«Don’t remind me of Amaranta. She is with them now!»
«Probably the king’s daughter is with them too. They do not know for certain at Court. No one has sent a spirit with a message to their castle.»
В«Then she was treated as aВ victim. It happens more often.В»
«Or not everyone loves their husbands or parents as much as Countess Amaranta, God rest her memory, because, her human shell has ceased to exist since she entered their circle,» the Duke saluted his half-empty glass and suddenly groaned bitterly. «They are strong, and the strong do what they please. There is no warrior yet born who could fight them. Though they say the Duke Audrian’s son killed a couple dozen of them before they dragged him away.»
В«And what is ofВ Duke Audrian himself now?В»
В«He has fallen ill. He had only one son, his only heir.В»
В«And did his illness bring him down inВ any unusual way?В»
«That’s right!»
Janet understood less and less ofВ the overheard conversation. When someone touched her shoulder, she almost shrieked. She was caught eavesdropping under the door like aВ maid. The girl turned around and noticed Honor standing quite far away from her and smiling slyly atВ her.
How could he touch her shoulder when they were separated byВ yards and yards ofВ corridor? There was no one else around. He had magical arms that could extend toВ any length when he wantedВ to.
«Beautiful lady!» He bowed exquisitely, then approached. His steps were as inaudible as a cat’s. «It’s been a long time since I’ve seen such beauties as you. Among mortal women, I mean.»
Is it a joke? He said it as if he knew other women who weren’t mortal. Janet arched an eyebrow. He was either out of his mind or trying to impress her.
His crimson cloak, though satiny, resembled the plumage ofВ aВ bird.
В«Would you like toВ walk with me into the woods, fair Mistress?В» He walked around Janet, as if he were evaluatingВ her.
«But it would be dangerous, wouldn’t it?»
«Nonsense,» he didn’t even step on her train, stepping around behind her as if he hadn’t even touched the floor. «It can be dangerous for some people. But danger shouldn’t matter if you want to rescue the Fairies Queen’s prisoner.»
Janet fluttered her eyelashes incomprehensibly, and he grinned.
«There is a hostage of evil spirits waiting for you in the woods, my lady! Who else but you can help him?» Honor, without asking permission, took Janet’s left hand and pressed his lips to her palm.
«It’s a beautiful bracelet,» he said, «but it burns!»
It wasn’t the bracelet that burned, but the kiss. He was gone, as if he’d fallen to the ground. Janet wondered if he’d really been here, or if she’d been dreaming again. But the imprint of his lips burned on her left palm. Normally ladies were kissed on the right hand. But on her right hand was the bracelet Honor had been praising. He was a strange young man!
The sounds ofВ quiet conversation reached Janet. Father and guest were still talking. And aВ black bird hovered under the window, as if eavesdropping, and the ruby inВ its forehead glittered like aВ stone ofВ blood.
AВ pedlar with magic inВ box
The main amusement inВ Rhodolit was the same Quentin. Here he not only sold goods, but also showed tricks. Who would have guessed that his box contained so many miracles. The young man was able toВ blow out colored pollen that took different shapes like aВ skilled glassblower, handfuls ofВ glitter fell from his hands like stars, the ribbons inВ his hands suddenly changed their color. Young girls and even older women looked at him with genuine admiration.
As she passed him, Janet involuntarily stared. Had she known he was such a hustler before, she would have asked him to show his tricks at her father’s castle feast. Instead, he showed them in the town square. And some nimble creatures, resembling large toads, deftly snatched the buckles and purses of anyone who glanced at Quentin.
He was a pedlar with magic in his box. Well, isn’t that amazing! He had time to both peddle and do tricks.
«He is a pretty boy!» Nyssa whispered, gazing up at him. «I should buy some ribbons from him. He’s so pretty, isn’t he?»
«Haven’t you noticed how pointy his ears are?» Janet frowned involuntarily. «It’s like two oysters hiding under a beret.»
«It is nonsense!» Nyssa didn’t seem to notice his ugliness. But Janet could see that his ears were disproportionately large and very pointed upward. He covered them with his beret as best he could, but sometimes the beret slid down and they stuck out. The charming girls who surrounded him didn’t seem to notice this flaw either.
В«Show me something else,В» they asked. Even the sullen matrons began toВ flirt withВ him.
«He won’t notice us now,» Janet commented. She had the impression he was watching her intently, though his eyes were fixed on her in another direction.
«Let’s take a walk after all!» Nyssa jumped out of the carriage. Janet followed her, but there was no getting close to Quentin. Too many young ladies were begging him vigorously for more tricks or to sell them cheaper rarities. This time he was even selling shells. And they were all unusually shaped and rainbow-colored. So she wasn’t imagining it when she saw the motley shells in the spring. Quentin had even managed to get them!
Janet looked at him with envy and delight. He seemed so free and uncontrollable as he demonstrated another trick. And she suddenly felt as if she were in a cage. She couldn’t do anything out of the ordinary, and some kid could do it all.
«Do you think he’s magic?» Janet asked Nyssa quietly.
«He is not a wizard.» Her friend almost laughed. He’s just a juggler.»
«You’ve seen jugglers in Rhodolit before?» Janet wondered, for her friend had been out on the town before, not cooped up in her castle. But she’d never said anything about tricksters in the square who could do such astounding things. Nor did the other girls who visited the city for fun bring such gossip to the county.
«Of course I’ve seen them,» Nyssa confirmed.
В«And they could all do all the same things as Quentin did.В»
В«Well, not all ofВ them.В»
«It turns out he’s the only one.»
«He’s just a little more talented,» Nyssa commented after a moment’s thought. «He is a gifted kid and a pretty one. You could persuade your father to invite him to the castle to give us all a performance. I bet he’s the kind of man who’s willing to work for a mere dinner.»
Quentin’s clothes were bright. But was it expensive? Janet didn’t know the price of fabric. Nor did she know prices in general. As the daughter of an earl, she never bought anything herself. Nyssa, on the other hand, was more experienced.
«I think he’s a bit of a wizard,» Janet whispered to her as fireworks exploded in the square they’d just left. A couple of sparks flew right under Janet’s feet. They danced on the cobblestone sidewalk like flaming stars.
«Is it magic?» Nyssa cautiously lifted her hem, stepping over the sparks. «More like scattered beads and some kind of illusion created by a skilled magician. There was nothing magical about it. Yeah, and who needs magic nowadays, unless you’re talking about fortune-telling.»
«I’d like to be a magician,» Janet said out loud, not knowing why. The words rolled off her tongue and echoed through the empty alley. She felt as if someone had heard her words.
Janet turned around and saw someone wearing aВ mask ofВ gold leaves, hastily hiding around the corner. She had seen such aВ mask somewhere before, looking like the face ofВ aВ woodlandВ elf.
On the way, the girl turned back aВ few more times. The feeling that someone inВ an elf mask was watching her did not go away, although she did not see anyone else behindВ her.
The fortuneteller had a lovely house with beautiful oval balconies and pictures of the moon on the curtains and carpets. The moon with a woman’s face was evidently the emblem of the mistress of the house, for its design was repeated everywhere. No wonder! Such a symbol created an atmosphere of mystery and witchcraft.
The queue in the hall for the fortune-telling was bigger than anyone had expected. Even the small bribe Nyssa had given to the fortuneteller’s acolyte did not get her through.
«We’ll have to wait,» Nyssa settled into a vacant chair, which also bore the symbol of a smiling moon. For some reason Janet didn’t want to sit down and went out onto the balcony. The wrought iron balustrade curled in the shape of iron roses. They reminded the girl of the white and scarlet roses in the castle. The moon was just rising in the sky above Rhodolit. It glowed, illuminating the road below. Janet noticed a strange carriage rushing through town. It looked as if it were in a hurry to merge with the path of moonlight on the sidewalk, and it was going incredibly fast. The people it passed suddenly fell asleep and fell right into the road.
Janet even wanted to pinch herself. Wasn’t she imagining it all? The magnificent carriage was gilded so heavily that it seemed to be made of pure gold, against which the purple curtains of the windows stood out sharply. The roof was surmounted by a peculiar ornament in the form of gold snakes that curled in a crown.
It was as if the carriage was spreading a sleepy spell around it. The city was silent as a tomb. Was everyone asleep? Janet caught sight of a strange, lanky creature in a coachman’s outfit on the bunk of an approaching carriage. It looked like a harpy. The groomsmen at the back of the carriage resembled two toads in coats.
Some couple in love, who had been rushing to knock at the fortune-teller’s house, fell asleep just under the threshold as the carriage approached them. Only Janet, standing on the balcony, felt no sleepy spells. And in the windows of the neighboring houses, people were falling asleep, falling right onto the carpet or floor. What was wrong with this carriage? Why did the coachman and groomsmen look more like fairy tale animals? And why do all the people fall asleep where the gilded carriage rushed past them? Could it all just be a dream?
Janet felt a sudden pain in her hand. She pricked her finger on the iron roses that made up the balustrade. No, not the iron ones anymore! Living stems with thorns twisted along the bars. Red and white roses bloomed right on the balustrade. The roses weren’t alive a minute ago, or she would have noticed. The buds were blooming quickly, as if in a dream. A drop of blood from Janet’s finger fell on the white rose, and the girl heard something like a whisper:
В«Release him!В»
Was that really what the roses were saying? They had no feminine faces, like the images of the moon in the fortuneteller’s house, but the whispers came from the petals. And there was a deathly coldness about them, as if the roses were covered with snow and ice. Janet hurried away from the balustrade and noticed how quickly the roses wilted and withered and suddenly turned into iron bars on the balustrade.
In the fortuneteller’s house, too, everyone was asleep. Janet tried to rouse Nyssa, who had dropped her head on the armrest of her chair. No one was roused. Even the fortuneteller’s servant had fallen asleep on the threshold of the room where she’d been receiving clients.
The whole town seemed to have fallen asleep. Would they sleep for all eternity now? Janet was frightened that she was the only person in the whole town who hadn’t fallen asleep and was now doomed to spend the rest of her life wandering alone. Soon, however, she noticed someone stunted moving down the hall. At first she mistook him for a child dressed in a groom’s outfit. The bottle-colored coat and triangle almost merged with the greenish skin of his puffy face and extra-large hands. Could it be that his fingers were webbed? Janet could hardly believe what she was seeing when the stunted creature suddenly clung to her. It barely reached her waist and looked like a fat toad in a coat.
«Don’t go, madam,» it warned her in a gruff voice, nodding toward the door behind which the fortuneteller had hidden. «They’ll fill your pretty head with nonsense.»
«I thank you for the advice!» Janet tried to snatch her hand from the toad, but couldn’t. The green creature’s grip was too tenacious. Apparently it was one of the groomsmen from the carriage that had just passed under the windows, dispelling the sleepy spell. But then the carriage itself must have stopped somewhere nearby. She wonder why the groom had gone into this particular house. Was it for fortune-telling?
«I’ll tell you a secret,» he beckoned Janet with a thin green finger so that the girl leaned toward him. «This fortune teller is a real swindler. She lies without blushing! All she wants is your money, and lying through her teeth is her only skill.»
He whispered it in Janet’s ear as she leaned toward him, overcome with disgust. His breath reeked of a swampy stench, as if a toad was really talking to her.
В«That liar has lied so much toВ my lady!В»
В«And who is your mistress?В»
The creature instantly covered the toad’s mouth, as if he’d realized he’d said too much.
«Well, I’ve got to go!» It hissed as it swept away with its thin green toad-legged feet.
Janet stared after it in bewilderment. What did it want with her? A shimmering light poured from behind the fortuneteller’s door, as if the moon had settled there. Janet decided to peek in and see if the landlady herself was asleep. If she was a sorceress, and not a rogue, she must have known how to resist sleep spells.
Janet had to step over the servant to get to the door. Her train slid over the sleeping body, but the servant didn’t wake up, didn’t even flinch in his sleep. Everyone was sleeping, straight asleep. Janet was even frightened that they were already dead and about to start decomposing right before her eyes, but from behind the door a melodious voice suddenly called to her.
В«Come in, my dear! You should know your fate!В»
The voice was pleasant, but somehow not particularly trusting. Still, Janet stepped into the half-darkened room. At first it seemed toВ her as large as aВ vast palace, but inВ reality it was no more than aВ small room filled with strange objects. Here was aВ gilded spinning wheel, the shining thread from which stretched itself, and gold moths flying over aВ candle, and aВ cage with aВ sleeping firebird, and, ofВ course, aВ crystal ball on the table, covered with aВ tablecloth, woven with stars.
«Come in! Don’t be frightened!» The woman, whose face was concealed beneath a dark veil, invited her to the table. Her dress, also woven with stars, seemed like a slice of the night sky, and a black cap over the veil, as if to indicate belonging to fairies. Under the thin veil you could see that her hair was white and her features were strikingly beautiful. Only the face itself was somehow inhuman. Her features looked as if they had been painted on top of a shell that remained motionless. No sign of facial expression. The fortuneteller spoke, but her lips never moved.
Her voice was commanding. It was what made Janet obey. She obediently lowered herself into a chair on the other side of the table from the fortuneteller. The girl didn’t even know if she wanted to know her destiny from this striking woman, who herself somehow resembled a black-clad moon. Coming here was Nyssa’s initiative, but she was asleep now. Besides, for her, discovering her fate was just a curious game. And Janet felt that the woman on the other side of the table liked to give only meaningful predictions and only to those who really needed them.
В«You must be warned against danger,В» she said, with aВ mere glance into the crystal ball, В«but not the kind ofВ danger that awaits you inВ Rhodolit. AВ deadly danger awaits you inВ aВ faraway land, hidden inВ forbidden forests. There awaits aВ cunning woman ofВ great power, and she has long possessed what is really yours alone.
В«What do you say?В» Janet became involuntarily interested.
В«IВ say about this!В» The fortuneteller touched the crystal ball, closed her black-gloved hand into aВ fist, and when she opened it, there was aВ living heart inВ her palm, wrapped inВ aВ white rose. Blood dripped, staining the rose petals scarlet. В«It is his heart! It is so very different from the heart ofВ your mother, Countess Amaranta. It does not want toВ be captured byВ fairies.В»
The illusion lasted only aВ moment. The bloody heart disappeared somewhere, but Janet could still smell the scent ofВ roses. The narrow black-gloved hand slid back onto the crystal ball, and it vibrated beneath it like aВ living thing.
В«IВ see that, without going on aВ long journey, you will bypass the dangers and live aВ long carefree life, but your life will not be happy, because your fate awaits you inВ the forest.В»
«Thank you, I’ll remember,» Janet was no longer sure how to end this unpleasant visit with some plausible excuse. She began to shiver, her skin freezing as if from a severe frost. Her head was spinning. The fortuneteller looked at her through her dark veil with eyes like two green crystals, and smiled as she bared a row of teeth like round pearls. The comparison was not at all poetic. It really felt like her mouth was filled with pearls, not teeth. And the lips themselves were bloodless, like the body of an oyster.
Would it be rude if she got up right now, said goodbye, and left here? The fortuneteller looked at her so intently, as if she didn’t want to let her go at all.
«There are people with uninteresting destinies,» she admitted. «I don’t like working with them, but you… If you hold fast to your purpose and set out on your perilous journey, then my crystal will have an interesting story to tell. And I and my sweet pet will probably get our revenge at someone else’s hands.»
«Where is your pet?» Janet didn’t know at first who she was talking about. Except for the pearl barrette shaped like a sea serpent, which she’d only now noticed in the fortune teller’s hair. It was so white that she couldn’t see it, though the color of the hairpin seemed faintly similar to her own. The pearl snake seemed to crawl up and down her strands.
But by pet she probably didn’t mean it. The crystal ball vibrated under her hands, taking the shape of a watery snake with blue scales and a large pearl in its forehead. It clung to her arms, but hissed angrily at Janet.
В«Do not be afraid, on the road toВ the country ofВ the elves you will meet much more dangerous creatures than aВ sea dragon!В»
The fortune teller wanted toВ comfort the girl, but instead frightened her out ofВ her wits. Janet jumped up and ran for the door. AВ long train tangled beneath her feet, which only increased her fear. Janet felt as if someone was grabbing at her feet, keeping her from aВ strange house full ofВ strange creatures and charms.
Forgetting about Nyssa, who was asleep inВ the chair, Janet ran out ofВ the house. The town was still asleep. None ofВ the people who had fallen asleep on the road moved. Janet carefully avoided them. She looked around, trying toВ determine where her carriage and guards remained. She and Nyssa had left the carriage inВ the square, so that was where they should return.
Janet had to wander for a long time before she found her way back. She had only been to Rhodolit a few times and couldn’t remember which roads led where. The stars in the sky above the city reminded her of the fortune teller’s dress. They seemed to line the sky in a track, lighting the girl’s way. It was moments like that, when you thought you just needed to hold out your palms and the stars would fall into your lap.
«Why don’t you hold out your hand and see?» Someone suddenly whispered to her, hiding behind her. Janet looked around, hoping to see the stranger in the mask of golden leaves again. But he was gone. Only some thin silhouette was as a shadow on the sidewalk. Strange, the shadow was visible, but the master was not. The shadow was moving, in strange broken movements.
From somewhere came the sounds ofВ aВ song, like aВ magical counting rhyme. It seemed as if the stars themselves were singingВ it.
В«Put your palm down,
And we’ll fall
The queenВ must
Not toВ be with him alone
And let him goВ back
ToВ his human house!В»
Janet put up her palm and felt small golden sparks land on it, really like stars. They shone, but they were not warm. The starbursts seemed purely illusory, because the little stars immediately dissolved into the skin ofВ her palm. The lines ofВ fate on her palm left glittering traces.
В«You have aВ golden fate, but aВ dangerous one,В» someone whispered inВ her ear, leaning over her shoulder. Janet had already realized that if she turned back, she would see no one but aВ swirling shadow that no one had cast.
The guards inВ front ofВ the square were asleep. One ofВ them had managed toВ fall asleep inВ aВ standing position, leaning on his spear. Janet accidentally caught his cuirass, and he began toВ sink toВ the ground. His armor clanked longingly.
There was someone in the square. Not asleep! There were some silhouettes moving. Were there people? No. Janet saw a lady in a sumptuous scarlet dress, and around her were stunted, ugly creatures, dressed as groomsmen and footmen. The lady’s scarlet train was so long that it seemed to flow in a wave across the square. Her curly hair, too, grew so much that it flowed over the ground, as did the train. It seemed to Janet that they turned suddenly into living black snakes, one of which hissed wildly, pointing its head in her direction. The girl hurriedly hid behind a corner. There was a threat from the creatures in the square. She could feel it. It was better to stay out of their way.
A gilded carriage also stood in the square. Fire seemed to be shooting out of the horses’ nostrils, and the blankets on their backs were wings folded behind them. Janet blinked to drive away the illusion, but it didn’t go away. The horses still seemed fire-breathing and winged to her.
«That’s enough!» The lady handed some young man, Janet thought it was Quentin, a whole purse of gold. As soon as it passed from hand to hand, jingling coins rained down on the young man’s palms. Each one looked like a gold moon with a woman’s face, like the emblems in the fortune-teller’s house. The coins seemed to sing a mischievous song. They slipped from the boy’s hands and rolled across the sidewalk. He rushed to pick them up.
«They’re quick,» he complained.
«They are as nimble as you are,» said the lady indifferently. The lady’s voice was ice-cold, and her train of fire stretched across the square. Janet noticed one coin bouncing and rolling toward the edge of the square. It did indeed have a face the size of a tail of coin carved into it. The chiseled lips rounded as if they were about to sing.
