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Masquerades of fairies
Natalie Yacobson
Flora got to the fairies’ masquerade by accident, and she managed to survive in the circle of magical creatures only with difficulty. Every century, the fairies hold one special masquerade where they search for someone. Who? Why? Flora decides to unravel the mystery of the fairies, and at the same time to find out who the beautiful stranger is who saved her and with whom she so carelessly fell in love. For some reason, even magical creatures are in awe of this young man.
Masquerades of fairies
Natalie Yacobson
Переводчик Natalia Lilienthal
© Natalie Yacobson, 2024
© Natalia Lilienthal, перевод, 2024
ISBN 978-5-0062-5763-4
Создано в интеллектуальной издательской системе Ridero
Fairies in the garden
Flora watched from the tower window. The winged ladies in the garden resembled butterflies and bumblebees from afar. Was she seeing double? Her father had forbidden any celebrations. The whole castle is in mourning after the funeral of her mother, who was allegedly driven away by the evil spirits of the fields and forests.
The Marquise had been too careless in communicating with the creatures of the fields and had even whipped one of them with her whip. Since then, she’s been withering. The healers could do nothing.
«The fairies killed her,» the maids whispered.
«What would be the point?»
«Fairies love luxury. They probably want to get a local feudal lord, and having a wife prevents them.»
Something told Flora it wasn’t that simple. Sometimes in the portrait gallery, unearthly laughter and music were heard, and ghosts appeared. One of them once bowed to Flora and called her the queen of all magical creatures.
Well, what kind of queen is she!
Flora looked around at her long out of fashion blue dress with a short train. There were no black dresses in her closet, so her mourning outfit was peculiar.
«Do you know that blue is the color of witchcraft?» Someone whispered in her ear. «After all, it merges with the color of night, and all those creatures that dwell in the night and allow people to discover the secrets of forbidden magic arts.»
Flora looked around. There was no one in her room. There was an unusual silence in the castle, too, and outside in the garden a gentle woman’s laughter was ringing. For some reason it reminded her of the chiming of funeral bells.
If they were fairies, they must be leaving soon. Not without reason, the village sorceress Zenobia drew protective symbols at the entrances to the castle. The old Marquis paid her a lot for it. Zenobia’s services didn’t come cheap. But her amulets were considered the most effective in the fight against evil.
Are fairies evil? Flora looked down at their colorful dresses, as if woven from flower petals, their lush hairstyles, and layered wings. The creatures with female bodies and wings resembled fantastic dragonflies. Raphael should have seen them! Flora didn’t understand where her big brother could have gone at a time like this. Rafael kept whining that in the wilderness where they lived there was no one to meet but peasant women, and when the whole garden was full of exquisitely dressed fairies, her brother was not around. Raphael wouldn’t mind flirting with a beautiful fairy.
Whoa! What is she thinking? Fairies are notorious destroyers of young boys. Rumor has it that winged beauties deliberately seduce young men and lure them into the clutches of giants, into the nests of griffins or into tracts inhabited by evil trolls.
But would they destroy a girl? Flora felt an unbearable urge to go out into the garden to the fairies, as if someone had called her.
It would probably be all right if she went down to them. Flora noticed a strange couple among the fairies: a colombina and a jester. Both of them had no wings. They stood frozen in the midst of the general merriment, as if they were wax figures. But they were alive. Columbine looked at Flora with red, angry eyes that glittered like two rubies.
«And we’ve been waiting for you!» Some elf flew up to Flora and held out his hand.
Flora recoiled. The elf had mistaken her for someone else.
«Our master is waiting for you,» he corrected himself. «But don’t worry, we won’t give you away. We’ll find you such a mask that he won’t even recognize you. Let’s go to the masquerade!»
Many of the fairies in the garden were indeed trying on masks. So they’re going to the masquerade?
«Did Father really let the fairies and other evil spirits have a masquerade party in the castle? Is it to pay off the fairies? Or else they’ll trample the fields with their night dances? I’ve heard from the servants how much damage they do to the plowmen.»
The elf didn’t understand her.
«You must be kidding me,» he scratched the back of his golden-blond head. «This is not the time to play fantasies. We have to go to the dance, and then we’ll play hide-and-seek. By the way, where did you hide your wings?»
So he thought she was a fairy! Flora looked doubtfully at the silk cape that stretched from the lace standing collar to the train. Such capes had recently become fashionable in Serpentine. Behind them, it was hard to see that she had no wings.
Flora considered that some fairies who do not soar above the rose bushes, but walk along the paths of the garden, temporarily fold their wings behind their backs as if they were a cape.
«So the masquerade would take place at the castle?»
«It is of course not!» The elf laughed infectiously, as if she had said something very funny.
«Where is it?»
«It is in the fairies’ residence.»
Flora had never heard of such a place.
«Let’s hurry!»
The elf flapped his wings and flew over the beds of peonies. In flight he resembled a huge golden bumblebee.
«Do we have to fly there?»
«It is not necessarily!» The elf jumped onto the bridge that stretched over the garden. It certainly hadn’t been here before. The bridge was blue and airy, as if it had been chipped away from a rainbow. It was a rainbow! Flora gasped as she saw the bridge widen in the distance and become seven-colored. The other end of the bridge was reaching up into the sky.
Could a rainbow really shine in the starry heavens? In the realm of fairies, anything must be possible.
«It’s time!» The elf held out his hand to Flora again.
«Can I step on this bridge? Will it hold me?»
The elf, silently, grabbed her hand and dragged her onto the bridge, over which the hastening fairies were already hovering in flocks. They were whispering excitedly about something.
«They don’t know yet that I found you,» the elf whispered in Flora’s ear, putting his arm around her waist. «But soon they will find out, and they will be very disappointed.»
«Why is it?»
«It is because their rival will steal the dragon from them again.»
«What dragon is it?»
Flora was stunned by the golden light that spilled over the bridge like a dawn. Two huge golden wings almost struck the bridge, but at the last moment they avoided the collision by flapping smoothly over Flora’s head.
It really is a dragon! Flora didn’t know whether to scream in horror or admiration. The golden dragon was magnificent.
«Can it breathe fire, too?»
The elf didn’t hear her question.
«Wow! The dragon flew right past you! He must have some business with the Marquis.»
The elf looked discouraged.
«All right, let’s go to the masquerade! The dragon will probably be there soon, and then the fun will begin.»
The first masquerade
The rainbow bridge went behind the clouds. At first it was blue, then multicolored. Flora would have fallen off it if the elf hadn’t supported her.
One end of the bridge rested against the cloud castle.
«No, this is not the place for us! This is where the Celestials dwell!» The elf dragged Flora past. The bridge diverged in several directions like a labyrinth. Fairies hovered above it or glided across it. One of the fairies grazed Flora with a purple wing.
«Ah, Adora, she is the purple carnation fairy. She’s your biggest rival right now. She dreams of the dragon as her lover.»
«But can he be anyone’s lover?» Flora was surprised. A dragon is not a boy.
«A lot depends on the dragon. All fairies dream of conquering him.»
The elf started whistling some frivolous song about a girl who attracts a dragon magnetically. All the fairies took offense.
«They are as beautiful as flowers!» Flora admired the beauties, from whose backs grew flower or dragonfly wings. One fairy’s wings were seven-colored like a rainbow, another’s were spotted like a butterfly, and a third’s wings resembled a lush flower.
«They are all gossips and schemers!» The elf characterized them.
The fairies’ masks were amazingly varied and imaginative. There were wing-shaped half-masks, and masks with bird beaks or tinkling pendants of beads, and golden plates without slits for eyes and mouths. Can fairies really see through a mask?
Some fairies had masks made entirely of flower petals, others of shells, some of coins, some of singing pearls. The masks on the holders squinted as if alive when the fairies took them away from their faces.
«They were made by the great master Donatello, a disgraced troll. He lives like a hermit and makes masks out of magical materials. This one he made for you.»
The elf pulled a silver mask that squinted, opened its mouth, and flapped its wing-shaped ears.
«Her name is Variable. She can help you take on any appearance you want for a little while.»
Wow! A mask has a name!
Flora was stunned.
Under the bridge was a sheet of water. Was it some kind of lake or even a sea? Right on the water stood a palace that looked like a whole island.
«Almost reached the residence of the fairies,» whistled the elf.
«Wow! Fairies live on the water! Is the palace floating?»
«No, it is of course not.»
«Then it stands on the back of a water giant?»
«The palace is on an island, you are silly!» The mask in Flora’s hands hissed.
Flora was taken aback. Her own mask is swearing at her. More accurately, it’s the elf’s mask, not hers. But it’s still offensive.
«I don’t see the island, I only see the palace,» Flora pouted.
«The palace takes up the whole island,» the elf explained hastily.
The gondolas in which the fairies were riding glided along the water to the palace. Unusual gondoliers, who looked like lanky elves, were rowing with oars.
The bridge, alas, did not run to the palace windows, but stretched past them across the sky.
«There’s no way across!» Flora was frightened. Fairies have wings, but she doesn’t.
The elf put his arm around her waist and lifted her into the air. In a few moments they were both standing on the balcony of the shining palace. Its walls and columns were literally glowing! Wow!
Flora marveled at the fruit trees rooted in the palace floor, the miniature waterfalls flowing from the walls into pools and the tapestries of fresh flowers.
«Don’t yawn like a country bumpkin!» The mask hissed. «You’d better put me on!»
«Won’t you try to dislodge my head from my shoulders and take its place?»
«You’re so clever!» The mask snorted.
«And you’re beautiful!» Flora looked at the mask, which looked like a face taken off some deity.
«Put me on if you don’t want to fall victim to the fairies,» the mask advised.
Flora hesitated. Carrying the mask in her hands and talking to it was much more pleasant than trying it on her face. In case it burned or bit, or tried to stick to her skin and take away Flora’s identity. She’s alive! She’s dangerous to mess with!
«Put it on, don’t be afraid!» The elf-guide urged. «There will be no problems. I guarantee it.»
Should we trust him? Flora was already regretting coming here with him. The prospect of wearing a living mask did not please her at all.
«They’re probably looking for me at home by now.»
«I don’t think so!» The elf winked slyly.
«Why is it not? Can you see what’s going on many miles away?»
