Kitabı oku: «A demon’s rival», sayfa 2
Werewolf’s Manor
The manor with its beautiful brick turrets appeared on the left side of the road like a mirage. Samantha couldn’t believe her luck. She hadn’t even traveled a mile and she was already lucky. Such a large and handsome estate must be home to local aristocrats. Samantha knew from her own experience that they always welcome guests from the upper class. First of all, it was not difficult to find extra rooms for guests in a huge house, and secondly, the nobility, living on the outskirts, liked to ask travelers for news. Samantha’s mother loved to chat with travelers who were on their way to or from Ivylor to see the king. From them, one could learn many interesting things. Unfortunately, her mother had also learned about finding a rich groom at court from them. Otherwise Samantha wouldn’t have to travel the bumpy roads now.
She needed rest, and she was willing to pay for rest with travel stories. Samantha imagined sitting in a cozy living room and telling the whole family about how she’d met a demon on the road. No, she shouldn’t call him a demon. Otherwise she’d be labeled a lunatic and sent to the servants’ barn for the night. It is better to say that the demon was an unusual wild animal that can walk on its hind legs and growl, imitating human speech. This beast also mauled a certain Lady Evangelina to death. Maybe the locals know who that lady was.
A manor house is more comfortable than an inn. The main thing is that all its inhabitants are not sleeping so soundly that they cannot be awakened by knocking and shouting.
The horses stopped obediently in front of the manor. They did not seem to want to go any farther. They didn’t make it to the gate either. Samantha had long ago realized that it was useless to prod the horses, so she got out of the carriage and walked to the entrance.
«If you’re lucky, horses, you’ll find plenty of straw and cozy stalls inside,» she encouraged the animals. They only snorted derisively in response. Did even the horses doubt that Samantha was welcome here?
There were no guards at the entrance to the manor. The gate stood open. One leaf was off its hinges. The wrought iron fence was overgrown with moss and mold.
«And here I thought my mother didn’t know how to run a household!» Samantha stared in amazement at the overgrown garden, which clearly had no gardener. It looked like a jungle. Even the path to the house was overgrown with tall weeds. A creeper grew in the empty fountain. It tightly wrapped around the sculpture of a half-woman, half-wolf standing on top of the fountain.
«What kind of goddess is that?» Samantha wondered. «I don’t know of one.»
«It is the Goddess of Wolves,» was a husky male voice from behind her. Samantha turned around. A tall, thin brunet in a tattered camisole stood in front of her.
«Oh, I’m so glad you’re here! I thought the manor was uninhabited,» Samantha said, pleased. «It looks so abandoned.»
«I think it’s a paradise,» the brunet sniffed at the girl as if she were food.
Samantha was surprised.
«You don’t like my perfume?» She had long suspected that the Alurian’s perfume her mother had bought from the buyer was just a fake. It smelled no better than cologne, but there was little to choose from in the province. Either buy what they offered or invent perfume from dandelions and wormwood. Other plants did not grow in abundance at home.
The brunet who met Samantha was silent and so pale that he looked like a consumption patient. His dark hair was greasy. The buttons of his camisole had fallen off, and there were holes in the sleeves.
This must be a run-down estate, Samantha concluded. It must be a ruined estate, Samantha concluded, which meant she couldn’t expect a hearty dinner or a luxurious bedroom. There might not be straw for the horses in the stables either.
«I don’t want to embarrass you, but I need a place to sleep. I lost my coachman and groomsmen on my journey, so I would be very grateful if you could lend me your coachman. I’m going to Aluar, to the King’s court. By the way, have you met the King?»
Instead of answering, the brunet beckoned Samantha toward the house. The nails on his hand were long and sharp. When he’d walked past her and touched the fountain’s curb, the marble had scratched.
«Is there anyone else living at the estate besides you?» Samantha found it odd that there were no lights on in any of the many windows. The facade was dark. Only the tiled turrets glowed, as if fire fairies lived inside them.
«I have a large community.»
«You mean family?»
«Mm-hmm,» the brunet nodded.
Samantha followed him into the spacious hallway. The house was black. There were no footmen or butler. There was no one to light the fireplace or the candelabra. Samantha fumbled for a beam and lit it with the torch she was accustomed to carrying in her pocket.
«Put it out!» The brunet demanded. «Darkness should not be lit by fire. You’ll call the firebrands from the attics, and they’re stinging!»
«Unlike you, I don’t have the gift of seeing in the dark,» Samantha said. «I need some light.»
The brunet grumbled something, but didn’t put out the flame. For some reason his grumbling sounded like a growl to Samantha. The disheveled boy had a predatory look, as if he’d just hunted wolves and had managed to kill them with his bare hands. The nobles living in the wilderness must have gone feral, Samantha concluded. It was a good thing she and her parents hadn’t gotten to that state yet. Probably it was because there was a large village nearby. And the local manor is far away from settlements. Its owners are isolated. The big road nearby is deserted. Samantha had not seen a single carriage or rider in days.
The deep scratches on the walls and paintings became visible in the candlelight. The same scratches marred the floor.
«Wolves must have danced here!» Samantha joked
«Yes, there was a ball,» the brunet snorted.
He must not have realized she was joking. How could wolves give a ball? Only wolves or bears could scratch the hard marble floor like that. Humans in shoes, or even barefoot, were incapable of such a thing.
The scratches stretched along the stair railings, the steps, the columns. What had just happened here? Maybe the manor had been attacked by werewolf wolves. Some of the windows were broken or covered with lead shutters.
Samantha touched the tapestry, which was in shreds. It had definitely been mangled by someone’s claws. No one could cut so unevenly with knives or scissors.
«You need repairs,» Samantha found the trellises flying off and the picture frames cracked.
«What do you mean?» The brunet snorted so dismissively that Samantha shut up. Didn’t he know what repairs were?
Let the companion be quiet. He didn’t want to make small talk, so he didn’t have to. It doesn’t matter that the estate is falling apart. The important thing is that the cook has something for dinner. Assuming there is a cook. There’s got to be some food here.
The companion led Samantha to a large room on the second floor. It was crowded. Thirteen people. Samantha counted them for good measure. Yes, exactly thirteen. What a coincidence. It was exactly the number she hadn’t liked since she’d been cursed with it.
«Dinner has arrived!» The brunet announced in a loud voice.
Samantha looked confused. He probably meant he had brought her to dinner. Usually people go to dinner themselves, not dinner arriving at their door. The beautiful brunette in the bright red ball gown was also surprised and leaned her lorgnette to her face.
«Usually we have to run through the woods for dinner ourselves, but suddenly dinner is coming to us!» She rejoiced. «Isn’t there a ghost behind you, Tien?»
Tien must have been the name of the brunetn. Samantha stepped forward.
«I swear I’m not a ghost!» She said defiantly. «I am alive! Are you often haunted?»
The brunette laughed pretentiously. She was the prettiest thing in the manor. Her luxurious dress looked out of place amidst the tattered tapestries and scratched chairs. Everyone else, though, was dressed in expensive camisoles and looked as scruffy as Tien.
«I’m Jessica,» the brunette introduced herself. Though she spoke and moved, she seemed like an inanimate porcelain doll in a silk ball gown. A diamond tiara sparkled in her black hair, arranged in an intricate braid.
Samantha looked around. Except for Jessica, everyone present was male. They all took the time to introduce themselves by name. That’s rude! Probably should be counter impolite.
«Are you mute?» Jessica wondered.
«I’m Lady Samantha,» she mumbled, but didn’t give her full name. It was probably a precautionary instinct. She wondered if this was a noble robber’s estate.
«I am glad to see you!» Jessica smiled broadly. Her pearly white teeth were very sharp. The front incisors resembled fangs. «Come in! Sit next to me! There’s no need to stand on the doorstep. It’s rude!»
Everyone but Jessica was being rude, but Samantha remained silent. There was no dinner on the low tea table in front of Jessica. But there was a broken tea set, and some shiny objects lying in a pile. Jessica drank tea from the only cup that was intact. The tea was such a thick red color that Samantha would have refused it, but it wasn’t offered to her. There were no cakes or cookies with the tea.
«Do you have any bread and cheese in the kitchen?» She asked, overcoming her pride. She was very hungry, and the picnic basket she had brought with her had run out of food.
«Bread and cheese is peasant food,» said the tall, stately man standing behind Jessica’s chair.
«Then don’t you have a more refined meal?»
«What would you like?» Jessica made Samantha sit down beside her and began groping the girl as if she were a chicken to be plucked before cooking.
«I’d like pâté, pancakes with rose petal jam, dumplings or stuffed cabbage. How is about cottage cheese pie?» Samantha listed all her favorite dishes, but there was nothing like that in the local kitchen. Jessica and Tien’s community didn’t eat cottage cheese, boiled eggs, vegetable salads, soups, or even desserts.
«So what do you eat anyway?» The girl wondered.
«Only the most dainty and exquisite dishes,» Jessica smiled enigmatically.
Probably fish delicacies are not even worth asking about. If the fountain in the garden has dried up, then the ponds on the estate have long since dried up. There’s nowhere to fish.
«Can’t they at least make meat dishes here?»
«That’s interesting,» Jessica licked her lips.
Samantha was afraid. Jessica put her arm around her shoulders. She must be the mistress of the manor, and this way she let everyone know that she had patronized her guest.
Jessica was beautiful, but her touch made Samantha feel sick. It felt like a corpse had touched her.
Among the pile of glittering objects on the table, an earring sparkled, suspiciously similar to the one the demon had pulled out of Evangeline’s dead ear. Samantha couldn’t remember if the dead woman had been wearing one earring or two. Maybe Evangelina’s from this estate.
«Do you have the whole family together?» Samantha asked.
Jessica waggled her eyebrows expressively, and the men grinned as if the guest had asked an amusing question.
«Is a certain Lady Evangelina your neighbor by any chance?» Samantha asked another question.
«Have you met Evangelina?» Jessica was surprised.
«I saw her on the road…» Samantha’s tongue was slurring. How to say that she hadn’t met Evangelina, but her corpse?
«Usually that proud girl was above meeting country girls on the road,» Jessica pouted. Her porcelain face began to look cranky. «Duchesses don’t talk to just anyone.»
«Are you a duchess, too, since she was talking to you?» Samantha thought to herself that Jessica was no less than a marquise. What would she say? What her title is, and who the men around her are. They are all brunets with dark eyes, just like her. You can tell they all belong to the same clan.
«I’m the local queen,» Jessica pulled Samantha’s hair like a doll.
«Are you a bandits’ queen?» Samantha gasped as she saw knives flashing in one of the men’s hands. Or were they not knives, but claws?
«I am the Queen of the wolves,» Jessica corrected. Samantha felt something furry pressed against her back. Was Jessica really wearing a mantle she hadn’t noticed?
The full moon was just peeking through the cracked window. Isn’t it too late for the moon now? Samantha thought she’d been at the manor most of the night. But she guessed it’s still a long way from dawn, isn’t it?
«The moon is our patron saint,» Jessica said in a sermonizing tone. Her companions laughed hoarsely. Their laughter turned to snarls. Samantha was wiping her eyes when she noticed the brown or gray fur growing on the skin of those gathered and their limbs turning into paws. Jessica was suddenly fluffy too, like a large wolf.
Samantha struggled to get out of her clutches. Tickling herself was useless. Wolves in torn camisoles standing on their hind legs were no dream. In the large she-wolf that led them, Jessica could only be recognized by her dress and tiara.
«Help me!» Samantha rushed to the door. She should have brought her carbine with her, but she’d left the weapon in the carriage. The horses wouldn’t come to rescue her, and the moon peeking through the windows favored only werewolves.
«Get her!» Even in wolf form, Jessica spoke in a familiar contralto. «Dinner’s getting away!»
Several wolves blocked the girl’s path. Samantha found herself at a dead end. She pressed her back against the tattered tapestry. If only there was a secret doorway in the wall now.
One werewolf tore at Samantha’s dress with a paw. The fabric crunched, the sleeve ripped off. Samantha clutched her eyes in fear, and when she opened them a moment later, all the wolves recoiled. It appeared that the mole shining on her shoulder again had scared them away. Werewolves can’t be scared of a mole.
«You can’t touch her!» Jessica said regretfully. – «Let’s all run into the woods! We’ll find another victim before morning!»
The wolf pack raced toward the door, leaving new scratches on the already hopelessly ruined floor.
Fairies’ instructions
Samantha waited a moment. The wolves ran off. The horses they thankfully didn’t touch. An excited neighing could be heard outside. Apparently, werewolves only eat humans.
The girl picked up the shreds left from her sleeve. Maybe as compensation for the torn dress, she could carry away the werewolf jewelry. There was jewelry and oddly shaped keys on the table. Samantha liked the gold-plated key with the heart-shaped head and slipped it into her pocket. It was not theft. It was compensation for emotional distress. She’s been scared to death in here!
There was blood in the bottom of the cup Jessica was drinking from. She should have known it wasn’t red tea. Both green and pink tea are imported to Ivylor too rarely, and they are speculated in such a way that even aristocrats can’t always afford them. Overseas merchants are rare guests in the country. Rumor has it that some powerful spirit scares merchants away from the royal harbor, taking away their goods.
Samantha descended the stairs, walked across the wolf-scratched floor, and stepped out into the courtyard. The neglected garden and the sculpture of the wolf goddess on the fountain began to frighten her.
How could there be so much light in an abandoned manor at night to see everything? Samantha looked around for a lantern, but all that emerged from the thicket was an orange fairy with heat coming from it. Samantha recoiled. The fairy resembled a hovering flame. It was small in size, but it looked like a blazing sun. Being near her was like sitting down by a melted stove.
«Who are you?» Samantha backed up and asked the question spontaneously, even though it was already clear that a fire fairy was hovering next to her.
«I am a fire fairy, of course! Famma…,» the fairy raised her orange eyebrows in amazement. «And you’re a guest who leaves the manor alive? That’s unusual!»
«Have there been other guests here before me?» Samantha marveled at the people walking the wolf’s nest themselves. She guessed it was not surprising if wolves could turn into aristocrats.
The fire fairy nodded vigorously. Her entire body, wings, hair, and skin were glowing with orange light, making the fairy resemble a flying bonfire.
«There were so many of them here! Kennels, woodsmen, woodcutters, masons, roofers, shopkeepers – all their bones are put into my fireplace so that I have something to burn,» boasted the fire fairy.
It was to cover their tracks, you fool! Bones are evidence!»
«Is it evidence?» The fairy frowned. She probably didn’t understand what the word meant. «The royal advisor was looking for some evidence here too.»
«Was the royal advisor in this estate? And did nothing to keep us all safe from werewolves?» Samantha’s righteous anger flared up.
«He threatened to wipe the manor and its inhabitants to powder if we continued to do whatever we wanted,» the fairy recalled.
«So he has a conscience after all! That’s comforting! I’ve heard that the king’s counselor is completely unscrupulous. The travelers must be slandering him. Are you sure you heard everything?»
«I was hiding in the chimney. I could hear every rustle in there.»
Orange lights were coming off the turrets. They flew down and turned into new fire fairies.
«These are my sisters!» Famma waved a flaming hand at them in greeting.
Samantha was not happy about the fairies. It was getting as hot as a furnace next to them. She struggled to slip out of the tight ring of fire fairies that had flocked to the fountain.
«We’re heating and lighting the castle!» They bragged. «Are you going to marry one of the werewolves?»
«Gods forbid! What makes you think that?»
«Otherwise you wouldn’t be left alone in the manor,» Famma concluded.
«I’m leaving now,» Samantha picked up her lush skirts and ran for the exit. The fire fairies followed her in a swarm. Apparently they hadn’t had anyone to talk to for a long time. The werewolf masters were unlikely to talk to the fairies. They were tolerated in the manor only for fire and light.
The wicket door was unlocked. Samantha ran to the horses. They were not too eager to see their mistress. Pegasus was peacefully nibbling on the grass. Naughty, Sleepyhead and Ardent stared at her with empty, lazy eyes.
«Damn it!» Samantha cursed. «Those stupid geldings can’t be moved again!»
The horses did not take offense at her angry words, but the fire fairies fluttered nearby and watched the scene bewildered. For some reason, the horses were not afraid of their fire. Apparently they weren’t afraid to get burned. Samantha noticed that the light touch of the fairies made dry twigs burst into flames and the fence soot.
«I understood correctly that you were going to leave us,» Famma said disappointedly.
«I must leave, or I’ll be nothing but bones when your landlords return!»
This time the fire fairies understood her perfectly and began to help clear the road of dry branches and bushes. It turned out that one fire fairy could easily burn the thorny bushes just by touching them with her wings. All the orange fairies were the size of frail teenagers, and they had more strength than the fire giant. Samantha whistled in surprise. Even her whistle didn’t get the horses to budge.
«You’re taming them wrong!» Famma flew over to the harness with a look of expertise.
«Do you have to burn them to get them to move?» Samantha snorted sarcastically.
«You have to be gentle! You’ll drive them around like a coachman. Horses don’t like that. They don’t need saddles, spurs or bridles.»
«But then they’d go wild!»
«No, they won’t! If you sing to them, they will always please you,» the Fire Fairy sang. Her song was like the hissing of flames, and the horses obediently followed the fairy. Samantha barely had time to climb onto the horses. She held the whip and reins, but the horses obeyed Famma, not her.
«Now you try to sing to them,» suggested the fire fairy.
«I can’t do that! You have to be a fairy to sing like that!»
«Let’s not be prejudiced!» Famma flashed her orange eyes menacingly. «Just sing, that’s all!»
The fairy resembled a flaming torch. She could persuade anyone to become more obedient. If not indulged, she would scorch or even burn. Samantha sang obediently. Strangely enough, the horses obeyed. They trotted forward.
«Then you must sing so they would not be lazy again!» Samantha hoped the fairies would guide her to the capital. It was a brighter ride with them. When the flaming silhouettes flanked the road, there was no fear of ravines or bandits. Besides, if the fairies flew away, the horses would be stubborn again. Samantha was not so naive as to believe that the horses obeyed only her singing. It was not without the fairies’ energy.
Alas, as soon as the sky began to lighten, the fire fairies hurriedly said goodbye and flew back to the manor. Samantha looked at them in despair, but the horses continued to trot forward. Samantha was afraid to let them gallop. She didn’t encourage speeding. You could crash into a milepost. Near her parents’ estate, carriages often crashed. Probably the tops of the poles were badly placed there. The carriages were literally bumping into them. Samantha had once dreamed that the poles were living monsters that caught travelers. Now it seemed to her that the mileposts on the road to Ivilor were ugly goblins.
Good thing her carriage hadn’t run into them. The horses were finally obeying her. The fairies helped her tame them. You should sing while you’re driving the carriage. That’s what the fairies said. It’s silly, but it works. But the carrot didn’t work! Magic works better!
