Natalie Yacobson - Swan and Dragon. Dragon Empire

The bulk of the library consisted of magic books. Rose took from the shelf an encyclopedia of the most insidious inhabitants of the magic world. It provided information about gnomes, trolls, water spirits, but not a word about the island of sorcerers.

She wanted to get a guide to unicorns, but Edwin called her over to the wall with a map on it. All those countries that Rosa had ever heard of occupied only a small corner on it. Further on, a cold ocean turned blue, on the other side of it were several principalities. The human world, which Rose believed to be endless, turned out to be only the top of the map. And right in the middle, the borders of a huge empire were marked in emerald color, on which the dragon’s coat of arms flaunted – a scarlet heart, bound with a golden crown. Forests surrounded the empire with a black line. Beyond it stretched the seas and bays of mermaids. The island of sorcerers was outlined with a silver stripe.

Rose did not immediately find on the map that very ink river with a bridge thrown over it. Across the river lies the city of spirits and strange ruins.

“The knights of the order of elves gather in these ruins at night. They are nimble and cunning, but not dangerous to me,” explained Edwin.

“And the city of spirits?”

“Ghosts live there. Of course, you can go there on a small excursion, but if you stay there for more than an hour,” he paused and whispered, “you yourself will turn into a ghost.”

“You were there?” Rose asked.

“Repeatedly. There is nothing interesting there, except for architectural monuments. And it would be foolish to expect good from communication with local residents.”

“And what are these badges?” Rose jabbed her finger at the map.

“Outside the city of spirits there is a gate, they lead into the abyss, where one veil once imprisoned a black miasm. They are marked with this symbol,” Edwin began to explain. “The rest of the signs indicate the places of sinkholes and quicksand. All the land beyond the bridge is contaminated. As I flew over it, I often felt the weakness and the bad intoxication that the black plague causes.”

“I saw people who quietly rode around this land.”

“Are you sure they were people?” Edwin asked after a little thought. “After all, we are all like people and, nevertheless, we are not. One must be very discerning to distinguish the true form from the mask.”

Rose nodded in agreement with his simple and cruel truth. She herself did not know the difference. I didn’t understand that there is nothing in common between representatives of two different worlds. An example of this was the wizard standing in front of her. Even his pale, soulful face and smooth, weightless movements perfectly copied the spontaneity and grace of the dragon.”

“The bridge and the castle are so far apart,” Rosa turned her gaze back to the map. “Is it possible to overcome such a space as quickly as I do.”

“It’s your indiscretion,” Edwin chided her again. “If you trace your life line, then you can understand how imprudent you were from the very beginning. Over the course of my life, I have learned one truth: eminent persons suffering from kind-heartedness very often become victims of betrayal.”

“And what happened in your life, besides raids, fires and robberies?” Rose asked boldly.

He chuckled, but then a blurry veil of sadness and longing twitched his eyes.

“You don’t understand,” he said. “Perhaps I was mistaken about you, now you are not the chosen one, but just a curious person who looks at me like a magician.”

“Unwittingly, I became a participant in the events, which even now I am afraid to give an explanation,” “after a pause, he continued. “I saw the fall of a great power. I was both a ruler and a prisoner. But for people all these are empty words, they prefer to stick to their version about me and others like me.”

His hand slid across the map, as if re-delineating cities, and pointed to an empty, gray spot, completely inconspicuous among the motley lines and signs.

“It’s over,” Edwin sighed. “And time cannot be turned back. Now I’m a famous villain to the whole world.”

“But your coat of arms is on these lands,” Rose pointed to the emerald borders of the empire. “What kind of people settled here?”

Edwin chuckled cheerfully, almost humanly.

“Those whom people called evil,” he replied. “And, in my opinion, they are a stronger, unreachable race. In fact, this is not a people, but a whole element and only one and only creature – the dragon – can keep it in obedience. Only the dragon agree to obey these proud and powerful creatures.”

Rose gave him a curious, suspicious look and said nothing. His appearance alone was beyond doubt. In front of her, indeed, stood an inhuman creature enveloped in a solar halo, in which all the attractiveness and all the evil of the magic world were combined.

“Until tonight I knew nothing about you or your domain.”

“How could you find out about this?” interrupted her reasoning Edwin. “Even the small information that was obtained by courageous people at the cost of numerous losses was hidden from you. Since you stepped on the middle road, I have welcomed you to my domain. Remember the absence of a snowstorm on this road, about the dense ice on the lake, which so successfully broke just under your enemies. Snow never melts in these forests, and inevitable death awaits aliens here. The valley and the castle are an obstacle on the way to a magic kingdom invisible to mortals.”

“Is it interesting there? Tell me how they live there.” Rose pointed to the forbidden borders.

“That’s what,” Edwin decided. “It’s your birthday at the end of the month. In honor of the name day, I will fulfill your wish and take you there so that you can see everything yourself. Such an adventure will be much more exciting than my story.”

He was much kinder than he seemed. But how could he explain to this mortal girl that he too was overtaken by the cruel sentence of fate. No, you shouldn’t explain anything to her. She won’t understand anything. She is just a beautiful doll – a new decoration for this deserted, gloomy castle.

“Wait, did you say what the gray spot on the map means?” Rose protested as Edwin led her out of the library.

“Once there was a rich, prosperous state, but now there are only ruins and dry, barren land, where no one wants to live.”

Edwin took Rose by the hand and pulled her along.

“Don’t be afraid of me,” he said suddenly. “I’m not a leper, and you don’t have to tremble like that at my approach. If the hunchback’s curse begins to work again, then without my help you will not live even a couple of days. By the way, on occasion I will remove this glass from your hand.”

He pointed to a ring with an extinct stone.

“Thank you,” Rose said. She had no doubt that Edwin was capable of removing the evil trinket from her finger. Now she wondered if she could get rid of the ring and cast off the Curse of the Swan at the same time.

The next evening, the dragon’s castle no longer seemed to Rose as gloomy as it had been when the verdict was pronounced. Yes, she is sentenced to stay forever in this mansion. It’s not that bad here. Snow glistens outside the window, her room is full of trinkets, and there are always a few books available from the library.

Someone knocked softly on the door.

“Come in!” Rose shouted without hesitation.

The door slowly opened, and a small, round face with brightly painted lips and eyelashes peeped into the room. In surprise, Rose dropped the brush with which she was combing her hair when several living puppets entered the room one after another. They moved independently, pushed and talked. Rose was so overwhelmed that she could not even answer the greetings.