Якобсон Натали. Amaranta

Amaranta - Captive of Elf's King

Visit of Fairies' Queen

The feast of the evil spirits was nothing without her. Fiery demons danced in the magic ring, and he was not warm from their heat. It would be warm only from her arms.

"It's hard to want someone else's wife,"the evil spirit whispered, penetrated on the feast.

"Yes!" Dagda himself did not want, but responded. Never join conversations with stray spirits. There are some problems from them. So this spirit turned out to be obsessive.

"Want to pick it up for yourself forever so that you will never part with her."

"Yes!" Why has he to hide the truth?

"But for this you have to take her away from the people," the spirit said. "And this threatens a new agreement with people."

"Sometimes the war is the only way to get something, without which you can't live and what they will not give."

"Who whatever you know it! Who fought against his own fellow for power?"

"Why do people believe that love needs to be kept under the lock, and someone else's beloved can be kept next to themselves for marriage?"

- Well, marriage, if it is concluded, even without any love, is not so easy to terminate. You remember about the law about one century before the wedding. You start the war, kill Angus, and then you will have to say goodbye to Amaranta exactly per one century, and maybe forever. She is fragile and naive. In the transcendental fortress, where she will be locked from you, will certainly be a dark peri, who will told to her so that she herself violates all the conditions and extended your separation forever. We live in a cruel world, although we are magic creatures. And you remember perfectly that in heaven there was no better where your friend Lucifer once started the battle, and all of us, the former angels, and the current fairies were exiled on this mortal land, where people also appeared. Iy would be better they did not appear at all. Here and without them it was painfully.

But Dagda did not think so.

"There would be no human tribe, and Amaranta would not be born."

"Right! You would have no problem. And now you suffer. You have a feeling that near the heart under the skin sprouted with spikes a blood-sucking rose. It is concerned, she, as a parasite, is embroidered to the hearts of all elves who fell in love with ordinary mortals. Although probably Amaranta a niece or a granddaughter of any stray fairies."

"Unlikely! There are nothing from fairies. They are all contentious and sly. And she..."

:It is similar to those air angels who once fought against us."

"Very accurate definition," Dagda and himself thought about it, but he was afraid to pronounce it aloud. "

"Amaranta! Amaranta! Amaranta!" sang the spirit. "This gently girl will bring us something that the whole world will turn upside down, and people will not remain at all."

"Stop it! I am so painful."

"Sorry, Lord!"

It was clear on the tone that the spirit was not at all ashamed, but he flew too high, and Dagda was too lazy to catch him.

Typically, Pak disgusted all the other free spirits, who twisted over the kingdom of seven hills, but this time he had evaporated somewhere. Probably, the hissing boiler scared him. Dagda himself wanted no longer to sacrifice either the guilty elves, no more people caught on forest roads, but today Medea Shai generously sent victims - her own subjects. And the boiler from their blood came to life again. Miniature faces on it were cheerful it seemed that they would break out of the copper captivity, in which they stay. It was impossible, but even evil spirits were afraid of them.

"How strange you awarded all your friends and comrades!" said the spirit. "Will you do so with all your loved ones too? Does Amaranta also make a copper face on gates or boilers?"

Dagda was in a rage. Who did not know that his colleagues became his enemies during the war? The spirit was cunning. He flew in a black swirl around a boiler, considering all the troubles.

"I do not see here your best fighter.Is it for him not enough space? Where is Semildanah? Or did you cook him in the boiler, like Fomor or their mistress Domny?"

Duga felt as if he trode on his corns. It's time to drive the spirit away, but he was burned from the boiler himself. Even an intangible creature it can burn. The thick of the boiler resembled a living being. Still a little bit, and the face of which he wants to forget will be seen. I knew about it.

Theevil spirit disappeared himself. It did not have to drive him. The guests slowly disperse, scattered and mowed in their own holes and hills. Inside each hill in the vicinity was located a palace. But some guests came from the black tract of Medea Shai. Even they were embarrassed at the sight of metamorphosis occurring with the boiler. Did you even condemn it to the monsters for putting a live copper monument to his victory on the bones of defeated? Persons in miniature whispered something, but he did not listen to them. All of them were the monument, erected on the battlefield from the souls of his rivals. And all the rivals once were his friends. Today, they all have got enaugh blood. In return there were on the bottom of the boiler something wonderful: gold, stone or some kind of magical object.

The blood of the victims overflowed through the edge of the boiler and flowed on copper persons. Only absorbing it all, they fell asleep.

Finally he remained alone. It was not here! Suddenly, after the feast, arrived a new guest and as usually entered without demand. No one dared to delay her.

What does she want this time? After all, he has already visited the celebration of New Moon, the solstice and disclosure of the gates of the underground world, which happens once in the century. Oh, yes on the nose is another holiday night of the afterlife, when all the dead rose to the night exactly at night, the bloodthirsty skeletons roam the world, catching travelers, and circle ditch above the ghosts. The king of the dead will be in question, and where is the partner of the beautiful Queen, who called him. Dagde will again have to play her partner, as he did at her request many times at every important holiday and event. May be time to say the stop. And let the king of the dead pulls Medea Shai to the kingdom of death. He will still shift himself on her fangs. During the century, Dagda understood that the Queen of fairies was the same black gift, like those evil spells that they gather a gloomy cloud near her.

"Dragon's Love!" said the voices from the boiler. All knew about the love affairs of the fairies' Queen with her scaly bodyguards. So they were consistent.

Often Dagda wondered why she needs someone else if she loves dragons so much to share her bed with them? The passion of Queen of fairies to the dragons was more than mutual. Nevertheless, Medea Shai more than once came to Dagde, to persuade so that he marry her. She did it quite skillfully, at the same time spread rumor. The magic people believed that the weddings would not be powerless, but Dagda himself decided otherwise.

So now the guest began a conversation with the old note.

"It's time for you to make me your queen." About us are already gossiped.

"You're too beautiful to belong to someone alone." In addition, your dragons are already waiting for you. By the way, how many of them are yours. On your bed, guarding the door, in the pools, in heaven ...

"The dragons will be in the past, if you say "yes."

"It is hardly an elf that does not know how and does not want to go to the dragon."

"I will arrange the king of elves," she insisted.

"Is it all about the title? Only?"

"The king is suitable for the queen. You are the ruler of the elves, I am the Governor of fairies and all sorts of ill spirits. We can rule the whole world together."

"I do not want such great power."

"Why?"

"To rule the whole world, you need to fight without the end, and the war is expensive."

"When did you spend money on mercenaries?"

"I'm about moral value. When you kill someone, the black sites of their souls then do not lag behind you for centuries.

"It only happens with bright elves. If you enter into an alliance with the dark fairy, then your conscience will be neutralized. In addition, opposites should be attracted and formed into a happy marriage union. You like sunlight, I am a seductive darkness. We are made for each other.

"This is poetic, but unreliable."

"All because of the man's wife?"

"Do not call her so. And please leave."

"She will die during the century, and I will still come back to seduce you."

The queen of fairies' lips were next to his, but Dagda easily opposed all her charm and tricks.

"Better to seduce another dragon," he advised.

She was offended deadly. Now, for sure, she will take revenge. Dagda has already prepared for small dirty tricks, like rains from black mud over the hills or invasion of the black locust. But Medea Shai suddenly started another song.

"I am the queen of faries," she began to beat on pity. "Do you imagine how much duties has the queen? I will right with my people alone. Without the help of a man. Dragons are only part of the Bestiary. There are no benefit.

"Is it only in bed?" Dagda heard what everyone said, "Medea Shai is not only a lady, but also a lover of dragons. Let her temptation for everyone in a row, but with dragons she is the rightmost. After all, such relationships can not be called mesallians.""Oh, you are jealous!" she was delighted. "I thought you were from a stone or from copper, as your boyfriend in the boiler. But you feel something, so accompany me when I ask. Somewhere deep under the gold and green leaves that they grow from the skin, the heart beats."

She put her hand with black fingernails to his coat, but Dagda was removed.

"I also wanted to talk about ... escort," otherwise it was not called. "I would no longer wanted to play the role of your accompanying."

"Because you yourself have a lady? Did you forget that she is busy? And here I am free. Dragons are only for the species. They will not fly for a holiday. Everyone will ask, and where is my king. Dragon is just a means of movement in the eyes of royal persons. Without a king-spent or at least Prince Consort, I am considered a lonely and unfortunate woman who is easy to take away the power.

"Other Queen of fairies did not complain about it."

"All my predecessors have not been detained on the throne for a long time. So, behaved wrong."

"And among your subjects there is no one who could be your prince consort? For example, one of the dragons or Thierry."

"They are unworthy of such a high position. It can only be another ruler."

Dagda felt herself trapped. So many arguments, and everything leads to one result - it's easy for him not to harm her. Sometimes the queen uf fairies resembled a monstrous shadow, which crawled over the wall and fled everything with black darkness.

"I can not walk anywhere without a satellite," Medea Chai insisted. "I am too seductive. Because of me, war will break."

"You have dragons. In my opinion, they are quite enough."

"Need a decent satellite."

"What about Thierry and Quentin, which you seduced.

"Need a king, not an ordinary elf."

"Seduce a mortal king."

"This is such a boredom! He and a century will not last, as will be in a living skeleton in the crown."

"To the joy of the king of the deads?"

"He was waiting for me many centuries."

"So go with him. He has an extensive kingdom, which is all expanding due to the people who have moved to the world."

"And who will rule the fairy in my absence?"

"There is someone!" It's for sure. Other government replaced faster. Before it was a lot of them, all radiant and playful. And she came as night and shrouded in darkness everything.

"Think if I rule the kingdom of deads, then I'll get what you wish."

"In terms of?"

"All people are mortal! Amaranta too. When she dies, she will get to the servants, because it will be forced to go down to the kingdom of the deads, as it should be all."

"So what?" Dagda tried to pretend that he did not care. Did not work. The queen of fairies knew perfectly who and to whom he was disseminated. For it she has an excellent sense. And the keys of the strange form, which were at her belt, allegedly unlocked the doors, followed by the stolen souls of all the magical beings that she did not please. The keys are ringing tightly, knocking on each other when she walked or flew above the floor. What if one of these keys she prohibits for him after thers wedding, as if they asked him.

Why did everyone consider their wedding inevitable fact? Because the black servants of Medea Shai trottered it to everyone. They knew how to introduce black couples in consciousness, changing the worldview not only people, but also of magical creatures. Thus, no one has denied the news of the wedding. In addition to Dagda himself, he did not believe well. It was believed that he was excessivly modest, while bidding about the degree of power and dowry.

"The people die like flies," Medea Shai sighed theatrically. The keys with heads in the shape of the sun, month, elephant, the castle, the mountains and the dragons were wrung by copying her facial expressions. And they are all of the metal, but they look like alive. One key with the head in the form of an iron rose was exactly from the dungeon, where Medea Shai locked part of herself, embodied in a black living plant. Will her collection be happy once the key with his head in the form of wings from the dungeon, where does she ban the king of the elves? She plans it. Dagda could sometimes read her thoughts as one big black manuscript in which solid horrors are recorded.

"You will need an immortal companion."

"Or the content? Your debts in front of the kings with whom you were friends, fed, like your magic abilities."

"True, so all my lenders have long been sleeping in the form of crowned skeletons in the fortresses overgrown with spikes and bloodsowing plants."

"Many people will envy your ability to repay loans."

"I put the eyes on the king of Ilior."

"So go to him. Or fly. The window is open for you. The door will open the servants, barely ask."

"You are not happy at all? Do not miss me?"

"We saw each other recently."

"You're the first cavalier, who is tired of me."

"Perhaps not the last."

"Do not be rude!"

"Sorry, but you are extremely intrusive," quite like a darkness, which is lipped to everything and takes the monstrous outlines for her back.

"Do not forget that I am a lady. The code of knights and elves do not allow cautiousness with the lady, even if the monstrous."

An annoying one! And then he would immediately put her out. Maybe you should change the code? But it will affect and gentle ladies, such as Amaranta. There is a society once in relation to someone, and the elves will take care of all in a row. The love of his subjects to pranks is strong. Sometimes he barely restrains them. Although it is worth it to restrain? Is it not better to declare agaist Medei Shai war than regularly playing her cavalier and tolerate rumors about the wedding and that he himself the king of elves in the end will be under her heel, because she is an incomparable beauty, and he's only a man. It can break and depict indifference how much will fit. And all the magic society is already confident that he will dry by the queen of fairies."You think about her!" Medea Shai sniffed to the air as if the thought of the interlocutor could have improving the fragrance of treason. "About the man's wife! Do you think she is better than me?"

It is urgent to come up with an excuse, but Dagda is tired of playing these games. Pulled to tell the truth. Instead, he flashed the first thing that came to mind.

"She is less demanding than you. It is easier to make her happy. Do not have to keep the army of monsters with her so that she felt like a queen."

"And she is very similar to angels and cloud fairies. You always fell weakness to them. It is a pity that earth girls are very prolific. You can have many monsters from her. Even if she lives only one human life, the black army of her bastards arise near the seven hills, which will certainly want to beat off your power and rule themselves. Bastards of people from elves are extremely ambitious.

"Nothing! In addition to the seven hills, there are still green hills, and inside each of them can be established on a separate kingdom for each of the descendants."

|Yes, the palace inside every hill will fit, the royal retinue is enough for everyone, the squads from the elves too. But what if your sons from Amarants will be greedy?"

"And if this is her daughters?"

"Monstrous ladies with horns and hooves that will want to rape the pretty elves."

"Remember, it did not reach violence when your monsters seduced my elves and lured to themselves. Take at least Thierry and his warriors. Roddy weapons, love from your creatures, he sought, and not the opposite."

- I agree, there are unattractive ladies, gifted by force to choose the most beautiful elves and mortal men. But I could not take me to the number of unattractive ladies.

"But you also got born monster from the mortals that you kept in captivity. Do not remember?"

"I don't even know these children from other warriors in my army. But in your sunny country, the monsters will be too in the public eye. The last of them you personally killed so that he does not confuse other people with his appearance."

"He was not my son."

"But was the best friend. Almost half: brother, comrades, lover."

"Only not a lover. I prefer women."

"And I prefer men. Unlike most of the magic rulers who went into oblivion.

She is seductive. Black darkness, magic couples emanating from her - solid temptation. He circled his head, but his thoughts on Amaranta scattered him.

Dagda found the strength to throw off the hands of the queen of fairies from the shoulders. Her hands have already begun to let black roots in his coat. Of the graceful claws of Medea Shai such a nasty thing grew. And it still can not be called a monster? She could turn into the bloodthirsty black tree, which is staggering travelers with dry roots, or into a giant black flower, drinking blood - a lungwort. Because of the often transformations in the last nickname, the Lungwort got to her.

The prefix to her name was already hinting that the queen comes from the genus of hellish creatures, once formed in black deserts of the Kingdom with such a name. In the fortresses of Shai, whole armies disappeared. The kingdom of black deserts delayed human troops and caravans like a monster.

"What do you want from me?" Dagda asked directly.

"Combining two great states: Dark and Light. For absolute strength, I need day and night. And elves, and fairies. And monsters, and excellent creatures. I want to become the queen of the universe."

"Then the king you no longer need."

"But Amaranta will not get him."

It has already resembled a threat.

Dagda also wanted to answer something sharp, but Medea Shai seems to finally realized that he was not happy about her here. In the place where she stood, now was only a black smoke pillar.

Friends from fire

Spark played with Amaranta in chess, burning the figures.

"Well, enough," she said, noticing how after the rook and the queen was covered with something burnibg in his fingers. "So you will burn all the figures. And this board is dear to me. It is a gift from Shah, who was with the Embassy Mission at the court of Aluar.

"He wanted to marry you?"

"Yes," she answered.

"Like the king of Aluar?"

"Right!"

Amaranta frowned. Where does Spark know so much? Really the fiery elf flew over the sea to spy behind her.

"So why did you refuse? Is there a queen worse than a provincial countess?"

"You're very arrogant!"

"It's a compliment?"

She was embarrassed.

"In my company to be brazen it means to be the main one. Therefore, I am a leader. Thank you for praising me, the most beautiful!"

He wanted to kiss her hand, but Amaranta was already reassigned and so burned his breathing palm.

It was not too nice to be friends with a fiery elf. He could burn in any moment. In addition, Spark was not restrained with the tongue, and demanded without the end the details of her personal life.

"Why were you still not expelled from the castle?"said Amaranta.

"Can you drive away the fire from the hearth?" her opponent smiled disarmingly.

"Can! But without fire it will be difficult to survive in winter, cook food and light the evening room for guests."

"That's it - I will be indispensable!"smiled Spark. "Therefore, I will assume that you are all, the official owners of the castle, in fact, my debtors. After all, without me, you will not be able to survive the cold, cook dinners and dinners, and to arrange the ball without my fire on the candlelight it is impossible at all. People are not fair, your weak vision will not allow you to dance in the dark. If I will not shine you, you boost each other."

How in vain she revealed her mouth! I did not know that he was so closed to her words.

"By the way, you started speech on the cold." "Spark somehow strains, and he flashed brighter. "Unusual fit! The cold carries not winter, but the breath of the ice beings, which you let go from the gorge where they were sharpened."

"I did not let anyone. They themselves crawled to meet my carriage."

"That's it! You drove on the bridge, for which no one has staped for centuries. It is in the fog and is not visible. It cost you to go on it, and thet felt you. You were for them as a white torch."

"I didn't know that there is another way to the county," Amaranta was weakly justified. "That bridge seemed the only existing in the district. It was necessary to ask the road from someone, but when we arrived at the port, no one even wanted to communicate with us.

- This is because of the evil spirits, which fell on board. From one of your dresses, Morgen is still divided by the smell. So called the inhabitants of the sea kingdom. All navigaters and the inhabitants of the coast in front of them tremble. If the morgen knocked on your window at night, then you do not live - you are pulled to the bottom. Morgens love pretty young girls.

"One my girlfriend disappeared from the ship."

"Does Stream her know."

"From where? Did he ever settle in the county recently, and before that he lived in the ponds of Aluar?"

"He hears how she sings at the bottom. Morgens love when their captives sing, imitating sirens. But Uriella is not just a prisoner. She became the wife of that morgen, who kidnapped her.

"You fool my head!"

"Ask Stream. Or listen to, leaning toward the pond. Through the sources, everything is heard and visible."

"Depending on who! I will not see anything except water."

"In addition, Stream will try to drown you. He, like all the water spirit, loves beautiful girls."

"But how didn't drowned Uriella?"

"Some at the bottom not drown - the true brides of water. Since the abducted beauty did not sink under water, it means that she can be married. Here with ice creatures is more dangerous. Their leader has already kidnapped the niece of King of Ilior and completely frozen her. And since it does not come out with the royal family, he will most likely freeze all the kingdom. But we will save you: I and my guard," Spark winked. "Or it is better to call us a detachment by a volunteer to save an excellent lady. We surround you and warm up, even when everything comes here."

"What is it?" Amaranta scolded from the board the slide of the ash, remaining from the burned chess. "Only not asking kisses. I do not want to stay with a burnt face."

"And for this you will help me open one door!" The elf took several chess figures from the board, obviously deciding that the game was won, and he has the right to keep himself something as a trophy.

"What else is the door?"

"Follow me!"

Spark fell out and flew forward as a torch, overclocking the darkness. From the curiosity Amaranta went after him.

"Where are we going?"

Rather, he flew, she walked, but Spark was not embarrassed. He hurried to the garden, and in the most rushing corner.

"In the crypt!" He responded, flew to the thickets. He was stolen from the board the queen, it had to be thrown into the bushes, because the figure in his fingers is hopelessly burned. "You need to unlock this door."

The door was heavy and cast-iron, increasing moss and bind. This is definitely not the door of the surname crypt. It is located much to the left than the ever-locked entrance to the family tomb. Amaranta crashed from the door the stems of the bindweed. Under them was visible a key well in the form of some vensel.

Friends of Spark turned out to be here as here. They are really a whole team! They walked around a fiery round dance. The air heated from their presence. The breathing became more difficult.

"Let's play!" One elf tried to burn her. Other giggle.

Amaranta tried to adopt them. As strange, what else, not to acquire children, she has already felt like a mother who cannot cope with the hooliganism of their own offspring. Fiery elves are not only in mind, but also in nature very much resembled risen children. They walked over her head like live fire pillars. And torches were not needed.

"Here is the key!" Spark handed her the key, dirty and rusty. It, probably, still resting at the bottom of the source or even in the quagmire."Open!"

"And you yourself can not open?"

"If I could, I would not ask you to help me. This is nonsense - ask for the help of the lady."

Did he believed himself that he is a knight who himself should serve the lady in all?

Mould remained from the key on her hands. Amaranta climbed into a garden well to rinse hands. The well bucket was full of water, and suddenly there was no water in a moment, and a water elf was leaned from the well. The one she has already seen. Only this time he was kinder. Even showed obsession.

"Do not communicate with fiery shoes, whatever they walked you. Better pay attention to me. I can greatly prove you on the day at the bottom. With my help, you could become a water queen. You know the story of Lilofey, which married the underwater king. At first she resisted, but then she was good at the bottom.

"Lilofey was a princess, and Amaranta is just a countess. She is suitable for beauty, but not suitable by origin," Spark interrupted."

"But the king of elves does not think so."

Silence has come.

"Let him seek unmarried. Otherwise, the law on the same century will come into force before the wedding."

"What?"

"Never mind! Open!"

The door succumbed. Spark kissed her. Lips burned. When he kissed the maid, he usually burned the face. She darted to the well. Reflection in the water comforted her. The lips turned red, but there is neither blister or burns. The skin has not burned down to the bone.

How it happened that the others he burned, but did not harm her? Ladies, burned by his kisses, were forced later to cover faces with veil. Amaranta managed to pay attention to the victims of his courting. Unfortunate ladies complained that they were a victim of the fireplace demon.

"There is a secret move to the hills," a joyful voice of Spark came. "Thank you, babe, now we can fly to the hills."

"Was it not easier to fly to them through the field at the castle?" Amaranta looked at the tightened cobweb. There was dark and damp.

"It is impossible through the field!" Spark flew in the darkness, burning the web. "This is the territory of Dagda. He will not let us down to the hills, because he remembers how we were fried the victims there. And through the underground we move easily! With underground spirits, I am easy to agree. By the way, you want to visit our hills. Inside, the whole workshop lies in them, where we are improving fiery magic on the received captured travelers.

It seems clear why Dagda drove them away. Spark was mentioned that he was driven away from all the magic courts.

"If the castle is precipitated, then through a secret move you can escape. You do not even need a torch, because we will shine!"

"Thank you! In case of siege, I will consider," said Amaranta. Spark was right. Just in case you need to know what way to escape from the fortress. Another secret way is good in order to quietly leave the castle on dates with Dagda. Here and garden gate is no longer needed. Amaranta left the key for herself. She was not even noticed by Spark.

"Well, if the king of Ilior does not see you," he talked. "And then the poor Angus will immediately have two rivals-kings. He and so from jealousy all got it. Luellin after all, likes flirting with the knights!

And you are not restrained in the language.

"And where did you decide that the King of Ilior is also a fall on the ladies like me, like the king of Aluar. Is he also a lustful old man?"

"No, it is even relatively young, but still not married. And do you know why?"

"How can I know? I am not familiar with him."

"It should seem to know at least something about the customs and politics of the country in which you now live. And you are only after the elves and run."

"So after you and yours?"

"After the elves from the seven hills," Spark clarified. "You are not too courteous with me. I did not fit for the role of the hero-lover?"

"Okay, you stuck me. So what's wrong with the king of Ilior?"

"So," Spark is burning a chess figure and thrown it to his annoyance. It was a black queen. It is a pity that Medea Shai also will not be thrown. Otherwise, Amaranth woula put Spark a monument in the castle garden. Let people laugh, for her the fiery elf would be a hero.

"The king himself is a man, but captured by the songs of the stray minstrel about the beautiful fairies. That's the same he craves to get to his wife. Count: Immortal Eternally Young Queen! You wouldn't have it? Although, you are not. But I look from the point of view of men."

"The king or a man, like you, it's right. But it would hardly be interested in me with the same zeal as you. I'm still not a fairy, but he wants to put a real fairy on the throne next to him. With wings!"

"Oh, about the wings minstrel did not tell him anything. So you can be a fairy too. You look like a cloud fairy. Such only in heaven to float. We step into the throne hall of Ilior, and the poets of the king will vividly compound the poems about how you went to the parquet directly from the cloud that walked outside the window. Angus is convicted or sent to the hot zone of hostilities so that he does not survive there. It is necessary to destroy the opponent. And you will become a queen. It did not come out in Aluar, and your fate came on foot in Irior, it didn't need even to go by the sea. You have written in your family that you will be the queen."

She already heard something from ice creature.

"Sad perspectives. So I will not go to the court."

"But you may be called on mandatory. Here, in the county, you are masters, but all the surrounding feudalles: both counts, dukes, and marquises, all of you, regardless of the title or size of possessions are the King's vassals. Only I am in my own! True, for me privileges? Better would you come out for me than the Angus. I would remove you from everyone. In the case of siege, it would be pushing such a wife in the fireplace pipe."

"Besides yourself. You will burn me!"

"But behind the wall of my fire, others will not get you, come at least a whole army."

"You seem to expect a siege."

"Rumors are regrettable," Spark put the sharp flaming ears, "I hear over the walls more than you, therefore, and more concerned. The ignorance is a grace!"

She did not hear anything through the walls, but did not consider the ignorance as a grace. It's better to be aware of news. It will be necessary to question Adelina. She is a gossip.

"And you are not afraid of Dagda, as a rival?" It first seemed to her that the situation was exactly different.

"But do not stick about him! I can't endure Dagda and Medea Shai to the same degree."

"Because both ruler expelled you, the elves of fire, from their lands for unacceptable pranks."

"How do you know that?"

She herself could not say where she knows it.

It seemed that Spark was about to weep with fiery tears.

"Everyone is not good to me, do not bring, do not like, do not stroke the head, because they are afraid to burn. And what I did this! Just born fiery! Fire is not a shameful stigma! What to scare me?"

"I'm not afraid of you!" Amaranta boldly extended her hand to him, because she had already understood that he could no longer burn her. Previously, he could. But the more time she spent in the arms of the king of elves, the more invulnerable became.

"Truth?" Spark is hung under the ceiling of a narrow tunnel. "And my lady are you ready to become?"

"Your lady?" She was amazed.

"Lady of the heart!" He jokingly touched his burning chest. Inside it, except for fire and sparks there was nothing.

"Do you have a heart? It is from the fire, how are you all?"

"I do not know!" Spark frowned his orange eyebrows. :But I want the lady of the heart. Such is all the knights. Will you be it?"

"I can not! I'm already the lady of the heart of elf's king."

"True," Spark became sad and began to shine not so bright. "I forget all the time that you are busy twice. Man and Elf! Who would you choose if you could only leave one?"

The elf, she wanted to say but kept silence. Spark will not to know about all her feelings.

"I'm still determined," said she.

"Okay. We will fly to the hills," the hot post of fire disappeared in a dark tunnel. All friends of Spark flew after him. Amaranta also decided to walk. The main thing, to have time to follow the orange sparks, remaining from the procession flying along the tunnel. Otherwise, she risks get lost here in complete darkness.

How not to lose your head

Stream shouted that she did not go, but he could not fly away from the well and rush behind her. Water elves are tied to water. Where there are no sources, there are no of them. And there was no water in the tunnel: neither underground sources, nor even puddles.

- It is impossible to lose your head because of the fiery elves and expose yourself danger!" came to Amaranta of the moraling of Stream left to float over the well.

Probably, she really lost her head from the secrets, once decided on a dangerous journey under the ground. Once, undoubtedly, it was a secret move from the fortress outside the case of siege. Now the fiery elves are travelling here. The radiance from their orange wings was enough to see the tiles in the walls, similar to the tombstone. Spark did not lie. He himself and his friends now played for her the role of living and moving torches. Lay from them and stay in the pitch darkness was scary. Fortunately, it was not necessary to wander around the tunnel. Soon they really went to the hills.

"Well, good bye, a beauty!" Spark with his fiery flock flew to the nearest hill.

Amaranta even rubbed her eyes to make sure that she does not dream that inside the hill opened the shining door. The flocks of the elves in a moment did not become, and on the site of a door was only a green surface. It comes out, the legends about the houses and palaces inside the hills are true! It is said that in the hills sometimes the whole magic states fit. Such hills seem to be called sits. If the mortal was part of them, he was no longer returned.

Amaranta even frightened. That if the elves were pulled her inside the hill.

Okay, the case is done. Now she knows the secret path from the castle. If you decide to take advantage of them without the help of Spark, it is better to take a torch or at least a candle. In addition, Spark is unreliable accompanying. You never know what makes him mind. Now he is next to you and illuminates the way to you, and in the moment he will be afraid and will fly on his affairs inside the closest hill. Yes, he also has a relationship with water elves such that a fight between water and fire can break out.

It is better to make friends with someone more reliable than fiery or water elves. Although she did not make friends with Dagha. If only such relationships can be called friendship, and not romantic hobbies. It sometimes seemed that Dagda could be simultaneously everyone: both, and the beloved, and the interlocutor, who knows all the secrets of the universe. It is a pity that he left her for a long time.

Amaranta walked around the meadow of the distance from suspicious hills, where firing fighters are found. Thoughts about the rival from the fairies again climbed into the head and overshadowed the coming morning. What if he is with her now?

In order not to break up, it is worth thinking about something pleasant. For example, about flower thickets behind the meadow. As the oppressive thoughts came to mind. What if the meadow flowers are about to cover with the invasion of ice armies. Can the King of Ilior cope with them? Unless with whose magic.

The king of Ilior dreams of a fairy. What would happen if it would bring him to that black fairy, which occupied Rhodolite and creates some kind of witchcraft with the mechanisms? Suddenly, two of them would have a great couple! From the king and fairies? Something doubtful, but the thought is tempting.

"Do you want to play?" Called her someone. "Catch!"

She caught the ball abandoned by someone. On time, otherwise he would have applied to her lips. It was not heavy, but still it's unpleasant that rural children so loosely started the game. By the way, where are they themselves? Amaranta looked around a meadow. Nobody. So who threw her ball? On the ball, a face drawn by a cinnaber, like on hinged dolls from Rodolite. Only these features suddenly became movable. The face was widely revealed, giving it a risen smile. One eye winked.

"And now bring me to place!" asked the lips.

"Where to? "Amaranth almost dropped the ball, that is, someone's head. It looks like a nightmare! She holds in the hands of someone's severe head!

"Here!" Suddenly someone's hands took away the head.

A static young man took it on the neck, as if a fashionable hat. At first, crooked, but the head immediately turned on the neck, like on the axis, and here the face of the naughty red elf looked at Amaranta no longer from her own hands, but with a wide shoulder in blue-red coat.

"I have long wanted to approach you, but there was no possibility."

"Where are you from?"

"Sometimes it seems that right from the place of execution, where I was broken."

Amaranta was afraid and backed up.

"I'm kidding! I am not a ghost. Just unsuccessful and rebellious servant of her gloomy majesty Queen of fairies.

"This fucking?

"Are you already familiar with her? So accurately described it. By the way, you will not shiver the word for me before Dagda so that he take me to his service. I have long wanted to run, but there is no convenient possibility. You are my chance."

The red elf raised her bouquet lilies of the valley, which were bleeding.

"Sorry, the head smears," he apologized, "but they say, the bleeding will pass, barely the Queen of Fairies will be defeated and someone will win. I hope you will be the winner.

How sincere he said it! And the smile is so sly. Is it not a trap, all this.

"I am Quentin," an elf introduced himself, on a moment, removing his head as others remove the headdress as a sign of respect. It can be seen, he entered the habit of doing so. It thus shalls or shows his superiority over mortals, which are not capable of such a focus.

"You see, an immortal being to execute to death is very difficult," he justified, noticing the fright in the eyes of Amararanta. "One can only cause pain than the queen of fairies did."

"You're an elf? How did you get to the service for the queen of fairies?"

"Furious. All because of the silly boyish love. Even the monster can love if it is beautiful outside. While you will figure it out that inside the darkness and rot, sometimes there are centuries. I figured out, sobbed, understood my mistake, but could not return back to Dagda. The oath of loyalty keeps me on the old place of service. Obligations are associated with even elves by hand and legs stronger as chains. While the queen of the fairies herself will not drive me away, I have no right to leave her.

"Would Dagda forgive you and take you back?

"He is generous. Recently! A couple of thousand few years ago he was also cruel. But one war was happened, in which he killed his creature expensive. Since then, the conscience has sharply appealed to his nobility."

"What kind of war?"

"Ordinary distribution due to power."

"And the way a woman was expensive to his heart? Isn't it Goddess Danu?"

"No, not a woman. Do not be jealous."

"What makes you think that I am jealous?" She was embarrassed.

"By ladies, it is always visible."

"Only elves or people too?"

"Elfs always, people only when your cheeks fled the blush, as now," he joked.

"So the king of elves is sad?"

"Other, who was almost like a brother, but then betrayed."

"Can you betray again if he takes you back? Wise people would say that the defector is unreliable."

"Wise elves will say the same way. But I'm not wise, otherwise the head would not be lost: not in direct, nor in the figurative sense. At first, the queen of fairies made fool of me, then beheaded. Suddenly, next time I will lose my head because of you and betray again my king."

" A joke again?"

"I'm not kidding! What a normal guy or an elf will not go crazy because of a beautiful girl? Therefore, Medea Shai is trying to destroy all the beatiful rivals. Although sometimes looking at her, you think that it is more beautiful to be impossible."

"So, the prediction of the rival still came true," Amaranta thought.

"What are you about?"

"Nothing!" Amaranta felt a chilling cold, as if frost with jets, plenty of body and fell the skin like fingers. The ice elf told something about a lady with dragons. The queen of fairies can be so called that, because she tamed dragons traveled on them. Now she crushed over the fact that it is so simple to tame the king of elves. And Amaranta could get under the hot hand. Who, like a rival, you can blame for the fact that the desired object has not yet gotten.

Was it necessary to be the rivals to the Queen of fairies! Even the usual earth queen in this role is very dangerous. What can we talk about the magic?

Judging by the removed Quentin's head, even communication with Medea Shai is very dangerous. He flew on the fact that he is her fan. And how does she come with enemies?

"I let go addicted jokes addressed to her gloomy majesty, hoping that she would drive me away. And she is still in any way!" said Quentin. "Remove the head - it is easy. But shet does not want to expel! She can also give me to someone. You would make friends with her and asking me as a gift."

She has not resolutely agree. To be friends with the queen of fairies is pure suicide! Yes, and with the rival, only the tricky and immoral girl is capable of making friends, which is used to shifting others. Amaranta preferred to be honest.

"I'm afraid to be friends with the monster," she admitted.

"So you are wiser than me," Quentin recognized sadly. "I would be like you, I would not get my head for an ax."

"I would be smart, would not get confused with elves," thought Amaranta. And immediately she silenced. It is impossible to think with Quentin too much, otherwise he will read all her thoughts as in an open book. Never stand in dealing with magical creatures to forget that they have the ability to read thoughts.

"My name is Amaranta," she presented herself.

"I know! In our kingdom only about you and interpret. You are more popular than the queen herself because of her jealousy towards you. She was aiming for centuries to the king of elves, and then sailed behind the sea some mortal and confused all her plans. Beware of Mega Shai!"

The last words Quentin said very seriously. His emerald eyes on a moment flashed with a red tint.

"And otherwise she will demolish me head like you? Only I am no longer coming," said Amaranta. At least once she is joking on him, not he over her, but Quentin and to this reacted with all seriousness.

"With mortals in such a simple way, it does not frame. After all, they cannot ride after death, which means to torture before death they need to long. Medea Shai does not like to miss their capabilities. On you, she will try to indiscriminate all anger. And her dragons will help her."

"Do not scare me prematurely!"

"I did not want to scare. Just warned," Quentin intercepted her hand and kissed, copying the gallantry of mortal knights.

"I wish I would see you in the role of the queen and lose my head because of you every day in the figurative, and not in the literal sense, but, alas, I did not work out!"

He took off his head off his shoulders, threw it like a ball. And in the next moment he was no longer there. If it is not a bouquet of bloody lilies of the valley, then no evidence that Quentin was real would have left. Amaranta did not even immediately realize that at this time of the year and in this area lilies of the valley do not bloom. And the headless elf will usually not meet here. Today, everything is not like usual.

Ice invasion

Infanta moved multicolored berries and now behaved strangely. Or maybe this one of the fruits presented by Dagda is partially echoing to her mind. Although she had a little mind. What do you to take from the bird? But now she sang strange songs and became surprisingly courtesy with her mistress. Probably peckled one of the magic fruits.

Amaranta was glad with her bird now. I didn't want to constantly conduct verbal battles with your own pet.

Enough the fact that Theobald was in rage, accusing the elves in the impending war. No one believed him. Ice creatures about which the ambassador has told, did not have anything in common with the monsters whom the peasants saw in the forests and fields. Amaranta could talk something about her meeting with the creations of ice, but preferred to be silent. About the meeting on the bridge now and she did not want to remember. And especially about the fact that betting with ice creatures is almost lost. She really has a rival, which could be called a lady with dragons. And the candidate for the second husband also loomed on the horizon. And he turned out to be concretely king, as the ice elf assured her.

Amaranta rode thoughtfully between the palms the hot Dragon apple. By the scales on his skin, burning sparkles ran. If you rumble such an apple in an ice creature, does it burn entirely?

She did not give rest to the idea that a year later, the Ice Speaker would come for the promised in case of losing. Unless he forgot about what it is in general. Suddenly forgot? Amaranta thought that she needs to hope for the best. Suddenly, the ice creatures and the head of ice, devoid of any emotions and the main memory. In addition, before the expiration of the year since the meeting on the bridge, are many months. For such a term, the King of Ilior may well defeat the ice armies. They are probably can be melt with fire. True, the ambassador muttered something about the fact that if you bring a torch to them, they first melt, and then from the puddles are to be reinstalled, they are still extinct and become more angry.

The picture is terrifying! After all, then there will be no fire for a long time. Unless to conclude an agreement with Spark and his company so that the fiery elves are constantly nearby. From regular fire, ice armies would have to retreat. After all, everything is glowing continuously! Spark is a live fire! Only the friendship with him is very dangerous.

Theobald also assured that it is dangerous to have a friendship with elfs of any type. He disapprovingly mowed a dagger donated Dagda. Angus all the time wore it with him. It seems that this dagger had some kind of special power. Theobald was surprised how at all the elf could bring the iron thing. After all, all the unacceptable cannot endure iron.

Only one king of the elves could touch it. His subject is no longer. This covered his special strength.

Girlfriends who came with Amanaran have not complained about anything. But immediately after the wedding, her nurse was sick and died. Amaranta herself learned about it only recently from Adelina's gossip.

"It was not worth the old woman to disclose the mouth and warn about Guest from another world," Infanta said. "With everyone who is trying to warn people from them, the trouble happens."

Probably, so she herself did not pay any attention to the flow, unexpectedly arising over the jug, full of water. Blue silhouette has grown over the water like a genie, which threw out of a narrow tank. He had something in his hands. It seems, lily from the pond.

"I brought you a gift," he smiled enchantingly.

And, probably, now he will begin to ask for a sign of friendship with her, she drove out of here fiery elves. She would drive away from the castle and water beings, and fiery. But just how to do it?

Fortunately, the flow of her thoughts he did not read. Otherwise, he would be offended.

"I picked it specifically for you. Usually I don't pick lilies, but the gift for you is a special case.

Amaranta reluctantly took a flower. Did you never know what kind of readiness could be the water elf. It is necessary to take a gift extremely careful. Lily to the touch was cold and humid. Instead of a yellow core in the pile of petals suddenly, the features of a pleasant female face. The face lived! It winked and smiled.

"How wonderful! Is this a magic lily?"

"She was a lively real girl. I drowned her," Stream admitted proudly.

From such a gift immediately became bad. Amaranta did not know where to put a lily and put her on a small malachite table. It would be wiser to put it into the water, but Stream was steamed over a jug with water.

"How could you drown a girl! It's cruel!"

"And you see what evil are the girls themselves," he raised the curtain and pointed to the lawn in the garden, where Angus was practically precipitated her own maids-in-honour in trying to flirt. "Want, I'll drown them all."

Amaranth squeezed his fingers so that the coarse covers. It is impossible to desire. And the elf was tempted by hiding it with the freshness of the spring.

"Girls are charming, like flowers, but how many tricks in them, cunning, desire to grow up rival. To become the first each one is ready for any cruelty. Then they will still find this beautiful excuse. Any rival will easily shoot you on the hunt to take your place and say that it was by chance that in fact she was aiming in deer, but missed. Lilies are clean, so let the girls become lilies. It is better than to find your poison on rivals, while pretending to be timidations. Weak, beautiful, cunning ..." He squeezed the water fists. "Let it be better to be lilies in my pond."

"What lady so cruelly did with you that you now hate them all? "Although the conclusion was suggested by itself, she was worth it to pronounce it out loud, an elf of water was so convincing.

Stream in rage squeezed his fists and splashing a whole fountain of water splashes on the carpet. She implied him!

"Smart, though mortal!" he muttered, as if the aqueous stream was unlikely, stumbled upon sharp stones. He disappeared.

Lily managed to let the roots directly in the table. Amaranta moved from her. The entire flower head suddenly became female. She was very awkward held on the multiple green stems. Even a little bit and the whole room will to be the lake!

"You're right! It was not necessary to deceive him but I needed that he flooded one vessel."

"Can he?"

But the lily did not hear her, but told her past.

"Then he lured me into a pond. He promised the largest pearl."

The voice resembled the rust of the breeze on the water.

"I'm sorry!" Amaranta felt the door handle and left the room as soon as possible. It's better not to go here! We will have to crawl into boudoir.

The boudoir near the bedroom was small, but cozy. Here everything was decorated in purple colors: sofa, armchairs on bent legs, silk upholstery on the walls. It was worth storming the pillows on the sofa, as from there was flew the luminous insect size with a little finger. Again the focus of Spark! Although no, the tiny fairy was not similar to the fiery, rather she was floral.

"Can not be more inactive!" she squeaked offended.

Well, here, she was still offended! Itself after all hid in other people's things. Amaranta has already doubted that this castle belongs to her and Angus, and not the evil spirits, which settled here.

"Who are you?"

"Cannes," presented herself the Fairy, who walked under the ceiling. On the flower of Cannes her skirts and were really similar. Interestingly, but the petals grow straight from her skin?

"I somehow saw Cannes in Aluar. These are exotic flowers. They were brought from behind the sea," admitted Amaranta.

"In Tuatu de Danan, they grow everywhere. But not all of them are suitable to become my house," the fairy has become a little more trusting to Amaranta, lowered the flight and sat down on the back of the sofa. Now it is possible to feel her with the tip of the nail. Clothes petals really grew from her right out of the skin.

"What is Tuatu de Danan? Some Paradise Garden or Meadow?"

"No," the fairy laughed, imitating bells. "It is so called all the magic lands: and the kingdom of fairies, and the kingdom of elves, and the mountains where the gnomes live and underground states. Once there ruled the Goddess Danu. Then she did not, and the possessions were stripped.

"Ah, yes," Amaranta remembered the walls in the forest. :And in what part of the former Tuatu de Danan do you live?"

"In any way! I now live here in your castle."

"That's how!" Amaranta was sure that Cannes was just a messenger.

"I moved here after the union was concluded. All who did not find a place at home slowly poured here to mortals. I decided not to lag behind the fashion. You really have a chic castle. Only flowers are not enough. Usually I will live inside the flowers. I prefer Cannes. Hence my name, as you understood. Or did not understand? Well, you are stupid."

"And you are not too polite."

"I am a fairy, I can do something that you mortal can not."

"But the king of elves does not think so."

"Do you know him personally?" Cannes alerted. It can be seen, she hid too long in boudoir and did not hear the last gossip. Amarantite did not want to retell them, but she had to. Cannes noticeably nailed. Let her not respected the mortal girls, but hardly it turned out that Dagda himself was carried away by Amaranta, she was somehow forgot about her morality.

Cannes long told about Tuatu de Danan and all its traditions, and by evening she flew after Amana. Spark returned from the hills. Her presence near the Countess did not please him. He even called the fairy a curious insect, but she did not pay attention to him.

Iskra cost to be swollen. He was hiding behind the tapestries in the most cheekly and lived holes in them. But Amarante did not want to join the debate with him.

"After some girl picked my last house for a joy, I mean Cannes's flower, I decided to fly here," Cannes said, flying ahead of the Countess as a colorful firefly. She herself with the butterfly's wings, more resembling petals, was also very similar to the flower, and not on a curious insect, Spark responded about her.

"These earrings are so heavy, which is surprising how you didn't break the ears," Cannes noticed unceremoniously.

"Learn to keep your opinion with yourself."

"And what are they hot!" Cannes flew to one earring and burned down. Spark giggled, hiding behind the tapestries.

There are so many tapestries in this castle! Amaranta wonder how many elves are hidden behind them? Spark, as well as other fiery elves, was immediately noticeable, since they burned the holes in everything, for what they were hiding. They are better not to play hide and seek, they will immediately get out. And other beings that fucked in the Count Castle after the conclusion of the Union ... How many of them here and in what corners do they hide? Guests from the Magic world loved to appear suddenly and hide a long time, but did not leave anywhere. Why, because the union with Dagda contributes to their stay here. Amaranta saw the gnomes in the empty boilers in the kitchen, the fiery elves in the oven, goblins in alcoves, where they were before the statues, even strange spine-shaped fairies, wearing a gold cobweb on the ceiling.

"Want, I weave something for you," offered one such a fairy, having flown on the golden thread from the ceiling, like a spider.

And wove! A golden handkerchief. It almost instantly arose in her hands and lit up in the darkness. Even Cannes became interested.

"Thank you!" Amaranta accepted a handkerchief from the fingers of the fairy. That immediately disappeared on the ceiling, tightening back, like a spider.

"Arahni," Cannes squeaked, but Amaranta was more interested in her earrings. Is Spark did something, and they became fiery again? At first glance in the mirror it seemed. The earrings broke out orange, and this is again just flowers. Optical illusion! How then can Canna feel the heat?

Fairies-spiders turned out to be many. It was worth only to throw off her head and look at the ceilings, so there they were crawled by whole flocks. Subsecured bodies, although they were golden, and suspiciously resembled gigantic spiders.

Fairies-spiders worked and made a golden network. Amaranta hid behind the column and secretly watched their work. Although is it possible to spy behind the fairy? Can they see all? Are they not from the kingdom of Medea Shai? It seems that all the monsters nest in her kingdom, and such creatures, though beautiful, but remind monsters. One spider fairy said:

"Say hello, Dagde, when you will be with him ..."

"But I ... almost don't know him." Taking the fairy for the agent of Medea Shai, Amaranta attached a sharp. Did not work!

"Is it really?" a fairy spider grinned. What a poisonous and wide smile, full of sharp needles-teeth.

"Did the Queen of fairies send you here?" Amaranta surrendered. Pretend to be stupid is senseless.

"We have a queen no longer. The king of the elves allowed us to live on his borders. But we are not his subordinates. But in the castle, you can all live since Dagda and Angus entered into an alliance. Doors are open here to all wandering fairies.Э

The people of fairies seem to be called all the magical creatures. The fairies crawled up the column, which was immediately covered with a golden pattern of cobwebs.

"Arahni," again repeated Cannes.

"Arahni," Amaranta already heard about them when she drove into the castle from the coast past the forests.

"Golden!" explained Cannes, so that it was clearer. "They weave the web with golden threads."

At the top gathered a whole flock of Arahni.

"We weave and sew dresses, and you, ladies, carry them," they quietly sang. "And every dress has special qualities. But not everyone solve them before the outfit will take possession of them." A circle of wonderful weavers began to seem sinister.

"And can we not drive they away from the castle?" asked Amaranta. Arahni seemed dangerous.

"While the Union is not terminated in any way."

So she was pleased! Sometimes even an alliance with magic creatures can become burdensome.

"Even if they dissolve it, promise that I can stay here!" asked Cannes. "I can be useful, care for flowers in the garden, bring you news, that is, spying. I am a little and similar to the flower, no one will not even notice me, but I can be sprinkled into any keyhole."

"Well, stay!" said Amaranta. The tiny fairy did not the same as a whole company of spiders.

"Just don't put on the dresses that they fall, and advise everyone dear people to you not to wear and not even measure the woven with them, then there are no troubles," Cannes said.

Probably, the handkerchief was better to throw out, but it is already adherence to the sleeve like a burdock. Do not take away!

"This is nothing!" Cannes cautiously touched it. "The main thing is that it does not touch the skin. Through the sleeve it does not work! But in the dress, woven of them, many lose the mind. They remain forever young, but brainless. A couple of such brainless ladies in gold already wanders in the mountains.

"There are such girls as they need to withdraw with poisonous solutions, "Amaranta said as quiet as possible, so that the arahni did not hear her.

"The poison does not work on them. The first lady at the court of the elves Ivein also dislikes them, but uses with the benefit of themselves. After all, she is in the dresses donated by them, the mind does not lose. They only actually act on mortal. I think if you are a favorite of Dagda, then he sent them here so that they decorate the castle. For example,they can make tapestries.

It would not be superfluous! After all, Spark and his friends walked holes in all existing tapestries. But the ability to enchant the castle a little frightened, because under it you can understand any cunning magic trap.

The golden cobweb above is slightly covered with ice. Arahni was excited about cold.

"Frost! In summer!" Even Cannes was worried.

"According to rumors, Ice Army comes to the king of Ilior," Amaranta admitted reluctantly.

"Then hence it's time to fly away!" Cannes was worried. "I do not want to hold the next millennium frozen in the block of ice."

"Maybe still not so bad."

"You can easily speak. You have an elf patron, and I have anyone."

"And what about me? Do you not live in my boudoir?"

Amaranta wanted to console her, but Cannes have already bothered. As if the Firefly, she swayed in height and instantly lost in the labyrinth galleries and arches. Spark giggled over it. If the fairy was afraid of ice, then the spark feels himself as hero. After all, upon the occurrence of an ice horde, who, besides fiery elves, will be able to protect the county?

Golden Shield

In the beginning a hunter then a blacksmith brought an alarming rumors into the castle that strange mechanical beings crawl out of Rodolite. The peasants from the nearest villages planned to arrange a riot. Angus dismissed this news. The threat of war for the whole Ilion was much more considerable than the petty riot of farmers. A few knights is enough to disperse the rebels in the surrounding area. But the war is so easy not to win.

Angus tormented the thought whether he could enlist in the future war the help of the king of elves. Dagda himself did not visit him yet, but sent his servants to make the tapestry as a gift to newlyweds. Now the creatures, called the Arahni, were crawling around the hall for feasts and worked on a bizarre machine brought by elves.

The church, built by Finodirries, as a place for worships remained inactive. But the Finodirirries settled next to it and even built a wall so that none of the people would dare to go on their territory. What they did there, remained a mystery. It seems to be treated the fields. Once, passing by, instead of the seeded fields Angus saw only thickets of turf.

For him it became a bad omen. After all, this is the temple where they were married with Amaranta. If it is the truth, then the wedding seems to be terminated.

Their marriage gave a crack. Amaranta was constantly near, but the feeling was as if she was far away. What Angus did not ask her, everything received only mechanical answers. And Amaranta had very many fans. All his knights suddenly began to care for her alone, as if they had conspired.

"Men like only empty-headed dolls," laughed Spark on this topic.

Angus did not think so. After all, the fiery elf determined very accurately. Amaranta has become similar to a mechanical doll. In her eyes there is no shadow of intelligence. She did everything, as if on whose will. Maybe some elves were guilty? Angus heard stories about people who physically remain in this world, although their consciousness is captive by elves. Only a physical shell sits at home.

Could this come out and in the case of Amaranta? It will be necessary to ask Dagda when he will apply a visit again.

Angus even tried to call him, pinning his blood to the peace agreement with elves. Instead of Dagda, a beautiful lady came in a wreath of golden leaves, which was called Ivein. She was accompanied by the page, or the younger brother named Ivor.

As far as Angus understood after a brief dialogue, Ivein was the first lady at the court of Dagda. To discuss with her whether Amaranta was winned, Angus did not dare. In addition, Ivein tried to seduce him. To keep the temptation was extremely difficult. After Amaranta she was the most beautiful woman, which Angus saw in his life.

Ivor looked at her attempt to flirt with a big condemnation. Golden leaves ranked in his hair, wings trembled in a short green cloak.

"Dangerous black creatures are sitting in cages in your poultry house," he noticed gloomily. "You would like to burn them, until they broke out."

Angus understood this as a hint. So, those monstrous birds, which once caught his grandfather, is to blame for Amaranta. Theobald also assured they tried to influence her when she walked around the birds. He was already warned that these creatures are very dangerous, and he left them from the vanity in the collection. All due to the fact that he was proud of his bird collection, the largest not only in Ilion, but also in all surrounding countries. Those black birds did not die almost a hundred years. To release them is a risk. It is better to burn them with their cages.

"You could profitably sell them or exchanged, if you turn to her majesty Medea Shai, the queen of black fairies," tactically advised Ivein. "At the same time, it can help in hostilities, if those are expected."

"It's not necessary to contact her," Ivor immediately said. "Her services are expensive than any benefit that she will give you."

"He is a joker," smiled Ivein.

Ivor showed a whole golden twisted tongue. Angus shuddered at the sight of it.

"And where is she to find?"Angus was interested.

"There are several ways," Ivein has bent the fingers, crumpled gold leaves. "Send with a message someone who you would like to sacrifice, at the intersection of roads at midnight. Fill the bowler with the blood of your enemy, boil it on the fire and call her. The easiest way is to get up at night in front of the mirror, taking a large red gem and pronounce her name thirteen times. The stone will have to give her, barely she appears. Otherwise, she will take you yourself. In general, it is a risk to call her, but the risk is justified, because she is very powerful.

"I will take into account!" Angus said. Probably, from the very beginning it was necessary to call an ally-woman from the magic world, not an ally-man. Ivein gave a good advice. - And Dagda will not be against the fact that I will call her?"

"In no case! He does not know how to get rid of her society. You will not be in a burden. You have only one human life, but to endure the company of Medea Shai many centuries turned out to be very burdensome. Dagda will only be grateful that you distracted herit from him."

Ivein picked up the train, ringing golden leaves, and was already preparing to leave, but suddenly remembered something.

"Oh yes! In no case do not meet Medea Shai with his wife, if you want to protect Amaranta from trouble. Medea Shai cannot tolerate beautiful mortal women."

Probably, therefore Dagda and did not lead her to our wedding, Angus thought. Ivein has already come out, right in the window. Ivor followed her. Angus would have been frightened that both guests would break up to death if the wings did not flush behind both of them.

Arahni were making tapestry. Amaranta watched them, standing in the doorway of the Big Hall. They made tapestry as if from nothing. Where does the Golden Thread come from? The bizarre patterns are not finished tapestry in familiar places: the arch at the junction of worlds, the temple, built by Finodirries, forests, full elves, bridges from rainbow and a black tract, followed to the kingdom of Fairies. The last place Amaranta has not yet seen with her own eyes and hoped never to see. As Quentin said, if she once gets there, she will die by sophisticated methods of the queen of fairies. Therefore, it is better not to see.

The tapestry, woven by fairies (even if they are spides, but still fairies) made an impression. It has not yet been completed, but it was already possible to determine that it shows not only earthly kingdoms, but all the lands of Tuati de Danan. Even the black tract of Medea Shai has been born in the lower left corner of the tapestry. Next to it, the pink thread portrayed a red stone, like Corundum. Wrapped with green forest threads alternated with silver and gold groves. Next to the tiny figures of people were embroidered large silhouettes of dragons, giants, goblins and trolls. Does all this evil dwells somewhere outside the county. Amaranta was looking for white silhouettes of ice elves at the tapestry, when in the hall came Thobald and Ambrose. They whispered about something. And it seemed to her what they would say right at her ear. The rumor suddenly aggravated.

"The delegation of elves and fairies in the castle is too big," Theobald insisted in a habit. "They behave very suspiciously. Why do we need some kind of tapestry from them?"

"They just want to make a gift," Ambrose turned out to be not so suspicious as his interlocutor.

"Gifts from them are impregnated with magic. And magic is unacceptable for people. My head is spinning near this tapestry."

"My isn't. Only all these patterns on the tapestry are blurred, barely concentrate on them. It seems that all these disinanted figures begin to move."

"It's all the tricks of fairies!" Theobald clenched fists.

"Maybe no," Ambrose suggested. "When I look at the candles in the candelabra, I sometimes have the impression that their flames forms fiery figures that dance."

"And you too!"

"And you don't have the impression that the Countess is not alone one," Theobald spoke first. "Now she stands and watches the work of these terrible fairies, as if they were not able to hurt her. And I saw her in the garden, when I looked out of the window. She can not move so quickly, as if she had become the fairy with wings."

Now Amaranth has already been alerted. They noticed her copy! It is necessary to be more careful in the future. Dagda did not call her on a date so long that she began to wander near the golden roses, waiting for him.

"No matter how bad things came out," the sounds of the knights dialogue were still coming. "Magic folk at the court of people are dangerous guests."

"We're now seem to allies," said Ambrose.

The procession of elegant ladies and cavaliers, which recently walked in the garden, was promoted to the hall. He headed her, of course, Angus and her own copy. That's it! Amaranta did not know where to go. It is necessary to disappear until Angus noticed her. One of the Arahni shows with her paw to tapestry. There was nothing to do. Amaranta stepped to her, immediately confused in colored threads, and a miracle suddenly happened - it turned out that she was no longer in the hall with a tapestry, but in an empty poultry house. Blimey! It wondered through the door, and not through the tapestry.

The heart was still alarmed. Does Angus noticed? And what to keep a magic copy in the castle if she herself does not go from the castle? Although who makes she be in the castle? She can walk along the meadows and groves in the hope of meeting there again the king of elves. Or look for a bridge from a white rainbow to go to Belladonna for advice.

Instead, she approached the cage with the fire-bird. It needs to release it! To keep the magic bird in a cage in the castle of people isn't right. The door latch at the bottom of the rods immediately succumbed. Fire-bird feathers slightly fell her fingers, but the burn on the skin was left. The bird squeezed gracefully from the cage and flew into a large window. Not even nodded as a sign of gratitude. Amaranta watched her anyway with delight. Magic birds are amazingly beautiful and majestic creatures. They are not intended to sit in cages.

But ordinary birds did not want to fly away. They are accustomed to dwell in the poultry house. There are more food here than in the wild.

"Come to us! We missed you!"

Nasty hoarse voices hurt ears. However, Amaranta moved to sounds. For some reason, there was no strength to resist the call. And now she again sat in front of the cage, in which a terrible creature was sitting.

A wonder in a cage! Otherwise, you won't call it. And it is not one here. Dozens of these monstrous birds. All of them are a bit different, but equally ugly. Evil red eyes sparkle because of the rods. From their sight the goosebumps running through the skin.

"You know who we are?"

Amaranta shook her head.

"The bones of our fathers could contact the dust in the family crypt of this castle, but our mothers are nor more, no less than the fairies from the kingdom of Medea Shai."

"Then why don't they come for you?"

"Fairies always throw away their children from mortals."

"It looks like nonsense."

"When do you have something similar to us from an elf, you will put it in a cage too?"

"The keys are at Angus," she recalled.

"They are no longer needed. You can open the cage if you want."

"How? With bare hands?"

"Just touch and wish! It will open itself."

"I'm not a wizard!"

"But you are a favorite of king of elves. Such girls are sometimes more powerful than the magicians. While he can't throw you, you can all."

And where is the guarantee that Dagda still did not throw her? He did not meet her for so long ago. In the world of elves, of course, the time stretches quite differently than by the people. It is possible that for him and the whole century is not the term, but for people, alas, everything is different.

"What will you do when you find yourself in the wild?" She asked the monster, who led a conversation with her..

"Fly back to Corund."

"To Corund?"

"So called the kingdom of Medea Shai."

"I thought it was called a black tract."

"No, the black tract is areas around her kingdom, where such creatures are nesting like us. And the Corund itself is only to the elite: fairies, elves, dragons. In the kingdom of fairies, too, not all subjects have privileges. Some have to crawl on his backyards, even though they are nothing worse than others."

"Have you been born there, in Corund, or here, in the castle?" Amaranta began to believe the Monster.

"In Corund."

"And how did you get into the poultry house?"

"We were invited on the night feast to the great-grandfather of Angus. We ate, drank, and woke up already in the cages."

"It's cruel!" Amaranta agreed.

"Probably, it was not worth to eat the servants in the feast," another bird grumbled.

"The owner of the castle suggested himself," Amaranta's previous interlocutor amended. - He wanted to allay our suspicion. For this, it was possible to sacrifice a pair of servants. Fairies ate only flower petals from the garden, which they were served on porcelain plates, knights - a deer grilled on a spit, and we ate raw meat of young servants."

"Do you not eat me if I release you?" She joked.

"You? In no case! From the meat of the beloved of Elf you can easily be poisoned."

"Do not bite other people in the castle too?"

"I promise!" answered the bird immediately for everyone.

"Are you sure that in the outskirts of Corund you will be happy more than here?"

Even if their mothers are truly fairies, they will not be glad to see again such monstrous offspring. Although who knows these fairies? What is their magic morality? How do they relate to their loved ones?

"Open!" insisted the feathered monster.

Amaranta's hand trembled. It was scary to release something such a terrible, similar to the nightmare.

"We are the same living beings as you," the monster insisted. "We are reasonable! We can not keep in cages like simple birds. This is the same as planted in a cage you for what you sleep with an elf."

The monster was not restrained into the language. In addition, he was strongly nervous.

"Let me go!" He demanded. "Otherwise, they will burn me right in the cage! I heard that this is how they plan to do with us. I all hear what happens in the castle and even beyond. From me there will make a handful of poisonous coals."

"Who?" Who could be such a villain. Is it really settled in this castle! Surely, this is Theobald, he hates everything magical.

"Your husband!" He admitted, looking around, as if he had heard someone's steps nearby. "He has already agreed to do it. His knights incite him to do it. And he is too stupid to think with his own head.

Looks like the truth. Theobald always was against the magic. The creature in the cage certainly could hear other people's conversations even at a great distance. Sorry for him! Yes, it is a monster, but it's too monstrous! Amaranta tried to open the lock, and it was easily to open.

The bird monster escaped and described the circle over the whole room.

"It is good that the sun sits down. I do not like bright light," he said. "And now let go others."

But Amaranta did not hurry. He was too demanding.

The creature understood his mistake and hastily crouched, adding nursing:

"You are welcome!"

However, the first impression was already spoiled. On an intimidated victim, the liberated bird was not at all like. He showed steel teeth, sharpened in the form of needles.

"I will bite all the local knights," the flying freak boasts.

Maybe, however, it was better to burn it with a cage. The view of him was awesome and aggressive. With wings and claws he began to twist everything that would turn. A knight came running to the noise. The bird threw on him from a height, clung to the throat, gripping the pieces of the flesh with the challenge.

It can be seen, no one's promise is alive, it turned out to be a lie. Amaranta was pleased that she did not have time to let go other sinister birds, but the locks on their cages suddenly fell.

"This is Medea Shai goes!" The pointed monster, who faded a knight, broke away from the meal and listened. "When the keys on her belt ring, all the locks unlock themselves. It was necessary to wait a bit, and I would have cost without your help."

The bunches of the darkness really stretched on the floor, as if someone's claws. If we assume that the queen of Fairies is a thick black fog, it has already penetrated all the cracks. Together with it there were some creatures. They squeezed, jerked, jumping on the floor. They had spikey backs, claws the size of knives and tails. On fairies, something is not at all like. Unless on servants of Fairies, who crawled out of the outskirts of Corund.

"Better run from her!" The liberated monster gave a good advice. "If she finds you, then I will not come to your bones to keep in memory."

His tribesmen who escaped from the cages did not touch her. But the monsters, stuck under her feet, stored scratch, bite or grab for the train. Some of them screamed, having burned about the Golden Web, a handkerchief, wounded by Arahnia. Amaranta never managed to tear it from her sleeve. But from the uninvited guests, it became a good thing. They pushed it as if they could go blind from the golden radiance of the threads, and turned away.

Outside came the sounds of struggle, swirls, ringing of weapons, whistle of arrows. Did they really attacked the castle? It is unlikely that the knights began to give such a serious rebuff of the lowest freaks. Even to the roar of guns.

Amaranta understood that she was stupid, and still stuck to the tower to see what was happening. The black sea of ??monstrous bodies and horned heads unfolded below. This is not at all ice armies. But they are all armed and militant, and she represents a good target for them. But it was too late to leave the tower. The monster below was superimposed on the theater instead of hissing snake arrows. Fairies with black wings twitched to parapets to attack archers.

This siege! But where did all these monster troops come from? Clear case, not from the kingdom of elves. Lightweight servants of Dagda monsters were certainly not. Unless other than Finodirries, but not a single Finodirry in the black crowd could be seen. But among the monsters, were fairies. Are they all really led by Medea Shai here?

Someone aimed with a bow at Amaranta. An arrow of the snake was made right in her. It would have worked to death, if something similar to the golden shield did not grow between it and Amaranta.

This is Luellin! How suddenly she arose! As if the bodyguard. The snake spiked and twisted, sticking to her golden shoulder. It could not harm Luellin, but it also could not free itself. Amaranta noticed that the snake was unusual. Its skin was red and sparkling. Luellin grabbed it with two fingers over the head and squeezed so that it had smashed. From the snake left only a wet place.

It turns out a copy and really could serve her with a shield. Just do not believe that it will protect from everything. From the tower it's time to leave. Others already aimed at the bottom. Luellin could obscure her from arrows, but not from the hostile fairy, which flew to the tower parapet. Amaranta with difficulty learned the fairy, who headed the magic procession in the forest. The beauty has a face twisted from anger, and the wings sparkling before that fenced like a night.

"Here she is! I found her!" The fairy wanted to attack, without looking at the golden shield of Amaranta.

Amaranta remembered the dragon fruit, which from recently she began to carry with her like a ball for games. Probably, all his abilities for ignition have long exhaled, but she had no other weapons. It was worth to reject at least this attack.

The fairy shuddered from the surprise when the scaly fruit hit her chest. All scales on it were lit. Amaranta realized that it was a real dragon apple. The fairy, soaring over the tower, from contact with him flashed like a match. And it was not all. Flaming Dragon Apple fell down, and several cohort of monstrous troops exploded with fire from it.

The water elves intrigued to the emerging from the lake, hastily dived back. It was obvious to fulfill their duty and fasten the attackers, they clearly did not want. Lazy and panties! It was necessary to drive them from the castle to all four sides. But Spark that appeared unexpectedly wanted to help. He pulled out several snake arrows who were sucking for Luellin, and burned them. From contact with his fingers was burning and melted absolutely everything.

"Dangerous things," he commented. "If they sticked you, you would have been dead. These viper from the kingdom of Medea Shai. They are used as poison arrows."

Amaranta and herself had already guessed it.

"What do they want?" She pointed to the army.

"I do not have the concept. I generally did not understand where they came from. Nothing heard. Usually I caught all the sounds for a lot of miles. Such a feeling that they were called magical here, and not through the fields and forest."

"What is it like?"

"There are mirror paths."

Amaranta did not understand what he meant. It was too risky on the tower, but it was impossible to leave it. At the bottom under the stairs crowded black creatures. The same as those that stood the shelves under the lock. How did they manage to penetrate the fortress itself? So far, their claws and alabards slid along the Golden Body of Luellin, covering the path to them, but it cannot continue for a long time.

Spark also tried to fight back. His friends joined him, damaged from all sides. Initially, they managed to discourage the attackers, but the rain from the sparks was not enough for a long time. The monsters were difficult to burn, besides, they began to cover with black shields. Previously, these shields were not exactly. They got them, as if from the darkness itself.

Soon Spark will disappear, as well as the water elves, and she will remain alone. Only with her copy. By the way, the monsters did not think to attack Luellin. She herself fell on them.

From the outside of heaven, a loud noise of wings rang out. Dragons will continue now! Amaranta all squeezed.

"How to call here the king of elves?" questioned she Spark. "Could you fly to him urgently? Or send someone who is most promoted from your buddies?"

"Dagda will not interfere," Spark said.

"Why?"

"He has a pact with the Queen of Fairies, like with you."

Looks like a trap! Dagda could help, but he has agreements on both sides.

"This is your chance," Spark pointed to the dragon, flew up to the tower. Its scales sparkled, as polished emerald. Amber eyes were not evil. Even if it is the Dragon of the Queen of Fairies, it does not proceed either anger or rage. It could only wave a silent tail and demolish the entire tower, but instead just steam her over her. It seemed to be invited to sit down on its uplift. Amaranta leaned about a large spike on his ridge, rose to the parapet and moved to the back to the dragon. It immediately fell off the place and flew away from the castle, highly rising over the monstrous armies below.

Replaced

The queen of Fairies came through the mirror, as he was warned by Ivein. Who would think, what horror she brings with her? Angus immediately regretted that he called her, but it was no longer possible to put such a guest. The mirror exploded like the doors to hell, the countless monsters came after the fairy. They resembled her live train stretching for miles behind the castle. The army that grew up under the gate extended a length further than the entire length of the forest, before that frightening local residents. Now all superstitious fears moved the border.

"I did not cause you to war!"Angus tried to correct the mistake, but his knights had already been filmed with swords from monsters who flooded all corridors and galleries.

Medea Shai wrote off an offended view.

"This is not a war! But my subjects insulted something here," she sniffed to the air, as if sickling blood. "There is some kind of favorites that you want to sacrifice. Her blood is barely overwhelming, as anger and the rage of my suite will be exhausted. And this silly war between us will end with peace.

It is seductive! Just need to complete one condition so that the monsters calmed down. But here is one no hope - he swore not to shed innocent blood.

"Here we do not bring more sacrifices. The time of worship of the bloody ancient gods have long passed."

"But if you don't bow befor me, then there will be no one living in the morning. One night will be enough to my troops to make this place at all deserted. Whether it is not better to give up someone alone than to give all to slaughter at once, as if the cattle."

And in this she is right! Angus with an annoyance biting his lips to the blood.

"Do not do without a victim?"

"And this says the man whose knights are now dying dozens, defending the castle?"

Angus did not know what to say.

"By the way, where is your dear wife? It is ridiculous to enter into some kind of agreements with you, earlier than I see and her. You're not idling the master of the castle to solve everything alone. In the kingdom of fairies, for example, the time impact reigned the matriarchy. Fairies know a lot of mortal in life. Our men partners always obey us. So call Amaranta. We will agree with her about the victim.

Angus did not catch the trick. But he was surprised where the Amaranth was. It seems that she remained in a married bedroom while he spent a simple rite on the call of the Queen of Fairies at the mirror in a closed office. Initially, the mirror began to resemble a wonderful gloomy landscape with black fields and black roses, and then a magnificent winged lady came to the frame, and a gloomy landscape behind her back was filled with the bumping of arms of countless monsters. A gem, designed to offer an externally left guest, Medea Shai took it away from him, barely stepped over a mirror frame, but did not become kinder. Maybe it was necessary to offer her several stones at once? Or even better a whole box with jewels. She is still the Queen! So, it is possible to drop it only the most luxurious gift.

Patterned black wings whipped Anguus in the face. He even had blood from the nose. Medea Shai went around the circles, shaking off from her train various malicious magic creatures, which were crawling around the castle.

"It's rich, but no one brought about the order," she wrinkled the spout at the form of a burnt hole in the tapestry. Probably, servants accidentally burned them with candles or Spark led himself as hooligan.

"Lacks a caring female hand," the queen of Fairies said. The hostess with the control of the castle is definitely not cope. Do you want to replace her?"

She shook fluffy eyelashes, looking at Angus. He is dumbfounded. With her eyelashes, she slipped spiders.

They are a fabric bizarre black cob, first seemed to be lace on a red dress, crawled along the shoulders, depicting flies and moles, and sometimes they gathered in the likeness of a multi-layer necklace. Solid magic, only he was disgusted from it. Union with radiant Dagda was much more pleasant than this fairy that came from the darkness.

She behaved freely, as if she was a hostess of the castle and all the surroundings. Probably such powerful creatures, everywhere feel like at home. So why didn't Dagga never behave like that? Elves have another etiquette than fairies. Or Medea Shai has some special rights?

"I wait!" she reminded, impatiently scratching the nails the table. From under her nails, she crashed ash chips. Her nails are cut as iron? Otherwise, where did the ashes and ash come from her touches?

Okay, if she wants to see Amaranta, then you need to call it. The bell for challenge the servants threw someone's clawed paw. Do you have to tear a throat to bring the servants? There is such noise that you need to scream loudly. However, the bell is also hardly helped against the roar of cannonads. So let the clawing creature take it to himself.

"If you were a single, you would like me more," Meanwhile, Medea Shai noticed. "In general, I adore virgins. Their blood willingly absorb the sacrificial stone lying on the junction with the underground kingdom. On the way there with innocent and naive knights so nice to play love. But the widower will also arrange me. For me, would you like to become a widower today at night?"

What are the unkind hints! Angus did not know how to react to such words. Okay, you can write off everything for jokes. Surely, the queen of fairies in the company with people do not mind to joke. In addition, her eyes so smashfully glittered, as if two playful demon were settled in them.

`By the way, about Rodolite. As far as I understood, you are the official trustee of this city."

Angus nodded.

"I really had to taste a local doll workshop. Because of it, I decided to patron this city herself.

There, where the jewelry workshops and bakeries were promising, but she didn't even give up.

"I love big dolls into human growth. They are much helpful than people."

"They are buying extremely rarely coming merchants. One Lord, who made such a purchase, then complained that it is impossible to manage with a doll. He studied her mechanisms. In the city they are used only for street performances."

"I can use them for everything. Oh, believe me! I can do from them and the army,"she stretched out her hand and touched the strand of his hair. "Usually I prefer blondes. I did not think that someday I would like a brunette. But you are so pretty!"

Medea Shai was displeased, as she saw Amaranta.

"And here is a doll!"

"This is my wife, not a doll," Angus kepi silence when Amaranta stood up before the mirror.

Is all this game of mirror reflections, candles and shadows? Why a live woman in a white-blue dress suddenly froze like a monophonic sculpture? Where all the shades were moved: white foam of lace, green border, glitter of a ruby ??headset? The whole figure of Amaranta became one color - gold.

And is it Amaranta, is it at all? Or a statue of yellow copper, very resembling gold? It would be too expensive to make the entire figure of gold.

"Dummy," Medea Shai looked at the statue displeasedly.

"I don't know where she came from here," Angus was justified. "I never bought such doll from the masters of Rodolite. Did someone send it as a gift."

And where, interesting, is Amaranta? A minute ago he exactly saw her in the corridor, hurrying to his room. Probably it seemed to him. There are too many mirrors here. They create different illusions.

"Amaranta is not in the castle," Medea Shai concluded, touched the statue. "It is a symbol of kidnapping of your spouse by elves."

"Nonsense!" Angus almost laughed in the face of Fairies' Queen, although it was impolite. " I have an agreement with elves."

"Me too. Nevertheless, they violate it every time they want. And then they gave ridiculous excuses."

"But it is impossible to break the magic contract. Magic will hit the violator."

"For this rule there are many reservations. The elves are very clever."

Angus lost heart.

It recently seemed to me recently that Amaranta was too closed. I even thought that someone captivated her consciousness."

"It was the first sign," Medea Shai victoriously slammed her hands. "You immediately needed to put them in place. In secret, I will tell you that the wives of mortal men for the elves are irrevocable temptation. It was necessary to keep Amaranta under the lock and not to show her for anyone! Although it is a pity that these creatures even through the locking wells know how to leak. It's too great in them the desire to wander. The mortal beauty is for them a delicious morcel, but they don't even look at my fairies.

"But the king of elves doesn't love mortal women. I came close to him. If he just wished, I would give him any of my vassals' daughters."

"In no case! He would wish to take her as a hostage. Elves are not so fools to associate themselves with someone's marriage, and they are extremely arrogant. They can be called for about only power methods. And then they will return your wife and her former live mind."

"But how? Who is stronger than they?"

"I, for example. You can have the union with me, and we will declare the war together."

"To begin with, I must make sure that they are really to blame."

"Have you not previously convinced?"

"I have not checked all the halls of the castle. Suddenly Amaranta hid somewhere. There are caches here, and the noise of hostilities frightened any lady."

"Only not me! I love noise and screams. But Amaranta is not exactly here. I know. A copy of her confused a little.

Medea Shai sighed cheekly.

"It is here, but if there is no Amaranta here, then it is meaningless to attack."

She whispered something, and the noise fast stopped. Aggressive guests stopped to destroy all around.

The monsters retreated!" a squire burst with joyful screams.

Having noticed Medea ??Shai, the young man was frightened. Although the queen of fairies was a beauty, but the necklace of spiders and the darkness in the view can scare anyone.

And she had an oval gemstone in her forehead - Corundum. Gentle skin around it walked cracks, like broken porcelain.

Probably, a stone in the forehead is some kind of special distinctive sign of her power, Angus thought. Corundum resembled the third and all-seeing eye on the face of Medea Shai.

"Horses for your master and his suit," she told the squire.

He, not even asking the count, rushed to execute an order, as hypnotized.

"Where should I go?"

"For Amaranta."

"But suddenly she is at home?"

"Nonsense!" Medea Shai laughed, looking at the statue. "You and the portrait of your wife on the wall from her do not distinguish yourself. But you were lucky that I am with you. I accompantspend you to the place where your wife is now. And if we find her there in the arms of the elf, then you will be obliged to become my ally, and not Dagda's."

"Let's go! "Angus still decided to send servants to search the whole castle before taking such a dubious offer.

The Emerald Dragon took her to the arch at the junction of the world and began to decline in flight. Who would have thought that her way was lying here again. Only this time the sounds of war didn't come from the arch, but wonderful musical trills. White and red roses are extremely fragrant. Inside the arch was sitting a horned creature and played on the reed. It beckoned her with his clawed hand. She is to step inside the arch. It meant to be lost in a different world forever and never again find ways back to people. Better to wait. If there is no other salvation from chase, she will have to go through the arch in the magic world. But until the pursuit of her back is not heard.

The dragon landed in a gray empty.

"Thank you!" Amaranta easily slipped from his back.

"He serves me since the queen of fairies has him driven," Dagda came from behind the arch.

"Did you send him for me?" It was necessary to immediately guess. "Did you know that the castle was attacked and did not intervene? Isn't it noted about your contract with Angus that you will defend the county in case of danger?"

"Only from enemies. Not from those whom he called himself. Other rules come into force here."

"I don't understand," Amaranta looked at the dragon. He froze beautifully in the dark, illuminating the district. The flight was dizzying and pleasant. She even began to understand Medea ??Shai, which fleed solely on the dragons instead of using her wings.

"It's even better for us," Duga instantly ended up and hugged her. His impossible fast movements could not be traced. "You can leave with me. In the world of people you do not hold anything anymore. And I can easily terminate the union with a person, who except me called for other forces, without even by calling the challenge to me."

She did not want to throw Angus, but the king of the elves was near, shining as the summer sun and so attractive that it was impossible to take a look from him. And without intimacy with him and his kisses she does not want to live on.

Amaranth realized that she was already in captivity. No matter; She will leave him or not. Her consciousness and her heart were completely in his power. And how nice to be in captivity! She willingly hugged him back. When he is near, then you involuntarily think that for the sake of it you can easily throw everyone and that's it. No wonder elves are called wonderful beloved.

Amaranta launched her fingers into his silky curls, touched the lips of his golden eyebrows, eyelashes, cheeks. How to make it so that he is in her captivity. Let her be his prisoner, but she also wants to own him. Magic beloved is the biggest pleasure that can be.

"They are!"

The voice was exactly female, but not angry, rather triumphant. It doesn't look like an opponent's ball at all. Although it is the Black Fairy ahead of the cavalcades.

This is Angus and his retinue! Amaranta was afraid, but Duga pulled her to him tightly, giving to understand that he would no longer let her go. She did not want to leave him. It was just unpleasant that they were caught.

There was no face on Angus. He was pale like the dead man. A fairy that flies ahead of the detachment, was perfectly crowned. Red stone in her forehead sparkles like a disclosed eye of the dragon.

"Do not shoot!"

It was Angus, but Theobald, who rushed side by side with him, has already released an arrow from the crossbow. He was aiming in the king of elves, but it is difficult to shoot at the race. The arrow would land in Amaranta, if the dragon did not rose to the whole height and did not cover the couple in love, like a shield. From his emerald scales arrows bounced as from the shield.

"Turn her to me!" Angus went crazy from anger. "How could you! I trusted you!"

"It is not necessary to do from the Elf a god," Theobald said. He again aimed from the crossbow. The first miss was not embarrassed him. He could kill the lady instead of the enemy. And did not even feel the injection of conscience.

For Dagda the Dragon was not needed as a shield. He easily intercepted the brushed arrows with his hand and broke them on the fly. The riders were destroyed. Someone has already been lying around in the mud, relieved by a horse, someone got injuries from his own weapon, turned against the owner. It is pointless to fight with an elf.

A black fairy darted somewhere in the dark. Only Angus has not suffered. He bared a sword.

"Give her to me in a good way," he made the last attempt to negotiate. "I'm married to her, and not you. She's no fairy, nor witch, not even clairvoyant. For you, she is useless."

"I will decide myself," the king of elves grabbed the waist of Amaranta stronger and pulled it to the arch.

"What is she for you? "Angus came to despair, noting that the landscape of a different world unfolds at the arch.

"What is she for you?" indifferently parried Dagda. He waved the wings slightly, raising his hostage over the ground. Now they do not get them both. The knights do not know how to fly.

"I somehow heard from one old wise ruler that for love killed. It was a discovery for him. He fought all his youth only from greed and suddenly made such a conclusion. Then the oracle told me the same thing. And then the Queen of Fairies. I did not understand all, and now I understand.

"Then, you must return Amaranta to me. After all, I love her. I loved her before you saw her at all. She was promoted to me long before you became my ally."

Dagda shook the head negatively.

"I like you, Angus. And I always liked, but she was mine, since she climbed the ship, which sailed to Tuatu de Danan.

"Do not lie! She sailed to me, in the county."

"Tuatu de Danan spread out from the shores of the sea up to the gray deserts. You live with your people on my lands, and you don't even know about it. I endured you from grace, but I can drive you away any moment. Remember this!"

Angus was going to throw his sword in the elf, but it was too late. Amaranta noted only that roses on the arch bleed when Dagda unceremoniously dragged her inside. The world of people stayed behind.

In the magic captivity

"I will never let you go," the elegant, but strong hands of the king of elves slid along her waist and shoulders, they moved her hair, caressed the neck. It was amazingly nice, as if she had bathed in warm sunshine.

"It was not necessary to wait so long. You have always been intended for me."

"Then why am I married to another," Amaranta wanted to ask, but the tongue did not obey. Fate is fate. The burning kisses of Dagda forced her to forget about everything. She wanted to merge with him for one forever, and never leave his arms.

Green leaflets growing from his collar, slightly tickled the skin. One moment, and they sprinkled around her neck close shoots, tied her to the lover, as a network.

"Imagine that we would have turned into two bushes of scarlet and white roses, weave among themselves branches."

Dagda laughed quietly.

" The White and Red Fairies had to do because of us. They fought all the eternity, and now they are forced to intertwine as in love arms. I argue, they hiss at our address of the curse, but I don't care. Let them be angry."

Amaranta remembered the fighting fairies. It seems they argued due to other people's senses. Love or passion? This was the topic of the dispute.

"What did they want when they fought above the castle at my window?"

"Championship! Each of them wants to win the territory of themselves. Now both of them are trapped, so they stayed in the castle on the place where their dispute did not dare. They usually arise where it comes to unique feelings. The White Fairy hopes that love will defeat, the Red bets on passion. In essence, they are patronizing these feelings. And here they lost someone. For the first time in the century! No one expected this."

The castle because of them turned into a solid flower garden. Gloomy walls were covered with white-red lace of petals and buds. But about the whisper of roses Amaranta was not going to miss. They argued, they scolded each other and unflattering about the naivety of others. It was easy to part with them, as well as chatter-flashes. But she will miss Infanta.

Although why did she decide that would never return to the county to Angus? Did the king of the elves really decided to take her in captivity forever.

What happened now was exactly the abduction. From the world of mortals Dagda dragged her practically by force. Ahead was the green hills of the kingdom of elves. The flickering bridges from the rainbow stretched over them. How fast and good!

Inside some hills, something has shone. It seems that inside each of them really lurks on the whole palace or a small state. Inside one of the hills there was exactly the forge, where the low-spirited winged creatures worked, magic jewelers nested in the other, the ball took place in the third, and the noisy feast in the fourth resembled a feast.

Dagda firmly pressed the captive to himself, flying over a hilly valley.

"Now you will not break out from me," he cheerfully proclaimed. "And you like it."

"What exactly? Be in captivity?"

"Yes."

She had no doubt about it herself, but the conscience was a little tormented by people. Angus was so unhappy before they parted. He was left without a wife.

The king of elves, on the contrary, was very glad. He laughed, joked, pointed out with his hand to all sorts of magical corners of his kingdom, to which Amarante was due paying attention to.

"There, there is a hollow elf, there is a swamp of spirits-joker, there is a place for dance and competitions in flights.

"And then what?" She noticed the black hill, as if burned out and outside, and from the inside.

Dagda immediately picked up.

"It is better not to go there."

"We do not go, we fly!" she quickly corrected. "Let's be clenched closer."

"Not worth it."

"Why?" Amaranth felt as if she was given a slap. He is not a man. The knight or the lord may not be able to fulfill some desire of his lady, because people are limited by physical abilities. And elves are all up to one skillful wizards. They are capable of any magic.

The black hill resembled a huge bump of ash or burned back who bent into three deaths of a giant, which is about to move and rises in full growth. It became even scary. The ashes wagged around the hill, folding in the bizarre signs and faces. There was really a fire. Probably centuries ago.

"Come to us! Hurry to us! Fly to us!" whispered rustling voices. The impression of the sounds was as if the ashes looked straight into the ears.

"Do not even fly over the Black Hill," Dagda said.

Has he heard a whisper?

Amaranta fiercely pressed to him. The hill began to scare. He resembled someone's grave. Isn't it kurgan?

The hill was like a living burned being, which died or sleeps. Dagda quickly jested her by a hill, trying not to be close to it? He feared that trouble would happen if they rush in flight right above the hill? What the king of elves may be afraid of its own territory?

For Amaranta, his behavior has become a complete surprise. She thought that he was not alarming. Especially here, in the kingdom of elves.

She turned in his arms to look back to the hill. It now seemed that ite lives and moves, even feasible. Also a moment and he will fall from the ground an ugly huge figure! Or so only seems? All this can be the games of imagination. It first boil over the magic kingdom. It is paraitic, and not going on his legs. They say that people who stepped on the magic lands will not be able to return to the world of mortals. After all, it is worth it to step on the usual land after magical, and they will come and turn into power for one moment. Such is the fate of all guests of the magical kingdom. If only this is not the fiction of the peasants. Only Dagda himself can know exactly.

"Is it true that people who have been in your country, returning to people, are treated in freaks?"

"It happens that," Dagda agreed.

Then maybe he does not accidentally put her on earth? He wants to give her to go back to her husband? The heart is unpleasant. She herself did not know what he wanted more: sometimes the county was to be lit or stay forever in the kingdom of elves.

"And it happens that your mortal guests are instantly aggravated and die, returning back to people?"

"Only if they spent more than a century here, namely, much longer than the term assigned to them for one human life. But if someone from the local makes a marriage with them, they will not be made up in any case: neither here or on the ground of people. The usual guests who stayed here longer than a century should not leave the kingdom of elves in general, if they do not want to die.

"That is, if the guests do not leave here, they never will be old."

It turned out to be profitable. Amaranta did not imagine herself as wrinkled old woman. Stay forever young is a seductive idea. And she would really like her own wings. The fact that Dagda carries her above the Earth in his arms was very nice, but she would like to know what to fly herself. For a beginner, it would be a rare pleasure. But the elves are most likely accustomed to flights. Amaranta noticed that the wings of elves, unlike fairies, are similar to golden leaves or rainbow glare. The wings of one elf girl who danced above the waterfall, were shifted from white fog and framed with pearls along the edges.

"One of the keepers of sources," Dagda explained. "A water elf! They dwell near water. They had time to get acquainted with your girlfriend Uriella. Through them, we could send her an invitation to us on the ball or to the tournament. In general, to invite guests from another kingdom, in this case, from the underwater, you can only on the occasion of some special celebration. Otherwise, it will be considered tactless."

"You arrange such a celebration here for me?"

"For you, everything you want," Dagda carried her over the network of numerous streams, resembling a whole water card. There were unimaginable creatures with pearls in the skin and turtle shells between the streams.

"Would you like to see Uriella?"

"Perhaps, if only she did not turn into a terrible underwater being with the limbs, like the octopus or at all in the mermaid," Amaranta has already believed that Uriella is still alive and did not replenished the list of noble droplets abducted by Morgen right from the ship. The only thing that bothered it is the memories of the terrible lily, which the flow brought. If all underwater beings are such, then it is better not to communicate with them. They pull you on the bottom for one "hello." It seems that these are instincts: grab and trample.

"With Uriella there will be no problem, but her spouse will also come. And his appearance can be somewhat shocked even my society, but the elves will suffer."

"If it's so difficult, then it is not necessary."

She wanted to be alone with Dagda, but there are so many various magical creatures around. Even the plantations of bizarre flowers, over which Dagda rushed, seemed alive. Amaranta would not be surprised if there would be beautiful devices under the lush hats from petals. How many rivals are here! And she trembled in front of the queen fairies.

All these beautiful elves, dancing on rainbow bridges are only subjects of Duga? Or some of them in the past could well be his favorites? Kings always have favorite. At least mortal kings. Can the magical king be an exception? It would be nice if Dagda was this exception. And then jealousy is a bad feeling. It can destroy any, even if the best relationships.

" The Water spirit does not let the stolen girls on Earth alone, even after they married them," in a hurry explained Dagda, "somehow the Water Tsar's wife, former terrestrial princess Lilofey, decided to joke. She pretended that she throws him and remains with the relatives on Earth. Since then, to visit relatives is no longer released."

"The Water spirits do not understand jokes?"

"The lovers don't."

Yes, with a man, obsessed with love, may do not be joking. It is worth remembering at least violent threats of Angus. And what to say about the magic creature, which is in love.

The flight was quick, but long. The Kingdom of Dagda extended incredibly far away. Along the way, the owner explained to her that the very center of the kingdom is called seven hills, and the spacious and dust populated area around it with green hills.

Green hills really believed numbers. Of these, singing and bumping weapons came. For them, the region of seven hill was far extended. These hills were the most unusual. Grass was golden on them, not green. The shape of the hills was also quite peculiar. Inside the largest hill is the residence of Dagda.

It turned out to penetrate there quite simply. In the hill, even the door did not open, but it was worth it to take care of it closely, crystal bridges and turrets were visible inside. Dagda flew through the barrier from the wall of the hill, like through the fog. And now the circle is no longer a green area, but a whole city with a shining fortress. Above the head is not a dark earthy flooring, but the blue sky, on which the sun is shining at the same time, and the moon, and the scattering of silver stars. Wonders!

"So we are inside the hill?"

She could not even believe. The clouds over the white castle seemed the most natural and gentle. The rainbow bridges alternated with the most ordinary bridges, for some reason leading from one balcony to another. The castle itself was a grand structure, in which you can be wandering the whole day, as in the labyrinth. There are below a field for the tournaments, and greenhouses for walking and even stables with unicorn and pegasses. And all this is inside the hill!

The Emerald Dragon was already here. He dreamed in the courtyard of the castle. Ivein flew around him, something quietly singing. Noticing Dagda and Amaranta, she fell silent and made a curtsy right in the air, not going down to the ground. She made it very graceful.

Amaranta regretted again that she had no wings. It would be much more convenient to them. She would never depend on anyone, and could mostly fly to the shimmering crystal coating of the upper towers, between whose windows also stretched bridges. Is it possible to walk out of the window in the window or from the balcony to the balcony? Nothing surprisingly, given the fact that the inhabitants have wings. Naturally, instead of doors, it is more convenient to use windows, loggias and elegant forged balconies. In general, the building is similar to dreams. People here it would be uncomfortable, but the elves are just.

"I'm the only person here?" askedhe excitedly.

"In this Side, the only one, but in others there are still lovers of my subjects, stolen from the world of people."

Amaranta remembered that the Sides are called the hills inhabited inside by magical creatures. Inside each Side was a whole state. Dagdu could be called the king, but he was a real emperor.

"Is the kidnapped bride of Theobald here too?"

"What is her name?"

Amaranta frowned, trying to recall the name. Theobald did not say a word about the girl. "It seems, Wilhelmina."

"I have never heard."

"She is officially considered dead."

"Like everyone who is kidnapped by elves. Simply, if they are considered dead. If they were officially recognized by the perished and captive, then the folk militia would wander in the nights in the forest with pitchforks and torches in search of missing girls and in the desire to fight against the evil spirits.

"The rumors came to me that many illiterate knights would dream of sharing the treasures of elves. Elves are considered incredibly rich."

"Do you want to divide this wealth with me? Do you wish gifts?" Dagda carefully put her on a semicircular balcony without a railing from the tower. It was risky, but romantic. The balcony unfolded a dizzying height. A rainbow shone above the balcony. The air around was clean, fresh and carved fragrance of some unfamiliar flowers. Who would think that captive will be so good!

And the king of the elves spoke something else about gifts. Behind the crystal balcony doors really sparkled with the jewels in the boxes and chests. And in the hands of Dagda, a thread of golden light was formed. This is a necklace of stars! They were removed directly from heaven or created with magic, it did not matter. Dagda put it on her neck. If this is the same focus for the attitude, like a fiery earrings, then it would be necessary to remove this necklace immediately. But she did not want. Let the elf and further attract her. After all, it is so nice.

"Let's go! I want a lot of things to show you and donate," Dagda pulled her to one of the bridges. Under it grew unusual trees with white branches, and birds circled over them with bright plumage and precious stones in the foreheads and on the tips of the feathers. And she also considered Infanta unique! There are such birds tens, hundreds. You can take anything.

The captivity turned out to be rather unusual and nice. But here, after all, is the magic kingdom, and therefore, to be in captivity there is a continuous pleasure.

As if from this pleasure, then did not come out of trouble, would have boosted Infanta. But Infanta with her evil bird tongue was not here fortunately. And the most importantly her beloved king of elves was here. No longer needed to hide and had the copy to enjoy his society. Some bard in Aluar sang that heaven is where your love is. So, her paradise is in the kingdom of elves. No matter how much sinister rumors did not go in the people about this state, it should not scare herit anymore.

Beloved of elf

She dreamed that she was dancing with Luellin in a spacious attic. It was gloomy and dusty, but a gold copy sparkled like the sun. The dance was an old and slow. It was strange to dance with her own copy. It feels like dancing in front of a yellow mirror. Luellin touched her hands, changing dance poses. It was not only a reflection. She was her twin. With her a dance resembled a witch ritual. And the gold roses rang somewhere nearby. They sprouted even in the attic.

On the door someone scraped and pounded. It seems that it was a furious monster.

Amaranta woke up. The king of the elves slept near in a luxurious bed, built from petals of magnolia, or garden lilies. Their smell calmed her nerves, but the dream did not go out of the head.

She reached and touched with the fingers the golden curls of Dagda. The king of the elves was very tired. Did not even respond to her touch.

In a new place, she felt better than in the castle of Angus. Probably, the old castle was cursed. Its walls were gloomy, preserved the memory of numerous wars. And here is all enchanting.

Dagda whispered in a dream a name. Not her name. Amaranta tensed. This name is definitely not human. It could be both male and feminine. Why does the king of elves say it in a dream, as the name of the lover?

It was worth leaning on the pillows and cover the eyelids, as she again dreamed of an incomprehensible sleep. In a dream, she stood at the Black Hill, to which Dagda was advised not to approach and not even to flush. The hill moved like a living giant, but instead of climbing one huge figure, he came to life with a flock of thousands of gray flying beings. They had sharp teeth and claws, and they were all thrown on her. She woke up, but the feeling that the body was enveloped by a network of bissing small monsters, was very intrusive.

"Do not leave anything other than bones! Do not take prisoners."

"One captive is here. The most valuable," a voice objected, blocked everything.

How strange! The dream ended, and she still hears the whisper. Even the traces of the ash from somewhere on the skin remained.

Could she pick up some kind of magical infection of that hill? Dagda seems to have tried to be with her as far as possible from the hill. But near it climbed the whirlwind ash. It was then it hit the skin, and she forgot to erase it?

"Come to me!"

Who is calling? The voice was hoarse, but attractive, as if honey was poured into silence. It caressed her ears. Whether it sounded only in her brain, like the squeak of the lattices, the ringing of the chains and grinds claws by iron rods.

"I am also your close friend, because you sleep with my friend," she heard a whisper at the ear. "Those hugs who know you, I have known before you. I had the same magic that is right next to you. Do you know how it all ended?"

Is she going crazy? The voice was the one, it multiplied with a multiple echo that hundreds of mouths say, and not one. She was chosen, whether it dreamed that hundreds of red insightful eyes look at her from hundreds of ugly heads, and somewhere again ring chains and grilles.

"You need a friend and a mentor, like me, because you can get into the same trap, into which I got," whispered a heartfelt voice.

Where did he come from? It seems that from everywhere.

Dagdaa did not wake up. Amaranta still believed that elves could do without sleep at all. But then the bed would be superfluous. The bed from the flowers is fraught and calmed the nerves. After it, it will be uncomfortable to sleep even on the most soft feather bed.

It's wonderful! But it is necessary to cover the eyelids and again see the gloomy hill, scattering on a bunch of monstrous skulls, then on a flock of terrible black birds. And then in a dream some monster appeared. It was defeated and overtightened. The set of heads cut off from his body rolled around the field like coal, leaving the ash trail. For some reason, it seemed that their defeat was only the beginning. Heads laughed.

Amaranta opened her eyes. Outside the windows shone beautiful stars, and before the bed stood a terrible shadow. Someone with many hands and heads itself resembled a large black hill, in which inside the prisoners were locked. But this was exactly one being, and not a lot. .

"Are you good here?" asked immediately many votes that were talking to one tone.

She would nodded if the body did not sow paralysis. It was impossible to move neither hand nor leg. And the monster stood near, but did not attack, as if he prevented a certain obstacle. Is he a dream or is he real?

"Love of Elf is a magic thing. Truth? You have already convinced this," again a multi-voiced whisper, but says one being. All his heads think like alone. Evil and darkness come from one organism. "This is a paradise, when you chose and loved a beautiful magical creature, and then hell comes."

Black claws touched the bed. It seemed that they intend to plunge into the sleeping king of elves. Amaranta wanted to prevent this, but monster, seeing her fear, only deeply and understoodly laughed.

"Someday he will come with you just as he did with me."

Warning sounded like prophecy. The dream broke off. Or a black ghost disappeared. Was he here at all? Could it seem. Paralysis has passed. Amaranta sat on soft flowers of the bed. In the feet, one of the flowers who formed the bed, blackened. Just in the place where the guest's claw touched it. And on the carpet, the traces of the ashes are also visible, as if something burned nearby.

With dawn all night fears disappeared. Amaranta has nothing to talk about Dagda. You never know what you dream! In addition, many pleasant experiences appeared. For example, where to go first? There are many hills that you should visit. That is, it is more correct to call them sides, since it is so accepted in the elves' territory.

Amaranta wanted to visit a feast, a ball, and a tournament. But to consider outfits in the new wardrobe turned out to be more fascinating. There were no such styles and fabrics in the world of people. On the dresses are unnoticed by the seams, as if they were not sewn, but created from lunar radiance or all shades of the rainbow. Some matters in texture and form strongly resembled flower petals. Large magnolia actually turned out to be an exquisite lush cap. Well, if such a hat does not start after it is put on it. Although the flowers are not lethargic. A bouquet of Camellia, who brought her Dagda, lay on the table without water for a long time, and still remained fresh.

Amaranta could not move away from the wardrobe and numerous caskets with jewels.

"Everything was ready for my arrival? Or are these things waiting until they take advantage of each new beloved of the king of elves?"

"No one used before you all this," Dagda was even offended. "I heard about the dowry that was laid for the brides. We assume that it is your dowry."

Usually, the dowry prepares no bridegroom, wanted to say Amaranta, but what to take from the king of elves. Elves are poorly familiar with the traditions of people. Dagda tried as he could.

Amaranth reached for earrings from shining asterisks. They will make an excellent headset with her necklace.

How did the fiery earrings come out again in her ears?

The mirror in the simpleness reflected the jet of the flame in her ears.

"I thought I took them forever. One fiery elf knocked them to me."

"These earrings can return. They spoke," Dagda removed them with great difficulty, and in her ears again sprouted flowers.

"Curred?"

"On the spell."

"This is not you supervised?"

"Not me, Angus."

"But ..." the second time hearing it was extremely unpleasant. So, really. How could Angus? She thought he was honest. But what knights in our time keeps the Code of Honor, even with respect to the ladies. She had repeatedly heard that there are even those who beat their own wives. They did not come to this with Angus, but the trick in marriage ... This is what the marriages rushes. You can not love, cheating.

Flowers, scattered in the ears, pleasantly refreshed the skin. And how beautiful they looked. The most natural ornaments that only can be. Maybe instead of the diadems wearing a wreath?

Amaranta found that there are many hats from flowers in the wardrobe, and they are to her face.

"Do you really say that some nymphs wear dew from droplets instead of earrings?" Female coquetry is not suitable for communication with the king of elves, but she still resorted to him. It was very curious to learn everything.

"Do you want to see herself? I could take you into their society. And I can even organize us both a visit to the kingdom of Fairies, so that you look at them and even talking to them.

"In no case! I do not like their queen."

"Like many! By the way, she can not tolerate all earthly beloved of elves, so your hostility is mutual."

"Why does she not love us? I'm also a beloved of elf. I am curious to know."

"Probably wants to impose on us her fairies," Dagda sighed noisy.

"You should choose gold robes," he advised. "They will be very good for you, the only side effect of their socks can be that your skin will also acquire a golden shade."

"And when do I get you, will you turn me into another golden rose in your treasury?"

"Never," Dagda pulled her to himself. "Why do you turn into something? You are so more beautiful than any roses: and ordinary, and gold."

"Do you always promise to love me, no matter how many centuries have passed?"

And he promised. But what is his magical promise? The ghost of sleep again began to torment her. Is it possible to believe the word of the king of elves?"

Tricks of evil spirits

Angus returned to the castle in upset feelings. To go beyond the king of the elves in the magical world to him, of course, failed. For him, simple mortal, Arch was a passage to nowhere. And the Emerald Dragon, which glistened in the dark, like a whole treasury, turned out to be a cunning pot. Almost all the knights of the detachment burned down in his fire. Survived one Theobald. Yes, and then only thanks to mutilated once the evil spirits. For some reason, noticing injury, the dragon spared him.

The order does not kill Angus, obviously gave Dagda himself by virtue of an already violated agreement. How could you disrupt the magic contract? After all, he was saturated with charms and himself is obliged to stand guarding the agreement.

Angus could hardly curb his anger. He wanted to destroy his own castle with his hands. Usually, the enemies will take a rich fortress, and they don't kidnap the wife! A war would be better for him. In vain, he still concluded an agreement with the king of elves. Theobald initially foresaw an evil and assured him that the elves were insidious. He was right! It was worth listening to him.

Because of the charm of Dagda, Angus did not notice the danger. Even the fact that the recently Finodirries began to destroy the temple, did not seem strange. It was necessary to at least pay attention to the behavior of Amaranta. She was as an empty doll. It turns out, at the beginning Dagda kidnapped her consciousness, and then took her body. For goodbye, Amaranta did not say a word. She did not think anything? How to return his wife back? Dagda betrayed. Only Medea Shai remained. Once the king of elves kidnapped his spouse, probably the queen of Fairies will help to free her.

Angus did not expect a servant in the castle to meet his assurances in the fact that everything was calm around the circle, and the countess had already gone into a married bedroom.

"What is the countess?"

The servants took him for the crazy.

"Countess Amaranta, of course," clarified the butler. To communicate with a unknown owner, everyone was afraid.

"So she returned home?"

Again puzzling glances.

"She did not leave anywhere," one of the girlfriends Amararantas was descended in the hall of the castle. It seems her called an Adeline. Angus, no matter how hard it tried, could not remember all her girls for names. They are all polite, pretty, slender, but in general, all on one face. He wanted to see Amaranta again.

"So she is now in the castle?"

Adeline began to tell the latest news.

"I can not even talk to her. She only answers "yes" or "no". I could glimpse how she handed all the falcons with the bare hands. It is instead of going with them on a falcon hunting! I'm afraid to approach the falcons without a special glove, on which they should be sitting."

Angus was nervous, collecting the pieces of puzzle in the brain. Dagda for some reason returned her back.If Amaranta is at home, then he can not worry.To return her consciousness is easier than her physical shell. In the nearest village, there is a witch doctor, which helps with the removal of damage. If it does not help, it is worth calling the court magician from Ilion.

"And you ever heard about the submenus," Theobald suddenly arose next. How much did he hear from the conversation? Adeline was embarrassed and pulled away from Angus.

"Submenimi are the freaks, which fairies throw into a cradle instead of the abducted children," she recalled. "Do you really have children, Syre Teobald? I heard, there is a way to drive a submenu, if the egg shell is frying in a frying pan. This is a folk remedy. In my opinion, it would be better to burn the princess of fairies straight with the cradle. To distinguish it from an ordinary child simply - in appearance. The baby is ugly like an old troll."

"Are there adult submenimi?" the question of Theobald was clever.It was as a whip for Angus

"Where is my wife now? In the bedroom?"

"Yes," said Adeline.

"And why are there so many flowers?" Angus pointed at the red and white roses, stretching in all windows, as if the hands of fairies.

He grabbed a torch from the bracket on the wall and tried to set fire to roses. Adeline even screamed.

"Do not! You burn all the castle!"

In fact, she had a pity that fragrant flowers burn. The roses were not burning. The rustle of their leaves in the wind resembled a smart laughter.

"Don't you think that they look like two lovers?" An elf and a girl?" Angus said.

Theobald did not have time to say anything. An alarmed servant came into the room.

"A large crowd moves from the village! The rebellion." He reported. "Do you order to shoot?"

"It is not necessary!" Angus wanted to settle everything peacefully, but the times now were rebellious. Recently, he was informed about the riots in Rodolit. And the dolls from the workshops of Rodolit, according to rumors, came to life and attacked the townspeople (but these rumors were full and before, however, now they have achieved a grand scale). If it goes further, then instead of war with the elves, there will be a rebellion in whole county.

The riot has already been born. The peasants demanded that Angus driven elves from county. What do you do?

"Do not shoot anyone!" ordered Angus. "Ambroz is a good speaker. It is worth sending him to negotiations with rebels."

"And what will you do?" Theobald went beyond Angus in his office. "Better if you want to calm down the crowd with wise speeches. They need your promises, not your vassal."

"And I need a parchment with the contract to encourage the elves to justice! - But it was worth revealing the casket, in which the contract was kept, as all the contents of the casket gave fire. A minute later, the ashes snapped on the table.

"What is the hell!" said Angus.

"A contract seems to be magical," Theobald reminded. "What if it burned down due to non-compliance with some points?"

"It could burn only if it was broken on both sides," Angus admitted with despondency. "So assured Dagda himself. And he left all the prerogatives for me. Only I could violate the agreement first. So something I did wrong. But what?"

Near something shone. Amaranta herself came into the office. She woke up and dressed? Why on her is a dress, not a peignoir? Recently, she tried to be closer to him all the time. Why's that? As far as he remembered in Aluar, Amaranta was always independent and kept apart. To be shadow for her husband is not in her manners.

Angus waited until she approaches and grabbed her hand.

"Bring fire!" He ordered theobald. "Any lamp brighter!"

Amaranta was not indignant, but stood beside as an empty doll. And without bright lighting it was clear that it was not she.

"Who are you?" Angus touched her face. To the touch, like a metal. And her skin is yellow. "You were sent from the kingdom of elves in return? Do they want to inherit this castle through you? Or are you sent to spy?"

Silence again. Such a sceneous Amaranta has never been.

"Amaranta? "Angus noticed how her face seemed to be melted under his fingers, replacing already by the other - the face of Adeline.

"The last girl with whom you flirted" unmistakably defined Spark, getting out of the candlestick. Also a nice girl. No worse as Amaranta."

"Could you explain what's the matter?" Since the lady is near, whoever she was, did not answer, Angus turned to Spark.

Spark broke into a cunning smile.

"In the morning you will understand yourself!"

"I want to know now!"

"While she was not destroyed by a crowd? I assure you, it is impossible. They only crush their fingers about her."

Angus himself felt the metal in his hands, and not the flesh, but the lady was alive. Not a doll. She even breathed. In any case, her breasts raised, as from breathing.

"You are trying in vain, Luellin!" Spark turned directly to the lady. "He likes no longer his wife, and not her survival, but he likes the queen of fairies."

The lady in the arms of Angus accepted the appearance of Medea Shai. Even a sophisticated hairstyle of snakes has copied. Only here Corundum in her forehead was golden. A golden lady! He grabbed a living melting gold, which takes all sorts of species! Angus loosened the grip, although the Golden Lady did not burn him in contrast to Spark.

"Her name means in ancient elven adverium changeing, changing the view, adapting, copying," the elf crumpled red eyebrows. "What are there still synonyms. I am a bad translator. Here Dagda would definitely transfer her name to you, I can only convey the value."

"Do not speak about Dagda!" Angus threw in Spark with a silver tobacco-box. Naturally, ite crashed on the wall. The elf rescued himself. And on time. Theobald instead of a torch brought anxious news.

"The uprising will have to pacify with the force. Ambroz failed to calm the rebels."

Seeing Golden Lady instead of Amaranta, he was dumbfounded.

"So this is true, she is not your spouse!"

"The spy of elves," Angus explained. The golden woman watched all this indifferent. Her fate, which was now solved, as in court, she was not disturbed. Or she relied on the usual witchcraft tricks. A moment, and she took the appearance of Wilhelmina, the bride of Theobald, which was abducted by the elf. But it did not like Theobald.

"Let's give her to the rebel peasants?" he suggested. "They will destroy one culprit and forget for the time of all elves, which we still can't give them anyway."

`No, we will exchange her on my wife."

"But ..."

"She is from the world of elves and fairies, she is valuable. No one word about her. As long as Amaranta is the hostage of the king of elves, this creation will be my hostage."

Theobald understand everything.

`I'll go, give orders to archers," said he.

"Let them aim only at the instigators. And let them try not to damage to death."

Angus quickly realized that it is more important for him to save Amaranta than some peasants. He became cruel. That's what a friendship with elves brought.

And where to locate this creation? It is incredible strong!

Angus considered his hostage. The eyes of gold instead of the eyes of his wife, body of gold, liquid and mobile, and this creation he all the time took for Amaranta. Spark appeared again and managed to fire the fireplace in one fell swoop.

"How did I not notice that she was golden?"

"Previously, Amaranta was here. While the prototype is near, the copy is almost impossible to expose. If you see that it is from gold, then there are no more elves in its services, so their spells weakened. Golden copies do not carry fire, it can melt them." Spark knew everything. Right scientist in the field of witchcraft tricks. Only that's what he had to be silent before?

Angus by force sat the golden woman in a chair in front of the fire, so that she could not move from the proximity of the flame, but the gold doll was much stronger than he. She squeezed his wrists in such a way that the blood rushed out of them, and her fingers were put on the skin.

"Be careful with her, and she will not leave anywhere," Spark advised. "Such copies are usually empties. Their task is to throw in someone, and not to move the brains. You will not provoke her, she will live quietly here until the owner appears back, but it happens hardly. They usually forget about copies. And now Amaranta disappeared.

"What else do you know about copies of my wife? More precisely already about the copy of Medea Shai. Or?" Angus noticed that the golden face suddenly lost his devil at all, was smooth like an egg.

"She doesn't have anyone else to spread," Spark explained willingly. "She is pretending only to those who are within visibility or who she will see in your heart. But most often ... " Spark stumbled.

"Why are you silent?"

"In general, the meaning of her name you already understood. She is designed to copy other women, but only as long as she needs to cover the one that runs on a date with an elf."

"And how long has Amaranta run on dates with him?"

The answer was crushing.

"Since you got married."

Yes, it's a blow! Spark, first upset the count, immediately rushed to console him.

"No one can resist even in front of the ordinary elves from the green hills. What do you say about the kingof elves? Your wife is not a saint. So forget about her!"

Angus sat down in a free armchair. The floor under his feet rushed, as if he got drunk. Spark flew around him like a affectionate cat. Well, that he did not touch him with burning wings.

"Women are not true! Unlike such a person, like me. Here I have alone. How good it became! Quiet! Careless! Why do we need a lady? By the way, in case you will be killed in a war, leave in advance the castle to me bypassing the water elves."

- Are there the water elves here?" Angus was excitedly looked around.

"They don't support you unlike me," Spark was burning, but gentle when he wanted to achieve something.

"And I don't know anything about them!"

"It was not necessary to conclude an agreement with them."

"It is unlikely that a simple document will help you."

"The signed by you will give strength, barely your blood goes on the battlefield, I will survive them."

The fiery elf clearly curry favor with him. Angus almost succumbed to him, but from the outside came cries and whistles. It must be traced that the archers do not shoot all the rebels.

"The rebellion is bad," Spark said, reading the thoughts of the count. "Doyou want my help?"

"And you can, without smearing them to death at the same time?"

"I'm just burning them, and they will scatter themselves," Spark promised.

"Are you alone?"

"I have smoking friends."

The flame in the fireplace crashed into a whole pack of figures, flying out in the window with fiery spins. Spark kept the word. The rebels fled in minutes. With such an assistant and the archers are not needed. But Angus was afraid to trust the elves again. Spark flew to celebrate the victory, and the ominous golden hostage remained next to the count. It will be necessary to locate her in the tower so that she does not scare anyone else, taking someone else's appearance.

Wooden charms

Ivein watched how a bath for Amaranta will be prepared. Under her leadership wonders were going on. The bath has occupied a whole hall laid out with shells, from the inside of which, instead of the ordinary noise of the surf, a quiet fascinating singing came.

"Siren's shells," she explained to amazed Amaranta. "We are in the union with the underwater kingdom, and we have a lot from it, but also we must to give in return something else." Mermaids, if you noticed, granted benefits. Here in every well and reservoir there is a risk to get into their cold friendly arms.

In the bathroom, too, floated, as the mermaids arising from nowhere - a whole company. All their hair and tails had different shades, and right in the skin were pearls.

"All water tanks, alas, are channels for them to our world, but there are benefits. They can make you a massage so that you relax."

"No, thanks," Amaranta scared their hands with membranes and sharp color nails. The mermaids themselves could be admired, but she didn't want to swim next to them. Suddenly theydrown her. Or worse they pulled her into the underwater kingdom. They are probably all sorceress. Large pearls growing right in their foreheads, resemble the third eye.

"If you communicate with them, then you will be able to breathe for a long time under water," said Ivein.

Mermaids bathed in jets that flowed into a huge bath from large shells located in the corners.

"It will be better to swim alone."

"As you wish!" Ivein dripped into the bath an elixir from the flickering bottle, and the water was foamed so that mermaids with a screech broke into different directions and disappeared. Simultaneously with them crawled out of the bath and a large starfish.

"And there is no fish there?" worried Amaranta.

"No, only an admixture of rare herbs, balms and elixirs."

"And all this, so I forget the world of mortals?" The head was spinning from mixed aromas above the water.

"Have you not forgotten?" Ivein was amazed.

"I did not even forget how the procession in masks from the golden leaves met me along the way to the county. Why is your face without leaves now?"

"It is a camouflage and grows only in the world of people during the day. So we hide in the forest, merging with illuminated by sunlight foliage. If we do not speak with you the first, you do not distinguish us from the crowns of trees.

"Right! All elves can so?"

"Not all! Only our small society. I enter it, Ivor, and all those elves, which I recently introduced you."

"Why are you so special?"

"We are the former retinue of the goddess Danu. She adored all the golden. She could turn into gold all the crowns of trees in general forest."

"Where is she now?"

"Now we serve Dagda," said ??Ivein, giving it clear that the topic is closed.

A huge bath that would be more appropriate to be called the pool, foaming and waited.

"I have the impression that now a water dragon will be floating out of it!"

"If you want, I can invite one sea dragon here for you, but it is much more pleasant to ride with him on the waves."

"Are you kidding?"

Ivein shook her head. A wreath of golden leaves in her curls pleasantly rang.

To swim in the bathroom among the shells with gentle melodies turned out to be nice. Velvety foam caressed the body. Water became warm and cool, depending on the desires of the one who was swimming in it. All disturbing thoughts passed from the aromas that had air over the water. Amaranta understood why the mermaids so liked to frolic on the water in this bathroom, as if any other water space was not open.

"That's what is pleasure!" Amaranta noticed how tiny pearls are emerged from the water and stick to her skin, taking the shape of bracelets and necklaces.

"They will need to shake them so that the magic of the underwater kingdom does not rejoice your brains," Ivein warned.

"Later!" Amaranta splashed in water for a long time. Foam flew sparkling bubbles. From the caressing hearing of the mouths of the shells it was easily to forget absolutely about everything. The border from the seashells stretched along the edges of the pool, along the walls and even on the ceiling. The door leading to the balcony was also framed in the form of a large corrugated shell. All this is a tribute to the beauty of the underwater kingdom. It is probably very beautiful and diverse, but she didn't pull there. Too risky. The bottom of the sea is what scares people who are not able to breathe under the water, even navigators. But Uriella attracted something. Ivein confirmed that the girlfriend of Amaranta is still alive. And she was talking to all the mermaids, nymphs and naiads from sources around the elven hills. She learns the truth. According to rumors, Uriella was lucky to become someone like a sea princes.

Now it was just to believe. After all, Amaranta herself became someone like an elf's concubine. The definition was unpleasant. Better let Dagda even call her his bride, forgetting that she was already married. The first marriage was a shallow, but important item. Because of it, her position at the court of the elves was very uncertain. Whether she is a prisoner, or the hostage, or the favorite. Or maybe all at once?

If there is someone else in Aluar told her that she would be a beloved of the kingof elves, she would have found him a storyteller. In the kingdom of the hills, the fairy tale was becoming the truth. Even miracles from the seabed here were available. And the rainbow bridges outside the windows were waiting for her to go for a walk. It is wonderful, but someone gloomy and evil knocks with his claws through a closed door. It is worth covering the eyes, and the lattices of the dungeon are seen, iron drips and locks on the doors, made by magical engraving and someone's black claw, encouraging in the keyhole. He is trying to open the door and can not. He needs help. Her help!

"And otherwise it will be with you, that with me!" whispered a wolving voice into the ears.

Amaranta tried to distract from the hallucination. In the morning she swept on the Pegasus. If we speak more precisely, then flew on its winged back in heaven over the castle. She visited in one of the sides a feast of the elves. To be inside the hill was unusual and interesting. Then she walked along the alley of fruit trees, ripe fruits on which turned out to be a solid set of miracles. It is a pity to it them, even though they give the magic force. Some fruits even knew how to speak or independently overlap from one branch to another. Some trees were also alive and moved roots. Not a garden, but a festival. There were many birds similar to Infanta in the garden. And she considered her white pet the most wonderful feathered creation. The elves even had Sirins. One of them did not lag behind her all the walk.

"A golden brocade is well for you," it sang. The head on the bird body was definitely maiden, and the tail is luxurious, like a white peacock.

"Only if you can constantly wear dresses from golden brocade, then your skin will also become gold. It is already starting to sparkle."

Amaranta stopped and looked concerned into the well. Water in it reflected like a mirror. Ivein dressed her in the golden outfit. Amaranth herself was not solved to choose from the rich wardrobe. She allowed Ivein to help. Ivein herself wore green outfits with the upper layering of gold lace, woven by Arachni. It seemed that her clothes were braided with a sparkling cobweb. Her preference to the gold color was obsessive. What choice doesn't give her, she will always choose a gold shade thing.

That's the well shine something gold. Amaranta realized that these are shut-off heads. Although it is possible to call uncontrolled heads made entirely of gold. They resembled curly bars. Probably not alive. Why were they left to swim in the water? One head turned its face to her and smiled broadly.

"Hello! It's the border, you can not go through the burder," it said. There was metal in singing voice. Other heads repeated the end of the phrase.

"These are guards of the borders. Usually they sleep in wells until mortals come close to the borders of our possessions. Then they wake up and warn, do not go further if a person has good intentions. And if evil, they attack and bite."

The explanations of Sirin alarmed her. Especially, given the fact that disproportionately large head ears resembled wings of bats. You can probably fly on them. One head waved them and slightly raised above the water level. It even kissed the hand of Amaranta.

"The sign of respect," Sirin explained again, which took on the role of a mentor, "and then suddenly a local queen will soon be proclaimed.

The sign of honor scared Amaranta. The golden lips were burning, even though the head and swam in ice water, and its teeth were like daggers. The death does not avoid if such head attacks you.

"If they protect the borders from the invasion of people, then why they will not drive me away from here, I'm a person," Amaranta stepped back from the well and wandered in an unusual apple garden. Red fruits grew on trees directly from the trunks. The fruits on the branches resemble the balls. The branches themselves moved like hands. It is better to leave the garden, they still stick into her, but they behaved delicately. Not touched!

"You're a guest of Dagda. You can do everything."

"But I can not leave, and the heads warned me about it."

"It's right."

"Because I'm a prisoner?"

Sirin scratched with the wing in the back of the head.

"Well maybe!"It obviously does not want to go to the conflict. "For me is more pleasant to call you a guest. We rarely have guests. Especially so beautiful."

"And if Dagda once will drive me away? Then the heads will not let me back, even if I myself find your borders?"

"It all depends on whether he will wait for you. They obey his wishes."

"Do they feel his desires at a distance?"

"Do you not?"

"I don't know," she thought. If his desire to love her always and be only with her, then she really feels it at a distance.

"I always feel what he wishes," Sirin boasted and drove into the bitches, which swung alone red fruits. "Which would you eat: from the bark or from the branch?"

"Are they different?" The color of the fruits seems to be the same, red, like blood, but they are different in form. She did not want to eat them. because how strange they vibrated was suspicious. The bark under them was porous and as if breathing. Not trees, but sleeping monsters.

"Some apples can change your appearance, others to bring it back. Look!" Sirin bit off a tiny piece from the apple. The hole from the bite instantly overgrown. The apple completely recovered in just a second. That is, they can sink hunger to infinity! So, the elves never starve. But it was not the most amazing. Syrin's head began to modify. Instead of female and cereal, she turned into the head of a nice dark-haired young man.

"So do you like me more?"

"No," Amaranta almost fell so. Syrian's head very much resembled Angus's head.

"Then I will return my appearance back," Sirin decided and did it easily. Likewise, it was necessary to eat a whole spherical apple from the branch. The branch scripted displeased, but the fruit on it was again a minute.

When Sirin acquired its former maiden's appearance, it became free to communicate with it. Amaranta was no longer shy because of the feelings of guilt in front of Angus.

"You don't need to eat apples to change the view," Sirin flew around her. "You change so much."

"Why did you decide?" - Or it will be more correct to say "decided." Amaranta never learned how to contact Sirin, and it did not hurry to enlighten her.

"You are transformed. This is from the union with our king. You are all shining from the inside. Soon you will become one of us."

"How can you know from?"

"I see it. You have no almost anything from mortal."

Here is another provider such as Infanta. But judging by her reflection in the well, it was not mistaken. As however, the Infanta, who always had bad premonitions. In one she was right. Her mistress was kidnapped. For pet, it is a tragedy - stay without her mistress. But if you look at the other hand, Amaranta likes her captivity. All definition of good and evil in the world depends on someone's opinion. And the opinions of people or even birds arise depending on their own position. As she was talking often to the old king of Aluar: good and evil is too abstract concepts. Now Amaranta realized that he meant. Even if the elves are evil for the whole county, for her to live with one of them is happiness.

"Do not go there!" Sirin warned her, but she had already entered the grove of slender trees with lush crowns without fruits. Each barrel in shape resembled the body of a person with thumps thrown up, of which branches sprout. Graceful wood heads were lost in kroons. Almost all of them were female. And rather beautiful. What tree cutter wandered into the world of elves and gave trolhes such a form?

"Have you ever kidnapped the sculptor and forced him to work on elves?" Amaranta was surprised.

"Oh no! The fact is that those stolen girls who betrayed or wanted to throw their chosen-elves, with time it is treated," Sirin admitted reluctance. "One insidious queen desired to subjugate the kingdom of elves by intrigue and temptation. She is right in front of you.

Amaranta turned away from the tree, resembling a sculpture of the girl, and stumbled upon the trunks in the form of knightly bodies, as if a whole detachment appealed to the trees. In the center there was a tree with a trunk in the form of a brown mantle. The crowned head from the bark looked at the crown. In the frame of the living green leaves, she looked dead and sinister.

"They are guests! The king and his retinue. They went to us, because Dagda became friends with them, but they saw how many wealth is here and wanted to capture us. Therefore, now they are trees."

"Can they ever ride?" Amaranta spent her fingers on swords, also become wooden.

"Only when the end of the world comes. Or if you help them.|

"I will not risk!"

The king's head seemed to overgrown with the bark only for a while and sleeping. Amaranta for the first time saw the royal face and the crown of the whole brown. The bark was cracked on the cheeks, but the flesh under it was not to see. The treacherous king and his retinue were obsessed entirely. They deserve it! Cunning beauty too. But what about other virgins? All of them were once elected elves? Amaranta walked for a long time by a grove, looking after faces with accurate features. Some time eys from the bark were closed, some open, showing woody eyes filled with fear.

"Do they hurt?"

"I do not think that they are generally experiencing something, except the horror of the captivity in the first century. Now they will hurt if you wipe off the leaves from the tree."

She accidentally threw one leave. All the tree immediately groaned. Sirin hurriedly stumbled.

"Will it be so with me?"

There was no one to answer her question. Unless the wood head of the girl speaks with her. It seems that she rushed to reveal the lips and warn about danger.

"Who are you?"

Amaranta was afraid that the tree whispered: "Wilhelmina", but it was silent.

Couple from the sea

The magic mirror, showed the seabed and all of its miracles. It is similar to the all-seeing eye looked into one corner of the underwater kingdom, then in another. Dagda explained that such mirrors of sea residents are called the eye of a spy, because through them you can look into the human world. And this is a mirror donated by the sea king, opposite looked under the water.

"Is this a gift of courtesy? The Sea king trust you so much, what allows you to pry for his possessions?"

"My cousin rules in the Maritime Kingdom," Dagda explained. "And he also kidnapped a mortal, but she doesn't love him." Until. If he is finally disappointed in her, he will flood all coastal states.

"Did you tell him what happens otherwise? What in the immortal kidnappers are also falling in love?"

"He will envy and want to flood us," Dagda joked and put on the magic necklace from the water droplets on the neck of Amararanta. "This is also a gift of the sea king. I will send some jems for him in response. Only ordinary jewels will not be surprised. It will be necessary for something with elfial spells."

Something like girls-trees, she almost was mentioned, but bit her tongue.

"There are also lucky savage-kidnappers among water spirits? Or did you lie to me that Uriella is happy?"

"I did not lie, and the informants from the underwater world didn't too."

"Mermaids? Tritons? Kraken? And who else lives there? Ivein argues that if Uriella would not give up to a fan of the water, then our ship would be prey to huge kraken, who had already looked at him.

"It would not! The kraken felt that the bride was brought to me on the ship. In the magical kingdoms there is a rule, do not attack the selected, intended for some of our people. Especially for the ruler."

"Then Medea Shai is not familiar with this law."

"And did she attack you?"

Amaranta thought.

"Not yet."

"It is good. Otherwise we have to fight with her."

"Why don't you like to fight? Are you afraid of defeat?" With his power, it was hardly believed.

"Sometimes that the defeat the the victory brings the same bitterness and ashes as defeat." What does the ashes do? Amaranta remembered the ashes on the carpet and the hill, which was burned, but he did not burn the whole. To arise ashes, you need to burn something or someone.

The necklace from the droplets nicely freshened the skin. It did not grow up, but smoothly lay on her chest. Drops, as it turned out, could change the shape, and the necklace acquired different types.

"The meadow elves from dew droplets could do the same, "Amaranta has already seen what they made."

"Yes, but gifts from one monarch to another is etiquette."

"And the transformation of living creatures in the trees is a punishment?"

"Medea Shai is abusing this. She often transformed her rivals in the trees to burn them, rip off the foliage, torture them. But in my country, this is an extreme punishment of those mortal who betrayed us.

"Is it a lesson that I need to keep loyalty? Usat back to Angus, and they will catch me to turn into a tree. Or will I turn into a tree right in the hall of the Count Castle?"

Dagda was taken aback.

"Do you want back to Angus?"

"It seems no."

"That's good."

"To turn me into a tree, you would not want at all?"

"Alive you are better."

They are also alive, she recalled, although they are in the shakes of the bark, they can not even move because of this. How to become a fixed tree, but everything to hear and understand, even feel pain when someone breaks down the leaves? An ominous grove from the trees did not go from her head.

"There is a lot of things that can scare a novice. In the future you need to take walks carefully."

What else does he hide from her? Monsters in cages? Angus also hid these. Judging by their assurances, it was even going to burn them alive with cages. It turns out, everyone has some mystery, which he hides even from his beloved. Some old woman from the village loved to repeat that both men and elves are identical liars. If you are not familiar with the elves personally, you consider her words only as a funny saying.

Curiously, how in the future can change her position? Why is Dagda silent now? Suddenly, with the time, the queen here will be really an insistent Medea Shai, and the favorite will simply survive. An offensive thing, if it happens when the century is already passed and it will be able to return only to the grave of Angus and the Count Castle, which no longer belongs to her.

Of course, she did not want to return home at all. Duga is not the man you can forget. He is an elf. Elves do not cease to love. If those girls who became trees wanted to quit them, there was something wrong. Are there the treacherous women who attract only the richness of the elves, and not they themselves? The world is large, the population is diverse in it. All sorts of characters are found. For someone greed is more important than love.

The golden roses of the castle of Dagda were sprouting in abundance. They stretched along the walls, emitted tapestries and window frames. It costs to approach them, and any golden escape ran on the dress, immediately smashed, the fattened hem, the train and even the corsage edging from gold roses. Therefore, today's blue dress of Amaranta was braided with a golden ornament of lush roses.

"They are already near!" sang a shell, lying next to the mirror among generous gifts of the sea king. "Do you let them go to the ball through the nearest source or through the fountain?"

"How they themselves wish!" Dagda organized the ball to which Uriella was invited with her underwater satellite.

Amaranta was afraid a little. It was a little scary to receive guests who emerge from the fountain. But in the hall it was full of unusual creatures. Who else will you see at the ball of the elves? All guests flew over the floor, make up with sparkling wings, make a variety of magic. Of course, everything is not like as by people. It's timeto her to get used to it.

But when the couple from the sea finally arrived, even the elves on the moment stopped in dance. Whether from squeaming, or given a tribute to courtesy, because guests could be erected into one rank with ambassadors from another state.

It is not known where guests came from: from the lake at the bottom, or from the fountain in the castle, but wet traces under their feet remained.

Her maid-on-honour Uriella came to the ball on hand with a terrible sea being, which she allegedly managed to sincerely love. By the floor, the wet trail from his paw with membranes and from her train was stretched.

"You're still not extreme, once loved an elf," the Infanta commented, fleering towards her shoulder. "Others choose and worse. But as they say, love is blind, you can love and a monster of waves and sand.

Amaranta was amazed. How did Infanta manage to be here?

"You stayed with Angus?"

I didn't stay, I was treacherously left!" She said offendly. "I sat in the despondency for several days, I cut down that you won't come back and decided to move here too. By the way, nice Adeline also came here with me."

"Why did she suddenly be nice?" It seems a capricious Infanta disliked all her girlfriends.

"Since she saved me from the massacre. The friend of the count fell into all the magical creatures, stated that such as we need to withdraw how the Inquisition displays witches, that is, with the fire.

"Theobald?'

"Right?"

"He has a problem with his hand! The hand does not obey him. He beats her about the wall, split into the smallers a bunch of mirrors. And in his hand still sprouts something monstrous. He will have to cut her off!"

"And how is Angus?"

"He drinks unrestrained. The fiery elf, which dreams to survive people from the castle, sees his chance in your husband to take the top over stupid mortals and diligently he sticks it. Its method is to boost, and the volume to knock out his cunning, since the force cannot be taken.

"And you threw Angus at such a moment?"

"Did you really not throw him herself?"

"I'm not a prophit, and you could warn him and give instructions."

"To my prophecies, alas, no one listens. But to hurt me, as it turned out, all the knights in the castle are ready. Such a clever, like me, no one appreciates! This is an arbitrary rule!

"Adeline appreciated you. But how did she find the way here? And it is strange that the guards of the well did not stop her."

"That redhead elf, which has caught you, helped her. Quentin seems to. He decided that without the mortal girlfriend you would feel among the elves, as in the dungeon."

"He tried too hard."

"But for Adeline he provided a service. Your husband almost killed her, confusing with a gold copy. Sketch, probably. But Adeline and herself was not worth climbing into him."

"Adeline was not in his bedroom by chance?"

"Not at all by chance! Angus is very good. Ladies are going because of him crazy. And you so successfully fled with the elf. The place of the Countess is now vacant. If Angus ever stop drinking and suffering, he can marry ten once again."

It was unpleasant to hear, but Amaranta kept silent.

Infanta has become even more unrestrained in the language than before. She was offended that she was thrown.

Adeline did not look at the ball. But Uriella danced with her companion. When it was possible to catch Uriella alone, Amaranta immediately approached her. From the outfit of Uriella, traces of moisture remained from the pearl and small shells.

"How do you?"

Uriella did not even answer immediately, but opened the corrugated fan, as if made of liquid shell. Her stand collar also reminded a mixture of shells with corals.

"Here is stuffy!" She complained. "I would like to be in the water."

"Are you not glad to see me?"

"I am glad, of course, but I don't have relatives here, there is no inheritance too, and under the water I feel myself weightless, as if I need nothing.

Her skin has become too pale. There are something like lace on the eyelids. If Dagda did not take her companion to some negotiations, then Uriella herself would not come to Amaranta. She now does not need anything other than water and miracles of the underwater kingdom.

"Under water you have everything you need?"

"In the underwater kingdom, all my desire were fulfilled."

Is it she or her empty shell, which settled something from the sea.

Were you kidnapped from the ship or did you jumped to the Morgen yourself?"

"And you?" Uriella showed sudden intelligence. "The elves kidnapped you or did you escaped from the castle herself?"

Even if they kidnapped her, then there was no difference. Her desire is to be here. Dagda only helped her to implement it. Really with Uriella also.

"Never be fond of earthly young man," Uriella admitted. - They are gusty, but quickly cool, they are traitors. With unearthly partner, everything is easier."

"I would not say.'

Uriella was surprised.

"Are you happy?" questioned Amaranta.

Uriella looked at her puzzled. What is happiness, she seemed to not know. But she was exactly comfortable. After the ball, the crew from the shell with the sea skates was already waiting for the lake at the castle. A couple of sea crashed into it and was dissolved in water.

Amaranth did not even have time to ask anything in detail: whether Morgen and Ureilla got married if they were waking up under water, then how do they happen in the underwater kingdom? In the footsteps left from the maritime guests, fry kept. Instead of the prints of Uriella's feet, small pearls flicker on the floor. No one except Amaranta was surprised.

For the society of Dagda the pair from the sea were not unusual guests. And is it possible to call them a pair at all? This is a Morgen and a mortal girl! Not a mortal, if she was now with him. Happens!

Schemer

The tapestry came out gorgeous. Arahni disappeared, but Angus still felt their presence here. You need to erase everyone with fire!

Type of tapestry make him crazy. In addition to the map of magic countries, survived with his county, it portrayed something like a wedding of Amaranta and the king of elves.

He can not destroy the work of Arahni. Angus tried to burn tapestry, to cut off with his sword, and to break. All attempts were in vain. But the malicious laughter of Arachni came from all over the corners.

"This is a portal to another world! Do you want to penetrate through it in my kingdom?" Suddenly, Medea Shai was formed from the darkness behind his back. She acquired Anguus from behind with her hands similar to two pale snakes. How many fingers have her palm? Six? Seven? Ten? All of them are crowned with black nails, and each of them tears on the coat of Angus.

From the grip of the queen of fairies was difficult to free. Angus made an effort. Medea Shai sighed disappointed.

"Such a nice boy and such a touchy person! Did not plan to go to the monks?"

"The monastery for Finodirry was built from the nearest temple," Angus was angry. "Do you want to become their mother superior?"

"This is not a monastery community, but the isolated possesion of the evil spirits. Someone from your people carefully thanked these creatures for the services, so they built up from you the wall of invisibility. Now you and the paths to that temple will not find."

"Is this a symbol of the fact that my marriage with the Amaranta is destroyed?"

Medea Shai nodded. Corundum in her forehead sparkled dazzling. Angus even clogged from its light. Together with the queen of Fairies flew a terrible black bird, in the forehead of which was also burning scarlet stone.

"Her name is Black," the queen of fairies presented with pride. "She is my ears and eyes in other worlds. Sh tells me everything. Even about your sadness, and how your wife is behaved in the kingdom of elves. By the way, this tapestry symbolizes her new wedding. Exactly a century later, from her first meeting with Dagda, the deduction should be held from the date of your wedding. True, funny! It will be exactly a hundred years, and it will make a second marriage with those who saw for the first time on her first wedding. Spicy detail of the biography, isn't it?"

Angus was in rage.

"Amarantas amorality is already whispering all the population of my state!" Medea Shai again tried to hug him. "We, of course, do not condemn it. But how can you? If the Amaranta was the fairy of my country, she would have become exiled for a long time. But you obviously do not intend to forget about her?"

Medea Shai looked in his eyes.

"I'm burning and insulting your strong feeling towards her. It, like fire, burns you from the inside. Better to distract you."

"Soon is the war! The King of Ilion callson the army."

"I know, neighbors attack him, but they are not the worst." He quarreled with his ice friend, and now the defeat does not avoid the kingdom. All around will turn into ice. But not your county. While you are in the union with me, I will not allow anyone to freeze anything here. . You were lucky that you called me. I will patronize you."

"But I am a vassal of the king. I must obey if he calls."

"I, with him, by the way, talked a little. He is an attractive young man, but his great mind did not endorse. The whole bet is on his physical strength. He will lose with it." Against the armies of ice elves, weapons are useless. In the arsenals of the king There are a lot of rapiers, chains, even muskets and carbines, but he does not have any magic. This is a pure suicide to go with a weapon against the spell.

"Ice elves?" Angus frowned. "Also vassals of Dagda?"

"Former! Fortunately, otherwise, he would be very superior to my dark troops. And do not perceive so literally the name "elves". The ice elves are ugly. They are absolutely invulnerable. Even the fire can be scared for a while. Your fiery accelerations against them are almost powerless. They scare them only for minutes at ten, as a maximum. So the siege of your castle can not be allowed. Otherwise, very quickly you will have to capitulate. I'm going to leave, but how can you stay here."

Her slippery fingers slid over his shoulder in the next attempt to seduce. Angus squeezedly pulled away. The queen of fairies was incomprehensible, but he threw in a shiver from her touches. It seems that spiders are crawling on the skin when she touches you.

- You do not see me as a temptress?" She smiled temptingly. "For a gallant knight is a shameful that the woman will protect him, even if the fairy? Or do you want to return your wife?"

For all three questions, the answer was "yes", but Angus did not want to insult her. The queen of Fairies naturally wants to leave all the advantages for herself. Everyone should call the most beautiful and desirable her only, and otherwise the war will be with her.

How dangerous charms of fairies and elves are, Angus knew from servants. In the room of Amaranta was found a monstrous lily. It had put the shoots and strangled several maids at once, which made cleaning. While the girls cleaned the carpets and wipe the dust, the stems of lily began to winde the neck. One unfortunate they even drowned in a can with water. How can get rid of the parasite lily even Spark did not know. From his fire she did not light up.

Ask for the advice of Medea Shai Angus was ashamed. It is not known that she will require for her help.

"Do I have to conclude a written contract with you?"

"I'm not Dagda. All contracts can be broken. But against my magic will not be speaking," she demonstrated a whole whirlwind of black sparks from her nails. They slipped in the hall as a real hurricane.

"Stop!"

Black also suffered from the hurricane. Her lush black tail lost several feathers at once. Medea Shai does not protect even their pets. What to say about the allies! The feathers of Black, fallen on the floor, flickerered with the splashes of red pebbles, similar to rubies.

"What do you want from me?" Angus asked directly.

"I want to take you into my kingdom and make you my close associate," she smiled slyly.

"Excluded!"

"The position of my favorite gives a lot of privileges. You won't be old, you will not die, you will not suffer from diseases. You will get my caress as a prize. Does it not tempt you?"

"I feel more comfortable at home."

"Even if your wife will not return?"

Medea Shai again affected him.

"Okay, you're clever," she gave up. "My current favorites immediately began to be jealous. Being the master of the castle is always more convenient than to be an irrevocated pet of crown."

Black and red train of Medea Shai left black fog clubs instead of traces. The fog was in bizarre signs and faces, stretched to Angus with theirs claws.

"I want you to separate Dagdu and Amaranta. And all! More from you will not need. In return, I will give you a lot. Do not listen to all those dirty gossip about me. In fact, I am generous. And I intervened in your complex relationship only because I want good to you and Amaranta."

Is there something good with a mixture of black? Angus looked at the queen of fairies with admiration and distrust. She is a powerful winged beauty, followed by the monsters army. It is better to have her as ally than as enemy. But can he believe her?

Adeline came to the kingdom of elves disheveled and in bruises.

"He wanted to give me to rebels. You imagine, the count decided that I was made of pure gold!" She complained noisily. "He went crazy! Why did you run away from him? It is hard to live with a madman!"

"I did not run away. I was kidnapped," Amaranta was weakly justified.

"It is difficult to believe." Adelines eyes scattered on the new wardrobe of Amaranta. She had to give her an elegant gold grid for hair and a couple of coral crests.

"Elf even on the captivs will not be stored, so fading them with gifts?" she was sincerely amazed. "And what to say about their queens?"

"Dagda is single. There is no queen here."

`Try to become the queen!" Adeline got carried away. "And I will try to become at least a local noble lady. What do you think, at least one elf will be seduced?'

`In this form, it is unlikely," without a flattery appreciated Amaranta her girlfriend.

After a long journey to the kingdom of elves Adeline reminded a begger.

"It is a pity that they did not kidnap me," she enviously looked at the outfits of Amaranta.

"Take something yourself. I allow."

Will the king of the elves not be angry for it?"

"He will not be angry."

Adeline was blocked a little and chose a modest pastel dress with an overwhelmed waist and a short train. It could be called modest only in comparison with the rest of the wardrobe. And if you compare with the outfits left in the county, it was truly royal.

"Such a feeling that the cloth throws the skin with me," Adeline complained.

As it turned out, it was natural. In order for the effect of fabric bissing passed, just needed to report Dagda that Adeline is not a thief at all.

"Okay, let them live with us and uses everything that she wants," said the king of the elves.

"I want something else."

"What? To take all your girlfriends here, even those who are already engaged with the vassals of Angus?"

"I mean Luellin. She is alone among people. They wanted to melt her on gold bars."

"It is impossible. They will not come out! If they try, the gold will be burned them to death or they themselves will be the statues. You could check what will come out if you cut off the little finger of gold copy and integrate it into something else. The thing cast from its particle will be damned and destructive for everyone who will take it into the hands or at least see. And the little finger itself will immediately grow back."

"But she is brainless! Suddenly she will lead someone here."

"She is not so stupid. She must live with people and pretend mortal."

"Or maybe let her live in one of the uninhabited seeds?"

"Did you see such here?"

"Yes, those in which treasures are stored."

"Treasures always keeps someone."

"And she can watch them if we cause it. She is made of gold. She will be a faithful keeper."

"I could call her here, and not kidnap. She is just enough to crush any doors and come to us. But she is not a cute creation that looks like you. You will see only an empty face without damn in addition to a blank head. When there is no need to cover a promotion, she either takes the appearance of all the oncoming or becomes faceless. You can't even know her. So let her sit in the castle. Thanks to her, we will have our own agent."

"Do we need it?"

"The queen of fairies negotiates about something with your husband," Dagda admitted and showed her a casket with ash.

"What did burn in it?"

"Our contract with Angus."

It was not difficult to him to show her mentally the scene of how the contract burns with the flame and wriggles in it as if living salamander.

"So it happened because of my abduction?'

"The contract burns only when it is broken on both sides. Angus broke it first. Otherwise, the responsibility for termination of the contract would be on me, as on the kidnapper."

Amaranta regretted that she did not understand anything in the rules of conclusion and termination of transactions. There is so much precarious. And it is not clear how Angus could be the first to terminate the agreement.

"He called on other forces," Dagda explained, seeing her confusion. "Black forces and witchcraft."

"Namely?"

"Medea Shai and her hordes."

"He called them to destroy his own castle?!"

"He did not expect that she would come like a commander and a destroyer. After all, it happened to negotiate peacefully. But not everyone is so good-natured like me. For example, Medea Shai has always been a warrior and a schemer.

"How did he occur to it in his head? For what?"

Dagda only shrugged, diligently hiding a look.

Ice Guest

Amaranta sat and read in the tower. Parchment scrolls, made instead of ink with sparkling gold letters, described the history of the Goddess Danu's tribes that settled the surrounding lands for the first time. To read was more interesting than to embroider. Amaranta pulled a scroll with texts from the library tower and dragged to her chambers. Some of the scrolls that she dropped along the road flew over her themselves and obediently lay down on the table. Now you can explore the elven history in detail.

Sewing with the hoop was postponed. Golden threads are entangled, but the needle sewed itself. Magic is very convenient. In vain, she doubted that she could use enchanted things for her own pleasure. In the application they were simple and comfortable. And in the chambers of the prisoner, there was better than in the royal.

The pool on the floor was formed suddenly. Where? Water more than if the maid had splash the contents of the jug on the carpet. Although, there are no ordinary maids, alone elves, and they do not allow nestlisses. Water stuck, like whispering:

"The year is passed!"

And it started to drop. The pool appealed to the thin ice. The ice began to crack and increase until it rises from the floor a clumsy angular figure.

"You!"

"I told you that the servant can not be warned. Ice creature everywhere will find moves and loopholes," an ice acquaintance with a bridge is shaking with a flint finger before her face. "I see, you did not wait for me."

"I didn't believe that you remember about me," Amaranta did not lose her self-control. "After all, the whole year has already passed. No my friend at the court in Aluar would not have been waiting for me for so long. Surely, everyone who cared for me a year ago was already slapped on other lanes."

Or went to another world, because they were all far from young, but it is better not to delve into details. In addition, the empty coquettery of the ice guest was not to hold. He came for the promised. Who would think that a whole year by the elves will fly like a few days?! Amaranta felt annoyance. She believed that here it was not so simple, as in the castle of Angus. After all, the Kingdom of the Hills has protective spells. But the water and ice will find the area everywhere. And now what she can do? How to get out of a delicate position and put a naughty guest? Is it possible to deceive him?

- As you are so easy to form from the water, - Amaranth pretended to be admired by his abilities. First you need to flatter, and then inflate how fool. - Only there is one not docked. Water and ice, in my opinion, not quite the same thing, besides, if you consider the difference in temperatures, it was warm in the tower, a wonderful fireplace burned with gold sparks, and I did not melted the ice.

In short, the magic! Yes, it is not always pleasant. He also noticed an embroidery frame with a self-playing needle and grinned.

"You see, it was clear from the very beginning that you would choose."

"That is, you has practiced fraud, entering into a deal."

"Stop breaking around," he touched with his fingers her strands, and they were covered with ice. Amaranta pulled away from him. She did not want to freeze to death, but the snowflakes have already begun to settle on the skin, it is frosting. How they are only taken in his presence.

"I am reading now? Maybe you come tomorrow? And better after another year."

"There was no such persuasion."

"Everything can always be corrected if it is for the better."

He was not so sure of that. The carpet was also covered with the other. Fire in the fireplace frozen in the ice. Well well!

"You get stronger than on the day of our first meeting," Amaranta noted involuntarily.

He shone from complacency as a real iceberg in the ocean.

"We are the strongest in Tuatu de Danan."

"They warned me in Aluar, do not swim on this mainland because no one is survived here for a long time. Not surprising, once there are you!"

"And who, having arrived, threatened the Union with us?"

"Not with you. With Dagda."

"Well, we are from his subjects just. Remember, I told you about our king."

She licked a scroll. And does not matter. He was already covered with a thin crust of ice. The text under it was not to see.

`So you live in the possession of the king of elves?"

"Not anymore! The kingdom of ice has recently become sovereignty. We are so powerful that they managed to separate from common possessions. Now we are independent and make what we want.'

Amaranta felt trapped herself.

"Okay, you won betting," the heart fastens, she admitted. - And the second spouse of my king appeared and a lady with dragons, that is, a rival with dragons. It would be less than called her queen?"

"I am not so good to own a human language like you,"said the ice elf. "In addition, the vision of the future is always vague and foggy. Not all the details are immediately concerned. I also saw a fragment of your destiny."

"But the gift of providence is great! Could work out the predictions of fate on the roads. All gypsies would survive. Why do they need, if you are."

He did not even understand what he was mocking. He is not used to sarcasm. But the trouble in the future would recognize for the mile.

"By the way, you will not tell me how I can destroy a lady with dragons? Rather the Queen with dragons?"

"In no way! She will harm herself."

"Here it is impossible to believe. She is very stubborn in her wedding plans on the king of elves."

"She will have another object of lust," the ice eyes sparkled, as if the guest saw something in the fog of the future. "A knight! A mortal guy in the immortal suit."

"It sounds absurd!"

A young guy in armour from scales of the killed dragon. He will be a real love of the queen of fairies."

"Does he kill all her dragons?"

"No, he doesn't, he steals the dragon armour to win in the war. The queen will take the winner in captivity, because she will feel a mixture of a dead dragon with the flesh of the most beautiful young man. There will be a long passionate liaison, and then a betrayal. The queen of Fay will be defeated and dead. The young man becomes a real dragon and choose a new queen of fairies. Charming and red. I would also like such a thing!"

He has a language like a rapier from ice. Amaranta was frightened.

"Only not to predict all this to the queen of fairies, otherwise she will go to you with war."

"Already predicted! She got angry and has a war with me," he was glad. Each his finger is similar to the icy blade. Horn is also an ice. What does he want from her?

"For lost betting, I have the right to demand everything that I wish."

"And what do you want? I have nothing to take with me, "Amaranta hurried to disappoint him. "All wealth that is there, belongs not to me, but to the king of elves."

"I'm rich myself. But I have one whim. I want you to visit me in my Ice State."

He smiles slyly.

"I frozen there to death."

"If you make me angry, then yes. I have not beautiful guests for a long time. Ladies do not favor me.

No wonder! But no offended remark regarding his appearance Amaranta did not. And then he still will freeze her to death for it. With such a dangerous guest, it is better to be delicate.

"If Dagda doesn't forbid me, then I will visit you," she promised.

"Will not work!"A sharp ice finger threw right in front of her nose. "We have a persuasion! Its violation will not remain without ill consequences."

"Well I needed to play a fool and promise him the first thing that would come to mind!" Amaranth scolded herself, on what the light stands. You need to be restrained in words. Never know what they turn.

"Find the track in the footsteps of ice on the grass in the forest behind your hilly kingdom. You will not come for three days, and then the Ice Army will come to the elves with the announcement of the war."

How everyone loves to fight! Amaranta began to understand the king of the elves, which could not stand the war. Is the dispute can not be solved somehow different? It is necessary to offer an ice creature alternative, but as long as she pondered how to drop it, the guest is already disappeared.

Mirrors' Maze

She could not even believe that the whole year has already passed since she met the Ice Prophet on the bridge. And the prediction turned out, and the term has expired! But everything seemed to be so careless. Golden roses ring. Mirrors in bizarre frames show all wonders. Green hills called Sides. And the winter does not happen here. Even autumn does not paint the foliage in yellow, orange and red, as it should be. Trees and hills are forever green. That is why it is so easy to lose the sense of time. Around the year round reigns summer. No wonder local elves are called summer. Amaranta did not immediately cut down, what's the matter. She did not like the winter, so it was not disappointed as the others that snow over the hills falls out, and the lakes are not covered with ice.

This is another plus kingdom of elves. Eternal summer is her cherished dream. So, she will not leave here. Let the ice elf be waiting for at least a hundred years. Only now he threatened with the war, and Dagda does not want wars. So how to be?

Black butterflies gathered with a pack at the keyhole. But now is a day. Amaranta looked at them. These are black pixies. Realizing that she noticed them, they were disappeared into the hole for the key.

"Spies of Medea Shai!" said the mirror on the wall.

How can drive them away?: It was strange to ask an advice from the speaking mirror. In addition, it has already fallen asleep and did not utter a word anymore. Amaranta still came to it. A whole labyrinth immediately opened before her. A hand in red scales and with coral claws waved on one of the mirror paths. This is the same Dragon Fairy, which she has already seen on a feast. Her scaly body was like a flame.

"My king liked you! Come here! I'll take you to him!" She called.

Amaranta shook her head negatively.

The reflection in the mirror immediately changed. The mirror itself began to resemble the window into other worlds. Here is someone's black castle. The tournament between the magicians and fairies goes on the ristar. Lightning and sparks fly each other. Here is a bedroom, full of luxurious black flowers, and in the bed are the fairy with black wings and dragons.

Pictures changed one after another. There were many dragons in the arms of this fairy. Especially often she slept with a black dragon. He is her favorite. And she herself, judging by the crown in her hair, was no less than the queen. Amaranta could not see her face. The fairy suddenly raised on her elbows on her bed and stared in front of her, as if she saw her too.

"Come to me, an observer in the keyhole. Those who spied after me are usually kicked as Lessey," the fairy pointed to the oblique maid in the corner, which was also some kind of supernatural being. ?And you are not. So, Dagda loves you, since you are protected by his charms."

Fairy's voice was sweet like a black honey. It enveloped consciousness. Amaranta almost took a step behind the mirror frame, but it was kept on time.

The fairy in the mirror disappeared as its dragons. But the labyrinth of doors found in bizarre forms appeared. There were doors in the shape of the sun and the moon, a flower, a tree, a cube horn and even the head of the dragon.

"From each I have a key. But Dagda has a whole bunch of keys, and the forbidden door is only one. You will be lucky if you find it. I still did not find, but I'm looking for.

Amaranta shuddered. The crowned fairy was already behind her back.

"How did you enter?"

"Through another mirror. There are many of them in the castle. And to the rich feudal you can easily enter, because all mirrors are connected by the labyrinth, as you have already found."

"Who are you?"

"Have you ever not guessed?"

"You are the same fairy that I saw in Rodolit."

"Forget about it," the black beauty dismissively waved her hand. "The experiment with dolls failed."

"Did you collect the army of dolls?"

"You are clever."

"What are the dolls, if there are monsters? Did you lead them to county of Angus?"

"The count invited us himself."

"Not true!"

"Otherwise I could not come to him."

"Even on a mirrors' maze?"

"It was closed by the union with Dagda."

"It's interesting," Amaranta looked at the rival. "So you're the queen of fairies. Or just of black fairies?"

"All fairies in my kingdom either become black with soul, and wings, or I get rid of them."

The procession of fairies, which Amaranta saw in the forest, was all bright, except the monsters. And one of these radiant fairies attacked Amaranta at the siege of the castle.

The queen of fairies read her thoughts. It became dark or so only it seemed?

"Why did you so much hurt Igrid?" Medea Shai was offended. "The poor thing now suffers from strong pain."

"Is she alive?"

"She is alive, but burned. A fairy, as you know, does not die, but you can hurt her. If you apply a dragon fruit, and not the usual fire."

Here's great! So, you can tear more dragon apples and with the help of them to protect against rivals. Will she be able to find the road to the dragon tree? Or the case when she came across it, was a one-time success?

"I'm not offended," Medea Shai suddenly changed the tactics. "My maide-in-honour is too arrogant. You did the right thing that deprived her attractiveness. Now she sits locked, and whines at the mirror. No potions and spells help. But its delicate skin and wings turned into a solid burn, and a black dragon tail grows from her back. Like the second train! Recently she believed that she was almost equal to me, her queen, for attractiveness and grace. Our maides-in-honours are so arrogant! Probably from the fact that we have only one thing. We chose her for all the time on the board, as if the bride, and she starts immediately to poke her nose in our busness. Are you already aware of how many privileges will have your maide-in-honour? She will all start doing for you: to intrigue, conduct business, trying to negotiate, negotiate with allies, driving the court, to instruct bodyguards. One day you will return to the royal bedroom and find her in your place next to the king, she is already sleeping.

"Have you already got into such a situation?"

"I like you. I think we should become girlfriends," she suddenly suggested.

Make friends with the rival! Yes, she is the queen of monsters. Suppose by the title she is the queen of fairies, but actually she rules over the hellish creatures. To be friends with her is the same thing that voluntarily stick her head into a hot furnace. Although not about this asked her Quentin? The decapitated elf should have completely absent brains, at least he retained the head itself. How to make friends with the evil? Even for the sake of good goals it is dangerous. You can pretend to be her girlfriend for a while to ask her Quentin as a gift or at least win him in some dispute. The dispute, of course, will not be winning, but the gift from the queen fairies will be lured even more difficult. Such narcissists like her, never and nothing will disagree.

"Is it true that you plan is to become a queen here?" Amaranta asked. It's time to change the strategy and attack the first. She will definitely not be friends with this witch. From such a friendship, the troubles will not be worn.

"There were plans," the winged witch nodded. "But now I have two new king on the sight: one mortal, one ice. The ruler of the elves has no place in my ball card. Do you understand, what am I talking about?

"Do you want to get married for two."

"At all like you. I will become one of your copies."

Amaranta looked enviously on her wings. That would be copied to! It is a pity, she does not know how to take other shapes, like a gold copy, otherwise would have become a winged fairy right now.

"You want, I'll show you where my magic comes from," Medea Shai turned her back to the mirror. "Look at it! What do you see?"

Is she trying to enchant her? And in the mirror they were branched at once many ways reflecting each other. They led in the forest, on the meadow, in a variety of palaces, on decks of ships, in the dark fortresses.

"Look, how it is easy to do without a dragon and even without a carriage," she reached the mirror, opening even more roads of a mirrors' labyrinth. The biggest led to the kingdom of fairies.

"I love to travel in this way. It is very convenient. Like a slippery ice. Do you want to try."

Amaranta stopped at the frame. It was cold in the mirrors' labyrinth.

"Another time somewhere in the future."

"Do not be a coward."

Amaranta seemed that she was going forward along the reflective road. Circle of mirrors. Its reflection has multiplied and unpainted her with tens of votes on different tonality. All she ever uttered was reproduced. And then reflections spoke by themselves.

"Do not go!"

`Do not look!"

But it was already late. In the big hall there was a feast, from there came laughter. Dagda was entertained with fairies. All of them were from the retinue of Medea Shai.

"We led to you eastern peri," the fairies whispered, caressing the king of elves. "Do you want more besides us? All gifts from our queen. She studied all your preferences and wants to satisfy them."

This is the scene of debauchery! Medea Shai did not give Amaranta to turn away from the mirror.

The ashes of her lips penetrated the ear. In the brain, all rowed a dark crust. Tears appreciated on the cheeks, turning to crystals. All the magic gifts of Dagda pleased no longer.

"Ah, honey," the gloomy queen of fairies stroked her hair. "All men are such traitors. What the magical rulers that ordinary. Before the ladies' charm is all equal. And I will tell you a secret," she whispered into her ear, having lowered a little ashes from the tongue. "Immortal beloved forget us much faster than mortals. And from boredom begins treason. That's on the hunt, then on the ball, and sometimes in a military tent, since the beauty herself came to them to negotiate or sold the berries nearby, or flew straight into the bedroom window. Everywhere there is either a fairy or a mortal seducer. And we only cry from it. I will give you advice, take more cavaliers herself, then you won't feel so offended. And even better come back to her husband, his vassals, by the way, loved you very much. Each rose should bloom in its flower bed. Mortal in the garden of mortals, magic in magical areas. Dagda's policy about reconciliation is not correct. We, people and fairies, can not be friends. And you should immediately imagine that the king of the elves was already seduced by no one wife, the bride or daughter of mortal friends. This is his concept of friendship, and with people, and with representatives of ourr own race. The king is the king," Medea Shai theatrically sighed at the end of the tirady. "He will always have many favourites".

Amaranta cried and listened, although the words wounded more than knives. Medea Shai, obviously, believed that she comforts her.

"Well, I have time," she noticed Dagda's griffins in the sky outside the window. Oddly enough, Dagda himself now communicated with griffins, and not with fairies. Amaranta looked at the mirror with suspicion, it still demonstrated Dagda and fairies. The reflection laughed as a bad actor, and transformed into the face of the sameery king, whom Amaranta once had already seen in the mirror. Obviously, in it he rules.

So treason is cheating! Illusion!

"You deceived me," Amaranta squeezed his fists. " A liar!"

"Let's not be charged with charges like bazaar vendors. It is not to face to us. You are the Queen, I am the Queen. It is necessary to behave civilized. Although wait. You are still the mortal countess. Maybe you should call your husband here so that he will teach you the proprt behaviour."

"Dragon Slut," pixies joined from behind the curtains.

"What?" Medea Shai released claws. "Well, fly here, rude persons."

"Do not dare touch them."

"I'll get squeezing from them."

"It is better to get out of your dragons."

"Descending and regularly. Do you think I am gentle with them?"

"Are you serious."

"All animals need to beat even before they have a molting. And lovers should be punished the strongest so as not to betray."

"So Dagda chose not you."

Amaranta said as hit. Medea Shai melted, as from slap.

"Such a soft, like you, will eat alive for the first year of marriage. By the way, it is likely that before marriage you will not live. You know about the law - one century before the wedding."

"Something I heard this."

"Whole century is an engagement."

"Let's hope, this applies only to fairies."

"No, it just touches mortals. Rather Mesallians between mortals and fairy or mortals and elves. In my opinion, the amount of change of the terms does not change. In any case, the ridiculous union comes out."

"Maybe therefore it is necessary to check the feelings of the whole century to avoid mistakes."

"Not therefore."

"Then why?"

"Guess herself, clever!"

The queen of fairies disappeared.

Amaranta thought.

"So, one century before the wedding is an immutable law for all the magical kingdoms. A whole age to wait!"

"And you say this with a living husband," reminded the slim voice of conscience. No, no conscience, it suggested a mirror.

"Immediately you can see, you have never fallen in love," Amaranta reproached a pale inhuman person in the mirrorfrozen on Amalgam and winning it. It must be the face of the spirit of the mirror.

"In other people's husbands never," it was poisoned.

"But Dagda is not someone else's husband."

"But you are someone else's wife."

"How unfair!" And how stupid to lead a debate with a living mirror.

"By the way, no one forced you to marry the count.

"I know how embarrassing came out that I met a true love, only after a marriage with another."

"Mean tricks of fate," summed up the mirror.

"It sickering me! Amaranta sighed.

- This is the favourite expression of Medea Shai. Do not become like her.

"Never!"

And the stars in the mirror seemed to be winking. Obviously, the evil beauty on the dragon, rushing in the sky managed to quarrel because of a trifling and with them.

His magical promise

As it turned out, the king of the elves honors the tradition of not only the underwater kingdom, but also the terrestrial magical powers. In addition to the kingdom of Medea Shai, they were quite a lot.

Yesterday, the elves were applied by funny shorteys from the kingdom of gnomes. As far as Amaranta understood, they were excellent blacksmithers and jewelers. Gifts they brought awesome. Ambassadors from the mountain kingdom of Naga were the day before yesterday.

"They are in a closer union with Medea Shai than with me," Duga explained when Amaranta stared at their serpentine bodies.

Today's guests were a little upset. It was Alba. All as a selection of blond and beautiful. The girls outwardly resembled Amaranta. How strange that the king of the elves did not prefer one of them to her. They are all up to one welhouse and have crushing magical abilities. The tournament arranged for foreign guests, in which both men and ladies-Alba participated, showed that their women are able to crush with their spells at least a whole fortress, and then restore it only with the power of magic. The tower of the castle was crumbled, they were restored. Biting flowers bloomed on the ristar, dragons arose, it was the fiery rain, then the heart of an ice whirlwind. Rivals could turn each other into monsters or in mermaids to immobilize for a while. For Amaranta, a similar magic tournament became more reliableing horrors.

Even more she was upset when she saw the princess of Alba. Her name was Orian. Tiger lilies have grew entire bouquets directly from her temples, cheeks and shoulders as an ornament. Amber drops sparkled in her skin as a gem that does not need to be removed. Two of her big almond eyes also resembled a live amber. One of his eyes was able to burn any opponent, so they did not allow her to take part in the tournament. As it turned out, her family for a long time wanted to arrange a match with Dagda but he did not want to marry her.

"Unlike Medea Shai, she is a virgin," whispered flocks of colored pixies, wearing a cloud over the ristal.

"We do not think," objected the black, they had a gloomy opinion on everything, "she has a friend from race of people."

"But she did not sleep with dragons like Medea Shai."

Amaranta unceremoniously jerked the king of elves for the tip of his wing.

"Why didn;t you want to marry Princess Alba?"

"She did not fit me."

"But why?" Amaranta was jealous. Though jealous it seemed to be and nothing.

"She's not in my taste," Dagda dismissed. "Too melancholic."

"But if you reject her a couple of centuries ago, and it is still free, then you can still agree on the wedding."

"Unlikely. Orian managed to fall in love with some mortal knight, who mistakenly drove on the territory of Alba. She is not allowed to marry him. The father swears, that he will turn her into a gold rose if she breaks his ban and again will meet with mortals. And I will give this rose to you. And our engagement with Orian will come to an end, even if her father is able to insist on this engagement."

How easily he spoke about it.

"She is better than me," Amaranta asked.

"It only seems, she is a fairy. They easily create mirage and illusion."

"But she has wimgs. And she is free. Unlike me."

Dagda felt that she was upset.

"You are not captive, Amaranta," he said through strength. But what is his magic word? And his magic promises? He gave so many wonderful oaths. She decided to check how sincere he was.

"So, can I leave?"

"In no case!" The king of the elves was crushed.

"That is, I'm still in captivity."

"If you consider a guest and the beloved to be prisoner, then yes."

- I feel a prisoner.

"Are you bad or good?"

"Both."

"Do you still love Count Angus?"

"I'm married to him."

"Love and be married this is not the same."

"Where do you know?"

"They repeatedly tried to marry me with those who I do not like, but with whom the marriage was you politically profitable."

"How did you resist?"

"I decided to find the power myself is much more comfortable than to get it through imposed marriage relations."

On whom they tried to marry him at the very beginning? On the legendary goddess of Danu, which, according to Ivein, was the founder of the whole Tuatu de Danan. He is nice and beautiful, many wished him. So now the ladies of Alba sighed, glancing at him.

"In some marriage subtleties, I undoubtlessly understand," Dagda confessed. "Marriage is a deal if there is no love. And how are you with an Angus?"

"I could say that he was chosen by my guardians, and not by me. But it will be untrue."

"I know that the guardians did not force you for marriage, you relegated many before the count, I heard the mortal bards and even one immortal of my subjects praised your inaccessibility."

"Until the count, only the elderly, although influential people were proposed to me, and he was young and has a high rank. A rare combination for a person."

"I heard: You refused to a king."

He seemed to have a reference about her. Not surprising. After all, his spies fly everywhere and can look into every keyhole.

"The king was old."

"Naturally, he is the mortal king, and you would not fail to be immortal?"

She was embarrassed, he took her for her chin.

"This is fate, Amaranta, if you rejected the earthly king, then you are intended to have a magical king, that is, I. And I did the right thing to reject Orian and many other contenders on the throne of elves. The queen here will ever become you."

"Yhe queen? That is, the wife of the king. But I already have a spouse."

"A mortal spouse. In the kingdom of fairies, it does not mean anything, because sooner or later your marriage ties will break the death, and you will live forever if you stay with me. The count will die during the current century, and we will play the wedding immediately after his funeral."

"But he is your ally. Let the former. The contract burned down. Friendship is spoiled. But what about memory of your good attitude towards Angus?"

Dagda thought only a moment. Is it true that the elves have no conscience and all of them lie, seductive and throw ladies? He offers her the throne of the queen. And where is the guarantee that he does not deceive? His magic word! What is it worth? But his kiss cost all over the world. Sweet, like a dream. For the sake of this one kiss it was worth forgetting everyone and that's it.

"I have to wait for a century to become a queen?" Asked Amaranta when the kiss ended. During this time, the king of elves can cease to love her. There are so many magic beauties. And she was born without wings.

"Maybe I better go home?"

"Your house is now here, where I am."

"I'm alien to everyone here. Even Iveib clearly makes the effort to chat with me."

"But you are not alien to me, that means they get used to you."

"I have no wings, like they all."

"They will grow out with time."

"You're lying!"

"I never lie."

"True, to lie for you this is the responsibility of the Golden Copy left in the castle. If only she did not have time to exhale in the magical sense. You spoke, her pretending is not enough after you kidnap me."

"What does torment you?" Dagda gently divered curls from her forehead. "Tell me how I can entertain you."

"No need magic! She does not save from the agony of conscience. Better let me go back to people."

His beautiful face froze like stone.

"I will not give anything!" He honestly admitted, forgetting that before that he made her guest. "You are my prisoner. And I will not give you anyone. You are forever in captivity only with me. And I only have rights to you. So nice to keep in captivity the one you want, and I know that you like it too."

"You are against the elves captivate people," Amaranta reminded when Dagda led her from the tournament.

"I was against, but I realized that otherwise it was impossible."

"Why is this?"

"You love me to madness, like me, but you yourself do not come to me because of some stupid human traditions."

"Or maybe because you are surrounded by beautiful fairies?" she accused him directly.

He himself was not jealous of Angus, but she could not. Thoughts about Medea Shai burned. Beauty, created from the darkness, did not go from the head. Dreamed, as if magic inspired dreams about how her fingers out of darkness with black nails caress Dagda, as her dark snake-free curls intertwined with gold curls of the king of elves. He is the light, she is the darkness. They perfectly complemented each other. And both were wizards. Mortal woman is superfluous.

"You're an elf, you can not jealous, but I can't."

"To whom are you jealous," Dagda sincerely amazed. "In addition to you I never need any one.

"Nobody even from your people?"

"I ruled, but never loved. Therefore, I did not have a queen. And now I loved you."

He tried to hug her. Amaranta turned out. The black ghost of Medea Shai stood between her and Dagda.

"Men are not faithful, everyone said," and she repeated it.

"And elves are. That is why mortals and prefer us."

"You ruin them."

"But we do not forget them. And your husband, if you die, will put you a luxurious monument, who will touches the bunny eventually, and in your place in the castle there will be another woman. So people do, but not elves. We remember our beloved, even if those are already dead. And if we do not interfere, we can resurrect their souls, turn them into roses, for example. Happy Rose, a woman at night, and you can again meet with her at least part of the day. If you died from arrows, I would turn you into a gold rose and kept in my palace. Part of the day you would shine as a rose, and at night you would have fun with me among the spirits as the same Amaranta. We would be happy and so, and that. Angus will quickly forget you, and I will not. Elves love the whole eternity."

"Therefore, mortal girls prefer you. You're still damn beautiful," Amaranta was still not kept and slid into his open arms. As well and cozy next to him, as if the spring nature herself hugs you and shelters foliage.

"Soon there will be no avoiding a war. If the elves take all earthly women, then men will have to fight."

Because of one such elf, all girls in the village can understand that the wrong human guys have no longer surrendered to them and it's time to go to look for elves into the magic forest.

To Amaranta, the king of elves came himself. Rather, he came to enter into an alliance with her husband. And took his wife. This is an event! And in mortal and in the immortal world, all the evil tongues are already accurate. And she is so good with Dagda, that everyone does not care for everyone. That's if it would still drop such human feelings as conscience and jealousy. And in front of Angus is conscientious for false and betrayal. And from the type of Medea Shai in the soul bubbles such a rage that she wants to break her with bare hands. It does not even matter that it will remove the poisonous spikes of the darkness. She hates this beauty flying throughout the black dragon.

"Dragons are her lovers and bodyguards," explained Dagda.

Lovers! In plural?

"That is, the fairies are not faithful?"- Amaranta was surprised.

"Medea Shai is an unusual fairy, so she rules monsters for so long. She did not overthrow. She holds power over the monsters by iron hand."

"Why does she need her bodyguards? She herself is stronger than dragons."

"For solidity and for convenience. To saddle a dragon is capable not every fairy."

About love relationship with dragons and thought was nauseous. Amaranta did not want to even imagine this. You can observe terrible scenes in the bedroom of Medea Shai. The dragons' claws and their fire don't harm her. She is herself such a barley, which will give all dragons. These monsters must be regretted that she rules over them. Without her, everyone would be better.

Such a feeling that one monster was filled into the palace. Amaranta saw traces of claws everywhere and heard a terrible hiss outgoing from the basements.

"What's there?" She asked when poisonous evaporation with black smoke leaked through the mosaic floor of the palace.

"Nothing!" Dagda hugged her and began to kiss. "Do not think about anything, except that I love you. And everything will be fine with us."

It was no good. She was tormented by conscience because of the abandoned Angus. But when Dagda is nearly easily thinking about anything except him. He is so cute, so shining and may be so gentle. Whoever he did not kill on the first elven war, and no matter how the monstrously he did it, he was waiting for her in his arms. He can be forgiven everything, with him everything can be forgotten. After all, he is an elf. And she loves him.

The golden roses bloomed, ranging and multiplied, they laid walls, columns and a bed. She could not break away from Dagda's lips, from his magic winged body. Stay with him - it means to be happy always. It is only necessary to find some kind of magic to loose the memory. Then conscience before the abandoned people will not bother her.

Once again, Amaranth overheared under the locking well, which source of magic sparks, muttered as if from a different kingdom.

`The king of the elves plays with his favourite toy. You need to take away it. I do not want him to be so happy. He was not happy for hundreds of years, it should have been, but she appeared here ..."

This was exactly the voice of Medea Shai. Probably, the queen of fairies found a new way to the castle. There are also winding holes for keys ib addition to mirrors' maze. It is not for nothing that she has whole bunds of bizarre keys hanging on the belt, as if decorations. In fact, they are most likely a set of witchcraft. You need to be alert. You never know that the queen of fairies is thinking next time.

Queen of elves

"Today is a solemn day. You will need a ceremonial dress," Ivein stopped her choice on the white outfit, as if made of one big white magnolia. If the lush petals of the skirt and the buffers, divergers, did not fasten the gold thread, then it was possible to think that the dress had grown in the wardrobe. Here the flowers grew on everything and everywhere, so it was not worth wondering.

Amaranta did not need a help from her maids. Ivein only removed the dress with a hanger. To put on and fastened on the Amaranta, it began itself.

"Will it be possible to remove it?" worried Amaranta.

"Sure. If it fits to your figure, it does not mean that it does not slip from you, barely you leave the kingdom of elves."

So you have to do not leave here. And then stay naked on the road would be quite awkward. Of course, you can always dissuade the fact that the robbers attacked your carriage. But the situation will still come out ridiculous and piquant. Amaranta thought how in such a situation it would be found the king of Ilira, passing past the county, and barely restrained laughter. Kings always like her beauty. Initially, the king of Aluar, then the king of elves, so the king of Ilion is no better than they. What to expect from kings she knew. Now she even got captured. About the last one, by the way, she did not regret. If you were captivated by a young and beautiful king, besides an elf, it's not so bad how to get a crowned freak or an old man. In addition, to be captive in the country of elves is better than at home.

Andaina spinning around her as a maid.

"Do not come in this dress to the fire, otherwise it will either be damaged, or will slip with you and crawl. Floral fabrics do not wear heat."

"You talk about it as if it is alive," Amaranta reproached.

Ivein did not appreciate her words as a joke.

"There are less capricious outfits," she began to look for an alternative, "but today you need a specific ceremonial dress."

"Why?"

As it turned out in the throne room, the celebrity was already prepared. Something like a wedding. On the walls and columns were garlands of white flowers. There are elegant public in the room. That's what it means to look at the world through a multicolored prism.

There are two golden thrones at once. The bigger for the king, the smaller for the future queen. The backs of both thrones were made in the form of wings. And she has no wings.

Amaranta did not expect an elegant crown from gold leaves and flowers, she was caught today.

It happened! Now she is the queen. Did the captive status changed? Be that as it may be Medea Shai now it will definitely break into parts, if it penetrates here. Therefore, in the mirror, it is better not to look for a long time so that it is not to call her here. The mirrors' labyrinth is a dangerous thing! Amaranta would be told to remove all the mirrors from the castle, if she owned this castle. But she stubbornly continued to consider herself as a guest. The crown did not solve anything. Left alone, Amaranth took it to consider. Golden leaflets are like a laurel. And the laurel, as you know, means honorable.

The leaves that grew up the wreath around the forehead of Ivein definitely were not laurel.

"No matter how the lining did not come out," the elf was disturbed. "You are a prisoner and you are the Queen. And to legitimize the marriage with you, the king of elves will have to wait for the end of the century when your mortal husband will die."

"At the end of the century Angus will be only forty years old."

"I meant when the century goes from the day of birth. I am not going to check the deadlines with your primitive earth calendar."

"But you became my maid-in-honour. Are you satisfied?"

"Of course! By the way, I contributed this with my advice with one adventure, thanks to which they attacked the castle, and you were here."

"But why?"

"I didn't count so much. But Dagda was with you too tender and did not want to kidnap you against the will. And you were actually in captivity, but remained to live in the county. It was bad. In addition, if they would not spur events, I would not receive a long-awaited position. Without the presence of the queen of elves, as you understand, it is impossible to become the maid-in-honour of the queen of elves."

"This position gives so many privileges that because of it, you can kill the population of the whole castle?"

"I called the army of the evil spirits by chance."

"Okay, I'm not angry," Amaranta thought that she would not be in captivity, and would not feel happy.

"To you, the presence of maid-in-honour gives quite a bit. After all, you are not a sole government. All your king decides for you. But a new position gives me more privileges than any mortal queen. It will be possible to climb into politics, arrange negotiations, manage the detachments of your bodyguards, organize meetings of the Council and Entertainment, to solve the fate of your ill-wishers. So, at the event time I will play on the queen of fairies. She wished you evil, it means, my duty is now to neutralize her."

"How are you going to speak with her?"

"Not alone. From now on, I am the maid-in-honour of the queen of elves, which means that all the resources of the country, both magical and military, with the first threat to you, go completely at my disposal."

Well, the rules! Ivein will not be the maid-in-honour, but the heroine. The main thing is that it was able to take advantage of the received power with the mind. Given the fact that she is a wizard, you can rely on it. As a maid-in-honour, she really turned out to be very useful. Thanks to her, everything was done by itself. It was not worth worrying about anything.

Here she did not need to wait for the sunset to smooth out the cover from the leaves and began to become beautiful again. This is on the territory of people, it limited various rules.

"And Ivor does not want to become a page of the queen of elves?" joked Amaranta.

"For what? Here all the elves are considered either your pages or your knights. Depending on what they can do. I don't know how Ivor can fight, but it became more correct to write him in a list of pages.

As well, she all thought out. And a maid-in-honour, and an adviser in one person. It is worth to applaud her, and not thank.

"Don't say thank you," Ivein accurately read her thoughts. "For the sake of this post, I was ready for everything. Even with cunning Medea Shai I managed to make a friendship to make it up to the proposed queen of elves. And Dagda, how did you think the hundreds of years did not marry. Just imagine to be such a handsome and centuries to walk idle. The other would have been no nerves withstand."

Maybe it is for the better. After all, the centuries ago she was not born. There was not enough that in addition to her rapid marriage, and Dagda was married. Will Medea Shai his legitimate queen and certainly she kills the captive.

Ivein, of course, did not want to upset her, but Amarant became bad at the thought that she would be in captivity in the kingdom, where on the throne sits and intrigues the gloomy queen of fairies. Even Dagda could not protect his prisoner from torture and bullying. And if he began to defend her, then Medea Shai would come up with how to get rid of him. So with this kind of queen a favourite for the king would not be exactly. They all would become ugly or corpses after the first attempts of Dagda to smell with them. What is for the queen of fairies to take away with the magic someone's beauty or torture to death even the fairy? Although no, the fairy seems to be to death can not be tortured. After all, fairy is immortal. But you can torture them over the centuries. It is good that she is not a fairy and not an elf, but an ordinary mortal. Its whole eternity to provoke will be impossible.

Although with the conclusions she hurried. On the back something grew, like a lively cape crazy and rushed the dress. It seems that the giant butterfly boils on the spine.

"You need to free them!" Ivein rushed to smash her corset. With hands, not with magic. It means that something emerged happened, once the elf so climbed. She was indifferent to any charm.

"What's there?"

Amaranta pulled out, noticing the edge of her eyes in the mirror, that from under the corset showed something with the tips of snow-white, similar to the petals of the wings. Moment, and they were freed by straightening half of her body. The curved tips stretched out her head above. Perfectly! But also terribly, because she will not return home with them.

"The beloved of the king of the elves, which he pleaded with his wife on the territory of his kingdom, had to grow wings," Ivein concluded. "This should be expected. Sorry for not warned in advance. But you never know, on whom and how the magic capture will affect. You definitely have privileges."

She can fly with them! Amaranta felt unexpected power in the back. Since I still did not want to go home, then the wings for her are not burdensome.

The frame of the mirror made in the form of some horned creature, conspiringly winked her. Here and the mirrors are alive! They are cast in such a form that glass with Amalgama is a mouth or eyes of unimaginable creatures that are wrapped around the mirror by the frame.

Wonderful country! The main thing is that all these miracles do not harm. Amaranta remembered her scary dreams. Where to take grim dreams in such a rainbow kingdom? Unless if you return to the prehistory of the kingdom of elves: to war, cruelty, murder, or exile of other magical creatures and something that Dagda has so far, even though it happened a century ago. Or even the Millennium? How is the time calculates here if Ivein responds with such disregard about primitive calendars of people?

Since the coronation of Amaranta, gold roses began to multiply around, folding into whole drapery on the walls and the ceiling. Dagda could not give them anymore, but he still presented her every day a bouquet.

Roses were alive. They spoke, they sang, they had female faces. Well and gifts! Not a bouquet, but a whole mystery. From one rose, a whole ornament for tapestry grown easily. Not to mention the jewelry on the headdress or the train.

Even on Adeline's outfit borrowed from Amaranta, recently picked a gold rose. Her girlfriend was mastered in the kingdom of elves, but she was shy in front of the king of the elves. In his presence, she became shy, as a real modest girl, which she was never at home. And Dagda himself thinks about a new passion? Adeline dreamed exactly about him, as well as about many other elves from his kingdom. But they who seduced by all mortal women, for some reason rejected her alone.

"I'm always not lucky," she complained. "All because I am without dowry. But Uriella did not prevent it."

How can you envy the one that is forced to rot at the bottom of the sea in the company of underwater monster?

Infanta circled over the elven gardens, and then flew to the Amaranta's bedroom to chat and share their impressions. Together with terrible stories about the tribes that settled here even before the elves, she retold the gossip of local birds.

"Once these gardens were not so fragrant. And there were no trees in them either. Wooden captives arose after I dwell, "she was inadvertently stuck.

"So you're from here?" Amaranta sat down from shock. Someone squeaks on the end of the dress. Leprekhun Well, let! Recognition of Infanta is much more important than Leprehun's fishing.

"That wizard, who pretext to me, caught you from the elven gardens or at first knocked out?"

"I do not remember already. Even him I remember with difficulty. But I liked living with you, so he helped me."

"I think it was Quentin."

"All elves are dangerous. Why do you need to remember their names? All of them are charming scamps."

" Yes, I know, I am jealous.

"I warned you not to look at him! From your intrigue there will be many troubles. War will be for sure! I feel! And with people, and with evi; spirits to fight.

"Do not caw."

"I'm a bird of White Paradise, not a crow," she squeezed offended.

"White Paradise! Where is it?"

"So called the Gardens of the White Fairies, in which I dwells before I flew into the elven parks. And neither there nor here there was not a single crow."

"Why don't you like crows?"

"Only crows caw," she said, "not such exquisite creatures like birds of fairies."

"Since you are a magical creation, you should be able to do all."

Infanta had nothing to say, and she covered the beak. Amber in her forehead sparkled, it reminded a drop of honey. Surely, it was in the bird something like a third eye, which she could look into the future.

"And white fairies, by chance, were not from the kingdom of Medea Shai?" Amaranta was alerted.

"No, there are societies of fairies, who live from her apart or those whom she expelled. But insidious are all fairies.

Previously, Amaranta began to object to her, but not now, when she met fairies close.

"Beware of the queen of fairies," warned Infanta. "She is able to turn into a huge black flower, who will grow right with you on the road, but it is worth approaching it, and it will strangle you with its stems."

"Until now, she did not try to do so. Probably, she realized that I would immediately be afraid of the giant flower.

"Elfves are dangerous too."

"But this warning has already been late."

"Love for elves is dangerous for mortals," continued Infanta. "And you love not a simple elf, but the magical king. He will destroy you. And on your grave will grow gold roses. You all burn from love for him."

"Well, let! I'm already grieving. And you caws, as if the crow, calling the misfortune. Well, in the figurative sense, caws and not literally. This is a figure of speech to show how bad you do, intimidating me."

The bird stopped. Since the wizard gave her to Amaranta for the beauty, as he put it, the bird stipulates her, as if she had really seen a copy of the real fairies in her, accidentally cut off his people. Amaranta first and felt like that. She wanted to be a fairy or an elf, not a human. After all, then she could be with Dagda. And she would not care that Infanta attributes fairies to the list of malicious creatures. Now, she, no matter how, has become a winged, and crowned.

"Probably, from the very beginning I felt the future Queen of elves in you," the bird admitted. "This is no longer a prophecy, because you have already proclaimed the queen here. But I will say that it will bring a lot of trouble. You and Dagda have a lot of enemies."

"Do not caw!" For the hundredth time repeated Amaranta. "Are you not tired from warnings yet?"

"But in the end, you will find peace and happiness," she immediately corrected the gloomy prophecy, seemingly a rainbow result. So all the fortune tellers do, otherwise they will not pay them. Infanta loved the berries with local bushes too much, so as not to issue the predictions of happiness and prosperity in exchange.

"Well, thank you for the happy end," even if it was not true, Amaranta was still grateful for such prediction.

Copper captivity

Someone horned jumped into the door of the Dark Hall. Is it from the kingdom of medea Shai? Suddenly is it a spy? Amaranta went after it. Gloomy doors with bas-reliefs in the form of dragons led her in another throne hall. Why is the second? The throne in it is only one, made of black onyx. It does not look like the ownership of the elves. And why near the throne is a huge copper boiler.

It immediately attracted the attention of Amaranta. It is very unusual. This is a work of art! What great elven masters have worked on it? Along the walls of the boiler, elegantly forged patterns, engraving and whole bas-reliefs from fabulous persons stretched. For some reason, no one-piece image of the figures was not. Only faces. Some larger, some smaller, but everyone merges into one mythical composition. As if the whole bestiary was placed on the walls of the boiler. Persons have horns, wings, tentacles and tails, like animals. But the individuals themselves are partially human or elven! Only someone has several pairs of eyes or several mouths. Nevertheless, they are all beautiful, although they scare a little. They seem sleeping.

Amaranta went around the boiler, trying not to approach. She heard of the lamias, about Manticors, about the fairies with dragon bodies. What kind of creatures belong to copper faces?

Her train clinched for something that someone's claws emerged between the slabs of the floor and grasped it. Amarantae hardly managed to free it. These are all jokes of evil spirits living between floor blocks, ceilings and walls. But usually they are sailing in human castles, and not in magical.

"Look at us!" called someone. The voice was attractive, though hissing.

Amaranta looked around. Who could call her in a blank room? Unless some joker-elf was attached to the crossbar under the ceiling or at the top of the columns.

"Here!" Already several voices called it. They accurately proceeded from the center of the hall, as if from the inside of the boiler.

Amaranta frowned. The black throne is empty. There is no soul around. So who is calling?

It seems that the boiler boiled from the inside by itself. Brown jets, similar to the blood of the animal, flowed across the edge and the copper surface of them with hiss absorbed. You might think that the flashes of a boiling albeit or even a whole behack. The bas-reliefs on the walls of the boiler were truly magnificent. It seems that they are living and smirking, envying a new sacrifice, which is destined to cook in the boiler.

"Come to us!" called a voice from the boiler. Probably fiery spirits inhabit into it.

Red couples walked from the boiler. In his clubs it seemed that the sinister copper persons open their mouths and lick.

"Go closer!"

Amaranta made one step forward, although the risk was great. Even from the proximity of the boiler you feel like in the furnace, and the one who calls her clearly wants her to trust him.

"Greetings!" A big face in the center, framed by a dozen twisted horns at once, crouched. The composition of people around it for some reason began to seem rounded dance.

"Do you want to become one of us?"

How tempting sounded voice! So people are tightened to the sect. Persons wanted her to join them. But how? Hooked in the boiler, as a victim?

"Do you suggest that I also become a brilliant bas-relief on the wall of the boiler?"

"Sunny!" The face laughed. Horned, ominous and beautiful it for some reason inspired the memories of the legendary goddess Danu. And it really looks like an image on the wall in the forest.

"We have power," it explained. "You are the queen of rainbow elves. I am the queen of boiling lava. You are weaker, I'm stronger. Dagda made me strong. But not you! Want to settle injustice? Your weakness can be fixed, but only until he sees. The strong queen is to him for nothing. Take care of a gentle nicer. This is a pleasure for him, but not for you. Would you like to become strong?"

"How?"

"The same as we!"

"I.e?"

"Touch me!"

Amaranta spent a finger on the speaking face. It was hot, like a blacksmith horn. Surprisingly, copper was not melted, unless she is magical. The face at first smiled good-naturedly and immediately bit her for the finger before the blood.

"What for?" Amaranta closed the wound, but blood still flowed abundantly, irrigated dresses.

All bas-reliefs on the boiler came to ecstasy from her smell.

"Innocent blood! Such pleasure! But the innocence interferes to you, as we once. In order to gain power, you need to go through torture and your own ignition."

"I do not understand! "Amaranta backed up, but a long steel sting emerged from the discontinued copper mouth and walked her hand without giving away from the boiler. It was so hot that Amaranta screamed.

"Until you burn, as we do not become a powerful magical creature. We will make you a favor. Dagda has long been holding us hungry.

The sting pulled her closer to the boiler. A moment, and she will fall into it. There's boiling water! She welds alive.

"Let me!"

But the divine face did not react on her screams.

:I will build a sacrifice after the burning, we will press and at the same time will repulse Dagda, turning his toy in his own rival," copper faces said.

They are all living and malicious! Amaranta understood too late. Kindness leads to trouble. In the magical country there were so many joys and miracles that she did not recognize the danger. It was necessary to remember the Medea of ??Shai and understand that the magic is not always good.

"Are you goddess Danu? He overthrow you and for it you want to burn me?"

The horned deity did not answer, but the other faces picked up the choir.

"Just as he burned us!"

Amaranth resisted, but there was not enough strength. Steel sting consisted of her blood. And the drops of her blood, entering the mouths ??of copper faces, only strengthened their hunger. Another minute and she will be in the boiler where she burns.

"The best sacrifice for all times for our tribe!" the choir of persons triumphed. Their whisper also resembled the hiss of the fiery lava inside the boiler. And this is not alone, but a solid fire.

"What did I do to you?"

"Not you! Dagda!"

And it means to pay for it, because she is his beloved! Amaranta feverishly thought about what to do, but suddenly the sting was released. It fell itself. A beautiful horned face was crossed, having done quite scary. Amaranta escaped. Dagda stood nearby. This he did something to burn the steel tongue.

Persons raised a whole riot, envy him, but could not break out from the copper captivity. They had to calm down. The fiery lava evaporates somewhere in just a moment. The boiler was empty, and large precious stones fell out of it. One size with a human head remained lying at the bottom.

"The boiler is useful, but dangerous," Dagda grabbed her on her waist and pulled away.

The scattering of precious stones with multi-colored rain lay down to Amaranta. They were terribly even to touch, although it is a huge wealth. The king of Aluar has not in the treasury so much jewels, and here some boiler gave them for one admission, but at first he needed to drink someone's blood. Her blood! Amaranta could not count the cuts left on her hand from steel sting.

"The cleaner is the blood, the more treasures it produces," Dagda said. His appearance was unusually severe. "Let's go, I will find than you to heal. These wounds are dangerous. They will contact them if you do nothing."

He nodded to the faces that the impression of the living was no longer produced.

"It seemed to me that they were alive? Is it because of the lava in the boiler arises the effect that they move and laugh?"

"They fell asleep!" The king of the elves said gloomily. "For a while, but not forever."

"Who are they all?"

"My former friends!" on the tone it was clear that the recognition was his effort.

So the monster in a dream did not lie to her. And she thought that in front of her some special kind of magical creatures from a living metal. He even remembered the triggers of alchemists in which those allegedly can produce gold and precious stones through scientific experiments, and not magic. This boiler, as discharged, turned out to be specifically gloomy magic.

"Why have they become such? Did you do with them or someone else?"

"It made war!" Briefly cut out Dagda. "Therefore, I am against wars! Therefore, a union was concluded with Angus and Medea Shai. When we fight for the land or power, even our beloved becomes our enemies. And not avoid mutual injuries. I could not kill them. Let them live here! Inside the boiler!"

Over the boiler, as it has called, flew a tiny pixie with pink wings. Something from the inside grabbed it and pulled inside. It did not even have time to squeak, but the boiler for a moment hissed. Copper faces sleepily licked themselves. Amaranta looked inside. The tiny pink fairy did not remain, but at the bottom was a little corundum.

"Take it!" suggested Dagda. "Medea Shai adores good quality corundum. To replace it with you, she will do everything.'

"Why do I need to force it with something or attract?"

"Otherwise, she, as Danu once attacks you," he nodded to the central face with many horns.

So it really was that the goddess, about which so many rumors. The strongest government of the magical world! And here's what Dagd turned it! In the copper horned face on the magic boiler! Obviously, smaller faces are her retinue.

"You knew how many dangers would wait for the beloved of the king of the elves and still kidnapped me."

"I could not resist! "Duga pulled her tightly to himself, as if he was afraid to lose inevitably. - "And to protect you, I will have to cross through your principles. That is, to fight again."

"Caprice worth it?" said Amaranta.

"The love was worth it," he looked uncompromisingly. The sinister faces on the boiler were jerked, but they did not put themselves. They knew the price of love and friendship, but sometimes exceptions occur. Otherwise, the Red and White Fairy would still steal in heaven, and did not embark on the pits of Roses where the dispute did not dare.

Choice of Quentin

In the stables of the kingdom of elves instead of the smells of manure and hay stood a resistant smell of flowers. There are no grooms and stall boys here. All horses walked freely. All necks were decorated with floral garlands.And the horses themselves are not simple, but magical. Amaranta stroked the horn of the unicorn. Pearls, and diamonds are on it. That is why among the hunters there is a belief that the one who will be able to catch the unicorn will be rich!

Amarantita does't need money. Everything for her is free. But the menu of the elves was monotonous. All dishes consisted of a mixture of fruits and flower petals. No matter how strikingly, but the petals of these flowers were tasty. The wine made of them also tastes nicerly vintage.

Amaranta managed to be addicted to eating floral dishes, flying dance with winged creations and travel on magic horses.

Whom does she today choose to travel along the hills; Pegasus or unicorn? Pegasus is more useful. Because of the wings. She has only studied for her wings yet.

Red thread harmed along the paths. These are the traces! They make up then in the fingerprints of the stop, then in the puddle of the blood, then in the puddling faces, then in writing. Pegasus suddenly rushed forward on them and easily jumped out from under the hill dome.

And what now? Hilly area disappeared. Ahead is a forest road. It even benefits. It is worth finding a dragon tree and pick its apples. And the path back then someone will tell. Should she meet in the forest at least one elf. One met. But not exactly the one who should have expected to help. Stumble on it is almost the same as on the fairy from suite of the queen of Korund. How useful can there be an elf-defector?

Quentin was sitting in the thickets on the stump and guided the melody at mandolin. Strings under his fingers sang themselves. They also remained red trail. Words of a laudatory song about the queen of elves mandolin published with the notes itself.

Redhead of Quentin was visible from afar, like red traces.

"Why are your traces red?" from afar asked Amaranta.

"Remember, blood?" He pulled away from the game and pointed to the scar, the scarlet thread whining the neck. "If you noticed, in the footsteps I am now easy to find so that I do not escape from the kingdom of fairies. But I came up with one focus."

He made some passages with his hands, and the chain of scarlet traces changed the position, stretching instead of stump, on which he was sitting to the swamp.

"So easy to punish enemies. Thiery, who chased after me, thanks to it, pleased in the pool. Well, he swore later!"

"These traces are red and cunning, like you!" It was a strange praise, but a praise. Quentin all flourished from it.

"But my song is true. I composed it about your beauty and kindness."

A dragon tree grew next to the stump. Only this time in red scales, and not in blue. That's how good luck!

"Caution, it burns!" warned Quentin, but the fruits from it suddenly fell out of the branches and rolled on the road. It seemed that an earthquake began.

"Hold the tree! Just do not burn yourself!" Commanded Quentin. The border of the kingdoms falls behind the tree, for which the fairies will not have rights to call. The dragon tree is a kind of vest pillar. It will stop them if they fly for you."

"It is clear where you are, there are fairies, since you went to them. I have forever in the way of the rival. It was stupid to hope that at least one here is alone. But why the earth does shake?"

"This is a retinue of Medea Shai looking for me. They decided, probably, I want to flush from them.

"And you do not want?"

Quentin smiled and made a sign to be silent, but his mandolin continued to make sounds.

Footprints of Quentin stretched the scarlet chain, pointing to his location. And the queen with a retinue was already here. Amaranta shuddered. Quentin did not want, but he pointed at her. She is alone here. Pegasus, hitting the hooves by the road, is not a defender.

Quentin did not deceive. Medea Shai rushed here at the head of a whole suite of terrible creatures. Only a few of them were radiant and beautiful, but to the teeth armed. The black dragon, on which the queen of Fairies squeezed, was not flying, and he steps on the ground. Hence is the roar.

Claws of the dragon skipped the skull of a peddler, raised during the transition from one settlement to another. His box remained lying on the road. All things intended for sale have crumbled, mixed with fallen dragon apples, and suddenly climbed. Probably, from proximity to scaly fruits, they have gained magical power. The needles began to sew themselves, the ribbons themselves were tied in bows. The queen of fairies was very angry.

"I wasted my magic in vain! And all because of the search for a rowdy, who praises another queen. Would execute his second time! But then and the third will have to! And so indefinitely."

Quentin was not frightened, only with a despondency looked at the crushed corpse of the peddler and a bunch of goods from the box, which under the hooves of the black chaff procession began to behave like witchcraft artifacts.

"As I envy him," he confessed in a low voice. "I would have such a lightweight death, instead of immortality. And such a free share - walk around the cities and trade, without lingering anywhere, instead of being under the heel of the magic rulers."

Such simple dreams at a magical creature! Amaranta hesitated. It turns out Quentin tired of the fate of an eternal servant, whom even death from service will never save. But the queen of fairies, her immortality quite satisfied, probably because, together with the authority, it did not cause any discomfort. Did she appear here at the head of a terrible squad to find and force to return back to the kingdom of fairies poor Quentin.

Medea Shai honoured Amaranta with such a scornful glance, as if she was a bug with wings in front of her, and not a new queen of elves. The crown of gold laurel leaves on the head of Amaranta insulted her feelings either a little less than the tunes of Quentin's mandolin.

Are you on whose side? She was indignant. "You are a rowdy, drunkard and nowyou still praise my rival? The king in the looking glass is already seduced by her, the monsters are from her crazy. And now my faithful servant sings her diffilams."

"After I have seen her, I already doubt that you are the most beautiful. And I, the free elf, became your servant only because I found you an ideal of beauty."

Quentin was too audacious. Amaranta was frightened for him. What Medea Shai will do with him now?

"So you don't love me anymore and don't worship me?"

"Much is completely true, your gloomy majesty," Quentin answered with sarcasm. He was noted that the dragon would go on fire on him. After the fire on the ground, only the covered remains of the former Quentin will be wandered.

"Well, then get out!" Instead of inventing the punishment Medea Shai rushed to hysteria. "Go out of here, a traitor!"

"With joy!" Quentin even jumped on the spot as a schoolboy who was released from lessons.

"Do not return to the Corundum, otherwise the dragons will come to you," Medea Shai was angry. "Wrap on the roads, until some mortals catch you and do not surrender to the circus or on the bonfire of the Inquisition. You will be hungry and deprive the magical forces, you still have plenty to ask for forgiveness."

"I will show focuses or trade wonders," Quentin picked up the box of peddler and began to put all the wonderful fruits and things in it.

Medea Shai bit the tonguer, realizing her oversight. She herself let him go. Quentin was free, so he was so happy, even a song sang, picking up the dragon apples from theroad dust. With such a weapon, he definitely protects everything. Previously, he was tied by the oath, and now he is free.

"Do you want to betray me for her beauty?" questioned the queen fairies a graceful elf, who accompanied her. It must be Thiery. Outward he looked like the kingof elves, only the hair is not gold, but white. Probably, his hair became white from the life with such a scandalist.

But on Amaranta, he looked indifferently, even removed from the quiver a snake-shaped arrow. Really he wanted to shoot in his queens rival. Quentin also did not sleep. He cleverly threw one dragon apple in Medea Shai. Her elf had to crush the arrow with his hand and pull off behind the shield. Do not substit it the scaly shield on time, and the Queen of fairies would burn like a mud.

"Failure! "Quentin realized that other dragon apples were useless, while Thiery protects the queen. "But now you all know how I am grateful to you for shaking me in the kingdom of fairies."

`Let wood goblins eat you!" Medea Shai was angry, but could not do anything. For the line of the road she can not go, and snake arrows against dragon apples are not a weapon."

"Let you fell in love with the first oncoming bench and became her slave," Medea Shai was ready to switch to insults, how only market shops or abandoned wives were. And why was she so angry? After all, she has driven him. Well, not counting his tricks. He provoked it.

"Let human magicians put you in a cage and mocked you!"

"Mock sophisticated than you, your gloomy majesty, no one can. In this you surpassed all the terrestrial and magical executioners."

"Let everyone betray you as you betrayed me!"- I cured him finally be Medea Shai.

However, as far as such a curse could be effective and who betrayed here, was very foggy.

"In general, she is right," Quentin put the last magical thing into the box and watched the black fog left by the queen of fairies. "Suddenly you will betray me with Dagda."

The elf tousled his red hair and began to resemble a stray guy. His wings hid the box, which he threw himself on his back. It's time to go! Now he is a merchant and an adventurer who offers spells along with things. But he is free as the wind.

He did not regret the expensive feed in the kingdom of Fay. But on Amaranta, Quentin looked with a light regret.

"I shouldn't get confused with you, or I suddenly become your servant. Of course, you are beautiful, but be a prisoner of the queen of elves after I went away from the queen of fairies with difficulty, it was too much."

Amaranth understood him. When the black fog dispels, only his red traces will be able to slow down on the road, but for them the queen of the elves does not track it. Quentin traces are the same changeable as he himself. You will go on them, will lead to a swamp. And they disappear as quickly as night passes. It will be no longer visible during the day.

Finding back to the kingdom of elves was not as simple as it is from it. No green hills raised behind the forest, and the black fields on which Finodirries worked hard. They learned the queen of elves, they left their work and bowed. It was worth only to ask, and one of them pointed her the direction in which you need to go to get back to the green hills. Under his ugly paw between black wormwood, sprouting on the field, a sparkling path was opened.

Amaranta almost say out the fatal "thank you", but in time bites the tongue, remembering the condition of communication with Finodirries.

"I promise you never to thank you, but I will not consider you as slaves," she promised. "You are equal members of the magic society. Serve me only if you yourself want."

Of course, they wanted.

Amaranta regretted that she did not gain dragon apples. Red Dragon Tree really burned her fingers too much. It's surprising how Quentin managed to collect fallen apples, without sacrificing with their hands, which from touching them could easily burn. Now dragon apples would not be superfluous. Something threatening was in the air. Next to the field of black wormwood, which grew up and stretched up in front of the eyes, swore stoles from skulls. Some Finodirries plowed there the earth with bones.

"Does it told you Dagda?" questioned Amaranta.

The largest of Finodirries was blocked before scratching in the back of the head and answer.

"No, this is the order of his heart's lady''.

"I didn't give such an order," Amaranta was indignant. In the fields plowed bones, some nasty, like living weeds. One wrapped around her arms and bitten. They wanted blood? Finodirry hurriedly snatched him and it hung like a snake.

"Another lady of his heart," he explained. His hoarse bass was difficult to disassemble. `The one that was his companion before you. The queen of fairies."

"Do not listen to her more. Duga broke with her. From now I am the queen of elves. The only one. In addition to my commands, you are not obliged to obey anyone."

Her words had an action. On the bone stones, sprouted lush white flowers. Their stems strangled predatory weeds.

Finodirries even slammed the rough palms. They themselves kneel themselves, but it was impossible to praise them.

"Do we not obey your maid-in-honour too?" asked one of them. They knew the court rules of the elves and fairies.

"My maid-in-honour's name is Igrid, not Medea Shai. Remember it in the future!"

"What are you saying!" The queen of fairies was already here as here. She is directly omnipresent!

There are whole carpets of flowers on the field.

"Looks like a Iley," said Nedea Shai.

"What is Iley?"

"An illiterate queen of elves! Wow!"

The monstrous servants of Medea Shai, who climbed after her, tried to snatch flowers from the fields, but nothing came out. Their efforts were in vain, and the stems of flowers are durable as iron.

"I will enlighten you by using the pause," the queen of fairies hissed from anger on her useless subjects. "Iley is the flower that you will never see, because your wedding with Dagda will never be. He blooms only on the night of the wedding of elves or fairies. The most capricious flower in the world! It can be seen only once in a century and only at midnight. But it is indescribably luxurious and has the power to fulfill any desires.

I would like to see it.

The servants of Medea Shai, who tried to once again turn the surroundings to hell from bones and weeds, tried in vain.

The black fairy was angry but could not do anything. Finodirries gathered a pack near the new queen of the elves, silently giving to understand who they prefer. Amaranta has too formidable servants, which in the threat of an attack will immediately become defenders. The queen of fairies hoped for stupidity and politeness of the rival. As a gentle girlfriend does not even thank, but Amaranta tightly closed her lips. She will not say anything. It is better to be silent than to offend them. Sometimes silence is more valuable than gold. Words can spoil any relationship. You never know anyone and what you can offend. Everyone who lived and enjoyed has their own painful points that are better not to affect.

Ice oath

The noise, raised near the stable, forced Angus to forget about melancholia and do business. Probably the servants who came there, attacked some evil spirits. After terminating the contract with elves, all the servants of Dagda hurried to fly or wage from a no longer hospitable castle, but someone was delayed. For example, Magic drunkards occupied the wine cellar. According to Spark, it was not to get rid of them. They will disappear only when all the wine coms to end in the castle.

Ambrose also did not want to part with the elf, with whom they became friends and now they constantly trained in military art together. So one elf could be considered a defector.

"Not on time he got stuck here," somehow commented Spark, watching the strange friends: one wonderful knight and one mortal. "War comes with the kingdom of Dagda. This traitor willbe torn off from their own!"

"Better tell about it to him than me!" Angus said.

An exquisite carriage in which Amaranta arrived, was covered with the ice. There was even snow around the roof.

Angus decided to inspect the carriage and found that the axis in one of the wheels is a flexible, constantly changing shape magic ice.

"Do not touch it!" An ice spirit immediately aroused next, barely Angus extended his hand to the sparkling axis of the wheel.

"Who are you? You did not send Dagda."

"I have a persuasion with your wife. The ice detail of the carriage is a gift to her. Touch the gift, turn into ice yourself."

Angus did not like such threats. He grabbed the sword.

"What do you want? Freeze the whole castle?"

"I want to freeze all Ilion, but your county is under the rule of hostile to me charms. I would not touch it if you will foget about your king and well not respond to a military call."

"Are you kidding? How can the knight forget about the debt."

"Some forget when the knife or magic is noted to the throat," the sharp ice finger with the size of the dagger turned out to be so long and flexible that it was easy to spoke around the throat of Angus and began to choke. Only obvious Angus turned out to be not on the teeth, because the grip quickly weakened.

"You are a strong nut. Anyway. I still planned to pick up your wife, not you."

Ice finger released the throat of the count.

"Better pick the carriage, since you liked it so much that you hold her under your winter spells."

"Why do I need a carriage instead of a beautiful woman?"

The ice guest disappeared.

But the ambassadors of the king just knocked into the gate. And if only ambassadors. For no reason from this, the relatives of Amaranta, who did not visite her wedding, suddenly arrived from Aluar to visit her.

And how to get out now? Do not tell them all directly that the elves dragged his wife. Maybe the ambassadors of the king of Ilior, which were notifyed with ice creatures, don't laugh. But what can say the relatives from Aluar. Scandal can not be avoided.

It is necessary to bring a gold copy from the tower. Suddenly she can take the appearance of Amaranta again. Angus rushed to the tower, where he locked her and found that there are no more doors in the tower. The wall became smooth and thickly chosen with gold roses. Flowers rang like laughing.

"Do not be afraid! I'm with you!" Medea Shai was formed from the darkness and black cobwebs, from the corridor's abundant corners.

"And how will you help me now? Enchant the guests so that they do not think anything."

"Dear, I can assume your wife, no worse than some kind of magic copy."

"They are not blind? And you do not change the appearance as I noticed."

"But looking at me, they will think that I am she. I love to invade into someone else's consciousness and poison it with black illusions."

"Better open the door in the tower."

"Was it really there?" Medea Shai took him under the elbow and persistently dragged into the hall for receiving guests. What strong she turned out to be! Even the knight could not resist her. Angus had to be kept behind her.

The guests have already organized a modest feast. There are dishes of grapes and a whole pork carcass grilled in oil wine on the table. King's ambassadors do not accept modestly.

Medea Shai sat at the head of the table, like the hostess. She began to flirt with the ambassadors of the king, completely ignoring the mother of Amaranta. Angus did not know where to go. Cousin of Amaranta Gloria suddenly winked to him by a black eay. Why did her skin become black? Angus agitated. And naive ambassadors of the king, who did not have time to get up due to the table, were closely clamped in their paws at once several black monsters, in which the relatives of Amaranta instantly turned.

"Who did you led to my castle?"

Medea Shai smiled innocently.

"Why did you decide that this is me?"

Only corpses remained from the ambassadors. The monsters devoured a couple servants too.

"Stop them!"

"This is the price of the union with me!"

Angus has long been tormented suspicious that he was in vain with her confused.

"We did not conclude contracts. I want you to leave with all your mobsters!"

Medea Shai got up and flew to him, squeezing fists.

"I'll get back and help you, without my help you can not do. I helped to the king of Ilior too."

"You made meat of his ambassadors."

"They are too many, as well as his warriors. From the ice elves, nothing will save him. If I do not intervene. But he has already managed to put so many promises! I can even help. In this castle, the strength of the ice oath is also felt. You promised something from ice creatures.

"Not me. Amaranta."

"It is worth for her."

"What does it mean?"

But Medea Shai already flew to the window."

"I can't stay longer here. The owner of the castle, who did not succumb to my charm and wanted to drive me, it is rare. Besides the orders of the owner of the fortress leave I must obey."

She flew away. Her monsters simply disappeared. And on the table for the feast, there were bloody scraps of the Clothes of the ambassadors and their emblems. It is necessary to burn it all until someone tells to the king of Ilion that his vassal became a traitor. It is good that the ambassadors managed to report before the feast that he was waiting for the battlefield. They were eaten by monsters, but he knew that it was time to gather on the road.

She began to dream about monster very often. It stood before their bed. Mountains from paws, heads, suckling and claws rummaged like a black rock. How inappropriate it looked in luxurious chambers. His tentacles stroked her face, stretching forward like snakes.

"Who are you?" Sleepy murmured Amaranta. Dagda slept. He earlier always woke up when the danger approaches. Does this mean that there are no threats now, and the monster is only an illusion. His sparkling eyes looked at her with dozens of heads, and only two eyes seemed sighted - two red eyes in the very center. Rather three. The third was on the forehead. The largest.

"What do you want from me? From us?"

He wanted something from Dagda. She felt.

"You also want to destroy me, because I'm alien here? Not a fairy, not an elf. No one."

It was silent. Dozens of pairs of eyes are not blinking. They glowed in the night as distant lanterns.

"If he loves you, I can love you too," the monster said.

It hung over it. He suddenly had dozens paws, like hands. Hundreds of black paws stretched to her body. Touching in a dream was almost not felt. It seemed that black claws were silent to put a lot of seals on it and could not.

"Do you want to hear about the old kingdom? And what is the love of Dagda?"

What is the old kingdom? What about which she read in the scrolls? There was nothing left of it, except for the Tuata-de-Danan and the Black Hill fragmented to the individual states.

Amaranta woke up at dawn. So dream was the night visit of the monsters or still not? She examined her body. No traces of touch remained.

Someone called her. The choir of votes told her name. Amaranta listened. She wanted to get up and go for them. She resisted not long.

She had to go into the garden.

It is so nice in the magic garden. Tere are so many miracles around. And the smell of flowers and fruits is simply marvellous. Only tiny inhabitantsof the garden were of her slightly afraid and scatter when she goes. The birds adored her. And they sang for her special trills, and sometimes songs with human voices.

Fruit similar to tangerines grew up on the living hedge of lians, among them blackberry type berries. And the leaves around them are unusual as miniature maples. She looked overgrown with hand, and discovered a copper surface in bas-reliefs. This is a door! But where does it lead? And why is so deftly disguised? It also stayed from the old kingdom, like a wall in the forest and a black hill?

Amaranta jerked for a large copper ring. The door succumbed. A dark pass opened behind it. The voices were called from it. They still told her name! Amaranta moved to sounds. I had to go as long as in the tunnel, which Spark helped at home to discover. She realized that she wandered into the dungeon. Or in the underground prison? There were grilles and cages here. And from the cage calls a voice. Amaranta tried to see who is inside and pulled out. There was a monster with a lot of heads. The cage was clearly close to him. Or is it a dream again?

"Who are you?"

Black claws clapped the cage' rods. It's for sure claws from her sleep! And the eyes are the same that they look at her in dreams: red and shining. They see her through.

"I sleep?"

"I definitely do not sleep! Since Dagda overwhelmed me in the battle, I did not sleep any second. Under his spells, all of us suffers insomnia."

"All of you?" It meant, probably, all dozens of his heads.

"All who are over on a black hill."

"And who is over?"

"All his loved ones."

"He could not destroy his loved ones."

"He could! And you could save the world from him, if you come into a bedroom with a dagger and cut his throat. Only his beloved is capable of killing him, so he always avoided falling in love, struggled all beautiful women and fairies. His love gives you a terrible power over him. Use it, until he ceases to love you. And then you will be in the next cage from me."

"There is no neighboring cage," Amaranta looked around. Behind is only a smooth wall. "You alone take all the cages what is there."

"A new cage will appear for you, barely you become unnecessary," the voice has become admonish. He penetrated the soul.

"Did you come to me in dreams? What for?"

"Only you can release me if you kill Dagda. While he is alive, his spells do not give me to go out."

Amaranta frowned. One of the monsters was sitting in a cage. Dagda did not kill him or could not kill? He has dozens of heads, and they all incite Amaranta to kill Dagdu:

"He is an evil!

"He holds you as the hostage!"

"He does not let you go back to people, but you are born among people! There is your place."

And only one head stated:

"Do not listen! He loves you! He always dreamed of finding his half. And we all envied him, because we can not."

"Take," one of the thousand clawed hands extended her a dagger with a knob of a similar key. "You can kill him and free yourself."

Amaranta pulled away from the rod. She did not take the key. All hundreds of heads were disappointed.

"Do you know where you're standing now?"

"In the dungeon."

"Top of us is the burial mound."

Probably the monster meant that black hill.

"So this is the grave?"

"This is the Great Battle Memorial and everyone who was defeated. Even their ashes are in captivity at your kidnapper.

This ash could develop in the face and attack. She dreamed. The dreams were partially true.

"Why did you fight?"

" Greed and power. We will never think about the sublime creatures that for their ambitions they are ready to jump each other, not to mention the territories."

About territorial disputes he mentioned very by the way. It seems that the elves and fairies were intimidated by people just because they configured their homes and staged arable land on the edge of the Tuatu de Danan lands.

"They took away a small piece, and then wanted to take everything," loved to repeat Ivein.

"Release me!" The monster insisted, but Amaranta already remembered how she let to go the monstrous birds. If you free this monster, it will also throw on the first, who will turn. And only she is next.

Picking up the train, she quickly rushed away. The monster has a lot of votes. From his singing the mind clouded. She wanted to go back. Amaranta closed her ears. The path before exiting the tunnel seemed inconclusive long.

The scandal with Dagda was not avoiding. She was no longer intended to be silent about her dreams, nevertheless about the prisoner whom she saw.

"You didn't kill him, although you won, and he wants to kill you for it," Amaranta almost sobbed.

"Do not listen to him. Do not talk to him. He is very cunning. You need to forget about it, and he will not be able to do anything.

"You did not have enough strength to kill him?"

- I did not have enough self-control. It was not always like that. Maybe you will understand if you see."

"I will not return to his imprisonment."

"I propose to go to the ruins of the old kingdom."

The old kingdom was the destroyed fortress of the old rulers. It remained only in the abandoned corner of the current kingdom of elves.

Wonderful ruins, looked like a rug of stones from afar. It was worth getting into them, as they appealed to a labyrinth with a lot of arches.

"Look in the arches!" said Dagda. "And you will find out more than you can read in the scrolls from the manuscript tower."

The arches reproduced the past, showing it, as if the vision. Among them, it was possible to get lost, as in a mirror labyrinth, because in each arca is visible according to the new fragment of the past. You can step into the arch and go there. For centuries ago. Amaranta stepped down and found herself in the old battle. Dagda won against the monster with great difficulty and cut off his many heads. His heads flew from Dagda's sword one after another. All field was in the blood. But the blood was poisonous. Dagda did not give her to watch, dragging her back for the Arch frame. She would not get out herself.

"What's wrong? You won! Why were you not able to kill him? After all, you knew that in the century all his heads would grow back, if not to destroy it completely? It was possible to burn the remains. Why did you give him a chance?"

She felt Dagda sighed heavily.

"It was my friend."

She did not expect such an answer.

Magical elixir

Medea Shai chased the mortal king, her new ally. He already regretted that he had contacted her. From her magic assistance there was more problems than benefits. The King of Ilion realized that if you want to enlist the magical ally, then you should be cautious doubly. Partially the queen of fairies helped. Armies of his neighbors were eaten by her black creatures directly on the battlefield. Even the battle did not take place. The winged demons flew and broke out other warriors on meat.

"One who has never watched the feast of cannibals, may not look at the maneuvers of my troops," the black fairy warned, but the king of Ilion looked. Returning to his tent, he discovered that gray-haired strands appeared in his chestnut hair.

A terrible feast took place on the battlefield.

Medea Shai was not able to defeat the ice elves, only people. The proposal at the end of the war to become the queen of Ilion did not suit her. She wanted only money and human victims.

Her gnome remained on the stump in front of the tent. He was terribly ugly. The king's advisors were afraid of him.

With the king the gnome was yery polite. Therefore, the king decided to give him a little attention. Did you never talk about gnome?

"Why don't you leave with your Mrs? Do you like the king's society more than queen's? Do you want to drink?"

The gnome silently nodded.

"Ale or wine?"

Instead of the response, the gnome dried all the keg of ale in one moment. As it was only fit.

"I would still have a pint of beer," the gnom said. "After one scoundrel robbed my hut, I am in drinking bout."

"Is it better to complain about her to your queen?"

"Already complained, and it was in vain. And all because this scoundrel seduced the king of elves. She is now in his Seven hills, as behind the stone wall."

"So I'm not lucky," the king of Ilion admitted. Still a little bit and he himself will sit down with this gnome to drink beer barrel, as with the best friend. "Affected by my royal magician during the hunt, the ugly bird turned out to be the magical creation of Medea Shai. And here the queen of fairies appeared to reckon me for damaged by the wing of her pet.

"A child of fairy! Perhaps her own?"

"What?!"

"No matter how beautiful the fairies themselves are, but the monsters are born. Sometimes it is a ugly bird. So I do not advise you to succumb to her seduction, if you do not want to acquire such offspring."

The king was terrified.

"My general saw the trolls catch the travelers and put on them a fiery stamp in the form of a foot with six claws, which comes to life and moves right on the skin. From the stamp flesh burns. They do not have a brand, but a paw of some creature. One of his soldiers was caught and stamped. The soldier entrusted to the regiment and unwittingly became the spy of enemies."

"They whisper into his ears, laugh, and he can't bother them before friends and is forced to serve them?"

"Everything is right."

"Did they burn him?"

"He is in the cage now."

"Better to burn. Otherwise, he himself turn into something monstrous." The gnome sighed noisy. "Stay with her on the night, she turns you to the slave monster. You look into the mirror, and there already instead of you is troll in the magic collar. I wanted to have the head of her own rival! It turned out that she could not kill the rival. Let the devil take her!"

The gnome disappeared, barely noticed how a flock flew to the regiment and began to devour warriors. And where is Medea Shai wanders at such a moment? The King of Ilion once again regretted that he had acquired the magic ally. From the magical creatures you never know what to expect. The Ice elves were also at first nice and helpful. Now the cold from them fastened all Ilior. Well, if Medea Shai defeats them, and then you can terminate the union with them. The idea that she may wanted to pay for the victory to become the wife of the king, began to scare.

A peddler traded wonders before military tents. He was a red, like autumn. The freckles on his cheeks were in the bizarre patterns, every second in different. From his box, he pulled one attribute of magic, then another, veiled under ordinary type things: flaps and threads, rags for cleaning weapons or beer mugs, of which flowers pixies have evaporated.

The red-haired guy, apparently was the elf, because under his short cloak, the wings were fluttered. They were to going to catch out and chop into pieces, but he smiled disarmingly, took off his head off his shoulders, as if the cap was so. Only a red pillar of purple smoked over the place where he stood. And the magic things that fell out of his box were crawling around and attacked soldiers.

"He is not from the suite of her majesty, your king's ally. It needs to caught him and burn," insisted some white-haired knight, which name was Tierry. He was exactly from the suite of Medea Shai. He has the sharp ears and the rainbow wings.Tere are arrows from the living red snakes in his quiver, but in battles with the enemies, for some reason, this elf has not yet participated. Angus watched him from his tent.

"Hello, my second ally from Ilion!" said the queen of fairies. "I'll tell you a secret, soon there will be a monster, which will destroy all the army of your opponents and even all elves. Since Dagda fell in love, he weakened, and it gained strength. But I brought a elixir to gain strength and for you."

Medea Shai appeared in his tent suddenly, as if she had grown out of the ground. Angus was not surprised. She often began to arise next to the wall, then from the tree, then directly from the air, but most often it came from the mirrors. Before her, the whole world lies like on the palm, and there are no closed doors in it. Everything is simple when you fairy.

It was not easy for him in war. One thing to fight with people, but you will not fight the blocks of ice. Someone confused all the human enemies or the knights did not have work left. Ice elves retreated too. Medea Shai boasted that it was her work. She came to Angus with a tempting offer.

Medea Shai gave an elixir to the count.

"So it will help me to compare by force with the elf?"

"It will operate only during the day. Drink a drop with each sunset. Do not forget."

"Why do you help me? Do you want something as a pay? For example, give all my cohort of the fighters to your dragon for lunch, after we will win."

He grinned. Excellent would be the price. Be eaten by evil spirits after a minute triumph.

"It's free."

"Free?" Something was not believed.

"I love beautiful men, even if they are not dragons," she snapped on her black huge satellite. The dragon lay at the entrance to the tent and did the view that he was not jealous. "And you are very nice. You have a sincere look, a delicate skin."

Her hand, like a black spider, slipped under his shirt. It seems that the insect climbed out the gate. Angus shook it with dislike. Black claws left poisonous wounds on his skin.

"Nothing! Heal!" She smiled. "Now you are invulnerable! Even for my spell!"

"Let's spend this night together," she suggested, waving her eyelashes.

"We are doing it together. For negotiations."

"I'm about the friendship," Medea Shai nodded expressively on the bed.

"This is superfluous," said Angus.

She suddenly became blonde. Angus looked at a gentle face of Amaranta with black bottomless eyes of Medea Shai.

"The thing is that you are not free, yes? But I can create the illusion that you do not betray anyone."

A copy of Amaranta was so close and breathed in his chest with fire. But she failed to enslave the count. He pushed the modified queen of fairiesy from himself.

"I already have one copy in my castle."

"Ah, this! Luellin. A brainless creation. Unlike her, I am wise. And you, as an educated person, should not love a dummy. But I see you prefer to sit alone at all."

"Entertainment is too relaxing. Before the battle, they are superfluous."

Now the Queen of fairies understood and nodded.

`Quite reasonable! But, probably, in the future, when you get tired of the stupidity of Amaranta, I will come to you somehow after sunset, and you will know how nice to connect with the fairy instead of the usual mortal woman. And if I finally understand that you don't need me, then our union will come to an end that in general it is not scary for you, given that you received the desired power for the fight with an elf."

The winged beauty retreated into the shadow, away from the light of the lamp. In a minute she disappeared at all.

Angus sighed with relief. Without Medea Shai here it became so quiet and calm. And the flask with the magic elixir pleasantly refrigerated his hand. The sparkling liquid in it seemed a live monster planted into a bottle, like a genie in the lamp. Will he be a monster and himself, drinking a magic solution? It is a pity that there is no choice. If not Amaranta, no one would have forced him to this.

"You love her too much," Medea Shai whispered before the disappearance. Or did he just imagined?

In any case, it is true. He wanted to return her. And in order to return her back to the castle, to the mortal, he has to destroy the king of the elves.

Only one drop of elixir and the flame went on all his veins.Angus barely managed to close the bottle with a lid before the hissing liquid rushed out of it.

In the bottle, demonic strength, and soon, all of it will carry in Angus.

War with ice elves

The hill was in front of them, dramatically standing out against the background of the green valley. Over it stood a sinister echo. As if hundreds of black spirits rushed out of it into the outside world.

"They reproach!" Translated Dagda hissing voices, coming from the hill.

"You?" Amaranta did not understand why they flew so close to the hill, to which it was better not to approach. But Dagda seemed to lose his mind. "They blame you so far, although they themselves have already become ash?"

He nodded.

"In what?"

"In the heartlessness. So you would continue to love me if I burned your castle, killed Angus, and I would have taken in captivity."

"Yes!" She honestly admitted, and the black hill groaned with hundreds of voices. It seems that the monster was exempted under it. Amaranta kissed the king of elves.

"Let's fly home! "He grabbed her and carried her to his Side and the Royal Castle inside, but there was an alarm there.

"Here was Medea Shai," Ivein explained. "She passed to us through the mirror, and she has the keys to all doors and, as it turned out, from all shackles. She let him go!"

"The multi-headed prisoner?" Amaranta was embarassed.

Ivein only nodded.

The boiler in the throne's hall became impatient.

"Give it to us!" hissed the copper faces. "From the blood of your pet we will go for a century ahead! And we will no longer require food."

The black hill crashed on thousands of monstrous creatures flying to the castle.

"This is his cohort!" Hissed the boiler. "Give them to us too. And otherwise we will eat her!"

Their steel tongues ??reached out to Amaranta.

"We need the blood of those whom you loved how us! We will take it yourself if you do not give!"

They could slightly exaggerate, but Dagda quickly made a choice in favor of the present sweetheart, and not friends who he did not want to destroy on old memory.

"Bring the boiler on the field where he goes," commanded Dagda to his warriors.

With their wings it was simple. Amaranta did not believe that one boiler could block the whole monster of the size of the mountain, but it could. The copper faces turned out to be greedy and hungry. One moment and nothing remains from the monsters.

The copper faces fell asleep. Now very long. Per century or two.

"The war is over!" Dagda, for some reason, took Amaranta to mound of stone.

"Only one, the second began with people. I hear from here her echo. Your spouse is there. Do you want to help him?. Or do you want to help Ilior? In any case, we can fly there and look at military actions from a height.

"What for?"

"I am tormented by conscience before Angus. And he fights now with his earthly king. I would like to help them."

"He will want to deploy military actions also with your people."

"He is already fighting with elves, just not with my present subjects, but with ice elves."

"Those who lived in the abyss under the Grand Bridge on the way to March County?"

"Do you know them?"

"They are fortune-tellers."

"Only their leader is. He predicted me a lot of trouble, including the fatal love for the mortal, so we quarreled. I do not like to know about the troubles that are waiting ahead."

"I would also not know about them," Amaranta shuddered at the thought that three days are on the outcome. If she does not come to the kingdom of ice, that is, in the abyss under the bridge, where you can only get on the pegasus, then ice creatures will announce the war to her beloved. Dagda, apparently, did not even notice the traces of the ice guest in his castle.

"Will it be considered that I visited icy elves if we visited them on the battlefield?"

"Do you want to visit them? They are still my vassals. I can reduce you to them, but it's especially nothing to see there. There is ice around and it is very cold. In addition, it's hard to get there.

"I hope we do not frozen to death if we get closer to them?"

"We do not, but the army of Ilion, including Angus, may well."

"You really appreciate him so far, that would you like to protect?"

"Well, I took the most valuable thing that he owned?" Dagda stroked her on the cheek. "It would be easier for him to part with county or even with life than with you. They say, elves have no conscience, but I have. In addition, he turned out to be the most courageous and noble of all the knights, which I knew before. Especially if compared with other knights from the his family. I sincerely liked him."

"Did you like a multi-headed monster, from which there is nothing left?"

"Yes. I once appreciated him, but the century went, he became arrogant and talked. He abused with his magical power to all in harm. Angus remained noble. We were only quarreled because of the object of love. But I still respect him."

Amaranta could fly herself, even though her wings are quickly tired, but Dagda picked her and flew with her. As soon as they crossed the region of green hills, human cities became visible. In one of them, the redhead peddler sold wonderful ribbons to girls screaming from delight. Amaranta from afar learned Quentin. He also noticed her, despite the distance, and winked.

The battlefield shared like two colors. One part of the smaller in size remained green, the other became white from ice and snow. Hordes of ice elves were countless. And the monsters attacked the people of the mortal king. Or opposite they were his allies? From the height of the clouds, it is not easy to consider. Dagda descended below. Amaranta still could not understand who was fighting against whom.

Ice elves won. Another dangerous acquaintances! Amaranta was afraid, noticing that Adeline was riding the Pegasus, explicitly borrowed from the stables of the elves and accompanied by an Infanta.

"Did you decide to look at the war? This is not a spectacle for a lady."

"War may not," Adeline deftly learned how to control the winged horse. "But somewhere here on the battlefield there is a real king. Where else can I meet him, if not here? At the reception to the Royal Palace of Ilion, he hardly invited me. And I dream about the attention of the king."

Amaranth did not enlighten her that it was possible to get attention only from the ice monster. However, the king is also, but not at all, with which it will be nice to meet.

The King of Ilion has already fled with the removed remnants of his suite. Medea Shai evaporated with black fog. On the battlefield, only ice elves were left and their lord, which was pretty raised slippery palms, about something resembling Dagda.

"We agreed," said he, "you will choose a mortal and we are not your subjects."

"It goes," Dagda reluctantly nodded, wanted to cancel something, but she glanced at Amaranta and changed his mind. She is more valuable.

"So, now I am the Lord of these ice elves."

Dagda silently gave him a rod with an ice stone.

" I also want the earthly bride. The same as yours," his shouts carried an ice wind, shook everything.

"I'll go with him," Adeline volunteered.

"You are crazy?"

"Well, if there is a need ..."

"I won't let you," Amaranta grabbed her hand. "

"Let me! You, what did not understand? I want it."

Oh, these love spells of elves!

"Well, he is a freak."

"Of course," Adeline stared at her with clean completely disturbed eyes. Well, just a little bit. "And he is the king. And he has treasures in his ice."

"And what if they are only ice floes and your kingdom melts with the arrival of spring."

"But I will become the queen, like you. At least for a while."

"The queen of ice!"

"And I have a choice. Unlike you, nobody noticed me all my life. By the way, it is dishonest, I am also pretty, but, alas, I have no dowry."

"He will take your soul and turn her into ice."

"Well, let. For one soul you will not live. Need more money. Or I will have the rest of my life to serve you. Or your daughter who herself will be born as a fairy."

"Do not say that!"

"And you do not bother me to become a queen."

"Have you thought well?"

An ice lord waited.

"You will freeze in his kingdom to death in one night."

"But even though the night I will be a queen, I'll sit on the ice throne, I will drink the magical wine from ice, see how the snowflakes are dancing..

"And you will find in his arms."

"So what?" Adeline still frowned. "He's the king. The king is beautiful for a woman. It is impotant not his appearance, but his status."

"You play with fire."

"No, I play with ice."

"Look, will not perish in ice."

"Do not scare me in vain, sister."

" Sister?

"Yes, because from today we are both Queen. This is a form of courtesy for queens, call other ruling special brothers and sisters. You are the queen of seven hills and all adjacent lands, and I am the queen of winter and ice."

Adeline released her hand and went to the waiting for her crowning ice block. As it turned out, the Ice King is absolutely the same as one lady, that another. The main thing is that she is pretty. They made a ridiculous couple. Beautiful and frozen awkward creature! How ridiculous it looks! Something similar Amaranta has already watched the example of Uriella and the monster from the sea. For some reason, all her friends prefer wealthy monsters than cute, but moneyless guys. Even Infanta scratched with the tip of the wing in the forehead.

"Is it love?"

"No, it is greedyness, "Amaranta has already formed her opinion.

:Does she understand that she can no longer return?"

"Imagine, yes."

Hunt on count

Angus was looking for his rival in the forest. Medea Shai turned out to be right not in everything. There were no elves around.

Theobald and Ambrose hurried after him. Theobald hated elves, and Ambrose was so fascinated by a gold copy that he could not live without attention of Amaranta.

Angus cursed through his teeth. Having confused with the magic, he found himself in fools. But this time he wins. The queen of fairies said that it was worth to defeat the king of elves, and Amaranta will be free from his spell and from captivity. She can be taken home.

There was an unusual well in the form of a winged snake before them. From afar, the snake seemed alive.

"I'm thirsty!" said Ambrose.

"Not worth it!" Stopped him Angus. "This well may be a cunning trick, and the water in it is a dragon poison."

It seemed to him that the well hissed.

"But I will need to wash the wound," Theobald jumped off his horse, and then Angus did not dare to object anything. During the battle for the king, he had to cut off his hand, which became uncontrollable. Something black and monstrous grew out of it. Against the will of Theobald, his hand began to turn the sword against his comrades. Except to cut it out, nothing remained.

"It was worth Theobald to be bowed over the well, as a metal voice said:

"There are the borders of the kingdom of elves here. You may not go there."

It didn't bother Angus and Theobald. Water in the well was not poisoned, but something gold and predatory, like a winged head jumped from the well and seized with sharp teeth right in the face of Theobald.

Angus rushed to help, but the frame of the well suddenly came to life and turned out to be a real snake.

"Let's go!" Angus realized that after the bites of golden snake theobald can not survive.

There were suddenly mant elves around. They attacked Angus. The count was able to resist everyone.

"Leave him!"

But this was exactly the voice of Dagda. Angus would have learned it anywhere. The beautiful and shining the king of elves already stood nearby. His wings are gold on the background of dark green foliage. On the cheeks fascinated a blush. He exactly hurried here.

Nostalgia hit Angus. How it happened that they became enemies. There were friends, and suddenly a woman got up between them. Love for a woman is more important than friendship? They both decided that it is more important. Angus rushed to the king elves with a sword. Only memories remained from their first unsuccessful competition. Now they fought on an equal footing. Medea Shai's elixir gave Angus enough forces to resist the elf's king.

Thanks to this elixiru in the battle for Ilior, Angus defeated whole regiment and several ice creatures, but Dagda was stronger than he. The elf has several times put the blade to his throat, but for some reason Dagda did not have enough courage to apply a fatal blow.

"Are you afraid to kill me? Do you remember our friendship?"

The king of elves shook his head adversely.

"Then why?"

"If I kill you, I break the law about the century before the wedding. If the mortal husband dies from the hand of the kidnapper, then he will have to part with his wife for a whole century, and maybe even forever. I do not want to part with Amaranta, so you still alive.

So what's the matter?"

"Don't you even consist that you kidnapped her?"

"No," the elf disarmed him with an absolutely innocent smile. "Where there is strong love, for conscience and the honor of the place is no longer left. If you do not understand this, you never really loved it."

Angus rushed to the enemy with a double rage, but there was an imperative voice from the thicket:

"Enough!"

Both rivals turned around, and Angus involuntarily lowered the sword. Over the forest soared, as a fairy, his wife. Or rather, it will now say: his ex-wife. After all, gorgeous snow-white wings grew from her back. Amaranta has wings!

Does this mean that she is now an elf? And if she was able to join their race, then this is a phenomenon! It is impossible to call it a prisoner more. Yes, and the crown in her curls speaks of a high position in a magic court.

"I loved you, but before the elves we, people, could not resist," she turned to Angus.

"How did I then resist fairies?" He reproached and immediately bit his lip. Apparently, the fight is over.

"I'm not so strong as you. I choose an elf."

Amaranta confirmed it herself. She decided the outcome of the battle. You can swear, you can fight, but nothing is not reversed. How in vain he signed the union with the elves! If it would not be Amaranta and Dagda would never meet. Or would they ever meet anyway? They could be reduced by fate.

"Be you both cursed," Angus swept his sword and felt the impulse of the fiery power inside. Elixir still influenced. "Or I myself will be cursed now."

"Well, here, you didn't get rid of you husband," said Medea Shai. She flew with her black wings, and not on the dragon. Angus cursed again.

"I needed to kill you myself to separate them, but I was too delicate. Your premature death would put an end to the union of an elf and a mortal."

"Do not dare to approach him!" Dagda unexpectedly stood up for an old friend, not because he remembered the law of one century before the wedding, but simply on old memory. Once in the hope that the magic people and people will become friends, he spent a lot of happy hours with the count. Now everything was over.

"It is a providence that your union broke up," Medea Shai demonstrated dangerously glittered black claws, as if she was aiming to attack. "Predators have no friendship with victims. There should be no unions between people and elves. Between fairies and persons.

"It became, our union with you is also terminated," Angus summed up with sarcasm. "I stayed in fools twice. You, evil spirits, are great liars."

Medea Shai smiled approvingly. To keep the count in the fools she liked from the very beginning, but now the game came to an end.

"It was easier for you to get rid of me so that there was no interference to your desires. Why didn't you do this?" The count appealed to Dagde. "Are you so noble, elf?"

"Not by that much! All this indisputable law."

"Is there such a law for you? Or are we on a special territory where it exists?"

Duga shook with blond head.

"The same law about the century before the wedding. You can not harm you, put you in the dungeon. I can only dispense with you."

One century before the wedding! Angus grunted dismissively. For a person, it was empty words. All people are mortal, so they have no such law.

Curious Ambrose also watched the meeting, and it seems his hair began to become gray.

"Let him go too," said Amaranta. "He was polite with me. I want to give him life."

"For him, death will be better," Dagda looked into his eyes and saw the sadness, which could not comprehend Amaranta.

"Does not matter! Let him live!"

"As you want, my mistress."

"His mistress!" exclaimed the black birds of Medea Shai. "Who is she?"

"A mortal girl, who pretends to be an elf!" said Medea Shai. "Tear her to pieces! And the knights too!"

She pointed out on Amaranta. The monstrous birds willingly rushed to the goal, but suddenly found out their savior in the winged lady.

Amaranta barely recognized them. In the cages, they looked so poor, and now they were pride as turkeys.

"And this is you!" The largest bird, obviously the leader of the whole flock turned around and flew away, leading them all.

Curious where Tierry and other servants of Medea Shai are. Or in this forest after her could fly only birds?

"Where are you going?" Medea Shai was amazed. "Attack her!"

"Let's not, Mother!" shouted the leader of monstrous birds. "You threw us in the castle, and she is not! Better thanking her for the fact that we still have not burned alive!"

They really called her Mother. Amaranta watched the angry Medea Shai flying away. Amrouse and Angus also left and did not say goodbye. Her heart broke away from the thought that she sees the count for the last time, but when you have to choose between the mortal and the king of elves, the choice is already defined in favour of the latter.

"Today at midnight I will show you the most important miracle of our kingdom," promised Dagda. "This is a flower that grows only under the moon and only in one solemn case. It resembles a pyramid of white petals. It is called Iley."

"And when does it bloom?" Amaranta already knew about it, but she wanted him to tell her.

"On the day, when the fairies are married for mortals or in the night, when the elves are married." And over the forest was shining a rainbow, distinguished by gold tones. Golden rainbow! How beautiful!

"On the day of our wedding, Iley accurately blooms, and you will see it. This is an unforgettable spectacle."

"On the day of our wedding! Then it will not be soon," Amaranta clung to coat of Dagda, because she had no strength to fly herself. "The whole century is still waiting!"

One century before the wedding

Together forever! So translated from the elven engraving on her new wedding ring, which it will wear on top of the former. Although her first wedding ring with a golden rose, as it turned out, was a gift from the same Dagda. True, the king of the elves himself did not even know that giving the ring for the bride of his friend, the mortal count, he eventually will select his bride.

One century they can just love each other, and the wedding will play, barely century will expire. It was even terrible to think that if the king of the elves killed Angus, he would organize them separation for a whole century. How would she spend this age in imprisonment in the heavenly fortress among Harpis? It would probably be crazy. Without him, it's impossible to be even a day, not to mention the night.

The king of elves fully shared her feelings.

"To be with you, I agree to everything," he admitted. "I can be anyone: a friend, lover, defender, your knight, even your servant."

"Or a tough Mr. who keeps me in captivity," she joked and herself laughed the absurdity of such an assumption.

"In fact, I always felt like this, I'm in captivity. From the very first sight. You captured me."

"Now it turns out that I am a sorceress, and not you!"

Dagda pressed her to himself so that she rested the cheek into soft green leaves, growing under his collar. Today was the day of her engagement with the king of elves. The engagement will last long. A whole century! But they can enjoy each other's arms now.

The celebration of the engagement was modest to give the tribute to the memory of friendship between the mortal count and the king of the elves. If love did not intervene, then this friendship could stretch on the century, because the patronage of the elves would be inherited to all his children and grandchildren. Elves know how to be loyal friends, but love with mortal girls sometimes confuses all the cards.

Solemn snow-white robes with gold edging, of course, made by Arahnias, gave Dagda and Amaranta already now similarity with the bride and groom. Angus forgave everything. Medea Shai cursed everyone. An ice king was pleased with his own bride. In general, everyone was at least satisfied. And finally, the lovers were happy.

Dagda was only a little worried that the wedding was not soon. In his thousand-year life, she will be the first, and in the short life Amaranta is already the second, but the truth. Memories about the first rash marriage will ever just be left. In the meantime it is worth enjoying the moment. Over the windows of the castle just bloomed the rainbow fireworks in honor of the royal engagement.

"It is a pity that we can not really get married while your mortal spouse is alive," Dagda sighed, "but for more centuries a person does not live. So consider our holiday so far only a wedding rehearsal. Our law is one century before the wedding. A year earlier, a year later, but more than one hundred years, people do not live anyway. So I swear to you that we will not wait for more than a century. The queen of elves, Amaranta."

Let it only be a rehearsal of the wedding, but the coronation was real. The law one century before the wedding did not prevent him from laying a crown with gold laurels on her head. So now the crown waved with the golden wings, recognizing the new queen of elves in Amaranta.

She kissed the king, and under their feet, they suddenly shone Iley. The magnificent flower grew up like a pyramid of radiance with a lot of petals. she wonder what a gift to discover in his core: a fairy or an elf. No matter. Amaranta remembered that Iley blooms only in the night, when mortals and elves are married as a sign that the magic world takes their union. And today Iley bloomed.

From the author

The book about Amaranta and the king of elves begins the cycle of books "Prisoners of the Magic Kingdom". The legends of Dagda, the goddess Danu and her tribes mentioned here are used very freely. Please do not look for similarities and accuracy in the ratio with the old legends about the tribes of the goddess Danu. The whole book is author's fiction.

Those who liked the story of Amaranta I advise to read the second book of the "Prisoners of the Magic Kingdom", which tells about the daughter of Amaranta and Dagda named Janet and the prisoner of Medea Shai - Knight Tamlin. It is called "Tamlin - Queen Fairies' Prisoner."

In the future, individual books about the golden copy Luellin, which will still have their own mind and love (Golden copy), about Medea Shai and her first love ("One century before the wedding"), about the Cousin Amarantas, who came to the castle and fell in love with an elf ("Tapestry of Amaranta") and other episodic heroes of the cycle. A mystical novel will also be released about russian nobleman Andrei Rosovsky, who accidentally liberated the Spirit of Medea Shai (Queen from Hell). It will be released in a cycle of seven angels.

On water heroes such as Uriella, mermaids and the queen of the seas Lilofey tells the cycle of books "Prisoners of the underwater kingdom".

Якобсон Натали : другие произведения.

Amaranta - Captive of Elf"s King

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Аннотация: The king of elves kidnapped Amaranta. Now she is his captive and sweetheart. Probably she is destined to become the queen of elves. But the Queen of Fairies does not give up, and intrigues against the rival. The dangerous magical secrets are waiting for Amaranta in the castle of elves.