Natalie Yacobson - Swan and Dragon. Dragon Empire

Rose didn’t have time to think. She turned onto the calm middle road. Traveling along it will be much easier than fighting a storm. But instead of obeying, the previously pliable horse whinnied in fright and reared up, almost throwing the rider off his back.

However, Rose held the reins and forced the animal to move forward. The snowfall is left behind. Finding himself on the forbidden path for a blizzard, the horse rushed forward. She rushed without stopping, without any prodding. However, the pursuers did not lag behind either.

Above the treetops lay a clear azure sky. Snow glittered here and there. There were no wolves or other predators to be seen around, and nevertheless the horse began to snore in fright and began to resist.

Rose plunged her spurs into the horse’s flanks and made it gallop across the frozen lake. Sparks fell from under the hooves, but the ice did not crack. The brave rider looked back. She was able to buy time. The enemies are a little behind. She jumped off the horse, secured her bag better to the saddle, and checked to see if there were any weapons in the saddle bag.

Maybe under the weight of a whole detachment, the ice on the lake will break. No bellicose cries were heard yet. Only someone’s rapid breathing broke the silence of the forest. A ringing, almost musical whistle resounded over the treetops.

Rose stumbled and fell, black hair covered the snow with silk. The ring on her hand shone dazzlingly, and a terrible, huge figure hovered in the sky among the winter azure, as if it were all molded from gold. It sparkled dazzlingly, although the sun was not in the sky. The golden dragon, its wings, claws, head were all golden, but the eyes resembled a terrible secret, as in fairy tales about the castle of elves. Rose shuddered inwardly, he found her again, like death the color of precious metal. A terrible scream broke the frosty silence, and everything was quiet. The deadly pursuit from the warring world of the two kingdoms also fell behind.

And suddenly a silvery, rich sleigh stopped next to her, strangely, she did not even hear how they drove up, although the snow crunched. The aura of nightmare emanated from the sleigh, although they were anywhere, the royal ones would not be compared with them. Thoroughbred white horses in a harness beat impatiently with their hooves. Their luxurious manes and tails were shiny, their eyes sparkled wildly, and flames seemed about to burst from their nostrils. The bridles jingled, and the ringing of bells echoed them. Rose froze in horror and saw that the same young man was sitting in the sleigh. His golden curls scattered over a velvet cloak, his face was striking in beauty.

“Let’s go, Rose,” he invited, they won’t catch up with you.

He bent down and held out his hand to her. The skin on the back of the hand was a phosphoric whiteness, but there was a striking defect – a thin gold plate implanted into the arm where the vein should be.

Rose was numb with surprise, but the radiant, hypnotic gaze made her obey. She climbed into the sleigh and settled down on the satin seat. The driver whipped the horses. They snored viciously and trotted forward.

The young man signaled to Rose’s steed. He, as if spellbound, bowed his head, as if he were a man and obediently trotted after the sleigh.

There was a crackling of ice and muffled curses from behind. Rose looked around. There, among the sharp ice floes in the water, her pursuers splashed. They managed to reach the middle of the lake before the thick crust cracked. They could not get out of the lake. Uselessly they clung to the ice floes, their hands sliding along the smooth surface, and heavy armor pulled to the bottom.

The sled rushed forward, leaving deep furrows behind and billowing waves of snow splashing in its path. The chime of small bells accompanied them all the way.

Rose turned to her savior.

“What’s your name?” Plucking up courage, she asked.

He looked at her with a strange gleam in his eyes, as if deciding whether to tell her his name or not.

“Edwin,” he finally answered. Maybe it was his soft, calm voice that had such an effect on her that the name seemed familiar to the princess.

The further they went into the forest, the more beautiful the dense thickets on the sides of the road became. Rose looked at the snow-capped fir trees, at the squirrels jumping from branch to branch. She did not succeed in seeing the driver, occasionally waving his whip. All that was visible was his coat, sewn from fox tails.

“Why did you save me?” Rose asked after a long silence.

Edwin carefully draped a fur-lined cloak over her shoulders.

“Why?” He echoed. “How could I leave you in trouble?”

“How did you know that I was in trouble?”

This time he said nothing. However, the cheerful ringing of bells did not stop, the frisky horses continued to neigh. The small bird livened up the frosty forest with their singing. Bullfinches pecked at rare rowan berries. One bright red cross pecked at a pine cone.

“Where are we going?” Rose tried to start a conversation again.

“To the castle,” the companion answered shortly.

“You mean there is a castle in this wilderness?”

Edwin looked at her with surprised, twinkling eyes.

“There should be a castle,” he explained in the same laconic way. “What kind of state is it without a castle?”

“What other state?” Rose asked in a whisper. The unknown frightened her the most.

The attendant lowered his head sadly.

“You want to know too much,” he chided.

“No more than I’m allowed to,” Rose immediately retorted. “Everyone has the right to face their fears. After I was not even allowed to make excuses, it is not surprising that I am afraid of making a mistake. You are not the Golden Sovereign to chastise me.”

He was not even offended. On the contrary, mischievous sparks flashed in his eyes.

“You don’t have to be a flying monster to crush people’s hopes,” he said with secular nonchalance. And yet there was something in his words that it made her blood run cold. Some kind of invisible magic enveloped Edwin. In his manner and strange modulation of his voice, inhuman power was guessed. One gesture was enough for the distrustful, fearful tit, as if bewitched, to fly off the branch and sit in his palm. He stroked the yellowish head, and the bird chirped happily.

Now his hand is normal again. As if there was no plate inserted into the flesh. Rose studied Edwin for a long time. Even in the light of day, he looked like an unearthly creature. He sat next to her, real, alive, and at the same time remained distant and unattainable, like a radiant image of a saint in the corner of a darkened picture.

“We’ll be here soon,” he said, letting go of the titmouse. It chirped goodbye and soared into the air. Edwin followed her flight.

“How do you do it?” Rose could not resist.

“What?”

“To command animals and birds.”

He just shrugged his shoulders, making it clear that he himself could not explain it.

“Who are you?” The princess gasped. The amazement and fright that sounded in her voice. gave this question an almost mystical meaning.

“You want to know not only about this,” Edwin warned the next questions, “you are interested in who really is a humpbacked sorcerer? Where did the dark power come from over the vaults of the chateau? Why were you tried for other people’s crimes, and how did you manage to escape punishment? And, after all, you want to know who the Wind Singer is.”

“Wind Singer?” Rose asked in surprise.

“He is also called the Golden Lord. The dragon has always been revered and feared. He keeps humanity at bay, and the fairy people submit to him. This zwergs called the whistle of flight a song. When the dragon’s wings cut through the air masses, then it really can be called the Wind Singer.