The laws of the magical masquerade
«Who is the lady in the portrait?» Flora asked.
«She is the Empress of All Evil, of course,» answered Augustine. «Don’t you recognize yourself?»
«But she looks nothing like me.»
Flora wondered why everyone mistook her for this magnificent winged beauty. Are they all blind? Or bewitched? Someone must have enchanted them on purpose to confuse her with the Empress. But for what purpose is it? And who needs it? Are they te Empress’ enemies? For their little tricks, the Empress herself could tear Flora to pieces. She’s been made an impostor, and impostors are executed. She doesn’t think the magic world has different laws than the human world.
«Why does the Empress of all evil spirits have such magnificent wings behind her back like a fairy?»
«You must be testing me,» Augustine grinned.
«Just tell me why.»
«She’s also the queen of all fairies.»
«So this is the queen of the fairies?»
«It’s my lover,» Augustine looked at Flora and the portrait, as if he could see the uncanny resemblance, «you are my lover.»
He’s crazy! We must get away from him quickly. He was nice and courteous now, but what if in a minute he thought he was a werewolf and attacked her? It’s best not to deal with the insane.
«You used to look prettier,» Augustine nodded at the portrait.
«Yes,» Flora liked the portrait herself. The lady in it was a magical beauty. How could a mortal girl look like that?
«You should get back to your old self,» Augustine advised. «I can help you with that.»
Flora recoiled from him. As if he wouldn’t help her become the terrifying monster he himself had become.
«I’m against it!»
«You want to do the ritual yourself? It is fine!» Augustine shrugged. «You’ve never needed a helper. It’s like I’m an extra in your plans, but you loved me once. I was born into a poor family, but you gave me a chance at a luxurious magical life. And I’m grateful for that.»
Flora didn’t know where to go when Augustine tried to woo her. It was a mistake for her to go into the forest tower. If you see a building in the woods, you’d better never enter it, otherwise there’s a chance you’ll run into a mad sorcerer who will mistake you for his beloved.
«Rose!» Augustine brushed an unruly lock of hair away from Flora’s cheek.
«Flora!» She corrected. «I was called Floretta as a child, but never Rose.»
Augustine shook his head gravely.
«You are neither Flora nor Bianca. You are Rose!»
«I don’t know any Bianca and I don’t know any Rose,» Flora said angrily. «There are no women with those names among my acquaintances.»
«Tell me you don’t know Babette,» Augustine smirked.
The name had the effect of a thunderclap. Flora was afraid that the lady who had attacked her was hiding somewhere in the tower.
«Is Babette that crazy fairy?» Flora was tongue-tied.
«Before you robbed her of her identity, her name was Barielle Ette, the fairy of delusion. You met her at a fair where she fooled people’s heads along with her roving theater of magical creatures. Like you, she pretended to be a Colombine and hid her wings under a corset.»
«I never pretended to be a colombina!» Flora was indignant. «I am the legitimate daughter of the Marquis de Rione! I am a noble girl from a noble family, not an actress!»
«You are of royalty,» corrected Augustine, «but you pretended to be a colombina for fun. I had to piss off the dragon. It’s a pity we all got caught up in his wrath.»
Flora glanced fearfully at the window. Was a dragon peering through it right now? There was no dragon or flame outside the window. But there was water beneath the tower. Is there a stream down there? Flora didn’t see one. Augustine also looked out the window and pointed to a slender fairy. She was creating a spring in the forest out of nothing.
«That’s Venetiana, the fairy of the water channels,» he explained.
«What is she doing here?»
«She probably wants to flood my tower, or maybe she’s looking for you.»
«I don’t want anything to do with fairies,» Flora defiantly stepped away from the window.
«It’s strange for you,» Augustine shouted something to Venetiana in an unfamiliar language, and the murmuring of the water died down.
«What did you say to her?»
«That the queen of the fairies didn’t want to see her.»
«Is Venetiana going to think she’s a disgraced fairy now?» Flora was worried. She didn’t want to disgrace anyone by taking advantage of someone else’s status. She didn’t want to get into trouble for it. She hadn’t even abused her own power, but someone else’s.
«Venetiana has long been independent and does not depend on anyone, but she respects you, so she obeys you.»
Flora was surprised, but remained silent. Augustine decided to amuse her. From nowhere came a carafe of sweet wine, cakes with rose petals and a tray of amazing fruit. Flora had never seen apples with scales, fruit with wings instead of leaves, and peaches covered in rose petals. One fruit was heart-shaped.
«Eat it and you’ll love me,» Augustine suggested.
«I don’t think I should,» Flora felt shy. If Augustine wasn’t a magician, she could love him for nothing. But a spell is a dangerous thing. The heart-fruit is most likely a means of charm.
«You reject my love because a dragon maimed me?» Augustine furrowed his ashy eyebrows mournfully. «I shouldn’t have fought him in the first place. I should have prepared myself and waited for the right moment. You were right when you said that we can’t fight him without gathering all the magic resources and reinforcing the armies, otherwise we’ll lose. We need to hide and wait like you did. In our case, the masquerade is useful.»
Augustine could go on all night about the laws of masquerade, magic masks and a gathering of fairies, but Flora unceremoniously interrupted him.
«If you know the forest well, you can show me the way to the inn where the wood-goblins gather. I’m heading there.»
«Yes, I’ll walk you there,» Augustine pulled a tattered cloak from the closet, which was guarded by bats. In his hands, the tattered cloak was suddenly new and luxurious. «This cloak replaces my mask. When I slip it over my shoulders, I can pretend to be someone else.»
Flora was tired of masks. She tightly slid the desk drawer where the set of magic masks was. She would definitely not take any of them with her.
«Let’s go quickly!» She hurried Augustine.
«It’s getting light already!» The boy shuddered and went to the window, where it was completely dark. Where had he seen the light? Flora could only see the gloom of night, but as soon as Augustine stretched his arm out through the window, his smooth skin began to crack and blacken as if exposed to dragon fire, and the bones of his fingers shattered.
«There’s no way I’m going to make the journey now. The day is changing me. Sunlight is like the glow of a dragon’s golden hide, so I fear the sun. I can’t serve you during the day, so we’d better sleep in the tower until evening. Then we’ll be on our way. I’ll sleep in the corner so as not to frighten you with my monstrous appearance, but you need a bed, I suppose, or should I say a sarcophagus from the crypt?»
Augustine scratched the back of his head and still chose the former. With a wave of his hand, a fragrant hammock of flowers and fragrant herbs stretched between the columns of the room.
«It’s not a bed, of course, but as the day wears on, my strength is weakening,» he apologized.
«Let’s do it this way,» Flora decided. «You will sleep in the tower during the day, and I will travel alone. My business cannot be delayed.»
«Where will I find you?» Augustine was worried. «I don’t want to lose sight of you again! Even my crystal balls can’t see you, and my bats can’t find you.»
«I’ll find you myself,» Flora lied. «I already know where your tower is.»
«But if you don’t come back soon, where will I find you? You’re rarely in the crypt now, and you might not show up for a century. Can I see you at the next fairy masquerade?»
«Yes, I’ll be there,» Flora lied for the second time. It seems that magic and misadventures have made her an inveterate liar. She lies and doesn’t even blush. «How can I miss such a beautiful event as the fairy masquerades?»
«It is great!» Augustine cheered. «Then I’ll be there too. The fairies like me. They will always let me in even without an invitation.»
«I see!» Flora even took offense. So, fairies like only handsome guys, and if a girl comes to their masquerade, she will be torn apart like a bitter rival.
«I think fairies lack hospitality,» Flora muttered as she said goodbye to Augustine, who was beginning to change dramatically as dawn approached. When Flora left, a monster was already asleep in the tower.
The rival fairy of carnations
The predawn forest seemed safe. Flora only once encountered two woodsmen, whom she mistook for stumps. The stumps came to life and grumbled when she touched them with the hem of her dress. But when they recognized her as their king’s protégé, they mumbled apologies and fell asleep.
There were no wild beasts in the thicket, strangely enough. Probably they had all fled to the winter part of the forest on the other side of the marvelous arch. Only once did Flora meet a fox that could turn into a slender red-haired nymph. The nymph pointed to a path that led to the forest edge.
Dawn was gilding the field beyond the forest. Flora froze at the edge of the forest in indecision. She needed to find the inn in the forest, not come out of the forest. It seemed the nymph had purposely given her the wrong path.
After her nighttime wanderings, Flora didn’t feel like wandering through the forest again. She walked out into the sun. The area around the forest was unusual. A whole field of carnations stretched ahead. Is there such a thing? Poppies are rare, but carnations are a garden flower. There were probably extensive plantations of carnations all around. Flora knew that the beautiful flowers could be used to make bitter spices, which, strangely enough, many people liked.
A beautiful girl was walking through the field wearing a wreath of carnations. She was chasing bees and bumblebees off the flowers. Strangely enough, the insects did not sting her. A long minute passed before the girl noticed Flora. For a moment there was a look of genuine amazement on her face.
«How marvelous is it! My first guest not from the bee kingdom has finally arrived,» the beauty straightened up, and suddenly it turned out that the scarlet cloak behind her back was two folded wings. So she’s a fairy! Flora backed away. She didn’t expect fairies to be welcomed, but this fairy seemed to think she was the mistress of a field of carnations.
«Do you like my flowers?» The fairy suddenly smiled.
«They are pretty,» said Flora, though she liked roses better than carnations.
«Make a wreath out of them!» The fairy suggested.
Flora reached for a lush red carnation, but pulled her hand away, remembering how she had already made a wreath of witch roses. Wreath making could be a bad thing if the flowers you wreathed belonged to fairies.
«You can’t weave wreaths?» The carnation fairy noticed her hesitation. «Apparently queens can’t do anything themselves.»
Flora thought that the fairy’s gentle voice gave off a quiet sneer. It’s hard to know whether a fairy is friendly or just pretending to be.
«Who are you?» Flora dares to ask.
«Naturally, I am a fairy,» the beauty flapped her wings smoothly, emitting a marvelous smell of carnations.
«I see. You are a fairy. Then why aren’t you in the fairy residence?»
«I’m an independent fairy.»
«Does that mean you’re a wanderer?»
«What do you mean, wandering? I’m the mistress of this field!»
That’s it! It’s obvious that a whole field of carnations is the work of a fairy.
«Are you Mrs. Carnations?» Flora didn’t know why, she wanted to tease the self-righteous fairy. «And then there are the rose fairies! I’d rather be in a rose plantation or a rose garden.»
«Then grow a field of roses yourself, but away from my field.»
«How can I do that? You didn’t mistake me for a rose fairy, did you?»
The Lady of the Carnation Field was astonished.
«You mean you don’t remember how to do it?» She flapped her wings anxiously and flew around the surprised Flora. «And you don’t have wings anymore! Poor little thing!»
Why does the fairy pity her? And why does the Carnation Fairy have such a snide voice?
«You know what? Let me weave you a wreath of carnations myself,» the fairy cordially offered.
«No, don’t!»
«It will help you get your memory back,» whispered the fairy, flying up to Flora and almost pressed her lips to her ear. «In fact, it’s easy to get your memory back, although many people say otherwise. Poppy fairies help to get rid of bad memories. You probably turned to them to forget the tyranny of the dragon, but now you want to remember something. I can see that. You probably regret that you lost some magical knowledge along with your memories of the dragon. Well, I’ll let you in on a secret. A wreath woven by the carnation fairy brings back whatever memories you want. Just don’t take it off for at least an hour. And everything will turn out just right!»
Flora reluctantly accepted the offer, though she felt a vague uneasiness. Where had Drusilla gone? The witch would immediately determine whether to believe the carnation fairy or not? But could the witch herself be trusted?
Flora sighed heavily. It was a shame that her only counselor was a witch. If her mother had been alive, she would never have fallen into bad company. When the Marquise de Rione died, her daughter was tangled up with a dragon and a whole bunch of witches.
«I wish I had my mother back!» Flora sighed as the fairy wove her wreath. «Even though I’m an adult, I feel like a homeless person without my mother’s advice.»
«You’re talking about the queen sorceress Odile!» The Carnation Fairy flapped her scarlet wings excitedly. «How horrible is it? Don’t call her here! She’ll spoil my whole field! Carnation fields have years of hard work put into them! You know how hard it is to grow witch flowers in areas that were burned by a dragon. All the land here was poisonous after his fire, and I flew in and turned it into a carpet of blooms. I am a hero.»
«I guess so,» Flora nodded, though she didn’t understand much of the fairy’s story.
«Will the magic emperor appreciate my efforts?» The fairy’s voice became ingratiating.
«I don’t know, ask him yourself.»
«So you won’t help me get an audience?»
«I don’t know.»
«You’re the only one who can?»
«I’m keeping incognito for now, but then maybe,» Flora reverted to acting.
«So you’ll put in a good word for me with the emperor?»
«It will be in due time, of course.»
«Hooray!» The carnation fairy flapped her wings joyfully, for her hands were busy. She made a wreath of red carnations. Somehow, while she was tearing and joining the flowers, it seemed as if she had dozens of hands at once. Flora was taken aback. The carnation fairy looked like an ancient multi-armed goddess. Or was it a play of light and shadow?
She turned her back, but the wreath was already ready.
«Try it on!»
Flora wanted to refuse, but the fairy flew over the field and placed the wreath on her head.
«It will replace your crown.»
«Is it really?» Flora yawned sleepily. Her head felt heavy and her eyelids began to droop. She sat down in the field. The stalks of carnations were stiff and unpleasant to the touch.
«Lie down!» The fairy helped her to lie down. «In my field they sleep for a hundred years and longer, until they turn into skeletons.»
Flora only now noticed in the stems of carnations a skeleton in a tattered dress from the last century. There was jewelry gleaming on the skeleton. Flora hoped her mother hadn’t fallen asleep forever in a field like this. She should have gotten up and left the area of magic, but Flora felt so badly sleepy, as if there were poppies instead of carnations.
A dragon seemed to be flying across the sky above the field, but he didn’t see Flora in the thick of the carnations. But the carnation fairy, noticing the dragon, became animated.
«Oh, That’s something! Where you are, there he is! I should have known you’d bring him to me. Thank you, my dear. He wouldn’t have noticed me at the fairy masquerades, but here I am.»
It’s all because of the dragon. The Carnation Fairy is only her rival, not a predator who traps all travelers in a net of eternal sleep. Flora reached her hand to her forehead and shook off the wreath. The drowsiness was gone immediately.
«How did you manage it?» The carnation fairy looked at her suspiciously. «This is my territory. Other fairies lose their powers here.»
«Distract the dragon while I run away,» Flora advised the fairy, but the dragon was already walking through the carnation field in the seductive guise of Edwin. Flora even felt sorry to run away from him. Should she stay and talk to him? But the carnation fairy would then go mad with jealousy. Gritting her heart, Flora decided to leave Edwin alone with the fairy. She did not miscalculate, because when she ran into the forest, the field behind her was already burning. Apparently, the carnation fairy and Edwin couldn’t find common ground.
The bodies of the fairy queen
The smell of burnt carnations hit Flora’s nostrils. The fairy’s magnificent domain had been scorched to the ground. The dragon was already flying over the field rather than walking across it. Curious, where had the fairy herself gone? Flora wouldn’t be surprised if her mottled winged silhouette rose from the ashes right now and started spewing curses.
Who would have thought it would turn out to be more dangerous in the wild than at a fairy masquerade. The hot breath of the dragon could be felt behind her. Flora hoped the dragon wouldn’t burn down the forest, because this was the domain of the forest king.
«Flora! Stop! Let’s talk,» Edwin’s charming voice came from behind.
Flora stopped for a moment. The voice sounded like the clinking of gold coins. Is that what a dragon’s voice in human form should sound like? The mere sound of Edwin’s voice was enchanting, but talking to him was dangerous. Flora had already seen how talking to a dragon ended in the sad example of the carnation fairy. The foolish fairy dreamed of flirting with him, but got caught in a fire and her field was burned. The first time Flora believed Edwin and invited him to her house, her house burned down too. But she’s still alive. We have to run away. A girl who’s seduced by a dragon risks being burned.
«It is this way! Hurry up!» Flora was beckoned from the shaded forest road by a strange elf. Does he really want to help? He’s probably a friend of Charles. Flora hesitated for only a second and rushed towards the elf. He was dressed elegantly, as if he were going to a masquerade party for fairies. The elf said something about a carriage that should come for him soon, but took Flora to a small cave, the entrance to which was covered with moss. The moss itself parted before the elf, revealing a narrow passage.
«Let’s wait here,» he suggested. «This is a secret place.»
Flora noticed that the dragon really couldn’t see the cave. Edwin passed by without noticing the entrance.
«Well, I’ve started stealing victims from the dragon,» the elf muttered. «What fate has brought me to?»
Flora looked around. The cave was small, but deep. Silver cobwebs stretched along the walls, and silver spiders with female heads crawled along the cobwebs.
«Oh!» Flora was afraid of them.
«They’re weavers. They can weave you a decent outfit for the fairy ball.»
Flora shook her head doubtfully. She wouldn’t wear a dress made of silvery cobwebs. One spider jumped onto her belt and began to braid a fine web lace around her skirt. Flora hastily shooed it away.
«I haven’t seen you among the dragon girls before,» the elf squinted suspiciously. «Who are you?»
«I am Floretta,» Flora decided to introduce herself by the affectionate name she had been called as a child.
«Are you Floretta,» the elf looked at her questioningly from head to toe. «It’s just a name, not the name of a flower.»
«Of course it’s just a name. What makes you think it should be the same as the name of the flower?»
The elf waved his silver wings as if shrugging his shoulders.
«When the queen of the fairies changes bodies, she chooses to name them after a flower.»
«How curious is it?» Flora wondered. «Why would a fairy queen change bodies?»
«It is to hide from the dragon. It’s an eternal masquerade. The dragon looks for his wife, and she hides under new masks. Is one of those masks you?»
«I don’t think so,» Flora felt a sudden jealousy. Such a handsome young man is already married! But the young man must be a hundred years old. Suddenly his wife had long since died, unless fairies are immortal.»
«If you were called Flora, it could be you, because the name Flora means blooming world,» the elf continued his thoughts. «All flowers and plants belong to flora, and animals to fauna. Therefore, the queen of fairies could be called Flora, but Floretta is an unfamiliar name to me. What does it mean?»
Flora remembered that she was on the run from the dragon. Why would she be on the run from him? He’s the one who burned down her castle, not the other way around. It’s the dragon who is the culprit, who must be caught and punished according to the law. Only it’s unlikely that you can complain the king of Argania about him. An earthly king can’t tame a dragon, but a fairy queen could. Where would she find her?
«My friends will be here soon,» the elf listened to the silence. «They ordered a carriage from the Zwergs’ craftsmen, and soon we will go to the ball.»
«Is this cave your home?» Flora noticed the glitter of gold coins in the cave and suspected that a dragon had once lived here.
«Is it my home?» The elf was genuinely amazed. «It’s more like a hiding place for anyone who wants to hide temporarily. The fairy queen used to hide her bodies here, but then she abandoned the place. Now elves and disgraced fairies nest here.»
Flora didn’t like that the elf was talking about the bodies as if they were dresses that could be thrown off. Elves probably have the ability to change their appearance like a mask, but humans don’t. And Flora, whoever the supernatural beings thought she was, was only human.
In addition to the gold, there were piles of skulls in the cave. On top of each skull there was a tiara.
«It’s a whole treasury!» Flora marveled. «If I took the jewelry off the skulls, I could escape from the ruins of my burnt house and buy my own estate somewhere beyond the borders of Argania, in another state where they wouldn’t look for me. I could buy a title with such jewels. I won’t be the daughter of a marquis, but a duchess.»
«Don’t dare!» The elf intercepted her hand as she reached for the crown on the upper skull.
«Or else their ghosts will take revenge on me?»
«Or else you’ll get your revenge from the queen of the fairies herself.»
«So these are all her victims? She lures rich beauties into a cave and torments them with magic?»
«They are her bodies,» the elf explained.
«How could her bodies be just skeletons? I don’t understand anything!»
«Then you are of no use to us.»
«What do you mean?»
«It is nothing!»
The elf flew to the ceiling of the cave and hit his head on the stalactites.
«Oh! How embarrassing is it!»
He didn’t explain anything, so Flora examined the skulls herself. So many skeletons could only be left from a long ago battle.
«So there was a war here? Why else would there be so many skeletons? I don’t see any skeletons in armor. It couldn’t have been just ladies going to war, could it? Or could they if it was a war with the Queen of the Fairies? Did she fight with her fairies against the ladies of Earth?»
A single fairy skeleton was revealed in the pile of skulls. It came to life and clawed at Flora’s wrists.
«Ow!»
«Give it back!» The dead fairy hissed.
«But I didn’t take anything from you! You’re not even wearing any jewelry, just black roses!»
The fairy’s skeleton was wrapped in thorns and black flowers. The thorns hurt, and her knuckles clung to Flora with a deadly grip.
«Give me back my body! You took it!»
The dead fairy must have gone mad. Or she was driven by black magic.
The elf struggled to pull Flora out and carried her away. For a minute they hung from the ceiling. The elf held Flora tightly by the waist. Barely had the reanimated skeleton fallen asleep again, they managed to descend.
«Don’t touch anything else, Floretta,» the elf cautioned. «Otherwise, instead of going with my company to the fairies’ ball, you will stay in this cave forever.»
Flora didn’t want to go to the fairies’ ball, so she didn’t heed the warning.
«By the way, have you met Charles?»
«Charles?» The elf flapped his golden eyelashes in incomprehension.
«I mean Charlyel.»
«There was a wandering elf by that name, but he wasn’t in my company.»
«That’s a shame. I was just looking for him.»
Flora found a splendid sapphire ring in the eye socket of a skull that had rolled away from the pile and decided to keep it. No one would notice the theft anyway. No one would send ghostly guards from the cave after her. The elf looked at her with disapproval, but did not give her a second warning. There was the sound outside the cave. Flora peeked out and saw a black carriage with decorations on the sides that looked like folded wings. It was already dark in the forest, but the carriage glimmered.
«Would you like to come with me?» The elf offered. «Or will you stay in the cave?»
Flora thought and decided that in the elf’s carriage, the dragon would definitely not look for her.