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“I was only sure your father had cast a dragon upon me. Everyone knows he was, um, kin of dragons.”
“This is an insult to my entire dynasty!” Estella echoed Reason again, copying not only the words but the stern tone this time. Even her own knights were afraid of her.
“Forgive me, but there are rumors,” the king of Ravelin hesitated. He obviously felt insecure in the presence of the proud beauty. She contrary to the vicious gossip was also clever.
“Rumor and truth are different things!” Estella struggled to hold the reins of her horse, which was never accustomed to the presence of Reason.
“I assumed you, like many, wanted to make me a sort of marriage proposal, first defeating me in battle so that I would not refuse. You value your manhood so little that you think you can’t get a bride except by force?”
“Actually…” The king of Ravelin shrank back to hide his embarrassment. “You had such a reputation… Well… I wouldn’t dream of asking you to marry me.”
“Am I not beautiful?”
He was embarrassed.
“Or did hearing about how stupid I was make you reject me?”
“Are you stupid?!”
“More like cunning!“One of the advisors whispered. The king shushed them hastily.
“You are very wise, my lady. Let us solve the war by marriage.”
How quickly he changed his mind! But Reason did not let Estella decide for herself whether she wanted to marry or not. The answer it whispered, she repeated:
“No, then you will get my treasury, and what will I get? Is it the absence of sincere love?”
Reason reeled as the king began to swear to her the sincerity of his feelings.
“Tell him about the secret of the king’s treasury. He will understand. Whisper one word.”
“But it’s witchcraft,” Estella recoiled from Reason’s whisper, which burned her ear.
“And so what is it?”
“What if I whisper it myself and turn into a frog?”
“Would I give you a bad advice?” He took offense.
“Who knows?”
“Don’t be too smart! Remember I am your reason. Take my advice!”
The king was worried when he caught the princess muttering something to her. Perhaps he thought he had been too quick to deem her clever.
She leaned so that her lips were close to the king’s ear.
“Demonikum!” Obediently she whispered, repeating after Reason almost letter for letter. Probably not exactly accurate, but the word worked.
The king seemed frightened.
“Demonology of the Aluar’s treasures,” she obediently repeated after Reason. “The spirits are locked away! Hungry demons! Angry angels! The bestiary beside them! A devourer of gold in the treasury! All this waits at home!”
The king recoiled from her as if her breath burned his ear like a dragon’s.
Estella herself was frightened. She could not have had a dragon inside her.
“I was in a hurry to fight you. But if you wish to flee from Aluar, my marriage proposal still stands. Will you leave with me now?”
“How men are captivated by beauty!” Reason snorted. Estella almost repeated after him, but Reason’s claws hastily clamped her mouth shut.
“That’s not for other people’s ears!”
Then don’t say it! Estella was furious with him.
“Tell him they’ll break free and fly after you if you leave! And they will tear his kingdom to shreds, and they will ride on the wreckage with a coven.”
The words, prompted by Reason, were frightened as they would not be frightened of a dragon. By the way, the dragon he had summoned never showed up. But he was no longer needed. King Ravelin’s armies retreated like beaten dogs. They suffered casualties and surrendered. Thanks to Reason for everything. With such a counselor, there’s no need for a fighting dragon in war. It’s not without reason that they say the mind is the most important thing for a man. With intelligence will never be lost!
A dragon from the dungeons
The warriors had already fled, but the king was still reluctant to leave her side. He waited for her to decide in his favor. The thought of taking just one princess from an entire enchanted kingdom did not frighten him.
By the way, Reason on her shoulder was very nervous and unraveled his claws.
“Chase him away!” He insisted, squinting unkindly at the king.
“How is it?”
“I don’t care if you shoot him out of cannon!”
Easy to say, hard to do! The king of Ravelin was somehow convinced that Estella had to be rescued. He even said he’d be willing to take her without a kingdom, and leave the kingdom to the evil spirits who inhabited it.
“A bargain can be struck with the demons,” he explained, pointing to his own burnt face. “You just have to give them something, like a piece of your own skin, or a pint of blood, or in your case, your whole country. You are sweet to me even without a power. Come with me!”
He held out his hand in an expensive gauntlet. How thoughtful! Not long ago he wanted to take her kingdom from her, but he would never dream of marrying her. How the mind changes everything! Or is it beauty? The King said he liked her for both.”
Estella would have said yes, but Reason would not allow it. Reason was worth listening to. She’d learned by now that he never promised anything for nothing. He had indeed helped her in the war. It was dangerous to marry a foreign king without his approval. What if she is being lured into a trap? She must find the delicate words to refuse Again Reason bailed her out, whispering:
“Say your mother is the star fairy Arabellina. For the daughter of a fairy spouse with a physical defect is unacceptable, or else there will be misfortune for both kingdoms: yours and his.”
Estella stupidly repeated after Reason, whom the king did not see, and felt like a puppet, clawed by the strings. Reason clung to her like a tame monkey.
Hearing of the fairy mother’s obstacle, even the King of Ravelin chickened out and turned his horse away.
“So get out of here!” Reason spat fire on the ground. “Don’t go molesting someone else’s property!”
The fiery spit scorched the retreating marshals and the counselor. But they didn’t even dare complain.
“What’s the matter with you?” Estella yanked Reason by the tail. “We have won!”
“We will win when there are no one left in the world but only you and I,” he hissed, his tail around Estella’s neck.
Estella didn’t understand him. It was probably just another sorcerer’s formulation to keep her enemies from returning, but she would not repeat it.
As the enemy army retreated, Reason chuckled angrily for some reason.
The waking dragon appeared after the battle. It suddenly appeared in the sky above the battlefield, where only Estella’s knights remained. Its emerald scales gleamed with the lightest of shades, reflecting the sun’s rays. Its powerful wings raised a hurricane wind. Estella would have marveled at the sight of a real dragon had it not blasted indiscriminately at her own troops. This is what real war is like! Estella felt as if she were in a rain of fire. Not a cannon can compare to an attack by a dragon. Flames rained down from the sky, scorching the earth, the grass, and the people.
“He will burn all the knights! Call it off!”
“It is too late!” Grimly Reason reacted, but muttered another magic word, and the fire immediately ceased.
The dragon, which for some reason reeked not only of fire but also of beer, swooped down, clawed at a dozen warriors, and was gone. He glowed like the dawn and stole people like a fox stealing chickens from the henhouse.
“He didn’t care about goats, sheep, or knights. He might as well choke on his armor!” Reason hissed resentfully.
“But that would leave us without a protector.”
“Who needs a protector who will attack us!”
“Then why did you summon him?”
“I was a fool!”
“So the mind can be a little foolish?”
“It is very much in our case!” Reason was staring dejectedly at the dragon feeding on the knights on the high mountain near the scorched field. No one dared to shoot it. The damage he had done was ignored.
“Is he a drunkard, by any chance?”
“You figured that out all by yourself?”
“He stinks. Or is he just sleeping on beer kegs?”
“Is he just sleeping? He’ll even start to drink moonshine if you put a keg next to him. He started out with fine Aluar’s wine. He’s gone downhill.”
“But he flies high,” she traced the dragon’s flight with a rapt look.
“I mean his moral character. They’ve gone from bad to worse. I went down to his cellar once, and he tried to burn me. He didn’t recognize an old friend. But if I’d brought him some ale and pie, he’d have changed his mind. A glutton and a drinker! That’s what he is. And he’s lazy, too! Get him out of here!”
“He’s a real dragon.”
“So what is it?”
“I’ve always wanted to see a real dragon!”
“There are plenty of dragons! Only we got the worst one!”
“Well, not the worst…” Estella couldn’t take her eyes off the glittering scales, but the dragon ate his food and flew away too quickly.
“He’ll be asleep for another year,” Reason complained. “Oh, I used to think it was only the Princess who was defective, but now the dragon-keeper is defective, too. But you seem to be making amends. Well done for blowing off the king!”
“Maybe you shouldn’t have! When he keeps his mask on, he’s handsome.”
“He’s a womanizer and a flatterer! With him you could cry!”
“But you could cry your whole life without him. He’s the first and only fiancé I’ve ever had to chase away. The others ran away.”
“That was before! Now you’ll have lots of suitors.”
“I don’t believe it! Surely this was my only chance for happiness. Fiancés aren’t for me.”
“You’ll have hundreds of them! Thousands! And I’ll deal with them all!” Reason snatched a stiletto from one of the knights beside him and sharpened his claws.
The dragon left deep parched pits in the field from which strange creatures, either dwarves or dwarf-like monsters, were crawling. They shook their skinny black fists in displeasure and protested against the dragon.
“Who were they?” Estella had never seen such bizarre creatures in her life.
“Boggles,” said Reason, sounding reluctant. “I can’t stand them, though they’re better than boogeys.”
“What’s the difference?”
“They’re just as bad, but they’re werewolves, too. They can turn into dogs and attack,” Reason clung to Estella. “Get a grip on your horse!”
One of the boggles, with its weird red hat, galloped right out beneath the horse’s hooves, and the horse bucked.
“Don’t you know how to use spurs?” Reason reprimanded me. “Spur the horse, and let him gallop faster.”
The horse calmed down as soon as the boggle ran past. The knights, who had not seen Reason, spotted the boggles and began to baptize.
“What warriors they are! They’ll run to the temple at the first sign of trouble and leave the Princess alone in the field,” Reason hissed in frustration.
“Aren’t you afraid of boggles? They’re miniature goblins!”
“You got that right. The dragon disturbed them. They would have been slumbering under the battlefield. The blood of fallen warriors fed them. Look how red their hats have turned. They become so red from the blood spilled above, and the boggles themselves sit beneath the soil and laugh at the fighting humans.”
Reason spotted tiny creatures, each no bigger than Estella’s little finger. They were moving in a flock away from one of the dragon-burned pits.
“Hold your horse here!” He commanded Estella.
“What’s that for?”
“Don’t ask! Do it!”
Estella obeyed. Reason jumped down, climbed into the hole, brazenly dispersed a flock of midgets, and came back with a whole pot of gold coins. He threw away the pot of clay and poured the gold into the saddlebag of Estella’s horse.
“Leprechauns always have something to eat!” He explained. “I’ll hide it in a hiding place under the throne.”
