The magicВ bird
This bird had no black feathers, no jewel in its forehead, but it sang so sweetly that Janet did not hesitate to follow it to the creek in the morning, while everyone in the castle was still asleep. Dawn played in the bird’s feathers with iridescent reflections. Janet didn’t know what to call the bird either. It looked like a peacock, but peacocks don’t have seven-colored iridescent feathers and such a fluffy tuft on their heads. Janet had never seen such a bird before.
AВ bird flew onto her balcony inВ the dawn light and called afterВ her.
«Call her Rainbow,» someone whispered in Janet’s ear. But who was it? Was it a mischievous page boy? Janet turned around and saw no one behind her. It was strange, because the voice sounded so close. She couldn’t have imagined it.
Just as it didn’t seem to her that the bird’s singing was sometimes human. The latter hardly surprised Janet. There were talking parrots in the castle’s birdhouse. True, their voices were hoarse and speech was poorly understood. But, perhaps, there is a breed of bird that can produce melodious phrases in the human language, only barely alternating with a chirp.
Janet listened as she followed the bird, and before she knew it, she had stepped her feet into the flowing water. It was aВ spring. It was almost at the border ofВ the forest. All she had toВ do was cross the meadow toВ get toВ the edge.
There was no further toВ go. Janet remembered the horror stories about the forest. People disappeared there. Not just frail women, but well-armed knights would simply disappear on aВ hunting trip.
The bird sat on a branch of a willow tree and began to peer at Janet with her unusual orange, sparkling eyes. The girl looked closely and noticed that the bird’s eyes also changed color, as if repeating the color of her seven-colored feathers. There were as many tones in the rainbow as there were in her plumage.
Janet got as close toВ the willow tree as she could and reached up, but the bird was sitting too high. She barely managed toВ touch the tip ofВ its fluffy tail.
В«So who are you closer to, the peacocks or the birds ofВ paradise?В» Janet joked.
В«It is closer toВ the rainbow ones!В» AВ voice behind her answered. В«There are aВ lot ofВ rainbow birds inВ the forest kingdom ofВ Medea Shai, but there are blackbirds inВ itВ too.
Who said that? Janet turned nervously over her shoulder. There was no one. She looked around. Meadows and fields and sparse trees with trunks so thin a child couldn’t hide behind them. The voice seemed to be that of a child. The children in the castle had long ago been taught not to be naughty. None of them would dare follow their mistress and tease her. Could there be another bird circling nearby that could talk coherently?
Janet looked up into the sky. No birds in sight either. The bright dawn rays hurt her eyes. But in the waters of the spring, they highlighted every pebble in the bottom. It seemed to Janet that the stones in the water had taken on a rainbow of colors, too, and were now a blaze of seven: blue, green, yellow, orange, red, pink, blue. She wish she could collect them all. Good if they don’t lose their bright coloring when she pulls them out of the water. After all, it might just be a game of light. Janet soaked her feet and the hem of her dress. And it was, after all, her best outfit – emerald green, woven with gold flowers and pearls. She wore it only because today important guests were to come to the castle. For the first time in years! The lace in the front helped her put it on without the help of the maids, who were still asleep. Usually they woke up before the sun had risen, but today seemed to be a special day.
Perhaps an unusual bird had been sent here from a delegation of guests, like a carrier pigeon. That would explain why Janet had never seen such a bird before. If it is not from these parts, there are no such birds here. True, there was no message attached to the bird’s leg, but at least the thought has common sense. It was better to think so than to think the bird was complete magic.
She sat over the spring like a living rainbow, watching Janet’s every move. The girl bent down to fetch the stones from the water, but she could do nothing. The stones slid in her fingers like water. They could not be pulled to the surface. It was like catching the water itself. Only once did Janet manage to catch a sharp pebble with her fingers and pull it out of the water. Examining it, she wondered. It was not a pebble, but a key. It was very unusual. Its head was in the shape of a sun and its teeth were curved underneath, imitating tongues of flame. What a find! Surely this key can’t unlock anything. It looks purely decorative. Was it made by nature, like a nugget or a lump of gold? Or has some fairy lost it? Then one can explain why it is so unusual.
Clutching it in her hand, Janet looked into the water and noticed that there were many more such keys in the spring. Unlike the pebbles, they were easily fished out. They were all as unusual as the first, but slightly different. One had a crown-shaped head, another in the shape of a sickle of the month, a third in the shape of an apple, a fourth in the shape of a doe’s head, and a fifth in the shape of some fantastic flower. Janet collected more than a dozen of them. Who could have scattered them in the spring?
«Now I have a handful of keys that don’t unlock anything, apparently…» Janet stared at the findings. Indeed, where would there be such unusual doors to which all these wonderful-looking keys would fit.
As she collected them, she moved along the stream, and lo and behold, the woods were quite close. The clearing was black nearby, and danger was coming from there.
В«Go into the woods!В» Suddenly aВ rainbow bird sang. В«There is someone waiting for you inВ the forest!В»
Janet looked at it in amazement. Now the bird’s trill sounded so much like a human voice, as if it were a girl singing, not a bird.
«Go into the woods!» The bird flew down from the willow tree and soared over Janet’s head, covering the sun with its wings. «In the forest kingdom there will be doors to which all the keys will fit.»
But it’s the woods where you can’t go! It’s dangerous there! Everyone knows that! Janet had so often been frightened by stories of wild beasts bullying to death people who wandered into the thicket.
«Follow me!» The bird sang, circling over Janet. «Follow me! Come right after me! You won’t regret it!»
Janet clutched handfuls of keys in her palms and did not know what to do. The bird, seeing her indecision, descended quite low, catching the lush tail on the girl’s cheek. Before Janet could dodge, the bird nimbly pulled the satin ribbon from her hair with its claws. Even magpies aren’t that adept at stealing.
The bird must have assumed that Janet would surely follow her to retrieve what she had stolen. What an intelligent creature it is, however. Nightingales, white peacocks, and even the talking parrots in her father’s castle were not so intelligent.
Janet wanted to go into the woods, but she didn’t. It wasn’t wise. Besides, the guests would be arriving by noon. She wanted to talk to them, to ask them how life was going from here to there. As she left, she had the feeling that someone was waiting for her in the woods. It was not a bird at all. Some creature in a mask of leaves was peeking out of the thicket, or so she thought when she turned around.
A shadow lay across the meadow, as if some chariot was racing straight across the sky on winged horses. The shadow certainly looked like a chariot, but why would there be one in the sky? It was all just a dream. Janet knotted her golden-red braids, intertwined with pearl threads. They were heavy and long, and the ends were wet in the stream. Her hair grew faster than all the other women’s. Her braids almost reached to the hem of her dress, and if she braided them, they would be even longer. Her maid tired of inventing elaborate hairstyles for her to style the unruly mass of strands. It was said that Janet’s unusual hair color was a sign that she had been chosen by the fairies. Her father would fall into a rage upon hearing this phrase. Once he even pounded his fist on the table and shouted back loudly that Janet was his daughter, not someone else’s.
As if a fairy’s daughter could take root in the castle! Janet remembered that as a child her hair had been of the usual brown color, and only began to redden as she grew older. Now it looked like the color of the sun.
Involuntarily Janet wondered; what color was the hair under the helmet ofВ that knight who had appeared toВ her inВ her dreams. The dragon-headed helmet he had never removed. Maybe the helmet was his head. After all, it was only aВ dream. And dreams can involve many reckless things.
Tonight she dreamt ofВ the knight again. He was all fire and called her with him, into the flames! And then she was awakened byВ aВ bird. AВ moment before she almost stepped over the mirror frame into the fire.
The dream ofВ the knight had been repeated ten times. And each time it featured all the same things: the frame ofВ the mirror, the flames, the rattle ofВ metal weapons, and the excited voices ofВ the magical creatures. This time they seemed toВ say:
«She’s coming! She will destroy us all!»
Their frantic screams lingered inВ her ears even after she awoke.
There used to be a woman in the village who knew how to interpret dreams and prepare potions of herbs for any ailment. If she is still alive, Janet must go to her. The last time Janet had seen her was when she was a child herself. Janet’s mother had gone to her for some herbal potion, which the herbalist gave reluctantly and demanded a huge fee for it. Even then the old woman was ancient, gray and frail as a dry twig, but, how much anger was in her gaze. She was not ashamed to speak rudely even to noble lords, and no one punished her for it. Apparently, her skills really were irreplaceable.
When Janet returned toВ the castle, everyone was still asleep. Even the sentries were dozing at the gate. How strange! It is nearing noon, and the inner chambers resemble aВ sleepy realm. And this before the arrival ofВ the long-awaited guests! Usually at this hour, the castle was buzzing with the work ofВ the servants like aВ beehive.
Janet noticed that the wattles of roses on the castle wall had grown unusually large. Scarlet and white! It seems they had only been white before. Their mother had planted them back in the day. They symbolized something, but Janet couldn’t remember what. After last winter they had withered away, and now suddenly they were blooming again. The withered stems were full of life again. There seemed to be a quiet rustling coming from the flowers, like a whisper.
«Don’t go there!»
Where? Janet was used toВ the fact that birds could talk, so could flowers. Barely had she gone up toВ her chambers when the people inВ the castle began toВ gradually wake up. Apparently, they were quite surprised themselves that they had slept through the afternoon.
Nyssa was the first toВ arrive. On aВ whim, she liked toВ help Janet arrange the heavy braids into her hair and hold them inВ place with turtle combs. She was even better at it than the maid.
«There you go! You must go into the town looking like that,» she suggested. «When the guests are gone, we’ll take one of the carriages and go to Rhodolit. It’s the nearest town.
«It’s dangerous to leave a guarded castle for no better reason than to go there,» said Janet shyly.
«Come, we don’t have to go through the woods. The knights in our guard know a much shorter way to Rhodolit.»
В«Is it true that the town has long been impoverished, and that the jewelers who once made fine jewelry there have left?В» Janet wondered.
«No, they haven’t! The city is thriving. It lives up to its name, which it got from the semi-precious stones they use to make intricate jewelry. But, apart from jewelers, there are many other entertainments there now. For example, not long ago, the greatest fortune teller sailed to Rhodolit from across the sea.»
В«Is she the greatest?В» Janet grudgingly grimaced. It sounded like an exaggeration.
«Well, that’s what they say. Everything she’s ever told her visitors has come true, and they spread rumors about her. Would you like to visit her, too?»
Janet thought about it. It would be tempting, if her reputation as aВ soothsayer were true. After all, it might turn out toВ be nothing but empty bluster.
В«Is the old Belladonna from the village still alive? They used toВ call her Mother Belladonna. She had aВ black cat named Thistle.В»
Nyssa frowned for aВ long time before she remembered.
В«Yes, IВ had heard ofВ her. AВ common village witch doctor. What should we do with her? The girls gossiped that she knew how toВ exorcise unwanted love fetuses with potions. And that is all her skill.В»
Janet blushed up toВ her ears.
«I swear to you, she could interpret dreams. My mother used to visit her…»
«Did your mother visit her! Well, then she couldn’t warn her about anything that might…» Nyssa paused. They kept quiet about the Earl’s wife, who had disappeared, so as not to anger her master.
«I’d still like to see her, if she’s still alive…»
«We’d better go to town. The fortune teller in Rhodolit might know all about dreams, if that’s what you want to ask.»
В«IВ dream ofВ aВ knight,В» Janet turned toВ Nyssa, who was putting aВ turtle comb inВ her hair.
«Well, maybe it’s your fiancé-to-be,» Nyssa tried to wriggle her way delicately to turn her mistress with the back of her head toward her and work on her hair again. The maid was still asleep, and the girls could talk without fear of being overheard.
«You can see your betrothed in a dream,» said Nyssa, who had heard it from many people. «You remember his face well. Could it be one of your father’s vassals? There are many knights in the Earl’s service.»
«I did not see his face,» said Janet. «That’s what it’s all about. In the dream I wanted to know what he looked like, but he was wearing a helmet. It is an unusual helmet. It was as if a dragon’s head had been taken off his shoulders and made into a helmet for a knight.»
«They say they used to make impenetrable armor from dragons’ skins,» Nyssa reminded her, «but that’s all in the legends now.»
It was the knight’s armor that Janet did not remember. All she could see in the dream was his head, crowned with horns and spikes.
«There was fire, a sea of fire over the forest, and there were ugly creatures. They were all magical. They galloped around him. He didn’t kill them, and they didn’t kill him. And all his comrades-in-arms fell from their claws.»
Janet tried to remember everything exactly, and Nyssa listened and nodded, to draw one conclusion that she couldn’t avoid.
«You’ll have to tell the fortune teller in Rhodolite, and then everything will be clear.»
«What do you mean?» Janet didn’t understand.
«Well, she’ll take a crystal ball and throw in it some colored stones, I think they’re called runes, and look at the lines in your palm, and take a drop of blood from your index finger.»
«You’ve been through all this before?» Janet was amazed.
«Oh, no, I haven’t had a chance to get to her yet. There was a line, but the other girls told me something.»
«That’s interesting!» Janet admitted aloud, but thought to herself that she didn’t want to go through all that.
«Let’s go to Rhodolit,» Nyssa urged. «Besides the fortune teller, there’s plenty of fun to be had there.»
ToВ Nyssa, aВ fortune-telling was just aВ fun game. And for Janet, dreams were no joke. They left her feeling too dark. The same dream about the unknown knight repeated itself more and more often. Even if Nyssa was right, and she was dreaming ofВ her fiance, he came from fire and aВ battle ofВ supernatural beings. And with him came aВ danger.
The guests did not arrive until evening. By that hour, the castle’s inhabitants were all awake, as if they had cast a spell. Many of those who had served at the feast table were still yawning. Fortunately, the guests were too well-bred to disapprove.
Janet waited several hours in the observation tower for their arrival, and when the Duke’s escort was approaching, her eyes glittered with colorful banners and even more colorful garments.
«It looks a bit like the robes of a fairy court!» Sang the same bird with the rainbow plumage. From nowhere, it appeared again above Janet’s head in the sky. The height of the observation tower was not too high for it. And the sentries weren’t paying attention to it.
«Why didn’t you go into the woods?»
Janet looked discouraged at the rainbow bird. Where did it learn so many phrases and did she know what they meant. The parrots in the castle were only repeating what they heard from others. But Janet hadn’t said a word yet. Only the bird spoke. Or rather sang. The melodious phrases were unaccustomed to her ears.
«Who is it?» Janet noticed a gentleman in the duke’s entourage, dressed in rich crimson. What a dandy! He looks like a bright bird himself. It seems that the Duke had no son. And no one else in his retinue could have dressed so splendidly without making him jealous.
«He’s one of ours,» the bird chirped above Janet’s ear.
В«Is he one ofВ yours?В» Janet asked again, but the bird was gone. It was gone faster than the wind. It must have flown into the woods.
The crimson-clad dapper suddenly looked up, directly at Janet, as if he’d heard her. Could he have seen from such a great distance, for the observation tower was the tallest in the castle. Janet noticed that his eyes sparkled like two jewels. When everyone had already entered the castle, he stayed in the courtyard and bowed slightly to her. So he saw her. He must have eyes like a falcon’s.
He was not, however, to be found in the banquet hall. All the guests were assembled there, making dull chats about royal taxes, the harvest years, and the dangers of the forest roads. At this last topic, Janet perked her ears and suddenly noticed on the other side of the table, the same crimson-clad dandy who’d been eyeing her in the tower. He smiled at her defiantly. His eyes really did sparkle, like two jewels. And he had a handsome face. His presence made Janet uneasy.
– «I am Honor,» he said. «From the woods…»
He must have been joking. Janet suddenly felt his palm on hers. How could he have touched her across aВ table? But she could clearly see his pale fingers on hers, as if his hand had detached itself from his body and reached out toВ her. Only it lasted only aВ moment.
Honor looked at the guests and servants as if nothing had happened, and his eyes danced with laughter. He kept on adjusting his blond hair, which had come loose from beneath his beret. He did not take off his beret or cloak. At the sight ofВ the meat dishes on the table, especially the roast pigeons and partridges, he grimaced disapprovingly. He cursed through gritted teeth at the sight ofВ aВ swan cooked with fruit, as if he could not understand how such noble animals could be served at the feast table. Janet shared his opinion, so she ate nothing either. Probably she and her guest had aВ lot inВ common.
In the plate in front of him there was a pile of rose petals instead of food. White and red! Does he think that’s a treat? Janet noticed the same thing on her plate. Rose petals! Is this a mockery?
But none of her ladies were laughing. They were all busy talking to their guests. Janet could hear that it was becoming more and more difficult to travel in the country. Robber skirmishes! Robbers! Rebellious peasants! Only the King’s court is quiet, but it is in mourning because of someone’s death, which is why the Duke and his retinue have come here.
The rainbow bird flew into the hall, flew high above the table, and sat on the chandelier. None of the guests seemed to notice it. The harpists were playing, and the bird’s trills were indistinguishable from their music. Janet left the table, though, and followed the bird as it flew out of the hall. She looked for the rainbow plumage in the garden, by the fountain, among the tapestries in the hall, even in the corridors, but the bird, as usual, suddenly disappeared easily from sight.
Finishing her fruitless search, Janet found that the feast-room was already empty. The guests had gone toВ bed. How the time had flown byВ so quickly. Someone was still sitting inВ the hall. Soft voices came toВ her ears. Janet peered through the half-opened doors. Two men were seated at the table: her father and the Duke. InВ the dim light ofВ the fireplace, her father looked even older and more haggard than usual. The precious rings on his hands contrasted sharply with his wrinkled skin.
В«IВ wear them as amulets ofВ protection against them,В» he explained dryly toВ the Duke, who wondered. В«Not all protection comes from semi-precious stones, but from some.В»
Her father’s voice sounded cryptic. Janet tensed at the door. She thought she was eavesdropping on something she couldn’t, but she couldn’t move away anymore. She began to wonder.
The guest leaned across the table toВ the earl and whispered confidentially toВ her father.
«They have kidnapped one of the king’s daughters.»
Kidnapped? Were there robbers in the forest? Janet listened attentively. So there are bandits nesting in the woods after all. Bandits are not demons, they can be dealt with. All you have to do is raise a militia. If she’d had a brother, he would have done it. But her father was in no hurry. He was too old and too exhausted. Janet even thought; what a pity she had turned down all the suitors. Had she had a groom, he would have protected the neighborhood.
But the guest went on, and her heart felt creepy.
«It wasn’t just my wife and yours that went missing. Some years ago they snatched an only son of duke Audrian. And there’s not even a rumor of him since. People disappear, no one demands ransom, their bodies are nowhere to be found, it is no news of what became of them.»
«Has the king’s daughter already been given a requiem, though no corpse has been found?»
В«The corpse ofВ your wife has not been found too!В»
The duke clutched convulsively at the armrest ofВ his throne.
