The hunting lodge
Samantha reached the hunting lodge at dusk. The modest name didn’t fit with the large palace that had been cut down from the pine trees in the forest. The house had a beautiful portal with columns, a roof with carved decorations, a magnificent facade, and a special annex for the armory. Inside there was fairy-tale luxury. Samantha could feel proud.
She had been invited here by the king himself! How luxurious is this place! But where is the King himself? Outside the window, wolves howled. Could it be Jessica’s pack had scattered into the forest again? It must be dangerous. Samantha drew her rifle from her armoire. We need to defend ourselves. What if she shot the wolf and the game turned into one of Jessica’s friends? And then she’d end up killing a man instead of a wolf! There’s trouble all around!
Hunting animals is not a good thing either. Chasing one defenseless animal with dogs is sadistic! And she came to see it for the King! What is the world coming to! What people are willing to do for gain or for love!
«Everyone behaves no better than the king’s demon!» Samantha slammed the shutters shut with fury and heard a strange rumbling sound like the footsteps of a giant.
Was that thunder? It was like an earthquake, but now it sounded like the giant had put on stone boots. The walls of the hunting house shook. A gilded antler and a picture in a heavy frame fell on Samantha. The edge of the frame cut her elbow to the point of bleeding. Had it fallen a few centimeters to the left, it would have hit her on the temple.
«What would be the point of a giant wandering through the woods?» Samantha wondered. «It’s an awkward path! It’s a thicket of pines and firs. The giant must be feeble-minded, for he would get splinters from the pine needles as he walked around.»
Idle chatter did not save her from danger. The powerful feet of the giant who was breaking the trees were already visible from the window. What if the giant was coming to trample the king’s hunting lodge? Samantha was scared out of her wits. King Serpin must have had a falling out with the giant if he’s going to trample his estate.
Or is she overdramatizing things? What if the giant wandered in by mistake? Maybe he’ll pass by? Samantha still held out hope that the problem would be resolved safely, even though the woods around the hunting lodge were splintering. Apparently the giant was pretty pissed off. If he stepped on the house with his giant foot, even having a fairy tag wouldn’t save it.
«Please pass the house!» Samantha pleaded, leaning out the window. Maybe the innocent maiden’s pleas would move the giant. It didn’t. It turned out that the giant had not wandered into the forest on a whim.
The Mind was sitting on the giant’s shoulder, pointing him in the right direction. The demon’s goal, to all appearances, was to destroy the hunting lodge along with the guest. There was no doubt now. We must run away!
Samantha wished she was wearing a bouffant dress. Now she had to get breeches and a jacket. Long skirts made it hard to run. The roof of the house was already heavy. Apparently the giant had put his foot on it. The walls were crumbling, the plaster crumbling. Samantha felt like a gnat in a matchbox about to be crushed.
It is because of the handsome king!» She scolded herself. She had to get in such a mess because of a guy!
She’d probably promise the demon that she’d leave Serpin forever if he’d spare her, even sign the treaty in her own blood. But the Mind was in no hurry to offer her a compromise. It persisted in seeing Samantha as just another victim. She should have heeded Evangelina’s ghost’s warnings and fled, but now it was too late. One could try to hide in the basement, though. What if the giant can’t crush the cellar? Of course, then we’ll have to get out from under the collapse. But what if the rocks and boards piled up in the basement and she was suffocated or crushed to death?
Samantha heard a strange tapping at the window that somehow reminded her of hoof clatter. She hadn’t imagined it. The Pegasus hovered outside the window and tapped the window with a shining hoof.
«Rosafeira sent you!» Samantha was overjoyed. She wanted to open the window, but the shutters were closed tightly. Apparently, the Mind had taken care of her so she wouldn’t escape. The Pegasus had to break the glass with his hooves so that Samantha could get out and climb on his back. But the winged horse carried her away seconds before the royal hunting lodge collapsed under the giant’s merciless footsteps.
What a stroke of luck! Samantha looked back. Another moment’s delay and she would have been gone. The Mind was bouncing with joy on the shoulder of the clueless giant, who could hardly understand what he was being forced to do. Apparently, the little demon knew how to lead not only kings, but giants as well.
Fortunately, he didn’t notice that the victim had slipped away, or rather fled. The Pegasus flew at the speed of the wind. Soon the woods were behind them. They were returning home. Samantha now considered the royal palace to be home. The Mind would not set the giants against it, for then he would lose his luxurious dwelling.
This time the Pegasus did not land on the roof of the palace, but flew straight to the window of Samantha’s apartment and even knocked on the glass with his hoof. The fairy’s obliging hands immediately opened the window. Rosafeira was hovering over the couch that stood by the window sill. She looked worried.
«Did you sense danger and send Pegasus after me?» Samantha guessed.
The fairy must have overheard some talk about the plans of the insidious demon. Fairies had keen ears and could fly through the ceiling of rooms where negotiations were taking place. Rosafeira once boasted that her sensitive ears could hear all the sounds from the attics to the basement of the royal palace. In short, fairies would make excellent spies.
Samantha had already imagined creating a company of fairies to spy on her when she became queen, but the truth about Rosafeira was more prosaic than she had imagined.
«Look at it!» The fairy showed the already crumpled envelope of the royal invitation to the hunt.
«What’s wrong with it?» Samantha wondered.
«I didn’t immediately notice the imprint of demon claws near the royal seal. It meant that the invitation didn’t come from the king, but from his demon advisor.»
«Ouch!» Samantha also just now recognized the claw marks on the paper. How could she have missed them? There must have been some kind of protective spell on the letter. The handwriting of the letter had also suddenly changed. It had changed from calligraphy to an ugly smear of crooked letters and blots.
«What an embarrassment!»
«Hush!» Rosafeira flapped her beautiful rose-scented wings and put her finger to her lips. «Too much rustic language is not for the elite. You’ll be immediately recognized as a country girl.»
«No one can hear us!» Samantha looked around excitedly. There was no one in the room, except for the moth fairy in the clothes closet, but she wouldn’t spread gossip around the palace. «Besides, I am a country noblewoman. Have you forgotten?»
Rosafeira ignored the clarification.
«I knew you had to be rescued as soon as I saw the claw marks on the letter.»
«It’s a good thing you sent Pegasus after me, or I’d have been crushed by another giant by now.»
Rosafeira was frightened, as if a giant could come here to trample the royal palace as well. Apparently, even fast-winged fairies feel like insignificant gnats in front of a giant.
«I should have been more careful,» Rosafeira flapped her pink eyelashes like an amazed child, «how come I got caught up in the court’s amusements and didn’t think of the danger.»
The Pegasus outside the window gave a mocking roar. She thought she could hear it in his roar:
«See you later, frivolous persons!»
And then the winged horse flew away. Rosafeira slammed the window shut with the tip of her wing.
«We need to make a plan for the future, or you’ll fall into the demon’s traps again.»
«Why are you helping me?» Samantha suspected a trick.
«Does a fairy need an excuse to do someone a favor?»
«If you remember, you already gave me a mark that scares away all the magical suitors.»
Surely, such a mark of a fairy could be equaled to the crown of loneliness, and it was put not accidentally, but deliberately, to avenge the daughter for the sins of her mother, who separated the fairy from her lover. All in all, Rosafeira’s intentions were far from good. Why believe her now? Has the fairy’s character changed for the better over the years? Or has she met a new love and forgotten the offenses associated with Samantha’s father? Either way, it was better to be suspicious. What if the fairy saved her once only to send her thirteen doom later?
Rosafeira obviously read the thoughts of her interlocutor and rustled her wings carelessly.
«How nervous you are! It is true what they say that the frightened crow is afraid of the bush!»
«And frightened girls are afraid of fairies and demons.»
«Don’t be so dramatic!»
«In case you’ve forgotten, I’ve just been nearly crushed by a giant for the second time. Anyway, dealing with fairies and demons hasn’t done me any good.»
«But you’re alive and you’re not alone. You have me!»
Samantha has calmed down a bit. A fairy isn’t a bad friend, unless she’s plotting revenge.
«And in the future, if you’re lucky, we’ll get you a royal bridegroom.»
«Why would you want to get me a bridegroom, especially since your lover was taken from you by my mother?»
«It is for my own gain,» Rosafeira smirked slyly. «If Serpin gets a bride, the demon will have to get out of Ivilor, and if he disappears from the country for good, the fairies, including me, will have a free pass.»
«So I’m the trump card in your game?»
Rosafeira nodded unashamedly.
«King Serpin alone is benevolent and foolish without a demon. Any fairy with little to no appeal will fool him and easily take out any jewels from his treasury. The king won’t even make a fuss. Serpin would do anything for beautiful girls, but the demon holds him back, so fairies in Ivilor are deprived of gifts, feasts and other pleasures. That could change with you in power.»
«What if I’m even greedier than the demon and lock the treasury away from all the fairies?» Samantha gave me a businesslike shove.
«Honey, you know perfectly well that you have to share with the fairies, or they’ll take all their gifts back and do you a lot of nasty things in return,» Rosafeyra smiled shamelessly. Her delicate rose-petal-shaped fingernails suddenly curved like blades.
Samantha chickened out. Fairies were best not to be trifled with!
«I got it! Bash to bash! You do me a favor, and I return the favor a hundredfold to you and all your magical people, who, after the exorcism of the demon, will feast in Ivilor as much as they want.»
«You’re a clever girl. As if you weren’t Darlina’s daughter! It’s amazing how stupid mothers give birth to such clever children,» Rosafeira threw the letter into the fireplace, where the embers were smoldering, and it suddenly burst into flames like a bonfire. The burning paper made a howling and scraping sound, as if a living thing had been thrown into the fireplace.
«Wherever the king’s demon is hiding, he’s going to be sick,» the fairy gloated, «he’ll probably vomit ashes and coals. Serpin will be surprised.»
«Does the demon always stay with Serpin as if he were a babysitter?» Samantha felt jealous. She wanted to be with Serpin all the time.
«He spends most of his time with the king,» Rosafeira nodded. «But he has to disappear on personal business.»
«And what are his personal matters?»
«Besides politics, military affairs, and all the little things he decides for the king?» The fairy grinned insolently.
«Stop it! He’s witchcraft instead of politics, war or diplomatic negotiations. He moves his claw once, and all the ambassadors are already charmed by him! I’ve seen it!»
«You better keep quiet about what you saw, or the demon’s claws will tear your eyes out one day.»
«Are you joking?»
«That’s what the Mind does to anyone who spies on him.»
«But I accidentally followed him, and he didn’t tear my eyes out.»
«My mark has protected you, but one day, even it may be powerless. Remember, I’m just a garden fairy, and the Mind is a cunning demon from the underworld.»
«I wish he’d go back there! He should have confused the underworld with the royal palace! The demon is out of place here!»
«But who dares tell him that?»
«I will!» Samantha heard familiar claws scrabbling in the corridor, which meant the Mind was close. If he finds out now that the giant hasn’t crushed her, he’ll make a scene. That’s when she’ll have a chance to tell him.
«Don’t get hurt!» Rosafeira warned, but Samantha was unstoppable.
The third extra
The only thing visible in the corridor was the demon’s shadow, which for some reason seemed gigantic. Samantha boldly followed it and came straight to the royal chambers. There were naturally no guards at the door. It was possible to go inside unhindered and walk straight into the scorcher. The royal demon was always waiting for victims, but Samantha wasn’t about to let herself get hurt again.
Serpin was genuinely pleased by her visit and beckoned to Reason.
«Look! She’s a redhead too, like that fairy I once liked. You remember, she came from a ship that was moored in the port of Ivilor. Her name was Patricia, but you called her the Fire Fairy.»
«Had any fairies flown in through Ivilor’s window recently?» Samantha looked surprised. Not to give Rosafeira away.
The Mind ignored her words, but gave the girl a wicked look.
«Her hair is the color of mahogany,» he muttered unhappily. «That fairy was a fiery red. Don’t you see the difference?»
Serpin shook his head disconsolately.
«You’re a fool, Serpin,» the Mind explained to him. «You’ll be lost without me! Everyone is cunning and greedy, and especially the impudent girls,» he glanced at Samantha and jumped on the king’s shoulder. «And you are naive and crowned. Everyone wants to cheat and steal from you. Especially the girls, they only want your dowry, but I know how to drive away all the royal dowry hunters and all the pretenders to your throne. Stick with me and you won’t be lost! For I am that mind! I’ll do anything for you. I even wear the crown for you if you get tired of it.»
The Mind scratched its paws greedily, fixing the crown on Serpin.
«You are a clever devil!» Samantha couldn’t help herself. «You’re going to be king yourself!»
The Mind showed her his tongue, bifurcated like a sting. The king needs him more than the impudent maidens. Serpin was indeed happy to have the Mind as a pet.
Samantha became despondent. Was the duel with the demon lost? It wasn’t! Samantha decided to go all out.
If she had to, she would fight the demon in a sword duel, or she could learn to cast magic herself and have a magical duel. One might fight over Serpin, but the Mind has proven to be incredibly powerful.
«He’s everything to me!» Serpin proudly introduced the demon. «Without the Mind I would have lost my crown long ago, because he is my mind, and without mind, as you know, you can’t be king.»
«Fool! Why are you giving away our secrets to a girl?» The Mind hissed like a snake and wrapped its black tail around the king’s neck like a lash.
Samantha was frightened. The demon could easily strangle Serpin, if only Serpin wasn’t the king. Surely the demon is too cunning to kill Serpin. Too bad Serpin sees it the other way around. He sees the demon as his benefactor.
The situation was both comical and tragic. Samantha didn’t know what to do. Would she be able to clear the young king’s head? Perhaps she should remove the spell from Serpin so that in the future he wouldn’t mistake the demon for a good mother.
«Careful, he has sharp claws, he could hurt you,» Samantha warned, but the king didn’t even listen to her.
«Come on, Mind, give her a paw and you’ll be friends,» insisted Serpin, pulling his pet by the tail.
«Shake a demon’s paw? I never will do it!» Samantha backed away fearfully. Serpin didn’t even understand the reason for her fright and scratched the back of his head, sliding his crown to the side.
«That’s right!» It dawned on him. «Ladies should kiss hands, not shake hands. Quick, Mind, put your sting on her hand. Maybe then she’ll take mercy and realize you’re the most wonderful creature in the world.»
«Kiss the hand of this upstart? It is no way!» The Mind was fierce.
«But you kissed Duchess Evagelina’s hand. She left a fanciful imprint on her palm, like a red flower,» Serpin recalled. «Samantha is a lady of honor, too. She should be honored.»
«She’s an adventurer!» The Mind shrieked and jumped on the king’s shoulder. «Send her away!»
«Mind, I’ve just introduced you to a beautiful girl, and you’re already demanding that I send her away. Why are you so unmerciful? Are you embarrassed?»
«I can’t stand pushy girls!» The demon grinned, jumped off the king’s shoulder and raced down the walls and ceilings like a black meteor.
«Run after him! Try to make friends with him!» Serpin nudged Samantha. «The well-being of Ivilor depends on him.»
Samantha was dumbfounded. Did the king really want her to flirt with a demon? Had Serpin lost his mind? Apparently, he thought he was giving her a sign of special trust by introducing her to his pet. Samantha suddenly had the feeling that the rich groom had introduced her to an evil guardian who did not want to take in a homeless woman.
Anyway now the demon was running away from her and she was chasing him to favor the king. Who would have thought it would end like this?
«Alive! Unharmed! Again!» The hoarse voice of a demon wailed in the distance. «No matter how much you poison her, she’s home again, like a bedbug! Or rather, like a whole swarm of bedbugs! You can’t use poison on them, and you can’t drive them out by force!»
«I agree with you,» Samantha said, «I’m afraid of bedbugs myself. It’s almost useless to poison them, but if you can open all the windows in the cold and leave the house for a while, then they will die out from the change of temperature.»
She shouldn’t have said that. The Mind stopped, hovered under the ceiling, and suddenly the chandelier it was holding onto was covered in frosty frost. A snowy pattern ran down the walls of the palace, the floor iced over like a skating rink. Samantha was afraid she would freeze to death, but the fairy mark on her shoulder flashed with a bright light, and she was suddenly warm even in the midst of the snow and ice.
«You are a fairy’s ward!» the Mind spat out as if it were a swear word. «You will not burn in the fire, nor sink in the river, nor freeze in the snow! Fairy magic will protect you everywhere! What am I supposed to do? How can I kill you so that I can survive?»
«Why torture me when you can just accept me into the family?» Samantha slipped on the rink, but the ice suddenly began to melt. The parquet beneath her feet turned into a pond. It was thawing.
«How am I supposed to keep my place in Ivilor with you prying into every crevice?» The demon swung from the ceiling, and melt water dripped from the tapestries and drapes. Suddenly it dried, and the palace became as hot as the desert. There were sparks on Mind’s claws. It looked like he was about to start a fire. Samantha bounced back just in time, or the sparks would have hit her and turned her figure into a bonfire.
«I’ll burn it all down, but I won’t give it to you!» growled the Mind.
«Why don’t we divide it all up?»
«Must I split it?» The Mind became furious.
«Serpin has a lot of property. There’s enough for all of us to share.»
«You sound like a gambler about to cheat.»
«Mind, I am honest!» Samantha objected indignantly.
«Don’t dare to call me by my name!» The demon clutched his ears with his paws and almost fell off the chandelier. Samantha even prepared to catch him if he fell. For Serpin’s sake, the demon could be treated like a naughty kitten that needed to be picked up and petted. As long as it doesn’t bite!
«Already you are reaching out to me with greedy hands!» The Mind outraged. «You want to skin me to make a fur coat.»
«But Mind, at your size you can’t make a fur coat. It could be a muff, and even then not a fluffy one.»
Samantha was joking, but the demon was furious.
«All you girls are equally greedy and calculating!» He bellowed. «All you think about is profit! Surely your fairy friends have whispered to you that from the skin of one little demon you can make coats for an army.»
«Only an army would turn into monsters when they wore them,» Samantha suggested.
«I knew they’d found out all about me!» The demon shrieked even louder.
Samantha wondered what she could do to calm such a scandalized man. When her mother had tantrums, valerian helped. She would have to get a bottle and pour it on the demon’s tail. He calmed down.»
Meanwhile, the demon was on the rampage again. Lead wall sconces and porcelain figurines flew at Samantha.
«She is a fraud! She is a swindler! She’s a slick one!» The Mind was hurling insults at Samantha. «She herself never worked hard to get anything, and I worked hard for ten people. Do you know how hard it was to take out the old king to get the young and stupid heir to the kingdom? I should send you to the end of the world to fill the bottomless well of the universe with water. Then you’ll understand how hard it was for me! Stop being a court bum!»
That’s where Samantha took offense. How could she be considered a slacker? She’s planning day and night on how to get the demon out of the country. She’s the savior of Ivilor and she’s being called a slacker. The Mind went into overdrive again. Samantha wanted to put her arms at her sides and argue with him like she was buying potatoes at the market.
«You’re no better,» she shouted. «You are a careerist! Seducing a poor orphan to become a royal advisor.»
«And you want to seduce an orphan to become a queen?» The Mind squinted slyly. «Which of us is worse: the demon or the beauty?»
Samantha blushed with shame for a moment. The Mind rebuked her.
«You’ll never make it!» The Mind hooked its tail tip onto the chandelier and swung on it. He was making faces and showing off his claws, which made Samantha’s heart go pitter patter.
«If you’ve decided that I’m not your rival, why are you so worried?»
«I don’t like it when there’s a third party between me and Serpin, like all those ministers and advisors who are now scarecrows in the fields of Ivilor. I could make you a scarecrow, stuffed with straw, but alive. I can imagine how you’ll complain about your fate to everyone who passes by the fields on their way to the capital,» The Mind squinted slyly. «I’ve never turned a lady into a scarecrow before, but you’re a special case, fairy’s ward.»
«That’s right, I’m the fairies’ ward, and you’re a third wheel!» Samantha lost her temper for a moment.
«Try to get me out of here!» The Mind decided to play and jumped from the chandelier right onto Samantha’s shoulder. It scratched her shoulder, of course. Samantha screamed, and the nimble demon giggled and jumped from her shoulder to the curtain. Good thing he didn’t try to strangle her. Samantha felt like punching him back. The scratches hurt badly, and the Mind bounced up and down, showing his split tongue.
«You are a lazy, clumsy fool! You can’t even catch a devil! You can’t catch a king!»
Samantha didn’t realize that the devil was provoking her to chase him around the palace, and when she did, she was caught in a huge cage. How come one of the alcoves in the palace was a cage? The Mind cleverly lured her in, and then snapped the grated door shut in her face.
«Let go!» Samantha shouted and started to pull the door, but it wouldn’t budge. «I’m not a parrot or a canary to be locked in a cage!»
«Or even a dragon,» said the cunning Mind. Apparently, he was not ashamed of the fact that he was holding a whole flock of dragons captive.
Samantha thought dejectedly that even though she had freed the dragons from the greenhouse, it was unlikely that they would return the favor and come to rescue her from the cage. How was it that she herself had found herself in the place of the captives? The answer was simple. She had tangled with a demon. Dealing with the creatures of hell is not a good thing. Conflicts with them could land you in the middle of nowhere.
There was a distant smell of roast meat. For some reason, the smell was nasty. Samantha cringed. Could this be what it smelled like inside the cage she was locked in.
«It was a good thing that even the fairy marker couldn’t pick locks!» The Mind triumphed. «Bye, my girlfriend! I’m off to Serpin’s, and you stay in the cage.»
«I’ll scream until the guards rescue me,» Samantha threatened.
«That’s why I sent the guards out of the palace,» the prudent demon said. «They wouldn’t react to the screams of insolent girls.»
«Oh, you are a bastard!» Samantha tugged at the rusty bars, but they wouldn’t budge. It would take a giant to break them down. I wish Reason would call a giant again.
Instead of a giant, Samantha had other company waiting for her. As soon as the Mind lowered the drape to hide the cage from view, candles flared somewhere inside. Behind Samantha’s back there was the sound of strange slurping and voices. The cage appeared to be very spacious. It’s a whole hallway, not just a cage. It probably leads to a secret passage to someone’s chambers or even a treasure room. Samantha walked toward the light and suddenly saw a small feasting room. At simple wooden tables sat scruffy ladies and gentlemen. They looked ugly, but the shabby clothes they wore were of expensive fabrics. They probably hid drunken guests of the royal court in a cage. Samantha didn’t approve of drunks, but there was no other company around. Perhaps we should go to the tables. Maybe she would be offered a drink. It was not so long ago the thought of drinking would not have occurred to her, but dating a demon would make anyone drunk. The Mind will drive anyone to extremes.
«And why do they call it The Mind if it drives everyone to stupidity,» Samantha hissed under her breath.
One of the ugly ladies at the table turned toward her. Samantha grudgingly noted that the lady had very sharp large teeth, yellow skin, and warts on her face. All the other diners were ugly as well, and the bones they were nibbling meat off of looked suspiciously like human remains.
Samantha suddenly realized she was in a den of ogres. How could the Mind have managed to trap them in the palace? Weren’t dragons enough?
«He keeps them here as a last resort in case the courtiers or the nobles plot a rebellion,» Rosafeira whispered over Samantha’s shoulder.
How fortunate that the fairy had come to rescue her! One of the ogre ladies was already sniffing at Samantha. One minute was not enough time for all the ogres to jump up from their seats and pounce on her. The bones were almost eaten away. But the new food came by itself. Or rather, the demon had brought it.
Rosafeira wrapped her wings around Samantha and dragged her toward the exit. She couldn’t open the door of the cage, but the iron bars of the cage unbent themselves, creating a hole through which the fairy could fly out and drag Samantha. Then the bars closed again, blocking the alarmed company of ogres from getting out.
«They’re gone!» Rosafeira was triumphant. «Lucky!»
«Thank you for saving me,» Samantha said with emotion.
«You’ll thank me when you’re queen,» the fairy laughed. «Then you will pay for all my kindness a hundredfold.»
Samantha had forgotten how selfish fairies were.
«I promise you all the jewelry from the treasury,» she promised.
«Better, promise me all the flower petals from the royal garden,» Rosafeira bargained. «And let them bring hybrid roses from Aluar to the palace park. They breed such gorgeous varieties there!»
«It is all right!»
Samantha was glad that the fairy’s wishes were more modest than she had expected. What would Serpin say if he found out after the wedding that she had given away the entire treasury to the fairies in absentia for the right to become queen? Though what makes her think she’ll definitely be queen and Serpin’s wife? What if she doesn’t succeed? What if she’s wishful thinking? Is it enough just to get the support of a fairy? Maybe it was enough, if there wasn’t a demon jumping in the road.
Samantha was sure Rosafeira would have bewitched her king if it weren’t for the intrigues of the Mind.