Tamlane – Prisoner of the queen of the fairies

«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 of that knight who had appeared to her in her dreams. The dragon-headed helmet he had never removed. Maybe the helmet was his head. After all, it was only a dream. And dreams can involve many reckless things.

Tonight she dreamt of the knight again. He was all fire and called her with him, into the flames! And then she was awakened by a bird. A moment before she almost stepped over the mirror frame into the fire.

The dream of the knight had been repeated ten times. And each time it featured all the same things: the frame of the mirror, the flames, the rattle of metal weapons, and the excited voices of the magical creatures. This time they seemed to say:

«She’s coming! She will destroy us all!»

Their frantic screams lingered in 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 to 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 a sleepy realm. And this before the arrival of the long-awaited guests! Usually at this hour, the castle was buzzing with the work of the servants like a 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 to the fact that birds could talk, so could flowers. Barely had she gone up to her chambers when the people in the castle began to gradually wake up. Apparently, they were quite surprised themselves that they had slept through the afternoon.

Nyssa was the first to arrive. On a whim, she liked to help Janet arrange the heavy braids into her hair and hold them in 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.»

«Is it true that the town has long been impoverished, and that the jewelers who once made fine jewelry there have left?» 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.»

«Is she the greatest?» 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 a soothsayer were true. After all, it might turn out to be nothing but empty bluster.

«Is the old Belladonna from the village still alive? They used to call her Mother Belladonna. She had a black cat named Thistle.»

Nyssa frowned for a long time before she remembered.

«Yes, I had heard of her. A common village witch doctor. What should we do with her? The girls gossiped that she knew how to exorcise unwanted love fetuses with potions. And that is all her skill.»

Janet blushed up to 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.»

«I dream of a knight,» Janet turned to Nyssa, who was putting a turtle comb in 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.»

To Nyssa, a fortune-telling was just a 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 of her fiance, he came from fire and a battle of supernatural beings. And with him came a 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.

«Is he one of yours?» 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 a table? But she could clearly see his pale fingers on hers, as if his hand had detached itself from his body and reached out to her. Only it lasted only a 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 of the meat dishes on the table, especially the roast pigeons and partridges, he grimaced disapprovingly. He cursed through gritted teeth at the sight of a 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 a lot in 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 to bed. How the time had flown by so quickly. Someone was still sitting in the hall. Soft voices came to her ears. Janet peered through the half-opened doors. Two men were seated at the table: her father and the Duke. In the dim light of the fireplace, her father looked even older and more haggard than usual. The precious rings on his hands contrasted sharply with his wrinkled skin.

«I wear them as amulets of protection against them,» he explained dryly to the Duke, who wondered. «Not all protection comes from semi-precious stones, but from some.»

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 to the earl and whispered confidentially to 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?»

«The corpse of your wife has not been found too!»

The duke clutched convulsively at the armrest of his throne.

«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.»

«Then she was treated as a victim. It happens more often.»

«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.»

«And what is of Duke Audrian himself now?»

«He has fallen ill. He had only one son, his only heir.»

«And did his illness bring him down in any unusual way?»

«That’s right!»

Janet understood less and less of the overheard conversation. When someone touched her shoulder, she almost shrieked. She was caught eavesdropping under the door like a maid. The girl turned around and noticed Honor standing quite far away from her and smiling slyly at her.

How could he touch her shoulder when they were separated by yards and yards of corridor? There was no one else around. He had magical arms that could extend to any length when he wanted 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 of a bird.

«Would you like to walk with me into the woods, fair Mistress?» He walked around Janet, as if he were evaluating 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 of quiet conversation reached Janet. Father and guest were still talking. And a black bird hovered under the window, as if eavesdropping, and the ruby in its forehead glittered like a stone of blood.

A pedlar with magic in box

The main amusement in 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 to blow out colored pollen that took different shapes like a skilled glassblower, handfuls of glitter fell from his hands like stars, the ribbons in 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.

«Show me something else,» they asked. Even the sullen matrons began to flirt with 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.

«And they could all do all the same things as Quentin did.»

«Well, not all of them.»

«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 a mask of gold leaves, hastily hiding around the corner. She had seen such a mask somewhere before, looking like the face of a woodland elf.

On the way, the girl turned back a few more times. The feeling that someone in an elf mask was watching her did not go away, although she did not see anyone else behind 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.