of iron. In Gloria’s mind, iron was somehow associated with something unpleasant.

Could this place be preparing for war? But with whom was it? No one was attacking Ilior. Otherwise, she would have heard news of war while she was still in port. Perhaps there was a conflict between the feudal neighbors and now there was a battle brewing, which could be stopped immediately by sending a message to the king. Only he can stop his vassals.

The aging but mighty knight named Ambrose played his stick as easily as a child’s rattle. He had the strength of a regiment! The more graceful Angus, also fully clad in armor, was going through swords. Could they be preparing for a duel? But they don’t behave like rivals at all. The pantomime is more like preparing for defense.

«Is she really your child?» Ambrose frowned.

«She’s not a monster like the others. She looks human.»

«Then she stays with us?» Ambrose jabbed his wand into the table with a frustration that shattered it. Angus didn’t even flinch. He was used to aggression from his knights.

«Where could she go? She’s the heir to the castle.»

«Wouldn’t you rather marry your charming guest and have new heirs?»

«Stop it!» Angus slammed his fist on the mantelpiece so hard it cracked. Gloria shuddered. If these two argue, they will smash the whole castle.

«The subject of the new wedding is out of the question!» Angus put a stop to it. «I’m still married.»

«It is to a woman who is officially dead.»

«Public opinion is far from the truth. You know that.»

«I also know about changelings. There’s definitely a changeling living in our castle. It is a child of the fairies.»

«She’s my child! You’ve seen the difference between human and elves’ children.»

There was a frightening silence. Gloria could hear her own heart beating a drumbeat.

«Are you leaving her with us because otherwise there will be another war?» Ambrose broke the silence.

«No, it is because she really is my daughter.»

«I think you’re considering that we’ll lose the next war with them. They’re not human.»

«I don’t want a war, but I want Amaranta back. And there’s no way to do that without a war with the forest creatures.»

«Are you sure the creature we saw is Amaranta and not some Elves’ illusion? Girls kidnapped by them usually rot at the crossroads, and the blood rose sprouts in their heart. Yesterday, old Hans found the corpse of an elf victim. Today he has nightmares. He assures me that the elves will come for him. Just knock on his window at night.»

«Keep a sword or a hunting knife on him.»

«He is a peasant. He doesn’t know how to fight.»

«What’s the art of fighting got to do with it? They can’t stand iron and running water. The mere sight of an iron object can scare them away.»

Ambrose sighed heavily.

«Are you telling me to prepare for war?»

Gloria didn’t listen to the end of the dialog, because the knight’s heavy armor clattered toward the door. She run before they caught her. Instead of dinner, she snuck into the armory. Not the best place to hide if the knights are on their way to prepare for war. The castle wasn’t under siege yet, though, and she could use a sword, too. Gloria picked up the first sword she could find, with a beautiful gilded hilt in the shape of a zigzag dragon. It was worth the effort to pick it up. She doesn’t know how to fight like that at all. She’s a lady, but the sword suddenly jerked in her hands like a living thing and soared into the air as if it had been snatched up by someone invisible. The blade of the sword wrapped around her own throat. There was no way to even scream. It was about to slash her, but instead of the sharpness of the blade, Gloria felt the prickly leaves. The sword suddenly grew stems and roses.

«Careful, mortal!» Someone said and chuckled softly. «Or you’ll hurt yourself going to war with the elves.»

Gloria was furious. That voice was mocking her. But where was the speaker? All she could see were piles of weapons. The sword whose blade was wrapped in roses was certainly a beautiful sight. Gloria’s heart softened for a moment. She loved flowers more than weapons. But if a war had to be fought to save her cousin, she was willing to be a knight.

However, the sword twisted again and tried to hurt her. Though it was no longer sharp because of the roses, but it could hit hard. Its handle is heavy. The iron dragon hit Gloria in the temple and almost killed her. It felt like the dragon handle was biting her.

«Stop it, Fior!» A childish voice shouted.

The sword immediately hovered motionless in the air.

«Or else your father won’t forgive me?» Someone asked who seemed to be suspended in the sky, because the voice came from the ceiling.

«Yes!»

«Well, I don’t care! I’m already in disgrace.»

The tip of the sword dodged and severed one strand from Gloria’s head. The strand disappeared instantly, as if someone invisible had clutched it in his hand. A large red rose bloomed on the tip of the sword.

«He won’t hurt anyone now!» A beautiful little girl, dressed luxuriously like a princess, came out of the alcove of the armory.

«So you’ve been hiding here all the time!» Gloria was surprised. «I didn’t even notice you when I came in. You must be Janet.»

The girl had a cute little heart face, big almond-shaped eyes, and bowed lips. The dress, with its tight corset and standing collar, would have been more appropriate for a grown-up lady. Janet was uncomfortable walking because of the puffy brocade skirts. It was curious where they wove such brocade that literally shines. The crests embroidered on the border were definitely not of Ilior.

«You’re Janet, right?» Gloria didn’t like the girl’s long silence.

«Take the sword,» ignoring the question, the girl advised. «Otherwise he’d go back to his battle dance.»

The sword still hung in the air. It was dangerously close to Gloria’s face. If it hadn’t had roses on it, it might have disfigured her now. Gloria hesitantly reached out and gripped the hilt. The sword no longer resisted her.

«It’ll have to peel the roses off before it can fight,» Gloria reasoned.

«It fights on its own!»

«You talk about it as if it were alive!»

The girl didn’t answer.

«Are you Janet,» Gloria asked her. «Or are you not Janet?»

There’s no telling how many children the local knights might have. But why dress a child like a queen? A girl is uncomfortable in such a heavy dress.

«Humanly speaking, my name sounds like Janet,» she said at last. Her manners, like her attire, were like a queen.

«And I’m your aunt. My name is Gloria.»

«I know!» Janet stunned her.

«Did your mother tell you about me? I was a teenager when Amaranta came to live here in Ilior. Our homeland was Aluar, the country across the sea.»

Gloria squatted down to equal Janet’s height and placed the sword on the carpet. Roses from it stretched across the carpet. Yes, it’s like nature’s kingdom in here! Gloria felt not the carpet but the soft meadow beneath her fingers. How like the fairies’ jokes! Janet, too, looked like a dwarf fairy, not a child. Though her face is childlike, her eyes are too wise, too mysterious.

«I see you’re one of ours,» Janet touched Gloria’s cheek with her palm.

«I mean your family,» Gloria said. The child must have meant it.

«It is of us-" Janet shook her head negatively. «It’s rare for one of us to go into the castle. It’s full of iron.»

What kind of fairy tale games does she play? She listened to her father’s tales of evil and decided to play along.

«Why don’t we play charades, or fantasy, or maybe ball?» Gloria suggested, but Janet was already backing away.

Overhead, someone chuckled softly. Gloria looked up. It was no one on the ceiling. The invisible man’s laughter came straight from the void. Could it be imaginary? But the rose-trimmed sword didn’t seem to her. Gloria picked it up, struggling to pull it from the roses that had sprouted on the carpet. If war was coming, the sword was best kept.

Dragon’s tree

There was a war manual in the castle library. Gloria quietly snuck it away. It would probably tell you how to wield a sword. But it was hard to get the roses off the sword. It was like they were stuck to it. And as soon as she pulled them off, they grew back.

«I guess it’s not our destiny to fight! We’ll have to be friends!» A voice sang in the heights.

Gloria looked around. No one was in sight.

No one noticed her stealing the book from the library. She doubted any of the knights would approve of her swordsmanship lessons. In Ilior, there was no question of a girl knowing how to wield a weapon. At home, in Aluar, Gloria had been trained to shoot, but even there fencing was forbidden for women. And she dreamed of learning to swordfight. Of course, it was foolish to worry about self-defense in a castle full of knights, but they didn’t keep Amaranta safe. If someone kidnapped her, all the knights of Angus were powerless to protect her. But if Amaranta had known how to wield a sword, she could have fought back on her own.

Her cousin was a sissy and a dreamer. Gloria grew up more practical. She realized that being able to stand up for her was the most important thing in life.

A lush scarlet rose bloomed again at the tip of the sword. Gloria struggled to tear it off.

«What is the hell?»

«It’s not devilry. It’s magic,» the invisible man’s teasing voice whispered in her ear.

«They are the same thing!» She snapped back, not knowing who she was talking to.

The sword didn’t turn against her anymore, but it didn’t want to obey her. The dragon handle kept slipping out of her fingers. Perhaps it was best to read the martial arts manual carefully before training. Gloria opened the dilapidated book. She wondered if the castle has a magic manual. After all, the sword seemed to be enchanted.

Someone chuckled briefly behind her shoulder, as if catching her thoughts. What a seductive voice! Gloria looked back. Behind her back was the familiar emptiness, but someone’s presence was felt nearby.

«Come to me!» The same voice called out.

— Where are you?»

No answer.

«Well, where to go?» She couldn’t take it anymore.

«It is inside the tapestry!»

What tapestry? She’d only seen trellises and lambrequins. There was a large tapestry with a hunting scene in the hall, and a couple of other tapestries with pastoral scenes in the corridor. So which tapestry is the invisible man hiding behind? Gloria didn’t believe that someone could be lurking inside the tapestry. But behind the tapestry is very convenient to hide, especially if there is a niche in the wall under it.

Gloria went out into the corridor to look at the tapestries. There were at least a dozen of them. One could get confused as to which one to look for.

Voices came from the feast hall again. Angus was arguing with someone again. And that someone was very scandalous. He was smashing dishes, jingling cutlery, clawing at the table. Maybe there’s an animal in there. But the voices were only human, no growling.

«I thought you agreed to let Amaranta go, and now you want her back. That’s insensitive,» said someone sly and arrogant.

«I was under a spell. Now I’m awake.»

«Are you awake?»

Gloria listened. The second voice was unfamiliar to her. It certainly didn’t belong to any of the knights. Curious, who was Angus talking to? Gloria peered into the hall. Angus was standing there alone near a large tapestry.

How strange! Could there be someone hiding behind the tapestry? But the second voice had gone as if it hadn’t even been there.

«Do you need something?» Angus saw her and became alert, as if he’d caught a spy in the act.

«I’m looking for Janet,» Gloria said.

She strode defiantly into the room and looked in every corner, even under the table, before pulling back the edge of the huge, luxurious tapestry with a trembling hand. The tapestry was very beautiful, colorful and covered with intricate designs. It resembled both a map and a painting with many characters. And besides people, it depicted fairies and elves. But behind the tapestry was a void. Gloria gasped in disappointment. She had thought that behind it was a niche where Angus’s mysterious interlocutor was hiding.

«This tapestry was a gift for my wedding to Amaranta!» Angus explained, and laughed as if he had said something very witty.

Gloria felt a chill run down her spine at his sinister laugh. It was the laugh of those who summoned demons into their dwellings.

The tapestry was indeed embroidered with a wedding scene, but not a human one, but an elves’ one.

«Whose gift was it?»

Angus didn’t answer. Maybe he’d lost his mind. How could he forget the name of the person who had given him such an expensive gift for his wedding? The tapestry was probably given by King of Ilior himself. Amaranta loved to flirt with and charm kings. She was a coquette. Her husband, on the other hand, was a grim character. Angus is a tough warrior. What could he be?

On the pretext of looking for Janet, Gloria managed to search the place. The hall was definitely empty. Unless there was a secret passage somewhere. Then we’d have to come back here and look for a sliding panel in the walls. Gloria was familiar with the secret passage system. She herself had spent her entire childhood in the old castle.

«It is another duenna!» Angus grumbled after her.

Good thing Janet didn’t think she was a duenna. Gloria walked on, puzzled. How to explain to the child that she was neither a nanny nor a governess? She was a relative and a friend. Gloria didn’t have much experience in dealing with children. Perhaps she should behave directly to instill confidence in the child. Maybe try reading stories to Janet. The girl’s red-haired head flashed in the castle courtyard. Gloria went there and was stunned.

Janet was playing ball with strange, ugly creatures that seemed to have crawled out of the ground. It looked wild! Janet is a dainty girl, and her friends have claws, tails, and rough feet, but they are not animals. They deftly catch the golden apple-shaped ball and laugh, even making some jokes. They’re monsters!

«Get away from her!» Gloria grabbed the whip, apparently forgotten by the stable boys, and rushed at the freaks.

Janet looked at her surprised and angry.

«Go and mind your own business!» She said as if she were an adult. «My brothers and sisters have a right to visit me.»

These things have indoctrinated her that they are her brothers and sisters! The horror! Many of them have scales stretching across their skin and wretched wings fluttering behind their backs. Can’t Janet see that these are creatures from another race — from a non-human race!

One creeping monster sprang up, wrapped its claws around Janet’s shoulders, and whispered something in her ear. Its breath was black smoke. But the ball they were playing with was a real golden apple.

Is there such a thing as a tree that grows golden apples? It must have been made by a jeweler from Rhodolith. After all, the nearest town to the county, Rhodolith, is famous for its jewelers. But a gold object must be very heavy. You’d have to have a lot of strength to toss it around like a light ball. Janet had that strength. She was a child, but she could probably lift a sword without help.

The game with the monsters continued on the sidelines. The whole company quickly moved away from Gloria. Gloria did not even notice how they crawled away. They were just suddenly a few meters away from her, as if they had been transported there by magic.

Should we leave them alone? One of the monsters playing with Janet crawled into the well and hid there. One thing to keep in mind for the future was not to drink the water. Gloria had gotten used to drinking wine on her voyage, because there was not enough drinking water aboard the ship that had brought her to Ilior.

Suspicions about Amaranta’s so-called daughter only grew stronger. What if it wasn’t Amaranta’s daughter at all? First of all, she’s not blonde. Secondly, Angus is too cool towards her, as if he is not her father at all. Thirdly, she looks like a changeling, of which there are so many scary stories. But changelings are usually ugly, and this girl is beautiful. Janet has silky red hair, curly at the ends. She has red eyelashes, iridescent eyes, and bright freckles on her heart-shaped cheeks. This really is a child of fairies! All that’s missing are the wings behind her back.

«Hey! You forgot something!» Janet tossed Gloria a ball, not gold, but red and blue, covered with sharp scales.

Gloria ducked, caught it, and gasped. It was not a ball, but a miniature cannonball. It looked like it had been taken out of the dragon’s mouth and was about to explode.

«It is a dragon’s apple!» Janet explained.

«What is it?»

«It helps innocent maidens defend themselves against castle storms, and it can help someone get an annoying companion out of the castle.»

Janet laughed contagiously. Maybe she was trying to get Gloria into the game. She should throw the ball back to her. But as Gloria swung the ball, sparks flickered across the scales. No, we shouldn’t throw it. It could be explosive and hurt the baby. It might be a good idea to teach those freaks around Janet a lesson, but there was a risk of hurting her, too.

Gloria decided to keep the scaly ball. It was about the size of an apple, and its skin was like dragon scales.

«So, you are a dragon’s apple! Is that what Janet called you?»

The ball sizzled in her hand like a real dragon and got hot. Should she throw it down the well? Gloria pondered, but her hand burned. She couldn’t stand the heat any longer. Gloria unclenched her fingers and the ball fell into the well water. A pillar of fire erupted from the well.

«What did you do?» Janet stared at the explosion, which was part water, part fire. Something huge and flexible, like the scaly body of a dragon, crawled up from the well toward the windows of the towers. Gloria did not immediately realize that it was not a dragon, but a tree. It was covered with branches and scaly fruit like the ball Janet had given her.

«You gave it to me!»

Gloria felt like a fool. She’s a grown-up dolt accusing a little kid of something! That’s ridiculous! Except that the child, judging by the eyes, looked more like an ancient dwarf creature from the world of fairies, which was not the first hundred years old.

«From one apricot seed grows a whole tree, and from one dragon apple a whole dragon!» Janet whistled, looking at the scaly tree stretching from the well to the spires of the castle. «That’s what Iveyna told me!»

«Who’s Iveyna?»

Naturally Janet did not answer, but ran off laughing. And Gloria was left alone to give explanations to the sentries already rushing into the castle courtyard with pikes and halberds. Apparently, because of the trembling in the ground, they thought that a giant was breaking into the castle. And there was only a scaly tree growing here, looking like a gaunt dragon. For some reason, even the guards felt sick at the sight of it. Gloria suddenly realized that she’d done something that would get her kicked out of the castle. Maybe she should blame it on Janet. The child can be forgiven. But blaming her mischief on a child, even a supernatural one, was too mean. Gloria prepared to take the blame. Only no one blamed her for anything. No one even realized that the dragon tree growing out of the well was her doing.

The guards were whispering about the elves’ jokes and some guest still upstairs. Gloria hadn’t seen a carriage or riders ride up to the castle. So where had the guest come from? The guards certainly didn’t mean her. Taking advantage of their confusion, Gloria quietly left. Let them deal with the dragon tree themselves.

Magical threats

«Hey, mortal come here!» A familiar voice called out from somewhere above. The tone was mocking, as if the name «mortal» meant something insulting.

Gloria looked up at the ceiling. No one was there. Only a shiny cobweb stretched across the ceiling paintings. What did she expect to see? Was it an elf floating beneath the ceiling? Or was it a fairy with wings? The voice was most definitely male, though. After a moment, he spoke again.

«Take your sword with you, mortal! You’re about to need it!»

Naturally, there was no sign of the speaker. Gloria was used to listening to the invisible man half-heartedly. She didn’t care what he’s saying! His warnings were useless. And he could not be seen at all. And if you can’t see him, you can’t see him.

«Ouch!» Gloria felt someone pinch her. Probably someone was there after all.

«What do you want?» She snapped, trying to see who was attacking her.

«You can’t fight, but it’s dangerous to walk around the castle without a sword right now,» the voice laughed.

Gloria even took offense. No matter how many times she turned on her axis, she couldn’t see anyone around her. Though she could feel someone’s breathing nearby: above her head, behind her back, or at her side. An invisible spirit was taunting her.

«You’re a ghost!» Gloria guessed.

There was such deafening laughter that the walls shook. Gloria even covered her ears. It felt like the giant was laughing.

«I don’t hang out with jesters,» she said as the laughter died down.

Gloria had just reached the floor of the castle, where she could see the branches of the scaly tree through the window. The fruit on them was uncountable. They were all as scaly as the trunk itself.

«Don’t touch it!» The invisible man warned.

Why was he so concerned?

Gloria approached the large, high arched window. The branches of a dragon tree poked through the window. One s