Masquerades of fairies
Natalie Yacobson

Natalia Lilienthal Переводчик

© Natalie Yacobson, 2024

© Natalia Lilienthal, перевод, 2024

ISBN 978-5-0062-5763-4

Создано в интеллектуальной издательской системе Ridero

Fairies in the garden

Flora watched from the tower window. The winged ladies in the garden resembled butterflies and bumblebees from afar. Was she seeing double? Her father had forbidden any celebrations. The whole castle is in mourning after the funeral of her mother, who was allegedly driven away by the evil spirits of the fields and forests.

The Marquise had been too careless in communicating with the creatures of the fields and had even whipped one of them with her whip. Since then, she’s been withering. The healers could do nothing.

«The fairies killed her,» the maids whispered.

«What would be the point?»

«Fairies love luxury. They probably want to get a local feudal lord, and having a wife prevents them.»

Something told Flora it wasn’t that simple. Sometimes in the portrait gallery, unearthly laughter and music were heard, and ghosts appeared. One of them once bowed to Flora and called her the queen of all magical creatures.

Well, what kind of queen is she!

Flora looked around at her long out of fashion blue dress with a short train. There were no black dresses in her closet, so her mourning outfit was peculiar.

«Do you know that blue is the color of witchcraft?» Someone whispered in her ear. «After all, it merges with the color of night, and all those creatures that dwell in the night and allow people to discover the secrets of forbidden magic arts.»

Flora looked around. There was no one in her room. There was an unusual silence in the castle, too, and outside in the garden a gentle woman’s laughter was ringing. For some reason it reminded her of the chiming of funeral bells.

If they were fairies, they must be leaving soon. Not without reason, the village sorceress Zenobia drew protective symbols at the entrances to the castle. The old Marquis paid her a lot for it. Zenobia’s services didn’t come cheap. But her amulets were considered the most effective in the fight against evil.

Are fairies evil? Flora looked down at their colorful dresses, as if woven from flower petals, their lush hairstyles, and layered wings. The creatures with female bodies and wings resembled fantastic dragonflies. Raphael should have seen them! Flora didn’t understand where her big brother could have gone at a time like this. Rafael kept whining that in the wilderness where they lived there was no one to meet but peasant women, and when the whole garden was full of exquisitely dressed fairies, her brother was not around. Raphael wouldn’t mind flirting with a beautiful fairy.

Whoa! What is she thinking? Fairies are notorious destroyers of young boys. Rumor has it that winged beauties deliberately seduce young men and lure them into the clutches of giants, into the nests of griffins or into tracts inhabited by evil trolls.

But would they destroy a girl? Flora felt an unbearable urge to go out into the garden to the fairies, as if someone had called her.

It would probably be all right if she went down to them. Flora noticed a strange couple among the fairies: a colombina and a jester. Both of them had no wings. They stood frozen in the midst of the general merriment, as if they were wax figures. But they were alive. Columbine looked at Flora with red, angry eyes that glittered like two rubies.

«And we’ve been waiting for you!» Some elf flew up to Flora and held out his hand.

Flora recoiled. The elf had mistaken her for someone else.

«Our master is waiting for you,» he corrected himself. «But don’t worry, we won’t give you away. We’ll find you such a mask that he won’t even recognize you. Let’s go to the masquerade!»

Many of the fairies in the garden were indeed trying on masks. So they’re going to the masquerade?

«Did Father really let the fairies and other evil spirits have a masquerade party in the castle? Is it to pay off the fairies? Or else they’ll trample the fields with their night dances? I’ve heard from the servants how much damage they do to the plowmen.»

The elf didn’t understand her.

«You must be kidding me,» he scratched the back of his golden-blond head. «This is not the time to play fantasies. We have to go to the dance, and then we’ll play hide-and-seek. By the way, where did you hide your wings?»

So he thought she was a fairy! Flora looked doubtfully at the silk cape that stretched from the lace standing collar to the train. Such capes had recently become fashionable in Serpentine. Behind them, it was hard to see that she had no wings.

Flora considered that some fairies who do not soar above the rose bushes, but walk along the paths of the garden, temporarily fold their wings behind their backs as if they were a cape.

«So the masquerade would take place at the castle?»

«It is of course not!» The elf laughed infectiously, as if she had said something very funny.

«Where is it?»

«It is in the fairies’ residence.»

Flora had never heard of such a place.

«Let’s hurry!»

The elf flapped his wings and flew over the beds of peonies. In flight he resembled a huge golden bumblebee.

«Do we have to fly there?»

«It is not necessarily!» The elf jumped onto the bridge that stretched over the garden. It certainly hadn’t been here before. The bridge was blue and airy, as if it had been chipped away from a rainbow. It was a rainbow! Flora gasped as she saw the bridge widen in the distance and become seven-colored. The other end of the bridge was reaching up into the sky.

Could a rainbow really shine in the starry heavens? In the realm of fairies, anything must be possible.

«It’s time!» The elf held out his hand to Flora again.

«Can I step on this bridge? Will it hold me?»

The elf, silently, grabbed her hand and dragged her onto the bridge, over which the hastening fairies were already hovering in flocks. They were whispering excitedly about something.

«They don’t know yet that I found you,» the elf whispered in Flora’s ear, putting his arm around her waist. «But soon they will find out, and they will be very disappointed.»

«Why is it?»

«It is because their rival will steal the dragon from them again.»

«What dragon is it?»

Flora was stunned by the golden light that spilled over the bridge like a dawn. Two huge golden wings almost struck the bridge, but at the last moment they avoided the collision by flapping smoothly over Flora’s head.

It really is a dragon! Flora didn’t know whether to scream in horror or admiration. The golden dragon was magnificent.

«Can it breathe fire, too?»

The elf didn’t hear her question.

«Wow! The dragon flew right past you! He must have some business with the Marquis.»

The elf looked discouraged.

«All right, let’s go to the masquerade! The dragon will probably be there soon, and then the fun will begin.»

The first masquerade

The rainbow bridge went behind the clouds. At first it was blue, then multicolored. Flora would have fallen off it if the elf hadn’t supported her.

One end of the bridge rested against the cloud castle.

«No, this is not the place for us! This is where the Celestials dwell!» The elf dragged Flora past. The bridge diverged in several directions like a labyrinth. Fairies hovered above it or glided across it. One of the fairies grazed Flora with a purple wing.

«Ah, Adora, she is the purple carnation fairy. She’s your biggest rival right now. She dreams of the dragon as her lover.»

«But can he be anyone’s lover?» Flora was surprised. A dragon is not a boy.

«A lot depends on the dragon. All fairies dream of conquering him.»

The elf started whistling some frivolous song about a girl who attracts a dragon magnetically. All the fairies took offense.

«They are as beautiful as flowers!» Flora admired the beauties, from whose backs grew flower or dragonfly wings. One fairy’s wings were seven-colored like a rainbow, another’s were spotted like a butterfly, and a third’s wings resembled a lush flower.

«They are all gossips and schemers!» The elf characterized them.

The fairies’ masks were amazingly varied and imaginative. There were wing-shaped half-masks, and masks with bird beaks or tinkling pendants of beads, and golden plates without slits for eyes and mouths. Can fairies really see through a mask?

Some fairies had masks made entirely of flower petals, others of shells, some of coins, some of singing pearls. The masks on the holders squinted as if alive when the fairies took them away from their faces.

«They were made by the great master Donatello, a disgraced troll. He lives like a hermit and makes masks out of magical materials. This one he made for you.»

The elf pulled a silver mask that squinted, opened its mouth, and flapped its wing-shaped ears.

«Her name is Variable. She can help you take on any appearance you want for a little while.»

Wow! A mask has a name!

Flora was stunned.

Under the bridge was a sheet of water. Was it some kind of lake or even a sea? Right on the water stood a palace that looked like a whole island.

«Almost reached the residence of the fairies,» whistled the elf.

«Wow! Fairies live on the water! Is the palace floating?»

«No, it is of course not.»

«Then it stands on the back of a water giant?»

«The palace is on an island, you are silly!» The mask in Flora’s hands hissed.

Flora was taken aback. Her own mask is swearing at her. More accurately, it’s the elf’s mask, not hers. But it’s still offensive.

«I don’t see the island, I only see the palace,» Flora pouted.

«The palace takes up the whole island,» the elf explained hastily.

The gondolas in which the fairies were riding glided along the water to the palace. Unusual gondoliers, who looked like lanky elves, were rowing with oars.

The bridge, alas, did not run to the palace windows, but stretched past them across the sky.

«There’s no way across!» Flora was frightened. Fairies have wings, but she doesn’t.

The elf put his arm around her waist and lifted her into the air. In a few moments they were both standing on the balcony of the shining palace. Its walls and columns were literally glowing! Wow!

Flora marveled at the fruit trees rooted in the palace floor, the miniature waterfalls flowing from the walls into pools and the tapestries of fresh flowers.

«Don’t yawn like a country bumpkin!» The mask hissed. «You’d better put me on!»

«Won’t you try to dislodge my head from my shoulders and take its place?»

«You’re so clever!» The mask snorted.

«And you’re beautiful!» Flora looked at the mask, which looked like a face taken off some deity.

«Put me on if you don’t want to fall victim to the fairies,» the mask advised.

Flora hesitated. Carrying the mask in her hands and talking to it was much more pleasant than trying it on her face. In case it burned or bit, or tried to stick to her skin and take away Flora’s identity. She’s alive! She’s dangerous to mess with!

«Put it on, don’t be afraid!» The elf-guide urged. «There will be no problems. I guarantee it.»

Should we trust him? Flora was already regretting coming here with him. The prospect of wearing a living mask did not please her at all.

«They’re probably looking for me at home by now.»

«I don’t think so!» The elf winked slyly.

«Why is it not? Can you see what’s going on many miles away?»

«I can hear,» the elf perked his ears. «Your brother is raging and cursing at the servants. And I have no right to divulge your father’s secrets. Everyone in the castle is busy. No one will miss you.»

Flora was disappointed.

«By the way, did you know that one night in the fairies’ residence can be a century? You’ll come home and everyone there is old and dead. You’ll have to come back here again to be alone.»

«Are you kidding me?»

«It is absolutely not!» The elf waved affably at the firebird that sat on a perch under the ceiling and replaced the lamp. «There is a source of eternal youth here somewhere, and there is none on earth. There it is!»

In one fountain, beating straight out of the wall, the water was iridescent.

«A single drop will smooth out wrinkles or heal wounds,» the elf boasted. «Check it out!»

One of Flora’s hands was pricked with thorns of garden roses. The girl dipped her palm into the rainbow fountain. The scratches healed instantly.

«You see! All humans can be healed here, but this is the realm of the fairies. Humans are rarely allowed in. Although once, a mortal king was invited here by a carnation fairy in love. Now all that’s left here is his crown. There it is,» the elf picked up a precious crown of rubies and emeralds from the floor. «The king’s bones had long since been scattered to ashes.»

Flora didn’t like it. It is too ominous. The elf offered her a royal crown to try on, but Flora declined. It was bad luck to try on a crown of dead man, and the king who owned the crown was already dead. She wondered what had happened to him in this palace? Did he stay here for a century before reaching the source of eternal youth? How did that happen? The fairies didn’t let him through?

«It was a futile attempt!» The stone horned face on the wall said.

Flora glanced at her arm and noticed that the scratches had reappeared.

«It is strange!» The elf looked at her skin. «It usually works! You can’t be enchanted, can you? Or sick with the leprosy of the gray trolls? Or are you dead? Only water doesn’t heal the dead.»

The elf felt Flora’s pulse with long, thin fingers. Creeper leaves sprouted in his fingers.

«I’m alive!» Flora wrenched his hand away.

«Your heart beats very slowly, as if someone had forced it artificially.»

«Are you implying that I was dead and some sorcerer brought me back to life?» Flora joked.

She was immediately reminded of a recent incident when she had fainted and spent a long time in unconsciousness. It really was as if she had been dead, and then someone had called her back to the living again.

«Let’s have some fun!» Flora wanted to forget this episode from the past. The present was like a fairy dream, if only there wasn’t danger coming from the fairies. Somehow they looked too predatory.

It wasn’t just the flower fairies that were having fun in the ballrooms. There were also sea fairies, covered with shells, and water fairies, whose trains spread out on the floor with water, and even flaming fire fairies, from whose footsteps on the floor left traces of sparks.

Fairies are not only garden fairies. Flora noticed that her dress was covered with forget-me-nots. The flowers must be a disguise so that the fairies would take her for their own. The mask winked slyly at Flora. Did the mask conjure up the forget-me-nots?

The fairies twirled in a strange dance right in the air.

«When he comes, I will enchant him with my fragrance,» hummed the lilac fairy, in whose hair and skin sprouted bunches of purple and white lilacs. «For the rose is no longer here, and lilac is the most beautiful flower after the rose.»

«No, jasmine is the prettiest,» objected the jasmine fairy. «He’ll like me better.»

«He didn’t notice you last time, and he flirted with me,» boasted the rhododendron fairy. «He loves my flowers.»

«But not you,» the magnolia fairy said cheekily.

«But he didn’t flirt with you at all!»

«It is exactly! I’m going to fly up to him first tonight. Everyone knows he respects bold women. Rose charmed him with her courage, but she’s not here right now. There’s a vacancy!»

They must mean the Rose Fairy, Flora decided to herself.

Because of some gentleman who was not at the ball yet, the beautiful fairies were ready to fight in flight. They were already sharpening their claws when the gold coin fairy flew past them, her outfit and jewelry literally jingling. She glanced disdainfully at the gardening community and snorted:

«What makes you so sure he’ll join in the fun tonight?»

«He hasn’t missed a single fairy masquerade since he ascended the throne,» the exuberant garden fairies replied in unison. It seemed to Flora that now they were going to fight with the coin fairy, because they saw her as a rival.

«Today he has to choose a new friend, and it will not be you,» said the fairy of the burdock fairy with a belligerent brow.

«He shouldn’t! He doesn’t owe anything to any of us, but we’re only here as long as he lets us,» the coin fairy flew past with her chin held up proudly. Coins sprinkled from her hem and lined the floor in a glittering path. Flora bent down and picked up one of the coins. It bore the image of a dragon on one side and a crown on the other.

Curious, what country are such coins from? Flora still hadn’t seen such coinage anywhere.

«Who are they waiting for?»

«It is the most beautiful emperor in the world,» answered the elf.

«A mortal emperor is coming to the fairies’ masquerade?»

«No, he is not mortal, of course,» the elf even laughed. «When did mortals survive here?»

Flora even took offense. Does he think she’s a fairy? She had no wings, but the forget-me-nots on her corset wrapped around her back as if to hide her folded wings.

Some fairies folded their wings like a cape as they walked around the hall, while others spread their wings out to take up more space.

«There are not enough cavaliers here,» Flora remarked as the elf spun her around in a dance.

Many fairies danced with each other or in round dances. They didn’t care that they were alone, for soon someone would come for whom they were all ready to compete.

«Soon this masquerade will turn into a fairy tournament,» the elf said, «but I believe you will win.»

«But I don’t want to take part in the competition, no matter what it’s for,» Flora shuddered at the sight of the delicate fairies’ sharp claws. «I’m not willing to sacrifice myself for even the best prize.»

«It is nonsense! You don’t have to sacrifice anyone. All it takes is for him to see you, and you’ll be a winner again.»

«Is it again?»

«When you become Empress, appoint me as your advisor,» the elf said, as if he hadn’t heard her and was babbling on and on. «I have long wanted to take a high post at the magical court, but there is so much competition! I’m always being passed over.»

«And you’re counting on my help?»

«I realized a long time ago that honest magic won’t get you closer to the throne! Alas, even in the magical world, everything is by proxy.»

Flora sighed. The elf would be very disappointed when he realized that she wouldn’t be of any use to him. He might even try to cast a spell on her.

«You have me confused with someone else,» she hinted cautiously.

«You can’t be confused with anyone, even if your mask is perfect.»

What mask does he mean? Was it the one that squinted slyly in her hand and winked repeatedly? Or some other mask?

Flora didn’t like that the elf was looking at her as if her very body was a mask. At her own risk, she put the mask to her face. It stuck to her skin like a wet leaf. It was really trying to blend in with Flora’s face. Good thing the mask was on a holder. A tug on it and she let out a disappointed gasp. She had to give up her position.

«I smell mortal!» The flameless fairy widened her nostrils predatorily.

«Is it here?» The violet fairy said. «I don’t think so.»

«I’m not wrong.»

«But tonight is not hunting night. The gates are closed to humans.»

«Maybe someone slipped in by accident, or maybe the Dark Lord sent us a gift.»

The rumors spread throughout the hall, and soon the gathering of fairies was buzzing like a beehive.

One fairy, flying by in search of a mortal guest, hit Flora with her wing.

Somehow the fairies had failed to denounce her. Could they really have mistaken her for a fairy? How could that be? Out of caution, Flora put the mask to her face. The mask became hot. Flora felt that the mask wanted to hide her from the predatory fairies.

It’s not nice to wear a mask that makes faces over your face and gives off frivolous smiles, but there’s nothing to be done.

«Why did I have to come here?» Flora berated herself.

It was as if the fairies had gone blind. They couldn’t find one ordinary girl among the whole magical gathering. Serves them right! While they were looking for her, they should get away from here. The elf might well carry her back on his wings. Was the elf was on her side? Flora was beginning to doubt him. He seemed to value the dream of his own elevation more than her safety.

A witty thought occurred to one fairy, and she began to whisper it to everyone.

«Let’s take off! All are at once!»

Why would they do that? Flora didn’t realize right away. It was only when the swarm of fairies took to the air that she stood alone on the floor. You can’t fly without wings!

«She’s mortal!» As the fairies unmasked her, the mask gasped. She was good for nothing. And it was vouched for by Donatello himself, the great master of magic masks.

«Perhaps the mask is not his work, or perhaps I didn’t pay him enough,» said the worried elf.

The fairies pounced on Flora as a pack.

«Stop it! She’s my companion,» the elf tried to protect her.

Flora was relieved. Well, at least she had an elf on her side! Too bad the elf’s defense was nothing, against a whole pack of clawed and winged beauties. They showed great aggression.

«Mortal! Come to steal our suzerain!»

«Let’s eat her alive!»

«All Earth girls are so clever!»

«She came here on a day like this! And you led her through the guards!» One fairy clutched at the elf’s hair. She called a kraken sleeping in the water under the palace windows, which woke up from the fairies’ cries and swarmed with its tentacles in the water. If it wrapped its tentacles around the palace, it would be the end of everyone. Or rather, she’s the only one who’s dead! The fairies will fly away, but she’ll stay buried under the ruins.

«She could take away our last chance!» The fairies screamed. «Let’s kill her! Let’s use her blood for elixirs!»

Flora prepared for the worst, but then one of the locked doors burst open. All the fairies panicked. They immediately fell behind Flora and began to fancy themselves. Could it be that magical emperor they were all waiting for?

Flora was curious to see him too, but the wings of the fairies blocked her view. And from the direction of the open door came the sound of rumbling footsteps.

In the dragon’s arms

«It sounds like the emperor has claws on his feet,» Flora said by ear.

«Just be glad you weren’t mauled before he got here,» the mask in her hands snickered. She loved to sneer.

«I should throw you out!»

«Just try it!» The mask’s twisted holder instantly stuck to her hands.

«You’re so clingy!»

«I want to be the mask of the Empress herself.»

«You’ll be disappointed! I’m definitely not going to be an empress.»

«I still have the right to fight for my place in the sun,» said the mask insolently. «Maybe one day my luck will shine.»

Instead of luck, something like dawn shone through the door. Had the sun really fallen into the fairies’ residence? The glow was so bright that Flora squeezed her eyes shut, and when she opened them, she noticed that the hodgepodge of fairy wings that had obscured her view of the hall had disappeared. The fairies had scattered in different directions.

That’s good! Otherwise we had to stare at winged backs instead of a fascinating sight. Flora expected to see a fairy handsome man and was disappointed. Instead, a glittering beast strode into the hall.

It was a dragon!

But what kind of dragon was it? Its skin shines like the sun! Is it golden? Where is the emperor? Is it behind the dragon’s back? Or is he not here yet and the dragon came here by mistake? Either way, he saved Flora. A mob of angry fairies could have torn her apart, and an elf wouldn’t have helped.

The dragon roared, and the fairies suddenly became frightened. They all scattered hastily to the wall niches and corners. A few fairies even flew into the chandelier.

The dragon stepped on the marble floor, leaving scratches on the tiles. The scratches were immediately smoothed out, but the fairies’ fear of the dragon did not go away. They had done something that he could not forgive.

Flora belatedly realized she was alone in the center of the hall. Again her inability to fly had failed her. Too bad fairies had wings and she didn’t. Otherwise she would have flown away frightened now too.

Apparently, the dragon had mistaken her for prey, because it reached out a paw toward her. For a moment, Flora felt like a toy. The elf thoughtfully fluttered away.

The dragon’s touch was like some kind of ritual before a sacrifice. The huge paw could have crushed Flora, but hesitated. It was as if the dragon recognized her.

What eyes it had! Real aquamarines! No, they’re sapphires! How quickly they change color! Flora stared into them like a kaleidoscope.

«You’re the first dragon I’ve ever seen in my life,» she whispered.

It was naive to think that a dragon could understand her. It could hardly speak human language, but fairies, judging by their behavior, understood dragon language perfectly.

The dragon picked Flora up, spun her around a bit, and then set her back down. It resembled a strange dance. It made her dizzy, but Flora liked the sensation of flying.

The fairies were jealous at the height, but did not dare to approach. It would only take a dragon protector to scare off a whole pack of fairies. Flora was content to meet a dragon, if he didn’t eat her at the end, of course. You could expect anything from dragons, after all. Flora had heard somewhere that innocent girls were sacrificed to them. Dragons are notorious lovers of earthly beauties. But what was a dragon doing at a fairy masquerade?

«Did you come here by mistake?»

The dragon understood her and shook its horned head negatively.

The mask in Flora’s hand suddenly laughed. What did she find so funny?

The fairies weren’t laughing, but were whispering excitedly. They clearly didn’t like what was happening. Flora thought for a moment that she was dancing around the hall with a beau in a golden dragon mask. It must have been the magical mirrors set up in a circle that sent her such visions. The feeling of the dance was very real. Flora covered her eyes for a moment and almost touched the face in the scaly golden mask. Too bad there wasn’t really any cavalier nearby, there was only the monster. The dragon delicately placed a paw on Flora’s arm, as if asking her to sit in a flying palanquin.

«Do you want to carry me away from here?» Flora was frightened at first. Dragons were known to kidnap innocent girls and carry them away to their lair. It wasn’t hard to imagine a dragon cave full of human bones and gold coins.

Becoming a dragon’s victim is scary, but falling into the claws of evil fairies is no better. Flora chose the dragon. She stepped into its paw and immediately found herself clutched in its golden claws.

The dragon flew out of the fairy palace and carried her high above the kraken’s tentacles stretching out of the water. Now they would grab the flying dragon. Flora squawked, but the dragon roared again, and the kraken pointed its tentacles at the palace, scaled its walls, and crawled limbs through the windows. The fairies shrieked in outrage, as if a beehive had broken out.

«He’s going to crush them along with the palace!» Flora turned around in the dragon’s claws and noticed that the kraken’s tentacles were blocking all the fairies’ exits.

«It serves them right!» The mask said. «Boorish! Too bad they’re immortal and will still survive.»

The dragon flew over the bridges spanning the sea.

«Ah, it is the rainbow of the sea!» The mask enthusiastically named the bridges. «How wonderful it is to travel on a sea rainbow!»

Flora did not interrupt her. They were not traveling over the bridges, but flying over the bridges in the claws of a dragon. The mask was enjoying the walk. Flora liked flying in the sky herself. The stars were so close! The night wind blew in her face. Or maybe it wasn’t the wind, but the oscillation of the air masses under the dragon’s wings.

It was a pity she couldn’t see the emperor the fairies had been waiting for. But the situation was tense. If the dragon didn’t carry her away, the fairies would just tear her apart.

Instead of dragging her to a lair full of coins and bones, the dragon gently placed her on the tower of her father’s castle.

«Thank you!» Flora said.

Did the dragon understand her? He hovered above the castle for another minute.

«Oh, how beautiful it is!» Flora said with a gasp as the dragon flew away. The glow faded in the distance over the sea bridges.

«He saved me! Can you imagine? Everyone is afraid of dragons and warns against dealing with them. But the dragon saved me!»

«From what was it?» The mask in her hands squinted hypocritically. «Was it from a wonderful night’s ball? We could have danced till morning. I would have flirted with your suitors for you.»

«What do you mean? They were all evil fairies! They didn’t have enough suitors of their own. They nearly tore me apart! Didn’t you see?»

«You should have asked me to turn you into a fairy, or one of them, or a fairy queen. That would have scared them. I can make you look like anything for a while.»

«Do I have to ask you to do that? You wouldn’t drink the life out of me for giving me a disguise for an hour, would you?»

«It is not your whole life, it is just a drop.»

«You are rascal! You are vampire!»

«I need something to eat, too,» the mask even took offense.

If the mask fell asleep, it became motionless.

Flora closed her eyes dreamily and remembered the flight. The dragon had carried her over the sea and the bridges. The starry heavens were as close as the canopy of a bed. In flight on the dragon it seems that the sky is a canopy over a sleeping world.

Flora has become a dreamer. Flying is so romantic. Except the dragon isn’t Prince Charming, but he’s a loyal protector. He didn’t eat her at the end of the journey. Flora’s heart raced as she thought she saw the golden glow of the sea again.

«I think I’ve fallen in love with a dragon,» she whispered.

«Yes, is it really?» The stranger emerged from the darkness.

Flora shuddered. Where had he come from? Was he hiding on the parapet of the tower? Why hadn’t she noticed him at once? And why was he wearing a golden mask? Is he in a hurry to the masquerade, too? One end of the sea bridge suddenly came to rest against the tower. It’s as if it was made for a stranger.

«Since when do you feel sympathy for the dragon, young lady?»

«Ever since the dragon saved me,» Flora stammered. The stranger was being insolent, and it embarrassed her.

«It was I who saved you,» he said suddenly.

«It was not you, but the dragon!»

«Is it really?»

«That’s right! The dragon saved me.»

«And if the dragon belongs to me. What do you owe me for riding it?»

«Who are you? Are you a friend of my brother?»

Flora squinted. Looking at the stranger was difficult. His mask shone too brightly. It was like the sun in the night! The mask was humbly silent in his presence and pretended to be inanimate. So there was something wrong with this stranger. Usually, the magic mask is very talkative. Even at the ball, she wanted to be flirtatious with someone even though her mistress might be torn apart. And some guy scares her.

«I am the dragon master,» he introduced himself and kissed Flora’s hand. His kiss burned her skin like fire.

Dancing with the wizard

«Why don’t you take off your mask?» Flora blew on her burned hand. «Or do you have dragon scales on your face?»

The stranger seemed offended, deciding she thought he was ugly. What did he expect, hiding under a mask? It was the night of the fairy masquerade. He’s probably going to the masquerade, too. Maybe he’s an elf.

As soon as he took off the mask, Flora gasped in admiration. A more beautiful face she had never seen in her life. Surely the stranger must be an elf.

«I am Flora, the only daughter of the local Marquis de Rione, the owner of this castle,» she immediately introduced herself. Such wording added to her importance, for her father was the only marquis in this pear. Majorate was not observed here, so she could have called herself a marquise, but for some reason she did not dare. A stranger might think she was already married. She didn’t want that. Perhaps she should have mentioned that she had no fiancé yet. She was drawn to the stranger like a magnet. She wanted him to feel something romantic for her.

«I’m Edwin,» the elf said reluctantly.

«You are just Edwin! And have you got the titles? What are you?»

«I am the dragon master. That’s enough to respect me.»

That’s right! A dragon can only be owned by a very noble man, or rather a very noble elf.

«Where do you live? Do you have your own castle?»

«Yes, I do.»

«Are your estates large?»

«They are larger than this manor.»

«Then what are you doing here?»

«I flew to the fairy masquerade and my dragon noticed you needed help. The fairies attacked you.»

«Did they mistake me for someone else?»

«Fairies don’t usually make mistakes.»

«But in my case, they did.»

«Are you sure?»

«I am!»

Edwin’s skin and golden hair glowed by itself. She guessed all elves glow in the dark like stars. Flora liked Edwin so much that she instantly forgave him for burning her hand. He must have picked up dragon manners from his time with the dragon.

«Why is the way to the fairy masquerade through the Earth Garden?» Flora wondered. «Is my ancestral castle enchanted?»

«I don’t think so. The portal to the fairies’ residence opens in a new place every time. Someone must have practiced magic in this castle if the portal was found in your garden this time.»

«It wasn’t me!» Flora hastily hid behind her back her mask. It laughed at her mistress.

«Then perhaps a witch has taken up residence in your towers.»

Flora didn’t like that assumption. Maybe Edwin was joking. Sometimes he seemed to speak in riddles. He was difficult to talk to, but you could drown in his eyes.

Flora was extremely disappointed when he said:

«I have to go.»

«But why is it?»

«I must return to the fairies’ residence to restore order. The fairies can’t keep harassing random guests.»

«Do you think those beasts will listen to you?»

«They’ll have to,» Edwin’s eyes glittered coldly.

«And who are you for the fairies to listen to? Are you a local steward?»

«It is something like that.»

«You’d better stay here. It’s safe.»

«I wouldn’t say that,» Edwin sniffed the clear air above the towers. «There’s an aura of black magic over the castle.»

Again he alludes to the witch in the locked towers. This is too much! Flora was angry, but she still didn’t want to let Edwin go. It felt like if he left, the sun would set.

«Will you pay us a visit? Come to dinner tomorrow.»

«You’re inviting me?» Edwin looked surprised, as if she’d said something stupid.

«Of course I am.»

«What if the dragon comes with me?»

«I don’t suppose it would want to join a human dinner?»

«What if he did?»

«His face wouldn’t even fit through the door,» laughed Flora.

«Suppose he can shrink in size when he needs to, and he can even sit at the table with you.»

«I don’t think he’d like salads, pies, and baked apples. And I don’t think dragons drink wine.»

Edwin laughed.

«Are you so sure?»

Flora blinked her eyelashes. His laughter sounded like the tinkling of bells. The laughter of elves must mesmerize people and rob them of their considerations. She was willing to promise Edwin anything.

«How many dragons do you know personally?» Edwin asked her with a laugh.

«Only one so far, it is yours.»

«And not very close. You’ve only ridden it once. But I controlled it.»

«Would it have thrown me off otherwise?»

«It could have been worse.»

Edwin’s eyes glittered so dangerously that Flora backed away from him, her back against the parapet. There was nowhere else to retreat.

«What could be worse than falling off a dragon’s back and being smashed to bits?»

«It is being eaten by a dragon,» Edwin said helpfully.

«Your dragon eats people?»

«Sometimes he burns them,» was the streamlined answer.

«If you bring him to our feast and he manages to squeeze through the door, he should be offered a meat menu. I’ll keep that in mind.»

«What if the dragon decides to snack on the guests?»

«My father often has strange guests, so I don’t mind, as long as he doesn’t touch any of my family.»

«How easily you bargained with the dragon,» Edwin laughed again.

What did he find so funny about such horrifying topics? Flora felt uneasy.

«If you can persuade your dragon to eat the witch who lurks in my father’s castle, I’m welcome. I don’t feel sorry for witches,» Flora joked.

«And if the witch is you?»

«I’m definitely not a witch!»

«Can you prove it?»

«Witches are old, scary and fly at night on broomsticks.»

«Some witches are young and attractive,» Edwin said with the confidence of a connoisseur.

«But everyone flies on broomsticks.»

«So if you fly, you’ll think you’re a witch?» Edwin suddenly switched to «you,» as if he were an old friend, and put his arm around Flora’s waist.

«I won’t fly, because I don’t have wings like a fairy. Nor can I fly with brooms like a witch.»

«But you can dance with me. Maybe something will come out of it.»

«I don’t think a dance will make a flight,» Flora put her hand in Edwin’s confidently. He danced a circle with her across the roof and then suddenly pulled her away from the hard surface. Flora thought he was only helping her to jump up in the dance, but as time passed, she felt no ground beneath her feet. Edwin continued to lead her in the dance already through the air. They danced over the parapet of the roof, then over the garden. In another moment, they would rise into the starry sky.

«You’re an elf! That’s why you’re flying!» Flora tried to feel for the wings behind his back, but only touched his cloak.

«I’m only proving to you that you’re a witch, otherwise you wouldn’t be able to fly at night over the castle.»

«That’s cheating! You flew me!»

«Only witches can communicate with spirits who take them on night flights.»

Flora didn’t know what to say. Edwin had stumped her. He reluctantly returned her to the roof and muttered.

«You’re a witch after all, if you’ve managed to charm me.»

Only a witch could charm an elf, Flora suggested.

«I didn’t mean it,» she squeaked, but Edwin suddenly decided to give her a gift – a rose from the flames. The flower came out of nowhere and burned in his hand. The petals, the stem, and even the thorns of the rose were made of fire.

«Take it!»

«I’ll burn myself,» Flora was frightened, but Edwin put the fiery rose into her hand, and surprisingly, she was not burned.

But Edwin himself disappeared as if he had never been there.

A real witch

«Flora de Rione!» The mask suddenly called her by name.

«How did you know my full name?» Flora glanced warily at the mask, which was squirming and making funny faces in her hands. The holder grew hot.

«Oh, put that disgusting thing away!» The mask wailed. Its thin voice resembled a ringing sound. It seemed that it wasn’t the mask screaming, but the vase shattered and the shards fell to the floor.

«What do you mean?»

«It is this one!»

«Is it a flower?» Flora was astonished. Why didn’t the mask like flowers?

The mask blinked its empty eye sockets in agreement.

«And hurry up!»

«But it’s not disgusting! It’s a rose!»

«It’s fire! I’ll burn myself on it!»

«I don’t burn myself on it. You’re too sensitive for a gold plate,» Flora held the flaming stem in her hand and didn’t even feel the heat.

«You look dead,» the mask squinted at her. «You are senseless, like a corpse.»

«Are you insulting me?»

«I’m just characterizing you. How can a living girl not get burned by fire? Only the dead aren’t afraid of pain.»

«Maybe the rose is enchanted.»

It was given by a wizard who can fly and wields a dragon! Flora’s never had such a friend before. It’s not a friend, it’s a fairy tale! If only he hadn’t forgotten about the dinner invitation. Flora was afraid of losing such an acquaintance. Where else would she meet a magician? A new friend could be useful. If you asked a wizard for a favor, he’d roll mountains.

The mask whimpered and whined, fearing the flames from the rose would disfigure it.

«I’ll melt!» She whimpered.

«It is all right,» Flora stuck the rose into the empty hole in the candelabra.

The mask took a breath of relief. Then suddenly it cried out again in terror. Flora carried it right over the fireplace.

«Ouch, it’s hot!» The mask began to melt right in Flora’s hands, but when she took it to the shade, the melted edges were immediately restored.

«How magical you are!» Flora marveled.

«And you’re magical too!»

«What makes you think so?»

«Fire doesn’t burn you.»

«It doesn’t?» Flora thought it was funny. She put her hand to the fire in the fireplace. Indeed, it doesn’t feel hot. Flora moved her hand lower right up to the tongues of flame. It didn’t feel hot, no burn left on her palm.

«Maybe communing with a wizard conferred magic? By the way, I wonder who lit the fireplace at this late hour. All the servants are asleep.»

«No, it is not all of them,» determined the mask, listening to the silence. Her golden ears perked up. «Someone is wandering the corridor.»

«I don’t see anyone. Maybe it’s my brother back from the village tavern. He drinks there and plays cards all night long.»

«No, it’s not Rafael de Rione,» the mask objected.

«How do you even know my brother’s name? Do you read people’s minds?»

«No, I read the inscriptions on your coats of arms, shields and tapestries.»

Flora only now noticed the commemorative plaques on the walls. There they marked victories in war, weddings, birth dates, and, naturally, birth names. But the letters were so small that you couldn’t read them without a magnifying glass, and the plaques themselves were high up under the arches of the entrances. You’d have to have wings to fly up to them and read them. The plaques were for fashion, not for information.

«You have a dragon’s eyesight,» Flora praised.

«I can also flap my wings and fly to the ceiling,» the mask boasted.

«Don’t show me to Edwin,» the mask squeaked.

«Why is it not? Do you think you’re ugly? Or are you afraid he’ll cast a spell on you? You’re already bewitched.»

The mask remained silent, though Flora shook it this way and that.

«I am not a toy!» Tired of being squeezed, the mask finally declared. «Treat me gently. I am your friend from now on.»

Flora had never had a friend before. After all, there is no one to get acquainted with, and to be friends with peasants does not allow etiquette. But with a magic mask can safely be friends with a marquise, and even the queen. Magic is a rank above earthly titles and privileges.

«There is someone nearby,» the mask warned again. Its whisper sounded like the hiss of melting metal.

This time the mask was right. An old housekeeper named Drusilla was awake. She was sitting on the sill of an open window, stroking her broom lovingly for some reason. The old woman was wearing a pointed hat and a dark dress, the kind of dress one normally wears to a funeral. Where were the cream-colored collars and lace that the housekeeper usually wore?

«See you later!» The housekeeper waved to the stars as if they were her friends and hurried forward down the hall. There was no bunch of keys in her hands, but she somehow managed to open the door at the end of the hallway. Flora didn’t remember there being a door here before. At the end of the hallway, there was usually a dead end. Apparently, the dead end has a sliding panel. Either there’s a hiding place behind it, or some kind of utility room. The smell of herbs wafted from it.

Drusilla entered a secret room where a cauldron was sizzling and bundles of black herbs were drying. The mirror on the wall suddenly reflected a young, attractive brunette in a black dress instead of the kind old woman. The pointed black hat suited her well. If not for the lack of wings, the stranger could be mistaken for a black fairy.

Flora cautiously followed Drusilla. The reflection in the mirror winked at her.

«Are you spying, my lady?»

Flora gasped, and the coal-black cat jumped to her feet and glared at her with yellow eyes.

«To me, Blackie!» Drusilla’s voice called. It was suddenly young and sonorous.

Flora peeped through the door of the secret room. The room looked like a kitchen. Bundles of herbs hung around, jars of powders, probably condiments, stood on shelves. Except that the skull between them was definitely not part of the kitchen arsenal. Its eyes flashed red fire. Bats gathered under the ceiling.

«How tiresome is to wear a mask!» Drusilla shook herself off, as if from dust, and suddenly became young and pretty. Flora gasped. Before her stood a lady with a wasp waist, matte skin, and high breasts in a black lace corsage. Her blue-black curls ran down below her waist. They seemed like living snakes.

The metamorphosis was astounding. Only the black cat was already used to her mistress’s transformation. It jumped nimbly on Drusilla’s shoulder and mewed something in her ear, evidently to Flora, for Drusilla stared at the doorway.

«Come in, mistress!» she called. «Don’t stand on the threshold like a stranger.»

Long black nails beckoned Flora inside. The girl entered reluctantly. The door behind her back did not slam shut. Apparently, Drusilla had put the whole castle to sleep.

Oh, my! The old housekeeper Drusilla, who always looked after Flora, was a witch with a black cat on her shoulder.

«Drusilla! So you’re a witch?»

«Shh!» Drusilla put a black fingernail to her lips.

That’s who Edwin meant! There is indeed a real witch in the castle!

«It was a good thing Blackie noticed you,» Drusilla petted the cat. «Otherwise I wouldn’t have shown you the respect you deserve and would have been blacklisted from the Magic Empire.»

«What are you talking about?»

Drusilla suddenly crouched down in front of Flora in a curtsy as if she were a princess.

«You don’t think I’m the queen of witches, do you?» Flora hesitated. And even if Drusilla thinks she is the witch lord, it’s good for her. Since the witch respects her, it means she won’t turn on her. Good! Flora pretended to understand and took it as a sign of respect. The main thing is not to be exposed.

«So you remembered who you are, Mistress?»

«I haven’t forgotten that,» Flora didn’t remember having recurring amnesia recently. Yes, there had been lapses of memory, but who she was, Flora remembered perfectly. She is the only daughter of the honorable Marquis de Rione. There’s no confusing her! Drusilla had certainly mistaken her for someone else. Maybe witchery makes witches misunderstand.

«So that’s how cunning you are!» Drusilla was truly gloating. «You just pretended to be oblivious! You’re a true witch lord!»

«I’d rather be a fairy lord,» said Flora, remembering the winged beauties’ sharp claws and stubborn temper. Then she would have tamed them.

«Don’t they obey you anymore?» Drusilla gasped with genuine indignation. «Oh, they are rebellious! Report them to the Emperor of all evil spirits.»

«I don’t even know him,» Fora faltered again, noticing Drusilla’s indignation. «I don’t want to go to him now,» she corrected quickly.

«It’s true. You did prefer to do everything behind his back. That’s the right thing to do! Men should be led around by the nose. I’ve seduced a couple of sorcerer kings, too.»

«Have you?!»

Drusilla took out a mirror and began to make herself up. Apparently, the mirror in the ornament of bones and thistles was magical, because Drusilla was suddenly transformed into a young enchantress.

«I’m not as beautiful as you are, but with a pinch of magic I can charm a king, a sultan, or even Edwin’s courtiers.»

«Wait! You mentioned that Edwin has courtiers. Is he the ruler of any state? Or do you mean not the Edwin who was going to the fairy masquerade?»

How many young men can still be called Edwin? Flora could not believe that a handsome young warlock could be a king.

Drusilla blinked her eyelashes in amazement, and the cat on her shoulder meowed questioningly. Flora was suddenly surprised to find that she understood cat language. How could this be? Blackie asked:

«What’s the matter with her?» The cat pointed doubtfully with its left paw at Flora.

«You must be joking?» Drusilla marveled at the cat’s tone.

«I…» Flora didn’t know what to lie this time and pressed her hand to her forehead.

«Are you dizzy?» Drusilla asked sympathetically.

«Do you have any potions for headaches?» Flora decided to distract her.

«I have a lot of them, both to cause pain and to relieve it, but you mustn’t take them, or the other that sits inside you may be released, and your body will no longer belong to you. It’s so young, so fresh. Where will you find another like it? The young Marquise was the only noble beauty in this wilderness. And peasant bodies never satisfied you. It’s her spirit rebelling inside you. It makes you dizzy and forget things from time to time. And it is impossible to evict her from your body. Otherwise the body will grow old very quickly. And you’ll have to find a new one.»

Ah, that’s it! Flora listened and gradually became terrified. If Drusilla thought she was talking to some sorceress who had taken over her body, it meant that Flora was under regular magical attacks. That’s why the blackouts and strange dreams. Some evil spirit tried to take over her body, but failed. Let Drusilla think she’s talking to a great sorceress, not the Marquis’ naive daughter Flora.

«This body is fine. I got over the one who squeezed me out of it,» Flora decided to play along with a touch of sneer. «Let’s forget about her! From now on, think of me only as Flora, and don’t mention the other one.»

«The main thing is that this body should last you longer. There must be traces of death and the magic that destroys it. Let me see!»

«Don’t!» Flora wanted only to remove Drusilla’s hand, but the witch shrieked and didn’t stay on her feet. Flora’s touch struck her in the chest with a bolt of lightning.

«Oh, I’m sorry! I can’t believe it’s me!» Flora watched in consternation as Drusilla rose with the help of a broom that flew up to help.

«You’re so strong! You’re the Queen of Evil!»

Flora was surprised herself. Probably, by displacing the magical invader from her body, she had taken away some of her magic powers.

«Don’t tell anyone that I went to the Fairy Masquerade last night,» she warned Drusilla.

«Of course, Mistress,» Drusilla shook off the strange green dust that was everywhere. Sometimes the dust clouds took the shape of moaning or hissing faces.

«I’ve got to go!» Flora hurried away before Drusilla realized and bewitched her. «Good night!»

«When are witches’ nights ever goodnight!» Drusilla snorted, and Blackie wagged her tail happily at Flora. The cat was clearly relieved that her guest was leaving.

«Who did think I was the witch!» Flora wondered as she walked down the corridor. The door behind her had already disappeared. The fire rose glowed in the candelabra like a star. Flora decided it was best not to leave the magical object in front of everyone and took the rose to her bedroom. At least no one would see it there.

«That’s right!» This time the mask supported her. «Traces of magic should be hidden from people.»

«I’m human, too,» Flora muttered.

«Are you sure about that?» The mask’s words were tinged with sarcasm.

«Yes!» Flora looked at herself in the wall mirror. «I’m human!»

Her own reflection suddenly winked at her, and Flora recoiled from the mirror. Better not look in mirrors at night anymore. Flora had heard from someone that evil spirits could appear in mirrors at midnight. Or maybe it was the clever Drusilla who put a spell on all the mirrors in the castle.

«The spirits of the looking-glasses are joking with you,» consoled the mask.

«That’s all! And I thought I was turning into a wicked witch. By the way, do you know who Drusilla has confused me with?»

The mask must have known, but it didn’t say a word, only laughed deafeningly in response. Her laughter rang out over the night castle.

The dragon’s advice

There was a note waiting for Flora in the morning, scribbled on an autumn leaf. Some tiny elf riding a kingfisher had slipped it through the crack of an opened window. The event felt more like a dream, so Flora wiped her eyes.

«I think the tiny elves are called pixies,» she mumbled in her sleep.

«They are,» sang the mask on the bedside table.

«Ouch!» Flora woke up immediately and completely. If the living mask was not a dream, then the elf on the kingfisher was not a dream either.

The kingfisher and the elf flew away as soon as Flora picked up the note, that is, the bright orange maple leaf.

«Is it already fall? Or do elves know how to color leaves?»

«It’s from the regions of fall,» the mask determined. Apparently it didn’t need sleep, as it didn’t look sleepy.

«Where are these regions of fall?»

«They are in the Empire of Magic, of course.»

«Do I have any acquaintances there?»

Flora unfolded the sheet. The letters were scratched on it as if with claws, but the calligraphic handwriting gave away Edwin’s hand.

«Yes, it looks like I know someone there now,» Flora said, but as soon as she began to read, the note was not from Edwin. There was only one sentence written in it:

«Don’t attend any more fairy masquerades!»

Wow! Edwin has an intelligent dragon! Who would have thought?

«I wonder if this dragon can talk. He wasn’t very talkative with me last night.»

The mask laughed snidely. Flora didn’t pay any attention to her. Who would understand these magic items! Maybe the mask is crazy for laughing at something all the time. Flora couldn’t even figure out what it was laughing at.

«I guessed it!» Flora guessed. «Edwin was too shy to write me the note himself, so he decided to sign it with a dragon. After all, a dragon is only a beast, albeit a magical one. He won’t be accused of courting a lady.»

«Do you think Edwin is so shy?» The mask squinted sneeringly.

«He’s young. All young boys are shy.»

«He just looks young, and he’s a wizard. Do you know how many different magical offenses he’s had on his conscience? He once put an entire kingdom to sleep with magic, and his dragon burned down so many cities!»

«You’re lying!» Flora straightened the ball gown she had slept in without undressing and fixed her hair. Now she could go out into the garden to see if there were any traces of the fairies.

There was a surprise waiting for her in the garden – another note from the dragon. This time the inscription was scorched by fire on the trunk of a centuries-old oak tree.

«Do not be frivolous! Do not follow in the footsteps of the fairies!

Your dragon.»

«And that’s being impertinent!» Flora took offense. The letters were still hot and sparkling. So they had been scorched recently. Did the gardeners see the dragon? They definitely didn’t see any fairies last night because they were asleep. The servants go to bed early to save candles. None of them reacted to the fairies laughing at midnight, but not seeing a whole dragon in the morning was incredible.

«He’s only giving you a warning,» the mask squeaked.

«Are you protecting him?» Flora shook her so-called friend in her hands. «I don’t need dragon advice. I’m smart myself!»

«So smart that yesterday you almost died in the claws of the fairies!» parried the mask.

She’s right! Flora lost all her aplomb.

«Why did I study fine arts, geography, and even philosophy if I’m not smart enough? You should deduct it from the governesses’ salaries. Their lessons were wasted on me.»

«I only respect magic lessons,» the mask snorted. «I could give you a couple.»

«No, thank you.»

«Are you afraid of getting more stupid?»

«I’m afraid you’ll cast a spell on me.»

«I’ll do it!» The mask took offense. «I treat you with all my heart, and all you do is hurt me!»

«Do magic masks have souls?»

«It’s just a figure of speech.»

«You’re hard to understand.»

«Unlike you, I don’t make dangerous friendships with dragons.»

«I’m not friends with dragons either,» Flora said, catching herself in a lie. If she didn’t make friends with a dragon, how could she explain the dragon’s insolent behavior? He was bossy, leaving inscriptions with fire in the garden. In one bed, the petunias have been trampled and a large dragon claw has been left in the loosened earth. The maids would be horrified when they saw it. Flora rushed to fix it. Raking the ground with her hands to hide the monstrous mark was not possible. Flora began to vigorously trample the flowerbed to layer her footprints over the dragon’s trail. That way it would be hidden.

«What are you doing? Dancing in the flowerbed?«A surprised cry was from the garden gate.

«Raphael!» Flora only now noticed her brother. How foolishly things had turned out! Stomping on the flowerbed, she looked like a witch with disheveled hair dancing on the bare earth among the plucked flowers.

«Mama loved those petunias,» Rafael reminded her resentfully.

«She also loved orchids, tulips, daffodils, camellias, chrysanthemums, geraniums, and many other flowers I can’t even remember the names of.»

«That’s right, you have amnesia, sister!»

«I don’t have amnesia!» Flora got angry.

«Well, you only forget things that it’s to your advantage not to remember. For example, when you broke your mother’s necklace, you immediately forgot about it, and the maids were whipped for the offense.»

«You’re so vindictive! I don’t even remember that!»

Flora nervously fixed her hair, which was tangled in the leaves and flowers of a nearby acacia tree. Flora’s reflection in the garden pond looked like a disheveled witch. Rafael himself was not looking his best. His shirt was torn, his camisole had been lost or lost at cards, his boots had burned holes in them, and his hands had burns. He must have been drinking and partying all night, maybe even had a fight with someone.

«I hope you didn’t lose everything.» Flora asked in a venomous tone.

«On the contrary, I won a lot.»

«Then where is your camisole and your winnings?»

«You see, the thing is, I was counting coins on the way, and I was attacked by creatures attracted by the glitter of gold.»

«Were they fairies?» Before, Flora would have thought her brother was making things up, but after her encounter with fairies yesterday, she wouldn’t have been surprised if those winged wretches had attacked Raphael as well. Her brother is so cowardly! Even if he had a sword and had perfectly mastered the art of swordsmanship, he would not have defended himself against the fairies. After all, fairies are ladies, and ladies Raphael respected.

«What fairies are there,» he dismissed it. «A rabble of evil spirits: ugly trolls, gray elves, dwarves – all surrounded me at the crossroads and I had to play with them until morning.»

«So?»

«You can’t win to wizards!»

«You didn’t make all that up?»

«Look!» Raphael lifted his cuffs and showed the burns in the shape of clawed paws. «Our land is full of evil! We have to get out of here, and fast.»

«Father won’t allow it.»

Flora thought it was better not to tell Raphael about the fairies, otherwise he would lose the whole castle to them, or maybe he would just give them away for a kiss.

«By the way, did you catch leprosy from the gray elves? I’ve heard they carry magical contagion.»

«Who did you hear that from?»

«I don’t remember!»

Flora really didn’t remember.

Raphael looked around warily.

«I don’t seem to feel sick.»

«All infected people feel healthy at first. The disease doesn’t kick in right away.»

«You’re a healer?» Rafael had a frightened look on his face.

«Your friend gave me a lecture yesterday about what a bad castle we have.»

«What friend is it?»

«It is an aristocrat named Edwin.»

«I don’t know any Edwin.»

«But he was here yesterday.»

«It was an aristocrat in the middle of nowhere! He was a messenger from the King, perhaps.»

«He is more like a traveler. I invited him to dinner.»

«It’s good to have someone to talk to other than the prim astrologers my father invites. The frequent visits of alchemists and astrologers probably made our castle a bad place. When Father dies, I’ll drive them all away. I can’t stand minions and crooks.»

«How can you talk about Father’s death when Father is alive and unhurt?»

«My mother was alive and unhurt, and then suddenly…» The words froze on Raphael’s lips. «If mom were alive, she would have dispersed those alchemists.»

«I’ll find out what happened to Mom,» Flora promised herself. A chain of tiny footprints could be seen on the path. If only Raphael hadn’t noticed them. Only fairies could have such graceful feet.

«Floretta!» The brother had gotten into the habit of calling her by her pet name, so something was wrong. She was usually called Floretta by her mother or nanny. Flora was immediately alert.

«What do you mean?»

«Don’t go to crossroads in the evening, even garden crossroads,» Rafael advised. «The evil spirits love to catch travelers at crossroads.»

And at masquerades, Flora wanted to say, but she had the good sense to keep silent. Raphael wouldn’t have understood. He himself was now terrified of crossroads and gambling trolls.

And a signature:

Dragon’s Advice

Advice from the fairies

As soon as Raphael had left the garden, Flora breathed a sigh of relief. Now she had time to cover the dragon’s trail. Her absent-minded brother hadn’t noticed it, or he would have panicked by now.

She had to hurry before the gardener and his helpers got here. There’s no way to trample the dragon’s trail. It’s too big. Maybe we should try to cover it with a rake or a broom. She wished she had Drusilla’s broom right now. She was sure the witch’s broom could do a fine job even with a dragon’s mark.

Laughter sounded from behind the briar bushes. It resembled the chiming of bells. It was the way fairies laughed at a masquerade. At the memory of fairies Flora was terrified. She was more afraid of fairies than she was of the dragon.

If fairies got into the garden, they would definitely try to strangle her or tear her apart.

The rosehips at this time of year were blooming with tiny roses. They were supposed to be white, but for some reason they were blue. Are there blue roses? Flora looked around the bush in surprise. It looked like magic. It was as if the fairies had enchanted this bush.

Someone was still laughing in the thicket. There was a gravel path around the bushes. No one was walking on it, but the imprints of graceful feet were suddenly imprinted on it. Where had they come from? Unless an invisible man had walked here.

Flora stared at the footprints in puzzlement. They looked as if they had been left by feet in winged sandals. Probably some fairy flying over the path had decided to play a prank. Flora stared up at the sky, but the fairy suddenly appeared beside her and laughed. She was translucent for a moment. Then she turned blue.

«How lucky I was to play a trick on you!» The unfamiliar fairy hovered in the air above the path and clapped her hands joyfully. Her nails, eyebrows, and eyelashes were silver, and her dress, hair, and wings were blue. Such beauty! Flora glared at the fairy, forgetting the danger. Somehow the fairy looked suspiciously like a blue rose from a bush.

«Are you a garden fairy?» Flora guessed.

«Uh-huh! I’ve been living in the hollow of an old elm tree for a couple of decades and I know all the secrets of the garden.»

«Are there any secrets in this garden?»

The fairy obviously did not want to answer. She flew forward along the avenue of poplars. Flora followed the fairy. It was strange that at this time of year the down was flying off the poplars. The fairy caught it and laughed. The poplar fluff turned blue in her hands.

When she reached the beech, the fairy tapped the trunk with her hand for some reason.

«What are you doing?»

«I want to call my friends. They live in the yew, ash and cypress trees.»

«Are they fairies like you?»

«Yes, they are.»

«No, you don’t need to call them.»

«Why is it not?» The fairy fluttered her silvery eyelashes in amazement.

«I don’t like noisy company.»

«I heard you and an elf agreeing to go to the fairy masquerade.»

«I didn’t like it.» Flora didn’t specify that it wasn’t the noise she didn’t like, but the claws of aggressive fairies.

«I don’t like it either, that’s why I haven’t attended masquerades for centuries,» admitted the garden fairy.

«How long have masquerades been held in the fairies’ residence?»

«I don’t remember exactly,» the Garden Fairy frowned. «I think since the Empress disappeared.»

«Which empress is it?»

«Does it really matter? Personally, I liked having fun in the company of the local marquise. She was such a fun person.»

«She’s gone,»» Flora said sadly.

«Is she?» The garden fairy was very surprised. «I saw her only yesterday.»

«You couldn’t have seen her yesterday.»

«It was definitely her.»

«You must be mistaken.»

Aren’t there many similar women all over the world? To the fairies, surely all mortals look pretty much alike. Then it’s strange why the fairy didn’t mistake Flora herself for her mother. After all, Flora was very similar in appearance to the late Marquise.

«Let’s dance in the air above the garden,» the fairy grabbed the hesitant Flora by both hands and tried to pull her into flight. «Let’s have a masquerade right here in the garden.»

«No!» Flora struggled to break free. «I’ll fall and get hurt.»

«It is really! You don’t have wings!» The garden fairy seemed to have just noticed this. She flew around Flora in surprise and even tried to unbuckle her corset to see if her wings were hidden underneath.

«I took you for a newcomer to the garden. Sometimes stray fairies come through here.»

Flora didn’t know what to say. The garden fairy must be out of her depth. Or she could be stealing her father’s port and drinking it in the hollow tree. The maids complained that one flask of port had disappeared.

How could the garden fairy otherwise claim to know all the secrets of the estate if she mistakes the master’s daughter for a stranger?

Between the footprints on the path something glittered. It seemed to be a coin. Flora bent down and picked it up. The coin was unusual. It had no crest or tails. There was a silhouette of a dragon embossed on both sides.

«Had the dragon dropped it?» Flora could only think of such an assumption. Although on the other hand, the unusual coin could have belonged to a garden fairy or the young wizard Edwin.

The coin was hot, as if it had been heated on fire. Flora almost dropped it from her fingers.

«Don’t throw it away!» The fairy warned. «The coin is magic. If you throw it, you will find the way to the dragon’s kingdom.»

«Is it to the dragon kingdom! Why would I go there? I’m afraid of dragons!»

«And they love you.»

«That’s not true! The dragon was just told to watch over me and pester me with advice.»

Another piece of advice was scorched on the bench. Why did the dragon ruin the bench! It was expensive, the Aluar’s craftsmen made it from yew and valuable copper. Flora didn’t even bother to read the inscription. She’d had enough of the dragon’s advice.

«Keep the coin! If you toss it, you can find a way out of any situation,» the fairy squinted slyly.

She flapped her wings and knocked over a statue of some garden goddess.

«Careful, it’s expensive!» Flora rushed to save the statue, but it was already shattered.

«I don’t like garden goddesses! But if it’s expensive, let it stay here. Just give me the coin.»

Flora was glad to part with the coin that burned her fingers.

With a flap of the fairy’s wings, the statue was whole.

«One coin is worth a whole gallery of such statues,» the fairy explained, but she didn’t give the coin back.

«Is it alive?» Flora recoiled from the statue, which began to make faces.

«No, it’s my magic. It only takes a pinch of magic to revive a statue.»

«You can put her back to sleep, or she’ll scare the guests away with her marble facial expressions.»

The garden fairy stared at Flora in discouragement.

«You’re impossible to understand!» She sighed.

Flora could have said the same thing about the fairy, but she delicately kept silent.

«Do you think that a magician who comes to visit you will be stunned at the sight of just one living statue?» The fairy was busy shaking off the debris from her skirts, which resembled the petals of a blue rose. The statue suddenly fell asleep. At least it didn’t make any more faces.

«Thank you!» Flora thanked.

«Do you want some advice for the future?» The garden fairy was about to fly to the top of the elm trees, but she delayed. «If you find another dragon coin on the road, don’t give it to anyone. Otherwise, you’ll lose your chance at magical luck.»

«Thank you, but I can do without that chance,» Flora muttered, thinking to herself that the fairy’s advice was all she needed.

Why did all magical creatures, except for witches, take her for a naive person? First the dragon came to her with advice, and now the fairy.

«How proud you are!» The garden fairy snorted. «For your information, not everyone can find a coin dropped by a dragon. If I had seen it on the path before you, I would have picked it up immediately, but I didn’t. So I don’t have a gift for finding gold.»

«Do garden fairies need gold? I think you only like flowers and plants,» Flora wondered.

But the fairy had already flown away with the coin. What was she going to spend it on? The Marquis de Rione’s castle was rarely visited even by shopkeepers, not to mention foreign merchants with silks and spices. Father scared them all away.

Besides, why should fairies buy anything when they can conjure up whatever they want? She guessed the garden fairy really believed she could use a dragon coin to find some forbidden path to dreamland. Well, let her dream on!

Flora looked around for the gardener’s tools. There must be some way to cover the dragon’s trail. She was too late. Drusilla’s broom had already covered the flowerbed. Drusilla herself was nowhere to be seen. The witch’s broom could do the job without her mistress.

Flora sighed in relief. How convenient to have a kind-hearted witch who wanted to help you. The broom covered the dragon’s trail almost instantly. Flora, on the other hand, wouldn’t have been able to do it in a whole day.

Garden mysteries

Raphael didn’t know anything about Edwin. So Edwin wasn’t one of his acquaintances from the local taverns. That was comforting. In the beer halls, his brother tangled with the rare hooligans. If only all these drunks and hustlers weren’t his constant company. Brother needs a more aristocratic friend. But where could he get one?

Flora caught herself thinking she couldn’t forget Edwin. He is so elegant, so mysterious! There’s something special about him. It is apart from the charms, of course.

«I feel as if I were in love!» Flora whispered. She was glad that the magic mask was not with her. Otherwise the mask would have laughed!

You have to put up with your own mask’s witticisms! She shouldn’t have gone to the fairy masquerade. Then she wouldn’t have the magic mask now. If she hadn’t, she wouldn’t have met Edwin.

«I wonder if he’ll come to dinner.»

The witch’s broom, naturally, did not respond. It covered the dragon’s trail and flew back into the window of the castle from which it had flown. It must have flown back to Drusilla. It was strange that the witch’s broom was actively flying during the day as well. Flora was sure that all witches’ tricks worked only at night.

A bush of particularly lush dark blue roses appeared at the garden gate. The gardeners were careful to avoid it, pretending it wasn’t there. It grew right by the side of the gravel path. There’s no such thing as blue roses! It’s a fairy joke! Flora already knew about her, but the others hadn’t even seen her yet, so they blamed it on the curse of the castle.

«All cursed castles are besieged by wickedness,» Flora heard bits and pieces of the head gardener’s assistants talking.

Flora knew what the servants were whispering about and realized that they were right. The fairies had indeed been here at night. They waltzed in flight over every flowerbed and mound.

The fairies’ ball would have resembled a fairy tale if the winged beauties hadn’t turned out to be predators.

The bush of blue roses also resembled a hunched predatory troll, which the fairies forced to serve, digging the ground with its nose.

There was some kind of creepy creature living under the bush. Right in the roots! Or was it roots? And next to it was a smiling elf. Only he was dressed all in black.

«Good morning, my lady!» He said hello, taking off his velvet beret. The ears under the beret were as sharp as fish gills.

Flora recoiled from the elf. The same elf had lured her to the fairy masquerade yesterday, only he looked much more unattractive in the daylight.

«What are you doing here?»

«Come to see how you got back?»

Well, what should she say to him? Slap him in the face?

«You threw me to the fairies!» Flora rebuked him.

«I was hurt myself,» the elf showed strange marks on his skin in the form of letters and symbols. «Fairies scratch a lot.»

«What do you want here?» Flora didn’t trust the elf anymore, so she wasn’t being polite either.

«I want to hire myself out as a gardener to be closer to you, my lady.»

It was more like a joke. An elf gardener! Who would believe such a thing?

«My father’s castle has enough gardeners. One more would be too many, and there’s not enough wages for all of them.»

«I can work for nothing. I’m an elf!»

«The garden fairies are already working for free.» Flora pointed at the fighting gardeners’ assistants. The boys were arguing over the cause of the blue roses. The argument ended in a scuffle.

«I’ll just live in the hollow of an elm or poplar tree,» the elf said, uncertainly crumpling his beret in his hands. His fingers were as thin as spider’s legs

«All the hollows in the garden are occupied by fairies,» Flora said sternly. Well, maybe she exaggerated a little.

«I don’t think Poplar Alley is uninhabited yet.»

«Live in the poplars if you like, but I’ll be off.»

«Wait! You can call me Charles if you like, milady.»

«You have a common Earth name,» Flora said warily.

«My real name is Sharneel, but you’ll be more comfortable calling me Charles.»

He’s right! Flora couldn’t pronounce Sharneel, no matter how hard she tried. It must be enchanted.

«Is the dragon coming for dinner?» Charles asked.

«What makes you think that?»

«A starling whispered it to me.»

«You should listen to birds more,» Flora hesitated when she realized. «Do you understand bird’s language?»

«It is a little,» Charles admitted.

«Then I could use you as a servant.»

«So I can move closer to your apartment?» Charles was pleased.

«No, you can occupy any poplar,» Flora smiled kindly. If an elf has the talent to make a house out of poplar, let him try.

«By the way, could you chase away that disgusting creature crawling under the rosebush by the gate?»

«I can’t, ma’am,» the elf immediately changed to a pleading tone. «It must stay here. It was assigned to the castle as a lookout from the magic kingdom, but it’s a garden secret.»

The elf winked slyly at Flora.

«An important person took a great liking to you, so you are being watched.»

«So I won’t run away from my own castle?» Flora snickered.

«Nothing bad may happen to you.»

«Could the fairies attack me again? Then they’d have to trespass on my domain.»

«There are many dangers besides fairies.»

«I’ve only encountered fairies!»

It was better not to have encountered them! Flora recalled with horror the aggression of the winged beauties that had swooped down on her. These are not fairies, but savages! They should have aristocratic manners.

«Why doesn’t anyone educate them!»

«It is because the empress of the magical empire has run away,» the elf explained dignifiedly. «This is a great tragedy for all of us. Without her supervision, all the fairies have disbanded.»

«Damn that bastard!» Flora cursed. «She had the misfortune to leave this wild pack unattended.»

«Without her, all the fairies are homeless,» the elf nodded. «It is except for the garden ones.»

«Why is it? Does she visit them?»

«The garden fairies have a mistress – you!»

«Why is it me?»

«Probably it is because they fly in your territory,» the elf squinted slyly. There was something he wasn’t telling me.

«I don’t think they obey me.»

«If they haven’t attacked the guest, i.e. me, they must be trained by you.»

«You’re logical!» Flora walked through the garden past the blooming acacia trees, and the elf soared after her. Soon the gardeners would notice that the mistress had a new admirer. The main thing is that they should not notice that this admirer is hovering over the path, not treading on it.

However, the elf disappeared into the hazel thicket as soon as Drusilla appeared on the road. It was daytime, but she looked like a lady, and she was reprimanding her broom for something.

«Oh, you are idle broom!» She wailed, plucking twigs from her broom. «You fly where you’re not asked! You’ve got a nerve! You don’t listen to me!»

The elegant lady with the broom would have looked ridiculous if it weren’t for her pointy hat. A hat like that always identifies a witch. And the black cat sitting next to her only adds points to her witchy reputation.

«The broom was helping me!» Flora stepped towards Drusilla. «She was covering the dragon’s tracks.»

«Ah, so that’s it!» Drusilla crouched in a curtsy.

Today, a necklace with a large sapphire glittered around the witch’s graceful neck. Had the Marquis given it to her? Flora didn’t think her father could have an affair with a witch living in the castle, but suddenly Drusilla was aiming for the Marquise’s seat.

The old decrepit housekeeper’s appearance slept like a mask. Drusilla in her younger guise turned out to be a very attractive woman. Her extravagant black attire aside, she could be called a refined lady. It was no surprise if her father had a crush. He’s always been into alchemists and astrologers. So the witch is quite his type.

«Why did you take off the old woman’s disguise?» Flora asked her directly.

«I was tired of looking decrepit and toothless.»

«It’s better than looking dead like the last Marquise,» Flora hinted. «I think anyone who tries to take her place will be dead too. Rumor has it that the local marquises are cursed.»

Drusilla giggled.

«What’s so funny?»

«It is nothing, my lady. I was just thinking that secrets to mortals are no longer secrets to you and me.»

The witch must know everything. She could fly over the towers at night on her broom and overhear any secret conversation. Flora couldn’t resist asking:

«Do you know where my mother has gone?»

«You mean Flora’s mother?» Drusilla squinted suspiciously.

It was necessary not to misspell things from now on. The witch was beginning to suspect her. It wouldn’t be far from trouble.

«Let’s call everything and everyone by their official names,» Flora said.

«You mean human?»

«And in turn, we call the human ones the common ones. Do you understand the terms?»

«You amaze me, madam!» Drusilla even whistled, and Blackie meowed and twisted her paw at her temple. «I don’t want you to take rules and terms for granted! Apparently, running away from the dragon, you lost respect for yourself.»

«What do you mean?»

«I’m sorry,» Drusilla was immediately startled and bounced behind a pillar of the garden gazebo. Only her pointy hat now peeked out. «I didn’t mean to be impertinent. I didn’t mean it!»

Who did the witch think she was, to be so flattering to her? Flora was too shy to ask directly. She’d give herself away with questions. If she’s so powerful that witches are afraid of her, then she’s supposed to be all-knowing.

«Would you pick me some blue roses?» Flora didn’t know where to send Drusilla. «I want to make a wreath of them.»

«Do you want to summon the midnight spirits?» Drusilla wondered. «It’s not worth it; your skin will turn blue before you start weaving the wreath.»

«I’ll take my chances anyway.»

Drusilla didn’t like it, but she obediently went to the rosebush by the gate and had a long argument with the creepy creature living in the roots.

«The roses should have been torn at midnight,» she protested. «But the mistress had lost her mind!»

The blue roses were difficult to pluck, even for a witch. It wasn’t until the evening that Flora got a dozen blue roses and noticed that they really turned her fingers blue. It was better to throw them away, but Drusilla stood with a broom like a guard and waited for Flora to weave the promised wreath. To tame the witch’s suspicion, she had to weave it.

A round dance of fairies

Flora wove the wreath and hummed. The thorns hurt her fingers. The roses were predators. They wanted to dig into the skin until it bled. By the way, the blood that dripped on them immediately dissolved in the petals. Are they vampires?

«Don’t sing, my lady!» Drusilla waved her broom toward the window, where it was getting dark. «Otherwise you’ll summon the dragon.»

«I don’t think so!» Flora looked out the window. There was no golden glow in the dark sky. So the dragon has not flown yet.

«The dragon loves your songs.»

«You mean the songs of innocent girls? I heard that somewhere.»

«No, it is yours exactly,» objected the witch.

«But he’s never even heard me sing, unless he’s been listening, lurking under the windows like a mouse. That’s not typical dragon behavior!»

«You drove him crazy and made him behave like a dragon!»

«Why am I the bad one?»

«Is that a bad thing?» Drusilla is wary. «What’s bad is that you’re singing now. It’s better not to sing! Otherwise we’ll be exposed.»

«Anyone who enters this room will expose us,» Flora glanced at the living mask and the fire rose. Only a drunken Raphael could miss those two magical objects.

The mask squeaked and shunned the fire rose. She had no objection to the witch with the broom.

«I can’t do this!» Flora tried to tie the ends of the wreath with ribbon and couldn’t.

«You have to tie the leaves in a knot,» Drusilla advised.

«How is it?» Flora was surprised, but the leaves suddenly knotted themselves together. The wreath was complete. «It’s still not magical! I did something wrong!»

Flora didn’t know how to chase the witch away from the sofa. Drusilla had her leg over her foot and was playing with her broom.

«That’s right!» She determined, glancing at the wreath. «Now you must put it on your head and wrap it around your axis three times. Then the spirits will appear and surround you in a circle.»

«And then?»

«Then you can ask them anything you want.»

Flora didn’t want to ask the spirits anything. She would gladly have thrown the wreath away and forgotten about it, but how to put the witch’s guard down? Drusilla watched her like a gendarme. How to chase the witch out of her bedroom? Send a letter with her to the town manager or even the king? Drusilla would just get on her broom and deliver the message.

«I have an idea!» Flora wanted to throw the wreath into the fireplace. As she stood up from her chair, a dragon’s curious face poked through the window. Its golden hide glittered so brightly that it hurt her eyes. Flora shrieked.

Apparently the dragon was expecting admiration, not panic, so it retreated resentfully. Now only the starry sky was visible through the window, but Drusilla was wary.

«I told you not to sing! Look, you’ve attracted a dragon!»

«It’s already gone.»

«No, it hasn’t!» The witch shook her head.

Flora looked out of the window. There was no sign of the dragon.

Drusilla’s deft hands placed a wreath on Flora’s head.

«This will protect you.»

Flora felt the thorns prick her forehead. Good protection!

«Guard my mask for now, while I take a walk around the castle,» Flora tried to get rid of the annoying witch.

«Do you wish to summon spirits alone?» Drusilla grinned understandingly. «Good! I don’t have any witches’ sabbath on my schedule today that I need to fly to, so I’ll stay here.»

How easy it was to fool the witch! Flora hurried out of the bedroom and slammed the door behind her. If the witch started visiting her every night, she would probably go mad.

The castle hallway was quiet. No servants were seen on the way, but Flora had a mania for stalking. She thought she saw a dragon’s powerful paw following her, and a dragon’s tail dragging across the carpet.

Couldn’t the dragon have gotten into the castle? At its size, it was unrealistic. Unless it can shrink at will.

From behind, the clawing of dragon claws could be heard. Flora chickened out and turned around. There was no dragon in the corridor of the castle, of course, but here she was, like a naive fool, fulfilled the witch’s condition – made a turn around its axis. And the unfortunate wreath of blue roses was on her head. She had to take it off immediately, but the translucent figures had already separated from the walls and circled around Flora. One would have thought they were ghosts that emerged from the portraits of her ancestors, but looking at them, Flora didn’t recognize any familiar faces. They were really spirits of the night, not ghosts from portraits.

«Beware!» They whispered. «If you go any further, your plan will fail! The dragon will expose you. You’re going straight to your past now. Better go back to your bedroom and sleep till morning. Then the danger will be over.»

Why would the spirits warn her? Flora didn’t believe them. After all, spirits are notorious liars.

She turned her back on them and walked away. The spirits immediately left her behind. It was probably because she turned around her axis once, not three times as Drusilla had instructed. Otherwise the spirits would have haunted her all night.

There were strange noises coming from her father’s study, as if her father were doing another alchemical experiment. Mother’s portrait hung right next to his study, as if mother was still alive. Usually the portraits of deceased marquises and marquises were moved to the portrait gallery.

Flora cast a quick glance at her mother’s portrait. Somehow it seemed that the portrait was looking at her with living eyes. Maybe she should turn around three times near it to summon the ghost of the Marquise Archibalda and question it. What on earth had happened to her? Flora was curious if the witch’s magic would work. She adjusted the wreath on her forehead and wrapped herself around her axis three times.

«Spirit of the Marquise Archibalda de Rione, I summon you!» She said.

And nothing happened! The magic didn’t work! How could it?

Flora looked at the empty corridor and saw no more spirits in it. But the wall clock showed midnight. It was echoed by the tower chimes.

In the dining room, oddly enough, dinner was being prepared. The silverware was clinking and the cook’s assistants were bustling about. Dinner after midnight was commonplace at the Marquis de Rione’s castle. Flora’s father, who tangled with alchemists and astrologers, often hosted a late-night feast for his friends. Flora didn’t want to sit between her father’s guests all night long and listen to the most boring descriptions of alchemical experiments. But she was suddenly hungry. The tantalizing aroma of spit-roasted lamb wafted from the hall. It was as if the castle was preparing for a dragon’s feast! Would Edwin come to dinner? No sign of him yet. But dishes of roast pheasant and quail were placed on a long table. Someone had decorated the table with a vase containing a lush bouquet of forget-me-nots. This is not typical of the Chateau de Rione. There are no forget-me-nots around here.

«Don’t forget me,» a whisper came from the flowers.

It seemed to Flora that all the forget-me-nots had not flowers on their stems, but the heads of tiny pixies. She hurried away from the dining room and hid in an alcove. She mustn’t let the servants notice how frightened she was. And the wreath of blue roses should be thrown away, so as not to cause trouble. It’s a witch’s wreath!

«This way is it! Hurry up!» Whispers came from the window that opened. «Let’s give the marquis a lot of inconvenience for not fulfilling the terms of the deal!»

Four beautiful star fairies flew in through the window. One of them had a golden crescent moon ornament glittering under her braid, while the others wore veils and dresses of starry sky colors. Flora held her breath. She had never seen star fairies before, not even at a masquerade.

It turned out that the star fairies were not the only ones in the castle. There were plenty of forest and field fairies, too. They flew, hitting the wings of chandeliers, hopped on the furniture, hid on top of cabinets, hung from the ceiling. One meadow fairy even tried to get into Flora’s niche, but noticed that it was already occupied and changed her mind.

Wow! The fairies came to the castle at night. They flew in. They flew into the windows as if they were doors. With wings, it’s easy to get into any castle. You don’t even have to break down the doors. Just fly in! No problem! Too bad she doesn’t have wings.

«I have wings! I can lend you some. Or carry you,» said an elf who had flown in after the fairies, eagerly responding to her thoughts.

He wanted to hug her, but Flora recoiled.

«Well, as you wish,» the elf flew away resentfully, and Flora was left alone. That was even better! She already knew that no elf could protect her from the fairies. What if they attacked her again? They don’t care that this castle belongs to her, not them. Fairies make themselves at home everywhere. Did they really come here looking for their prey? Flora eluded them last time, but this time there’s nowhere to go.

«I won’t let the fairies drive me out of my own castle!» Flora boldly climbed out of hiding as the fairies were already circling the supper table and the cooks scattered fearfully.

«Look!» One of the fairies pointed with her hand to the portrait of the Marquise Archibalda. «That’s her! I’d love to transfer her soul into that portrait so she won’t bother us anymore.»

«And how would you do that?» The river fairies, whose clothes and wings resembled flowing water, asked.

«I don’t know yet!» The spruce fairy thought for a moment. Green needles were growing on the skin of her hands, making her look like a hedgehog. «There must be some way to reason with her.»

«You’d better accept that she’ll never get back the ones she took away,» said the flower fairies. They dropped fragrant flowers on the floor, but their claws glittered dangerously.

Flora was wary. What did the fairies mean? They knew something about her mother that she didn’t know herself.

«Let’s punish the Marquis!» The pretty snowdrop fairy suggested. «It’s about time! Let’s all fly to his office!»

«It is not yet,» The rye fairy with a wreath of ears in her hair listened warily. «The castle master is expecting guests.»

«They won’t protect him,» squeaked the mushroom fairies, from whose presence the sofas in the corridor began to be covered with mold.

Flora stared in amazement at the wreaths of mushrooms. How had the fairies managed to weave them?

In the wreath of roses she looked like a fairy herself, so for now she was not touched.

«There will be one special guest,» said the rye fairy.

Flora’s heart began to race. Would Edwin really be coming? She couldn’t bear to see him again.

The portrait of her mother suddenly winked at Flora. Had she imagined it? Flora pinched herself. The fairies were definitely not her imagination. They danced in a round dance over the table until one of the fairies smelled something.

«It’s for the master!» She shrieked, taking a bite out of the roast pheasant. «He’ll be here tonight!

«So he will deal with the Marquis, not us!» All the fairies decided at once. In a moment they were all gone. Flora had time to see only a motley flock flying out of all the windows of the castle.

The fireplace fairy

«Are you the fairy of witch roses?» A voice called out to Flora from the fireplace.

It turned out that there was an ash fairy hovering above the fireplace screen. She was grayish-black. Ashes were falling from her wings.

«I smell a dragon!» She whispered. «I’m not afraid of the dragon, but you all might be.»

«I’m not afraid of the dragon,» Flora said with bravado. «I invited the dragon and his master to dinner tonight.»

«You are reckless!» The ash fairy laughed. She had a dry coughing laugh and ash was falling from her mouth. «Stop it! The dragon has no master! You’re a liar!»

The ashy hand reached for Flora. Flora recoiled.

«Do you want me to give you my wreath on the condition that you fly away?» Flora bargained with the fairy.

«Give me the wreath, even though it’s too big for me,» the ash fairy came out of the chimney and turned out to be the size of a cat. «But I’ll stay here until dinner is over. I want to be close to the dragon.»

«It is because he can’t burn you?» Flora teased her.

The fairy chuckled understandingly. Handfuls of ash sprinkled from her laughter. Flora covered her face with the fan she carried as jewelry. For once it came in handy! Usually the fan was useless because of the chilly weather that reigned around castle de Rione all year round.

«Soon the dragon fire will warm up the neighborhood,» the fireplace fairy replied to Flora’s thoughts.

Greedy gray hands grabbed the wreath and dragged it down the fireplace chimney. Flora still stood in front of the empty fireplace and wondered how fairies could read thoughts so cleverly. They barely have time to think about something, and they already know everything.

A snide laugh came from the fireplace chimney, and a warning sounded from there as well:

«The dragon is on its way!»

«Thank you!» Flora nodded.

«You should not thank for such news, but run away!» The ash fairy whispered.

«Didn’t the dragon accidentally burn you?» Flora snickered.

«I wouldn’t think so! I was born in ash. You can’t burn me!» The fairy replied smugly.

«But what if he gets his way?»

«You put him up to it!» The ash fairy crawled up the chimney. Surely the blue roses in her hands had long since turned gray. So be it! Flora didn’t need them anyway. Witch roses are nothing but trouble! Drusilla may think otherwise, but she’s not a witch to dabble in such things as a wreath that summons spirits.

«I felt like I was in a nightmare, not a fairy masquerade. And that’s where all my misfortunes began!» Flora complained to herself.

«What is it, mistress?» Charles stood beside her as if he’d sprung up from under the floor. He had replaced his gardener’s attire with an elegant coat.

«It is nothing. What are you doing here?»

«I’m taking you to dinner.»

«I don’t want to walk into the hall with you on my arm. My father will ask where you came from.»

«I’m good at faking it. The Marquis will think I’m his nephew or the son of his friends.»

«That’s the last thing we need!»

«We won’t be exposed,» Charles promised.

Exposure! Wasn’t that what the spirits who surrounded Flora in the corridor were whispering about? What did they mean? No matter how one looked at it, the spirits could see something in the future, even if only in fragments.

Flora reluctantly leaned on Charles’ arm.

«Fine, let everyone think you’re my cousin. Just hide your wings!»

Charles was taken aback by such an impudent request.

«Without wings, I’ll feel like a cripple!»

«You’re going to argue with me! Then I’ll go to dinner without you.»

«All right, I’ll hide them!» Charles folded his wings behind his back so that they resembled a shining hump. «They’d be mistaken for a cloak anyway.»

«Father’s guests are not blind!»

«Humans can be blind to the Elves’ mischief. You’ll see! I’ll demonstrate at the table.»

«Don’t dare!»

«If I want to, mortals don’t notice my wings and mistake me for an ordinary boy.»

«Father’s guests are stargazers and astrologers. They’ll definitely look at your wings.»

«They’re just charlatans.»

Flora agreed with the elf, but she was still cautious. It would have been better to put a short cloak on Charles’s shoulders, but that’s the problem – it’s considered tactless to sit at a dinner in outer clothes. The only excuse is that Charles is a relative from a wild mountain kingdom with its own customs.

«Well, if my father doesn’t remember the names of all my mother’s relatives, then we’ll say you’re my maternal cousin,» Flora glanced out the window and noticed that one fairy was still strolling through the garden. Though it didn’t seem to be a fairy exactly, but some sort of sorceress. Next to her was someone dark and gloomy, like a troll, wearing a fine camisole and a velvet triangle.

«What a strange couple! Did my father invite them?»

«No, they came for the fairies,» Charles looked out of the window.

Flora looked at the beautiful lady who was standing in the garden with the troll. She was a slender, tall blonde. Her blonde curls were arranged in a fancy hairstyle. A luxurious mauve cape completely concealed the lady’s back. Underneath it, it was not visible if the lady had wings.

«Is she a fairy?»

«It is not exactly!» Charles pulled Flora away from the window. «They call her Babette. I don’t think that’s her real name.»

«So you know her?»

«It is in passing.»

«What does that mean?»

«It means we only say hello sometimes when we bump into each other in the mortal world, but we don’t know any secrets about each other.»

«That’s funny! Somehow I think she came to see my father,» Flora couldn’t take her eyes off the lady’s dress. What kind of fabric is it? It’s like a starry sky, but it’s elegant. The lady suddenly looked directly at Flora and whispered something to her ugly companion.

«She has noticed you,» Charles was frightened. «This is not good.»

He dragged Flora more insistently away from the window, but Flora did not give in. Why should she be frightened of some lady? Babette didn’t look like a monster, unlike her companion. He’s the one to be afraid of.

«Her escort is a troll?»

«You’re so clever!» Charles chuckled. «People usually take him for a hunched old man, but Babette lies that he is her elderly husband, whom she married only because of his considerable wealth.»

«So he’s her husband?»

«It is in no way! She’s not crazy enough to marry a troll!»

«Then who is he to her? Is he her beau?»

«He’s more like her servant.»

«Are trolls ever someone’s servants?»

«Sometimes they are. But trolls are always prone to rebellion. I knew a king who made trolls serve him. They fought for him, hauled blocks in the quarries, even mined diamonds in the mines, but one day they got out of control and instead of working they tore the king apart. That was fun!»

«That’s horror, not fun!» Flora objected.

«I saw it with my own eyes! It was fun. I was hovering in the air above the place where the group of trolls attacked the king, and I laughed for a long time. It was so funny! The king was waving his scepter, giving orders, and the trolls were disobeying him. It was a triumph of justice and a lesson for ambitious people. Whoever wants to exploit the trolls will have trolls for dinner.»

«Don’t you realize how monstrous this is?»

Charles shrugged ridiculously.

«I hadn’t thought of that.»

«And you’re telling me this before dinner!»

Charles didn’t even realize that creepy stories about trolls spoiled his appetite.

«You were interested in the troll in the garden, and I remembered something about them.»

«I was interested in a dapper troll in a fancy camisole, not cannibal trolls!»

«Get away from the window!» Charles suddenly got scared.

«You’re not saying that Babette’s troll will eat me too?» Flora joked. But considering what she had just heard, it was better not to let the troll in for dinner. Otherwise it would eat the guests.

The strange couple was still strolling between the blue rose bushes, which seemed black in the darkness. The garden lanterns threw scant patches of light past them. Babette’s partner kept to the shadows, but Babette herself glittered with jewels that could only be compared to a star. Her piercing gaze was still on the window where Flora was looking out.

«It’s too bad she noticed you,» Charles sighed.

«Who is she, anyway, that you’re so afraid of her? I didn’t see her at the fairy masquerade, so she’s not dangerous.»

«Don’t be so sure!»

Before Charles could say that, Flora shrieked in surprise. Babette was standing right in front of her, as if she had grown out of the floor. How could she have gotten into the castle so quickly! She had been in the garden a second ago! The blond lady looked like a pale ghost. Her eyes were glowing with a red light. Flora was frightened for some reason. Babette seemed to intend to do something spooky. She looked at Flora as if she were an enemy, and then suddenly opened her palm and wanted to blow a handful of sparkling pollen from it into Flora’s face.

Next to this pollen, even the flowers in the vases wilted. Even though the pollen is glowing, it seems to be a tool of black magic.

«Get out!» Ashes and cinders fell from the fireplace. They fell directly into the glittering pollen and onto Babette’s luxurious dress. The lady was gone in a flash. The garden was empty, too. No troll dressed as a beau was there, but the fairy of ashes looked out of the fireplace and clenched her fists victoriously.

«If she comes here again, I’ll fill the whole castle with ashes!» said the fireplace fairy.

«Wait! And why did she annoy you so much?» Flora called out to the fairy, but it was useless to hope for an answer.

The sneaky ash fairy had already cleverly climbed back into the fireplace chimney.

Dinner with the dragon

From the fireplace came the cheerful songs of the ash fairy, which obviously had to be considered victory hymns, because the fireplace fairy had chased away the dangerous guest. But what was Babette dangerous about?

No one would dare to receive in the castle a guest whose companion is a troll. Not even the Marquis, who messes around with astrologers, would refrain from such a thing.

Today at dinner to the Marquis de Rione was a whole group of alchemists, astrologers and stargazers, among whom there was even one fortune-teller. Obviously, the fortune-teller worked exclusively for the elite, because her dress was fashionable and expensive, and around her neck she wore a pentagram pendant made of pure silver.

«This is Lady Serpina,» whispered Charles, whom everyone present either did not notice or took for a distant relative of the Marquis. «She predicted the fate of the king himself and received a considerable reward. In confidence, I’ll tell you that all her predictions do not come true. But she is good at making dust in the eyes.»

Charles chuckled, but no one heard him. Not even the fortune-teller herself.

«That’s very interesting,» Flora looked among the guests for Edwin. His golden-haired head would have been easily spotted in the gray mass of guests, but he wasn’t here. How could he have been so indelicate? He had promised to come to dinner and he hadn’t! Flora was so angry that she almost hurt herself with the tines of her fork. She had no desire to eat when she remembered that fairies had recently danced on this very table where the guests were sitting. No one else knew that the table had recently been the scene of dancing, so the other guests ate with gusto.

Charles ate for ten. Flora hadn’t realized that elves liked simple human food so much. Father was whispering animatedly with the stargazers. Raphael arrived late for dinner and immediately reached for the carafe of strong wine. Flora sighed, realizing that her brother was an incorrigible drunkard.

She took a cabbage pie from a wicker vase and nibbled at it with boredom. Her napkin was immediately covered with crumbs.

«Look at my children!» The Marquis demanded from the stargazer sitting next to him. «Do they have any potential?»

The stargazer nervously adjusted the cap on his head, which he did not remove even in the dining room.

«If there was, I probably would have noticed it long ago,» he muttered.

The Marquis had obviously expected a different answer.

«What do you think,» he tugged at one of the astrologers. «Will my son, or at least my daughter, be able to show any magic talents in the future?»

The astrologer tried to determine, even looked through the lorgnette.

«No, both of your children do not have the slightest bit of magical potential. I am absolutely sure of it!» The astrologer disappointed the Marquis.

Charles did not hold back his laughter and urgently covered his mouth with a napkin.

Why was he laughing so hard? Flora looked at the elf with judgment. Her father was obviously very worried and didn’t hide it. Why did he need her or Raphael to be able to do sorcery? If he wanted to protect the castle from the raids of evil, he could always hire some wizards.

«I had hoped that Raphael would have some magic in him,» the Marquis admitted.

«Your son may still have the rudiments of star study and magic,» the lady Serpina hastened to reply, «but your daughter certainly does not. She has no talent for magic. I guarantee that even the lessons with her of an experienced wizard will not bring any results.»

Here Flora was ready to applaud the fortune-teller’s acting talent. Astrologers and stargazers are good too. How can you sit next to a potential witch and not even consider that!

«Did you hear them?» She whispered to Charles.

«Why are you so surprised?» He smiled broadly. «They are only human!»

«They are men who have mastered the forbidden arts!»

«They are clever charlatans,» Charles objected and put a large piece of roast quail into his mouth. «The Marquis has no knowledge of magicians, but his cooks are excellent. They make the best lasagna here, and the mushroom pies are delicious, too.»

Elves can be gluttons! Flora moved away from Charles, who called himself a gourmet and was in a hurry to try all the dishes. Lady Serpina had a sweet tooth and devoured one dessert after another. The other guests preferred strong drinks. Only Flora neither ate nor drank anything. She had a bad feeling. It was like a tight spring in her stomach. Could all the food be poisoned? Drusilla could have put poison in her cooking. She is a witch, after all.

Drusilla herself appeared at the edge of the table, looking young and in a gorgeous black dress. She was mistaken for a companion of one of the guests. She made some sign to Flora, but Flora could not interpret it.

«He’s flying!» The ash fairy hissed from the fireplace. «He’s already over the castle!»

Was she talking about the dragon? It would be a trick if the dragon came to dinner without Edwin! She was tired from the feast, having barely sat at the table for half an hour.

The flowers in the vase on the table suddenly burst into flames and shrank. In a moment, only a husk remained of the bouquet. Oddly enough, instead of the smell of burning, the scent of forget-me-nots wafted through the air. Drusilla’s whole body shuddered as the doors to the dining hall opened with a jerk. The last guest had arrived. No one was expecting him except Flora, but one seat at the table was suddenly free for him. It seemed to have been taken a second ago.

Flora blinked in amazement as she watched her guest remove his cloak. Edwin had come alone, without a dragon. That should have been rejoiced, and she was saddened. The dragon would have protected him from unpleasant company. Often her father’s friends acted like a pack of wolves. Today, they had swooped in to question the new guest. Edwin just snapped his fingers, sending out golden sparks, and the guests suddenly went numb.

Drusilla covered her face with a black lace fan that came out of nowhere in her hand. She avoided looking at Edwin. Apparently she had done something to annoy him and now feared revenge.

Charles, too, hastily covered himself with a napkin. You could tell from his look that he wanted to hide. The joking mood was gone. The elf was in a panic.

«What’s wrong with you? You’re not sick?» Flora touched the elf’s shoulder and felt him shiver.

The guests stared in bewilderment at Edwin, who had not touched his food or wine. Lady Serpina liked the handsome guest and tried to flirt with him, but she choked on her wine and coughed. Flora was sure it was no accident. Rafael sobered up immediately when he noticed a young man of his own age at the table. He’d always wanted to make more friends of his own age. Had he known that the young man next to him was a wizard who was probably hundreds of years old.

Astrologers, alchemists and stargazers appreciated Edwin’s expensive camisole and precious rings. They were always on the lookout for new patrons, so the guest intrigued them. One marquis looked at Edwin as if he were an enemy.

«Have I not paid my debts?» He asked the guest directly.

Flora was surprised. How could her father owe something to a real charmer? The circle of communication of the marquis was exclusively charlatans. When did her father meet a real magician somewhere?

«Debts, tribute… let’s leave these conversations for later,» Edwin suggested.

It was hard for the Marquis not to lash out at his guest with his rapier. Flora’s father’s fingers reached for the weapon. Such behavior was unusual for him. Did the Marquis know that Edwin was a sorcerer and could harm everyone present if he wished?

«When will you return the noble woman you stole from this castle?» The Marquis attacked the guest, ignoring the murmurs of the crowd.

«It was not I who stole her.»

«But you are responsible for all these creatures that are climbing around, you!» The Marquis accused.

«Wouldn’t it be better to hold the King of Argania responsible?» The prophetess smiled coquettishly. «It is his duty to protect his subjects from any misfortune. I will speak to him about it the next time I am at court.»

«Lady Serpina, this is an argument between two men,» the marquis said.

The soothsayer cringed when she heard herself called by her common name rather than the proud nickname of the Seer. She nervously fiddled with her pentagram-shaped pendant.

«I see that the dispute between you two will soon be resolved,» she predicted.

«Then Monsignor Edwin will give me back my wife,» the Marquis roared, forgetting all decorum.

«He’s not a necromancer, Papa, to bring back the dead,» Flora said in defense of her guest.

Edwin glanced at her as if he had just noticed her, and suddenly a scarlet rose bloomed on Flora’s plate, so lush that everyone gasped. The flower opened with hundreds of petals and resembled a pyramid.

«It is enough of these tricks!» The Marquis intended to cause a scandal.

«Papa, you are so angry about his dragon?» Flora intervened again. «The dragon isn’t here. There’s nothing to worry about.»

«Are you so sure of that?» The marquis looked at his daughter sternly.

«It is danger!» The ash fairy squeaked in the fireplace. Why is she so hysterical all of a sudden? A dragon is probably flying over the castle right now. Strangely enough, Flora was not afraid of the dragon, but of her angry father challenging Edwin to a duel. If she had known in advance that such a scandal would occur, she would not have invited a guest she hardly knew to dinner. The Marquis de Rione not only knew Edwin by name, but apparently had some long-standing dispute with him.

«Perhaps we should have cooked some bulls for dinner, since we were expecting a dragon,» the marquis muttered. «Dragons prefer cattle carcasses, after all.»

The castle lord stared at Edwin as if accusing him of something.

«Papa, Edwin is not a dragon!» Flora tried to reassure her father. «I can vouch for the fact that he is a very worthy young man.»

Flora didn’t even know the title of a worthy young man, but she gave the recommendation in advance. Edwin sat at the table with the look of an innocent angel. His beauty took one’s breath away. Flora was embarrassed when she intercepted his gaze and wanted to turn away, but she happened to notice that Edwin’s hands, which were lying on the table, were covered with golden scales. Maybe she was only imagining it? Flora spit on propriety and snatched the lorgnette from the astrologer sitting next to her. Edwin’s hands were indeed scaly and his nails were sharpened. The luxurious blue camisole with silver embroidery was also turning to scales. This was some kind of nightmare! Edwin was changing before his eyes. Wings grew out of his back, his handsome exterior burst like a shell. Out of it crawled a very real dragon.

Drusilla and Charles disappeared as if they had never been at the table, and the guests were left alone with the huge dragon. Flora shrieked as the dragon’s paw grabbed Lady Serpina. If the seer could have predicted to herself that she would substitute game for the dragon at this dinner, she would not have come here. With the dragon blocking the way to the door, there was no escape. The Marquis’ guests became appetizers one by one. And then, obviously full, the dragon decided it was time to end the feast.

Flora’s father pulled some kind of amulet from the folds of his clothes and muttered incantations designed to drive the dragon away, but you could just as easily recite poetry or prayers. The dragon didn’t care. He strode across the hall, claws clawing at the floor, and toppled the table with his tail, then suddenly opened his huge maw. The entire castle erupted into flames in an instant.

A dragon worshipper

That’s the way to make a dragon angry! The castle burst into flames like a matchbox. The burning towers collapsed. The fairies of the garden scattered with screams. They were robbed of their home, that is, the garden that was, in fact, their home. The castle also burned and collapsed. It’s chaos!

Only the ash fairies from the fireplace rejoiced and danced on the conflagration. There turned out to be not one, but dozens of them. Apparently, there was a fairy in every fireplace in the castle. The poor fairies will be disappointed when they realize that together with the castle the fireplaces burned down. The ash fairies will also be left without homes and will curse at the dragon.

Flora also lost her home, and with it her freedom. The dragon managed to grab her with his claws and carry her out of the burning castle.

«Stop it! There’s my brother and my living mask!» Flora shrieked and started to resist, but she could see that Raphael was being dragged out of the burning castle by Drusilla. She was also carrying away Flora’s things, among which was a glittering fairy mask.

Then all was not lost! At least some relief! Flora still tried to kick the dragon. He had tricked her! How to get back at him? Trying to bite his paw, she burned herself on the scales.

«You are wild beast!»

The dragon didn’t even realize it was a swear word. He carried Flora beneath the starry skies. Below lay Argania. The entire kingdom seemed toy-like from the height of flight. Flora gazed in wonder at the villages and hamlets. The houses seemed no bigger than peas. The roads between the settlements and the forests twisted in thin ribbons. Then something tall and sparkling appeared ahead. It was a volcano! Why is the dragon carrying her straight into the volcano? Couldn’t he burn her himself? Or did he run out of breath while he was burning the castle? The dragon rose smoothly above the volcano and circled it from above. The fiery lava of the crater only flashed below. Beyond the volcano stretched valleys and some dark growths like the giant’s crooked teeth. It seemed to be a mountain range.

The dragon carried her into the mountains, lowered her onto the plateau, and suddenly he was Edwin.

It can’t be! It’s a dream!

Flora still couldn’t believe that it was Edwin who had turned into a dragon, but his scales still glistened on his palms under his cuffs.

«Why did you bring me here?»

Flora recalled with horror the tales of dragons kidnapping and eating girls alive. He had not harmed her at the masquerade, but had saved her. What if he was just waiting for the moment? Could it be that dragons can only feed on beauties during the full moon? Right now, the full moon was shining over the mountains. Suddenly there was a tinkling laughter.

It was a few masked fairies who had come to the plateau. They have gathered in a corner in a sparkling flock. Was there another magic masquerade in the mountains?

When they saw Edwin, the fairies flew away quickly. They probably know he’s a dragon, that’s why they’re afraid of him.

«That’s it! My masquerade is over,» Edwin proclaimed. He had indeed shed his dragon form like a mask. «You’re found! I could tell by the way the rose on the table in front of you began to grow. You’ve always commanded roses.»

«I think you have me confused with someone else. I’ve never been lost.»

Edwin gallantly extended his hand to help her up. Is this a trick? Will he grab her and tear her apart if she accepts his help? But there was nowhere to go. Flora hesitantly placed her palm in Edwin’s strong hand.

He gently pulled her toward him, helping her to her feet. This time Edwin was silent. There was nothing to talk about. She could already see that the dragon was him. Talking was no longer an excuse.

Instead of pouncing on him with reproaches and demands to restore the ruined ancestral castle with magic, Flora simply clung to him. Edwin is near, all evil ceases to exist. There is only him, and it feels good to be near him, as if he were an angel, not a dragon. He is especially beautiful today. Flora gave in to the impulse and kissed him. One moment of happiness is worth a ruined castle.

The kiss was magical. She guessed all wizards’ kisses are magic. Provided the wizard is as handsome as Edwin.

Edwin quickly pulled away from her lips.

«What’s the matter? Aren’t you in love with me?» Why would the dragon want to save her if he doesn’t love her? He doesn’t want to just eat her or sacrifice her, does he? If he did, he could have done it a long time ago.

«You smell of crypts and decay.»

Is he joking? Flora sniffed at the lace cuffs of her dress.

«It is an expensive Aluar’s perfume. Aunt Hortensia brought me it as a gift the last time she visited us at the castle. She chose jasmine and rose for me. It’s considered the most exquisite.»

«I can’t stand roses. They’re treacherous, thorny flowers, and if you’re seduced by their beauty, you’ll only cut yourself.»

«It is because roses often grow in crypts, you’ve mistaken the scent,» Flora explained patiently, having decided that dragons were illiterate in the most basic matters. Yes, they can do sorcery, they can topple a castle with their claws, but they don’t understand anything about perfume and fashion. «Rotting corpses stink, but roses, even if they grow on graves, smell sweet. It’s not the scent of death.»

«I don’t mean the smell of roses, there’s something rotting inside you.»

«Is it perhaps my soul? Only a girl with a rotten soul could love a dragon. You’re a destroyer and an arsonist.»

Edwin took no offense. Women must have said that to him many times before.

«Your body is rotting,» he explained. «It is not alive!»

«How can it not be alive if it talks to you and moves? It can even give you a kiss, and you say it’s not alive! Now you’re going to say it’s not mine at all.»

Flora faltered. She had been told that so often before. Both Drusilla, and the mask, and the elf from the masquerade had made similar hints before. Could there be some truth to them? Or is her scent disgusting to predatory creatures for some reason? All magical predators mistake her for a corpse for some reason. Her father’s friends probably put some kind of protection on her against dragons, vampires, witches, and demons.

«You brought me to the mountains to eat me, and now you’re disappointed that I’m not edible and you’re making excuses,» Flora snickered.

Edwin laughed. His laugh was as iridescent and sonorous as the fairies’.

«What’s so funny?» Flora was indignant. «You just burned down my entire family.»

«That family wasn’t your family.»

«I should know better than you.»

«You’re wrong!»

Flora bit her tongue. Edwin was a magician. And magicians know everything. Maybe he knows something she doesn’t know about herself. Like the fact that she was adopted. She didn’t want to believe that she was only the Marquis’s ward and not his daughter. She was used to thinking of herself as his daughter.

«He is not your father,» Edwin read her thoughts.

Her mother had probably been unfaithful to the Marquis at some point. That’s the answer! Flora calmed down a little. In any case, the Marquis de Rione considered her his daughter and gave her his name.

«And what is about my mother?» Flora became alarmed. «Was she kidnapped and killed by you?»

«It was not me!»

«Are you sure?»

«Why does everyone think I’m the villain?»

«You’re the dragon!»

«There are plenty of other murderers around here, too. You should know how many creatures are lurking around, drinking the blood of random people.»

«My mother was killed by fairies?» Flora guessed. «Is that why they attacked me at the masquerade?»

Edwin shook his head negatively.

«Fairies are vicious, but not that vicious. And what makes you think your mother is dead?»

Flora felt as if a thunderclap had sounded above her, not a measured voice.

«Why should I believe a dragon? All dragons are liars!»

«Do you know any other dragons besides me?»

«No, I don’t. There are rumors.»

«It is well. Otherwise, you’ve made me jealous.»

A golden claw grew on her dainty hand. Flora backed away. The dragon masquerade had stumped her. One minute Edwin is wearing the dragon’s guise like a mask. The next he’s back to being a handsome fellow. Of course, he is dangerous even in his handsome guise, for he can turn back into a dragon at any moment.

Flora was five steps away from him as long as she could. There was a cliff behind her. Edwin held her back as she almost took a step into the abyss.

«Be careful! You don’t have wings anymore!» He warned her.

«What do you mean? Didn’t they used to be?» He’s probably confusing her with some kind of fairy.

«But I can always lend you my wings. Would you like to fly? Or dance over the abyss?»

«And then you’ll throw me down?»

«Just because a girl has a dragon suitor doesn’t mean she’ll end up dead,» Edwin said sternly. «I knew a case when a princess’s romance with a dragon ended in marriage. You don’t remember that?»

«No!»

Why would she remember something like that? She spent her whole life in the backwoods of Argania. Nothing interesting ever happened here. Flora often regretted that her father wouldn’t let her into the royal court, and there was no one to meet in the provinces. And then came the fateful hour when she met the dragon! Who would have thought that such a magical beau would fly into such a wilderness! There was only one downside to the encounter: it might end in Flora’s death or in Edwin bewitching her. It seems he had already intended to do so. Glittering star dust formed on the tips of his fingernails.

Flora shrieked, afraid that he was about to turn her into a toad and complete the magic masquerade, but Edwin gallantly handed her a necklace of stars and a bouquet of roses. The roses were black as night, but velvety to the touch.

«You always liked black roses,» Edwin explained.

«I don’t remember such a thing!»

«No wonder! You don’t remember anything! You don’t even remember me!» Edwin put his arm around her waist and pulled her to him. The rose thorns couldn’t hurt him, but his burning breath could burn Flora’s face. Too bad she didn’t have the marvelous living mask with her right now. That one would scandalize but protect her from dragon fire. Though the mask itself was frightened of fire, Flora noticed that it was fireproof.

«You’re so cute even in a dead body!» Edwin whispered.

It was an insult again, but Flora let it pass her ears.

«Do you want to fly to a magical empire?»

«Is that where the entire population is made up of fairies?»

«Not just fairies. It is home to elves, dwarves, goblins, trolls, nymphs, naiads, mermaids, woodlanders…»

«It’s too fairy-tale! I’d prefer something more real, but luxurious. Take me to King Argania’s castle!» Flora decided to make the most of her encounter with the dragon. She had long dreamed of going to court. It would take at least a week to get there in a carriage, and even then it would take a long way, but on the back of a dragon you could fly there in one night.

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