Kitabı oku: «Between the lines is written in fire», sayfa 3
An ultimatum
The knights did not return. But some junk dealer had brought back their scorched armor and helmets, and at the same time one roasted corpse, on which the letters of a message from the dragon had been burned as if on paper.
«The fire-breathing beast caught me on the mountain road and promised to pardon me if I delivered the message to the queen,» said the junk dealer, who was about to be executed as a sorcerer for aiding the dragon.
He was eventually pardoned but kept under surveillance. The corpse, covered with inscriptions, was not shown to the queen, lest she faint. For some reason, everyone thought that her female heart would break at the sight of a dragon mutilating the most handsome of her knights.
«They only do that out of jealousy!» The maids of honor were murmuring, covering their sly smiles with fans. «What if our queen has really fallen in love with a dragon?»
Rosamunda understood the meaning of their gossip as soon as they brought her the verbatim message read on the corpse’s skin. The dragon demands that the queen be given to him. Not as a sacrifice, but as a wife.
«It’s a joke!» Rosamunda jumped up so violently that she nearly toppled the throne. A nimble creature that looked like an emerald lizard was crawling on the canopy above the throne, but she didn’t even notice it. It looked like a spy.
«It’s an ultimatum, Your Majesty,» stammered the minister who read the message.
«An ultimatum can be given by a king at war with me, but not by a dragon. By the way, he burned one of the fields.»
«It is along with the plowmen and their families,» the First Minister corrected the dragon.
«He attacks like an animal, like a pack of wolves or a bear. Does an animal have the right to make demands? It should be caught and destroyed, so that it does not harm.»
«But that’s what the knights were sent for. They’re gone.»
«Then send others.»
«Others are less prepared to fight the beast,» the First Minister stammered and stuttered with excitement. He couldn’t wait to marry the queen to anyone, even a dragon. He was tired of a woman on the throne. Perhaps he wanted to take her place after the dragon had eaten her. Rosamunda has no living relatives left.
«It is except us,» whispered the strange creatures crawling along the column. Rosamunda quickly turned away from them. Would the others see them? Do they hear them? Everyone is so frightened by the dragon that they don’t pay attention to the little things.
«Does the dragon know that I am a young widow and not an innocent maiden?» Rosamunda asked an insidious question, for everyone knows that dragons prefer virgins. «Had he been warned of this?»
«His demand is clear! He wants you! Perhaps you should say yes.»
«I don’t think you envision a dragon as your king. You’re probably hoping I’ll disappear into his lair forever.»
«No! How could I?» The minister lowered his eyes to the floor in shame so she wouldn’t recognize him as a traitor. «We are all truly loyal to you.»
«It is especially all those who were burned. They could have fought the dragon, but they just gave up. They didn’t even try to run away.»
«If you knew what a dragon attack was, you wouldn’t be talking like this! It’s much worse than a forest fire.»
«I don’t believe the burned body of the knight was sent by the dragon itself. Dragons are animals. They have no intelligence. It’s more likely some evil joker carved the body in letters. Probably it is a savage or a fakir. There aren’t many fools that live in deserted places.»
«It’s definitely dragon fire. It makes the body rot in a peculiar way. The letters on the corpse’s skin turn black before you can read them.»
«And before they’re read, they’re fiery?» Rosamunda recalled with horror the letters from her secret admirer, but the minister ignored her question.
«The dragon gives you one day to think about it. Tomorrow night you will either accept his proposal or he will burn your country.»
That’s the literal message. The dragon is as generous as a king of noble blood. He gives her a full day’s head start. She’ll have time to sleep, and the next day she’ll devise some cunning plan to deceive the dragon.
During the night, Rosamunda dreamed of a girl with many faces. These faces were scattered on the floor like masks. Every single one of them was incredibly beautiful. All cut from living beauties because blood had caked on them. They were all alive. The girl measured them one by one, and was not satisfied with all of them. Until among the masks she found one that was not human. The face cut from the fairy was squirming and whispering something unhappily, but the sorceress put it on over her. This girl could not be anything but a sorceress, for she stole other people’s faces. And they suited her. Except that her hair changed color with them. Then they were light, then dark, then red, then golden, then greenish, like a mermaid. And what is this girl really: brunette, shade, blonde? Do sorceresses have a specific hair color? And what is her face like? Rosamunda saw only living masks.
There was a haunting feeling in the dream that she needed to see the true face of the many-faced girl, or the problem with the dragon would not be solved.
«Look in the mirror,» squeaked someone behind her. It seemed to be some kind of gnome or gnome-like creature. It was short and clawed.
Rosamunda woke up without realizing what the mirror had to do with it.
The dwarf sitting on her bedpost clapped his clawed hands together in joy. «I thought the indecent dragon had put you to sleep for good. But now it is twelve o’clock, and my queen has awakened from his spell. I’m so glad!»
«I wish you’d get out of here!» Rosamunda looked at him in disbelief. There’s trouble where Dandy is.
It’s light outside the window, but suddenly, right now, the red rain of dragon flame is raining down again, hitting the roofs, and the whole country turns into a hot inferno.
How to deal with a dragon? This was not the kind of politics she had counted on when she took over the reins of power. You can still negotiate with humans, but not with the dragon! You can’t even settle a dispute with a dragon with a war. He’ll just burn everyone. The whole army! So what do we do?
«What do you say, Counselor?» She squinted at Dandy.
«About what is it?»
«It is about the dragon, of course. That’s our biggest problem right now.»
«Well, you’re the queen. I’m just an advisor, and not an official one at that.»
«But you took me to the mountains, and we woke the dragon there.»
«It would have woken up anyway.»
Dandy sighed.
«How do you know?»
«We all know him well and have studied his lordly ways.»
«What do you mean? And who are all of us? You mean those sparkling pixies who sang in the cave?»
Dandy sighed again. He seemed about to burst into tears. Rosamunda had never seen him like this before. Usually, he was not discouraged.
«What’s the matter with you? Did one of the courtiers offend you? Well, I’ll punish them!»
«The dragon hurt me!» Dandy sobbed. «He took away all my savings. Said it was a tax on life. And he did the same to other magical creatures.»
«Can dragons speak?»
«Yes, they can! And they can breathe fire! They can roast even a magical creature with their breath!»
«They can write letters with fire, too, can’t they?»
«I never received any letters from them,» Dandy said judiciously. «But I have received threats mixed with sparks. I even got burns.»
He unbuttoned his camisole slightly, revealing orange marks like sparks lodged in greenish skin. He’s a freak! But he acts like a trained monkey. And in his camisole he looks like an aristocrat who’s been turned into a miniature monster by some magician. Dandy’s feet are webbed, and his claws are long. The toes themselves are seven or eight on each foot. A spiked tail curls in zigzags.
Yeah, she’s got herself a nice-looking pet. If he were to march into the parade hall behind the queen and kiss the hand of one of her ladies-in-waiting out of politeness, she would faint.
Ladies are afraid of monsters, even miniature ones. But Rosamunda was suddenly drawn to them. Dandy is a real exotic. A helper from a magical world volunteered to serve a mortal queen. She must be special to have such curiosities rushing to serve her. How else to tame a dragon!
Rosamunda’s mind was scattering. A dragon, of course, is not a man. He could not be seduced. He would probably eat or burn a beautiful woman who came close to him. But she needs to seduce him badly. That’s how we can save on military pay. One dragon is worth a whole army. He’s already proven that. When he raids, everyone runs away or burns. If she had such a gentleman, she could scare all the insolent advisors. She can’t get the ministers under control herself, but a dragon would help. They would all fall down at the sight of a queen with the support of a dragon bodyguard!
«Too bad the dragon is not a man!» Rosamunda voiced her thought. «I know how to seduce men, but I don’t know how to lure a dragon.»
«It is on a beauty!» Dandy said cheerfully. «Offer him the most beautiful lady in the kingdom.»
«I’m the most beautiful here.»
«That’s not good!»
«Why? Can the dragon burn me or eat me?»
«He can take you to his domain, and I can’t go there. I’ll stay here, and I’ll have to rule the country in your absence. Of course, being Viceroy is lucrative, but it would take all my meager charms.»
«You can run a country?» Rosamunda couldn’t imagine her snooty ministers obeying such a crumb. Even though Franth is monstrous, he is still a midget.
But when a minister entered the room, the tiny Dandy made passes with his green paws, waved his curled tail, and the minister bowed to him as if he were a real prince.
«Go away!» said Dandy.
The minister apologized and obediently left.
Wow! Rosamunda looked at her pet with unexpected respect.
«You’re a hypnotist?»
«Too bad you can’t fool a dragon that easily,» Dandy muttered to himself without hearing her. «You can’t give him just any girl. He will demand the most beautiful one, and the rejected one he will simply throw off the cliff and send back to us in dismembered form. And the relics will arrive in an expensive box with some charms.»
«I don’t believe it! The dragon will just eat it.»
«Dragons are not as simple as you think, my queen.»
Rosamunda sighed tiredly.
«I thought you were going to leave me yesterday and hide forever in the Underworld,» she said, recalling her quarrel with Dandy in the stables.
«I thought it would be black ingratitude to abandon my queen. You’d be lost without my advice!»
«It is on the contrary. I think either the Underworld didn’t welcome you, or they didn’t have the wine and hors d’oeuvres you’re addicted to, so you’re here again.»
«And you’re happy to see me. I’m not a dragon!» Dandy said slyly.
Why did he find the comparison to a dragon so amusing?
«Give the dragon the most beautiful lady among your maids of honor and see how loyal the dragon is to you? Maybe he’ll mistake her for a queen and be satisfied.»
The casket with the corpse of the maid of honor
«If only there was a magician here!» Rosamunda lamented. «There isn’t one at all!»
«They flee from a kingdom where the ruler is a wizard,» said Dandy, winking slyly as he chewed a peach from the king’s table. «And here is a witch queen.»
«Are you insulting me on purpose?»
«It’s true! Otherwise I wouldn’t be here. I would never submit to an ordinary woman.»
«And you don’t obey me!»
«It is on the contrary, I please you in every way.»
Dandy has an original perception of obedience.
«You should be flogged for being stubborn.»
«Then I’d slip away to the Underworld and never come back.»
«And you give me ultimatums like a dragon!»
«I’m only defending myself.»
«I’m defending myself against you and your insolent advice.»
Rosamunda didn’t realize how used to him she was getting. Why are ladies so keen to keep mischievous animals with them? Her ladies of honor had their own monkeys and parrots, but hers was a little monster from the Underworld. That’s probably where Dandy comes from, since he’s threatening to go back there.
Instead of the queen, of course, the dragon was given a maid of honor, a noble lady named Winona. Pity her, of course. But the dragon needs a sacrifice. Winona’s father was in disgrace, so the ministers chose her. We can’t give the queen to the dragon. Then the country would be orphaned.
But Dandy slyly noted that the throne of the orphaned country will immediately run to the good guys who want to adopt the throne, and the scepter, and the orb.
In general, it was better not to talk to Dandy..
«Are you by any chance a scholar who escaped from some city university?» Rosamunda began to inquire the counselor.
«God forbid!» Dandy was even frightened. «You found yourself a scientist! I do not sit in laboratories for experiments, but in the throne room now your ministers are doing some experiments.»
Dandy was partly right. The maid of honor sacrificed to the dragon had already been brought back. In a coffin-like box! Rosamunda almost fainted when she saw the dismembered corpse inside the large open chest. It looked like a broken marionette. Deep animal scratches stretched across Winona’s deadly pale skin.
The dead head’s eyes opened instantly, barely Rosamunda had entered the hall. The eyelashes, stained at the tips with blood, made a ghastly impression. There were no pupils left in the empty whites of the eyes.
Dandy hastily hid behind Rosamunda’s hem.
«How could this be? She was given to the dragon,» she whispered.
Dandy did not answer. The ministers were also silent. But the dismembered corpse spoke and even sang.
«I’m back! I’m dead! But I’m a little alive inside to bring a message to you,» Winona sang in a sinister, playful tone. «You can’t fool the dragon, Rosamunda! Don’t even try!»
Rosamunda! While she was alive, Winona had never addressed her so familiarly. But apparently death equalizes everyone. The dead Winona had forgotten all about «Your Majesty». Apparently, since her head was separated from her torso, her mind was barely functioning. Or maybe the dragon had cut off her head with its claws to fill it with enchantments. Winona’s bloody lips laughed stupidly. She looked like a doll from hell in her dismembered state.
What a sorcerer that dragon was! Dandy had warned her for a reason. His advice should be heeded for the future.
There was something stuck in Winona’s hair. It was strange why the dragon didn’t remove her hair like a scalp or a fleece. They could have been sold or kept as a trophy. There were claw wounds on her forehead. So the dragon had first thought of the same idea. But for some reason he only scratched her. There were hieroglyphic inscriptions scratched on the skin of the severed arms and legs.
«Get the court astrologer to study them and translate them if he can.»
«I’ll translate them for you,» Dandy volunteered, and jumped into the casket.
«It says here! The dragon will not leave…»
«Get away, dwarf!» Winona hissed.
Dandy put a claw to her forehead, and she shut up, looking at the empty whites of her eyes in the void.
«It says: until you return my wife to me, I will destroy your body, beautiful woman who bears her name from the root of the rose flower.»
«What’s next?» Rosamunda nervously crumpled her lace handkerchief in her hands. «Read it! I want to know everything.»
But Winona’s body burst into flames, as did the paper letters. Sparks rained down on the terrified crowd of courtiers. Some were burned, some swallowed sparks and burned their tongues. Some of the ladies were disfigured by burns. The dead Winona didn’t care whether she burned or not. She was acting as a message. Apparently, parchment or letters on skin and bodies from a dragon burn just like paper.
The remains of the maid of honor were being shunned by everyone. The chest full of ashes was taken to the cemetery. That’s where it belongs.
«The sacrifice was in vain,» sighed the counselors and looked unkindly at the queen.
«So, what shall we do?» Rosamunda roused Dandy, who for some reason none of the ministers called an exotic animal and did not try to put him in a cage.
«Marry you to a dragon!» He muttered sullenly.
«What do you mean?» Rosamunda clenched her fists in anger. «You’re mocking me!»
«I am not! It’s what the dragon wants.»
«To burn me or eat me for dinner!»
«Suddenly he doesn’t want an appetizer, he wants a wife.»
Rosamunda swung her scepter at Dandy.
«Calm down! Where’s your sense of humor?» He squeaked, hiding behind the throne. «I’ll tell you a secret: monsters are really very attracted to beauties, and not at all to eat them.»
«That’s comforting!» Rosamunda said skeptically.
«Don’t you want to fool the dragon by promising him a marriage for the future?»
«That’s clever! But how do you negotiate with a dragon? Who dares approach him when he’s so vicious? Did you see what he did to Lady Winona? He dismembered her with his claws! What if he breathes fire on me as soon as I go to negotiate with him? Should I just send you? You’re agile! If there’s a risk, run away or hide in one of the pits in the Underworld.»
Dandy doesn’t like that idea.
«He won’t listen to me. He needs a lady.»
«He’s already been given one, and he hasn’t expressed much admiration.»
«He needs a lady of his own choosing. It is the chosen one!»
«It’s a shame he chose me! There are so many brides to be given away, and the dragon wants me! It’s the law of meanness!»
Fire raged through the kingdom here and there. The angry dragon was flying over the country and breathing on villages and cities. How could he be tamed? Not with love! Should we call the militia? But what could the militia do against the dragon? He’ll crush them all with one paw. The size difference gives him an advantage. And his fire breath makes him all-powerful.
«He’d enslave us all like that,» Rosamunda complained. «We’d have to get a strong wizard to fight him.»
«I’ve heard that the singing of fair maidens can put dragons to sleep. Sing to him!»
There’s nothing to lose. Rosamunda leaned out the window and sang a frivolous love song she’d heard from the seamstresses. Strangely enough, the dragon reacted. The fire that was about to fall on the castle towers was stopped.
Rosamunda continued to sing as the dragon flew over the castle. Only when it flew away did she close her mouth. Her tongue ached as if it were about to fall off. To contain the fire of the entire country, she had to sing for the dragon for over an hour.
«Love is a hard thing!» Dandy muttered. «It is especially dragon love!»
What’s love got to do with it? It was an enemy raid. She had a sore throat. She wished Dandy had brought wine instead of muttering about dragon love.
The dragon didn’t return for 24 hours. Is this a victory? Or is it the calm before another firestorm?
«I wish I had a strong wizard to deal with it,» Rosamunda continued to lament.
And as if by magic, a message arrived about the visit of ambassadors from the State of Wizards.
An elf in the ambassador’s entourage
Flames ran between the lines.
«I love you! I hate you! I wait for you! I am your dragon.»
It was no longer a letter, but a short note by fire. It did not burst into flames, but lay on the carpet, only the lines burning. Then they were extinguished. The note became ashes.
Rosamunda thought the note a mockery. The dragon didn’t belong to her.
It was said that Queen Seraphina of the northern state had her own dragon, but Queen Rosamunda had no dragon of her own. It is except for the dragon in the letters. Maybe someone got wind of her desire to have her own dragon and is playing a joke on her? But who would want to do that and why?
«You should have a dragon of your own,» said Dandy, sensing the threat of war. «Or tame one that already flies over the towers and shines like the dawn.»
Instead, Rosamunda wrote poems about the dragon, but the lines were in ink, not fire. Only once did something out of the ordinary happen: Rosamunda was summoned by the voice of a fairy from the bookshelves, the queen dripped blood on a line, and several fiery lines appeared, as if a dragon had breathed on the paper.
«I am here! I am near! In your palace! At your back! I am yours! And so is the fire.»
The lines of fire, alas, burned too quickly. There’s no way to prove the existence of letters of fire. They could never be reassembled from the ashes.
Rosamunda was nervous. She even felt a dragon’s claw touch her shoulder. It felt like the dragon was at court, but the heralds only trumpeted some afterthought from a magical state.
«Come quickly! Otherwise we’ll all be in big trouble,» Dandy is all shaken up. He’s about to faint.
Rosamunda hurried into the throne room. The courtiers had gathered in a crowd. They were all expecting special ambassadors.
«Was it true that their empire was populated only by wizards?» Rosamunda sat on the throne in a ceremonial gown of silver brocade trimmed with sable. Dandy sat on the back of the throne and whispered his advice to her.
«It is also called the Magic Empire, or in the lingo, simply the Empire of Magic,» he said. «The emperor is very powerful. You’d have to seduce him, and you’d be in business.»
«Does he specialize in taming dragons?» Rosamunda was keenly interested.
«It is something like that…» Dandy was embarrassed for some reason.
«But the ambassadors have come to see me, not the Emperor.»
«Arrange with them to visit him.»
«I mean a trip,» Rosamunda wrinkled her nose. «I dream that I have many faces! Imagine that! And they’re all mine. Isn’t that funny?»
Dandy, who usually liked to joke, remained silent.
«There are faces! There are all beauties! I don’t know if they’re dead or alive. But in my dreams I change their faces like masquerade masks. It’s funny and scary.»
«Magic is fun and scary,» said Dandy. «You have to learn how to use it properly, so you don’t get hurt.»
«Should I ask the wizards ambassadors for advice?»
«First, give them the impression of a wise ruler. They’re not going to help someone with a pouty demeanor. They need something to interest them.»
«Will that be difficult?»
«Of course it’s difficult! They’re magicians! You can’t bribe them with mere coquetry,» Dandy even shrieked. «Maybe you should marry a dragon. He loves you very fiercely, judging by the intensity of his matchmaking.»
«It is no hotter than that! He’s got half the kingdom burning or smoking!»
«We must take action before the kingdom burns to the ground,» Dandy leaned close to Rosamunda’s ear, tugged a long curl with his claw, and wanted to whisper some dangerous advice, but the heralds had already sounded the horn to announce the arrival of the guests. A procession of smartly dressed cavaliers entered the throne room. Not a single lady among them, Rosamunda noted to herself. It was as if they had come for marriage. Or was it? She felt suddenly sick.
«They are afraid that I will take away the face of any lady they bring with them,» Rosamunda thought, guided by her dreams.
«You’re imagining things!»
«No, I don’t. I feel as if they were trembling before me. Or maybe they’re setting traps for me, like I’m setting traps for the dragon. What if singing doesn’t scare him away next time?»
«That’s why you have to make friends with the wizards,» Dandy snuck behind her shoulder. He climbed the back of the throne as nimbly as a monkey.
Rosamunda did not know how to drive him off. She wanted to hear the ambassadors, but Dandy was hissing in one ear and out the other.
«You’re making me unable to hear anything!»
Rosamunda tried to shoo him away, but Dandy clutched at her hair, almost falling over, causing her to shriek. The ambassadors were just opening their chests of fancy gifts. One of the ambassadors was dressed like an eastern wizard. All the others were in camisoles or doublets. All dressed so luxuriously as if they were of the same rank. So which one is the leader? It is the one who read the speech.
«Dandy, why is the Magic Empire called the Dragon Empire?» Rosamunda caught on to the fragments of the ambassador’s speech. «Do dragons live there?»
«It is just a figure of speech,» Dandy muttered. «It is a metaphor.»
«What if the dragon came to us from them?»
«Come on! You have a unicorn on your coat of arms too, but that doesn’t mean there are unicorns grazing in your kingdom.»
«I have roses and gold coins. They are also in the coat of arms.»
Dandy snorted disdainfully.
Rosamunda straightened the folds of a lush purple dress, woven at the hem and on the chest coats of arms. The ambassadors came up to kiss the queen’s hand. Rosamunda was surprised that they were all young, about the same age. Usually ambassadors were bearded middle-aged men. These ones were all young and handsome. Probably they were the sons of some powerful person. Maybe they’ve invented the elixir of youth. They’re magicians!
Rosamunda was much more attracted by the glitter of the treasures in their chests than by their looks. She stared so intently that she didn’t notice the young man who came last. She almost fell off the throne at the sight of him. That’s what it means to get an arrow in the heart! The sight of the handsome golden-haired boy made her feel as if she was scorched.
He looks like a living elf! But he’s an ambassador, and his name is the same as the emperor of the Dragon Empire. Edwin!
He must be the emperor’s namesake. The Emperor himself wouldn’t show up unannounced and wouldn’t go behind ambassadors’ backs.
For some reason, at the sight of Edwin and the ambassadors, Dandy hastily ducked behind the throne. No one could get him out of there with a sap. Only his eyes glittered from beneath the legs of the throne.
Edwin bowed. The sight of him burned worse than the fire, and her hand burned from his kiss. Rosamunda watched the red stain spread across her palm. It must have appeared so. Some creepy winged shadow flashed quickly in Edwin’s eyes and disappeared.
What a pity this young man was not a dragon! She wished he had asked her to marry him!
How unpleasant to be the object of a dragon’s desire when there are such handsome men around!
Rosamunda wanted to start a conversation with Edwin, but she didn’t know where to begin. Any words spoken to him would sound like flirting. Edwin himself was silent for some reason and dared not speak to her first.
And Dandy had disappeared. He would tell her how to behave now. For some reason her knees shake at the sight of Edwin, and all her thoughts scatter from her mind. Is this what love at first sight is like?
«I must give you a gift from the Emperor,» Edwin suddenly pulled a rose out of the void like a magician. Rosamunda gasped in delight. The rose was unusual. There are no such roses in the royal garden. How could the Queen of Dauran be impressed by ordinary roses? A special magical flower was needed to surprise her. And that’s exactly what she’s been presented with. The bright orange rose was ablaze with yellow fire around the edges. In an instant, it was all fire. Only the stem remained green. The courtiers gasped in amazement, but Rosamunda did not dare to take it in her hands.
«Hold it by the stem, and it will not burn you,» Edwin advised. For some reason he avoided looking Rosamunda in the eye. Was he ashamed of her, or did he not like her? Or maybe the eerie shadow she saw in his eyes wasn’t a hallucination.
«Is that all you know how to do?» Rosamunda teased him. «A dragon could make me a rose like that with a single breath. I expected more from a wizard.»
In fact, she was delighted by the tortured flower, but it was unpleasant that Edwin paid her no compliments. Even the gift he gave her was not from himself, but from his emperor.
For some reason, at the mention of the dragon, Edwin flinched like a stung man. Had she insulted him? But what did he have to do with a dragon attacking Dauran? It was not he who had attacked.
Edwin shook his golden curls, whispered something, and a miniature rainbow appeared in the palm of his hand. A moment later, the rainbow flew out the window, stretched over the castle, and illuminated everything with a multi-tonal glow, leaving a handful of rainbow stones in the palm of Edwin’s hand.
Rosamunda knew that rainbow stones were considered the most valuable of all gems, for they could only be obtained from elves and fairies. And fairies and elves are notoriously difficult to bargain with. They will not want money in payment, but some magical condition. But Edwin got the rainbow stones instantly. Or rather, he conjured them. And he is an expert!
Rosamunda applauded and then realized that she might have insulted him. After all, he is not a magician, but a real wizard.
Edwin expressed no offense. He poured the stones into Rosamunda’s palm, and kept only one stone, shaped like a peach pit. He rubbed it in his fingers and then threw it into the center of the hall. The stone immediately embedded itself in the marble floor, and suddenly there was a cracking sound. It was the floorboards cracking. Roots that looked like dryad’s fingers sprouted from them. A tree sprouted from the roots. It instantly grew to the ceiling of the throne room, covered with twigs and leaves. Ripe fruit formed on its branches: either peaches or magic fruits with iridescent shiny peels.
«My throne room has been turned into a garden,» Rosamunda said whimsically.
«If you eat one peach, you will forget any sadness for a long time,» Edwin said.
Even the colorful birds flew away from the tree.
Rosamunda twirled a flaming rose in her fingers. Its petals were even hot.
«Would you like more gifts from my emperor?» Edwin asked.
«So all these miracles are gifts from your suzerain and not from you?» Rosamunda flared up.
Edwin silently unfolded a fan made of fire in front of her. All the plates, except the handle, were blazing.
«It is a blazing fan!»
He is mocking! Laughing at the queen who was attacked by a dragon! That’s why the gifts are all fire!
«It’s quite chilly in Dauran. A little fire wouldn’t hurt,» Edwin gave his gift.
«It is curious thing!» Rosamunda praised, accepting the fan. Maybe the ambassadors don’t know about the dragon, but just want to be helpful.
