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«It’s peri!» His marshal whispered to Conrad. «They were sent to entertain the warriors. The queen of the fairies turned out to be generous.»
Above one of the tents it rained gold coins. They fell to the black soil with a melodious ringing. The rank-and-file warriors eagerly collected them. Their eyes became enchanted, seeing nothing but the glitter of gold. A little more and they would have a fight on their hands.
«We shall have to pay for our gifts in blood,» remarked one of the Councilors sullenly. «Considering that they may give a lot, they’ll ask for something impossible to return, like some ancient faerie relic from the sea floor.»
«The queen of the fairies and I have a deal,» Conrad brushed it aside. He wasn’t so sure of that himself. The strange voices at the door might have seemed like a nightmare, but they warned of danger.
Only now Conrad remembered that he had not obeyed the request of the invisible adviser and tried to take one of the keys from Medea Shai. Though he could have! She was standing beside him, and on her belt were as many keys as pendants on a Christmas tree. He could have discreetly taken one off while she was kissing him. Someone at the door was waiting for his help, but he didn’t give it. Probably no one would help him at the crucial moment, either.
Against his puny mortal army, the fairy queen’s monsters seemed like giants. So far they had treated humans as if they were amusing toys and entertained them with magic. Surely the queen must have told them to be nice. And what would happen if she told them to attack? Such an outcome is best not even thought of.
Roses’ charms
Araminta will have to be married, even though she’s ill. The King’s physicians are swarming around her night and day. They use every potion they can get, even from across the sea, but her skin grows ever greyer, and her strength dwindles. She will not live long. You can wait a year or two and she will die a natural death. There is no need to hurry. But Conrad so desired the fairies’ queen that he didn’t care.
He had been foretold that he would die by the blade of a conspirator, by an enemy tyrant king, by a contagious epidemic, but never by unhappy love. There was no such thing in the prophecies. His love for the fairies’ queen made him feel even sicker and weaker than Araminta did. When he returned to Aluar, he realized that he could not go on without Medea Shai. Separation from her was like torture, and the thorns in his heart were becoming knives. It was not for nothing that the fairies over the battlefield had foretold him trouble.
Now they were hovering outside the window over the sunny garden, but no longer fighting, but arguing in a half-voiced voice.
«He will not do it!» The white fairy insisted.
«Yes he will!» The red one objected.
«Love was supposed to ennoble him,» the white-winged fairy sighed almost in despair.
«Passion rules him!» The red fairy protested. She clutched at the hands of her snow-white either rival or girlfriend. The bodies of the two fairies intertwined in flight over the garden, and suddenly disappeared, while the petals of red and white roses rained down like fireworks over the garden.
Conrad looked out the window in amazement. The whole garden was overgrown with prickly pink wattle and daub. They encircled the castle walls, the wrought iron garden fence, stretched along the borders of the fountains, braided the garden sculptures, even lay on the curtains. Earlier the garden had been filled with camellias and honeysuckle, but now red and white roses swarmed the place. Even the lilac bushes could not be seen behind them. The roses had very prickly stems, but they exuded a wonderful fragrance.
Either Conrad was imagining it, or there were quiet whispers coming from the roses:
«What would the king choose: passion or love? Is it the fairies’ queen or the mortal girl?»
Conrad’s sister Princess Marianne had already noticed the changes in the garden and asked the gardener for something. Probably that he cleared away the thorny wattles of her favorite magnolia trees.
«The elves have made a fuss,» she complained noisily. «The mischievous creatures threatened to eat my magnolias if they were not allowed to enter the Queen’s Cup. I told them the tournament was for men, not beasts. And now they’ve decided to get back at me!»
«They promised to turn your magnolias into toads, not smother them with roses,» her maid of honor objected judiciously.
The gardener obediently went to carry out the princess’ orders. Conrad shuddered at the sight of sharp garden shears. Somehow he was sure that cutting roses was the same act of villainy as killing beautiful girls. After all, roses are two slender fairies. He watched with his own eyes as the fairies turned into flowers.
The prickly twigs did not yield to the blades of the scissors. The gardener pushed hard, and the scissors broke.
«Take the axe!» Marianne commanded one of her knights, who shadowed behind her. He obediently rushed to please the princess, and suddenly the whips of roses coiled around his arm. The thorns bit into his skin, piercing the sturdy armor.
Marianne cried out and prudently retreated toward the garden’s exit. And the long twigs of roses, like boas, wrapped around the knight and gardener’s bodies, squeezing them a little, leaving only bloody relics in their grip instead of men. The roses sprouted on the remains of human bodies, as if on soil liberally sprinkled with fertilizer. Instead of two corpses, there were two sprawling rose bushes in the garden.
What a miracle! Conrad watched with his mouth ajar. Roses were suddenly his favorite flowers. They are more powerful than the might of knights! Fighting flowers! Surely they must be from the realm of Shai. He involuntarily remembered that the roses in the fairies’ queen’s castle were capable of drinking blood. But they had not attacked Marianne, even though she had been the one who had initiated the cleansing of the garden. Is it possible to cut roses like weeds! His sister had to be told off. But the princess was on his way, rustling her brocade skirts.
«I hate roses!» She muttered to herself, although her festive beige costume was embroidered with golden roses gracefully inscribed with the coat of arms of Aluar.
«There is witchcraft going on in the garden! Everything in it must be burned!» Marianne demanded.
«And where will the ladies of the court walk?» Conrad protested.
«Evil elves have taken up residence in the garden!» The princess stamped her heels angrily.
«How could you know that?» Conrad himself saw not evil elves, but two beautiful fairies.
«They sent a messenger to me while I occupied the throne in your absence and received ambassadors. When all the earthly ambassadors were gone, a horned creature suddenly grew out of a puddle of spilled wine on the floor. Quite pretty, but very angry. It claimed to be a messenger from the realm of elves.»
«Maybe it lied.»
«No, it didn’t,» Marianne was hiding something. Perhaps she had a conflict with the elves who wanted her attention. Conrad knew what a prude his sister was, and how capricious she was. Now two people were dead in the garden because of her caprice, and she blamed it on some elves.
«I didn’t want the elves on the guest list for the tournament, and they threatened to repay me by destroying my most precious possessions. The company of mischievous elves even began to sing frivolous songs under my windows at night. They keep me awake, and the archers are powerless to drive them away. The arrows do them no harm.»
«Perhaps it is because you have not slept that you are so irritable!»
«The smell of roses makes me ill,» complained Marianne. «It’s so luscious and heavy, like it’s a portent of misfortune.»
Conrad hurriedly wrapped his ermine-embroidered robe around his chest. He couldn’t let Marianne see the thorns in his skin where his heart was.
«So this whole argument is because they’re not invited to the tournament?»
«Yes!»
«So let them in and be done with it.»
«But that’s against the rules! Elves are not men. Their strength is greater than that of men. Our knights can be wounded and even killed, but elves are invulnerable. The contestants will be unequal.»
«Then in the first round let everyone fight only a member of their own race. And in the second, if elves and humans, weighing each other’s possibilities, agree with each other, then let everyone choose an opponent himself. Whichever one wants! Whoever wants, will measure his strength with elves. Whoever chickens out has the right to refuse.»
«To be a knight is worse than to be killed!» Marianne grew indignant. «You would leave Aluar without knights at all if you allowed them to fight the elves.»
«I am going to invite more fairy knights from Shai to the tournament. They’re real monsters in armor. Even immortal elves would be sickened by the sight of them.»
«You are a villain!» Marianne clenched her fists.
«Didn’t you know that before?» Conrad pulled back the hem of his cloak and stalked away. He probably thought the ermine on his cloak came to life and squinted unhappily.
«I’m ashamed that you’re my brother!» Marianne’s angry words caught up with him.
And such scandals have run in their family ever since their parents passed away. Marianne, though younger, had decided to take on the responsibilities of a mother. Conrad tolerated her feisty temper as best he could. Never mind, Marianne would soon marry and leave Aluar for her fiancé’s small principality. To choose her consort-king she did not allow herself. Conrad unsuccessfully proposed one or the other to her. Marianne rejected all suitors: this one is too old, this one is too fat, this one is a tyrant, and this one is weak in character. In the end, she chose her betrothed based on facial beauty, not position. Conrad only had to accept her choice. It was unseemly for a royal sister to become a princess in a tiny mountainous country, but there was nothing to be done. He would have to help her future husband guard the borders against barbarian raids and nomads and demons from the same Shai. He and Queen of Shai are friends and allies now. With her they can negotiate, not fight.
With Marianne, there’s no bargain. She is more stubborn than a skittish young horse. She would never be at odds with the elves. She would make enemies who would come ravaging the Realm with a vengeance. Now she would have to apologize to them. And that’s not going to be easy. Probably some of the elves who sought her favor had already been turned away by her. Conrad noticed a pair of golden roses thrown near the throne. Usually golden roses symbolize elves’ love. Elves in love give such flowers to their chosen ladies. Bad luck for the one who tried to present them to Marianne. She tried to crush the golden flowers, but only cut her fingers.
Conrad picked up one golden rose. It turned out to be cast of pure gold, but it was alive. Its stem continued to grow, searching for a place to take root. In an instant it twisted around the king’s wrist like a bizarre, multi-layered bracelet.
«Oh, no! I’ve had enough of the rose in my heart!» Conrad gently released his hand, and a low sigh was heard from the golden rose.
A bright golden drop splashed onto the floor of the throne room. Where had it come from? A stately figure of a handsome elf with shoulder-length blond hair and a silver hoop on his forehead rose from the golden pool. He bowed to the king with one clenched fist to his heart.
Conrad stared at him in amazement. Such impertinence as to appear in his palace had never before been dared by elves. But Marianne, whom he had carelessly left to rule in his absence, had annoyed everyone. She was probably the reason every young man at Court Aluar had a crush on her. The elf now resembled an unhappy lover. He appeared before the king, fully equipped, with a quiver of arrows at his back, and a green cloak woven with elves’ coats of arms.
«So are you about the tournament?» Forgetting all etiquette, Conrad blurted out. «My sister was overreacting.»
«Lady Marianne is as beautiful as a summer flower, but her temper is hotter than a dragon’s,» the elf said impetuously, and then he blushed with embarrassment. Marianne must have hit him hard.
«She’s a moody girl,» Conrad said. «And she is not always sincere. I shall be glad to see your whole elves’ court at the tournament as honored guests.»
«But my Lady Marianne has expressly forbidden us…»
«I am king, not she!»
The elf still had his doubts. What had Marianne told him that he should be so bashful?
«I promise a kiss from my sister as a reward for anyone who wins the tournament, whether elf or mortal or a black knight from the realm of fairies!»
When the elf heard this, he glowed and shook his quiver of arrows with joy. Apparently, he expected to be the victor.
The envoy disappeared as magically as he had appeared. Conrad was left alone in the throne room. Only a pair of golden roses tinkled their petals beneath the throne. A low whisper could be heard in their ringing:
«It is a mistake! The king has made a fatal mistake!»
Conrad let the warning of the roses pass his ears. What mistake could there be. The elves are excellent allies, if their friendship can be secured. And the promise of Marianne’s kiss is worth far less than the traditional gold wreath that the winner of the tournament receives as a gift for his lady of the heart. Except that Marianne can be capricious and refuse the winner elf the prize. Then there will be no war. Conrad put his faith in luck and in the charms of the Queen of Fairies. Maybe something could be conjured up, so that the beauty of the elves would captivate even the grumpy princess.
Bride’s Sickness
Araminta has had many dreams about driving to her betrothed through stunted, enchanted woods where the trees have not a single leaf and the branches are as crooked as trolls’ fingers. Her companions whisper that the forest is haunted by evil spirits. Some sort of dwarf monster is indeed swirling under the hooves of the horses, trying to lead the entire cortege into the swamp. And voices call out from the swamp. They call out her name:
«Araminta! Araminta! Araminta!»
There is a whole chorus of voices. But where are they coming from? White winged figures swirl over the mire, like the ghosts of fairies. Araminta’s companions can’t see them, but she can. Could it be that she has discovered a secret sight? The swamp fairies turn toward her. Their faces are like plaster masks.
«Another will take your place!» They whisper.
The wheel of the carriage carrying Araminta becomes stuck in the mire. It is so easy to get stuck in the swamp forever. Araminta tries to get out. Pale, webbed hands reach out of the mire. One of them holds out a ripe fruit, like a winged apple. It is fresh and beautiful on the outside, but beneath the ruddy rind is a deadly disease.
And that’s it! The dream ends! Each time it repeats the same thing that happened to her in reality. According to the royal physician, it is a normal reaction to the shock she has undergone, but the courtiers whisper worriedly for some reason:
«She has fallen prey to the forest fairies!»
Araminta opened her eyes with difficulty. Her eyelids began to grow a film, like cobwebs. Her whole body was covered with gray pustules. She could hardly feel her arms or legs. She would only sit for hours in a rocking chair in front of a window overlooking the royal garden. Sore growths appeared on her back, as if wings were about to grow out of it. And then she would become like those swamp ghostly fairies who had called her. Because of these outgrowths she will not be able to wear the exquisite wedding gown she brought from Fenir. The Fenir’s princess was to be married in the most expensive gown, trimmed with diamonds and silver. But instead of the wedding, it was time to prepare the coffin. Araminta was rotting alive. And all because of a wonderful apple that was held out to her by a hand from the mire.
There was no need to take a bite out of that fruit. But the voices of the fairies enchanted her.
Now there were ordinary human voices in the room above her, and she wanted to hear the whispers of the swamp fairies again.
«She won’t last a year!» This was Marianne, the sister of the king whom Araminta is to marry, saying. «Everyone says it’s a disease from the marshes, but I’m sure she’s been sick ever since she ate the poisoned fruit from the strange tree that sprouted in the corner of the garden. It would have been cut down, but it withered itself and now resembles a sleeping goblin. My maidens complain that when they approach it, its branches cling to their dresses as if they were alive.»
«What if she was ill to begin with?» The second voice seemed to belong to the king.
«I doubt the ruler of Fenir would hide that from you. After all, the alliance is dynastic, not made for love.»
«What do you know of love?»
Marianne sighed resentfully. Araminta could barely hear her. She was sinking back into sleep. She hadn’t been awake for more than an hour lately. She was constantly drawn to sleep. Her eyelids were slipping, her mind racing back to the swamps full of evil and fairies, where the winged fruit waited. She probably took too small a bite out of it to die at once.
«Does she ever wake up?» Marianne carefully straightened her brother’s fiancée’s blond curls. They had turned almost gray, and a meshed gray rash stretched across the skin under her bangs.
«Don’t touch it! You may be infected!» Conrad warned.
«It is nonsense! I would have caught it a long time ago if it were contagious.»
«You probably only get it from swamp creatures, not humans,» Conrad agreed.
«I don’t want to say anything bad, but if you don’t get married right away, you’ll have to marry a corpse.»
«Shut up about the wedding!» Conrad suddenly became furious. Marianne had never seen him like that. He had changed since his return from Shai’s lands. He had seemed a stranger to her, as if an evil spirit had taken over his brother’s familiar body.
Conrad announced that there would be no war with Shai. Allegedly he had not found enemies there, but allies.
But the king looked grim, as if he was expecting a devastating war. The castle was flooded with monstrous knights from Shai. Each of them was a giant. Marianne was a little afraid of them. These monsters were completely indifferent to female beauty, so she could not twirl them around like ordinary knights. Attack her with one such monster, and her faithful admirers Lance and Henrik would not be able to protect her. What could ordinary warriors do against the giants?
Conrad assured her that there was nothing to fear. After all, Queen of Shai favors him. Marianne was struck by the very fact that Shai was ruled by a queen, not a king. Normally even widows retreated into the shadows, ceding their place on the throne to male heirs. And Medea Shai was no widow. But she was a lord of an army of giants.
Queen of Shai sent gifts for all of Aluar: baskets of black fruit, with wing-shaped growths on the stalks instead of leaves. They were the lightest cloths woven with mysterious symbols, daggers of unusual black steel. The maidens received wondrous ornaments and flowers which did not need soil, but took root directly in the carpet. The townspeople were given bundles of berries that evoked pleasant visions. Even the peasants Medea Shai had not forgotten, sending them sacks of black grain, the harvest from which should ripen in just three days after sowing.
«I don’t want any trouble with all these wonderful gifts,» Marianne worried, but her brother brushed her off like an annoying gnat. He had never been so inconsiderate toward her. But he looked at Araminta asleep, even with hostility. And he had liked her very much before. Marianne had the feeling that Conrad’s heart had remained in distant Shai.
«Better put that away!» She removed a light beige veil woven from Araminta’s curls, another gift from the strange queen.
Conrad was saying something about fairies. They lived in Shai and wove magical capes of cobwebs, but the two servants sent by Medea Shai were not fairies, but monstrous dwarfs in gorgeous oriental robes. They resembled two living bushes, one black, other green. Arms like branches held trays with gifts for Araminta. One held a box of costume jewelry, the other a symbol of sun and moon, and a peculiar star-shaped phial with a lid.
It is an elixir for sickness!» Conrad explained. «My new ally is kind, even though she is the queen of the black fairies.»
«She is a real fairy queen! Why didn’t you say so before?» Marianne’s mood immediately changed. She had only seen elves up close, but never fairies. But her dream since childhood had been to meet a living fairy. There were rumors about them that they were divinely beautiful and could bestow magical talents on anyone who appealed to them.
«Is the Fairies’ Queen really your ally?»
Conrad nodded silently.
«What did you do to make her your ally? Did you accomplish some feat?»
«She liked me.»
«Did you?»
