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«Let’s walk to town,» Raymonda suggested.
«But it’ll probably be a couple of days’ walk into town!»
«I know shortcuts,» she snapped her fingers, flicking out sparks, and suddenly there was a thin trail of light in the thicket. It was the only bright one in the dark night forest. Something’s wrong here!
Magic! Clement realized. His uncle had told him about the secret paths that were hidden from the eyes of travelers. They could be followed in a matter of hours to the other side of the world. The main thing is not to get lost on them. By the way, only a magical creature can lead them. Even with a magic spell, you won’t be able to find them on your own.
Clement had been convinced from the start that Raymonda was magic. She was too ethereal. Even now she was hovering over the path, not walking on it.
By morning they were at the gates of one of the larger Aluar’s cities. It was certainly not the capital. Surely Raymonda knew he couldn’t return to the capital because of the invaders. After all, the elves knew everything.
The trail disappeared as soon as Raymonda stepped off it. Clément couldn’t believe he’d been so bold as to enter the big city for her. What he wouldn’t do for a pretty girl! Or a beautiful elf! It’s time to stop acting like a rabbit.
«There’s a fair!» Raymonda saw the colorful flags from afar. A sack of beige silk and swan feathers appeared out of nowhere in her hands. She wasn’t going to town for shopping, was she?
She was looking for something in the bag. Some shiny things spilled out of it. Clement helped her gather them up. It was a strange amulet, elves’ doubloons of pure gold with marvelous chasing, and a crown like in his dream. It had been owned by Raymonda, and consisted of spikes, monograms, and claws of gold ripped from the claws of a dead dragon. Clement whistled. What a piece of jewelry! It was too ominous for a lady. It was more befitting a witch.
«Give it back!» Quickly she took it and put it back in her sack.
«Why aren’t you wearing it?»
Raymonda ignored the question. She wore a thin hoop on her forehead, with the insignia of a linked moon and new moon. Only a witch could wear that, too. The moon and new moon, united in one circle, symbolized nighttime sorcery.
As Clement pondered, his companion strode into town. The guards at the gate didn’t notice her hem hovering over the gravel path.
Clement had no choice but to follow her. He noted with horror that most of the guards had been replaced by monsters from Shai. They were a head taller than ordinary people and wore black armor. Their horned helmets looked something like dragon heads.
There was very little of the human population left. Mostly the city was flooded with various supernatural beings. They were all dark, clearly coming from Shai, as were the monstrous warriors.
They did not notice Clement. Only the squads sent specifically after him discerned the prince beneath his simple peasant shirt. They were clearly endowed with clandestine vision. The local monsters paid no attention to the young man.
«This place is full of invaders!» Clement turned around looking for Raymonda, but she was no longer there. He found her after a moment by the colorful tents at the market, where they were selling many beautiful trinkets.
Raymonda had gone out to buy hair ornaments. This surprised Clement. Why would she need wreaths of paper flowers and cheap beads when she had a crown of gold? Are fashionable women greedy creatures? So be it. If he becomes king, he’ll buy her trunks full of ribbons and hairpins. It is as long as she stays with him. Clement peered out into the yonder crowd of rivals, not pursuers. What infatuation does to boys! His father had warned him not to be captivated by windswept women, lest he ruin the kingdom. And it died anyway, caught in the claws of magical invaders.
The heads and disemboweled bodies of those executed on staves made him uneasy. There was the former mayor, the heads of the mint that had already been looted by the monsters, the warriors, and even the merchants whose goods had apparently been taken. Their remains were hung up in bloody pieces on stakes and poles as an admonition to others who had not submitted. The crows did not dare to peck at them. They did not dare to fly close to the monsters of the Shai, who were on patrol on the walls. And he dared to come out here to amuse Raymonda! He’s out of his mind! She’d practically trapped him.
Clement shuddered as he saw the powerful clawed paw through the gaping holes in his armor catch a raven at the meat of an execution and squeeze it, blood spattering on the sidewalk.
At the sight of the blood, some creature on a pole suddenly opened its eyes and appeared alive. He looked like a foolish prophet, dressed in rags and necklaces of bones. Such often wandered the paths leading to the Shai. Into the Shai itself, only a select few were admitted, for some reason needed by the local ruler. The roads were only visible at night or in fog, when everything else is covered by a veil of invisibility. Some daredevils who had studied magic looked for these trails, but Clement’s uncle warned not to venture into them.
«Would you like a prediction of the future?» The creature on the pole grinned. Dirty and shabby it looked like a shabby owl.
«Thank you, but I have no money to pay for it,» said Clement diplomatically. Fortune-tellers usually back off after that answer, but this creature, on the other hand, clung harder.
«I most willingly accept payment in blood.»
«Is it in human blood?» Clement got a bit agitated.
«It is not in dragon blood. It makes everything burn like a match. I don’t want to burn. But you’re not a dragon.»
«No, I’m not.»
«But your friend’s a dragon.»
«No, she’s elf.»
Elves are respected everywhere, but the creature was wary.
«She seems to have roots in both.»
«You’re not just lying to attract a client, are you?»
«It’s nothing. I can give you a prediction for free. It’s not good to charge someone who’s in trouble.»
«I’m not in trouble,» Clement looked back.
«You are not in trouble yet, but you will be soon. It is because of the woman. You shouldn’t be getting married anytime soon.»
«My only living relative doesn’t think so. He can’t wait for me to settle down.»
«He can’t wait for you to burn! I know this family! They’re all supposedly well-intentioned, but it’s all selfishness. Sometimes family gains are too expensive for one of the family members. But marrying a fire monster is too much!»
«What are you talking about? Are all the predictions so vague? Or are they just guesses?»
Clement wanted to tease the crook, but the man wouldn’t listen, eagerly making one prophecy after another.
«Here’s some advice for the future!» He finally uttered. «There’s one truth that you should not forget: the wife is not guilty if the husband is a monster. But remember that the husband is responsible for the black deeds of his wife. Especially it is if he cannot control her. Don’t marry a beauty who will fly off at night to scorch cities. You will be responsible for what she does if you become her husband. The ashes and blood she turns her victims into will also be on your hands.»
How ominous that sounds! Clement shuddered. The creature reminded him of a goose, so disgusting it was. Geeks tend to eat dead things, and thus settle near places of execution and mass graves. Hence such grim prophecies can come from. What can a ghoul say other than death and terror? The ugly creature suddenly rolled its eyes. Its whites glowed red.
«It is danger!» It foretold.
It took Clement a moment to realize that the time to escape was now, not in the distant future. A party of black knights drove through the city gates. Their leader sniffed the air suspiciously, as if it smelled something. Somewhere the roof was smoking, like from a fire. He probably smelled something burning. Clement thought he’d missed it, but the red eyes from beneath his black helmet stared up at him, unerringly searching for him in the crowd. A finger in the black armor of a gauntlet pointed in his direction. The bandleader didn’t say anything out loud, but the heads of all the guards in the city suddenly turned toward Clement.
What a mess, it was all because of Raymonda! Where is she, by the way? Wherever she is, there is nothing she can do. She should be protected, not the other way around.
The black knights began to disperse the people from the fairgrounds in order to reach Clement, who was lost in the thick of the crowd. The motley tents fell under the onslaught of the guards. It was urgent to load the crossbow. The weapon was habitually concealed beneath his clothing. You can’t shoot them all, but you can at least try. Some knight in a helmet with a black cockade was getting close to Clement.
«Leave him alone!» A girl’s high-pitched voice cut through the noise. Raymonda was walking across the square. Sparks flew from beneath the hem of her dress as though she were treading on burning coals.
«He’s mine alone! You mustn’t touch him!» She declared as if her words carried weight here.
The Shai knights were only momentarily deterred by her impertinence. Clement, on the other hand, was so taken aback that several pairs of hands in black armor grabbed him. There was no need to open his mouth to the beauty. But it shocked him too much that the girl had stood up for him. Usually it was the other way around.
She was either cursing or incanting, and suddenly there was a blaze of flame around her feet. In the next instant, Raymonda was gone. In her place, the orange dragon’s enormous, scaly body surged toward the heavens. Its wings had such an enormous sweep that they blew the roofs off the nearby houses. The claws on its hind legs clawed so hard at Shai’s regiment that they fell like toy soldiers.
The most incredible thing was that the dragon had picked up its prey as it flew away. And that prey was Clement himself.
What a way to get out of a fire and into a fire. He felt like a toy in a dragon’s clutch. The city’s spires and turrets were nowhere to be seen. The dragon opened its mouth to let out one last blast of hot flame.
Even a volcanic eruption would not have made such an impression on Clement. The fire spread like an avalanche over the square and the ramparts. The great city turned into a raging sea of fire. Would the black knights burn in it? Or were they immortal?
Clement had no time to think about his enemies, for flying in the dragon’s claws proved far more dangerous than their attack.
Beauty’s claws
The dragon was taking him farther and farther away from the flaming city. Forests, fields, rivers, even entire villages were glimpsed below. And among the usual settlements Clement discerned several fantastical towns with elaborate turrets and the silhouettes of marble fairies on parapets. From above the sculptures seemed alive and moving. The dragon was now descending in flight, now soaring upward as if making zigzags from pursuit and arrows. But there was no chase, no one fired from the towers.
Clement was amazed that the clouds were suddenly close by. He could reach out and touch them, but the dragon held him tightly in its claws and would not let him move.
The mountains loomed up ahead. The dragon would fly over them, but he risked crashing. Was it worth dodging pursuers with swords and spears to be killed by a dragon’s claws?
At the decisive moment, the dragon managed to fly around the mountain ledges. He began to descend in flight. Beyond the mountains stretched a green valley, and beyond was a mottled heath. The dragon suddenly loosened its claws and tossed its prisoner into a lush thicket of purple flowers.
Clement was almost unscathed, save for a few scrapes and a few bruises. The flowers smelled wonderful, and the guards of the Shai were gone, but there was a danger of burning to death. For a dragon had landed nearby and suddenly begun to shrink in size. It felt as if it had been bewitched and forced to change to insignificant size. His uncle was probably wandering around somewhere. Only he could have cast such a spell. He could do nothing to make a mouse the size of a fighting elephant, or make a weed grow into a century-old tree in a few minutes. Clement looked around, but his uncle was nowhere to be found.
The dragon was gone, too. In his place, Raymonda was standing in the middle of the thicket of heather, carelessly shaking off the flowers that had stuck to her dress. It was an idyllic picture! It was except for one «but.» Why were there so many scales on Raymonda’s fingers that hadn’t been there before? And why she has orange claws instead of nails? They look like miniature dragon claws! Clement involuntarily backed away from her, and nearly fell, tripping over a clump of heather.
«So you’re the dragon?!»
He couldn’t get it out of his head. Raymonda was so sweet, so tender, and so scalding! Her hand gripped him and suddenly burned him. The pain was savage!
«Oh, I’m sorry!» Raymonda clearly felt guilty. «I’d forgotten that people can burn themselves. I should have waited until my skin had cooled after the transformation. But I can get you a healing potion. There’s a lovely tree nearby. It can crush you with its roots, but it can cure even a knight’s severe battle wounds.»
«Thank you! But an introduction to a magic tree is unnecessary. I’ve had enough of the dragon.»
Raymonda frowned. «Is that what you call it?»
«It is what it is!» – Clement realized there was no turning back. His feet tangled in a clump of tall heather. Something squeaks and nibbles in the ground beneath the flowers, as if leprechauns have taken up residence there. There’s a belief that if you catch a leprechaun, it will tell you where the pots of gold are buried, but Clement wasn’t busy chasing treasure keepers, who were pouncing on his feet like fleas. He discerned tiny creatures beneath the flowers. Apparently he had stepped into their territory. And they were even more aggressive than pixies.
Raymonda took out her hand mirror and held it to her face.
«It’s a double reflection,» she said aloud. «I didn’t want you to see me looking like this, but I had to. I don’t take threats against me or my friends.»
She was right! There was a regiment of attackers. As it turned out, Raymonda was capable of burning down an entire army single-handed.
The moon and new moon were outlined on the gilt back of her mirror, blended together. It’s the same symbol as the one on her hoop. Only this time it was surrounded by a scattering of stars milled around it like a wreath. It looks very much like the emblem of a midnight sorceress. Until now, Clement had never heard of such wizards being able to turn into dragons.
«So you do it on purpose with your charms?»
«Do what on purpose?» Raymonda wondered.
«You turn into a dragon.»
«If I could do it with my charms…» she sighed dramatically.«It’s not that simple! I’ll let you in on my secrets some day.»
Raymonda looked sadly in the mirror. Or was he upsetting her in some way?
«It’s easier for Chameleon wizards,» she whispered. «They choose their own appearance. But you have to accept the fact that your savior is a dragon.»
«I have,» Clement shook the fragrant heather petals from his collar and sleeves. The heather smelled strange in that field – a mixture of unfamiliar flowers. And Raymonda was not at all what he had thought her to be. What should he call her now? Is it my Lady Dragon? Or is it my Lady Elf?
«Thank you for not leaving me,» he thanked her, though he was, in fact, only in danger because of her.
Sparks flew from her claws, still as bright as dragon scales. One spark burned him. Clement felt like he was on a red-hot frying pan. What if Raymonda turned back into a dragon and spewed a torrent of fire on the heath instead of the city? Then it would burn. She’d have no one else to vent her fury on.
On the one hand it is very romantic, that it was Raymonda who clawed him and carried him away from danger, but on the other hand the alarm bells are ringing in his mind. She is the dragon! And the dragon is her! Clement did not know where to turn from the shattering truth. The beauty turned out to be a monster! The beauty turned out to be a dragon! How can you call a sparkling, albeit gigantic creature in orange and gold scales a monster? The luxurious scales make it look like a whole treasure trove of amber!
«Amber must be your favorite stone.»
«What do you mean?» Raymonda shook off the ashes from her skirts. Clement only now noticed the ashes on the hem of her skirts. He was glad it wasn’t scales. A dress with scales instead of lace trim would have looked too unnatural.
«I’ll give you a set of amber jewels if I’m made king,» he promised her.
«It is better sapphires!» Raymonda cheered up. «I do love sapphires! Are you going to ask me to marry you?»
«Why should I?» He was all hot and furious. He blurted out that if his uncle had not already asked him in marriage, he would ask her to marry him right away. And he’d have his own personal battle dragon in addition to his sweetheart. Well, just like a fairy tale! But his fussy uncle thwarted his plans. If he couldn’t marry who he wanted, magic would do. Though Raymonda may know a thing or two about magic, she wouldn’t fight for him. It is one thing to save him from death, and quite another to enter a magical tournament.
«Gifts as expensive as a set of jewels are only given to the one they wish to marry,» she remarked coquettishly. «They are usually given by the matchmaker. I know!»
«Has anyone ever asked you in marriage?» He asked, and his heart sank. «Was it a king or two?»
«Several!»
«I didn’t realize they all wanted a dragon bride. Probably they wanted to protect the border… You could burn an army, you know. If only the suitors knew you were duplicitous, they could understandably want you.»
Clement tried to speak lightheartedly, but his jealousy suddenly seemed to burn more deeply than a dragon’s claws.
«I think you’re willing to shower me with gifts because you want to offer me the humiliating position of royal favorite, not wife,» she teased him impudently.
«Honestly, I can’t help it,» Clement said aloud, and began swearing at the only surviving uncle – wizard.
Damn his uncle! Clement was a fool. His uncle meddled in his nephew’s private life as if the prince were his own son. And he was a fool himself! He agreed with his uncle in everything. Honesty now made it impossible for him to break his oath or deceive Raimonda.
But Raimonda herself was not the sort of girl who could be seduced by the promise of marriage.
«I will not be anyone’s favorite! And I wasn’t even planning on getting married until now,» she declared. «I am my own mistress. And if anyone asked me to marry him, he’d be hot and bothered,» she showed a flame on her fingertips.
And what will she do to the man who offered her the place of a minion? Clement backed away.
Maybe honestly confess to her that he’d been foisted on some rich princess he’d never seen in his life. But he himself would naturally prefer to marry a beauty who can turn into a dragon and burn the enemy army.
Whoa! What is wrong with him? How can he put the defense of the country on the fragile shoulders of women? Is he weak? So you really can’t marry a dragon. Better to wait for an ordinary bride. But he felt uneasy at the thought that it might not be Raymonda.
She would probably be the bodyguard his uncle had promised him. Who better to protect him than a real dragon? And he only knew the dragon would be a lady! Clement was confused. What could he do about his own feelings? He should never have known that dragons could change into beauties. Better that a pretty girl was his bride and a dragon was a sparkling monster in the sky.
But it was the other way around. One can only hope that the bride will perish on her way to him. He did not want to marry another after he had met Raymonda.
