She opened her mouth inВ amazement.
“Don’t pursue your lips, or a moth will pop into them,” said Reason, chuckling, claws clawing at her shoulder.
“Aren’t you babbling witchcraft words?” Estella panicked when she heard the ominous words in his whisper.
“Why should you care how we win the war?” He grumbled angrily.
“No, I don’t. It’s all about winning it!”
“Bite your tongue while I work! I am working hard to help you. And you call me a sorcerer!”
“I’m sorry!” Estella watched in horror as a black storm rose from the ground on the battlefield, as if triggered by Reason’s hiss. Where it passed, enemy warriors pounced to fight each other, as if they had become blind and could not distinguish friend from foe. And Reason claims he’s no warlock! She finds that hard to believe.
“Don’t worry, I won’t send my Reason away just because it’s witchcraft,” Estella tried to reassure him, but Reason wouldn’t hear her. He hissed strange, incomprehensible words that caused the ground between the two armies to open up, and the bony arms of the dead began to stick out.
Estella cried out inВ horror, and her horse sprang toВ aВ halt.
“Enough is enough!” Reason clicked its black claws. It made the ground between the Ravelin’s and the Aluar’s armies smooth again. And a moment ago there was a pit in it.
“Who were they?”
“What do you mean?” Reason didn’t understand.
“They came out of the ground.”
“They were the skeletons of warriors who had fallen in a former battle.”
“What old battle? We haven’t even started the first one yet.”
“Do you think this is the first time kings have fought on this field?”
“I don’t know,” Estella frowned.
The damage inflicted on someone else’s army forced King of Ravelin to negotiate.
“We haven’t raised the white flag yet, but we’d like to negotiate peacefully,” the counselor, who had approached Estella with the royal delegation, ingratiated. He seemed to think she was a witch, for he trembled shakily as he addressed her. She ought to tell him she hadn’t been conjuring, but she would have to denounce Reason in front of everyone. It would be indelicate.
“You are, of course, the daughter of the Wizard King, and his spirit is clearly protecting you,” the Counselor said curtly. “But, think, what is it like for a woman to rule alone? You need a lively protector in the form of a royal consort.”
“What did I tell you?” Reason clawed at Estella’s hair and pulled the strands tight. “Don’t dare to agree! Do you understand?”
She couldn’t even nod, so hard he tugged at her curls.
The King ofВ Ravelin looked at her with admiration. He was an attractive young man, but the silver half-mask on his face frightened her away. It was the kind worn byВ victims ofВ alchemical experiments who mutilated themselves. Knights are usually proud ofВ their battle scars.
“A dragon burned me,” the King said, catching her gaze perplexed as he removed the mask. He hadn’t done so in a long time, it seemed, because his counselor gasped in astonishment. Estella didn’t like the sight of the poisonous burn, either. It crossed the king’s eye and cheek, disfiguring the attractive face.
“The dragon was small, the size of an elephant. Not the size for a dragon. But he broke into the palace to rob my treasury, and I got in his way.”
“And now you wish to replenish your treasury at the expense of mine?” Estella merely repeated the words Reason whispered, but the King of Ravelin blushed to his ears.
“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 toВ 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 toВ swear toВ her the sincerity ofВ 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 toВ her. Perhaps he thought he had been too quick toВ 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 aВ dragon insideВ 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!
AВ dragon from the dungeons
The warriors had already fled, but the king was still reluctant toВ leave her side. He waited for her toВ decide inВ his favor. The thought ofВ taking just one princess from an entire enchanted kingdom did not frightenВ him.
ByВ 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 aВ puppet, clawed byВ the strings. Reason clung toВ her like aВ 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 ofВ fire but also ofВ beer, swooped down, clawed at aВ dozen warriors, and was gone. He glowed like the dawn and stole people like aВ 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.”
